How to find your business audience on LinkedIn (and why you need to start now)

Several years ago, a friend told me he was stepping off the VP track at one of the biggest corporations in the world. He was eager to try new things, and ultimately start his own consulting firm. But, like many people setting off on their own, getting started with lead generation felt intimidating. On top of that, he didn’t have a significant presence on LinkedIn, the platform built for B2B marketing.

I was not surprised to hear this, as a huge number of B2B sellers have LinkedIn profiles but spend little to no time growing and engaging their audience. After all, it takes time to learn how to use LinkedIn for marketing (although it’s easier than you think), and that means it often lands on the procrastination list.

It didn’t take much convincing for my friend to get started on the platform. I offered a few pointers to get him started. Today, just a couple years later, he has more than 9,000 followers and gets about 70% of his business leads from LinkedIn. He now makes far more money than he did on the corporate track, as his own boss, and points directly to LinkedIn engagement as a primary success-driver. To me, this story exemplifies how powerful the platform can be.

What the data says about the B2B audience on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is often thought of merely as a place for job seekers and recruiters. But it’s far more than that. The reason my friend unlocked such terrific success is that LinkedIn is also a B2B marketing platform owned and generously invested in by one of the largest corporations in the world, Microsoft. Those investments have paid off. Today, LinkedIn has more than one billion users, including 230 million in the United States alone.

It’s important to understand that LinkedIn is designed to help people succeed professionally, not just find a new job or a new candidate. As part of that, a major investment area is connecting B2B sellers with buyers, and there are millions of them on the platform. Four out of five LinkedIn users are business decision-makers. In addition,  82% of B2B marketers say they get their best results on LinkedIn, compared to other social media platforms.

But what impresses me even more are the actual stories of people I know—including people I’ve trained to use the platform—who have used it to engage their audiences and find business leads.

How to start marketing on LinkedIn

Now that I’ve convinced you that LinkedIn is a must for B2B sellers, you’re probably wondering how to get started. The good news is that it’s easy(ish) to do so. Here are three initial, critical steps to start you on the right path.

1.      Complete your profile. This is arguably the hardest initial step, so carve out an hour or two and get it done. Add a banner image that is relevant to your business. Ensure you have a professional headshot. Fill out more details within your professional experience, including outcomes relevant to your current B2B offerings. And write a compelling “about” statement that speaks directly to what you offer your B2B audience.

2.      Sign up for LinkedIn Premium and add your professional services. This next step is going to cost you some money, but it’s worth it: get LinkedIn Premium for business. Among the many benefits, you can add a button on your profile that links people directly to your services, such as “book an appointment” or “visit my store.” This, along with other steps, will remove much of the friction that prevents other LinkedIn members from doing business with you.

3.      Spend 15 minutes each weekday growing your connection/follower count. I recommend logging on daily, first to connect with everyone you know. Once you’ve done that, spend those 15 minutes identifying people you want to know. Experiment with sending connection requests to people or following them, in the hope they will follow back, and see what gets the best results. Your goal is to grow an audience that will soon start hearing from you. Because the next step—and one I’ll get into in a future post—is to regularly share your expertise on the platform (cheat code: I wrote a little about this here).

It's important to understand that these are the initial steps I recommend. There is far more you can and should do to market your business on LinkedIn. If you want 1:1 help with starting to use LinkedIn to engage your audience and gain business leads, feel free to reach out: https://www.thoughtleaderdigital.com/contact