Transcript
  • Company Pages and FollowersRelationships That Drive Results5 Steps to Engaging Followers on LinkedIn linkedin.com/companies | 1
  • Table of contents i STEP Intro 03 03 Engage Followers 08STEP STEP01 Establish a Company Presence 06 04 Amplify Through the Network 11STEP STEP02 Attract Followers 07 05 Analyze and Refine 14 linkedin.com/companies | 2
  • LinkedIns premium audience at a glance1Relationships countmore than ever $86k average household incomeRelationships mean more today than they ever of a LinkedIn memberhave for companies.Consumers are in control of their onlineexperience and can easily tune out irrelevant orpromotional messages. On the other hand, theyare increasingly interested in connecting withcompanies that can provide useful information 93%and engaging content. more likely to be college graduatesFor years, LinkedIn has helped marketers forgemutually beneficial relationships with the worldslargest community of business leaders andinfluencers. These relationships build brandequity and convert social actions into newbusiness opportunities. 3 4 OUT OFMembers also benefit as these relationships members use LinkedIn towith companies offer actionable insights and keep up on business news orsolutions that enhance members careers and research companiesprofessional decision-making. LinkedIn Audience 360 Study, August 2011 linkedin.com/companies | 3
  • Build relationships A proven model for successthat drive business Our research shows that leaders in social media are embracing a high-level, 5-step model for establishingresults relationships with customers and prospects. They are attracting and engaging a community of company followers by giving them the information and actionable insights theyOur research indicates that members are nearly seek.50% more likely to purchase from a company After reading this guide, youll understand how to apply thisthey engage with on LinkedIn.1 Further, nearly 5-step model to your social media strategy on LinkedIn.80% of LinkedIn members want to connect with Proven Model for Social Media Successthe companies in their lives.2 By tailoring yourconversations with members according to their 1. Establish a Company Presenceprofessional interests, youll improve the image 2. Attract Followersof your brand and fuel purchase intent for your 3. Engage Followersproducts and services. 4. Amplify Through the NetworkIn this guide, well show you how to use your 5. Analyze and RefineCompany Page and other tools to attractfollowers and turn them into passionate brandadvocates. LinkedIn U.S. survey-based Follower report, January 2012 LinkedIn member surveys, January and February 2012 linkedin.com/companies | 4
  • Organize your teamfor success Dont go it alone!Whether youre a company of 2, 10, or 100,000employees, its important to establish clear roles The key to building relationships is continuousand responsibilities for managing and optimizing communication and relevant content. Get help managing this process to ensure your company always has engagingyour Company Page. content to share.Here are some different strategies to consider: Enlist colleagues who understand customers needs or have specific skills in content creation (e.g., video production,Centralize infographic design). What expertise can they offer?Appoint a single social media champion to coordinate Create a spreadsheet calendar with campaign themesall page content and track performance globally. This and posting timelines, and work with colleagues to decidechampion should work with individual product or brand what they can best contribute and when.managers to reflect the variety of interesting things your Break up large themes into a series that you publish at fixedcompany is doing. intervals, to get followers into the routine of tuning in forScatter new content.Rotate ownership of the Company Page between Highlight company or industry milestones to grab memberseach brand or business unit with a central or global attention with timely information.marketing lead setting and managing the schedule.Divide & ConquerSplit ownership between a global social media team andyour companys HR or recruiting department to addressmarketing and hiring needs equally. Leads from eachteam should work together to manage posting schedulesand shared goals. linkedin.com/companies | 5
  • Step 1: Establish a STEP 01company presence Showcase Products & ServicesBefore you build your follower community, itsimportant to lay the groundwork of a great Weve found that marketers who build out their free Products &Company Pageyour companys home on Services Page tend to have twice as many company followers.LinkedIn. Heres how to get started. Located as a tab within your main Company Page, Products & Services allows you to showcase everything your company does best and, most importantly, gives members a compelling reasonCraft a compelling story to follow you.Provide a great narrativeClick the Admin tools button in the upper right of Connect members with solutionsthe page to edit your company description, specialties, After youve added products to your page, youindustry, website, and more. Use rich, descriptive language can design multiple configurations based onthat helps readers understand your vision, purpose, and one or two of the following criteria: membersthe value you offer. What makes you unique? Make sure geography, company size, seniority, job function,the spirit of that story lives within all the content and or industry. With this feature, you can select to feature relevant products to a specific audience.conversations you publish on LinkedIn.Include a description, 1-2 paragraphs long Go beyond productsCompany Pages are very SEO-friendly, and your You can link to just about anything on your LinkedIn Company and Products & Servicesdescription and company name are prominent data for pages. Give members a reason to follow you bysearch engines. Google search engine results pages show directing them to white papers, case studies orpreviews of your page text (up to 156 characters in length), how-to content. Rotate this content regularly.so be sure your description leads with powerful sentences.Insert high-value keywords Tell a story through videoOur search bar also lets members search for companies Video is a proven method for increasingby keyword directly from any LinkedIn page. You can engagement on a site. If your company has a YouTube channel, embed product or customerhelp your target audience find you by including targeted testimonial videos that tell a compellingkeywords that describe your business, expertise, and narrative about the value you offer.industry focus in each Company Page field. linkedin.com/companies | 6
  • Step 2: STEP 02Attract followers Join the discussion on LinkedIn GroupsCreating authentic relationships is central toachieving success on LinkedIn. Once youve There are over 1 million LinkedIn Groups serving asestablished your company presence on LinkedIn, you communities for like-minded professionals worldwide.can begin fostering these relationships by attracting We have groups covering virtually every industry, andfollowers to your Company Page. Here are some often the members youll find in groups are also the members who are most eager to engage with companies.simple, effective strategies for attracting companyfollowers and getting those relationships off to a Contribute to discussions in popular groupsstrong start. Target groups that are relevant to the industries or customers you serve. The search bar on the LinkedIn homepage letsEngage your colleagues you look for groups by keyword.Employees are your most reliable advocates. Encouragethem to complete their profiles and include a link to your Post ideas and questions that reflect members interestsCompany Page in their email signatures. Include a link to your Company Page at the end of your post. Advise members to follow your Company Page if theyreAnnounce your Company Page in an email newsletter to interested in gathering more insights and helpful information.existing customers or partnersAsk recipients to reply to that email with feedback about the Share the mickinds of content they want to receive through your Company Contribute to popular discussions that members havePage. This will help you focus your conversations. started. As people like and reply to your comments, you have a chance to become a Top Influencer in the group.Add a Follow button to your website You can also earn trust with members by using the groupsYour web team can pull simple code for a Follow button built-in sharing tools to promote their discussions on majorfrom developer.linkedin.com that you can add to your blog social sites.or website. This allows LinkedIn members to follow yourcompany with a single off-platform click. Be a connector When you post to groups, aim to drive responses thatCelebrate your new page on the company blog will help members solve problems and share insights withOnce you set up your Company Page and start adding one another.content, drive traffic to it through a compelling blog post. linkedin.com/companies | 7
  • STEPStep 3: Engage followers 03Once you have followers, its important to nourish those relationships. The best follower relationshipsare rooted in great conversationsand your tool for developing those conversations is theCompany Status Update.At the most basic level, its helpful to think of every update as a chance to convey your brand promise. But its alsoimportant to think of what LinkedIn members expect to receive from status updates. As a rule of thumb, all content youpost to LinkedIn should help members become more successful professionals. When you build a reputation for wantingto help your followers, youll be more likely to convert them into loyal customers.So, what makes a good status update?Keep your content informativeA total of 68% of LinkedIn members say they would like to receive relevant news articles or insights from companies.Be helpful and friendly, not sales-yHave you ever had dinner with someone who always talked about him or herself? Avoid this pitfall, and dont post overly promotional messages.If you do post occasional company-related news or product announcements, be sure youre providing content that delivers a specific benefit toyour followers.Say it succinctlyWe find that updates receive higher engagement if you keep it short - a brief sentence or two will do.Post at least once per weekdayIn general, companies that post 20 times per month reach at least 60% of their unique audience.Think about timingUpdates posted in the morning usually earn the highest engagement, with a slight bump occurring again after business hours. Experiment tosee what works best for your company.Link to great contentStatus updates containing links can have up to 45% higher follower engagement than updates without links. Just remember to write acompelling sentence to accompany the link, inspiring members to click through.LinkedIn U.S. survey-based Follower report, January 2012 linkedin.com/companies | 8
  • STEP 03Tailor your content Audience targeting best practicesto specific audiences Include your biggest brand advocates: your employees! Employees are 70% more likely to engage with your posts.What resonates most with followers? Content thats Dont target ultra-granular segmentscustomized to their professional interests. With Limit yourself to one or two targeting criteria per updateLinkedIns Targeted Status Updates, you can reach to ensure that your content receives many high-valuedistinct follower segments with content theyre impressions.likely to find interesting. Engage locally When you write an update, youll notice a feature Your company has a presence all over the map. Use that lets you share it either with all followers or a Targeted Status Updates to let employees in regional offices contribute content that speaks directly to your customers ortargeted audience. Selecting the second option prospects in different areas. lets you send your update to a subset of followers based on geography, job function, industry, Target your ideal customer profile company size, or seniority. Aim to reach followers who match your target customer.Weve seen promising results from early tests ofTargeted Status Updates. Philips, for example,saw a 106% increase in follower engagementafter posting Targeted Status Updates duringa six-week period. LinkedIn U.S. survey-based Follower report, January 2012 linkedin.com/companies | 9
  • STEPCase studies: 03learn from the bestAcross LinkedIn, companies are seeing the benefits of engaging their followers: Recent research showsthat LinkedIn is 277% more effective at lead generation than Facebook or Twitter.7How are leading marketers engaging their followers? Here are some helpful case studies to guide you:Enterprise cloud computing company HP wanted to engage professionals and A relative newcomer to the HR space,salesforce.com used Targeted Status gather recommendations for its products. Reconverse wanted to raise awarenessUpdates to promote its Cloudforce The company launched its own page, and create conversation around its missionLondon conference to a U.K. audience. inviting members to recommend and to change the corporate recruiting model.During a five-week period, the company comment on the items in the Products Speaking to an audience in the HR field, theexperienced a 30% increase in the rate of & Services area. The company also ran company used status updates to stage afollower engagement. In addition, these LinkedIn ads to generate recommendations contest, igniting a dialogue. The first updatetargeted updates showed a 30% increase in at scale. The results: More than 2,000 alone generated 1,403 likes, 120 comments,amplification (the ratio of likes, comments recommendations, 20,000 new followers, and 87 new followers. Reconverse attributesand shares to total update impressions). and 500,000 viral updates about HP 90% of its revenue to its LinkedIn community- products in two weeks. building efforts.HubSpot Blog. Jan. 30, 2012 linkedin.com/companies | 10
  • STEPStep 4: 04Amplify through the networkWhat is amplification and why does it matter?Nothing impacts peoples perceptions and behavior like the recommendation of a trusted friend, colleague, or familymember. When you post content to your Company Page, your followers can like, share, or comment on your updates,which amplifies your messages to their entire first-degree networks.Each amplification action is an endorsement of your content and brand. As members amplify your posts acrossLinkedIn, you have the chance to build relationships with even more members who discover your company through therecommendation of a close contact.Amplification plays an important role in engagement. A LinkedIn study found that non-followers actually engaged withstatus updates 30% more than followers did.1 This is likely because many non-followerswho saw the updates once theirconnections liked, shared, or commented on themreacted to the implicit endorsement.Also, a study of thousands of company updates found that over one-third of all impressions were due almost entirelyto amplification.2 Each additional impression is a chance for your company to reach members and convert them intofollowers.LinkedIn analysis of over 9,800 company Status Updates that received at least 500 impressions, during January 2012Based on a study of all company Status Updates with at least 1,000 impressions posted June 1-15, 2012 linkedin.com/companies | 11
  • STEPMake your content viral 04How do you encourage followers to amplify your content?Here are some ideas to get you started:Ask coworkers to share your content with Post interesting videos Listen to conversations that occur offtheir networks One recent study found that when a status LinkedInEmployees can show their corporate pride update linked to a YouTube video, followers Collect findings from your various contactand shout out fellow colleagues. who engaged with it took twice as many forms, call centers, and blog comments, and amplification actions (likes, shares, or create status update content around the most comments) compared to posts that did not popular topics. When you post content that contain videos. better reflects your communitys interests,Link to best-of lists that focus on your followers will find your updates moreindustry insights or relevant company news worthy of a share, like, or comment.Research shows that, on average, posts can Ask members for feedback about anboost their amplification rate by nearly 40% industry trend, business problem, newif they steer followers toward Top lists(e.g.: Top 10 social media tactics in B2B product, and moremarketing). Your followers will welcome the chance to respond to questions. On average, status updates received nearly 50% more comments if they contained questions.Invite customers to write reviews on yourProducts & Services pageTheir recommendations will get amplifiedthroughout the network.Based on a study of all company Status Updates with at least 1,000 impressions, posted June 1-15, 2012. Viral reach measured in number of uniques. Best-of list analysis based on updates that includedthe words Top...: 10, ten, 5, five, 3, three, 100, one hundred, 50, fifty, 30, thirty, 25, or twenty-five. Video analysis based on updates with links to youtube.com/ or youtu.be/. linkedin.com/companies | 12
  • STEP 04Dive into thecomments Encourage amplification off-siteAs you post engaging content, certain followers While your followers spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, yourwill leave comments below your updates. relationships should continue off the site as well. With this in mind, weve provided you with tools to let you startDont let these comments go unrecognized conversations with members in multiple settingsnot justor unansweredas a page admin, you can dive on LinkedIn.com. Here are a couple of plugins (available atright in and start interacting. This will help build developer.linkedin.com) that will help you further amplifyloyalty among members, keep the discussion members enthusiasm into endorsements for your brand.going, and amplify conversations throughoutthe network.Here are a few ideas for capitalizing on Recommend plugin: Embed this simple plugin on your website, on all pages that showcase the products youve alsocomments: added to your LinkedIn Products & Services page. With one click, your site visitors can recommend a particular productPraise to all their first-degree LinkedIn connections.Use the comments section to thank followers who contributethoughtful remarks about your products or industry.Showcase Share plugin: When you add a share plugin to your site, youConnect with your most passionate, prolific commenters and empower all readers with LinkedIn accounts to share yourinvite them to write a guest post on your blog. Link to the post content with their networks. This turns every visitor into ain a status update. potential champion for your brand.OrganizeAppoint a team of coworkers as ambassadors to your followercommunity, empowering them to respond to comments. linkedin.com/companies | 13
  • STEP 05 Take note: what content drives conversation? The best way to improve follower engagement and amplification is to experiment with different kinds of content. Once you understand what works, you can easily refine your approach. Page admins can see statistics (engagement rate,Step 5: impressions, likes, shares, and comments) below each status update starting 24 hours after they post.Analyze and refine Measuring Engagement An important Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a postsIn any marketing campaign, success depends Engagement Ratethe ratio of clicks, likes, comments and shares to total update impressions. This is an importanton your ability to measure performance and global metric for understanding how often members takeoptimize resources. LinkedIns analytics tools action on your updates. If you include a link in an update, beempower you to do just that, ensuring you sure to generate it with a link-shortening service like bitly orhave the insights you need to strengthen Ow.ly. This way, you can keep track of total click-throughs.follower relationships. Measuring Amplification As you post updates, note which subjects and formats seem to drive the highest amplification ratethe ratio of likes, comments, and shares to total update impressions. This helps you understand how often members are sharing your content. For example, you might notice that you drive high amplification whenever you post about your companys philanthropic initiatives. This might tell you that many of your followers are interested in learning more about your companys values and culture. linkedin.com/companies | 14
  • STEPTrack your progress 05Your Company Page includes helpful Follower Statistics and Page Statistics tools that let you viewchanges in the size and composition of your follower community, as well as activity on your page.Here are a few best practices for getting the most out of these features. It may be helpful to create asimple spreadsheet to track these KPIs over time.Establish goals for growing your Measure lead generation and Set engagement targetsfollower community follower conversion The Follower Statistics page also displaysUse the Follower Statistics page to Are your updates driving leads? Find out by monthly engagement metrics for all yourunderstand how your follower community is first tracking sign-ups from your LinkedIn posts collectively. As you optimize yourgrowing over time and what kinds of followers landing pages (e.g., webinar and event updates based on individual performance,youre reaching. Set targets for acquiring registrations). Your conversion rate is the you should see an uptick in the overall month-followers who match your ideal customer number of leads generated from these pages to-month engagement rate.profile. divided by the number of visits. Remember, you can track click-throughs if you use a service like bitly or Ow.ly to create links forGet to know your recent followers your updates. You can also estimate how wellYour Follower Statistics page displays three youre converting followers to leads: Divideof your most recent followers. Click through your number of new monthly or quarterlyto their profiles to learn more about them. leads by the number of new followers youveRecord info like job function, location, acquired during that time.company, etc. This will help you understandhow your audience is changing at the margins. linkedin.com/companies | 15
  • Let your followerrelationships thriveLike any good relationship, your followers requirecare and attention. By following thefive-step model in this guide to deliverconsistently high-quality content that addressesmembers professional needs, you will notonly grow your follower community, but alsoforge bonds and foster honest conversations withpotential customers.As always, please keep in touch and stay ontop of the latest news and advice by visiting ourCompany Page [linkedin.com/company/linkedin],or check out our blog [blog.linkedin.com]. Thankyou for reading, and happy posting! linkedin.com/companies | 16