LinkedIn was launched in 2003 and is the oldest of the major social networks. In 2021 it was estimated to have more than 774 million users in over 200 countries. While this means it isn’t the biggest (Instagram is currently estimated to have over 1 billion users), it is certainly still the best, on various levels, for professionals and their employers.
Not just a one trick pony
As a career orientated network, LinkedIn’s original purpose was job searching and recruitment. But it’s clear that it has now evolved into a much more useful B2B tool – over 80% of all leads generated on social media are thought to come from LinkedIn. Individuals utilise it to establish themselves as thought leaders and companies are finding it is a powerful tool to build their brand following and ultimately, drive their business.
Company pages v personal pages
Law firms and other professional services can’t afford to ignore LinkedIn, and it goes without saying that they need to have a presence. Many, if not most of their employees will have personal LinkedIn pages. However, company pages risk feeling bland and cold; people want to connect with people so often ignore sterile feeling corporate posts. So how do you get more eyeballs on your company page and start building your brand and generating those leads?
It’s the algorithm, stupid!
No one knows exactly how the algorithm works, but it is this which will determine who sees your LinkedIn posts and how widely they are distributed. However, we can make some informed predictions about how to ensure you get the best results you can.
The aim is to increase engagement with users. You do this by provoking reactions, shares, comments etc..The algorithm will then display your posts to more users connected to the people interacting with your content. This creates a snowball effect as your posts reach a bigger and bigger audience.
Encouraging your staff to like, share and comment on company pages is a good way to start. Equally, capitalising on employee advocacy – getting your staff to post about your firm on their own pages also assists with the snowball effect. A firm needs to talk about its people in its corporate posts as well, to give its brand personality and boost engagement.
Clearly, the relevance and quality of your content will be important to provoke reactions, but it is also important to not to post your content too often (or too infrequently); the algorithm is likely to penalise firms which do! LinkedIn recommends posting once per business day (and no more than twice). More than five posts a week is likely to result in diminishing returns – not to mention taking up a lot of internal resource.
It’s not just about you
Make your firm’s posts come alive with colourful pictures or charts, video or audio stories, reviews from clients, celebrations of achievements such as an award or promotion and the human side of your staff – photos of staff showcasing charitable activities or at other staff events. In short, anything with human interest.
No one likes a bore who bangs on about themselves all the time and the same applies to social media. Make sure you include plenty of shared content from other sources which cater to your followers’ interests and needs. As a firm this will also show you have confidence, for example, by maybe referring to competitors.
It takes time….
You won’t see results overnight, so commit to LinkedIn for a long-term relationship. Be consistent and stick to the rules that keep the algorithm happy and you will see greater engagement, and maybe even live happily ever after!
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