Have you ever wondered how you could increase your exposure on the web? Recently I discovered a way to share my content online without paying tons of money for ads or campaigns on Google or Facebook. I found out that Linkedin could be a perfect way to distribute your content.

As LinkedIn is a business-focused social media platform, you already have a specific audience to target. Also, you can build a relationship or connection with users very easily.

You cannot only share your content on LinkedIn, but you can also use it to get in touch with potential customers and build your email list. What is LinkedIn Marketing exactly?

While you might think LinkedIn is for business professionals and people looking for jobs, it is a social media platform at its core. Nothing more than that. Although many companies use it to expose themselves and attract employees, it's a social network all about business, career, connections, and personal development.

LinkedIn's key feature is making connections with potential business partners and not like Facebook where you are friends only with the people you know, LinkedIn is really for getting to know more people with the same business interests.

What makes LinkedIn Marketing different from other social networks?

You might wonder why you should pick LinkedIn marketing strategy over, let's say, Facebook or Google ads or Twitter promotions. Well, it's quite simple. LinkedIn is less about trying to sell a product to a customer. It's to push your business and services to the outer and gain customers through a serious network.

According to this Research by SproutSocial businesses marketing on LinkedIn generate 277% more leads on average than those engaged in Facebook marketing. So that makes LinkedIn a very effective way of promoting your business or content. Now let's take a look at a few tips and tricks on how to improve your LinkedIn marketing strategy.

Grow your E-Mail list.

Why use email marketing? There are social media. That is a big misconception for many entrepreneurs. Email is still a powerful means of communicating with customers. Social media are excellent and indispensable for your online marketing. But you usually don't sell on social media. You do that to your email subscribers.

Email is the best way to bond with your (potential) customers. Email marketing is less volatile than social media. People also read more emails and click on a link in an email more often than in a tweet or Linkedin message.

Besides your website, your email list is the only thing you have control over. You are in charge of your mailing list, and you decide which messages you send, to whom, and what they look like.

That is very different from your social media channels. You have no control over that. Facebook determines what your message looks like and to whom it will or will not be shown. If Facebook or Instagram changes the algorithm again tomorrow or, worse, pulls the plug, you will no longer be able to reach your fans.

Everyone hates spam in their inboxes. People don't just give their email address to everyone. When people sign up for your newsletter, they have enough confidence in you. They are therefore interested in what you have to say, and therefore probably also in your offer.

LinkedIn allows you to send 50 messages at a time, and using this, and you can get people to signup for your 'newsletter' and add them to your e-mail list.

Posting high-quality content

There is a pitfall in creating content for LinkedIn. Many people think that on LinkedIn, you should mainly appear professional. There is, of course, a lot to be said for that. But if that's all you do, you're limiting yourself, which eventually works against you. Because whether you are present on LinkedIn as a professional, company, or both: people want to feel a connection with you, and forming a bond with people requires more than maintaining an ultra-professional image.

So yes, be sure to be professional. But above all, be human. That means that you also have to show more on LinkedIn than the person or organization's professional side. LinkedIn is a social channel, and those who are social are rewarded. The more you respond to others, the more your posts will be shown to your connections or followers. That gives you different options for your content.

In this, you share what concerns you. This message on your profile can be up to 1300 characters long, and it lends itself very well to a personal note. Think of a reflection, an incident, an observation, an event you have been to or are going to, or an anecdote. On your business page, you have 700 characters for a message.

You can also write a lengthy article on LinkedIn. That could be something new, but you can also copy a blog from your website. You can format the paper with headlines, images, videos, etc. If it is a copy of a blog elsewhere, please indicate the article's source with a link. It also works well because you share most of the original article and indicate with that link what else can be obtained there.

Together with a brief explanation, an image is, of course, a perfect way to stand out. LinkedIn supports landscape, square, and portrait images. The latter stands out enormously, especially with viewers on mobile, and are very suitable for data and infographic-like content.

A super powerful way to get your message across. Share videos that you make yourself, that someone has made for or in your company, or use video to summarize a blog or a podcast so that they receive more attention.

Joining specific Groups

Many of the people we work with regularly use LinkedIn. And because they want to expand their network and reach, they also use LinkedIn groups. However, there are often questions involved because they do not know what to do with those groups. Often it is only about sharing content and not much else. Recognizable?

Groups come in all shapes and sizes. Depending on your objective, you determine which group is relevant to you. Sometimes this has to do with the size of a group and sometimes with a specific quality.

This way, you can be a member of a group that thousands of people are members of. This allows discussions to be conducted widely, and your reach will be quite extensive.

But you can also be a member of a group where local entrepreneurs meet. This can be a small group but very qualitative because a large part of your network can be found here.

Choose what suits you.

A pitfall that you can easily fall into (and almost everyone does, including us) is that you immediately start sharing all kinds of content, sometimes from an "advertising" idea, usually from enthusiasm. However, it often works much better to participate in the group first and respond to other discussions and content. If you want people to listen to you, you will have to listen to them first.

Imagine that you are chatting with a group of people, and suddenly a stranger comes between them and starts haphazardly shouting and telling stories. Chances are nobody will listen to him. He must first be included in the group, and you do that by listening and showing interest.

Avoid sharing the same content in too many groups. There is a chance that your audience is also in the same groups, and it would be a shame if they meet you in all groups with the same story. Of course, you can share content in multiple groups but pay attention to where you do it and its timing. You can also choose to leave it for a few weeks.

By applying the above tips and tricks, you create an excellent LinkedIn Marketing Strategy that allows you to optimize your branding. By improving the profile, you ensure that people find better online!

Originally Published on Medium