If you haven't heard already, LinkedIn is undoubtedly the best social media and networking platform for your business.

It's where THE business leaders are.

The question is...

Are you team LinkedIn business page or LinkedIn personal profile to market your business?

Since the platform was released, creating and using a LinkedIn business page has been the go-to for businesses. However, in recent years, utilising your personal LinkedIn profile to grow your business and get inbound leads or customers has been much more effective.

Why?

Consumers have changed, and marketing is adapting.

Personal branding and trust

It takes much longer for potential clients or customers to decide whether they want to buy or use a company. There are many businesses they can choose from, and when they come to make a choice, who do you think they would rather select:

A company they see the odd business page social posts for OR;
A company whose CEO and employees have leading personal brands - this means they know their critical thoughts, their interests, their / the businesses accomplishments, how relatable they are, how trustworthy they are, etc.

And before you ask, YES, a consumer can get all this by following you on LinkedIn if you're utilising personal branding.

The opportunities of using personal branding as a business leader on LinkedIn

Some companies have built a 100% inbound lead system through LinkedIn alone. Many of these report having upwards of 10-15 leads a month, with a lot of them being secured. Could you imagine that?

No expensive ads.

No cold emails.

Less work.

Not only are you building trust, awareness, and advocacy by building your personal brand for your business, but you're also exposing yourself to PR opportunities. Some of our clients feature on podcasts and guest article blogs off the back of their LinkedIn content.

2 birds, 1 stone. And unlimited exposure.

This success only happens after some time, as with all marketing, it takes a strong strategy, time, consistency, and expertise.

But, it's one of the most affordable and certain ways of growing your business.

Examples

Luna - The platform to manage your dog training business. A very niche business, yet one that is very well known thanks to the power of LinkedIn. CEO James consistently uses LinkedIn, boasting almost 20,000 followers. Startups are notoriously difficult to market, yet Luna took off very quickly.

Reef - The Third workspace for individuals and employers. Every single day we see Reef employees on our feeds. The founders dominate LinkedIn and encourage their employees to do the same. It's another startup who have defied the odds by being leaders on the platform, consistently increasing its customer base and securing funding.

Altbe - A company focused on helping businesses nurture a healthy work culture. The company's founders and employees all actively use personal branding on LinkedIn, with their founders having over 20,000 followers each, which has successfully helped to build the business, increase brand awareness as well as secure users of their technology and services.

It shows that being a business leader on LinkedIn works no matter what business you have.

How you can start

10 steps [less if you hired us to help you😉]

Define what you want to be known for (EG., Your company, industry tips, your hobby, and something you're personally passionate about).
Write a strong strategy for your LinkedIn marketing.
Optimise your LinkedIn profile.
Create an engagement plan (we suggest engaging weekly with 50 active potential clients and 20 industry leaders in your niche).
Choose a posting schedule.
Write weekly content to post.
Participate in LinkedIn events.
Send connection requests.
Message connections (non-salesy).
Record weekly analytics and use this for analysis.

Consistency is key. Potential clients will become familiar with you and your business the more they see you.

Marketing only works with several touch points.

Should LinkedIn be your only marketing channel?

Absolutely not. We're not telling you to scrap your LinkedIn business page, either, and we recommend you to still post and grow your community on the business page. However, concentrate more of your efforts on your personal profile and encourage your employees to build their personal brand on LinkedIn too.

Could you imagine the exposure you would get from mini-brand minions?

We're huge advocates for an omnichannel presence. Though we believe LinkedIn should be one of your top platforms, it would be pointless without:

An active social (even for window shopping)
A decent website
A lead capture system

The takeaway

More and more business leaders are utilising LinkedIn profiles, posting consistently, growing their personal brand, and reaping the rewards (inbound leads).

LinkedIn is quickly becoming a marketing strategy in itself for entire companies. Now is the best time to start.

Getting started and building your presence is daunting; that's why we support some of our clients every week with this.