LinkedIn Guide for beginners and how LinkedIn use for business marketing purposes

What is LinkedIn?

Like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others, LinkedIn is a social network platform. It is launched in 2003 and focuses on sharing ideas, building connections, growing business and getting career opportunities. LinkedIn has more than 774 million users around the globe. This makes LinkedIn is one of the top social networks of today. It owns by a big tech company: Microsoft, like many other social media platforms.

As social media networks sprouting constantly, the LinkedIn platform is still underutilized. But in fact, LinkedIn is a powerful social network for your business as well as for your career opportunities.

LinkedIn is a professional network, where people can make a connection, grow their businesses, find jobs, share their experiences and much more. LinkedIn has similar principles to other social media networks, connecting with friends, sharing and liking other posts, messaging with others. LinkedIn has a professional spin on ideas as you know from Facebook. Like you can add experiences on your LinkedIn profile, add resume, referrals, and accomplishments. LinkedIn is so powerful related to business as it has amazing marketing tools.

LinkedIn has many features that you can’t find on other social sites like career boards where you can find a job, apply for it and get started. When you apply for a job you can share your LinkedIn profile so you don’t need to share your experience in detail form because you already add experience, achievements on LinkedIn.

This article is full of LinkedIn tips, on how to use LinkedIn for business marketing, improve brand awareness, build your network and share your content If you are not familiar with LinkedIn, then must read this article and learn about LinkedIn.

Main features of LinkedIn

When you sign up for a basic account, these are the main features you’ll first notice and use. You can also analyze other features of this platform by exploring yourself. You can also get benefit from the Business account or LinkedIn premiere that has more advanced features like post jobs, expanding your sales and taking advantage of talent solutions.

• Home page:

It has the same newsfeed section as Facebook or other social network media and has the same purpose. Here you can make your posts that can be shared, commented and liked by others and you can also see posts of other people in the newsfeed. You can limit a post's status to just your LinkedIn connection or share it with all users of LinkedIn so anyone who visits your profile can see your feed posts.

• My Network

From My Network, you can invite LinkedIn users to join your network and see your existing network connections here. You can also sync your contacts through your email so they will join you on Linkedin. Others who send you connection requests also appear in this section and you can see the existing invitation.

• Jobs

It is the career site where you can find your dream job. You can search in the search bar by typing the job title in which post you are interested and you also find companies related to your interest. Here is the full-time job and remote job option available, according to your desire you can find a full time or remote job. You can set up notifications and get daily updates about your jobs through email and then apply for jobs.

• Inbox Section

You can chat with people in your network through this instant messaging section. If you subscribe to LinkedIn Premiere you can chat with other people outside your network by InMail.

• Notifications

Like other social sites, it has also a notification feature where you get a notification of when someone sent you an invitation or any job-related post you might be interested in.

• Me

Here you can find your profile, you can post your work experience, achievements, skills, interest, education, current location and many more. If you are a LinkedIn user you can build your professional career and connect with other professionals.

• Interests

You can follow certain interests on LinkedIn, in addition, to connecting with professionals. It includes groups according to your interest, company pages or groups, Slideshare platform for educational purpose as LinkedIn Lynda and slideshow publishing.

• Search bar

You can search many customizable fields, filter down your result by using the search bar. Tap on “Advanced” alongside the search bar to find companies, jobs and professionals.

Read More: https://www.vividads.com.au/blogs/marketing/marketing-strategies-for-your-e-commerce-business-journey-in-australia

What you can do with LinkedIn?

You know what LinkedIn offers, on LinkedIn, it is clear that you can build your professional connections, find jobs and apply. The job section is powerful for searching and applying for jobs. Some people use LinkedIn to find career opportunities and build their network. You get updates for jobs daily after you set a notification alert. Some people enhance their professional reputation by making professional look posts and commenting on other people's posts.

Here are some tips as an individual on what is LinkedIn used for:

• Get in touch with colleagues:

You can search for old colleagues, teachers, and friends by using the My Network section. To sync your contacts with LinkedIn, just enter or connect your email.

• Use profile as your resume:

Your LinkedIn represents a complete resume of yours. When you apply for a job you can link this in your email or cover letter. Some websites allow connecting LinkedIn profiles to import all of your information when you apply for a job. There are many apps if you make a resume outside LinkedIn.

• Find jobs:

LinkedIn is the best networking site where someone can find a job. You’ll get recommendations about the jobs or companies you are interested in and get a notification when the job will post. You also use the search bar to find specific jobs.

• Connect with Professionals:

It’s great to connect with old colleagues or friends who use LinkedIn but you can also connect with professionals international or locally that will help build your career and give you some suggestions or advice.

• Participate in Groups:

Joining groups is a great way to connect with your professional or mentors based on your interest and start participating in groups with your mentors. Other group members may connect with you and in this way, it will grow your network.

• Blog about what you know:

LinkedIn has allowed its users to publish blogs and have the opportunity to create content and read by thousands. On your profile, published posts will show and this will increase your professional credibility in the related field of your interest.

LinkedIn has some other additional features that you use after subscription to a LinkedIn premiere like insights who can view your profile, instant message to anyone on LinkedIn and online professional development classes.

 LinkedIn Premiere Account

Many people are fine with using the basic account LinkedIn but you use the LinkedIn account for business purposes you have to upgrade the LinkedIn premiere account and then enjoy its advanced features as these features are not accessible to free users.

LinkedIn has premiere plans for those users who want to grow and nurture their business, find jobs, hire talents and unlock career opportunities. For a month you can try the Premiere plan for free, then you pay per month according to the plan you choose. LinkedIn premiere has four price plan as follow:

• LinkedIn Premiere Career: It is for those who are looking to get hired and grow their career. It cost 29.99$ per month.
• LinkedIn Premiere Business: Businesses that want to enhance their network and grow their business. It cost 59.99$ per month.
• LinkedIn Premier Sales: It is for those businesses and professionals that looking for targeted leads. It cost 79.99$ per month.
• LinkedIn Premier Hiring: For Businesses and professionals who want to hire and recruit employees. It cost 119.99$ per month.

If you are a LinkedIn user don’t forget to take advantage of the LinkedIn mobile app. Its app is available for android and iOS and has the same features which are available for desktops.

What is LinkedIn marketing?

LinkedIn is now an essential part of marketing strategies for successful businesses due to its professional network expansion. LinkedIn marketing is a process of sharing content, making connections, promoting business partnerships and relationships, making connections, driving traffic to your website, generating leads and brand awareness improvement by using LinkedIn.

When you use LinkedIn for business marketing you have access to useful features related to brand awareness, analytics and making connections.

Why LinkedIn marketing is so important?

When you think about social media marketing, these three Social media platforms will pop up in your mind i.e. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. These platforms are best to reach your target audience and grow your business but now LinkedIn is also included in this platform where you can market your brand and get more to your business. LinkedIn is now considered the world's largest professional network, it generates leads 227% more efficiently than Twitter and Facebook and has more than 722 million members. So you can use this platform for your business marketing.

On users' rating ranking is based:

• Experience
• Legitimacy
• Shareability
• Security
• Community
• Relevancy

It is also suggested by the business insider users are more responsive to the advertisements on platforms they trust. More leads are also gained by using LinkedIn marketing strategies. Recent data reveals that 80% of business-to-business (B2B) leads are due to LinkedIn, and 46% of social media traffic is driven to the website through LinkedIn.

Now let’s start with how to use LinkedIn for marketing purposes and grow your business.

LinkedIn marketing Practices

1. Use hashtags.
2. Use LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn Page.
3. Create a post of different lengths.
4. Share external content.
5. Leverage connections.
6. Publishing schedule consistent.
7. Market Research

LinkedIn allows you to build your connections, drive traffic to your website, through thought-leadership content you can share your content and generate your leads. You can also hire new talent by using LinkedIn and finding jobs. These are the main reason why LinkedIn marketing is effective in a growing business. Here are a few strategies that you can use on LinkedIn for content marketing.

1. Use Hashtags

On LinkedIn and other social media platforms, hashtags are used to add emphasis, organize content, it serves as a basis that changes your marketing strategy and helps people easily find what they want. You’ll want to take advantage, no matter what you post. These simple hashtag strategies bring new audiences to your posts but the wrong ones also limit your reach. Firstly you have you research relevant hashtags on LinkedIn then add popular and relevant hashtags. To query broad hashtags first by using the search bar. For example, if you work in social media marketing, search #socialmediamarketing to see how many people follow this and how frequently use this hashtag.

A good rule of thumb on LinkedIn is to start with three to five hashtags per post that will reach the audience – it’s the similar way that Google uses keywords for index pages. The hashtags should vary in number so start from most use hashtags and then fewer use hashtags so every type of audience reaches your posts. Sometimes lesser known hashtags limit the audience of your posts that wants to engage with your content. Hashtags you use should be a combination of popular and relevant that will categorize your content efficiently.

2. Use LinkedIn Profile VS LinkedIn Page

On LinkedIn, there are two types of accounts that people can connect i.e. profiles and pages. Profiles are like other social media platform profiles, often private and individuals use them. Pages on LinkedIn has the same pages on Facebook, public and use for business purpose, charity or non-profit organization. Both have different functions when used for marketing purposes.

First, let’s look at Profiles. The profile is where you can connect one-on-one. You can use a profile for connecting, sharing your academic background, mentioning skills and letting know people as per your will. If your profile is private so people need permission to see what you are adding on LinkedIn. They can send you a connection request, it is up to you to approve this or cancel the request. Before you connect with them, you can also have private conversations.

LinkedIn Pages can be followed by everyone without any permission. You can follow pages without sending a connection request and waiting for accepting it. Immediate access can lead to instant engagement on the page. It means you can share your LinkedIn page with your network connections so they can view your business content and engage with you, in return you get high to reach. Pages include information about your website, website link, highlights of your product and services, your trending content with hashtags and any contact information. On your page, you can also write content like blog posts.

In LinkedIn marketing, LinkedIn profiles and LinkedIn pages have a different motives. The profile is privately used by an individual for personal use while Pages are public, anyone can see and visit and Pages are for business purposes. You can grow your audience by using different tools and LinkedIn algorithms. LinkedIn profiles also grow their connection but after approval of joining, the private account has some privacy features and you can also do private conversations. A LinkedIn profile is effective to highlight your features if you want to take an individual approach to your business and work in direct sales.

Both these setups of LinkedIn can work for marketing purposes. You can create a Page and Profile for your business and linked your Page to your Profile so when someone visits your profile can be your Page too.

3. Create a post of different length

Something relevant for engaging like short blogs, e-books that someone wants to read. On LinkedIn, create short-form content to gain the viewers’ attention as it takes more time on the app and bold, quick also packs a punch. In the way to draw people to your content, consistency is a key factor. LinkedIn has both of these content plans in its features. Content that has vary in length with images, as well as videos, can look your content fresh, fascinating and relevant to your connections. Make sure your content is so attractive that people wait for your next content and read with excitement.

If you are not sure about your content and what type of content you will post then look at some social media platforms to see what other people liked. Something short and memorable is good for sharing, while longer posts will gain more time and sometimes people get tired of reading long content.

4. Share external content

LinkedIn algorithms support other external links such as websites or blogs so you can easily share content from other sources, unlike other social media platforms. If your post is relevant and valuable you’ll get success and audience reach increases day by day. If you are posting other people's content directly from the website on your account you may give them credit by mentioning their names or using hashtags. Same as with your post if someone like your posts and also shares your content on their account and mentions you, this will also increase your network connection.

Adding your voice to the conversation demonstrates, share your opinion and thoughts about the business shows how you will understand. On external content adding a comment is another way to connect. You can write lines one or two relevant to the content is helping to grow your connection and motivate others.

5. Leverage Connections

Networking is the primary motive of LinkedIn. You can connect with clients and old fellows, find professionals and mentors, identify warm leads and many more. You should keep in mind the power of network marketing as LinkedIn is a goldmine for this purpose. Partners can help to plan the best marketing strategies on LinkedIn and manage your social network. You should focus on strategies that matter a lot in your business growth.

6. Publishing schedule consistent

LinkedIn is known for one of the longest content lifespans. You can publish your content every day, once a week or once a month, it will build trust if you publish regularly. Related to your business publish content and stick to it for a long time or a month. Check the schedule which time and days get the most engagement on your posts then set the publishing schedule according to it.

7. Market Research

In general, you can learn about company platforms, marketing when you share new content. Keep an eye on new trends in the market, what trendy topics on which people are talking about? What are the controversial topic and the next big things that professionals are expecting?

On LinkedIn, there are many for lead generation and closing customers. Get yourself updated about your competitors, their new strategies (like giveaways or contests for an engaging audience), new launching and engagement strategies.

How to create LinkedIn Page for Business

1. Log in to your LinkedIn account.
2. On the top right click the work dropdown menu.
3. Based on your business select the page type.
4. Put business details.
5. Click on create the page.

Establishing a business page on LinkedIn has some requirements; the person who created the page has an email linked with the company domain and the company has to be at least seven days old. Make sure to put authentic information on your profile as completed pages get more views according to LinkedIn.

Optimize profile with search engine optimization and choose compelling imagery. On your website and email don’t forget to add a LinkedIn badge and keep your profile updated. To enhance a profile by lending credibility, content is another important element. Before consumers make buying decisions, LinkedIn reports it takes ten pieces of content.

How to use LinkedIn for Business

Below are some effective ways to use LinkedIn for business. These tips will help you whether you have a personal or business account. These tips will help in boosting brand awareness and sharing content.

1. Customize your public profile URL.
2. On your profile add a LinkedIn background image.
3. Rearrange your profile sections.
4. For search engines, optimize your LinkedIn profile.
5. On your profile add a ProFinder badge.
6. Add a website link to your LinkedIn account and take advantage of the blog.
7. Search alerts in recruiter and use saved searches.
8. Share and check your network updates.
9. Connections Export.
10. Be identifiable.
11. LinkedIn job posting to recruit new talent and list job opportunities.
12. Who viewed your LinkedIn profile gets to check out.
13. Linked Endorsements.
14. LinkedIn page design with all aspects.
15. Post updates and target them.
16. Content Marketing Score.
17. Publish content on LinkedIn
18. Customize connections.
19. Add a page follow button on your site.
20. LinkedIn Sponsored Content

Let’s review these points in a detailed form.

1. Customize your public profile URL.

You can easily make your LinkedIn profile more professional by sharing the link on your profile and customising your LinkedIn public profile URL. URL is in the form of this:

https://www.linkedin.com/business/marketing/blog/tre

By clicking on profile then tap on edit public profile and then URL. You can change the URL to anything you want like your name or brand or business name.

2. On your profile add a LinkedIn background image.

You can add a catchy background picture to your LinkedIn profile that gives your LinkedIn account a professional look. You can add your brand name picture or related to your business that attracts the recruiters and other people who visit our profile.

LinkedIn allows a picture size of 1584 × 396 pixels for the background. The picture must be less than 8MB and in the form of GIF, PNG or JPG.

3. Rearrange your profile sections.

You can edit your profile section if you want to add any information related to your business or any other. When you are in the edit section you can also edit other sections by double-tapping. You can click, drag and drop on your profile as the cursor will turn into a four arrow icon. 

4. For search engines, optimize your LinkedIn profile.

You can search any term you want to find on LinkedIn for example you can find people, jobs, companies at the local level or internationally. To get discovered by people you can customize your profile by key terms. You can add these keywords to your profile sections, in summary, or work experience. 

5. On your profile add a ProFinder badge.

ProFinder Badge is used to identify freelancers, and you may consider adding ProFinder Badge. Who is seeking help, Does this service matches contractors with project managers? On the profile, freelancers add ProFinder Badge to show their specific skills and expertise to the clients.

6. Add a website link to your LinkedIn account and take advantage of the blog.

On your LinkedIn page, you can add other social networks and portfolio links. Business information and content links can also be added to your profile to increase your website clicks. This is the most effective way to increase traffic on your site by getting the attention of the people. Like if you are a YouTuber you can add your YouTube channel link on LinkedIn to promote your channel.

7. Search alerts in recruiter and use saved searches

In your search criteria, you can use saved searches if you use a LinkedIn recruiter. This is an amazing opportunity if you are finding job opportunities on LinkedIn. As you want you can save many searches and get a notification when someone can match the filter criteria. You can get daily notifications from the recruiter homepage about relevant results.

8. Share and check your network updates.

On your LinkedIn homepage, network updates are available. Check this updated periodically to see what your friends, competitors, and connections sharing. You can also update others about your services, products and content of your business. You can also get daily updates on your email just by signing up for email notifications.

9. Connections Export

On LinkedIn, you can drive traffic to your website and grow your business by using the connection you make on LinkedIn. For a contact management system exporting connections is a great place to start. You can export LinkedIn connections, through advanced settings.

10. Be identifiable.

LinkedIn connections should recognize you when they visit your profile. Make this profile in such a way that everyone recognizes you the moment they look at it. Your profile name, education, location are the things that can help everyone to identify you easily.

11. LinkedIn job posting to recruit new talent and list job opportunities

On LinkedIn job pages, add your new positions. Any candidate can search your business and learn about updates by searching keywords like salary, job title, location, experience etc.

12. Who viewed your LinkedIn profile gets to check out.

Learn about the marketing content that you are sharing on LinkedIn, audience, customers and potential leads who viewed your profile. This tool is accessible via the profile drop-down in the main navigation, you can see who viewed your profile. For your connections and other business, you can stack up against profile views.

13. Linked Endorsements

You can search for skills people you work with (colleagues, partners or employees) with the offer by a LinkedIn feature called Endorsements. You can promote talented people to refer them for other work by sharing their skills and experience with others, making their profiles better and much more.

14. LinkedIn page design with all aspects

Over the years, LinkedIn pages have changed a lot. You have to change the setup of your profile according to the latest layout, uploading high-quality images.

15. Post updates and target them

Updates about your business post on LinkedIn and engage viewers by content, latest developments and updates. You can share updates in the form of written content, videos, pictures and documents. Targeted LinkedIn status updates can also post, which are customized to specific groups and people. Use criteria to do this like size of the company, geography, language and much more.

16. Content Marketing Score

A content marketing score can give your insight into how effective you are on LinkedIn and measure the engagement of your content. Trending content can tell you which content the audience liked the most and you can optimize content for more impact and get more engagement on the content you shared.

17. Publish content on LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows you to publish content. To boost engagement on your Business page on LinkedIn create content and publish it and you can get traffic on your business page and also on your page.

18. Customize connections

There are many ways to grow on LinkedIn, here are several:

• You can control who can see your connections.
• To stay in touch with old colleagues, leads and customers import and sync your contacts from email or other sources. These contacts can see your content in many places so they more see you and learn about your business.
• To build connections and grow leverage second and third party connections.
• Depending on the value of your business add and view connections.

19. Add a page follow button to your site

To promote the LinkedIn page of your company, add LinkedIn follow button to your website. Through your site when visitors click the “Follow” button they automatically connected with you through this page and received updates about your company. This is one of the best ways to increase connections on LinkedIn, enhance engagement by bringing traffic directly from the website.

20. LinkedIn Sponsored Content

By using LinkedIn Ads, increase your organic marketing attempt with some paid advertising. The targeting option is the most important benefit of LinkedIn advertising. You can target your dream job, company information or other information by LinkedIn PPC.

LinkedIn marketing tools

To promote business LinkedIn has many tools. When you learn LinkedIn for the business purpose here are some tools that will be helpful:

• InMail
• Showcase Pages
• LinkedIn stories and live
• Groups
• Premium account on LinkedIn

Have a look at these tools and their function in LinkedIn marketing.

• InMail

People you are not in your connection network, you can send and connect with them through InMail. This is the solution to reach the person you want, share your ideas with them but they are not in your network. Don’t use InMail to spam users, it has a certain amount to use per month. But personal messages with your network have no such limits.

• Showcase Pages

If you want to share more detailed forms of your business or company, Showcase Pages of LinkedIn can do that. For example, Adobe has a main homepage and showcase page for its creative and document experience clouds. For explaining the scope of your business Showcase Pages can work for LinkedIn marketing.

• LinkedIn stories and life

LinkedIn allows stories and live streaming as most other social media offers. Live streaming has 24 times more engagement. You can live stream so your clients, viewers interact with you, discuss your strategies.

• Groups

LinkedIn groups are a great way to connect with people that help you to find professionals or people related to your business. You can participate in the group by commenting on other posts. You may also start your group if you are an active member. You start a group related to your business where you can interact with other members, create contests, update others about your product and services etc.

• Premium account on LinkedIn

LinkedIn premium account has some advanced features like the InMail feature, which viewed your profile and detailed insights. Its premium account is not necessary when you learn how to use LinkedIn for business. A premium account is used when you start business marketing on LinkedIn so you can see analytics, hashtags reports and much more.

LinkedIn marketing tools

There are many tools available you can use for LinkedIn marketing strategy and make your marketing more effectively. Discuss some tools that will be helpful for you:

1. Adobe Creative Cloud Express

Adobe creative allows you to create attractive visuals from browser and mobile apps. It has a variety of templates available for expertly designing your content and helps to boost engagement. You can add animation, remove picture background, create professional videos and resize graphics. Adobe has a stock of images you can use for free and design images.

2. Glassdoor

On LinkedIn maintaining your business reputation is an important factor. You can install the Glassdoor app through the Hootsuite directory. You can get a better feel for your company by sharing your LinkedIn company posts to Job hunters on Glassdoorso.

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite can help in LinkedIn strategy by auto-scheduling your posts, easy response on comments, in analytics and placing ads. You can sponsor content by enhancing your best performance organic posts on LinkedIn based on interest or related to your business through Hootsuite.

4. SlideShare

Slideshare is a separate platform for content creation. Content like presentation, white paper or infographics makes your LinkedIn post more shareable and gets more viewers. Slideshare can help to make this type of content for your business pages on LinkedIn.

Summary

LinkedIn is a professional network platform that you can use for personal and professional purposes. On LinkedIn, You can find your dream job, connect with old colleagues, get in touch with your professionals, mentors, customers and grow your business. LinkedIn marketing is the most effective way to grow your business on social media platforms as LinkedIn has millions of users. For successful LinkedIn marketing strategies, the main factors that will grow your business are optimized profile, optimized business page, engagement to boost organic reach.

Here sums up LinkedIn marketing tips:

• Make your profile attractive.
• Make network connections.
• Get endorsements.
• Post engaging content on your LinkedIn profile and pages.
• Post good content in groups.

These are some basic things to keep in mind when you use Linkedin for business marketing. Some other tips are mentioned in this article that will help you to increase engagement and expand your business.