In today’s tech-driven world, success hinges on your digital presence. Even before your website, your clients–especially those in the B2B space–may check out your social media. That’s where you get to show your personality and corporate culture, which can make more difference than dry facts and prices.

When people think of social media marketing for their workplace, they often think of Facebook or Twitter first. But for B2B companies, LinkedIn is a must. Here at Viral Wolf, we’re excited that LinkedIn is finally viewed as a booming social media site. You need to use its features your advantage to get the full benefit, though. Read on to discover the latest on this powerful platform.

LinkedIn is the Social Media Network of Choice for B2B Companies

B2B marketers are more likely to use LinkedIn than any of the other social media platforms at a whopping 94 percent, according to The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides more leads than Twitter and Facebook and generates three times more conversions than Facebook and Twitter. If you’re looking for a social media platform that makes up more than half of all social media traffic to B2B websites and blogs, you’ll get it with LinkedIn.

Executives Love LinkedIn

There are over 500 million profiles on LinkedIn. Of those half billion profiles, 61 million are senior level influencers, and 40 million are in decision-making positions in companies. Company executives prefer LinkedIn to find the content they care about, versus a Facebook or Twitter feed. Because LinkedIn is perceived as a social networking site to make connections and is the most extensive professional social media network, it’s given itself more of a niche population as opposed to something more general.

But it’s not just executives who love LinkedIn. College students and recent grads are there in droves, too. 50 percent of Generation Z, the oldest of whom are now entering the workforce, say that LinkedIn is the most relevant social channel for them. Meanwhile, 42 percent of Millennials, who are rapidly changing and revolutionizing the workforce, say that LinkedIn is the most important social media platform for them.

Lesser Known Features of LinkedIn

When Microsoft acquired LinkedIn at the end of 2016, changes were sure to be on the horizon for LinkedIn and for the better. If you haven’t used LinkedIn in a while, they are plenty of new features you may not know about and will change the way you view LinkedIn as a social network.

While links and videos do get a lot of shares on all the social media platforms, LinkedIn also allows slideshows to be shared across the platforms through SlideShare, giving people access to presentations they may not have been privy to.

Find People Nearby

Have you ever been at a networking event and wanted to make a new connection immediately? With Find People Nearby, you can. You opt-in to this feature on LinkedIn’s mobile app whenever you’re at networking events and use your phone’s Bluetooth to find new connections while at events. If the person you want to make the connection with also has this feature turned on, you’ll be able to connect with them. If you’re worried about privacy, the feature is only active while you’re at events and turns off once you leave the event.

LinkedIn QR Codes

The use of QR has taken off through the years. Each LinkedIn profile has a unique QR code associated with it, and the QR code gets scanned through LinkedIn’s mobile app to make finding connections easier. You can also download and embed your QR code anywhere from the signature line in your email to having them on your business cards.

Active Chat Feature

Just like Facebook lets you know when your friends are online or active on their app, LinkedIn lets you know when any of your connections are active. A small green dot appears on their photo, signaling to you they’re available to chat.

Video Editing

Videos became a big part of social media in the last few years. After all, videos allow you to talk things through that written down word doesn’t allow for. LinkedIn is aware of that and allows video to be a big part of your profile. You can have videos of yourself in your summary and experience sections of your LinkedIn profile, which will enable you to go into detail about the work you’ve done that you may not have been able to do before. LinkedIn also allows live video to be posted to your profile and supports video editing, so you can add captions to your videos and add any necessary filters to your videos.

What LinkedIn Users Want

A couple of years ago, long-form content was heralded as the key to Google search rankings and internet “authority.” In many places, the tide has turned as voice search and AI have warped the search landscape. However, long-form lives. Of all the posts that get shared on LinkedIn, it’s what gets the most shares.

How-to lists also account for a large number of shares also. However, make sure your posts easily grab people’s attention and has an engaging headline, as the average user only spends 17 minutes on the platform when they log on.

If you’re looking for someone who can help your company attract new business through social media, get in touch with us. Our social media coordinators create posts for the social media channels of your choice (not just LinkedIn), while integrating them with your website, blog, and paid ad campaigns for maximum effect!

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