How to Make the Most of LinkedIn for Manufacturing Marketing

I mentioned in my last blog post that of the 100,000,000 registered LinkedIn members, 6,924 K are in the manufacturing industry. If you’re reading this, hopefully you’re a manufacturer that’s already on LinkedIn. If not, that statistic and the following information should be reason enough to have you opening your account today. Here’s how to make the most of LinkedIn for manufacturing marketing:

Company Page

We’ll start with the low hanging fruit – your LinkedIn company page. Think of it as your opportunity to provide valuable insight into your industry. Strive to create a page that is seen as a necessity for industry insiders to follow and stay up to date on changes and trends. 

• Promote your company’s blog content here. If you’re posting valuable, relevant content on your blog, your audience will surely want to read it.
• Share other industry news, tips, and ideas here. Not only do you want to promote your own content, but more importantly, promote other’s content. This may seem counterintuitive, but think about it – does your audience want to follow a page that is solely self promoting? The answer is no. They followed your page because they see you as a thought leader in the industry and look to you to stay up to date. Give them what they want and make sure you’re sharing the best content out there – even if it’s not your own.
• Don’t forget about recruiting. If you’re looking for new talent, LinkedIn is the place to be. Your company page can, and should, be used to share current and future job openings. Not only that- but it's a great place to let potential recruits get an inside look into your company’s culture.

Groups

Have individuals at your company join LinkedIn groups. Not just any groups, but groups you know your prospects are members of. The purpose of most LinkedIn groups is to share information, trends, and best practices within a specific industry. Sound familiar? Just like your company LinkedIn page, your LinkedIn groups are another place to share relevant industry content that members will find valuable (and even better, will want to share with others). Just make sure that the content you’re sharing fits within the group’s particular guidelines (every group is different). When you join, read the group profile to make sure it is aligned with what you’re sharing. 

Long-Form Posts

If you’re not familiar with a long-form LinkedIn post, check out this helpful how-to guide. Publishing a LinkedIn long-form post is another way to showcase your thought leadership. Long-form posts are written on behalf of individuals, so think about whom at your company would be the best person for this. Some possibilities include: 

• The CEO
• A Sales Manager
• A Plant Manager

Which person(s) at your company will your prospects connect with the most and see as a thought leader? That’s who you’ll want to publish long-form posts as. Long-form posts also show your investment and posts over 1,000 words tend to get indexed by search engines quicker than other content. 

Advertising

LinkedIn advertising is a great option for creating brand awareness, building relationships, and connecting with prospects. Currently, LinkedIn offers two options for advertising: 

• Create an Ad: Share text, images and video in your ad. You also have the option to create variations of your ad to see which combination is performing best.
• Sponsor Content: Promote existing or new content from your company. Examples include: blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, videos, etc.

The most useful part about both advertising options is that you have the opportunity to target your audience by company, job title, location, age, gender and more. This gives you the chance to really specify your target audience, rather than publishing an ad for anyone to see. 

If you’re just getting started with LinkedIn, take it one step at a time. Creating a company LinkedIn page is an easy place to start, and you can work your way up to advertising. If you’re a LinkedIn pro and have already implemented the marketing tactics above, tell us about them! Which has been the most successful for your company?