LinkedIn has become a crucial tool in social media marketing in recent years. Contrary to popular belief as the boring social network, it has increased in relevance, with nearly 300 million people joining the network since Microsoft acquired it for about $26 billion.
Partly responsible for this is their concerted effort in changing the brand’s image and reputation to be more inclusive for all industries. As a result, you can now find almost any type of niche performing well on LinkedIn.
The demand for content creation has led to the rise of B2B brands taking advantage of the platform to aid their marketing.
The brands that stand to benefit the most are without doubt, Business-to-Business (B2B) brands. Here are five reasons why your B2B organization must start using LinkedIn if you haven’t:
Linkedin Is The Most Trusted Social Network
According to the Business Insider 2020 Digital Trust Survey, LinkedIn ranked 1st over Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and others is the most trusted social media platform (Business Insider). One of the major factors for a social media network to thrive is trust, as this means that users are more likely to spend more time to engage and interact on that platform. For LinkedIn, who already have the users with twice the spending power, this could spell a huge opportunity for businesses to leverage the network to find more business from clients with the hurdle of trust not an issue.
Increasing Africa User Base
The number. Social media is a numbers game. The more users that are active means a greater potential to find potential buyers for your goods or services. Since its acquisition by Microsoft, LinkedIn’s user base has grown steadily to nearly 800 million, while the number of LinkedIn users from Africa and the Middle East keeps increasing, with over 65 million as of July 2020 (LinkedIn). A more afro-centric user base increases opportunities to find clients in your region that will patronize your services.
LinkedIn is the number one social network for generating B2B leads
This is massive if you are a B2B organization or professional. Most business-centered corporate folks find social networks like Facebook and Twitter to be too ‘noisy’, compared to LinkedIn where content is more intentional and less spammy, so it’s no surprise to see them spend more of their time there. LinkedIn’s professional nature also makes doing business easier. After job search and recruitment, the next most popular reason people use LinkedIn is to seek out business partnerships, explaining why over 80% of all B2B leads come from the platform alone (LinkedIn).
Because your competitors love it
Over 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to generate content (LinkedIn), and it was the most used platform for both organic and paid B2B marketing activities (Content Marketing Institute). If most B2B organizations are massively leveraging LinkedIn then it should tell you something – it is getting them results. It will be smart to replicate their success in your marketing strategy too.
LinkedIn is the real money machine
LinkedIn’s audience has TWICE the buying power of the average web audience. (LinkedIn). If you are looking for your most financially valuable source of clients, then you would find your best chances are with LinkedIn users. Most of its buying user base are professionals in top leadership positions with fat salaries and larger-than-average company budgets. But that doesn’t mean they are more likely to spend easily though. It rather means if you do your homework well and convince a buyer, they are more likely to give you more sales in a single order, or opt for your more expensive packages if your service is price-tiered, and so on.
LinkedIn has done very well to shake off its job board tag and it is now a place where business professionals flock to for quality valuable content. Its professional user base are more intentional about their buying decisions making it a haven for B2B professionals. Your African startup or business can position itself to leverage its growing African user base and generate an additional stream of leads.
Spend some time with your marketing team to conduct effective research on the kind of audience and your competitors to see how you can capitalize on this growing opportunity and win more clients for your business.
If you need expert help on how you can utilize LinkedIn marketing to benefit your business, kindly contact iSupreme at [insert company email here] and let’s set you up for digital success.
