LinkedIn is a powerful tool to deliver & extend your brand
LinkedIn™ is the number one business social media platform, with over 760 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. It’s considered “the” primary professional tool in most sectors, with Finance, Medical, Educational, High-Tech, and Manufacturing rating the highest.
LinkedIn engages and delivers results. Statistics have shown that 48% of all LinkedIn members use it at least once a day, and 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
In addition to the mass exposure you get on LinkedIn, there are dozens of other reasons why your company, employees and individuals should leverage their company brand on LinkedIn.
Here are a few of the benefits:
For Businesses
Builds a stronger brand presence as part of the overall brand strategy.
Increases brand awareness and loyalty: can create brand fans if done right.
Improves your brand’s credibility.
Generates website and social media traffic.
Generates leads.
Promotes your business: It’s your 24/7 billboard at no cost.
Provides an opportunity to demonstrate industry and thought leadership.
Provides a place to share company updates and news to customers, employees, investors, and fans to review and share.
Showcases products/ services, features, benefits and applications.
Increases your SEO and digital findability.
Delivers higher Net Promoter Scores. (A customers' willingness to recommend a company’s products/services to others.)
Educates and nurtures potential clients.
Sources and engages top talent, particularly via your employees' connections.
Lower turnover with your existing employees.
Provides an easy check on the competition.
For Employees & Personal Brands
Tapping into the power of the umbrella, company brand, employees, and the company can benefit as it:
Reinforces and enhances your personal brand within your company --a “Brand within a Brand.”
Provides an opportunity to demonstrate industry and thought leadership.
Reinforces and enhances your company’s brand.
Improves your personal brand’s credibility.
Showcases your portfolio and accomplishments.
It’s a teacher and mentor: Keeps you aware of industry trends and competitive efforts.
For example;
Relevant shared content improves client relationships.
Increases your SEO and digital findability.
Gives you a virtual, digital network.
Provides a location for easy references.
Provides career resources for that “next step.”
LinkedIn Company Strategy
The first step is that leadership buys into the fact that LinkedIn is an important strategic tool and includes it in company and employee branding, marketing, content, social media and sales strategy.
If you’re active on other social networks, having a presence on LinkedIn can help you grow your company connections across the social media networks. Most social networks allow you to link to and from your LinkedIn page to boost recognition and increase your connections.
The strategy should focus on how the company and the employee can best leverage the power and the strength of the larger company brand and the personal power of the individual employee’s brand.
Start with the plan. The plan includes objectives, actions and responsibilities; who will manage it, what content and updates will be needed and when. After the plan is confirmed, round-up your brand assets to include key brand messages and visuals and evolve the company page along with your brand, messaging and content.
Make it easy for employees to post company brand-related messages
Roll out the company LinkedIn plan to your employees
Create an impactful Company Page. (See more in the Brands That Deliver White Paper.)
Help your employees to understand your company’s brand and how to apply it consistently and with controls. Help people not to go “brand-rogue.”
Empower your employees to promote the company brand and their personal brand. Highlight how being a brand ambassador can be a win-win.
Tell them what’s in it for them. Being more engaged on social media and sharing content builds credibility for individuals. It also helps them grow their networks and establish themselves as a trusted adviser and leader
Encourage and help employees build out their profiles.
Ask your employees to connect with your company on LinkedIn and other platforms. That action spreads through his or her network as an update, motivating others to follow as well.
Ask your employees to follow your company on LinkedIn.
Help your employees share messages that highlight both the employee and the company.
Provide them brand statements and other branded content and messages to add to their summary or job description sections.
Promote your employer brand internally; only then will they naturally promote the brand externally.
Make it easy for employees to create content
Give people pre-written content, articles, visuals, social media messages with links that are easy to copy and paste to share across social media platforms.
If possible, find subject matter experts who can publish stories about the company and work the employees do, what life is like at the company, or industry innovations.
Make these messages accessible .by putting content in multiple places: your brand guidelines, your internal site, a newsletter, a social media advocacy tools.
Promote on-brand posting. It elevates your brand and theirs.
Create a hashtag in your company’s name like #BlueIrisLabs.
Encourage them to wear branded apparel that you give them.
Give them deep discounts on your products and ask them to share their brand experience.
If you take a stand on an issue or offer a volunteer program, have them share the updates.
Offer employees rewards for helping attract recruit connections— is a great way to activate your employees.
Maintain ongoing training for employees.
Evaluate what is working, iterate, and improve.
Next steps
Create a powerful Company Page.
Encourage employees to create, maintain their pages, post and share.
Maintain updates and keep the brand alive.
Buy the full e-book to get the details of the next steps, complete with instructions on setting-up powerful company and personal LinkedIn pages:
Managing the power of LinkedIn by showcasing your brand and what it stands for can make your brand stand out. Tapping into the human connection in the right space, with the right messages and the right product, creates engagement, and that drives revenue.
Are You Ready To Take The Next Step For a Stronger brand?
Look for Laurie's Articles in the Series: "It’s time to take stock & rethink your brand."
#8 Why you need an updated Brand Strategy? (Are you fumbling your brand? )
Need help?
>> Check out our Quick Start Branding Program.
>> Take the Brand Quiz.
Brands That Deliver™ and Laurie Pillings Rinker, a brand-driven marketing strategist.
Laurie is a brand-driven marketing consultant, author, speaker, and podcaster. As principal of Brands That Deliver ™, she works with clients to focus, transform brands, deliver brand-driven marketing programs, and grow revenue.BrandsThatDeliver.com.
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