With over 850 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform. Many businesses are turning to LinkedIn to reach their target B2B audiences. But is investing in LinkedIn marketing worth it? Here we’ll examine the pros and cons of LinkedIn marketing and help you determine if it’s right for your business.
The Benefits of LinkedIn Marketing
Here are some of the main advantages of marketing on LinkedIn:
Targeted Audience
The LinkedIn audience is highly targeted. Users create detailed profiles showcasing their professional background, skills, interests, and more. This allows marketers to segment audiences and serve targeted ads to specific niches like job title, industry, skills, company size, and so on. You can really zero in on your ideal customers on LinkedIn.
Engaged Users
LinkedIn users tend to be very actively engaged on the platform. They are there to network, connect with industry experts, share content, and further their careers. This means they are often more receptive to interacting with brands than users on other social networks who are there primarily for entertainment or communication with friends and family.
Trust & Authority
LinkedIn profiles carry a certain level of trust, legitimacy, and authority given their professional nature. Users tend to see LinkedIn content as more credible and influencers on the platform as experts in their field. This brand authority can rub off on businesses who establish a presence there.
Lead Generation
With its wealth of professional data and engaged audience, LinkedIn is a lead generation goldmine. B2B businesses can generate highly qualified leads through company pages, targeted ads, sponsored content, and more. LinkedIn even provides lead generation forms to capture lead info right within the platform.
Retargeting
LinkedIn’s sophisticated audience targeting options allow you to retarget website visitors with relevant ads based on their company, job title, and interests. Retargeting people who have already engaged with your brand can help drive conversions.
The Cons of LinkedIn Marketing
Now let’s look at a few of the potential disadvantages of focusing marketing efforts on LinkedIn:
Lower Audience Size
While 850 million members is highly impressive, LinkedIn’s audience is still significantly smaller than platforms like Facebook or Instagram. So if your goal is mass reach, other networks may be better suited.
Professional Focus
The professional nature of LinkedIn means users have less tolerance for blatant sales pitches or marketing that feels out of place. Content and messaging needs to be more subtle, educational and aligned with business objectives.
Higher Cost
Paid advertising on LinkedIn tends to be more expensive on a per-click basis compared to other social platforms. The highly targeted audience comes at a premium price point. This can make it less efficient for some cost-conscious marketers.
Site Saturation
The competition is fierce on LinkedIn. With so many brands flocking to the platform, standing out and cutting through the noise is a real challenge. Higher quality content and larger budgets are required.
Limited Ad Options
LinkedIn’s advertising platform does not offer quite as many options as Facebook or Google Ads. There are fewer ad formats and less robust targeting capabilities. Marketers have less flexibility.
When is LinkedIn Marketing Most Effective?
Now that we’ve looked at both the pros and cons, in what situations is LinkedIn marketing likely to provide the highest ROI? Here are a few scenarios where focusing efforts on LinkedIn makes sense:
B2B Product or Service
For any business targeting other businesses rather than consumers, LinkedIn should definitely be part of the marketing mix. The platform was built for B2B marketing and lead generation.
Considered Purchases
If you are selling high-value products or services that require a lot of research before purchasing, LinkedIn is ideal. It allows you to get educational content in front of prospects during the consideration phase.
Targeting Business Professionals
If your ideal customers hold professional roles like engineers, IT managers, c-suite executives, financial analysts, etc., LinkedIn gives you direct access to these people. You can laser focus your efforts.
Established Brand
For well-known, reputable brands targeting professionals, LinkedIn is a natural fit. It allows you to leverage brand authority in a professional context.
Lead Nurturing
The depth of audience data and suite of content tools make LinkedIn a powerful lead nurturing platform. You can foster relationships over time through content.
LinkedIn Marketing Tactics
If you’ve decided to dive into LinkedIn marketing, here are some of the most effective tactics and best practices to focus on:
Company Page
An optimized LinkedIn company page serves as your business’s profile and hub on the platform. Make sure yours is completely filled out and has relevant content posted regularly.
Employee Profiles
Encourage all employees to create and optimize their personal LinkedIn profiles. This builds credibility and helps content spread further through their networks.
Content Creation
Regularly create and share valuable articles, infographics, videos, and other content aligned with your audience’s interests. This provides value and establishes thought leadership.
Targeted Ads
Utilize LinkedIn’s detailed targeting options like job title, company, skills, and interests to serve highly relevant ads to your best-fit audiences.
Sponsored Content
Publish educational and promotional content directly into the LinkedIn feed for increased visibility and engagement. Showcase your brand expertise.
Target Influencers
Partner with relevant industry experts, thought leaders, and influencers to help spread your brand message and content to wider audiences.
Groups Participation
Actively participate in industry and interest-related LinkedIn Groups to connect with your niche audiences and position your brand as an authority.
Lead Capture Forms
Add lead capture forms to your LinkedIn posts and Page to gather contact info from interested prospects for future nurturing.
What Type of Content Works Best on LinkedIn?
The content you create and share on LinkedIn should be optimized for the professional audience and align with their interests. Here are some types of content that tend to perform well:
Industry News & Analysis
Commentary on recent news developments and analysis of industry trends are highly engaging. Demonstrate your business knowledge.
Data & Research
Professionals appreciate data-backed content and insights. Share key statistics, case studies, surveys, and research reports.
How-to Guides
Tactical tips, guides, and step-by-step instructions related to professional skills development are very popular. Offer useful advice.
Career Advice
Provide guidance on advancing one’s career such as resume writing, interviewing, developing soft skills, and more. Valuable insights.
Leadership & Management
Business executives look for content on leadership, management, productivity, team-building, HR issues and more. Share your expertise.
Workplace Culture
Discuss trends related to the workplace environment and employer/employee relationships. What’s changing and why it matters.
Lists & Comparisons
Helpful listicles and comparison posts like “The 10 Best CRMs” perform very well. Make complex topics digestible.
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
Here are some tips for getting the most out of your investment in LinkedIn marketing:
Align with Sales
Work closely with sales to identify ideal customer profiles and what messaging will resonate most with them on LinkedIn.
Target Multiple Personas
Tailor content and ads to appeal to multiple roles within your target customer accounts for greater impact.
Retarget Website Visitors
Import website audiences to serve them relevant ads across LinkedIn as they continue their purchase journey.
Promote Content Broadly
Distribute your content across employee profiles, social channels, email, and paid ads for maximum amplification.
Test Different Options
Try out different ad formats, objectives, placements and bid strategies. Iterate based on performance data.
Integrate with Marketing Stack
Connect your LinkedIn campaigns into your broader marketing technology stack like CRM, marketing automation, and analytics.
Set Up Conversion Tracking
Implement conversion tracking for key actions taken on your website so you can optimize based on revenue impact, not just clicks.
Key LinkedIn Marketing Metrics to Track
To determine the ROI of your LinkedIn efforts and identify opportunities to improve, make sure you are monitoring these key performance indicators:
Engagement Rate
The percentage of followers and Page visitors who actively like, share, comment on or click on your content. Benchmark vs. competitors.
Impressions
The number of times your content is displayed to users on LinkedIn. Aim to increase reach over time.
Clicks/CTR
Number of clicks and click-through-rate for your ads and posts. Shows relevance.
Cost Per Lead
The average cost to generate a lead with your ads and sponsored content. Look to decrease over time as targeting improves.
Conversions
Key actions taken on your website following LinkedIn clicks, like signups, downloads, purchases, etc. True business value.
Audience Growth
How quickly are you growing your company Page followers and expanding your audience base on LinkedIn?
Content Shares
Viral spread of your content is free amplification. High social shares signal valuable info.
Conclusion
While not a silver bullet, incorporating LinkedIn into your digital marketing strategy can provide significant benefits like increased lead generation, access to key decision makers, improved brand visibility, and more. To maximize your return, maintain a strong Company Page, create valuable content for your target audience, run targeted ad campaigns, partner with influencers, and analyze performance data.
Used strategically as part of an integrated B2B marketing approach, LinkedIn offers powerful opportunities to grow your business. But achieving success requires playing the long game – building your presence, making connections, and delivering consistent value over time. The professional nature of the platform demands high quality marketing.
While costs are higher and competition fierce, the built-in audience targeting and segmentation makes it easier to engage just those prospects that fit your ICPs and are more likely to convert. The depth of the platform means it can be used for a variety of objectives at every stage of the funnel.
Overall there is no simple yes or no answer on the worth of LinkedIn marketing. It depends entirely on your specific business, target market, objectives, and budget. In many cases the platform warrants at least some level of investment to tap into its unique professional advantages and large user base. Approach thoughtfully, execute strategically, and analyze diligently. Results will speak for themselves over time.