How to use LinkedIn for Business in 2022: An Easy Guide

LinkedIn, the world’s largest business network, has 722 million users as at January 2022. LinkedIn is used by 25% of American adults, with 22% of them using it every day.

The main reason? The main reason?

How can you market your business effectively on LinkedIn?

We have compiled everything you need to market your company on LinkedIn — updated for 2022.

Before you jump in, take a look at our step-by-step guide for creating a LinkedIn company profile.

How to use LinkedIn for Business

Follow these steps to create, grow, promote, and maintain a LinkedIn company profile and reach your strategic goals.

Step 1: Create your LinkedIn Company Page

You must first create an account to access LinkedIn. This account will also serve as the administrator for your Company Page (although you may add Page managers later). I recommend signing up with your email address at work.

Now we can create our Page. After you have logged in, click the Work button at the top of your browser. Scroll down to the bottom of this menu and choose Create Company Page.

Choose the right type from the four options available:

• Small business
• Medium to large businesses
• Showcase page
• Educational institution

They are all self-explanatory, except for the “Showcase Pages.” These pages are for companies that want to separate business divisions and have their own sub-pages but still link back to the main corporate Page.

Showcase Pages are located on the main Company Page. You can see them here with Hootsuite’s COVID-19 Resources page, which is listed under “Affiliated Pages.”

Once you have selected the Page type, begin filling out your details. Your LinkedIn profile will be the first impression that users get of you. Make sure to create a compelling tagline and logo.

Hootsuite’s slogan is “The global leader for social media management.”

Once you’re done click to create a page.

Ta-da! You now have a Company Page.

Step 2: Optimize Your Page

These are the basics. Now it’s time for you to optimize your new Page so that you get noticed and grow your following.

Scroll down and click on the blue Edit page button.

Complete all fields in the additional information area. This will help you with your LinkedIn SEO (a.k.a.. appearing in search results. It’s worth it: Companies that have complete profiles receive 30% more views.

Here are some LinkedIn Page Optimization Tips

Use Translations

Serve a global audience? Translations can be added here. This means you don’t have to create a separate Company Page per region. Your Page can contain up to 20 languages. It also includes the name, description, and tagline fields. Me gusta.

Add keywords to your description

Google indexes your LinkedIn Page. Use natural-sounding keywords wherever possible in the first paragraph of you company description. Limit it to three to four paragraphs about your vision, values and products.

Add hashtags

No, not in your Page copy. You can follow up to three hashtags.

These hashtags can be viewed by visiting your Page and clicking Hashes under post editor. This allows you to comment, like, and share relevant posts directly from your Page.

Add a branded image to your cover

This space can be used to highlight your latest product launch, or any other important news. Keep it simple and on-brand. Hootsuite now offers the Social Trends 2022 Report: A free mega-deep dive that contains the secret sauce to beat your competition ( , next year…).

The current dimensions of this space are 1128pxx 191px.

Finally, add a custom button

This button is located next to the Follow button that LinkedIn users will see on Your Page. You can change this to any one of these:

• Get in touch
• Learn more
• Register
• Sign up
• Visit our website

“Visit website” is the default option.

It is possible to change it at any time. For example, if you are hosting a webinar or other event, change the URL to “Register” or to “Sign up” and then go back to your website. You can add a UTM to your URL so that you can track where leads are coming in.

Step 3: Create your Page

If you don’t tell anyone about your Page, no one will know.

This is a cute illustration of a marketer in sweatpants, having a conversation with their dog about the quarter’s–w

Here are four ways to show your love for your new Page:

Share your page

Click on Share Page from your main Page.

Add your Page to your LinkedIn profile. Ask your customers, employees, and friends to follow it. It’s a simple first step.

Link to your LinkedIn page from your website

Add the LinkedIn icon to your footer and everywhere else you link to social media.

Ask your employees to update their profiles

This is crucial for the long-term growth and success of your Page. You didn’t have an existing Page when your employees first listed their job titles in their profiles. These titles don’t link anywhere.

Once your page is created, ask your employees for their job descriptions to be updated on LinkedIn to link to your new Company Page.

They simply need to edit the section of their profile, delete the company’s name and start typing it again in the same field. LinkedIn will search for page names that match yours. After they click yours, and save the changes to their profile, it will link back to your Page.

This not only allows your contacts to find you and follow you but also makes that user an employee of your company. Your company can establish credibility on the platform by displaying the number of employees it has.

Invite others to follow your Page

You can invite your friends to follow your Page from your Page. LinkedIn limits the number of invites that you can send to ensure that people don’t spam.

This is not the most efficient method, since many people ignore their LinkedIn notifications ( guilty), however, it only takes a few minutes so why not?

Step 5: Implement your LinkedIn marketing strategy

You have created a LinkedIn marketing strategy?

The hard part is creating a page. If you don’t have a plan, it can be difficult to keep it going with the content your audience likes.

Your LinkedIn strategy should include the following:

• What is your LinkedIn Page’s goal? This goal may differ from your overall social media goals.
• What purpose will your Page serve? Recruiting? Lead generation? Sharing the super geeky stuff in the industry that doesn’t perform as well via Instagram or Facebook?
• Are you planning to advertise? How much do you budget for LinkedIn ads?
• What are your competitors doing on LinkedIn? How can you create better content for them?

Finally, create a content strategy.

• How often will your posts be published?
• What topics will your coverage include?
• How can you reuse existing content for LinkedIn?
• Do you plan to curate content from other sources?

It’s easy to keep track of your Hootsuite Planner by knowing what you’re going to post about, and how frequently.

Upload your content and schedule it to auto-publish. You can quickly view all of the content in either a weekly, or monthly view. You can quickly see how your posts are balanced across all the topics and goals you want to cover. You can also easily add new content and rearrange posts as needed.

Hootsuite is free for 30 days

You should not only post your own content but also engage with others. LinkedIn is still a social networking site, even though it’s intended for business.

Take a look at our top tips to grow your audience in 2022.

LinkedIn can be used for business in four ways

1. LinkedIn advertising

There are many LinkedIn ad formats that you can choose from:

• Sponsored text ads
• Sponsored posts (like “boosting” an existing Page post).
• Sponsored messaging (to a LinkedIn inbox of a user)
• Dynamic ads can include user details such as name, profile picture, employer, and other relevant information.
• Listings of sponsored job ads
• Photo carousel ads

LinkedIn users can influence business purchase decisions for four out of five, so ads can be very successful.

Hootsuite Social Advertising allows you to create, manage, and analyze all of your social advertising campaigns across LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook from one dashboard. Hootsuite’s unique analytics provide new insights by showing both organic and paid campaigns across all three platforms. You have all the information you need and the ability to adjust campaigns for maximum results.

2. Posting job openings and recruiting

LinkedIn users already use job listings to find new jobs. Every week, 40 million people use LinkedIn to search for new jobs. A listing can be posted for free and will also appear on your Company Page.

Advertising your job listings can be a worthwhile investment. Paid single job ads get 25% more applications than non-promoted job advertisements.

LinkedIn offers a dedicated Recruiter Premium account, which has been the standard for recruiters all over the world for many years. A Lite version is available for small businesses.

3. Networking

This is the whole point of LinkedIn. As more business transactions and tasks are conducted virtually, your professional network is even more important.

LinkedIn reports that the number of conversations between connected users increased by 55% between January 2020 and January 2021.

LinkedIn Groups are a great way to network. These are private discussion forums, so any content you post there will not show up on your profile. Companies have one problem: you can’t join the Groups with your Company Page. You will need to use your personal profile for Groups.

However, many Groups allow users share Page content. Joining a Group can help you build both your personal network and Page followers.

You can locate Groups by clicking the Work icon in the top right corner of the LinkedIn dashboard.

4. Leadership through thought

LinkedIn allows you to post long-form material. This is what many business leaders have used in order to build their thought leadership reputations. When used correctly, long-form content can help you establish yourself as an expert and innovator in your industry.

To publish an article, click Create article on the LinkedIn homepage.

You can choose to post from either your personal account, or your Company Page. Choose your new Company Page, as we want to grow your business following.

You could also post thought leadership content under the CEO’s personal profile and then re-share it to your Company Page.

It’s almost like having your blog software. You can easily format your post, add images or video, and even save drafts.

The hard part is writing your piece. Now, who will read it?

If you want to be a thought leader, you must stick with it for long enough to build momentum. Why bother? B2B decision-makers love thought leader content.

These prospects are willing to pay more for companies that produce thought leadership content.

Here are some tips to help you succeed.

• Be consistent. This is the best way to keep your existing readers happy and attract new readers. Set a posting schedule for weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
• Be original. Do not republish articles found on the internet. Stand up, voice your opinion, and present a strong argument in support of your position. You don’t have to agree with everyone. If they don’t, it’s not thought leadership.
• Promote once, write often Don’t forget about sharing and promoting older posts. LinkedIn saw a 60% increase in content production in 2020. This means that there is plenty of competition. Your content is still valuable, but make sure you share it more than once.

Three important tips for LinkedIn marketing

Your goals will determine how you market your business via LinkedIn. These are the three essential things that every marketer should do to market their business like a pro.

1. Optimize your posts

LinkedIn’s relevancy is more important than its recency. Like all platforms, their algorithm aims to show users more relevant information and less irrelevant content.

For example, the one LinkedIn poll I ever voted for was about how much polls I hated. So I had to giggle when LinkedIn offered me this as a top-of-my-feed item today.

These are the top ways to optimize your content.

• Always include an image or another asset. Posts with visuals get 98% more comments that posts with text. Include a photo, slideshare presentation, or video. Video assets receive five times more engagement than other assets.
• Keep your post copy brief. If you are sharing long-form content, create an introduction and then link to the full article.
• Include a clear call for action.
• Name the audience that you are trying to reach (e.g., “Calling all creators” or “Are You a Working Parent?”).
• Tag pages and people mentioned
• Ask a question to get responses
• For feedback and engagement, create LinkedIn polls
• In a natural way, include two to three relevant hashtags
• For articles, write strong headlines
• To encourage more engagement, respond quickly to comments

Learn more about LinkedIn content optimization from Hootsuite Academy.

2. LinkedIn analytics: Learn from them

If you aren’t trackin’, you’re just hackin’.

In all seriousness, accurate and timely analytics are essential to measuring your marketing goals. LinkedIn offers basic analytics, but Hootsuite Analytics can help you save time and get more information.

We have a comprehensive guide that will cover everything you need to know regarding Hootsuite Analytics. But, basically, you can:

• Track y most engaging content
• Find out how people find your Page
• Get traffic insights for each section on your Page and Showcase Pages, if you have any
• You can easily gauge the demographics and interests of your audience

Hootsuite Analytics provides custom insights that allow you to tweak your LinkedIn strategy to achieve your goals.

Start your 30-day free trial

3. Post at the best possible time

What is the best time to post to LinkedIn?

There is no best time. It all depends on where your target audience is located on LinkedIn. It all depends on many factors, including their time zone and work schedules.

Knowing your audience is key to success in content marketing.

Hootsuite assists with this big time.

You can schedule your posts so that you don’t forget to post. But, you can also auto-post them at a time that works best for you. Hootsuite analyzes past performance to determine when your audience is most engaged.

Start your 30-day free trial

4 LinkedIn marketing tools

1. Hootsuite

This article has covered how Hootsuite can help your LinkedIn strategy. Hootsuite + LinkedIn = BFFs.

Hootsuite allows you to do it all

• Schedule and create LinkedIn ads and posts
• Always post at the right moment (a.k.a. When your audience is online and active
• Answer and track your comments
• Analyze the performance and conversion rates of sponsored and organic posts
• Create and share custom reports quickly
• Just a few clicks to optimize your LinkedIn ads
• Manage your LinkedIn company page along with all your other accounts on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram, TikTok YouTube, Pinterest, and YouTube

Start your 30-day free trial

2. Adobe Creative Cloud Express

Creative Cloud Express, formerly Adobe Spark, allows you to create eye-catching visuals from your browser or mobile device.

You can add animation, remove background images, and resize graphics for any platform. This allows you to create professional-quality video assets. It also includes a template library that allows you to create professionally designed pieces that will help you grow your brand. Adobe Stock images are also available for free.

SlideShare

LinkedIn posts are instantly more shareable if they contain meaty content such as a presentation, infographic, or white paper.

SlideShare is the best platform to add this type of content. SlideShare is a separate platform than LinkedIn so you can add your content there. It’s only necessary to attach it to LinkedIn posts so that we can use it as a functional slider presentation.

LinkedIn will display it in a presentation format if you upload a PDF, PowerPoint or Word file.

Glassdoor

It is crucial to manage your company’s reputation on LinkedIn for recruitment.

Hootsuite’s App directory allows you to install the Glassdoor App. Glassdoors allows job seekers to see more about your company by sharing your LinkedIn Company Page posts. It also includes analytics reports on Glassdoor content engagement, along with other Hootsuite reporting.

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that can help you build credibility, establish your company as an industry leader, and create meaningful networks. With the right LinkedIn marketing strategy, all this is possible. Now you know how to create yours.

Hootsuite makes it easy to manage your LinkedIn Page as well as all your social media channels. You can easily schedule, share and reply to comments, as well as engage your network from a single dashboard. Get it today for free.

Start your 30-day free trial. You can cancel at any time.

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