As we continue to navigate our hyper virtual reality full of Zoom meetings and virtual tradeshows, it’s important to understand the steps you can (and should) take to continue to reach key industry contacts even without in-person interaction. With the shift in communication channels from in-person to online, business strategies are expected to shift along with it. Queue social media! 

One social media platform that can help you optimize your B2B marketing while business as usual is more virtual than normal, is LinkedIn

According to DigitalInformationWorld.com, “LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media sites in the world today and it calls itself ‘the world’s largest professional network.’ Given its more formal and professional image, a LinkedIn strategy can differ greatly from that of other social media sites.”

Consider these 3 ways you can optimize LinkedIn to boost your B2B communication:

Generate Sales Leads

Staying active on LinkedIn allows other industry members, current and prospect customers to interact with your content and brand. In order to capitalize on the platform’s ability to generate leads, it’s important to note who is engaging with your content and reach out to start initial communication whether within the LinkedIn platform or via email to schedule a call. Just think of it like striking up a conversation with someone at Fresh Summit!  

Share News / Communicate with the Industry 

Consider LinkedIn as a both a news and social media portal!  LinkedIn should be a staple in your public relations planning and execution strategy when sharing news about your company, products and services with the industry.  Simply add a LinkedIn post to your plan when submitting press releases and/or when your company is featured in a publication to share the news more broadly and potentially reach more viewers of your post.

Advertise and Reach Potential Customers

According to Data Reportal, “the latest LinkedIn statistics show that as of January 2020, 663.3 million people can be targeted with LinkedIn ads.” Furthermore, “The US offers the largest group of LinkedIn advertising audiences with a reach of 160 million users.”

If you are sharing new or information on LinkedIn that you really want people to know (like a new product, news on a new facility, for example), consider boosting your LinkedIn post with an advertisement. Start with a reasonable budget, like $25, to see how the advertisement performs and continue to boost it if you see a healthy response rate!  The better the impressions and response rate, the more your advertisement is likely to be seen.

In case you missed it, we talked a lot about LinkedIn and how fresh produce marketers should look to social media marketing to help boost marketing results in one of our previous Marketing Matters webinars this summer!  Get more information about how to optimize both LinkedIn and social media for your marketing mix by downloading the deck.  Need help with your LinkedIn or social media strategies?  Schedule a call with our team and we’ll show you the ropes.