When it comes to ranking social media platforms, LinkedIn often comes in a little behind some of the bigger names, at least in terms of active users.
But this doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be on your list of targeted social channels—especially if you’re trying to reach and engage professionals with your content marketing.
LinkedIn is an incredibly popular platform with 260 million average monthly users. What’s more, its unique position as a business-focused, professional community sets it apart from channels like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Offering much more than just a digital resume, LinkedIn can be a hugely effective channel for connecting with followers and their larger networks to tell your brand story.
To do this well, you’ll need to harness the many features that make this platform special. And in this post, we’ll show you exactly how to do it.
Write compelling, shareable content
As with any platform, the most important thing to remember is to serve your audience first: create valuable content that solves real problems for the people you want to connect with in order to generate traffic and engaged followers among them.
Here’s how to do this on LinkedIn:
- Solve your readers’ problems and address their pain points. The key to this is getting to know your audience, either by talking directly to them through conversations and surveys or spending time in the same online spaces to find out what they’re talking about. Create posts that cut to the heart of what they’re already thinking about.
- Tell your story in a way your readers care about. Your story is, of course, incredibly meaningful to you, but your audience won’t automatically care. You need to tie your story to their own problems and interests, mixing your experiences and anecdotes with relevant advice and knowledge.
- Create powerful, enticing headlines. Headlines are what draw readers into your content and make them stop scrolling through their feed. Without strong headlines that catch the eye and break the mould, nobody will read your story in the first place. Focus on making them snappy and to the point, and use strong and compelling words. Statistics and numbers have also been linked to successful headlines.
- Present your brand as a thought leader and a trustworthy expert. Your brand story should position your company as a knowledgeable expert, something your audience can rely on to get the answers they need.
Optimize your brand page
Your brand page is where people end up shortly after viewing your content, hearing your name, or following a link from someone else.
It’s the shop window for your brand on LinkedIn, an opportunity to present yourself and show visitors what you’re about.
Time is of the essence here — data from Alexa shows that LinkedIn users only spend 10:47 minutes on the site each day. It’s crucial to make an impression as quickly as possible. Here’s how:
- Create a clear and informative summary that covers the main points of your brand story and what you do
- Make it snappy but detailed enough to stand out and clearly highlight your strengths
- Let visitors know where you came from, the problems you solve, and your achievements so far. Prioritize the relevant and impressive.
Get to know your audience
It might seem counter-intuitive, but your brand story isn’t really about you. It’s about your followers and customers — they’re the intended readers and they should also be at the centre of the story itself.
Take some time to get to know your audience.
- Speak to them via social posts, emails, and blog comments
- Talk to your sales staff — they speak to your customers every day and know them intimately
- Use surveys, questionnaires, and chatbots
- Spend time in the same online spaces as your customers and listen to what they talk about
If you can get a good handle on your audience’s pain points, questions, goals, hopes, and dreams, you’ll be much better placed to address these in your content and weave them into your brand story — creating a narrative that speaks directly to your prospective customers.
Show thought leadership
Your brand story is the perfect place to position yourself as a wise, trustworthy thought leader. You want to be seen as someone who has the answers, who your audience will turn to when they have a question or need advice.
Here’s how you can do that:
- Have strong opinions backed by experience and knowledge. Don’t sit on the fence — take a stance and defend it (as long as it’s relevant to your brand).
- Weave your story into your content, by backing up your points with personal experiences and anecdotes
- Regularly discuss cutting edge trends that your followers might not have encountered yet, and give your personal take on them
Soon, your readers will begin to see you as a voice of authority and you’ll be the first to come to mind when they need your services.
Use recommendations from others
The LinkedIn testimonials section allows others to give reviews and recommendations to your brand. This is a great way to flesh out your brand story and have other parties corroborate what you’re saying with some real social proof.
It’s a great way to build that extra bit of trust and authority with your page visitors, especially if they know the people reviewing you.
Some brands doing LinkedIn right
Here are a few examples of brands that are use LinkedIn to tell their story and engage with their followers.
Thrive Global
Thrive Global are experts at connecting with their audience in a personal, intimate way while also providing real, actionable value.
One example is this live video AMA with their founder Ariana Huffington. It helps put a human face to the brand and tell their story while helping their followers with real advice.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola uses its LinkedIn page to share content from its Coca-Cola Journey magazine, bringing content from another source onto the platform to flesh out its brand story and engage with followers.
Its LinkedIn posts generate a higher percentage of click-throughs than Facebook, making it a clearly effective way to share the more business-related parts of its brand story in a way their audience loves.
In an age where corporate responsibility is increasingly important, Google has been using its LinkedIn to talk about its mission and values, presenting the brand in a positive light while also driving recruitment.
It regularly posts about social issues like the gender pay gap and the company’s own activism, telling the brand’s story while also highlighting its commitment to social responsibility.
Want to explore how to tell your brand story on LinkedIn? Get in touch to find out how we can help.
