The Ultimate Guide to Creating a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy (Steps, Tips, and Tricks) | Updated 2021

Ask any professional and they’ll tell you the same thing: If you haven’t invested in a good LinkedIn marketing strategy, you’re missing out on hundreds of opportunities that could turn into sales for your business. 

LinkedIn’s impressive growth

After LinkedIn was first introduced in 2013, not many people paid attention to the social platform. Back then, it seemed like an optional marketing channel when placed beside big names such as Facebook and Instagram.

With over 660 million users across the globe, LinkedIn grew to more than just a simple connecting and networking platform. It’s now an extremely powerful tool for lead generation and B2B marketing.  

It takes time and effort to create an effective LinkedIn marketing strategy. If you do it the right way, you’ll build better brand awareness and foster good relationships with leads and customers. 

The LinkedIn advantage in marketing

Any professional with a business or career goal has a LinkedIn profile. That includes job seekers, marketing professionals, decision-makers, and even senior-level influencers. Given the vast population of users on the LinkedIn platform, there’s no way you won’t find the right leads. 

More than finding the right people, LinkedIn also offers a ton of other benefits: brand awareness, better website traffic, and valuable engagement. You’ll also have the opportunity to establish yourself as an industry leader.

Of course, it goes without saying that developing a LinkedIn business strategy calls for clearly defined targets. Without first knowing your brand by heart, you’ll end up wasting time, effort, and resources on the wrong plans. 

We rounded up the steps that are absolutely indispensable if you want to craft an effective LinkedIn marketing strategy. 

Step 1: Have a clear set of goals and targets

When you are 100 percent certain about your objectives, you’ll have the opportunity to create more effective copies and advertisements. As such, it’s imperative that you list down your goals as the first step to outlining your strategy. Some of the common marketing goals that you could consider are:

Step 2: Know your audience

With your business goals comes your target audience – one of the most important prerequisites of any effective LinkedIn marketing strategy. Strive to be as specific as possible. Identify their:

Job titles

Geographic location

Demographic

Interests

Step 3: Make an appealing LinkedIn Company Page

Aside from your website, your LinkedIn page is one of the first things your potential clients will see. Creating good first impressions is absolutely crucial if you want to close a partnership. 

Help your visitors by providing them all the possible information that they may need from you – your products, office locations, website URL, and contact details. Having a complete and updated LinkedIn profile is a great way to boost credibility and strengthen your presence on the platform. You should also start thinking about filling up your descriptions and header images to reinforce your brand image.

Step 4: While you’re at it, optimize your LinkedIn page

If you want better visibility on the digital platform, it’s best to optimize your company page by using: 

1. KEYWORDS

Research the best terms and phrases used by your target audiences. Once you’re confident about your list, you can incorporate these keywords to your company description, content, and headlines. 

2. OUTBOUND LINKS

Use your LinkedIn page to redirect users to your website, social media profiles, or your newsletter sign up. More links will boost your LinkedIn strategy and SEO.

3. RELEVANT CONTENT

Contribute to your industry and engage with your network by publishing relevant, insightful content. 

Step 5: Check out competitor pages

Benchmarking against your competitors will provide you with better plans to strengthen your strategy. LinkedIn’s “Companies to Track” feature will provide you with competitor key metrics such as follower growth and engagement, so you could include better tactics into your own strategy.

Step 6: Plan and Publish content

Planning content ahead will help you stay consistent – one of the key factors in retaining engaged followers and customers. Spending a few minutes to create your publishing calendar (and sticking to it) will grow your audience and bring your page maximum traction. 

Of course, it’s important to remember that everything you publish must bring value to you or your audience. Nothing beats meaningful content that connects with your readers. 

Step 7: Utilize Analytics

Don’t underestimate the power of understanding your LinkedIn Analytics. If you regularly evaluate the performance and effectiveness of your strategy, you can further refine your plans and respond according to what works and what doesn’t. 

LinkedIn Analytics offers comprehensive numbers including impressions, clicks, and CTR for each of your posts. These are helpful if you want to mold your strategy further to achieve maximum results. In addition, you might also want to start tracking the website traffic brought by your LinkedIn page. 

Good marketers are not afraid of changing up their strategies along the way. What sounded like a good plan might not be as effective as you expected. There’s nothing wrong with revising your LinkedIn Marketing Strategy as long as you have the analytics to back it up.

When you exhaust your available resources and effective strategies, you’ll get closer to crafting a powerful LinkedIn strategy that will bring you sales while building your brand presence.