LinkedIn officially launched in 2003, and now boasts more than 774 million members worldwide. It has become one of the most widely used social media networks. While you may have created a LinkedIn profile for personal use or to help with a job search, LinkedIn can also be a great place for businesses to connect with followers, build a brand, and drive sales. If you’re looking for ways to improve digital marketing strategies for your company, consider creating a Page on LinkedIn.
Why Use LinkedIn for Business?
LinkedIn has always been a business-forward social media network, so it makes sense that it’s become a place where brands can flourish, and individuals can become thought leaders in their field. Known as the place to go for online networking, job hunting, and creating professional connections, companies with LinkedIn Pages can use the professional social networking site to cultivate a community of followers and customers. HubSpot found that LinkedIn is a great source for discovering leads—277% higher than Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). With stats like that, it’s time to capitalize on the resource and join the 55 million companies on LinkedIn.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on LinkedIn?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) works to develop online content to increase visibility in search engines like Google. In search marketing, the goal is for your content to show up at or near the top of search engine result pages (SERPs) when using certain keywords. You may be familiar with using SEO for a website, but you can also optimize your LinkedIn profile!
Including specific keywords in the headline, summary, and other places throughout your Page means it will pop up in any search for those certain keywords. Getting found by interested users is a critical element of building your business.
Read on for more expert tips to help you increase your visibility when it comes to searches within the platform.
1. Create a Business Page
First things first: create a unique LinkedIn Page for your business. Adding in details like a customized public URL, up to three custom hashtags to help make your Page more searchable, a high-quality profile photo, and an eye-catching banner image will ensure your Page attracts interested eyeballs. Every business Page should include links to your blog and/or website. You can also add in other details like physical location if you have an office or a store, and a custom button (such as visit website, contact us, learn more, register, and sign up) to your Page as a call to action for current and potential followers. Make your LinkedIn Page uniquely you and on-brand! You can add, remove, or rearrange sections to best represent you, your business, and your overall brand vision.
2. Make & Maintain Connections
Once your LinkedIn Business Page is up and running, start reaching out to people. Share your Page with family members, employees, friends, and fans and invite them to follow you on LinkedIn. One way that LinkedIn works is by seeing how you are connected to the person performing the search. Your Business Page is more likely to show up higher in those search results if you have a first-level connection. Thus, making and maintaining connections is not only important to build your brand on LinkedIn, but provides better opportunities to be found by more people in the future.
LinkedIn Groups are places where professionals can engage with those who have similar interests, create a space for a niche within an industry, and even seek out mentorship. Creating a community online is what LinkedIn Groups is all about. Groups provide a place to find common ground, share successes, and ask for support and seek advice. Groups also offer a chance to send messages to other LinkedIn users to whom you aren’t connected. Making genuine connections can enhance business goals. Consider joining a group to gain visibility and share your expertise, or starting your own.
3. Identify the Best Keywords for Your Profile
While it’s important that you actively work to make and maintain connections with others by requesting them and being active on the platform, it’s imperative to do the work to bring interested people to you. That’s where keywords come in. Keywords are the specific words and phrases people typically use when searching for your brand, services, or products.
These will be different words depending on your location, industries, and specialties. While larger companies might have a marketing department that compiles lists of such words, if you’re an entrepreneur or a small business owner, you’ll need to figure them out yourself. You can use a keyword tracker to help you identify the best keywords for your profile. Once you've compiled a list, incorporate them everywhere you can, like in your tagline and About sections. You can even include keywords in your profile picture by renaming the photo to include specific keywords before uploading it to your page. You can do the same thing to optimize your background banner!
4. Add Eye-Catching Images
While keywords are important for optimizing your LinkedIn Page’s SEO, people are always drawn to visual images. Including eye-catching images for your logo and your banner image will help your visibility. Your company logo (basically the profile picture for your LinkedIn Business Page) should be high-resolution and 300 X 300 pixels. Using your company logo as your profile picture helps with brand identity and recognition.
The banner image is a large space for a graphic at the very top of your LinkedIn Business Page, so choose something relevant to your brand that complements your logo. Make the most of that space as it's likely one of the first things visitors to your page will see and interact with. Again, use a high-resolution graphic to make sure it pops. Recommended size is 1536 X 768 pixels.
5. Be Consistent with Posts & Updates
Make sure people know what you’re up to by posting regular status updates from your Page. Posting consistently helps keep you top of mind with your followers—and, believe it or not, Google as well! Regularly posting new content can help your ranking on the search engine because it recognizes your Page is active and delivers informative, useful, and interactive information.
You can even target the specific LinkedIn users who will get those updates. In addition to posting status updates, consider using the @mention feature to call out followers or others in your industry and get conversations going.
Using the @mention feature furthers dialogue because of the individual call-out. A post or status update isn’t directed at anyone specific. By tagging another business or user you’re initiating an exchange. This dialogue can be seen by both their followers and yours. Bonus: anyone can chime in on that conversation—and isn’t that exchange what social media is all about?
6. Use Other Platforms to Drive Traffic to Your LinkedIn Page
Another way to boost interaction on your business Page is by connecting your LinkedIn and X accounts. This way, you can push your LinkedIn status updates directly to your X feed. You may have different followers on the different platforms, and by sharing updates on both, you’re opening up more opportunities for conversations—and conversions.
You can also promote your Page by creating an email marketing campaign asking subscribers to find and follow you on LinkedIn and add a “Follow us on LinkedIn” button to your website, newsletter, or blog to make it easy for people to find your Page on LinkedIn.
Learn LinkedIn Marketing
Those who are ready to make the most of LinkedIn for their business can check out Noble Desktop’s LinkedIn Marketing class. Students will learn how to craft a marketing strategy for LinkedIn, create dynamic content, and advertise on the platform. The course also covers prospecting with LinkedIn search as well as how to use LinkedIn analytics to your advantage.
If you want to learn how to use other platforms to expand your strategy, look into Noble’s 30-hour Social Media Marketing Certificate. The curriculum gives participants a comprehensive overview of the industry. Hands-on training over five distinct units allows students to master various elements of social media marketing. Certificate program participants will learn how to determine the right social media platform for their goals, develop a successful social media strategy, and create content that increases engagement and drives sales. Expert instructors teach participants how to gain a following and underscore the importance of market positioning and using social media analytics to improve results. Noble even offers students a chance to retake the class for free within a year to drill down on challenging concepts or refresh their skills.
You can also find local and live online social media marketing courses, bootcamps, and certificate programs in your area using Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool.
Other social media marketing resources offered by Noble Desktop include its blog which has detailed articles about various social media marketing topics, and the Intro to Social Media Marketing seminar on YouTube, which gives in-depth descriptions about various social media platforms and strategies.