This is not an article that describes the process of setting up a business account on LinkedIn. Nor one that proves that this portal is the best place to advertise your business. This is a text for people who run business accounts here and are perfectly aware of the business potential of this place, but need inspiration in specific actions related to running such a profile.
How many times have you published a post on a company account just because it has been empty for a long time? How often are the topics you write about simply random? Or do you only publish when we celebrate a holiday, even an unusual one? Or maybe the profile has not really been active since its creation?
If your posts aren’t regular, come slowly, or don’t come at all, it doesn’t mean you lack creativity. It also doesn’t mean (and we hear this argument quite often) that there’s nothing happening in your business worth sharing with the world.
Creating interesting content, regardless of the social media portal, is not about the creator and the alleged lack of creative invention, nor about the company lacking the potential to conquer social media. It is about something completely different – strategy.
Keyword: strategy
It is nothing more than a coherent action plan, created based on a detailed analysis of the target group and its needs, implemented for a specific purpose. The stakes are building a competitive advantage, acquiring new customers and achieving better results.
In principle, this entire definition can also be transferred to the field of social media and creating a strategy for running a business profile on LinkedIn. It is still about:
- Clarification of purpose, i.e. defining the measurable end of the activities we are striving for (do we want to build brand awareness, create communities around it or generate leads?),
- analyzing the target group, i.e. considering the audience we want to target with our content (who is your ideal customer, what challenge do they face, what do they need and, above all, how can your company help them?),
- creating an action plan, i.e. determining the topics we want to cover and considering the frequency of publication (what type of content will be most appropriate and best engage the target audience?).
Analyzing the above-mentioned issues along with answers to all questions will help you set the direction for your actions: you will get rid of the thematic chaos on your company profile, you will start talking regularly to a specific recipient with a specific intention. Because the strategy we are talking about now is nothing more than the answer to the question of how to run a company account on LinkedIn.
One strategy or many strategies?
According to the latest data LinkedIn is a portal that hosts 60 million company pages representing 400 different industries. These include sectors such as IT, consulting, marketing, finance, but also those that may not immediately be associated with this portal: industry, construction, organizations related to public safety, or even agriculture.
What conclusions can we draw from this?
First of all, LinkedIn is very broad in terms of topics and businesses. It is a place for every company, no matter how niche or original its product is. There will always be a group of people who will be interested in your message, and in this case, more is not better. Remember, in the case of social media, the rule always works - it is better to have a smaller but more engaged group of recipients than a larger and less active one.
Secondly, each company present on the web, even if only slightly, will always differ from the other, and therefore needs a different, individual strategy. Because there are exactly as many ways to communicate effectively in social media as there are companies that run them. Therefore, the scope for searching for ideas and inspiration is huge. The company you represent, the product it offers, the employees - all this creates a unique ecosystem, among which there is potential, an idea, a starting point. Something that can be the backbone of communication. You just have to be able to find it.
A few of the many possibilities
To make it easier for you, we have prepared some inspiration. There are many ways to attract the attention of your followers. Below you will find some sample strategies from which you can draw something good for your profile.
Strategy 1. Sales
Objective: generating sales leads.
Recipients: potential customers/clients interested in the product/service.
Content: of a knowledge nature, related to the product/service as well as the company values.
Example: PZU
LinkedIn is a great sales tool, but it’s important to note that it’s not literally about making a transaction. A company profile on the platform is just one of many brand touchpoints, a stage in the customer journey. To make it effective, focus on:
- Sharing knowledge. Creating any supporting content, guides, educational materials related to the industry, product or service is a great opportunity to collect sales leads.
- Communicating values. The company profile serves as business proof for recipients. Thanks to it, both potential clients and contractors can see whether a given company operates in accordance with their values and whether they are satisfied with its business potential, which it communicates on the platform.
Strategy 2. Employment
Objective: finding employees, building an image as an attractive employer.
Recipients: people in the industry open to finding or changing jobs.
Content: job offers, details related to working in the company: positions, departments, organizational culture.
Example: Office of Electronic Communications
For many, LinkedIn is primarily a platform for offering and searching for work. Although its importance has spread far beyond this sphere, recruitment remains a strong pillar of this medium. If you want to attract employees using LinkedIn, reduce communication to two spheres.
- Introduce the people who make up the company. Show off your employees, appreciate them and distinguish them. Their stories, experiences and achievements should be the axis of communication.
- Show details related to the job and the company: daily routine, organizational culture, atmosphere. Do it in a way that arouses in the recipient a sincere desire to work in a team.
Strategy 3. Entertainment
Objective: increasing the visibility and involvement of users, warming the image.
Recipients: everyone, but especially people who are in some way interested in the industry.
Content: light and humorous: industry memes, jokes, curiosities and anecdotes.
Example: HRejterzy
An extremely difficult strategy, the choice of which can pay off very well, although it will not suit many brands. Creating a humorous image requires a bit of experimentation with the type of humorous content. However, it is important to remember to maintain professionalism and avoid controversial topics. Content from this category should be selected with great sensitivity.
Strategy 4. Expert
Objective: building your position as an industry expert.
Recipients: everyone related to your field.
Content: knowledge-based, data-based: analyses, research, reports.
Example: Brand24
Building your position as an expert is all about showing the world the quality of your company and convincing people that it is a leader in its industry. You can brag that it is the best company in a given field, that it has the best results, that it has won an award, that it has achieved some result or discovered something, but also that it is a great employer or service provider. However, you cannot announce any of these statements without supporting it with hard data.
So anything that points to the value of the company and that cannot be questioned will come in handy here: analyses, company research, industry reports, case studies, rankings, customer reviews, awards, success stories. The field of possibilities is vast.
Strategy 5. Press Office
Objective: building an image.
Recipients: media, opinion leaders.
Content: industry news and current information about the company: about successes, changes, challenges facing the company and its employees.
Example: University of Economics in Krakow
A company profile on LinkedIn can also be a kind of virtual press office focusing primarily on what is currently happening both in the company and more broadly, in the entire industry. Such profiles are usually chosen by corporations or public institutions that have specific procedures imposed on them for cooperation with clients or journalists. Their communication is primarily informational, and the entries resemble press releases.
To be continued
When working on a communication strategy on LinkedIn, you need to remember that it should be dynamic and flexible to allow you to react to current events and quickly adapt to changing user needs and expectations. Therefore, constant monitoring of the results of your actions and regular adjustment of the strategy to new challenges and opportunities are key elements of an effective company presence on this portal.
- Track your business page stats to see what content generates the most engagement and what gets no response at all.
- Adapt your strategy to the data you receive and the conclusions you draw from it. If the content isn’t generating engagement, change your approach a bit and try something different.
- Update your company website regularly to ensure it always contains only the latest and most accurate information.
And remember, the success of a LinkedIn business profile is not about copying someone else's strategy, but about creating your own unique line of communication that will be effective for your company.
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Aleksandra Dzwierzyńska
Head of Social
ola@komukoncept.pl
Michal Opydo
Managing Director
michal@komukoncept.pl