LinkedIn, the professional social networking platform, is a well-established, an immensely powerful networking site. It was created in 2003, well before Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. It has been growing exponentially for decades, as one of the most relevant platforms online. LinkedIn, to date, comprises 55% of all social traffic to B2B websites. Recent research has indicated that LinkedIn has:

• More than 772 million users.
• 320 million monthly active users.
• 95 million senior-level influencers, in decision making positions.
• 50% of consumers, research vendors, by reviewing their LinkedIn profile, prior to purchasing a product or service.
• 65% of B2B decision-makers now seek an informative and current LinkedIn profile, before engaging with new marketing teams.
• 92% of Fortune 500 companies executives are LinkedIn members. 

LinkedIn has become the epicenter, or core destination for entrepreneurs to build business relationships, globally. The possibilities for brand building and company recognition are limitless. This quote from ITC Corporation spotlights LinkedIn’s global online impact and outreach: 

“LinkedIn actually has a higher visitor-to-lead conversion rate than any other social media channel,” said Becky Schroeder, chief marketing officer at Insurance Technologies Corporation (ITC). “HubSpot did a study of this and found that LinkedIn visitors converted to leads at 2.7%, which is 277% higher than Twitter and Facebook, both of which had a conversion rate of less than 1%.”

Is LinkedIn a Crucial Business Component in 2021?

To fully comprehend LinkedIn’s unique characteristics is to see it as the epitome of social media sites, yet via a B2B paradigm.  Its mission statement is to build strong business connections with an exemplary focus on being a forum for professionals.  30 million companies use it for business. 

The 2020 pandemic’s shelter-in-place mitigation forced more internet activity. Online consumer numbers are skyrocketing. Users have turned to LinkedIn to successfully market, connect, build brands, and make sales. There is an earned value in having a business page on this site.  

LinkedIn offers the opportunity to seek quality sales leads, make connections, and network with a plethora of consumers, and this is slated to not only continue but flourish in 2021. It has the potential to assist a business or service in establishing a trustworthy, ideal, public image and reputation, globally, with compatriots, at home, and within their communities.  It is the consummate lead-generating platform. 

How to Reap the Benefits of a LinkedIn Company Page

The professional Company Pages on LinkedIn essentially reverse engineers lead prospecting. To build trust, be seen as a thought leader, or simply to be relevant to your industry, consider making the most of a Company Page by the following:

• Create Show Case pages to spotlight products, and brands
• Add authentic posts, frequently, which enlighten, inform, and are relevant to your business specific consumers.  
• Compose sharable content to “entertain”, encourage, and generate likes, shares, and comments. Freeway Insurance is one example of a brand that is leveraging this approach. 
• Inform followers and others of the business vision, mission statement, values, sustainability, and earth-friendly qualities 
• Keep all content SEO friendly using “keywords”.
• Introduce new products and services, with a description of how they will assist consumers with their lifestyles, business needs, or goals
• Offer special promotions and discounts 
• Monitor the industry news and innovations, by visiting competitors pages
• Add contact information that includes store and or office locations

LinkedIn 2021 Innovations – New Ways for Your Business to Shine

LinkedIn in 2021 has already seen increases in online engagement and as the pandemic subsides, businesses will return to a mode of normalcy and business conduct is likely to surge significantly.  LinkedIn is poised for this growth and it will provide a plethora of opportunities in 2021, including:

1. Stories, which is the sharing of a 20 second video, or imagery, which is posted for 24 hours, and increases views dramatically.  
2. Video meetings have been tweaked to be sharable links using Zoom, and Microsoft teams for interviews, Q and A’s, webinars, for an ever-growing link to your target audience. 
3. The new LinkedIn Poll feature lets users get immediate feedback needed to identify trends, issues and more.
4. An Event Tab for holding conferences, gathering business teams together to brain-storm, or plan monumental events to showcase your business. 
5. Follow Invitations lets you encourage your contacts and customers to link to your business page, and feel personally engaged, which is a huge customer service perk. 

LinkedIn is and has been focused always on building connections in the “Professional” arena, where trustworthiness, innovation, creativity, and humanity, come together to engage and yes, profit. Marketers, B2B businesses, entrepreneurs, technical wizards, and more know that in order to harness the whole world as a potential target market for prospects, LinkedIn is the epicenter for incredible growth, and an ever up ticking bottom line.