Time and again, management gurus talk about the importance of using social networking to get more business. In order to grow your business, it is imperative to pay attention to critical aspects such as:
- Brand image
- Website design
- Recruitment and
- Your social media presence.
One of the most popular social networking sites is LinkedIn and plenty of companies have used this powerful medium to make their point effectively.
So, how can LinkedIn help?
A company can easily use LinkedIn to take care of the entire range of communications when it comes to business.
Communications pertaining to customers, partners, potential candidates and even advertising and marketing are all easier and more effective if you know how to use LinkedIn effectively.
Take the example of the following 4 brands and you will know how they have benefited magnificently from LinkedIn.
Citigroup
The 2013 LinkedIn Marketing Guide
With their usual attention to detail, this company realized that they have a stronger presence among male professionals. The company then went about correcting this with the use of LinkedIn.
Very specifically, they created a group called Connect: Professional Woman’s Network.
According to Vanessa Colella, Managing Director and Head of North America Marketing, Citi, LinkedIn provided the “perfect environment” to help the brand “ignite conversations with women”.
By engaging professional women in this social media setting, the company was able to enjoy tangible results such as:
- Growing to a membership of 43,000 in 4 months
- Creating and sustaining 17,800 discussion comments and
- Receiving concrete and actionable feedback from members about what they would like Citi to do.
The Citi story was a success as far as engaging with employees is concerned. LinkedIn can also be used for super-effective ad campaigns. This is what the next success story on LinkedIn details.
Cathay Pacific Airways
How to Build a LinkedIn Marketing Plan that Delivers Ongoing Results
After having created a new air route to connect Chicago and Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific crafted a sharply focused ad campaign.
With the help of LinkedIn, this brand used a combination of recommendation ads, display ads, sponsored polls, developed a company page and made relevant status updates.
The result was impressive. Among other things, the company enjoyed:
- More than 1300 responses from business travelers
- 97 recommendations being generated on the Product Page and
- Reaching its target customers despite all the ‘noise’ in the marketplace.
According to Dennis Owen, VP Marketing Americas, Cathay Pacific Airways, the “immediate feedback” of LinkedIn helped his company in reaching its target market and measuring success as well.
Building and sustaining product credibility is another powerful functionality of LinkedIn and the next entrant on this list used this feature to the hilt.
Philips Healthcare
5 LinkedIn Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business
The goal of enhancing product credibility led this company to turn to LinkedIn. The aim was to engage followers in meaningful discussions. The company also sought to promote the fact that they were the leaders in harnessing innovation in health care.
The strategy they adopted saw them using Targeted Status updates and increasing social sharing and engagement. High quality debates and polls were also some of the chosen tools. Philips also invested in the creation of groups and sub-groups.
The result, according to Stephani Charron, Corporate Communications Officer at Philips Healthcare, was a “more engaging and lively Company Page.”
Philips garnered:
- Better insights, which helped them build new products and services
- 106% increase in engagement and
- Enhanced levels of social activity
LinkedIn can also be used for connecting to other businesses and Dell’s story is testimony to this fact.
Dell
24 absolutely incredible examples of social media marketing
Dell wanted to connect in a meaningful and relevant manner to small and medium business enterprises in India. The fact that this is a diverse ‘community’ meant that Dell had to use LinkedIn to make enable focused dialogues.
Dell reached out to the SME sector in India by launching a Custom Group on LinkedIn.
The name of this group is ‘More Growth’. Its aim is to create and sustain the reputation of Dell as a trusted and successful brand.
The result of using online conversations, whitepapers and RSS feeds was:
- 70% of the members of this group are core SMEs
- More than 11600 members and
- Coverage of more than 400 towns and cities in India.
The goal of creating “vibrant online communities for SMBs in India” was indeed fulfilled, according to P.Krishnakumar, Executive Director – Marketing, Dell India.
There are many other success stories on LinkedIn. Companies have used this platform to foster better relationships and bigger markets.
