In the UK, 96% of B2B marketers are using LinkedIn as a content marketing channel, with 61% saying they find it highly effective. And while people are spending time on other social channels, they’re investing time on LinkedIn. Furthermore, a whopping 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn over other platforms. Whilst I can’t be sure what the future will hold, all of this is true right now, in 2021.

I believe LinkedIn is the most affecting marketing channel by far if you’re targeting B2B businesses or B2C and looking to launch a funding round. 

The LinkedIn Opportunity 

LinkedIn is today, where Facebook was roughly 8 years ago. With over 500+ million active users, it’s the destination for B2B entrepreneurs and start-ups. 

LinkedIn is currently in the phase that Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were at at the start of last decade. Whilst Facebook is still the largest social media network by far, its organic reach for companies has declined to almost nothing over the past few years. If you post from your company’s Facebook page and you want people inside your network of followers to see it, benefit from it and share it, you almost certainly will have to pay for it. 

LinkedIn on the other hand is in a content deficit (there's not enough quality content on the platform). LinkedIn is the only major platform at the moment that is in a content deficit, meaning that there is literally not enough good content to satisfy its users. As a result, LinkedIn’s organic reach (or how many people your post will reach without having to promote it by paying the platform) is at its high point right now. This means that there are massive opportunities to gain influence and have your content reach your target audience without paid advertising.

Using LinkedIn for Influence

If 50% of your business’s reputation is built on that of it’s founder and as LinkedIn is the best place to build a personal brand, then LinkedIn instantly becomes the best route to establish yourself as a thought leader.

Another reason why I recommend working with LinkedIn is because it’s hyper-tailored to sharing content. For instance, when you share something on LinkedIn, if somebody comments on it or likes it, it will show up in their newsfeeds for their contacts to view.

This means that growth is exponential and curated to boost networking and content views. You can use this tool effectively to reach your contact’s contacts and if they also like or comment, it will continue onwards and forwards. 

Lastly, if your content reaches LinkedIn’s influencers or thought leaders and they interact with your content, then your content will get boosted by LinkedIn’s algorithms and will have greater velocity. Whilst these features are available in Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, there’s a greater chance that you have to pay and that your content will be taken out of a professional context.

LinkedIn Profile Optimization

For the purpose of this lesson, I am going to presume that you already have some presence on the platform. If that’s not the case, your first job is to fix this immediately.

The first obvious step which you should take to grow your influence on LinkedIn is your profile. Your profile is your landing page and it will be the first thing that people see when looking you up on the platform. As an entrepreneur, it’s just as important as your resume or your website. An incomplete profile — whether it’s your work history, your business’s profile or your profile photo — is going to send messages to your target audience that your heads are not in the game. Here are the major points to cover:

1.  Professional photo

• Put your face in the center of the frame.

• Crop the picture from the top of your shoulder to just above your head. 

• Avoid bright or contrasting colours.

• Don't forget to smile.

2. Background

• Your background is your digital billboard. What do you want someone to know as soon as they stumble across your profile? 

• For me, I want people to know that I've written a book.

3. Your full name

4. Your title 

• Call our your target audience by name (for me it's climate tech brands)

• Touch on your value proposition (for me it's helping them scale

• Use language which shows you know and understand them (for me, it's accelerating the transition towards a world because they always use this phrase)

5. Your brand's logo

• Showcase your brand's logo and name here.

6. Location

• An up-to-date location is vital for LinkedIn's algorythms.

7. About

• Feature your brand's story or strategic narrative here. 

• Don't sell, but inform.

• Show your audience that you know what you're talking about.

• Tailor it to your target audience's pain points.

• Tell a story.

• Add a Call To Action: What's the next step that you want a potential customer to take when they arrive on your profile? Get in contact? Read an article? Join your newsletter? View your website? The next step because it can increase your chances of generating leads from your profile.

8. Featured

• 1 x Article which details why you started your business

• 1 x Article about the potential growth in the market in the future

• 1 x Article which shows that you are obsessed with the problem and not your solutions

• Add social proof if possible or articles you've written and submitted to known publications.

9. Experience

• Feature your brand's mission, logo and vision.

• Past experience: What makes you qualified to run this brand?

Once your profile is up to date, it’s important that you have reached out to all of the contacts that you may be able to add. LinkedIn is a platform that limits your interactions with people outside of your network, so your best bet is to grow it organically at first by connecting with everyone you can. 

LinkedIn Post Strategy

How often should I post on LinkedIn?

This is a question I get all the time. Below is a timeline that I try to follow and it’s what I recommend anyone starting out on their personal brand to follow as well. You should be:

• 3-5 posts per week (the LinkedIn equivalent of a status update). Write in sentences, not paragraphs. Fill up the entire 1300 characters and always keep your target audience in mind. Say something personal, don't tell them about a global event that’s happening or share another bloody Guardian Environment article on melting sea ice.

• 1 article per month

• Adding 20+ people in your target audience per week and always add a note. I use “Hey, My name is Joseph D. Simpson and I help impact entrepreneurs and sustainable brand founders build their brand. [insert something personal here about what you have in common]. Would you consider adding me to your LinkedIn network? Best, Joseph.”

• Engage for at least 15 minutes per day and leave comments on your target audience’s posts. I have a list of 30+ people that I would LOVE to work with and I make sure that I say something thoughtful when they share something. Do it when you’re on the toilet or having your morning coffee...It’s far more effective than scrolling through the bullshit on Instagram or Facebook right now. 

The golden rule of LinkedIn content

To become a thought leader, you must provide so much valuable and thought-provoking content. 

It’s important to follow one simple rule: give away all your best advice and secrets for free. You will grow by lifting others up. If people say “you’re crazy, you should be charging for this kind of advice” that’s when you know you’re on the right track! 

A lot of people initially feel conflicted giving away this kind of advice for free. However, consider it from the audience’s point of view. If you’re not putting out your best then you’re putting out something sub-par. There’s no two ways about it. So as an audience member, if you’re not giving me your best, why would I follow up? Experts must provide value to their audience; it just makes sense. If your audience values your content, they may turn into customers: It’s a powerful way to build your expertise and create demand for your product and services.

To succeed in creating valuable content, keep these things in mind:

• Speed wins in marketing. But companies artificially put up red tape that prevents them from going fast.

• Don’t wait for perfection, this isn’t a Superbowl ad. Put stuff out, test it 

• Stop focusing on what your competitors are doing and focus on your own customers.

• Write content you wish the Younger You had found 3 years ago.

• Focus on how the buyer wants to buy a product, not on how you want to sell it.

• Let your website do the selling, you don't need to do it in your content.

• Start with the ideal end result in mind; the ultimate action you want to happen.

• When you give buyers good information, they feel empowered to make their own choices.

Client Outreach Strategy on LinkedIn

Whilst there are a number of cold outreach strategies out there, I have found one to be particularly valuable, a) because it fits into the wider thought leadership/content creation strategy and b) because of human nature: There are two major concepts which define cold outreach:

• People hate being sold to.

• People love being experts.

Together, these two factors create an opportunity to reach out to leaders in your field. Whether it's for your interview series, a podcast, a webinar or customer research, reaching out to industry experts and asking them for an interview can be the first step in the awareness funnel. 

During the conversation, position your guest as a resource and at some point, inevitably, the conversation will turn to, "what do you do?". These kinds of conversations undoubtably lead to more opportunities than traditional cold outreach emails.