The lockdown to contain COVID-19 has caused a huge impact on the businesses; companies of all sectors are going through some challenging times. As per Indian Govt. the relaxation phases of the lockdown are already initiated, keeping in mind the precautionary measures and disrupted economic activity.

The world has undergone a massive shift and is now dominated by all things that are virtual, thanks to the Pandemic. Like every social platform, LinkedIn has seen more than 55% increase in engagement among connections, while it's also seeing more content posted, with rise in messaging volume too.

The biggest topics discussed are perspectives & advice on remote working, social distancing, crisis management, business continuity, online learning, etc. E.g. “remote working” searches on LinkedIn Learning tripled in March.

Just like we constantly ensure the essentials are stocked up, business owners are worried, ensuring how they can work on their brand. Well, below are some of the key aspects of how a brand can leverage LinkedIn & make a positive impact on the business.

OPTIMIZE YOUR PRESENCE 

If the concerned profiles or page don't present a business in the best possible way, customers will go to a competitor with profiles that do. Your profile & business page is the first impression for many professionals out there. You have to put your best foot forward, go through this list to effectively make your presence known –

• Profile & Cover Picture are more important than what you think
• Keyword-rich description, brand assets & relevant information
• Increase your chances of being discovered, by a unique 'Overview' section (Don't copy/paste website data)
• Humanize your brand (Connecting employees will expand the reach)
• Inbound links are crucial (Add that button to website & social media, everywhere)
• Update & upgrade the profiles of all staff members
• Get more connections & recommendations (precisely grow the network)

POST UPDATES REGULARLY

Once you have done the optimization, number one thing you should do consistently - remain active & post frequently. Share with the people, how business is coping with the inevitable changes brought by COVID; how the organisation is changing the way it operates.

LinkedIn says 'personal stories & insights' is the key to maximizing engagement & building a presence within your respective communities. Long-form content performs best; research shows that posts between 1,900 & 2,000 words receive maximum engagement. 

Companies are being customer-centric, by keeping them at the heart of their communications. There are important conversations taking place on LinkedIn currently, some of the types of content that you can share –

• Company news 
• Industry articles 
• Thought-leadership pieces 
• Poll followers with questions 
• Videos, photos, links to content
• You can even share posts from employees, partners, & clients
• Being genuine makes you more approachable & better reflects who you are

 Also read- Do's and Dont's of Social Media Marketing

SHOWCASE YOUR EXPERTISE

Access news feed avidly & find out about your industry by following relevant people & hashtags, because even those with few connections, can still obtain vast quantities of information available. Craft your content & showcase your expertise as per that data, be informative about the communication.

LinkedIn Pulse is a great way to publish original, engaging pieces of content that can position your company as a thought leader, drive new traffic to the website, & generate more sales. It’s a crucial part of your content strategy.

You can’t publish articles directly from Company Page, but the leadership team can publish articles from their profiles & can help boost your company’s presence on the network.

If your business has different brands, initiatives, or sub-businesses, then you should consider adding a LinkedIn Showcase Page for each. Showcase Pages are extra subpages that can show off additional brands or divisions within your company, that you want to draw attention to.

EXPAND YOUR NETWORK

Connect with professionals & ask them if your service can bring them value. In these unpredictable times, companies are using transparent conversations to illustrate their reliability, by discussing very real challenges & how they’re addressing them.

Most industries have active groups, join them and be generous with your advice (no product pitch). Being an active member can help you & your business network with other professionals & businesses in the field, especially those outside your immediate circle. By joining groups and engaging in discussions, you’ll provide your business increased visibility.

You don’t have to add hundred+ connections. Making just 30 connections will provide better & more personal insights, each time you log in. The more you build connections, the better those insights will become and the more value you’ll get out of LinkedIn.

ENGAGE WITH THE COMMUNITY

There's a Content suggestion feature, which allows you to get suggestions by filtering for the audience, industry, location, & more. Engage with the community in best possible ways, while you try to showcase your expertise and contribute.

Build & manage a LinkedIn group that's thematically related to your product/service. Do not use the group to promote the business; rather use it to build a community around thought leadership, providing a trusted space for users to communicate. With recent improvements to groups, make sure you are leveraging the new engagement features, such as tagging group members.

BRING VALUE TO THE AUDIENCE

If you know a blog post/article from an external source that would benefit the audience, you can share that, too. Even if the content doesn’t originate from your team, it will show that you're aware of the different aspects of your industry. This can also help nourish valuable connections with other thought leaders. Be sure to provide more context when sharing - don’t just paste the URL.

PROMOTION & ANALYTICS

LinkedIn allows you to get much targeted with their advertising platform. Sometimes the engagement & conversion rate is two to three times higher than Twitter & Facebook. The cost-per-click can be high, but engagement quality is very powerful. 

Promote your best updates to highly targeted audiences using Sponsored Content, LinkedIn’s premier ad format. Raise brand awareness, generate quality leads, & gain followers by extending the reach.

There’s a lot you can do when running ads, there's a “matched audience” feature for better targeting of ads on the platform. The different types of ads that you can run - Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, Text Ads, & Carousel Ads.

Learn about your visitors

With the new & improved visitor analytics dashboard, you can monitor engagement by: 

• Specific date ranges 
• Visitor channels 
• Job function 

Stay up to date on the page’s performance among different demographics & see if, and when, you’re reaching the right audience.

LinkedIn’s research shows that posts tend to get the most engagement in the morning, followed by posts published after business hours. It offers detailed analytics to learn what kind of content the followers are most likely to engage with, understand demographics, & track traffic/activity on your page.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a tool you can use to improve & cultivate customer relationships. It’s an effective way to source leads & increase sales. You can use the lead builder tool to source prospects & convert them. It has an advanced search function that enables you to apply twenty filters to the searches.

Finally, to sum it up, it's a professional network that allows you to build credibility, create meaningful impact & connections.

Amidst this pandemic, LinkedIn is committing to help critical roles fighting on the frontline. If you're from the essential businesses category such as healthcare, warehousing, supermarket, freight delivery & non-profits working in support or relief roles, all will be given FREE Job postings to adhere your urgent hiring needs.

Hope we included everything that a business needs to consider while leveraging such a professional network in these unusual times. If you need guidance & are planning on going much deeper with your strategy, we’ll be happy to assist. You can contact us through business@sociomark.in or you can DM us on our Social Media.

 Stay Home | Stay Safe

*Reference - LinkedIn Official Blog, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog, Inc., Forbes, LinkedIn for Small Business Blog, SocialMediaToday

Author: Heta Desai (Managing Director)