Using a B2B marketing strategy to drive engagementand build a community on LinkedIn.

For any B2B business, LinkedIn should be integral to its 2023 marketing strategy, with maximising success on the social media platform crucial to gaining a competitive advantage.

Over 875 million B2B marketers use LinkedIn to network, communicate, collaborate with and advertise to companies and industry professionals across 200 countries worldwide, firmly established as the leading social media channel for B2B business.

Increased brand awareness, website traffic, and relationships with other companies/industry professionals can all be achieved through LinkedIn and its various features, but B2B Businesses must plan their marketing strategies around the platform to see results.

Key to LinkedIn B2B networking is finding professionals and companies that align with your organisation’s values and goals. By following and connecting, you can build a community of like-minded individuals to share ideas, knowledge, and follower/connection bases.

An effective post and content strategy is also essential, with ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ you post differing depending on the B2B strategy you are pursuing and the audience you are trying to engage.

LinkedIn B2B posts typically perform best on weekdays during employee ‘downtime’ (between 8-9 am (commute), 12-1 pm (lunch break), and 5-6 pm (commute home)), as your target audience of B2B professionals will most likely scroll through their company or personal LinkedIn accounts during the quieter points of their day.

However, this doesn’t mean weekend posts aren’t viable. They can even give your content a more organic feel while subverting the rigid schedule most B2B interactions adhere to.

Rather than just a block of text, make sure imagery features in your posts too. Short-form videos can also help increase post engagement but take time to produce (especially to a high standard) while stretching marketing budgets.

All B2B posts, regardless of the type of content, must also contain a link to your company website, ensuring each post is always driving traffic back to your website. You can also use hashtags to gain new audiences from outside your company’s sphere as long as they are relevant to your post and brand.

LinkedIn recommends using five to eight hashtags for posts, with six being the most frequently used. Repeating hashtags across multiple posts can also boost interaction, as your audience has a hashtag to centre their conversation around. Any additional posts relevant to the topic can be added when needed.

To help convey professionalism to other organisations visiting your page, you must ensure your LinkedIn profile is 100% complete. Also, make sure you use LinkedIn’s full range of tools to send newsletters, promote events, show off your organisation’s technologies, products and services, and avoid leaving profile gaps.

Finally, consider ‘tone of voice’ when using LinkedIn as part of your B2B marketing strategy. Generally, you will want to communicate formally with other businesses and industry members to retain a professional atmosphere online. This rule still follows when talking to customers but may take on a different tone to better cater to your target audience.