Make LinkedIn work for you
By Antoniya Stoycheva, digital marketing and marketing communications manager, AluK.
With more than 9,000 followers on LinkedIn (and 1,100+ on both Instagram and Facebook), we are confident of our proficiency in social media marketing in this sector.
As part of our customer support package, we’re hosting a free social media workshop on 20 April at our London Design Studio to share some of that expertise.
The main focus of our B2B activity is on LinkedIn where we are building a community of specifiers, fabricators, installation companies and industry colleagues to promote the benefits of aluminium in fenestration and communicate our products and services in an engaging and informative route.
For fabricators and installers also targeting the B2B market, here are my five top tips to increase followers on LinkedIn and get more positive engagement:
1. Be consistent with your posting
I think it’s best to aim to post a few times a week. That way your page will be visible more often on your followers’ feeds and it will make you more appealing to potential new followers.
Unless the post is particularly date sensitive, stick to Monday to Thursday.
In our experience, the best day to post content is Wednesday and the best times are between 8am and 2pm, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the algorithms which dictate what appears in followers’ feeds are changing in time. Personally, I think it’s worth trying out different days and times over a few weeks and seeing what works best.
2. Stay on brand
It’s all about consistency and creating clear differentiation from your competitors. If you’re posting graphics, stay on brand with your colours and logo clearly visible and stick to the same tone of voice in your writing.
For graphics and videos etc, there are plenty of easy-to-use online tools and templates available. For written content, it’s about sounding authoritative and approachable. Remember, LinkedIn isn’t Facebook, and anything too chatty can sound unprofessional.
3. Make your content valuable
This is probably the biggest challenge – particularly if you’re aiming for twice-weekly postings. Listen to your audience though and focus on what they are interested in. Try to share industry insights and facts or research which they might find useful.
For your own content, think about the FAQs from your customers, share your news and blogs, and introduce those team members who have a role which supports customers.
4. Engage with your audience
This works both ways – it’s not just about getting your followers to engage with you. Look out for anyone who is tagging you in their posts – for AluK, that’s typically when customers have completed an installation using our products – and like or share with your own followers.
It’s also worth liking, commenting and sharing content from anyone else you are following if it fits with your messaging and objectives.
5. Encourage employee engagement
Asking your own employees to share content is a really useful way to increase your followers because it gets your company page in front of their connections as well. You have the option to ‘notify’ employees once a post has been published and we routinely do that.
It goes without saying that you should have your social media links on your website and email signatures – if people don’t know where you are, they can’t follow you.