When we think social media, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) are the usual suspects. However, LinkedIn has also grown to become a powerful avenue for making a mark in your respective industry. From thought leadership to raising brand awareness, there’s a lot that you can do with LinkedIn to take advantage of its unique position as a professional’s networking platform. Join Wordsmith and let’s explore why it’s worth investing some effort in LinkedIn!
Precision targeting
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is first and foremost a platform for job hunting, and for professionals and companies to connect. From a demographic perspective, it does narrow down the audience compared to Facebook and Instagram!
While this may sound like a limitation for marketers accustomed to maximising reach and exposure, in some cases it makes sense to be more selective in choosing your target audience. Considering Facebook’s extensive user base – you have people from all walks of life online. Given the number of people on Facebook, you’ll need to target your marketing to reach the right segment of customers (a shotgun approach aimed at multiple demographics is both costly and inefficient).
With LinkedIn’s more tailored user base, you’ll have an easier time reaching the right people with your content. “LinkedIn offers a variety of targeting options…,” writes L K Monu Borkala (a SEO and content marketing specialist) in a LinkedIn article. “You can target by industry, job title, company size, location, and more.” Having more precise search parameters helps you ensure that your content is being seen by people who matter, instead of your average Joe on Facebook who is likely to scroll right over it!
Provoking thoughts and dialogue
Your LinkedIn feed is often filled with articles that your connections have engaged with, and may also include suggested posts that LinkedIn deems relevant to your career and background – similar to how Facebook would recommend content depending on your interests and demographic.
However, unlike Facebook where a big chunk of content is intended for entertainment, LinkedIn’s content is primarily about sharing career experiences and insights – all while actively seeking engagement from readers. From industry thought leaders to just someone dipping their toes into the field, many articles feature comment sections filled with people sharing their thoughts and opinions. But why is it important to have thought-provoking content on LinkedIn? To understand that, we first need to know what thought leaders are and why people aspire to be one.
Thought leaders are defined to be someone “who is specialised in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to for guidance,” writes Fran Biderman-Gross (a Forbes Councils member and founder and CEO of Advantages – a branding and marketing agency). Whether an individual or an organisation, being a thought leader is about being the authority in your area of expertise.
Although profits are often the motivating factor, Biderman-Gross argues that true thought leaders create content and engage with their audiences to be authentic to themselves, to empower, and to influence the community to think differently. Beyond that, they must also have an innate curiosity. You’ll come across some people who may claim to be thought leaders, but in actuality are stubborn and refuse to accept any opinion that doesn’t match with their own – a true thought leader “must be open to listening to others and learning more.” This means that you need to hold your beliefs firm, but also be willing to accept change when proven otherwise!
Interested in becoming a thought leader too? The key is consistency and discipline. More importantly, Biderman-Gross points out that a thought leader’s content must cover the following points:
· Purpose – why should readers care?
· Value – what do readers get out of it?
· Story – what is your spin on the subject and how are you presenting it?
You won’t become a leader overnight, so set up a posting schedule and regularly engage on other people’s posts to share your thoughts. Do be prepared to defend your perspective, but also be open for discussion!
Networking and collaborating
LinkedIn is a great platform to initiate conversations (whether likeminded or not is beside the point). This is especially true if you’re new to LinkedIn and/or are trying to build up your brand!
Aside from consistently posting content, make a habit of going through other thought leaders’ posts. Then consider the following and comment on the post:
· Do you agree with their perspective? Why or why not?
o If you disagreed, how would your perspective fix or alter the argument?
· What did you like about the post? What didn’t you like?
· Do you have related articles or posts on your profile that you can link to for other readers to learn more?
It may seem like a shameless plug, but it’s the most effective way to gain traction online – since thought leaders often have a large and established audience base, it’s a good opportunity for smaller leaders to piggyback their opinions. Of course, you’ll need to be thick-skinned and be ready to defend your perspective, but given that LinkedIn is mostly used by professionals, you can expect discussions to be civil (most of the time anyway).
If your opinion gains good traction and/or receive positive attention from the thought leader, you may also consider requesting a collaborative post with them. Not only is it great marketing for your brand, it also gives you a chance to backlink to your website and other social media channels. When it comes time to seek out new clients, you can be sure that many will do their due diligence and research your background and what you have done. Seeing that you’ve laid good groundwork is a very important sign for establishing trust and confirming that you are indeed a thought leader.
LinkedIn may not be everyone’s first choice when it comes to social media marketing, but it definitely shouldn’t be neglected. Niche as it may be, there are key advantages unique to LinkedIn that you can’t find from the likes of Facebook or Instagram. Give it a try and you might just find yourself as a prominent industry leader with enough effort!