LinkedIn has 65 million business professionals around the world and is geared toward professional networking with its target demographics being college educated professionals and an average annual household income of $109,000. With 22% of online adults also LinkedIn users and being the only social networking site with usage among 50-60 year olds being higher than usage among 18-29 years old, the potential for business marketing benefits goes well beyond a platform for headhunters and job seekers. With nearly 50% of members have decision-making authority for their companies, how can I use LinkedIn to effectively market a company and its products to these decision makers without just appearing like I am trying to sell something? This was the question I asked myself when the company I work with wanted to investigate doing a LinkedIn Marketing Campaign.
The first step was to set up a company page, which unlike Facebook, where you have to create a page, if you have more than a few staff members on LinkedIn, you may find that LinkedIn has already created a company page for you or you can just create a company page. This will will require that you become the company’s main contact for the page. The page is basic and will need to add a logo, banner, links, description etc. to get started. With LinkedIn, I can view individual’s full profiles of the people who are following the company’s page, which will give lots of insight as to who follows your company page.
After the page has been created, you need to build your connections and keep the company page and account updated. This will provide you the attention from potential clients and customers. This is also important since the LinkedIn Search engine can offer your company exposure to people who are searching for products or services. LinkedIn will help you with introductions and business connections with people and businesses that you might not otherwise be able to reach. Finally, it is important to get and display recommendations from others on LinkedIn. These word-of-mouth testimonials can deliver credibility that encourages people to do business with you.
There are other more proactive marketing opportunities to use LinkedIn to market your company. Continue to post regular status updates that would be of interest to your target customers and clients. Join and become active in groups related to your business. Participation increases exposure and establishes you as an expert in your field. And send messages and invitations to those in your network and other group members.
Besides proactive participation, LinkedIn offers paid advertising as well as premium membership like Sales Navigator, which is a sales tool that helps with lead building and recommendations and real-time sales intelligence.
Some good examples of companies successfully using LinkedIn to market their brand and products include LinkedIn, Hubspot, and American Airlines.
Like other social media platforms, successful marketing comes with continuously building your network and becoming consistently active. A great guide you can learn more about marketing on LinkedIn is The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn.
Emerging Media Topics by Jody 
Pingback: How can LinkedIn be used as a marketing tool? | Jody Smith WVU