LinkedIn, more than any of the other social media platforms, was built for content marketing. It’s where people go to build authority and engage with other professionals. LinkedIn as a platform is full of the types of people who have the ability to authorize spending on your products and services. Here are a few reasons why LinkedIn is an ideal platform for publishing relevant, shareable content especially in the B2B space. Did you know that around 61 million users are executives, around 40 million are decision makers and 50% of all B2B social traffic comes from LinkedIn? This is definitely the place you want to be seen and heard. Now you are probably wondering, what types of content you should begin posting on LinkedIn. You could begin with things like industry expert content, links to specific services such as webinars or video training, testimonials, behind the scenes and articles that you have written. If you are wondering where to start, begin with highlighting some trends that you are seeing across your industry, things that your customers and potential customers care about deeply. Share your experience of working as a sales professional, your approach and how you help your customers overcome their challenges. You want things that you post to make an impact and you of course want them to be relevant to the business you are in. You can showcase how your company helped achieve something unexpected, or how clients struggle with XYZ and how they were able to turn that from a failure to success.
Recently, authenticity has been the biggest buzz and that’s not without a reason. If someone is prepared to show a little vulnerability and tell us something a little more personal about themselves that helps us to relate to them and builds trust. It could be a light-hearted anecdote or the story of a life-changing challenge that they overcame. Remember that it has to be framed in a business context so in that case, you could be sharing lessons learned in your business or as a sales professional. To give you an example, try writing up a brief description of a project you worked on where you were part of a team that created something extraordinary together that no one person on the team could have done by themselves. Don’t be afraid to share with people the story, not just the end result. Create personal brand messaging that captures attention at first glance and holds people’s attention, because it differentiates the authentic you.
In the next lesson, Video Content, I will share with you how you can get started with the most powerful tool of personal branding… video content.
