A LinkedIn Marketing Plan for Your Business

LinkedIn is World's Largest Professional Network

With over 467 million professionals on the platform, LinkedIn has risen to become the most suitable medium for B2B lead generation while maintaining its social media appeal for B2C marketing. Since 'Your Business', our imaginary client, on its part, has two products/services, one targeted at institutions and the other targeted at potential individual buyers, it is only normal to adopt a two-way LinkedIn strategy that taps from both the B2C and the B2B potential of the professional network. 

Our goal is to increase your sales and, or subscriptions using the basic tools of the social cum professional network. To that effect, I would recommend the following actions.

1. Create a professionally looking LinkedIn Company Page for 'Your Business', complete with banner image and logo and value propositions. Announce the launch of the page on other social media channels and optimize for SEO.
2. Create, edit and optimize the LinkedIn profiles of all staff and stakeholders in order to become visible, command respect and build trust. These profiles should link to 'Your Business' Company Page and have at least three quality endorsements each.
3. Post industry insights, company news and articles that provide general value for 'Your Business' followers. Ask employees to share company posts on their own profiles, tagging the page and, if possible, the author of the piece.
4. Share interesting new posts daily, including quotes, memes, photos, videos, and industry trivia.
5. Encourage employees to join and participate in LinkedIn groups relevant to 'Your Business' mission and to share its posts there.
6. Ask your marketing and sales representatives to use the LinkedIn search feature to search for, and send connection invitations to, company administrators and other professionals in your industry. These people would be targeted with information about your products or services that are designed to make their businesses perform better and their professional lives easier.
7. Ask all other employees to send out connection invitations to as many Nigerian professionals as fit your target market. These people would be wooed to use your consumer-facing products or services.
8. Ask employees to send their LinkedIn connections messages requesting for a chance to talk over the phone or via a messaging app. These requests would naturally prompt those connections to check out the employees’ profiles. Thus, these connections, without feeling pressurized to, learn about 'Your Business' and its products and, or services.
9. When a connection agrees to a chat, an employee must make the conversation as informal, but respectful, as can be. I recommend he/she begins by asking the connection about his/her role at his/her current job before talking about his/her own job at 'Your Business'. After this point in the conversation, it is easier to explain how the connection can get involved. This is more likely to elicit the desired response and ultimately a sale.
10. Monitor daily notifications for messages, comments, and group activities, and respond quickly and appropriately in a way that is personal.
11. Use the LinkedIn Company Page analytics feature to analyze the page’s metrics and adjust 'Your Business' strategy as appropriate.

Do you have questions? Then, leave them in the comment section below. Contact me if you would like us to help you handle any aspect your LinkedIn marketing strategy.