Does this sound like your firm? If so, you’re not alone. But social media isn’t a flash in the pan – it’s a key ingredient in your larger online marketing recipe, helping other online marketing techniques work as effectively as possible while boosting your firm’s reputation and visibility. Social media isn’t a fad, it’s not going away, and firms that still fail to take advantage of it will continue to fall behind the competition.

Why is social media so important? Below, we’ve collected the top ten benefits of using social media marketing for business.

1. Social media is the online version of networking.

If you’re trying to wrap your head around what exactly social media is (or what role it might play for your business) you can think of it as a tool for taking traditional networking to the online realm.

Make no mistake, traditional networking through trade shows, conferences, and other events is still important. But the continued rise of social media creates a new way to connect with other professionals and influential figures in your industry. When used successfully, networking through social media can achieve many of the same business goals as in-person networking – but without the restrictions of schedule, geography, or expensive travel arrangements.

By finding the social media hubs where your clients and prospects congregate, you can connect efficiently with your target audiences on a more personal level and carry on real-time (or near-real-time) conversations. In the professional services world, LinkedIn is the most common place to find social media communities and conversations around your industry.

2. Buyers are turning to social media to check out firms before purchasing.

Across the professional services industries, we’ve seen a paradigm shift in the way buyers learn about potential service providers. Buyers have turned decisively toward online sources of information, including social media. 

Your prospective buyers are on social media. And more and more providers are there too. In order to remain competitive, it’s important to go where your buyers are looking. In this case, that means social media.

3. Social media helps you develop your reputation as a Visible Expert^®.

High-visibility experts are changing the way professional services firms go to market, leveraging their personal brands to boost the reputation and visibility of their firms. Our most recent research has shown that these industry leaders deliver a wide range of benefits to their firms, spurring growth, business development, and brand building while raising billing rates and lead generation.

With the power of Visible Experts made plain, the question becomes: How can you grow your own reputation as a Visible Expert, or develop high-visibility experts within your firm? Our research found that social media was a key marketing tool used by Visible Experts to build their personal brands.

4. Social media helps your firm monitor its brand awareness.

Social media isn’t just a platform for connection – it’s also a valuable tool for gathering data. Specifically, social media can offer a powerful way to track your brand awareness online.

This monitoring capability takes a number of different forms. You can track conversation about your firm to see what others are saying about you, and how those sentiments change over time. Social “listening” tools can simplify this process, alerting you to mentions of your firm and even allowing you to compare your own social profile to that of your competitors.

You can also evaluate the effectiveness of the content you’re sharing by analyzing the frequency with which people share or respond to it. Similarly, you can track the expansion of your reach online by your number of followers, fans, and contacts.

5. Social media can help you deliver your content to a wide audience.

Social media is an easy and cheap way to promote your firm’s educational content to a large audience. You might link to a webinar on Twitter or share an insightful blog post on LinkedIn. 

This is an important role that social media plays in a wider content marketing strategy – helping to get the word out. Social media is one vehicle by which new audiences may arrive at your content. If you create something that really helps people in your target audience, they’ll share it with their own friends and colleagues – and help attract new visitors to your content.

However, make sure to balance self-promotion (“Read our new blog post!”) with promotion of others – sharing relevant and educational content from other industry players. On social media, you should observe what is called the “80/20 rule”: 80% of your activity is engagement with others’ content, and 20% is promoting your own content.

6. Social media drives traffic to your firm’s website – and helps increase conversions.

This point builds on the last. Social media can be a significant source of traffic to a firm’s website. Sometimes, new visitors will discover you through your content promotion. Sometimes, they will notice that you are participating in industry conversations – perhaps on a LinkedIn Group or industry Twitter hashtag.

Many of these visitors will already have a sense of you as a firm, based on what they’ve learned on social media about how you think and what you have to say. (Remember how buyers check you out on social media?) This is one reason why traffic from social media can help boost conversions and grow your email list. Social media gives your audience a way to get to know you and then access the rest of your online presence.

7. Social media influences SEO.

It’s likely that social media can actually impact your firm’s rankings in online search results in a variety of ways. Although social media isn’t a known factor in Google’s algorithm, the consensus is that social media contributes to rankings by way of “link potential.”

By sharing your content with a wide audience through social media, you create more opportunities for people in your industry to link to and engage with your content. Links and engagement are two factors that contribute to your site’s visibility in search – social media helps give these and other factors a boost by connecting more people with your content and signaling to Google that your content is relevant.

8. Social media can be used to conduct research.

Social media gives you a wealth of data on your competitors, prospects, potential partners, job candidates, industry trends, and more. That makes it a great platform for marketplace research.

You can check out profiles of both individual professionals and other firms to get a better understanding for their particular expertise, reputation, visibility, reach, and personality. This is a valuable resource when assessing the competition or evaluating potential business opportunities.

To keep up with industry news, you can see what’s trending on social media, follow major influencers in your industry, and keep up with relevant LinkedIn Groups or hashtags. Today, these are the places where many major industry conversations start.

9. Social media showcases your firm’s culture.

Social media gives clients, prospects, professional partners, and potential job candidates a picture of your firm’s culture – through the tone you use, the topics you discuss, and the ways you interact with others in your industry. This is an important way that today’s professionals “get to know” a firm: social media is an opportunity to project who you are what makes you unique.

There are a number of ways to share your culture on social media. You can share video, pictures, and other multimedia to introduce audiences to your team in a more personal, “face-to-face” way. Facebook and Instagram are good avenues for a slightly more relaxed picture of life at your firm – you can show audiences what it’s like “behind the scenes,” highlighting firm social events or professional development activities.

10. Social media can be a useful recruiting tool.

It’s not hard to imagine how sharing your culture might help attract job candidates to your firm. But social media can also help you vet candidates. LinkedIn is particularly useful in this regard, with a Jobs section where your firm can post job openings to reach the right candidates. LinkedIn also gives you a useful way to see recommendations from an individual’s past colleagues and contacts, as well as endorsements of their various skills and a timeline of their work.

Conclusion

Social media is so much more than a megaphone for your message – though it is certainly that, as well. Used effectively, social media can be a platform for gathering key data, bringing in better job candidates, and optimizing your content marketing program. As buyers and other industry audiences increasingly look to social media for information about firms, it grows increasingly vital that professional services providers adopt social media and integrate it closely into their online marketing efforts.

For more insights on social media for professional services firms, check out our free Social Media Guide.

The post The Top 10 Benefits of Using Social Media Marketing for Business appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Spending time on social media platforms has become almost second nature to many marketers and professional services firms. And as the world continues to lean more and more into the digital marketing space, many of the best ways to engage your network of business connections are on social media platforms.

As much time as many of us spend on social media, you’d think that it would be easy to come up with fresh content to post. For most people, though, it’s more difficult than it seems. But I’ve learned that it doesn’t have to be! 

My secret is to use a social media content calendar to organize my thoughts and strategize our firm’s content. With this tool, I feel more comfortable delivering a social media strategy than I have ever been before. In this post, I hope to educate you on the 5 biggest reasons why you need a social media content calendar to keep you on track.

Importance of a Social Media Marketing Calendar

Hinge’s latest research on the fastest-growing professional services firms shows that these firms are dedicating more time and effort to content creation and social media marketing than their no-growth peers.

Professional services firms are interested in getting the most out of their organic social media marketing efforts. As we’ve discussed in a previous post, using an editorial calendar to organize your thought leadership content is instrumental to your success. The same can be said for social media.

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If the thought of building a social media calendar seems like a daunting and complicated task, don’t worry! We’ll take it one step at a time. Your social media content calendar will become an essential tool that you and your marketing team use on a weekly or daily basis. Be sure to include when posts are published and who is responsible for posting them.

Here are five reasons why your firm needs a social media content calendar:

1. Your Social Media Content Calendar Will Save You Time.

Using a social media content calendar will ensure that your firm is allocating resources in the best, most efficient manner. In addition to tracking what you will post and when, this tool is also an “assignment board.” This will inform individual team members when they are supposed to write content for social posts. It can also trigger team members to engage with existing posts in a timely fashion. Whether you have one person on your team or one hundred people, the best thing you can do to save time on social media content development is to give everyone visibility into your plan. Communication is key, after all.

Using a social media calendar also allows you to plan ahead and research future topics and posts in advance. Because you know what to prepare well ahead of time, you can avoid those last-minute scrambles.

2. Your Social Media Content Calendar Will Keep You Organized.

This may be the best reason for keeping any kind of calendar—especially a content calendar. 

Keeping a record of your posts allows you to see a snapshot of all the topics you’ve covered in the past so you can maintain a fresh perspective and balance the different types of content you post.

By mapping your calendar to specific social media platforms, you can stay organized across each of the channels you utilize.  Whether you use a simple Excel spreadsheet or an all-in-one automation platform like Loomly or Buffer to schedule content across multiple platforms, find a tool that works for you and your team.

3. Your Social Media Content Calendar Will Allow You to be Timely.

An editorial calendar makes it easy to publish content in conjunction with relevant campaigns and events. That way you won’t forget to promote important content for specific occasions or launches. 

For example, do you want to promote new blog posts or other content on social media? What news is going on in your industry that your firm should be weighing in on? What upcoming events or conferences will you be attending?

You can easily include prompts or reminders to post time-sensitive content coordinated with key activities at your firm. This sort of integrated marketing ensures that your clients and prospects see your messages across different platforms.

4. Your Social Media Content Calendar Will Allow You To Be Relevant.

When you plan your social media content in advance, you create time to get feedback from your team members. Your calendar can be easily shared for further input, so you can make sure you’re putting out the most relevant social media posts to achieve both your firm’s marketing and business development goals.

Team members from different departments can use their unique perspectives to inform the choices you make on each platform. For instance, your business development team might have insights on current trends and client pain points that might make your posts more relevant to your prospects. 

Staying plugged into the market and what’s important to potential buyers can also help you increase your ability to close the sale.

5. Your Social Media Content Calendar Will Build Credibility.

Consistency—posting and engaging frequently or on a regular schedule—is critical to building trust and credibility with prospects who may have never heard of your firm before. New followers will quickly learn that you’re sharing educational content and that your firm has the depth of expertise to help them.

Followers like to know when they can expect posts from you, so maintaining a consistent calendar enables you to set and meet their expectations. Your audience will soon be able to anticipate your posts, which can make them feel more connected with your firm and the content you share. This can also help with engagement as you build your following and establish your credibility on each platform.

If you’ve been waiting to create a social media content calendar because you weren’t sure you needed one or didn’t think it would be worth the effort, it’s time to think again. A social media content calendar can elevate your social media strategy to a higher level. Your firm can post, tweet, share and comment more efficiently with just a little extra planning.

How to develop a social media posting schedule

The first step in developing a social media schedule is to look at what the data tells you. Check in on the analytics on each platform and see how you have been performing. Do you notice that your audience on LinkedIn is the most active in the morning but your audiences on Twitter and Instagram are more active in the afternoon? Keep that in mind when scheduling your time to post.

If your individual platform analytics aren’t so clear, a quick Google search will bring you some general recommendations for best times to post on each platform. But beware: your audience may behave differently! 

Some additional elements that you can include in this analysis are: most active days of the week, most active times of the day, how frequently you post each day, and if people engage differently with different post formats (for instance, text versus video)..

Once you’ve established some guidelines for when and what to post, it’s time to do some testing. Monitor your analytics and see what you can learn from them. Whenever you think you’ve learned something, adjust your schedule, post formats or other parameters. It may take some time to determine what schedule works best for you and your audience, but I promise that this is time well spent.

Social media content calendar ideas

Now that you have the structure of a calendar in place, what do you actually share? Here are a few of my favorite types of posts to share on social media—and incorporate into your calendar:

• Short sections from pieces of thought leadership with links to read more
• Individual data points and insights from your latest research studies
• Promotions for upcoming webinars
• Videos of your experts sharing research insights
• Timely promotions of white papers or executive guides
• Mentions of your experts in the media
• Highlights of your company culture

Want more ideas for content to share and tips to help you work smarter, not harder? Take a look at this blog post to learn more about one of my personal favorite topics: using research to solve your content production dilemma.

Final Thoughts

Social media is just like other proven marketing techniques—if you are not consistent and don’t implement your plan, then it won’t make a difference. Using your content marketing calendar to plan your social media activity keeps your entire team accountable for your goals and allows you to make adjustments when new opportunities arise.

The post 5 Big Reasons Why You Need a Social Media Content Calendar appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

The world of B2B social media is frustrating — often leaving marketing directors disoriented because what was working three months ago doesn’t work anymore. Professionals building their personal brands face a similar challenge. An endless stream of new features… More ways to analyze data… Emerging platforms to join… How can you keep up? Inevitably this means that a good B2B social media strategy requires constant attention and experimentation.

But what if there were some foundations you could always rely on when building your B2B social media content strategy? In this article, we’re going to look beyond the unpredictable updates that each platform releases and focus on two evergreen rules that are here to stay.

Rule #1 – Be Human.

Professionals who spend time on social media are doing so for a variety of reasons, ranging from researching competitors to recruiting new employees. But one business purpose for being on social media stands taller than the rest — networking with people you know and people you want to know.

Put another way, the chief business purpose of social media is to connect and engage with people. These people include potential and existing clients, referral sources, other thought leaders and possible recruits. Social media is so effective because we are always curious about what certain individuals are doing, experiencing, learning and accomplishing. So if connecting with people is the driving force behind social media, why do so many firms neglect to humanize their brands in this space?

By humanizing your brand on social media, we mean bringing a human touch to every piece of content you share.

For example, the articles you shared were all written by individuals. Have you tagged them in your post, highlighting their individual expertise?

And what about your firm’s news? Aren’t most of these updates related to the achievements of individual people? Have you shared a picture showing them in action?

And finally, are people on social media interacting with your posts? If so, have you responded to them? All of them? And have you reciprocated the interaction?

On this point we are inspired by the work of Mark Schaefer, who authored the book Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins. On his blog, Schaefer writes, “In the past, our businesses were built through an accumulation of advertising impressions. Today, our brands will be known, at least in part, though an accumulation of human impressions.” What Schaefer wants business leaders and marketers to understand is that the future of marketing is being driven by authentic human expression.

So when it comes to your B2B social media strategy, highlight the humanity behind your brand. Allow the voices behind your content to be heard and bring visibility to the individuals at your firm doing excellent work for your clients.

What to do:

• Encourage thought leaders at your firm to become Visible Experts®.
• Tag individuals in every post you share on social media and list them as authors on your website
• Celebrate and promote the achievements of your business partners and clients

What not to do:

• Maintain overly rigorous standards for sharing content
• Hide who authored content on your page
• Forbid staff from using social media during business hours

Rule #2 – Be Helpful.

Want to know the fastest way to get ignored on social media? Publish a steady stream of posts about your service offerings and current promotions. Nothing leads to fewer impressions, less engagement, and fewer shares than self-promotional posts about your business. The faster you recognize this fact, the more successful you’ll be on social media.

This behavior is the equivalent of delivering a canned elevator pitch over and over again at a networking event to as many people as possible. Have you ever called one of these zombies to help you with your business? Have you been their referral source? Probably not. So if that kind of behavior turns us off in person, why would it not turn us off online? Well… it does!

When you share content on social media it’s always worth asking, “Could this piece help my audience?” Sharing helpful, relevant, and inspirational content makes you a trusted voice to your audience. Rather than being overly self-promotional, pushy, or boring, you will develop a reputation as a leader in the digital space. And at the end of the day, being a trusted voice to your customer is what we all want.

Messaging consultant Donald Miller reminds us of the importance of being helpful to our customers — or what he refers to as the hero of our brand story — when he writes the following:

“When we position our customer as the hero and ourselves as their guide, we will be recognized as a sought-after character to help them along their journey. In other words, your audience is Luke Skywalker. You get to be Yoda. It’s a small but powerful shift. This honors the journey and struggles of our audience, and it allows us to provide the product or service they need to succeed.”

By developing a mature and helpful voice on social media, you make space for your target clients to be the hero of the story — and for you to be their potential guide.

What to do:

• Post helpful content you’ve written for your audience
• Share relevant content written by other experts outside of your firm
• Engage your audience with polls and comments about topics of their interest

What not to do:

• Repetitively post about your service offerings and accomplishments
• Directly message new connections with your elevator pitch
• Only share content produced by your firm

Missing the Forest for the Trees

If there’s one other evergreen fact to write about it’s this: social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook will continue to change. And while it is important to stay up to date on these changes and their implications for marketers and business leaders, don’t lose site of the principles that will establish your brand as a trusted voice. Those fundamentals rarely, if ever, change.

Too many professionals stress about staying up to date with a platform’s latest features, while failing to recognize that they are turning off potential buyers with their barrage of self-promotional, corporate, and pushy content.

It’s all too easy to get drawn into the mechanics of social media and miss its larger purpose. Remember to build those all-important connections. Humanize your brand by promoting the thought leaders behind the content that makes your firm so excellent. And be relentlessly helpful to an audience that is searching for trusted voices in a forest of noise. Keep these two rules in mind as you establish your B2B social media strategy and you’ll continue to see the visibility and reputation of your brand flourish.

The post B2B Social Media’s Two Evergreen Rules appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Inbound lead generation’s potential is real, but it requires a radical shift in mindset, marketing priorities and financial investment. Sponsorships and in-person networking just aren’t going to cut it anymore. Instead, start thinking about an asset you already have—your team’s expertise—and how you can use that pool of knowledge to attract and engage an audience that wants what you have to offer.

Inbound Marketing Techniques Defined

Inbound marketing is the process of helping potential clients discover your firm by making your relevant expertise and insights easy to find. It allows prospects to encounter you, in the channels they prefer, when they are ready to learn and engage. Inbound marketing messages tend to be educational in nature rather than self-promotional. 

By giving away some of your knowledge for free, you can quickly build a prospect’s trust. When they are ready to buy the kinds of services you offer, they are likely to think of you—their trusted resource—first.

Inbound marketing contrasts with outbound marketing, where you try to locate potential clients and interrupt them to gain their attention and deliver your marketing message. Outbound messages are typically more self-promotional and focused on your products or services and less focused on the client’s issues.

Advantages of Inbound Marketing

An inbound marketing strategy has many advantages over traditional marketing. Here are just a few:

• Prospects engage when they are ready, so you don’t have to convince them of a need
• Since they are self-selected, prospects tend to be more motivated
• Your content can explain your thinking and approach, so when prospects reach out, they are looking for exactly what you are offering
• Inbound leads are typically easier to close
• It’s often less costly than outbound marketing
• It expands your reach to new markets and prospects—including people you weren’t even aware of before and never would have found you otherwise

Top 21 Inbound Marketing Techniques

How do you put all the advantages of inbound marketing to work for your firm? Try incorporating some or all of the following top techniques into your marketing program.

1. Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (often just called SEO) is the process of making your online content, such as blog posts and services pages, easy to find through search engines like Google. As much art as science, SEO can involve a wide range of tactics (such as keyword research, page optimization and link building) to achieve its ultimate goal: delivering a steady stream of high-quality traffic to your website.

How you might use it: No inbound marketing strategy can ignore SEO. If you publish educational blog content, use keyword research to make your blogging more strategic. Then use on-site and off-site techniques to build visibility for your content.

2. Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Another way to drive qualified traffic to your website and generate inbound leads is to invest in pay-per-click advertising (PPC). Most commonly used on search platforms like Google and Bing, PPC allows you to appear on relevant search results pages for search terms of your choice. Unlike the traditional advertising model, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad. You have complete control over your target audiences, keywords and budget. Once you have your campaign set up, it works immediately. And you can track results in real time.

How you might use it: Many companies use PPC to supplement their SEO program. If you aren’t able to rank for certain critical keywords using SEO, you can target them with ads that look very much like organic search results. This technique is also very helpful when you need quick visibility, such as with a new product launch or rebranding exercise.

3. Lead-Generating Website

Driving traffic to your website and blog isn’t enough. You still need to convert that valuable traffic into leads. Unfortunately, most professional services websites aren’t set up to do this very well. A lead-generating website, on the other hand, makes it easy for a visitor to understand what you do, read, watch or download educational materials, and reach out if they have a need. This kind of website is not just about CTAs and conversions (though those are important). It is designed to be easy to read, ooze credibility and build trust.

How you might use it: We won’t beat around the bush: it’s almost impossible to have an effective inbound marketing strategy without a lead-generating website. If you aren’t ready to invest in a soup-to-nuts redesign, you can try retrofitting your current site with some of the features of a high-performance website. But eventually, you will probably want to rebuild it from scratch to deliver a powerful, cohesive experience.

4. Online Networking

There is still a place for in-person networking, but in most industries the spotlight has moved into the digital realm. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, there are well-established platforms where you can meet—and influence—hundreds or even thousands of potential clients. Like its analog counterpart, online networking centers on making connections with the right people, building a reputation and generating referrals, but it is far easier to scale and reach a large group of interested individuals. It has the added benefit of breaking down geographic barriers and exposing you to audiences in distant markets. 

How you might use it: Online networking is not magic. To achieve results it requires some dedication and a consistent approach. If you are new to it, or have only dabbled in the past, select just one platform and be realistic about the level of effort you can sustain. In almost every professional services industry, LinkedIn is your best bet. Try to add a few qualified new connections each week or two. Engage with other people’s content, and publish pieces of your own. When it makes sense, reach out to individual people in your pool of connections to further the relationship.

5. Webinars

Webinars offer almost all of the benefits of an in-person educational event, while adding a host of new advantages. Like an in-person seminar or educational training session, you can demonstrate your expertise, answer questions, and build a rapport with your audience. You can also collect attendees’ contact information so that you can follow up with relevant offers. But unlike in-person events, you can invite people from anywhere in the world, easily conduct live polls, include presenters from multiple locations, and record your presentation to engage people who weren’t able to attend. On top of all that, webinars are easy and cheap to produce.

How you might use them: Consider teaming up with a partner in a related industry that also serves your audience. They will bring their own audience to the presentation, expanding your reach. Or try presenting with a client who can bring a point of view that will resonate with your attendees. End each presentation with a call to action that gets people to take another step. This could be a downloadable piece of content or a free consultation. Experiment and see what works for you. 

6. Research Studies

A research study on your target client’s industry is one of the most powerful tools a firm can use to build credibility and position itself as a thought leader. Besides the valuable insights they gain, firms that use research as a marketing tool are seen as more knowledgeable and trusted for their expertise. Research studies also make exceptional lead generators. 

How you might use it: You can conduct your own original research, usually with the help of an experienced research partner. Or if that’s too rich for your budget, you can sponsor a study being conducted by a third-party. An even less expensive option is to license existing research. Whatever type of research you invest in, you can use it in many ways. You can provide reports for free download behind a contact form or, if you did custom research, you can offer it for sale. But that’s just the beginning. All that data can be used to inspire blog posts, webinars, speeches, social media posts, infographics and more. One study should provide months of material for your marketing program.

7. Online Marketing Videos

There is no more perfect inbound marketing medium for professional services firms than video. It allows your audience to see and hear your experts in a fully controlled environment. In this way, potential clients get a taste of what it might be like to work with your firm before they buy. That’s powerful.

How you might use it: Video can be used to deliver educational content, explain complex services or introduce a firm’s team of experts. High-value video content, such as how-tos, webinar recordings and short courses, can also be put behind a registration form to build your list and generate leads. You can even enlist clients to describe how your firm solved a thorny problem or contributed to their success. By the way, you don’t have to spend a fortune on video. Today, you have many options to choose from.

8. White Papers

White papers have been around for decades—and for good reason. Even today, they can be fantastic lead generation tools. People look to white papers for a serious exploration of a technical or practical topic in a compact format. And many people who need to understand an issue at that level of depth will gladly trade a small amount of personal information to access it. 

How you might use them: Promote white papers on your website, such as your homepage, applicable services pages and relevant blog posts. If you want to use them as an inbound lead generation tool, create a landing page with a short form to turn readers into new contacts for your email list. Another option is to distribute your white paper through a third-party service, expanding your visibility. The focus should be on educating your audience, not self-promotion. You are trying to build credibility and trust, not close the sale today.

9. Guides

Guides are similar to white papers, but they differ in two respects: 1) they tend to cover a broader topic in depth, often consisting of multiple chapters; and 2) they are usually less technical, speaking in plain English to an executive-level audience. A guide explores a topic in enough detail to give a senior-level influencer or decision-maker a high-level understanding. At the same time, they signal to the reader that your firm knows its stuff and would be well qualified to solve their problem.

How you might use them: Use guides to target executives similar to how you would white papers. White papers tend to have a more technical slant. Guides also make excellent lead nurturing content in email campaigns.

10. Ebooks

Like guides, ebooks explore an issue in depth, but they dive even deeper. While there is no minimum length for an ebook, most contain multiple chapters and run at least 50 pages. Many are full-length books running well over 100 pages. Works of this length have a great deal of perceived value, and people will gladly exchange personal information for a free digital copy. To increase the value of the free copy even more, you can use a print-on-demand publisher (such as Amazon KDP or Ingram Lightning Source) to produce physical copies that you sell on Amazon or at other stores. 

How you might use them: Promote your ebook in conventional on-page offers or in pop up offers. You can also market your ebook on your website like you would a traditionally published book, positioning your firm as thought leaders.

11. E-Newsletter

E-newsletters may sound like a quaint relic from a simpler time, but you don’t have to look very far to realize they are still going strong. Chances are, you subscribe to one or two or more, yourself. That’s because they work. The difference is, today you have a lot more platforms to launch yours. While many people use traditional email platforms, like MailChimp and Constant Contact, to deliver their e-newsletters, others have moved to integrated platforms such as Hubspot and Salesforce Pardot. Still others manage them on popular social media platforms like LinkedIn. Why are e-newsletters so effective? For one thing, they provide a dependable outlet for your thought leadership. And by their very nature, they keep you top of mind as new issues arrive on a regular schedule. 

How you might use them: E-newsletters should not be a vehicle for company news, new employee announcements and teambuilding pics. Only the most doting client will care about any of that. To be a truly valuable inbound lead generation technique, each issue should focus on a topic your clients and prospects care about. Usually this means educational content. Promote your newsletter on your website and social media. To minimize friction and encourage the most people to subscribe, require as little information as possible at signup. Many e-newsletters require nothing more than an email address.

12. Blogging

By itself, blogging isn’t really a lead generation technique. But as part of a larger system that includes SEO and gated valuable content, it is the most powerful driver of leads to your website. That’s because people who find your blog posts through Google are likely to be interested in other content on your website—especially if you promote a relevant free guide or whitepaper download alongside your post. That’s how you turn web visitors into leads. And if you get your SEO and blog strategy right, you’ll attract a lot of qualified prospects—people who are highly motivated and interested in your services.

How you might use it: Be sure to host your blog on your website, or you will waste all the Domain Authority “juice” it generates. Promote your posts on LinkedIn and Twitter to maximize your exposure. 

13. Guest Blogging

Your blogging activity doesn’t have to be restricted to your own blog—nor should it be. A great way to amplify your blogging strategy is to guest blog on respected, high-authority third-party sites. This strategy exposes you to new audiences and, if the blog allows it, can supply valuable backlinks to your website. It also helps position you as thought leaders in your industry.

How you might use it: Look for blogs that speak to your target audience. These could be standalone blogs, online business publications, industry organizations or businesses at the periphery of your industry (for example, attorneys and CPAs often serve the same clientele but don’t directly compete with each other). When you contribute to high Domain Authority blogs, you can often target keywords that you would otherwise have little hope of ranking for. 

14. Podcasting

Podcasts are more popular than ever, and this medium is only expected to grow. Fortunately, the cost of entry to podcasting is low—you can buy a quality microphone for less than $130 and several popular audio software apps are available for free (such as Audacity or Apple’s Garage Band). You’ll also need a podcast hosting service (many excellent low-cost options are available—we use Libsyn). A podcast is an excellent vehicle to showcase your firm’s expertise, build trust and connect, in a personal way, with your audience. If you distribute your episode to even one or two of the popular directories (such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or TuneIn), you have the potential to reach hundreds or thousands of new listeners—many of whom may never have heard of you before.

How you might use it: Use your podcast to explore current issues and trends that are important to your audience, discuss how you solve specific problems, interview other experts, or even invite clients to share their challenges. 

15. Visible Experts^®

Your firm is filled to the brim with experts. What if you could make some of them far more well known, even outside your marketplace? What effect would that have on your firm’s growth? At Hinge, we call these upwardly mobile individuals Visible Experts^®. They not only bring more visibility to your firm, they can often command higher fees. But that’s not all. Visible Experts also help your firm attract better, more profitable clients, close business faster and attract top talent. In short, they can elevate your firm to a new level of prominence. But how do you build your experts’ reputations? They can either follow a self-guided process or hire an outside consultant to mentor them and step them through the process.

How you might use it: If your firm is small, elevating even a single professional to Visible Expert status can make a huge difference. Larger firms may want to put a team of professionals through a formal program to multiply the impact.

16. Pop-up Offers On Your Website

Pop up offers aren’t just for B2C websites. They can be a powerful lead generation tool for professional services firms, too. Use them to convert your website and blog visitors into leads. If you use a flexible dedicated tool, such as OptinMonster, you can easily set up different offers that align with the content on your pages. 

How you might use them: Experiment with a variety of offers (many of these tools even allow you to conduct A/B tests) such as white papers, guides, e-newsletter subscriptions, webinar recordings, live demos and free consultations. Just be sure that each offer is relevant to the content on the page, includes clear, enticing benefits and requires the person to fill out a form to access the material.

17. Dedicated Landing Pages

An offer should always lead to a place where it’s fast and easy to complete the conversion. In most cases, this means a dedicated page with language that quickly orients the user, continues to “sell” the product and minimizes the roadblocks to completing the download or other action. 

How you might use them: Writing and optimizing landing pages is always as straightforward as you think. You may need to test different copy and visuals to optimize conversions. You can set up Google Analytics (or a CRM like Salesforce/Pardot or HubSpot) to see not only how many people reach the landing page, but how many actually follow through with the download. Some tools will even allow you to A/B test different landing page versions concurrently. 

18. Live Chat

Prospective clients are on your website every day. A live chat app gives them a way to interact with your team in real time (at Hinge, we use Olark, but many good options are available). Unlike chatbots, which rely on AI or preprogrammed responses, live chat allows web visitors to have conversations with designated employees. In marketing, responsiveness can be critical to a firm’s success. This low-friction tool allows people to ask questions and get answers right away, dramatically improving lead generation. 

How you might use it: In most cases, installing a Live Chat app is as simple as adding a plugin to your website. If you have a CRM, you may be able to integrate it with that, as well. To start, assign one or two people on your staff to monitor the chat app. Select people who are both familiar with your services and have business development skills. You’ll be surprised how often simple inquiries turn into serious opportunities.

19. Online Course

Today, more and more professionals are looking online for high-quality training and education. That makes producing an online course of your own an attractive inbound lead generation technique. Whether you hire a professional videographer or do it all in-house, producing an in-depth course on a topic of interest to your buyers can be a great way to widen your market exposure and show off your expertise. Now, producing a high-quality course takes a lot of planning, time and effort. You will need to navigate a large number of factors, including video, audio, slides and other visual aids, video hosting, quizzes (if you want them), worksheets or other supplemental materials, and the platform you will use to deliver your course to your online audience. But there are few better ways to show people how you think and solve problems. It’s not unusual for buyers of online courses to later become buyers of your services.

How you might use it: You can either give the course away as a powerful lead magnet and marketing tool, or you can sell it online as a self-serve product. Use the size and scope of your  course as a guide in making this decision. An 8-hour video course with quizzes and supplemental materials is a huge investment—and probably worth charging for. A 2-hour webinar-style training, on the other hand, is a perfect piece of valuable content to give away for the price of a name and email address. Whatever topic you choose to cover, make sure it is of real interest to your target audience and dovetails with a service you offer.

20. Email Nurture Sequences

While not technically a lead generation technique, an email nurture sequence makes your lead generation program far more effective. When you acquire a new email contact through any of the techniques described above, you can use a pre-programmed sequence of emails to send out highly relevant educational content over a period of days or weeks, as well as provide opportunities for the prospect to take a next step in the relationship. If you are a firm of any size, chances are you’ll need multiple email sequences to address different interests, service lines and audience segments. The benefits? You stay top of mind, keep your contacts engaged for a prolonged period of time and continue to provide the trust-building thought leadership that turns a casual interest in your firm into raging fandom.

How you might use them: You’ll need a tool designed to handle sequenced emails. Do you have a marketing automation platform such as Hubspot, Marketo or Pardot? Then you already have what you need. If not, look for a cloud-based tool specifically designed to deliver nurture sequences (ConvertKit is a popular option). If you have a library of educational content, look for pieces that would address a common issue or set of related issues. If you don’t have a library of content, create new content (it doesn’t have to be lengthy) or repurpose existing materials, such as blog posts, speeches and webinar recordings.

21. Digital PR

Digital Public Relations is a collection of techniques used to broaden your firm’s exposure, promote your thought leadership and strengthen your website’s Domain Authority. It can include many tactics, including publishing articles and press releases, engaging with reporters and providing expert answers to their questions, researching and addressing trending topics, building relationships with bloggers, podcasters and other influencers, developing greater social media presence, and more. Not long ago, Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller said that digital PR is even more important than technical SEO to your website. So ignore it at your own risk.

How you might use it: Digital PR can seem overwhelming at first. Start with one or two techniques and build from there. Don’t worry about churning out press releases—they’ll have little or no impact without a solid strategy behind them. Instead, try reaching out to a few influencers and see if they might be willing to publish a guest blog post or host one of your experts on their podcast. Perhaps you can arrange a joint webinar with a strategic partner. Small incremental steps can produce outsize results.

These 21 inbound lead generation techniques would make a formidable marketing plan by themselves. But if you have limited resources, you can still make great strides toward developing more quality inbound leads by picking a few to focus on. They don’t have to replace any traditional techniques that are working well for you today. In fact, high-growth firms almost always use a combination of digital inbound and traditional marketing tactics to reach a wider range of people. By accelerating your transition toward an inbound-forward marketing strategy, you will be better aligned with today’s buyers—and become an active participant in the way they find, learn to trust, vet and select their professional services partners. 

The post Top 21 Inbound Lead Generation Techniques appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

We hear it all the time. As a marketing agency exclusively focused on professional services, Hinge has these types of conversations daily.

For good reason. In 2013, more than 70% of buyers reported turning to their personal network when they needed a new service provider. While referrals remain the top search method for professional services, less than 60% of today’s buyers ask for referrals — a 15% decrease.

Why has there been such a dramatic change?

Today’s professional services buyers have adopted digital techniques. With visibility levels decreasing across the marketplace, it’s becoming more important for firms to maintain a visible online presence.

LinkedIn has more than 830 million members world-wide, including more than 250 million in North America alone. It goes without saying, any professional who wants to develop, monitor, and nurture connections must have a presence on the go-to social media network for business.

But it’s really about more than just “being there.”

To get the greatest return on your (time) investment, there are certain factors that matter more than others. The ultimate goal, as always, is growth – personally and professionally.

1. Look the Part

Like all technology, LinkedIn, and social media as a whole, serve to replace or augment aspects of less-digital life. It’s generally accepted that with networking and business development, a positive first impression can make the difference.

Now consider this scenario – You’re walking into the event hall of the most important conference of the year. I’m guessing you don’t look like you were up till 4am at a client mixer (even if you were!) and you certainly aren’t wearing a tank-top. No, you’re suited-up, Barney Stinson style, with a pocket full of business cards and those all-important talking notes memorized. It’s go-time.

The same needs to be true for your LinkedIn profile—the digital version of your legendary first impression. Remember that buyer behavior statistic I mentioned above?

Nowadays, buyers rely on their own recognizance to make key decisions. A quick Google search of a question can land them on your blog (like this one) or social media profile. Then, it’s go-time and you need to be ready.

Here are a few key tips:

Use a professional photo. Excluding those making a living in the professional rodeo circuit, it’s unlikely you would attend a professional event wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. The same goes for a LinkedIn profile picture. Wear professional attire and have a professional take your photo. Use Instagram for snapshots of you and your dogs (I certainly do).

Create a disruptive headline. LinkedIn uses your current position at your organization as the default headline for your profile. That’s cool if your goal is to disappear into those nearly 600 million profiles. You can and should do better. Think of your headline as the words that follow an initial handshake. Keep it to 220 characters or less and make sure to describe what you do and how you are different.

Use the Summary section to tell a (short) story. Here is your next best chance to make an impression. The summary section should share your story and explain how you got where you are today. Write in the first person and explain how you help solve client’s key challenges, the kind that keep them up at night. It’s not enough to say that you are great at what you do. Everyone does that. Consider describing how you approach problems and what you do differently to solve them. If you’re not the next Charles Dickens, feel free to use bullet points to list strengths or specialties.

Complete your profile. It really does matter that you include previous experience and provide examples of expertise. Just like you would at a conference booth. Fill out anything that is relevant, including links to articles you’ve written and professional organizations you belong to. If you set up your profile a few years ago and haven’t touched it since, it’s long overdue for an update.

2. Make Connections

If you’re already on LinkedIn, it’s safe to assume you’ve already connected with some of your friends and colleagues. It’s time to take it to the next level and expand your online network of connections. Your network is what you make of it, whether it’s to keep in touch, generate leads, or even find a new job.

The best time to connect with people is shortly after meeting them in person or over the phone. Make this habit part of your typical follow up protocol. Find them on LinkedIn by searching their name and hitting “Connect.” But you’ll have much better results if you send the people you want to connect with a personalized note to remind them who you are and when you met.

Edit this message to explain your reason for connecting. Make sure to mention anything you may have spoken about to help jog their memory.

If there’s someone that you want to connect with but haven’t met personally, see if you have any connections in common. Then ask your mutual connection to introduce you. To make it easier on them, you could even craft a message for your connection to use.

3. “Engage!”

Sir Patrick Stewart made that phrase famous (shout out to the Trekkies), but I’d challenge that engage(ment) is even more relevant to social media.

As a best practice, we recommend taking just 15 minutes out of your day to engage and participate in relevant LinkedIn News Feed and Groups discussions. When done correctly, it can quickly help build your network and generate leads. Use these avenues as an opportunity to share your organization’s content and personal expertise.

Ask a question to get started. To start a discussion, use an open-ended question to ask how others have solved a specific problem. For example, instead of asking “Do you want to buy my digital lead generation product?” try a question that’s more likely to stimulate discussion, such as, “What social media tactics have helped your firm generate leads?”

Read the group rules and abide by them. Most LinkedIn Groups allow for discussion but frown upon spammy sales tactics. So that means no “Check out our new great digital lead gen product” posts. Blasting your services is a surefire turn off and can also get you banned from the group. Instead, try to make it educational. Have you just written a brilliant blog post on how to leverage LinkedIn networking in business development? Share it.

Post quality content. Make sure that everything you share is relevant to your audience. This means a healthy mix of your firm’s content as well as external content. You don’t want to come across as overly sales-y.

Don’t leave the event early. You wouldn’t make a connection at an event before exchanging business cards! So why start a discussion and then ignore the conversation that follows? LinkedIn actively promotes engagement, both good and bad, that generates discussion. Monitor your LinkedIn notifications for responses and continue the dialogue. Do you know someone who might be good to loop in to keep the ball rolling? Go ahead and @ them! Keep a discussion’s momentum going by ending your responses with another open-ended question. Also, make an effort to comment on other conversations and offer your expert opinion or shared experience.

Haters are going to hate. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional network. If someone posts a snarky comment, most people will recognize it for what it is. Avoid the temptation to respond in kind. A simple, polite response is usually sufficient and equally satisfying.

You now have a better idea of how to look the part, increase your LinkedIn connections, engage in groups, and grow your influence online. The time is now to make LinkedIn a key part of your professional networking strategy and remember, always be closing.

The post LinkedIn Networking Tips: Making Connections and Getting Business in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Let’s start by defining what a social media marketing strategy is all about.

Social Media Marketing Strategy Defined

Social media marketing strategy is a written document describing how you will use social media in support of strategic marketing goals such as brand building, lead generation or talent acquisition. Social media marketing strategies typically contain the following elements:

• Business purpose to be addressed
• Target audience profiles
• Social media platforms to be used
• Implementation tactics
• Specific goals and measures to be tracked

Often, a social media strategy is part of a more comprehensive marketing plan.

The Strategic Uses of Social Media

Social media can be an important component of your overall marketing strategy. We have identified five primary roles that social media can play in a modern professional services firm.

1. Networking

Social media’s original intended role, as an online networking system, is still important for professional services firms. Treat Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook as an online cocktail party—a way to meet new people and develop important business and client relationships—but without the hangover. And, like a cocktail party, social media is highly reciprocal. People expect replies to their tweets, comments, and questions, and there is an expectation that you will share other people’s content as well as your own.

2. Content Promotion

Social media is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to promote your firm’s content. Creating a social media marketing strategy to promote your content via different channels will help build your reputation and visibility—i.e., your brand.

A word of warning on content promotion, though—it’s important not to overdo self-promotion. Social media is reciprocal, and you need to balance self-promotion with sharing important content created by other industry thought leaders. While there seems to be no widely accepted standard for how much of others’ content to share, there is a bias toward education. Leave your marketing collateral on your website. Educate, don’t hard sell.

3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Social media has become a valuable way to boost SEO. Think of it as another path to content promotion. There is no solid evidence that search engines are using social media popularity as a gauge of a page’s authority. That would quickly become a target for “black hat” manipulation. However by sharing content widely you attract “natural” links, which have a very clear impact on page authority. So boosting your social media presence should also help your page rank in search engines. Another hidden benefit of social media is that its content is searchable—at least for Twitter and LinkedIn. That means that your tweet, which links back to your website’s blog, may be found by someone doing a simple Google search—another opportunity to gain website traffic.

4. Research

Social media is a great way to do research. Before you meet with a new client, interview someone for a case study, or hire a new employee, you should check out their social media streams. Regardless of whether they are a corporation or an individual, you will learn a lot about their personality, authority, reputation, and visibility. Social media is also an easy way to research marketplace trends and engage with the competition, keeping you abreast of their initiatives and, perhaps, allowing for advantageous collaboration. This concept of market intelligence is sometimes referred to as social listening.

5. Recruiting

Social media is a natural recruitment tool, whether it be finding new employees or seeking out business partners. LinkedIn and Facebook let you post highly targeted jobs focusing on users with certain résumé attributes, and provides real-time analytics showing, among other things, who has viewed the post. And of course, LinkedIn is well known as a good place to search for a new position or to find the right talent.

Given these multiple uses, is social media in some way better than more traditional marketing approaches, such as face to face networking? Put another way, what are the benefits to making social media a part of your marketing plan? As it turns out there are several.

The Benefits of Using Social Media For Marketing

1. Less expensive

As a starting place, most social media platforms are available as “free” applications, even if they also offer premium subscriptions with expanded functionality. And while they are not truly free, as staff time is required to actually use them, they do not require fees, travel expenses, and the vast quantities of professionals’ time consumed by traditional networking.

2. Easier

It also takes less time and effort to spend a few minutes each day posting or commenting on social media than traveling to and attending a networking event. Also, because social media is asynchronous, you do not need to be doing it at a specific time or place. The nature of the interaction is also different and less demanding for some. Many professionals find traditional networking socially uncomfortable. Social media is a welcome alternative for the introverts among us.

3. Global reach

By breaking the bonds of time zone and distance, social media allows even the smallest firms to pursue national and even international markets. This applies not only to networking, but to the visibility of your thought leadership and recruiting, as well. A firm from Montana can acquire clients from Manhattan to Mumbai.

4. Builds your brand

We have long defined your professional services brand as being the product of your reputation and your visibility within your target markets. Importantly, social media can help you hone your reputation and increase your visibility. Think more referrals and easier closes.

5. Scalable

One often overlooked key benefit is that social media is inherently scalable.

Even if you are interacting with a single person you are visible (if you so choose) to many. You can accumulate hundreds or even thousands of followers that you can address with a single post. In addition those followers can share your content with others, making you efforts even more scalable. You can add scale without adding infrastructure or expense.

The ROI of Social Media Marketing

Because social media offers so many uses and potential benefits it’s not surprising that many professional services firms are weaving social media into their marketing strategies. A recent Hinge research study showed that more professional services firms use social media networking (52.5%) than use email marketing (48.9%). And firms are using social media to promote thought leadership (36.8%) about as frequently as speaking at targeted events and conferences (34.5%).

While widespread adoption may suggest a good return on investment, there is more direct evidence to consider. In the same study we looked at the marketing techniques used by High Growth firms (firms with compound annual growth rates greater than 20%) and compared them to the techniques used by firms that were stagnant (no growth or a decline). While both groups used social media to about the same extent, High Growth firms found social media to be more effective compared to their No Growth peers.

Clearly, there is something about how firms use social media that is impacting effectiveness and return on investment.

One clue comes from the same study. We found that the High Growth firms enjoy a decided skills advantage. Professionals from High Growth firms were 25% more likely to be rated highly skilled in social media networking.

This raises the intriguing possibility that social media training can drive much higher levels of success. Other research on employee involvement in social media also identified the importance of training. Firms with an established social media employee engagement program tend to grow faster. That kind of a return is hard to ignore.

Of course, the starting place is to develop your strategy. Here’s how to do it the right way.

Developing Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

If you are serious about making social media work for your firm, the place to start is with a social media strategy. In this section we’ll step you through the right way to do it.

1. Determine the business purpose of your social media program

As we found out earlier, there are a lot of good reasons to develop a social media strategy. The question is, which ones are relevant to your situation?

• Do you need to develop new relationships with your target audience or influencers? Think of this goal as traditional networking using a new communications channel.
• Do you need to promote your educational content and spread new ideas? Social media is a fast and efficient way to reach key audiences.
• Do you want to attract more visitors to your website? Social media activity is becoming an important way to gain valuable natural links that tell search engines that your content is valuable. Think SEO.
• Do you need to research your prospects or competitors? Use social media to get the collective scoop. Find out who works there, what issues they have, how the marketplace views them, and many other pieces of market intelligence.
• Do you need to recruit new employees? They will definitely be checking you out on social media, so you better be ready. Conversely, it can be used to find just the type of employee you are looking for.

It’s important to get your executive, legal, creative, and web teams aligned in the very beginning. Collaboration is crucial to your firm’s social media strategy. Everybody needs to be on the same page to allow for collaboration.

When you have determined which goals are most important and their relative priority, you are ready to take the next step.

2. Specify and research your target audiences

When choosing a target audience for your social media campaign, don’t be too narrow. Remember that in most complex B2B sales there is rarely just a single decision-maker. Many decision-makers rely on advice from peers or outside consultants, as well as the usual trusted advisors. So it’s a good idea to widen your scope to include all of those potential influencers.

Once you know whom you are trying to reach, it’s time to figure out where they are located, online. This can be done through formal research—systematically polling an audience, online monitoring—or less formally, by simply looking online. Try looking at LinkedIn profiles to see which groups attract your target audience. Many executives routinely include their Twitter handle or LinkedIn profile in their email signature block. Remember, your purpose is to be where they are.

3. Select the appropriate social media platform(s)

Should we be on Facebook? What about YouTube? And everyone’s been talking about LinkedIn. Many folks select the channel first, then try to figure out what their goal should be. No, no, no, bad idea! Figure out where you need to go to reach your audience. That will determine your social media channel(s). And remember: you don’t need to do it all.

Sometimes it will make sense to be on multiple social media platforms. Each channel is unique and requires a different strategy, so you should consider the characteristics of the different platforms as part of your decision process.

If you are in doubt, start small and build from there. If your social media strategy is focused on B2B, LinkedIn is a safe place to start. Twitter and YouTube are also good fits for most B2B situations. For those in the A/E/C world, check out Instagram. If you are trying to reach non-profits, consumers, or young hires, Facebook is typically a good addition. And don’t forget the more specialized private social forums that are common within many industries.

4. Pinpoint program goals and measures

Once you have selected your social media channels, it’s time to focus on specific program goals. Why not set program goals earlier? The simple answer is that many of the goals and available measures are very platform-specific. For instance, it would be impossible to measure retweets on LinkedIn.

Program goals and measures generally fall into three broad categories:

• These goals should focus on what you do. For example: How many online discussions did you start? How many tweets are you posting daily? How many videos did you publish last month? The point of these program goals is to track implementation. Here is the harsh reality—if you don’t use social media on a routine basis, it won’t work. Having a specific goal and measurement in place simply makes it more likely that you will accomplish your strategy.
• These goals measure the reach and scope of your activity. You don’t want to send information out into a black hole; you want people to engage with your information, share it, and become interested in your firm. These measurements will let you know if consumers are responding. Your metrics for this goal might include tracking followers, fans, likes, comments, or retweets.
• Is your social media strategy producing the results you seek? Are you getting the new business leads you wanted? Has your industry visibility improved? Have you found the new recruits you need? Fortunately, marketing automation technology has dramatically improved your ability to track these metrics. Free tools like Google Analytics allow you to easily monitor website traffic and new leads coming from social media, and more sophisticated dashboards equip you to track results driven by multiple interactions.

5. Develop implementation tactics

The great part about social media is that it’s easy to get help. Every day, social media experts are on social media sharing ideas and tips about—you guessed it—social media, and how to do it better. Have a question? All you have to do is ask. This informal system is a built-in mechanism for improving your social media skills, and an invaluable aid for a do-it-yourself strategy.

But DIY isn’t the right strategy for all situations. Just because you have a compelling business reason for developing a social media strategy doesn’t mean you can do everything yourself from the get-go.

These days, there are two viable alternatives to self-help. The first is to employ a social media consultant to help set up your program and policies. This person would train in-house team members, monitor the program, and provide constant support and troubleshooting. This approach allows you to shorten the learning curve while still using inside resources to do the bulk of the implementation.

The second approach is to outsource some roles, or even the entire program. This approach is especially appealing when you have very busy professionals with little available time. It can be more effective and less expensive than taking staff off of billable work. The downside is that the culture of social media revolves around authenticity, which typically implies the active engagement of your staff. This has led to the emergence of hybrid approaches where some functions are outsourced and others are supplemented with available in-house resources.

6. Troubleshooting

Whichever approach you take to developing and implementing your social media strategy, remember the most basic truth. A flawed strategy, no matter how enthusiastically implemented, will not produce the desired results. Neither will a brilliant strategy that is only partially implemented. Consistency matters—to see results, you have to stick with the program.

Suppose you don’t see the results that you had expected. What do you do? That’s where troubleshooting comes into play. If you have been measuring implementation and impacts you will be in an excellent position to determine where the problem lies—and what you may be able to do about it.

Start with implementation (Activity). Did it actually happen? Did you get the desired increase in visibility (Reach)? Did they translate into the business outcomes you were seeking (Results)? By following this chain of actions and impacts you can often uncover an obvious problem. And of course, correctly diagnosing the problem is the first step in solving it.

A Final Thought

Social media marketing has become an increasingly important tool in the professional services marketer’s toolbox, and it’s here to stay.

While it cannot do everything, it can do many things very well. From researching new markets to lead generation and brand building, the range of social media uses is formidable.

As its importance in a comprehensive marketing strategy continues to grow, social media marketing is becoming a “must have” tool in firms’ business development toolbox. Increasing numbers of professional services firms are jumping into social media with both feet, realizing that its reach is great while its cost is low. If you are not there, you can bet that your competitors will be.

To gain or maintain a competitive edge, you must be where your clients and referral sources are. And these days, that increasingly means social media.

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The post Using Social Media for Marketing Professional Services appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click (or PPC) is a form of advertising where a firm can pay to drive visitors to their website from search engines. Google Ads is the most popular PPC service although Bing does represent 5% of June 2021’s search engine traffic according to Statista*. These ads generally appear at the top and on the right-hand side of a search engine’s results pages. Firms can bid on service-related keywords for their ad to show up in these placements.

Generally speaking, the more that you’re willing to pay for a click, the higher up your ad appears on the page. However, A/B testing with your chosen keywords, headline copy, and ad descriptions will allow you to optimize your campaign strategy. 

While PPC campaigns can often be a powerful tool, it can also backfire if it’s not managed well. You can be paying too much for clicks and getting a lot of traffic without any conversions if you aren’t carefully monitoring your account. Many companies can get into a bidding war and end up paying inflated prices just to stay ahead of their competitor.

Ensure your ads are relevant and not attracting the wrong type of visitor. You can end up paying a fortune on junk traffic. You might see an increase in your traffic, but are these visitors actually converting or turning into new business for your firm? PPC can be a great way to build firm visibility and drive traffic for specific campaigns, but should only be set up by professionals that have a deep understanding of how it works. Otherwise, costs could quickly skyrocket without much return.

Social Media Ads

Paid social media advertising involves placing ads that can appear at the top, on the sides, or in the newsfeed of various social media platforms that can take you directly to the advertiser’s website. Size and placement vary depending on the platform that’s hosting the ad. You can place ads on the platform’s extended audience or create a lookalike audience for re-targeting purposes. Sometimes, you can even upload an internal list of contacts to create a matched audience on each social media platform. 

There is some good news, though. Because social ads appear within the social media platform’s native content the user is already consuming, it doesn’t interrupt or interfere with what they are already doing as much as some other forms of ads do. Social media ads can also be good at helping to introduce brand messaging and build awareness, and since you only pay when a user clicks on the ad (CPC) or when the content is visible on the platform (CPM), a ton of people can be exposed to your firm for little cost.

Meta Ads

There is simply no other social platform that has more bells and whistles for a paid digital advertiser than Meta. The options can be overwhelming for the novice user. To place an ad on Meta, there is a setup process where you need to verify your business, add payment information, verify your domain and install pixels on your website, among other things. This step is critical for your ads’ success and measurement.

Meta’s targeting criteria are very sophisticated, as well. Meta has data on its users that allows you to target paid advertising based on interests, group membership, website behavior, geographic location, and other personal information about a user.

One of the benefits of advertising your professional services firm on Meta is the low cost. Paid digital ads on Meta also create a higher level of campaign performance. Other social platforms can be low-cost but produce a lower yield/conversion rate for leads. Some other social platforms have a higher cost but produce a lower quantity of leads.

Another benefit to paid digital Meta ads is the Meta reporting capabilities. There are triggers created from Meta pixels that you can track and capture visitors to your site or to specific pages within your site. By default, Meta ads are also targeted to the specific KPIs you need to report to upper management or clients making it the perfect option for campaign transparency and decision making.

LinkedIn Ads

Specifically, ads on LinkedIn can appear across a number of pages on LinkedIn, including a user’s newsfeed, inbox, search results, or LinkedIn Groups. The placement of ads on those pages will vary. You can also sponsor content and InMail messages.

A major benefit of LinkedIn ads is their ability to target very specifically. Advertisers can select their audience by job title, job function, industry, geography, company name, company size, age, gender, LinkedIn groups, and more. You can set a maximum budget so you don’t end up paying more than you expect. It’s great to have a safety net, especially when it comes to your budget.

LinkedIn ads are ideal for B2B and professional services firms. You can reach the right audience in a targeted way, without being overly intrusive. Setting up LinkedIn ads is also much more straightforward than PPC ads, for example.

The downside of this type of advertising is that you must be cautious when selecting an ad objective and consider what data points the platform has access to. Do not be enticed by objectives such as lead generation. What criteria could the platform have to give you this offering? These objectives are often built by bundling different data points together such as behavior-based with demographic interests. Because of this, these objectives are very expensive and we have seen limited results by using them. 

Twitter Ads

Twitter’s ad manager gives you all the data points necessary that allow you to easily make adjustments to maximize your money spent. Twitter also allows you to create a tailored audience and target those who went to your website but didn’t complete a download or another goal your firm may have. They also offer the ability to target audiences who are receiving your emails but not opening them. Twitter provides a number of different ad types, including:

• Promoted Accounts: This kind of ad suggests Twitter accounts to people that they aren’t currently following, but might find interesting.
• Promoted Tweets: These are normal Tweets that advertisers can purchase to reach a wider audience.
• Promoted Trends: This kind of ad allows advertisers to create a trending hashtag and pay to promote it for the day.

An advertiser must be aware that Twitter and other platforms like Meta have advertising policies that restrict an advertiser’s ability to target by age, language, disability, familial status, civil or marital status, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, receipt of income from a public assistance program, exercise of rights under Consumer Credit Protection Act, or precise location (at the zip code level or more precise)

TikTok Ads

TikTok is a platform that is growing its advertising platform. Generally speaking, TikTok ads are great for B2C and B2B companies who are seeking to increase brand awareness and influence audience spending behavior. TikTok ads do require video creative collateral. Seek to make your video “native”. It should not stand out too much from other videos that users see in their newsfeed. 

TikTok’s ad manager is rapidly growing in terms of functionality. You can easily make adjustments to maximize your money spent. TikTok also allows you to create a tailored audience and target those who went to your website but didn’t complete a download or another goal your firm may have. They also offer the ability to upload an internal file of customers. You must have certain criteria available on this list in order to match it with a TikTok audience. 

TikTok provides a number of different ad types, including:

• In-feed
• Top-view
• Brand takeover
• Branded hashtag challenge
• Branded effects

Other Platforms

There are also other platforms available for digital advertising. Google ads (PPC and in-stream ads on YouTube), Hulu’s ad manager (Beta), as well as, audio platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and others.

Google ads manager can be a little intimidating to novice users. Working with an agency that can produce your video/audio collateral and/or offer keyword research for your PPC campaigns are keys to success with these platforms. An agency can also work with your firm to ensure that your campaigns are optimized and performing well.

It takes a little effort to be allowed into Hulu’s ad manager since it is still in beta. There are other options to advertise on Hulu that include reaching out to a Hulu campaign representative that will allow you to book a video ad through them.

The ad manager on Hulu is rather robust and allows you to target your ad based on zip code, education level, and income level. It also offers targeting options based on other demographic persona data. Typically, we have seen CPM’s on this platform start at the $32/thousand level and rise based on additional targeting options that are selected.

Paid advertisements can oftentimes be a quicker solution to your firm’s marketing strategy, but should work in tandem with your other efforts. Paid advertising can be used by your B2B company or professional services firm to generate leads or enhance your firm’s talent acquisition strategy, as well as, build firm visibility. Dig deeper into these paid advertising options to understand whether or not they’re a good fit for your professional services firm.

The post Social Media Paid Advertising in Professional Services: Which Platform is Worthwhile? appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

So what gives?

Even though recent research shows that clients are more willing to be referral sources for their service providers, they’re actually making fewer referrals. The key takeaway is the increase in alternative sources for information.

Source: Inside the Buyer’s Brain — Second Edition (2018)

Prospects are using other methods to find service providers rather than asking a friend or a colleague for a referral. A recent study into the habits of professional services buyers showed that more than 70% leveraged digital techniques when evaluating their service providers.

The importance of a good old fashioned referral has not gone away. It’s just that digital marketing has outgrown traditional marketing in many important ways.

Download the LinkedIn Guide for Professional Services Executives

What does this have to do with LinkedIn?

Social media platforms, like LinkedIn, have revolutionized networking by providing online venues for building relationships and demonstrating relevant experience.

It just so happens to be that the number one criteria when a buyer is evaluating a professional service provider is understanding expertise through past performance (>35%). For a firm, and those representing the business, this experience can take the form of project examples, client testimonials, references and case studies, to name a few. Among a variety of features, LinkedIn provides a forum for all of these elements on a standard profile page and they need to be considered when developing yours.

If you aren’t yet maximizing social media, or are just taking your first steps into it, these types of data points may bring on a sense of nausea. After all, they reveal an inconvenient truth—if you want to grow your business, it’s time to get serious about social media marketing.

Make Your Move

So, how should you get started? Long-term you’ll discover that layering several social media platforms together as part of a complete digital strategy will give you the best results.

However, it’s best to begin with a solid foundation on the number one social media network for professional service firms—LinkedIn. With more than 575 million members world-wide, LinkedIn provides a platform for today’s workforce to provide thought provoking conversation on the latest ideas and trends, networking among a targeted list of peers and prospects, and best yet, a source for the new age of referral marketing.

After building a strong LinkedIn profile for each of your key business development team members, use the following three steps as a guide to take your game to the next level:

1) Win The Participation Trophy

You will meet people who have shared professional interests by joining in on the conversation. As a best practice, we recommend taking just 15 minutes out of your day to engage and participate in relevant LinkedIn News Feed and Groups discussions. Before choosing groups, decide who in your target audience you want to reach. Remember, in B2B sales there are usually multiple people who influence the buying decision.

You’ll want to find groups that appeal to each of the people who play a role in the decision-making process, broadening your reach. For example, if your firm helps both sales and marketing professionals, you may need to join both the ‘Sales Best Practices’ group and the ‘Content Strategy’ group.

To discover the groups in which your decision-makers and influencers participate, look at the profiles of clients and prospects, the types that you want more of. By scrolling down to the bottom and expanding on their Interests, you’ll find a list of groups to which they belong.

Check out these groups to determine which ones are the most active. Ask yourself, Is there actual conversation going on?

Or is this group just a receptacle for someone posting an offer to provide outsourced SEO for $199/month… every 15 minutes?

The more engagement that is present, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to find ones to which you can add value and show your thought leadership and meet new prospects.

You can get your feet wet in a group by answering questions or commenting on topics other group members have raised. Alternatively, to gain even greater visibility, you can initiate a discussion.

As noted, just like with live networking, leading a discussion with a sales pitch will put a quick end to conversations (and might even get you banned from a group). So, if you link to content to start a conversation, don’t be self-promotional. Instead, mix other blog posts, articles, and content in with content your firm produces. A good guideline is four pieces of content curated from other sources to one of your own.

By bringing up relevant topics and discussing the key issues your prospects and clients are grappling with, you can establish your expertise as a thought leader and best demonstrate that all important expertise.

2) Make The Next Steps Easy

There are several ways that LinkedIn can also drive traffic to your site without spending a dime. And we have seen that more traffic leads to more conversions, such as prospects downloading gated content and completing contact forms, which results in more new business opportunities. How does it work:

• First, visitors may be directed to your website from the group discussions. At Hinge, we’ve found that posts that stimulate conversations will drive a noticeable amount of traffic to our website, especially to the source of the content.
  
• Second, when a prospect completes a search for a provider who can help them to solve a problem, one of your company’s leaders may rise to the top of the search results. If his or her profile includes a link to your website in the ‘Contact Info’ section, as it should, the searcher is just one click away from your site.
  
• You can post your content in LinkedIn’s news feed and it will be shared with all of your connections who may read and click through to your website. Bonus points if you can get your colleagues to throw you a like or even help start the conversation! Remember- you’re all in this together.
  
• Lastly, if you’re willing to make an investment, you can take advantage of LinkedIn’s sponsored updates and pay-per-click ads that allow you to precisely target your audience. This works best when that target audience is known, particularly through research.

People who come to your website from LinkedIn do so with some familiarity with your firm and its leaders. Thus, when they arrive, they’re more likely to convert into a qualified lead.

3) Make New Friends (But Keep the Old)

If you’ve done your research and marketing legwork, you have outlined the qualities of your ideal client. Most likely, you’ll find these potential prospects on LinkedIn.

However, you’ll need to connect with them to start a direct conversation. The best way to do this is to find a connection that you have in common and ask him or her to introduce you virtually. Make this process as easy as possible for your contact by explaining the value you offer their connection and including brief email language for the introduction.

If you’re all in and want to take it to the next level, consider investing in LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator. This tool allows you to search more efficiently and zero in on the right prospects and decision-makers. Users can save lists of target accounts and leads as well as get notifications of potential new matches.

The service also comes with a hefty amount of InMails, direct messages that LinkedIn guarantees they’ll deliver.  And if you send easy-to-read InMails that promise a benefit to the reader, they may start a conversation that leads to a sale.

Download the LinkedIn Guide for Professional Services Executives

Using LinkedIn for business development is a powerful ally in the fight for business development. You can build relationships that are not limited by geography, become known as a visible expert or thought leader, and increase web traffic and conversions.

LinkedIn is the primary social network for professional services firms – it’s where your future clients are sharing relevant information and discussing industry trends. By participating in the conversation, sharing relevant content, and connecting directly with those who match your client profile, you can reach your target audience easily and efficiently.

A Closing Thought

We can all recognize the importance of referrals to bringing in new business. But it’s important to recognize that referrals don’t only come from clients and those who have experience of working with us. Non-client referrals are just as significant and come to us through venues such as speaking and networking events, and, through social media.

The research shows that 17% of non-client referrals happen through firms’ activity and subsequent visibility in social media channels. As a viable marketing strategy and pathway to new business, social media, and LinkedIn in particular, is well past being “something to consider.”

It’s a must for business development in professional services.

The post The New Age of Referral: Leveraging LinkedIn for Business Development appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

We’ve all seen influencers on social media with thousands of followers getting tons of engagement, boasting about the leads they get on channels like LinkedIn and Twitter.

Naturally, seeing other people achieve that level of engagement can trigger the thought, “why can’t I do that?” 

Well you can. It just won’t happen overnight.

This article is a story of growth. With slight adjustments to my social media habits, leveraging content-based networking, and the discipline to consistently follow best practices, I found a lever to accelerate my personal branding efforts and generate new business. I will share the results of a structured test, various posting strategies, and my top 10 LinkedIn “plays” you can swipe to build your own personal brand.

My intent is to show you the power of social media and the impact it can have when done right. 

In the Beginning…

In January of 2019, I “quit” Facebook. It was getting too ugly. The politics, the nasty comments between friends and family. I had enough. So I changed my social media habits. 

It was a clean break. Instead of logging into Facebook, I logged into LinkedIn and Twitter to consume content more relevant to me as a professional. Instead of scrolling through memes and click bait content, I found myself reading thoughts on marketing, sales, and other topics specific to the industries I serve (accounting, architecture, engineering, consulting, technology).

It opened my world to interesting conversations, fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking. I discovered thought leaders like Dave Gerhardt, Matthew Kobach, and James Clear.

But my thirst for knowledge wasn’t quite quenched by social media. 

At the time I listened to a lot of sports radio on my 3-hour, 106 mile round-trip to and from the office. Since then, I’ve reclaimed that radio time on the morning commute to focus on marketing-related podcasts (I still need sports content after a long day). Listening to podcasts like B2B Growth, Marketing Companion, and Marketing School even inspired me to launch “The Visible Expert Podcast”, but that is a story for another time…

The 90-Day LinkedIn Post Marathon 

Over and over again I kept seeing the same message from various LinkedIn coaches and consultants: “Just Post!” “Press the Damn Button” “SMM Doesn’t Work if You Don’t Post!” 

So I drank the Kool-aid. In January of 2020 as a New Year’s resolution of sorts, I challenged myself to a 90-day LinkedIn post marathon. The rules were simple. All I had to do was post one original post to LinkedIn every single day, 7-days a week, for 90 days.

I essentially repurposed those 2-3 hours per week and focused nearly all of it on LinkedIn. Toward the end I was spending 3+ hours per week on social media, but not much more. Most was on my own time.

The main goal of this test was to prove that LinkedIn could be a viable lead generation channel. I also had the personal goal of growing my professional network. 

The strategy was straightforward. I posted around a core message: “using original research as marketing content.” I walked all around this issue: why using research in content is important, where it can be used in the marketing funnel, how it can be packaged, what channels it can be delivered on… 

Ultimately, I took most of the content that I posted to LinkedIn and repurposed it into a white paper: Research as Content: A Guide for B2B Marketers.

As I reached the end of my 90-days, I was shocked by some of the results I saw. My efforts were clearly beginning to pay off. 

Results of the Test

I’m a data-driven marketer, so I knew tracking available analytics was critical. That was how I was going to prove the business impact of this test. 

I used the 90 days prior to the test as a baseline. In that time period, I posted seven times. Those seven posts had a combined 4,267 views in the LinkedIn feed, with 132 engagements (reactions + comments). 

Compared to this baseline, I was able to…

• Double my connections (777 → 1,614)
• Increase my organic reach by 16X (4,267 → 67,957)
• Increase total engagements with my posts by nearly 10X (132 → 1,291)
• Increase profile views by 6X (104 → 692)

As the chart below shows, it took a few weeks before my connection growth really took off. In hindsight, I probably should have tracked the number of connection requests I was sending out compared to the number of inbound connection requests I received. If I had to ballpark it I’d say about 80% of the connection growth was from me sending connection requests, and 20% inbound. Later in the article I outline various networking “plays” I used to send connection requests.

I had three ideal buyer personas identified that I regularly sent connection requests to. The search bar is a wonderful tool for this. I also accepted 99% of the inbound requests I received. Why not? You can have up to 30,000 connections on LinkedIn. 

Reach and engagement happened right away. Within the first 30 days, I more than tripled my reach over the baseline and saw more than 2.5X the engagement. The top post in this time period was viewed 1504 times with 29 total engagements (reactions + comments). 

Days 31-60 continued to rise, with 6 posts rising above the 1,000 views threshold. The top post in this time period was viewed 3746 times with 72 total engagements (reactions + comments).

Days 61-90 were more consistent with engagement. The top post in this time period was viewed 4081 times with 54 total engagements (reactions + comments). In the last few weeks of my test, I generated two qualified, inbound DMs asking for help turning research into marketing content. Because I know the dollar value of a qualified opportunity and my time investment, I was able to calculate a positive relative ROI.

Another metric that I looked at was weekly profile views (see chart below). Think of your profile as a conversion point. A prospect sees your post or a comment you leave on a mutual connection’s post, the first thing they look at is your headline. If they’re intrigued enough to click through to your profile they should have a clear understanding of your expertise and how it could help them.

I treat my profile as ever-evolving. During this test, I tweaked my headline and ‘about’ section as I refined my message and target audience. My profile is not (nor will ever be) perfect. And that’s OK. Saying that you want your profile to be perfect before you start actively engaging on LinkedIn is nothing but an excuse.

5 Posting Strategies that Worked

I see a lot of fluff posted to LinkedIn: “Increase your connections by following these three steps. First, like this post! Next, comment that you’re open to connect…” ← I did not want to be “that” guy.

Here are five posting strategies that worked for me.

1. As I mentioned earlier, my posts were centered around a core message of using original research as marketing content. This is a lesser-known content strategy, used by fewer than 22% of B2B and professional services firms. There is a fair amount of education that needs to happen to get prospects to what we call the “light bulb” moment where it all clicks. I used graphics and images in about 40% of my posts.

2. Another focus was to make more “deposits” (adding value) than “withdrawals” (making an ask). I avoided posting links unless it was relevant to my core message. My intent was to deliver value on the platform itself, making the insights easier to consume and favoring LinkedIn’s algorithm.Only seven of the 90 posts (7.8%) contained links. I posted only one link in the first 30 days, two links in days 31-60, and four links in days 61-90.
3. I also wanted to include personal stories to my posts. (It’s called personal branding, right?) So I posted about life experiences and new realizations. I tried to weave them in and connect them to my professional messages. I mostly posted these personal posts on the weekends when there was less activity.I also tried to keep my use of hashtags to a minimum (around 2-3 per post). From what I can tell, LinkedIn will serve your posts to others who follow the hashtags you’re targeting. If you use too many you risk trending in a hashtag with a smaller following, suppressing engagement. I’ve also noticed that LinkedIn will target the first hashtag you use in your posts. 
4. Using hashtags can be tricky. I’ve found myself writing posts first, then trying to find the right hashtag. But sometimes it pays to use the search bar to research hashtag followings prior to posting. For example, #personalbrand has ~4,000 followers while #personalbranding has more than 10.5 million followers. That extra “ing” can dramatically increase the reach of posts focusing on this topic. Consider doing hashtag research before building out a daily content calendar.
5. Another practice I picked up was making each post visually appealing. Using emojis and principles from concrete poetry are great ways to do this. For example, here’s an excerpt from my LinkedIn profile where I ordered a list by number of characters:

Podcasts
Webinars
Blog posts
Digital ads
Social media
White papers
Email campaigns
Client engagements
Speaking engagements

When it boils down to it, small tricks like these really make content stand out in a crowded timeline.

Anecdotes & Theories on LinkedIn’s Algorithm

I don’t have all the answers. And your experience on LinkedIn will be different. For example, many of my target personas live three time zones away, so my ideal posting time was 3-hours ahead of what it might be if I were targeting personas in my time zone. There is no magical time to post on any social media platform, LinkedIn included. You have to find the time that works best for your target clients AND your daily routine.

From what I can tell, posts had an immediate lifespan of 24-48 hours with a long tail up to a week. I suspect first degree connections were most likely to see a post in the first 24 hours. Afterward (depending on how much engagement it received), the post was served up to second degree connections in the following 24+ hours. 

LinkedIn’s algorithm appears to prefer a consistent stream of engagement, rather than a blitz. For example, when you receive comments you should definitely respond to them all, but not all at once. Resist the urge to ‘like’ comments before you reply. Come back at a later time (hours, days, weeks) to ‘like’ a comment and re-introduce a notification to the person who commented. This will signal to LinkedIn’s algorithm that your post is still attracting views and engagement.

Watch our on-demand webinar – Reboot: How to Rebuild Your Business Development Program for a Virtual World

My Top 10 LinkedIn Plays

Again, my goal is to share my experience to help folks who want to build their personal brand. Here are my top 10 LinkedIn “plays” you can steal for your own personal branding efforts.

Play #1 (Networking) — Use the search bar to find profiles that match your target buyer personas. You can send connection requests directly from search results, but you have an opportunity to show up in two notifications if you view their profile first, then send a connection request. There is an option to add a ‘note’ to a connection request. This may be ideal if you have mutual connections, interacted somewhere before, attended a similar event, etc. If you don’t have a reason to type up a note, don’t force it. Avoid creating excuses not to grow your network. 

Play #2 (Engagement) — When you create a public post, “headline” with a question. For example, you could ask a “Which of the following best describes…” question and list A), B), C), D) Other (comment below). Or, you could ask a question, follow up with your thoughts, and re-pose the question at the end of the post soliciting other’s thoughts in the comments.

Play #3 (Networking) — If you have a specific company you’ve targeted to sell into, you can use the search bar to find and send connection requests to relevant personas within those accounts. Once you find the company page in LinkedIn search, navigate to “people” section where you can search for employees within that company by title, keyword or school.

Play #4 (Visibility) — Target one promotion-focused post per week on high-engagement days (for me it was Tuesday-Thursday). If you’re going to make an ask (like promoting a blog post) consider building up to the ask with posts in the preceding days. Once the post goes live, ask your colleagues to give the post a ‘like’ or a comment. 

Play #5 (Engagement) — Reply to every single comment on your posts. No matter what. Always be the last one to comment in the replies section. BUT this doesn’t have to be done all at once. LinkedIn likes to see steady engagement. Reply to comments, but do it one at a time. Come back the next day and “like” readers’ comments. Patience can pay dividends here. And as a bonus, LinkedIn counts your ‘replies’ as comments in the comment total.

Watch our on-demand webinar – Reboot: How to Rebuild Your Business Development Program for a Virtual World

Play #6 (Networking/Engagement) — Look at the relevant industry players getting engagement on their posts. Send connection requests to folks who like, react to, or comment on those posts. This will connect you to active users, making it more likely that they will engage with your content.

Play #7 (Networking/Engagement) — Comment on other people’s posts. It will make their day. You can practice targeted “comment sniping” where you look for posts with a fair amount of ‘likes’ and reactions, but few or no comments. Be the first to comment. It is said by some LinkedIn experts that the first 50 comments get the most visibility. By commenting on posts from recent connections, you show that you can deliver immediate value and can carry a conversation.

Play #8 (Visibility/Engagement) — If you post to LinkedIn and think some of your connections will find it interesting, tag them. Do your ABC’s. Use the @ button and press “A” to search for connections with a first name that begins with A, then B, and so on and so forth. If it’s directly relevant to a contact, tag them in the post itself. If a contact may find it interesting, but it’s not 100% directly relevant, tag them in a comment. NOTE: If you tag someone and they don’t engage, it will hurt your visibility.

Play #9 (Visibility/Engagement) — find a hashtag with a fair number of followers that fits your core message. For me, I targeted #contentstrategy but also used #marketing, #contentmarketing. If you search for a hashtag in the search bar, it will show you how many “followers” that hashtag has. Target hashtags with larger followings.

Play #10 (Visibility/Engagement) — If you’re ambitious, you can “own” a hashtag with few to no followers and build a following. For example, I put a call to action in my posts for folks to follow #researchbasedcontent. This way, they are more likely to see my posts in their feed. It’s also an easy way to find my posts using that hashtag in the search bar.

I challenge you to a 90-day post marathon

You can totally do this yourself. But if you need help, shoot me a message on LinkedIn 😉

The post How I Doubled My LinkedIn Connections in 90 Days appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Now, consumers and business professionals gravitate to social platforms for product recommendations and to research purchasing decisions.

And how popular have social networks become, especially the big three (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)? Close to half the world’s population (3.03 billion people) is on some type of social media. 

But the challenge for most B2B organizations is having their brand seen and stand out in a crowded space. This is increasingly true as social algorithms change to make it harder for brands to be seen. 

Then you need to factor in that 96% of the people who discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles. 

This is why your organization should build a strategy in which employees share and engage on social media on behalf of your brand. 

Employees on Social Media 

A Nielsen study showed that 84% of people trust recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues over other forms of marketing. And that number continues to grow! 

Your organization’s branded social accounts are important for sharing, interacting with customers/clients, and establishing an online presence.

But it’s your employees’ social networks that actually amplify brand visibility, increase lead quality, drive web traffic, and boost social recruiting. This strategy is called employee advocacy.

You might be concerned about your firm’s employees sharing information about your business on their personal social media accounts. But guess what? Chances are, most of your employees are already sharing about your company online or talking about the brand to others. According to global PR firm Weber Shandwick, “98% of employees use at least one social media site for personal use, of which 50% are already posting about their company.” 

It’s why many well-known brands like Dell, Adobe, and T-Mobile are harnessing employee social reach and adopting an employee advocacy program to make social sharing easier. 

And this concept of employees being active on social works across industries. Firms in technology, telecommunications, finance and accounting, staffing, commercial real estate, and other professional services are adopting social employee advocacy. 

The Benefits to B2B Organizations

Now that you understand a bit more about enabling employees to get involved in social media, you might be wondering how it actually benefits your organization. 

Below are a few key areas of your organization where having an employee advocacy strategy and program in place can significantly boost business results. 

Marketing

In many ways, employee advocacy was born in the marketing department (even if it has expanded since). Under an employee advocacy program, your employees act as an extension of the marketing team, expanding your brand influence. 

Here’s why having employees on social media helps your marketing:

• Drives increased brand visibility and reach
• Saves money on the ever-growing costs of paid social
• Increases organic leads and the quality of leads
• People trust recommendations from family, friends, and colleagues over other forms of marketing

According to the Hinge Research Institute, “79% of firms surveyed reported more online visibility after the implementation of a formal employee advocacy program. 65% reported increased brand recognition.” 

Sales

Where there is a benefit to marketing, there is a direct positive effect on sales, as well. 

Email and phone aren’t delivering the same results they used to, which is why many sales teams are turning to social media. Typically called “social selling,” this practice is crucial in our digital age because many of the audiences sales people want to reach are on social media.

But sales teams’ are just part of the story — when activated on social media, employees also drive sales results.

Employees on social help sales:

• Increase deal size
• Improve win rates
• Boost the pipeline by more than 2x

In fact, “an employee advocacy program can drive 16% better win rates, 2x pipeline, and deliver 48% larger deals,” according to EveryoneSocial.

Employer Brand

A big reason employer branding is so important today is it’s how people perceive your company and work culture. 

And a positive employer brand helps to attract and retain quality employees, who are crucial to the success and growth of the business.

But it’s also important to how buyers and prospects view your brand as well.

Employees on social help an employer brand by:

• Showcasing workplace culture
• Helping to drive top talent
• Increasing new hire retention

This is what Glassdoor has to say: “75% of U.S. respondents believe that companies whose C-Suite executives and leadership team use social media to communicate about their core mission, brand values and purpose are more trustworthy.” 

For Employees

While your company stands to benefit from employees advocating on your firm’s behalf online, you employees also benefit. 

How?  It provides opportunities to boost their professional profile online, grow their networks, better engage with their audience, build meaningful relationships, and expand their professional reach.

In short, it helps them become more informed, connected, and engaged. 

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, this post has helped you develop a greater appreciation for employee advocacy and how a program can help your company drive better results in the areas of marketing, sales, communications, and HR.

Employee advocacy applies to companies of all types and sizes: social media is the latest frontier in business and it’s only just getting started. 

Moving forward with establishing your own program also puts you in the enviable position of being an early adopter. There are far fewer risks than there were a few years ago — and many of the opportunities have been amplified.

The post The Power of Employees on Social Media For B2B Organizations appeared first on Hinge Marketing.