The results of this thesis project can be used to evaluate the benefit of creating an effective LinkedIn account for business-to-business marketing for small entrepreneurial companies with low brand recognition. The theoretical part also concentrates on the tools and methods to create an effective LinkedIn account for business-to-business marketing purposes.
The purpose of the thesis
The theoretical part presents the views of experts on LinkedIn as a social media platform and business-to-business marketing on LinkedIn through content marketing, using exclusively own media. The purpose of the thesis is to offer knowledge and experience on the use of LinkedIn for business-to-business marketing purposes to both companies and individuals working in the field of social media marketing.
Case company
Project objective and tasks
Project scope
Key concepts
Social media marketing is communication and engagement with the business public on various social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (von Rosen 2012, 2). Social media marketing is not only about understanding the target audience, but also about understanding the platform itself.
LinkedIn as a social media channel
The purpose of LinkedIn
As an extension to a resume, LinkedIn can be used for job hunting or showcasing expertise to potential employers through a well-crafted profile. While LinkedIn is great for businesses for recruiting purposes, it's even more important to be used for customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing.
The etiquette of LinkedIn
But LinkedIn is even more important for business-to-business (B2B) companies as it is a very effective lead generation tool. Whether the company is looking for potential employees or business partners, LinkedIn offers tools for both occasions.
LinkedIn for marketing purposes
LinkedIn for business-to-business marketing
On LinkedIn, the company profile called Company Page is created using the personal profile of the main person of the company (LinkedIn Help 2016a). Completing your company profile is the key step in generating leads on LinkedIn (Bodnar & Cohen 2012, 108).
Importance of content marketing in LinkedIn
The premium service even recommends preferred leads for the user and shows possible connections within the company to contact prospects. The content should create value for the reader capable of giving a positive impression of the company (Evans.
Measuring the success of using LinkedIn
Role of followers and group engagement
This is why it is recommended to use a call to action at the end of the post, such as "share the content" or "leave your comment below". Most likely since both the company and the content were unknown to the non-follower.
Importance of brand awareness
With LinkedIn organic marketing, it is important to keep the content publishing consistent and to concentrate the publishing either in the morning or after business hours – depending on the company and its target audience. Having original content posted by the company that is shared by followers and even connections from followers is a stamp of quality for the company. Creating valuable content leads to endorsement, which leads to engagement which leads to more visibility, new followers and new connections which can become new leads. mined the LinkedIn profile to the detail, e.g. there is no banner and the number of employees active in LinkedIn is small compared to the size of the company.
Sweden's Snö's LinkedIn profile has a banner to give it a visual aspect, but the lack of a custom LinkedIn URL and the small number of active LinkedIn members as employees affects the number of followers the company has. Being active on LinkedIn by producing content and having a visually appealing profile that is detailed down to the custom URL, and advertising the LinkedIn presence on other platforms such as the company website, has a huge effect on number of followers on LinkedIn.
Tools for effective account building
- Profile page
- Company page
- The role of key persona
- The style and frequency of content marketing
In LinkedIn, the Company Page is managed through a personal profile of a member of the company, such as the CEO or other key person (LinkedIn Help 2016a). Therefore, optimizing the personal profile of the key persona is just as important as optimizing the company profile. Using the Showcase Page as an extension of the Company Page creates more potential leads.
A LinkedIn company page is built around a personal profile and managed through an admin profile. A key personality is the face of the company and a representative of the brand image that the company has.
Current situation of the case company
Social media marketing
According to the CEO of Case Company X, Instagram was still by far the best social media platform for the company to reach consumers and gain brand recognition. In Instagram, the company has more than 1,260 followers and on Facebook more than 1,000 likes on the company page. Other existing form of social media marketing is the company blog on the case company's website which rarely publishes content.
The company's newsletter can also be ordered by e-mail from the company's website. However, the company does not have a clear strategy for social media or digital marketing, nor a publishing schedule for publishing content across different platforms.
Business-to-business marketing
Since the CEO is, among other things, also responsible for social media marketing, lack of time is the main problem when it comes to activity on various social media platforms.
Starting with the account building
Personal profile
In the personal profile it is important to have a professional appearance, an informative and accurate summary of the key persona, as well as the industry and company and relevant keywords that optimize the LinkedIn search function (Shaffer. The LinkedIn Custom URL it is also a direct link to one's personal profile for non-LinkedIn members.Especially the CEO profile had a good amount of skill recommendations, due to the long experience in the company's business field.
Thesis employee joined groups related to digital and social media marketing, as her expertise in the company's business area was minimal. Both the CEO and the thesis worker had to write descriptive and informative summaries of their own.
Company page
There was a link to the company's web page, where the PO box details of the company can be found. Of course, this won't help the zip code search in LinkedIn, but at least the contact information should be found when needed. The CEO's email address and phone number are available on her personal profile.
Content is the key
Articles/Blog posts
During the 30-day implementation period, seven articles were posted to LinkedIn in the Company Page. Posts were posted as an update sharing original content from LinkedIn Pulse or the company's own blog on their own website. The topics of all seven articles were in some way directly related to the company's products or represented the company's values.
Even though the initial goal in content marketing is to reach a specific target audience, especially in the beginning when the company has low brand recognition, it is important to collect a lot of impressions and views, to get more followers. To get as many views and interactions as possible, the article should be interesting.
Video posts
Results of content creation
- Clicks and interactions
- From impressions to engagement
- Publishing frequency
- Gaining followers through content marketing
Clicks means the number of people who actually opened the content seen in an update e.g. Impression means the number of people who saw the post in their LinkedIn News Feed. The longer the post is available on LinkedIn, the higher the number of impressions.
The engagement rate is calculated based on the amount of impressions versus the amount of interactions. As the amount of interactions was also high, the engagement rate remained high, compared to other posts.
Final outcomes
Since the CEO already has connections with retailers and potential business partners, it is highly recommended that you invite them to follow the company case on LinkedIn in the future.
Summary
Because of these reasons, the case company needed to find an easier way to generate leads and create networks with future prospects. Despite the recommendations of the experts, not all methods were suitable for the case company and not all publication times were ideal. Each piece of content provided information to the viewers about the case company, but also about the industry.
The final number of followers the case company gained was low compared to expectations. This already proves that the thesis project was relevant to the company in the case and is a good starting point for future activities on LinkedIn for business-to-business marketing purposes.
Conclusions
Although the results obtained during the implementation period were quantitatively small, they still provided an understanding of what to do and what to avoid in the future. The CEO and graduate student gained a better understanding of what it takes to do business-to-business (b2b) marketing on LinkedIn. Although the original goal was not to create a lead to the company handling the case, it turned out that the director was able to connect with potential prospects, members of the media and former clients.
The results based on the analysis of LinkedIn are not completely reliable, since the quantities remained so small. However, they can be considered as examples of the results of certain actions.
Recommendations
Since the Company Page has now published content, it is recommended that this content marketing be continued regularly. Since the case company has a Twitter account, it would be wise to embed the Twitter account in the Company Page and embed the company blog RSS directly in LinkedIn Company Page (Schaffer 2011, 66). It might be wise to try it for a short period of time, to see if it will add any extra value to the case company or not.
For the actual company page it is wise to add a Showcase page where the company can present a wide selection of the company's products. Since the case company has many well-done product photos and the visible effect of the products is important, having the showcase page can ensure that potential prospects can familiarize themselves with the product line without having to visit the website. of the company.
Reflection of my learning’s
These actions allow the case company to get the most out of the LinkedIn account and ensure lead generation leads to new business partner acquisition and ultimately global access. Hopefully also for the case company, but in the future also for me. URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-tips-what-you-must-know-b2b-marketing-jerome-knyszewski.
URL: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best- times-post-pin-tweet-social-media-infographic#sm.00058wrlo14m9dbzx6v1oi2zj559v. URL: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/linkedin-showcase-pages-beginners-guide- ht#sm.00058wrlo14m9dbzx6v1oi2zj559v.
