It’s no surprise that LinkedIn is seen as the Marmite of social media by marketers.
To some, it’s the ultimate marketing platform, where you can find, connect with and directly sell to your target market all in the one place, and without spending a penny.
For others, it’s a cesspit of humblebraggers, self-promoters, cryptocurrency hustlers and deeply boring people who do nothing but promote their latest innovative solutions. The place where irony goes to die.
But with more than 774 million members and over 57 million companies registered, there’s no denying the potential of LinkedIn as a marketing tool.
And one of the easiest ways to stand out is with your copy.
If you get yours right, it can be your golden ticket to attracting your ideal clients, and filtering out those who would end up being a nightmare to work with anyway.
Here’s how…
Go big on your problem or your solution
Whatever you sell or do, you’re in the business of solving people’s problems. And when you talk about the problem people are having, or talk about the solution you provide, you can demonstrate exactly what you do, without it feeling salesy.
• A problem-first post
Start by picking the most important problem your product or service solves. Next, describe a situation where someone encounters that problem – the more relatable the better. And finally, for the pay off, show how your product or service saves the day.
• A solution-first post
Start with the best solution your product or service offers. Next describe the life of riley that someone is living since they’ve discovered whatever you’re selling. And finally, reveal how miserable their life used to be.
Whatever way around you do it, you’ll be talking about benefits, which stimulate people’s emotions, rather than features, which don’t.
Tell stories
It’s only natural for you to get excited about your products and services, the shiny new awards you’ve just won, and maybe even the cool new couches you’ve just put at the back of your office to make a super-creative breakout area.
The problem is, your audience doesn’t give a hoot about any of this stuff unless they can see what’s in it for them. And if your post is as dull as dishwater, they’ll just scroll on by. So, rather than announcing your exciting things in the usual way, tell a story about them instead.
Ever since we were kids, we humans have been captivated by stories. Use this to your advantage, by putting a creative or daft spin on stuff that nobody else would normally care about.
When writing about a new product, you could show how it makes people’s life easier, by zooming into a specific feature and telling the story of why you developed it in this particular way.
Or, if you’ve won an award, entertain people with a story about something funny that happened at the awards ceremony.
Plant seeds
How annoying is it when people land in your DMs and hit you with a sales pitch straight after connecting? Or when you walk into a shop and the sales assistant floats over to help, while you just want to be left alone?
So much pressure.
People in general hate being sold to. So instead of seeing LinkedIn as a big sales playground, ease off on the spiel and focus on being helpful instead:
• Share your advice
• Write “top tips” listicles
• Invite people to ask questions
By doing this, you plant little seeds in people’s minds that you know what you’re talking about. And when people are ready to buy, you’ll be front of mind as the expert.
Have some fun
Five or so years ago, LinkedIn was the platform strictly for business professionals. The vibe was unquestionably business formal. And whenever anybody dared post something remotely unbusinesslike, a member of the unofficial Linkedin Police would comment “shouldn’t that be on Facebook?”
Not anymore.
It’s by no means the comedy wild west, but things have relaxed a lot, and the B2B crowd are more welcoming to people and brands that can have a laugh, particularly at their own expense.
You should only try this approach if it feels natural – there’s no point trying to force some fun in if you don’t feel comfortable. But if you do, the key to getting it right is by making your audience feel in on the joke.
This could be by giving a humorous take on a common issue that everyone’s been having, giving a satirical take on something that’s in the news, telling a joke or being a little bit wacky.
Whatever you do, it shows that there’s a friendly, fun human running your account rather than a corporate robot. And people do business with people they like.
Quote people
Running on nicely from the last line about people buying from people, you can sprinkle even more of the human touch into your LinkedIn posts by talking about the nice things your clients and customers have said about you.
Credible quotes from people who’ve done business with you are way more likely to be believed than anything you could say.
The magic comes when you weave one of these quotes into a story – engagement on top of engagement 🚀🚀🚀
Ready to give these tips a whirl?
Try one post style a day for the next week and see what gets you the most Likes and Comments.
What’s the worst that can happen?
