When you think about social media marketing, you may believe you can take a universal approach to its use. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube tend to offer similar marketing methods to make your job just a little bit easier.
However, LinkedIn can be different, as you’re appealing to a different audience in many respects. If you have not taken the time to gain an in-depth understanding of how LinkedIn works, you may be at risk of making some of the following mistakes:
Failure to Check in Daily
To benefit from quality lead generation on LinkedIn, it’s important to log into your account daily to connect with those around you and build lasting relationships. Publish updates on what you’re doing, accept any connection requests, and reply to any messages you’ve received. If you are currently running ads to generate leads, checking in on these campaigns can be important, as well. If you don’t have a CRM set up to export leads automatically, you will need to do this manually.
Not Optimizing Your Account
There is more to being the best B2B marketer you can be than making sure you’re nurturing new leads and posting updates. You also need to make sure your LinkedIn account is optimized.
This can involve ensuring you have a professional profile picture of at least 250 x 250 pixels, a customized banner, an in-depth skills section, experience levels, and more. The stronger your profile, the easier you will be able to move from the profile level of ‘beginner’ to ‘all star.’
Posting Irrelevant Content
Many people make the mistake of using LinkedIn as they would Facebook. While the two are both posting platforms, LinkedIn undoubtedly has more of a business theme. Keep this in mind when you’re thinking about sharing potentially irrelevant content.
For example, if your business focuses on brand identity, most of your page content likely revolves around logos, product names, and corporate identities. When you start sharing information on looking after goldfish because it’s your hobby, your credibility and engagement may take a hit.
Over-Promoting
Promotion is a significant part of LinkedIn, but it’s not all the platform is for. If you over–promote your business, you risk pushing away potential customers who get tired of seeing your repetitive marketing practices.
Many marketing experts recommend the 80-20 rule regarding self-promotion. 80% of the time, you can provide interesting related information about your industry, with the remaining 20% dedicated to promoting your products and services.
Not Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Marketing Tools
Even though spending money on social media can cut into your profits, there can be value in upgrading from standard membership to premium on LinkedIn. When you do, you can take advantage of many premium tools that may aid with lead generation.
For example, you can send messages to people you haven’t connected with and use the email-finding browser extension. A small monthly investment may have a significant impact.
No one ever sets out to make mistakes when using social media platforms for lead generation. However, a lack of research and insight into each platform’s unique interaction options can mean they happen more often than you’d like. By being aware of these mistakes above, you may be in a better position to avoid them.
