As we continue to explore the many different ways you can get to know your audience with our ongoing series “Getting to Know Your Audience,” (clever, we know) let’s take this opportunity to tackle an often underused social media outlet: LinkedIn. A lot of businesses still aren’t engaging on the often ignored platform, meaning they could be missing out on potential customers. So, let’s talk about why your business needs to be posting on LinkedIn.
If all you know of the platform are the frequent emails clogging your inbox from colleagues (and strangers), then it’s high time you give it another look. While posting on behalf of your company on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram are great practices, you might be surprised to know that your largest target audience just might be those constantly requesting to add you to their professional network.
LinkedIn has long been thought of as a place for individuals to connect to other industry professionals and, hopefully, establish themselves as such in an attempt to gain an edge when seeking out employment.
Now, fifteen years after its launch, LinkedIn has become just as powerful as a source for content as it is for employers looking for qualified talent and vice-versa.
Social Media Examiner’s study published in 2016 gives us a lot of insight into the usefulness of LinkedIn in marketing. We outline the key points you need to know.
LinkedIn ranked as the third most used social media platform for marketers. Ranking behind Facebook and Twitter, companies are using, and subsequently reading, LinkedIn content more than YouTube, Google+ and Instagram.
What makes LinkedIn such a desirable platform for businesses, you ask? One reason could be the audience. Once you break down how marketers use social media by the type of business they are, the picture gets a little clearer. If you break those numbers up into B2B businesses and B2C businesses, B2B marketers post to LinkedIn almost as much as they do to Facebook.
Even more telling, when asked to rank the importance of social media platform presence, B2C marketers overwhelming chose Facebook as the most important platform, with Twitter at a VERY distant second.
However, when B2B marketers were polled, the majority said LinkedIn was the MOST important platform to have a presence, with Facebook not too far behind. More than three-quarters of that same B2B marketing group plan to increase their usage of LinkedIn this year.
Sure, LinkedIn does have its issues. There is a tedious character limit for business posts, you can’t upload/embed video, and to take full advantage of the platform, you need a paid membership. However, the pros definitely outweigh the cons in this exercise based on audience alone.
So, if your goals include:
-reach other industry professionals
-recruit talent
-obtain leads
Then you are far more likely to reach your target audience on LinkedIn than you are on Facebook.
If you’ve been putting off joining or even just engaging on LinkedIn, then let this be the statistic that lights the fire beneath you: currently, LinkedIn has more than 500,000,000 registered members that you are currently ignoring. So if you are looking to get your company’s name out there, you might consider adding LinkedIn to your professional network.
