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Many people assume LinkedIn is different than other social networks, and in some ways, it is. It’s geared toward building professional relationships and industry connections. But some rules apply to everything. Just as we said last week for Twitter, it is important to engage in conversations rather than solely promote yourself.
The importance of conversation
Engaging followers is just as important for your company on LinkedIn as it is anywhere else. In fact, some might argue it is more important in the B2B space, because LinkedIn allows you to target fellow professionals and prospects who have direct ties to your niche. Connect with them, and follow other companies in your field.
And don’t stop at following – comment on and respond to their content. Meanwhile, one of the best ways to recruit new followers for your company is by utilizing the power of LinkedIn groups.
Groups are a great place to start
Groups are an ideal way to establish yourself as an industry leader, allowing you to facilitate conversations relevant to your product or service. By doing this, you showcase your expertise and garner more interest in your company. Post industry news or blog posts that reflect your leadership on a given topic. This places you and possibly your company in a position of thought leadership, the ideal place to be from a marketing perspective.
Soon you will notice return engagement, and at that point, your followers might be interested in promotion of your company’s work. As you stimulate B2B dialogue, link back to your content when it’s natural – or when it is directly helpful to someone else. This will lead people to your company organically, resulting in a higher quality network who trusts that you’re not a hard, ruthless seller.
Genuine interest pays off
No matter what, connect with others long before you indulge in self-promotion. You want to be sure that you have a follower base interested in clicking through your link before you share it. Reach out, engage others and respond to questions. Even better, ask questions. Your industry and, in the long run, your company will benefit greatly from these conversations.
If you find yourself worrying about when to post, or questioning what is valuable and what is self-broadcasting, refer to the graphic above. Consider sharing it with your employees as well, since they should be engaging with your company on LinkedIn. Make this your general guide, and LinkedIn will bring you great returns.
Do you participate in B2B conversations on LinkedIn? If not, start today!
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To continue our month-long exploration of maximizing social platforms, this week is dedicated to LinkedIn. Because this network didn’t make a quick rise to the top like Pinterest and isn’t a place to share every detail of life like Facebook, some people overlook its potential. We are here to attest to the many ways that LinkedIn can pay off for professionals and the companies they represent, especially those in the B2B sector.
While there are many ways for companies to have a presence on LinkedIn, they won’t do you much good if your own team is not utilizing the platform. First and foremost, you must get your employees on board. Make sure they are aware of the LinkedIn potential and encourage them to develop their personal profiles and interact with the company page.
In the B2B space, there is no form of social media more valuable than LinkedIn. It allows targeted conversations in niche fields — just what a software company who markets exclusively to airlines, for example, might need. It allows companies that create highly complex products to start conversations with people who are invested. This ultimately leads to a stronger network and more selling power for those leading the conversation.
If you sense that your employees aren’t taking full advantage of LinkedIn, hold a lunch & learn – or perhaps a series of them – to educate employees on its value and how to use it to help themselves and the company. Once you’ve shown them how to optimize their personal profiles, get them involved on the company page.
Soon, your employees will be connecting with other professionals in your industry, which will cause your company’s content – and product – to travel faster and further than ever before. The time spent on internal training will pay off with a quality network built specifically for your company.
Are your employees using LinkedIn along with you? Has it paid off?
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It’s Twitter week on the blog, and we already talked about focusing on engagement. Some Twitter users might feel that’s easier said than done. Today’s post holds the key to increasing engagement by allowing you to understand exactly when to tweet to engage your specific followers. It almost sounds too good to be true.
This analytics tool that allows you to optimize your efforts on Twitter, and it’s completely free. It analyzes both the times your followers are most active and what material they respond to, and recommends when and what you should tweet to best engage them. It even shows you where your followers live and helps you find new influencers in your field.
Followerwonk compares what you’re doing with your followers’ responsiveness, allowing you to hone your Twitter profile to the most effective point for your company. To begin, sign in at the Followerwonk site, and allow it to access your profile. Begin exploring the many ways this extensive information about your network can serve you professionally.
In the B2B marketing world, Followerwonk is especially helpful in building a niche community. You could choose three high-profile Twitter personas in your industry, for example, and analyze their networks. Take a look at their followers, and see how many you have in common. Find the most active profiles with information provided by Followerwonk, including the user’s engagement and retweet rate. To build wider influence, reach out to those influential followers, share their information and respond to their posts. Soon, the relationship will become reciprocal – especially when you both find commonalities between you. Even better, you can excuse yourself from spending time trying to engage those with a 0% response rate. When it comes to being time efficient and effective in social outreach, strategy is everything.
The analytical prowess of Followerwonk is endless. Consider tracking one of your specific B2B marketing campaigns with the tool, looking to see exactly at which points you gained or lost followers. This will tell you what practices to modify, and which to continue to best engage your unique community.
Do you use Followerwonk? If so, how has it worked for you specifically?
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This week is reserved for Twitter on the blog. With millions of users and tweets each day, it can be overwhelming to try to use the platform effectively for your company. We’ve put together our top three Twitter tips to share today and we guarantee that with a bit of thoughtful execution, they won’t let you down.
Consistency is king
Some people say content always reigns, but not on Twitter. Your posts matter, but the most important thing is to be consistent. Just keep showing up, day after day, and try to engage with someone new whenever you can. Your regularity will make a strong impression on prospects. They’ll see that you take Twitter seriously, and as a result, they’ll take you seriously, too. Don’t just use it to promote yourself and your content. Share things with general value. Your followers will thank you.
Hashtags
Hashtags automatically make your posts more searchable. If you are concerned with gaining followers or traction in an industry, find the related hashtag. You’ll notice that others who follow that hashtag will find you. Using one or two strategic hashtags per post can be a goldmine when it comes to building a high-quality community. Be meaningful, and use them sparingly, and you’ll reap great rewards.
Pictures
Yes, pictures again. Last week, we discussed Facebook as a highly visual medium (link). Twitter is more based in text, but users still love photos. Followers might be more likely to share or retweet a post with an effective visual. And since everyone doesn’t do it, you’ll stand out. Use photos to tell your story!
We’d love to hear how Twitter is working for you. Are you engaging your followers?
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To continue our breakdown of the top social channels, this week is all about Twitter. Individuals have varying feelings about Twitter. Some think it’s simple and conversational and others are overwhelmed with the thought of maintaining a constant stream of conversation about brand communication. Either way, Twitter becomes a highly effective B2B tool with a bit of strategy and planning.
Shift your definition of success
When using Twitter, it is easy to fall into the trap of counting tweets and followers. If you find yourself measuring success in those terms, we encourage you to shift your thinking. Take a step back from follower counts and focus on engagement. What kind of replies are you getting from your followers? Are they retweeting and favoriting your posts? Taking a look at those numbers will be far more beneficial to your company than making sure you hit a set amount of posts per day.
Tweeting 2-3 times per day is not a bad goal to have. But to add a more significant layer to that, make a conscious effort to interact with other Twitter users in more than half of your posts.
Engage with your followers
If you can’t imagine replies or retweets 50% of the time, it’s likely that you’re tweeting the wrong things. Many companies view Twitter purely as a place to broadcast their work. Followers will notice and disengage. To avoid this, pay attention to your engagement measurements. What kinds of posts get responses? While sharing your own work is appropriate, it must be balanced with engaging, resourceful information – perhaps an article about a new development in your industry, or a piece of news that will influence your business.
When you start getting responses, the most important step is to respond. Stimulate Twitter dialogue with your followers, whether they are colleagues or customers. Use Twitter for the customer service tool it is, and participate in conversations that demonstrate your company’s ability to connect.
How has Twitter worked for your company?
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There are studies to prove that the best Facebook posts use photos, but who needs a study to prove what’s clear to the naked eye? All it takes is a bit of time on the network and some common sense to understand that the most engaging content on Facebook is visual.
B2B marketers should use this aspect of Facebook to their advantage. Often, B2B companies are perceived to be highly technical, complex and unapproachable. Facebook presents a perfect opportunity to show that B2B companies, like any others, are made up of real people who enjoy life and work – and contribute to important industries on a daily basis.
Consider snapping photos of employees during the workday to keep followers engaged, and always post shots from special company events. Tag attendees to recruit action, shares and likes for the page. Users are undeniably drawn to the visual representation of a community, whether it’s in everyday tasks like favorite coffee brews, or happy hour at the annual conference.
As you develop visual, photo-focused Facebook posts, be aware of legal issues. Only post photos that are your own, that you’ve been given permission to share, that are carefully and properly sourced, or are listed as public domain.
To avoid the legal ramifications of sharing photos that don’t belong to you, consider sticking to your own, but dressing them up. Tools like PicMonkey and Infogr.am make it easy to create collages and add text or special effects. With a little time and effort, your photos can look impressive and professional. Your Facebook followers will love them!
What kind of posts have worked best for your company on Facebook? Do you often use photos?
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This month, we’re sharing our thoughts on a form of marketing that has exploded in the last few years and continues to surprise even its most frequent users.
Social media
Every company understands the need for social media prowess in the digital age, but almost everyone is overwhelmed by the prospect of managing so many channels effectively. The secret? Pick your targets and maximize their potential.
Once you have determined which social platforms are best suited to your business, explore ways to master them. At Movéo, we use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, and we’re going to share our tips for each throughout September. This week we’re getting honest about Facebook.
Facebook is more useful to B2B brands than many marketers think. While the network is often thought of as a consumer destination, it can still serve great purposes for B2B companies. Facebook is a place for both employees and customers to get an inside look at daily culture of your company.
Culture is King…of Facebook
Company culture should be your prime Facebook topic, no questions asked. Use your company’s page to celebrate recent wins and explore challenges recently faced by the company, or maybe the industry as a whole. Highlight an office competition (like Movember!) or community service day, and be sure to include pictures. Share human interest stories that will both engage your internal team and speak to individuals outside the company. Revisit your brand messaging plan and find ways to reiterate it through these Facebook stories.
Don’t abandon your overarching messaging strategy when it comes to social media. The themes remain the same, they’re just tailored to each channel. For Facebook, think company culture, human interest and storytelling.
Following those rules will get you the engaged audience you want, and the “likes” to prove it.
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Though it is only the end of August, suddenly the end of the year is in sight. It might be a bit too early to celebrate your long-term goals, but it is certainly not too early to enjoy the progress you’ve made. One of the best parts of the goal setting process is the enormous sense of gratification that comes along with accomplishment.
You have probably had a few victories this year already, or perhaps you are closer to reaching a big goal than anticipated. Take time to celebrate. Labor Day Weekend is the perfect time to take stock of your hard work and relish the sense of achievement that comes with success – whether it’s big or small.
Before you sign off for the holiday, take a moment to express your gratitude to the teammates who supported you along the way. Victory is sweeter when shared, and your team wants to relish in your success. They are the ones who experience disappointment along with you when the company falls short, and they are the ones to encourage now — a boost for all of you to finish the year with a push towards reaching those goals.
Happy holiday, and congratulations on a successful year to date!
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Today we are talking about a part of goal realization that seems obvious, but is one of the most difficult to master: accountability. Company goal sharing often happens in January, with the rest of the year spent hoping that people are doing their part to contribute. Usually, workloads increase, while unexpected projects creep in and dominate communication channels — goals are rarely discussed again until the next year.
We are asking you to take a pledge today that will help your entire company reach its goals. “I will update my team on goal progress, regardless of workload or deadlines.” In our experience, setting aside even 15-30 minutes per week to formulate a company-wide email that illustrates your goal status makes a huge impact. Your team will be more aware of what needs attention, where to focus their energy, and how to help you reach the endgame. By sharing your progress, you invite them to stay committed to the process. Colleagues will be enabled to thrive by your leadership and feel more invested in the company vision.
As a marketing leader within your company, it is likely that your goals have a greater impact on company-wide initiatives that extend beyond your department. For that reason, even colleagues outside your immediate team will appreciate hearing where you stand. Soon, your company will feel energized by your commitment and work as an integrated whole. Together, you will strive to actively reach goals that could have been ignored.
Clear communication and regular accountability are key to goal realization. How do you communicate progress to your team?
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A couple of weeks ago, we talked BHAGs. Let’s go back to that today as we explore tools for goal realization.
We’re coming to the end of our month long look at goal setting, and we need to keep the company endgame in mind. The BHAG. Dedicate 30 minutes today to think about the future version of your company. Really consider the details, and don’t be shy. Get specific. Who works there? What is company culture like? How different is your work at that point than it is in the present moment?
Write those visions down, as a promise to yourself and to the company, and to begin the process of making them real. Next, work backwards from your BHAG to create an action plan. This is the practical step that has the potential to enact progress more than anything else. Starting with the end goal in mind, create a set of necessary steps to get there. Where is the company one year before the goal is reached? Two years before? Keep moving backwards, visualizing checkpoints, until you reach the present day.
Take the checkpoints you visualized and make them into an actionable list. This is the roadmap to help you reach your BHAG.
The final step to success is to share your roadmap with your mentors and trusted advisors. Talk it through with them, so they can support you and hold you accountable as you lead the company into the future. Check in with this support system on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis to keep track of your progress — and more importantly, to provide yourself with that encouraging boost to keep going, keep checking milestones off the list.
While exploring the roadmap to your BHAG, don’t forget to share it with your team! By doing so, you will provide them with a clear vision of why they do what they do each day — and a vision to work towards. Together, you and your colleagues will take your company straight to your BHAG.
Start visioning today — you’ll build your company’s future.
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