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How to use LinkedIn

This article will explore how you can use LinkedIn to engage current and prospective customers.

In this article we are going to explore LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional social media network. Today, there are about 810 million professionals globally who have LinkedIn profiles. That makes it an incredible network of people that you can connect with, and share informative content with, along with your brand information.

Demographics

It’s important to understand what the main demographic on LinkedIn is. If you understand this, you’ll be able to tailor your message to the specific demographics and leverage the specific language that is used by them.

As mentioned in Week 1, the main demographic of LinkedIn is working professionals. Therefore, it’s essential to create content that is professional and friendly. Create impact with your words by using popular power words that grab other users’ attention! For your personal profile, these would be words such as “expert”, “motivated” and “successful”, and for a business profile words that relate closely to your brand and what you stand for would work well. Along with making the most of the power of articles and posts on this platform, keep in mind to also engage your audience with images and videos as well.

Content

LinkedIn articles are long, in-depth pieces that allow you to post thoughtful content. To become a thought leader on LinkedIn, you need to be able to showcase expertise around certain topics. Publishing valuable content on LinkedIn positions you as an authority on your topic. Articles are a great way to do this; once you post enough of them, not only will users trust you and your brand more, but your content will also easily show up on search engine results – such as Google – increasing the traffic to your content.

LinkedIn posts are the shorter versions of articles which show up on your follower’s feeds once you post them. Posting regular, valuable content creates trust with your connections and helps you to be seen as an expert on your topic, increasing the reliability of your brand. When users engage with your posts, they will show up on their followers’ feeds, and hence the popularity of your brand’s page will also increase.

LinkedIn videos are video clips that you can upload to engage your followers. Posting videos about your brand can deepen your connection with your users as they tend to spend more time watching videos than reading articles. Additionally, videos also tend to be shared more than any other type of content, providing you with the opportunity to improve your reach.

LinkedIn carousel posts are documents that can be shared on your LinkedIn feed. These can be in the form of presentations consisting of multiple slides that your followers can scroll through without having to leave LinkedIn! Carousel posts are an effective way to use text and visuals to drive engagement and their interactive nature helps them stand out from other posts.

Algorithm

You were previously introduced to social media algorithms. LinkedIn also uses algorithms to tailor content based on users’ preferences. One of the ways to ensure that you rank high in the LinkedIn search results is to insert relevant keywords in your ‘About’ section clearly representing who you are and what you do. Make sure you create content that relates closely to these key words in your ‘About’ section and is relevant to your brand image and target audience. The more frequently you create content for your followers to engage with, the higher your page will appear in search results.

Top tips

A few useful tips on using features specific to LinkedIn to help you engage your audience and grow your business:

  • Keep your LinkedIn profile updated. People will not only check your brand’s page, but they will also check your personal profile. Having a complete profile that showcases skills, achievements and examples of past work will help your audience get to know you more and trust your brand. If there are people considering doing business with you, they may check your LinkedIn profile for previous work history. So, it’s important to be visible, have your profile up to date, and connect with diverse groups of people.
  • Create an engaging business page for your brand. Offer enough information so that potential clients understand what your brand is offering and why it’s valuable for them.
  • Think about your ideal audience – who are they, what are their likes, dislikes, and online behaviours. What job titles might they have? What industry are they working in? The answers to these questions will help you create brand awareness among people with the most relevant job titles who work in industries of interest for your business.
  • Consider growing your follower count. The more followers you have, the more people will see your posts and updates on their feed, and click on your links. There will also be more opportunities for people to interact with your posts, directly advertising your content on their feeds. To implement this, you can use a LinkedIn “Follow” button on your website, promote your company page on emails and blog posts, or invite your connections to like your brand page.
  • Use visuals frequently. Images on LinkedIn create six times more engagement than text-only posts. If you opt for videos, they should be short and punchy. Consider adding subtitles for those watching with the sound off, and for better accessibility.
  • Create LinkedIn ad campaigns using the in-app Campaign Manager tool. You can use it to run sponsored content, ads, and find out how well your campaign is doing – clicks, likes, shares, comments, and follows.
  • Use the analytics tool, LinkedIn Page Analytics, to gain insight into your audience’s preferences and behaviours, which can help you to optimise your content regularly.

Can you give some examples of successful LinkedIn social media campaigns that you have come across in the past?

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Digital Skills: Social Media

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