Page 52 - index

SOCIAL MEDIA

content and how they use their interest HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LINKEDIN
group that makes them stand out. “It
always comes down to posting quality Christopher Smith of the Gauteng- make it onto LinkedIn’s newsletter PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO, SUPPLIED
content,” Smith observes. based digital agency Sha-Izwe or LinkedIn Pulse – which carry
Communications shares his articles about industry issues.
Saunders, whose company is working insights into effectively using ¦ LinkedIn Groups are a good
with several clients in the LinkedIn LinkedIn’s offerings. platform for connecting with
space, agrees that content is king. This people in the same industry and for
is especially so when you consider that ¦ LinkedIn Recruitment is a power- sharing knowledge.
the B2B nature of LinkedIn means ful product. It’s handy that everyone ¦ LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a tool
you are talking to industry peers has their job titles and companies to target prospects. It’s basically a
and professionals. “Good thought they work for in their profiles – and social selling tool that provides in-
leadership is one of the most effective the majority of them are up to date. depth search and filtering options.
ways to add value to a B2B audience; ¦ LinkedIn Advertising. Although
the more value you add the more the more expensive than Facebook Follow these hot tips:
business opens doors. That mentality advertising, LinkedIn advertising ¦ Stick to text. LinkedIn pages do
of thought leadership is a very strong guarantees that you are showing better with simple text updates
marketing vehicle,” he explains. your adverts to the correct audience. rather than posting to a link. Posting
But remember that organic growth videos still remains slightly tricky
But as LinkedIn’s popularity on LinkedIn takes a long time. Set as LinkedIn does not have a native
continues to grow, it simultaneously an advertising budget and stick to in-page viewing option.
becomes a more cluttered network. it for roughly six months. ¦ Add a ‘follow us’ button on
“That is what LinkedIn is battling ¦ LinkedIn Publisher is a useful your website. This code can be
now,” Saunders believes. “I think tool for posting opinion pieces and downloaded from LinkedIn’s
LinkedIn is going to struggle with the industry-related news. It helps gain website. People can then easily
same problem Facebook is struggling more visibility on the platform. follow your company LinkedIn
with currently; that there is so much The content becomes searchable page from your website.
consumer content being generated.” on Google and in LinkedIn’s own ¦ Monitor Statistics. The stats will
searches. If your article gets shared give insights into the type of people
This means marketing-focused and viewed enough times it may who view your content.
content has to stand out and be highly
relevant. “I think content in general will
become less frequent and more focused
on providing value,” predicts Saunders.
He says professional services firms
such as Deloitte, KPMG and EY have all
done a good job in building a thought
leadership presence on LinkedIn.
“But what would be great [is] to see a
company adopting LinkedIn in a number
of different ways. I don’t think we are
seeing that in South Africa.”

INTEREST GROUPS

Smith notes that many clients are
gaining traction using LinkedIn
interest groups. An example would be
medical doctors taking part in a group
about anaesthesia and discussing
issues and advances in this field.

Sha-Izwe’s role is to facilitate
discussions within those groups

50 strategicmarketing October 2016 – January 2017