When it comes to professional networking reach, LinkedIn dominates the playing field.

As of June 2024, more than a billion people from 200 countries use LinkedIn. While some social networks might triple that number of users, they can't offer direct access to your target audience or prospective clients like this leading platform.

Whether you're trying to build up your marketing strategy for your LinkedIn page or profile, every professional should know the best practices for LinkedIn marketing. 

What is LinkedIn marketing?

It's easy enough to say that LinkedIn marketing strategy is simply using LinkedIn to market your brand or business – but business goals often dive deeper than that. LinkedIn marketing is about building authentic connections, sharing valuable insights, and positioning yourself or your business as a trusted leader. 

At the same time, you're boosting your presence with a hyper-focus on meaningful engagement, valuable content, and smart networking.

LinkedIn advertising can be owned or earned, but you can also consider paid or shared media in the form of sponsored content, sponsored direct messages, dynamic ads, video ads, or text ads.

Why does marketing on LinkedIn matter?

Building on the classic LinkedIn strategy of positioning yourself as an approachable authority on a given topic or industry, LinkedIn marketing is important due to the general intent of your audience. 

While marketing on social networks is important, LinkedIn marketing works because it reaches a vast professional network of people who are already in a business or growth mindset. They want to network, learn, and engage, so make connections with your LinkedIn audience feel natural and purposeful — not potentially disruptive, like on platforms focused more on personal content.

How to navigate LinkedIn

Learning about LinkedIn marketing starts with knowing the ins and outs of the LinkedIn platform. Let's start easy with some best practices. 

Customizing your public profile URL

The most important thing to know about customizing your LinkedIn profile URL is that anyone can do it. There's no stipulation for a premium account. On the desktop or app, simply go to "edit public profile" and look for the option to customize the URL. 

The profile or business URL can have anywhere from 3 to 100 letters or numbers. Skip custom characters, symbols, or spaces.

Don't change URLs often (if ever), as it will take search engines time to crawl new information.

Adding a LinkedIn background photo

LinkedIn pages and profiles have two photo sections. One is the profile photo, which is round. The other is the LinkedIn banner, which sets the tone for your business or brand. 

Tools like Adobe Express and Canva have pre-sized templates for LinkedIn banners. If you want to custom-create yours, stick to 1584 X 396 pixels.

When designing, keep in mind that your profile round photo will cover part of the bottom left of the banner photo.

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile

Part of any LinkedIn digital marketing strategy begins with optimizing your page or profile from top to bottom. Here are a few key points. 

  1. Profile photo: Your face, company name, or brand logo should be clearly seen in high quality, taking up at least 60% of the photo circle. 
  2. Catchy headline: Get creative or fall in line with your brand guide for the headline to let people know immediately what you are about. 
  3. Write your "About": Your "About" summary should tell your story in an engaging, concise, and SEO-rich way. Highlight your business or brand experience while adding a personal touch. 
  4. Recommendations: Another important part of LinkedIn marketing is having professional recommendations. Keep in mind that giving recommendations might encourage more people to vouch for you, too.

Checking your network updates

The network updates section might also be called the feed, where LinkedIn content is shared by people you follow. These people could range from former colleagues to potential clients to sector leaders. The updates could include organic tailored content, job title or job function promotions, or inquiries from job seekers in your field.

Looking through the newest information creates great networking opportunities. As people post job updates, successes, advice, or other information, you can engage with them to emphasize how engaged you are on the platform. Plus, it will introduce you to new audiences who read the comments.

You can also explore networks in creative ways, such as through the LinkedIn games experience. Put away Candy Crush and opt for the brain-engaging Queens, Tango, or Crossclimb. Initial research shows that 80% of those who play a game return to continue the streak the next day.

How to build a LinkedIn marketing strategy

Creating a LinkedIn marketing strategy takes a thoughtful approach and consistent effort geared toward the ideal platform for reaching professionals. Here’s a step-by-step on how to get started.

1. Define your objectives

There's no reinventing the wheel when it comes to using the marketing tools LinkedIn offers. It starts with clear, measurable, and realistic marketing goals. Are you aiming to generate leads, build brand awareness, recruit talent, or position yourself as an industry leader?

Some easy starter marketing goals might be to gain 100 followers per month or achieve 10% engagement on your graphic content or videos within two months. 

You might even consider setting objectives to fold into your workflow, like five posts a week or 10 engagement comments daily.

2. Optimize your LinkedIn business page

A profile is all about individuals. A LinkedIn business page focuses on the brand of a product, company, or organization.

Optimize your brand business LinkedIn page with similar steps as your personal page, but focusing on brand guidelines and reaching the audience who wants to engage with your company. 

3. Develop a content strategy

The importance of a content strategy cannot be minimized, and that means a little research and creativity. 

You want to see what competitors are doing in the same space and see what is working for them. At the same time, your business's unique qualities might mean a different approach to videos, posts, graphics, or how you share feedback.

Using a content calendar is the best way to lay out the week or month ahead and keep your LinkedIn business page on track.

4. Implement employee advocacy

Employee advocacy is a game-changer for LinkedIn marketing because it taps into your team’s personal networks. 

When employees share company updates or industry insights, it feels genuine and relatable. This not only helps by promoting your brand’s reach but also builds trust with a wider audience in a way traditional marketing can’t.

It's worth noting that the employee advocacy feature on the LinkedIn dashboard will be gone in December 2024, but it's still worth encouraging your employees to play an active role in tagging and touting the company. 

5. Continuously measure and improve

LinkedIn marketing isn't set it and forget it; measure, evaluate, and improve. See which LinkedIn posts, tips, or media galleries get the most reach, engagement, and shares.

LinkedIn allows you to measure against your goals and then compare your results with those of your biggest competitors. 

7 tips to strengthen your LinkedIn marketing strategy

Now that you have a strong LinkedIn presence, it's time to go to the next level of marketing strategy. 

1. Identify your target audience ahead of time

Understanding your audience shapes everything – your tone, the topics you cover, and even the visuals you use. Take time to dive into the demographics and pain points of your ideal clients or connections. 

Are you trying to reach HR companies, small business owners, or tech enthusiasts? Even posting job descriptions needs to appeal to the ideal employee for your work environment.

2. Use a social media marketing tool

Stop juggling every social platform separately and streamline the processes using tools like Brandwatch. This includes tools to customize posts across the different platforms while putting earned and paid marketing in a position for more efficiency and control.

Automation can be your ally as long as you use it thoughtfully – don’t let scheduled posts make you sound robotic.

3. Find out the best times to post on LinkedIn

Your LinkedIn strategy includes knowing the peak posting times of the day. One of the pain points of using LinkedIn marketing on a timed schedule is that your customers or clients might be professionals around the world in different time zones.

While there's no secret sauce for the sweet spot, generally late morning through early afternoon on mid-week days offer prime exposure. But experiment with your audience to see what works.

Just remember that authoritative, engaging, and tailored content is more important than posting something bland at the "ideal" time.

4. Create posts of varying lengths

Great content can be five words or 500 words, but you want to mix it up when creating engaging posts. Thought leadership content begs to be told in long-form, while nuanced nuggets of information could easily be a short post or infographic.

In any event, your content should be designed to get engagement in the form of likes, shares, or comments. Don't forget to find relevant links to encourage more website visitors.

5. Know when to use a LinkedIn profile vs. a LinkedIn page.

There is a right audience for a LinkedIn page and a LinkedIn profile, but they are not always the same audience. Your profile is all about you, even as it pertains to how you fit within a given industry or LinkedIn group. 

A professional page is a sum of its parts, people, and business experience, which harnesses the power of the brand, not any one specific individual. 

For example, if you attend a work convention, you might post a thought leader account of a particular (tagged) keynote speaker. On your business page, you might share a photo of your entire team at the event.

6. Use the right LinkedIn hashtags

While hashtags are important, don't get hashtag-happy. Three to five well-researched and relevant hashtags should suffice per post. 

While placing more hashtags in the first comment might help with reach on another social platform, LinkedIn's hashtag power lies in the main section of a LinkedIn post. If you plan to post some in the comments, carefully choose the three to five main hashtag phrases for the body of your post.

Researching the most popular hashtags can also help with lead generation and connect you with professionals around the world.

7. Measure your progress with LinkedIn analytics

From LinkedIn pages to profiles to groups, your LinkedIn marketing strategy offers analytics for everything you create.

That goes for organic content, sponsored content, or text ads. 

Check metrics like impressions, click-through rates, and engagement levels. If certain posts are outperforming others, ask yourself why. What resonated with your audience? Use these insights to tweak your strategies and keep finding new solutions to underperforming content.

Ready for more? How to Run Successful LinkedIn Ads.

LinkedIn direct messaging (DM) tips

Using direct messages on LinkedIn is different than sliding into DMs on Facebook or X. That goes for content, tone, and calls to action. 

Let's look at the top four pieces of advice for using the LinkedIn platform for messaging companies, businesses, or other professionals.

Personalize your messages

As much as you might want to have a blanket message for efficiency, resist the temptation. Every message should be carefully crafted to create a professional connection. This might include mentioning a marketing article the contact wrote or the time you met the co-founder of the company. 

Don't use introductions such as "Sir or Ma'am." If it's a first-time professional introduction, use their full name. For people you know who prefer a more casual approach, stick with first names. Be sure to check their LinkedIn profile for preferred names.

Also, check the pronunciations on each contact's profile since a message on LinkedIn can be read via phone or video calls.

Keep it professional

While other social platforms lend themselves to a more casual approach, professionalism reigns on the LinkedIn platform. 

For starters, avoid emojis, slang, or memes when introducing yourself. Even if the person responds in a more casual tone, continue your brand management by answering how you would to anyone in your network. 

Be concise

Unless businesses or professionals have asked you to send a wealth of information via messaging, don't write a wall of text on first contact. Think of the "elevator pitch" mentality, yet in a written format. Get their attention quickly and offer to share more expertise in future communication. 

Include a link to your services or a topic you're promoting. 

Have a clear purpose

The LinkedIn platform is about relevant and useful connections with business people or businesses. Your purpose for connecting with someone needs to be clear and logical. Maybe you want to build an audience for your own LinkedIn group or join LinkedIn groups by contacting the moderator.

Even attempts to boost brand awareness fit into purposeful LinkedIn messaging when done correctly.

Market your business on LinkedIn with Brandwatch

Brandwatch is a LinkedIn marketing partner and offers several tools to help track organic content and inbound marketing. Here are a few highlights.

Consumer Research helps track mentions of your current company through LinkedIn and other platforms. Publish is a catch-all for writing, scheduling, and posting LinkedIn content through a shared calendar and media library.

Skip checking all the platforms individually by using a tool like Engage, which prevents you from missing an opportunity to message or engage with someone from your feed.

Coordinate your business digital marketing resources and strategies in one place with Advertise.  Intuitive tools allow you to post on the LinkedIn platform and other social channels while collaborating with colleagues or other businesses.

FAQs

Why should I use LinkedIn for marketing?

You should use LinkedIn for marketing because no other platform will get you this close to so many relevant companies or offer a better network to showcase your expertise.

No matter what your company size is, there's a LinkedIn business benefit from thought leadership content to the LinkedIn group connections to the chance to showcase website services to a target audience.

LinkedIn marketing works as well for a senior manager as it would an intern looking for their first big break. 

What type of content works best on LinkedIn?

A strong LinkedIn strategy involves sharing new data, personal stories with professional relevance, and actionable tips. This platform thrives on authentic and transparent information sharing. 

Steer away from oversharing personal information, emotionally charged rants, or "too trendy" things like TikTok dances. While some of that might get you initial engagement, it is not the kind that sustains your brand, website, or company for the long haul.

How can I grow my LinkedIn network?

Engaging with other LinkedIn members is the best way to foster new connections. As much as you schedule your posts, you should also be focused on planning time to engage with others in your industry. This will also help others become more inclined to engage with your content.

Keep in mind that engagement goes beyond a simple like or "Congrats!" Show that you put thought behind any comment that you leave and invite others to reply to your comment as well. 

How often should I post on LinkedIn?

Advice from industry leaders suggests posting anywhere from twice a day to no more than three times a week. Meet in the middle by posting three to five times a week during the workday, and ideally, two of those are on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. 

Use those metrics to see what's tracking with your audience and adjust frequency or days of the week until you find the mix that works for your brand or personal page.

Interested in learning more? Download the Essential LinkedIn Guide for Marketers from Brandwatch.