March’s Hugoversity was a session with a difference – we went virtual!
With the country on a coronavirus lockdown, Prefects Charlotte, Jenn and Sophie brought the classroom to our students via the magic of Zoom to teach them The Art of LinkedIn Advertising.
But don’t worry if you missed it (we know technology can be a tricky beast at the best of times) – we’ve got all the keys points for you here.
Understanding your audience
LinkedIn is different to other social networks in that it is (or should be) about work. People use it for three main reasons: professional improvement, to make business decisions and to gain advice/recommendations.
As a result, 70 per cent of users say LinkedIn is one of the most trusted sources of information, making it an invaluable source of lead generation.
To convert those leads into purchases, you need to understand your audience, and you can do this in the following ways.
- Know your audience for each product / area, as they may not necessarily be the same
- Consider touch points – who is making the ultimate purchasing decision
- Build lists of key sectors and industries to target
- Set engagement goals
- Use premium features to reach them
- Layer your targeting
- Consider using the Matched Audiences feature to target specific demographics
Creating action-inspiring content
Buyers want knowledge, and if you want to turn your leads into purchases, you’ll need to tell them something they don’t already know.
When it comes to deciding between thought leadership and content-marketing, bear this in mind; both can very effectively build your awareness and brand, but true thought leadership is much rarer.
Thought leadership consists of ideas that require attention, that offer guidance or clarity and that can lead people in unexpected, sometimes contrarian directions.
Thought leadership needs to be educational and ideally provocative; content marketing can simply be fun or entertaining.
Subjects to write about may include:
- What concrete advice would you give to someone hoping to enter your field?
- What your industry will (or should) look like in 5, 10, or 15 years and how it will get there.
- What is the biggest problem your industry needs to solve?
- What skill is essential in your job or at your company, and why?
How to get your content noticed
Getting your team to share your content is a great start. Just think: one single employee sharing three items of content a day can add up to 23 million in additional reach over the course of a year. It can add up to 60,000 additional occasions when people engage with your content.
Other ways to get your content seen is through joining industry-relevant LinkedIn groups, the strategic use of hashtags and ensuring your profile is as strong as it can be.
However, LinkedIn also offers a number of premium services to help you spread the word, including sponsored InMails, text or carousel ads and lead generation forms – where contacts can sign up for a free trial of your service, for example.
There’s a lot on offer, from paid to unpaid, so pick and mix what works best for you and your brand.
Measurement
The beauty of LinkedIn advertising is that you can see exactly what your money has done.
Its analytics break down your ads into every possible permutation – from impressions and reach to cost per click and click-through rates – so you can see what works, and what doesn’t.
Takeaways
So, what have we learned?
Mainly, it’s a matter of quality over quantity, both in terms of the leads you target and the content you create.
As with most things, a combined approach works best to take full advantage of everything LinkedIn advertising can offer your brand.
If there are any topics you would like us to consider for future seminars, tweet us: @hugoversity or email study@hugoversity.com
