If your company’s LinkedIn profile is in a stalemate or, even worse, not even in place, this is a perfect time to take advantage of many opportunities for B2B marketers by the world’s largest professional social network. However, running a business page on LinkedIn is not an easy task. Aside from managing your audience and creating exciting content, you’ll want to work with various metrics. One of the most critical metrics, which indicate how successful your posts are, is engagement rate.
What is engagement rate, and why it’s important
The engagement rate on LinkedIn tells you how many times users clicked, liked, commented on, and shared your content. That goes for both organic and paid campaigns. You can do wonders with this information, as it shows if you’re making progress in making your brand known.
More specifically, some of the biggest reasons to pay attention to your engagement rate are:
- Getting closer to achieving your business goals. To be more precise, your content can easily attract leads and pull them deeper into the funnel. For that reason, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many businesses implement a specific LinkedIn strategy to achieve better results.
- Reaching a target audience. You can use various filters in the ‘search’ bar to find people with a profile matching your target audience. Not to mention that browsing group members, followers, and those that liked, commented, or shared content similar to yours can help you as a starting point for your network.
- Sealing those deals. What’s great about LinkedIn is that people consider it to be a trusted environment. Users on this platform tend to trust their connections’ interaction with different posts. Therefore, they’re more likely to consider buying a particular product or service if their connections’ activity is linked to it.
Engagement rate shows that you produce trustworthy, quality content, thus representing your brand positively.
6 Ways to get more engagement rate on LinkedIn
Just being present on LinkedIn is not enough to drive positive results and progress in engagement rate. If you think that posting regularly, no matter what kind of content, will eventually bring results, you’re in the wrong. There are so many users and companies pushing their well-thought-out strategies backed by hours and hours of research. It’s doubtful that you’ll hit the sweet spot without putting a lot of effort into your LinkedIn game.
Continue reading this guide and find out how experts do it!
1. Network or nothing
You’re not getting a lot from without a solid network. It’s logical – who will react to your content if you don’t have enough followers or connections? Or if these are not your target audience? Simple math tells you that more (right kind of) followers mean more likes, comments, and shares.
Remember the olden days when Facebook used to embarrass us by displaying everything we liked and commented on our friends’ feeds? Well, that is something LinkedIn is still doing. And don’t worry – it doesn’t have to be embarrassing. On the contrary, you can use it to your advantage by interacting with content your target audience might like.
For example, a financial consultant wants to reach people who need expert advice on finances. They’re probably reading Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, or following the likes of KPMG, EY, or PwC. Therefore, that financial consultant would want to interact with their content. Everything he likes or comments on will appear on his connections’ feeds, making him a valuable source of all information related to financial matters.
This example applies to most industries and is a proven tactic, one of the oldest in every social media manager’s book. You won’t miss it if you make it your first step in attracting the kind of audience you need for your business.
There is also another equally important approach. It’s more aggressive and implies you are going after those followers. Try searching the demographic you want to target by setting up suitable filters in the ‘search’ option. Join groups related to your industry where you can link up with like-minded industry peers or prospects. You can even check out who’s liking your competition’s posts and invite them to like your company page. Show them you’re a better option by charming them with your engaging content!
2. Be creative with your content format
When thinking about what kind of content you want to post, consider what anyone could do, and then don’t do it. Sounds ridiculous? Let us explain. Anyone can find a free stock photo, stick their logo, and write something catchy like ‘Best product on the market’. However, not everyone can create complex content formats that people will notice. By ‘complex content formats’ I mean visually appealing videos, graphics, and photos. It can’t harm hiring an experienced video editor or an excellent graphic designer who can create captivating content for your prospects and customers. Also, make sure to have everything ready in your content calendar. Otherwise, you’re risking not having that content prepared on time, especially when it’s about graphic solutions.
Videos that explain how your service or products work are a great way to introduce yourself to your audience. According to breadnbeyond, 59% of people prefer watching a video to reading a text to learn about products or services. Viewers retain 95% of a message when watching a video, and 92% of users share videos with others. Instead of trying to persuade prospects into a meeting or a video call, why not simply display what you do creatively? Sales representatives can then use this kind of content when reaching out to potential clientele or as promotional material for trade shows, conferences, or seminars.
Another kind of content that gets those engagement rate numbers sky-high is a carousel. It enables brands to create a swipeable series of cards that tell a specific story. One good way to use it is to give tips and tricks on using your products. You can also showcase the benefits of your products and services, exciting and persuasive statistics, or even a whole line of products that go well together. Swiping is the new liking, so why not try it out?
Of course, make sure that the captions following the visuals are just as catchy. Use them to give more information and possibly include that good old CTA with a link to generate more clicks.
3. Advertise the important stuff
Although LinkedIn is an excellent solution for those looking for a way to reach more people organically, little advertising can’t hurt. If you play your cards right, you can boost your engagement rate and clear the way for future organic growth.
The most important thing is the content format you’re using in your ads. One easy solution is to include a question which people will want to answer. It can be your key to success as it tells people that you value their opinion and know-how to receive feedback. Encourage your audience to reply in the comments, and pretty soon, you’ll see excellent results – more followers and higher engagement rates on other posts. Another way to stir things up is by promoting a post that asks people to vote for a certain option. For example, you can ask them to react with a ‘Love’ reaction for one option and choose ‘Congrats’ for another option. You might have already seen these kinds of posts. There is a reason for that – they work!
The good news is that LinkedIn lets you choose what you wish to achieve with your ads. You can pick getting more engagement on your posts and let LinkedIn do the work. Of course, you will have to create captivating content and write a great caption, but the rest is on them. It is a smart way to spread the word about your brand, thus generating more followers in the future. Remember, the higher those engagement rates, the bigger the number of feeds on which you appear.
Sounds pretty cool, right? But you might be wondering what you should advertise. That depends on what you consider to be most important. Some will go straight to the point and advertise their products or services. On the other hand, others will try promoting their brand and introducing their philosophy to a broader audience. Some might even try funny or provocative captions or visuals that catch viewers’ attention and inevitably make them want to know who you are. Think about your goals and focus paid advertising on LinkedIn in that direction.
4. Partner with the cool guys
Although being a great solution, teaming up with somebody to get a more extensive reach is often neglected. Perhaps businesses aren’t sure who the best partner could be or are unwilling to share their slice of cake—this way, they miss out on the massive potential of this marketing strategy. If you think about it, collaborating with another business or an influencer brings their traffic to your page while your audience learns more about them. It’s a simple win-win situation for both parties.
So, who should you choose as your partner? The most controversial option is your competition. Businesses usually see their competitors as bad guys. However, why not look at them from another perspective? Their audience is your target audience, so you will surely get more engagement solely from them. Also, you could attract some of them on your side while inspiring other businesses in your niche to share knowledge and successful business practices. So, instead of fighting your competition, embrace it and make the best of it.
There are also other options out there. As a B2B marketer, you can always partner with someone from one of your vertical markets. For instance, you could do a case study together. It can be shared with their audience, thus improving your engagement rate massively and attracting more leads to your funnel.
Depending on the branch you’re in, there is an option to collaborate with an influencer. In today’s world, influencers can be found everywhere. Try researching which people are especially influential in your line of work. Who does your audience admire? Maybe they’re not full-time influencers, but they have a lot of followers and high engagement rates. They might have their podcast with hundreds or even thousands of listeners. One mention by this person can bring high engagement rates and improve your brand awareness.
5. Share industry news
As a B2B company, you’ve got to be in tune with your vertical markets. You’ve got to listen to their concerns, follow the latest trends, find out where the pain points are, and then tell them exactly what they want to hear. This way, your followers know that you’re keeping up with niche trends. An intelligent way to do this is by sharing recent industry news that address important matters.
Numerous sources on the internet can help you with that. Research the most popular internet portals that talk about your vertical markets and find articles you want to share. These might be opinion pieces by leading industry experts or research papers, polls, case studies, etc. Likes and comments will come flooding in once you start sharing the kind of content your followers can relate to.
Don’t shy away from giving your opinion pieces on third-party content, either. It is an opportunity for you to prove your expertise and explain how you can solve their problems. If you want to put in some extra effort, write a blog post about it. Otherwise, a simple caption before sharing a link on LinkedIn is more than enough. Either way, you can count on some extra engagement.
6. Go behind the scenes
With Millenials and even Gen Z taking up more and more managerial jobs, it seems that the days of ‘strictly business’ are behind us. Being professional doesn’t have to be boring. You don’t have to be a robot. Share the human side of your business – your employees, team events, personal stories, and other things that show that you cherish and respect people. This kind of content is one of the best options when you’re trying to increase engagement rates, as it is relatable and quite heart-warming.
Make sure you talk about your employees – praise them as a reward, introduce different teams within the company, explain how they grow professionally with you. There are many benefits to this. Firstly, it makes you look like a good employer who cares about his people. As a long-term result, you’ll probably get more highly skilled workers wanting to work in that kind of environment. Secondly, it positively impacts the morale of your team and makes your employees feel appreciated. Last but not least, mentioning those employees in a LinkedIn post ensures that it appears on all of their connections’ feeds. And that’s your engagement rate right there.
You can give a behind-the-scenes look at your projects or products. Talk about obstacles, challenges, and failures, as well as small victories, lessons learned, and team spirit. Your product might be great, but letting people know how much effort and hard work you’ve put into it makes it perfect. You might find out that many followers can relate to it, especially if they’re in the same industry as you. You know the rest – relatable posts generate a lot of traffic; therefore, you get high engagement rates.
Something you can also consider is reviewing a year behind you. It’s not rare that companies look back at what they’ve achieved in one year and display it in the form of a carousel, collage, or a LinkedIn article. Look at it as an opportunity to mention business partners, clients, employees, and meaningful projects. The more people you mention, the more traffic and activity your posts get. Simple as that.
Conclusion
Building your network on LinkedIn is one thing; maintaining it is another. If you want to know how you look in the eyes of your audience, take a look at your engagement rate. Is it better than it was in the last quarter? Last year? Is it okay, but not really what you want? If that is the case, our guide will surely help you move closer to your goals.
Don’t forget that LinkedIn is a gold mine for generating leads and building your brand. That is why you should always be present and keep close attention to what is going on with your business page, as well as on those of your competitors and prospects. Take advantage of the newest features this social platform offers and boost your engagement rates today!