Social Media

Recently, LinkedIn decided that the Stories feature is not for their platform. The announcement to shut down the feature by the end of September was made on the company’s official blog on August 30th. 

Stories were first made famous by Snapchat, and soon Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn followed suit. Stories refer to short video content that automatically gets deleted after 24 hours. LinkedIn’s decision to remove Stories came after Twitter shut down its Fleets feature in July. 

In one year, LinkedIn tried different methods to boost promoting Stories feature to all users. They even published themed Stories curated by their own teams only to fill the Stories bar for the users. However, nothing helped push users to use the feature more often. The temporary nature of the feature was the reason users kept away from it. So they decided to ditch the feature. Instead, LinkedIn plans to pivot to short-form, rich interactive videos. They are also looking for ways to bring audio to their platforms with groups or events. This will give users more ways to connect with each other.

But, does all this mean that the Stories format, in general, is not popular anymore? The answer is NO! Video is taking over other social media platforms and should be an integral part of your social media strategy. Instagram recently announced that they are not a photo-sharing app anymore. Stories are getting hugely popular on Instagram while Tiktok is gaining traction for marketers. Seems like people want certain formats on certain platforms. All in all, it was a great experiment for LinkedIn. They know that Stories is not the way to go for them, but it also led them to re-focus their vision to find a tool that their users actually want to use to promote their services or products. 

But if Stories isn’t working on LinkedIn, then how to grow your brand’s following without it? While we wait for LinkedIn to launch their short-form video format, we bring you some tips that will help gain an edge and grow your business on the platform. 

Here are some expert tips on how to grow your brand following on LinkedIn:

To stand out from the rest, your LinkedIn page needs to represent your brand in the best way possible. Professionals mostly rely on LinkedIn pages for acquiring brand information and having a weak LinkedIn page instantly makes the user lose interest in your company. Some of the best practices to drive growth to your page are:

Did you know that a page with complete information gets 30% more weekly views? From logo, to key terms, and a call to action (CTA), don’t miss filling out any information.

Push your first-degree connections to check out your page and follow it by sending out regular invites.

Join conversations on LinkedIn, invite others in, go on live chats, share @mentions of your company are a few ways that allows you to build a deeper connection with your audience. 

Take advantage of your employees’ content to drive traffic to your page by adding “My Company tab”. This not only gives your brand more credibility, but also lets your employees show their voice in their own way. 

Want to know the quickest way to elevate your brand image? Posting thought leadership articles! Thought leadership has evolved from being a fluff piece that fills in your social feed to an influential factor in brand reputation. Thought leadership is a powerful way to connect with your audience through a consistent voice and vision. 

You can set goals and expectations for thought leadership and through views, you can witness an instant rise in your reputation, demand generation, market consideration and engagement. Make sure to check out Edelman’s Flywheel of Thought Leadership. It will help you create a thought leadership vision that catches the eye of executives and top decision makers. 

Gone are the days of your generic sales pitch! B2B customers today want the brands to connect with them on a personal level. It is vital that you understand your buyer personas, and how your product/services are going to bring their problems to an end. 

If you are still unsure about your customers’ needs, you can consider hosting a LinkedIn event or a discussion which focuses on them, instead of your product/services. Straight from the horse’s mouth!

Taking a page from the B2C playbook, B2B marketing is upping the game lately.  They are leaving no stone unturned to connect with the users on an emotional level to influence their decisions. 

To make people stop scrolling, you need to be creative, interactive and eye-catching. Carousel ads and Conversion ads give you the opportunity to create engaging content while showcasing your visual storytelling skills. Recycle your content to get the most out of it. Turning articles into videos or infographics is another fool-proof way to stick out.

If you are a marketer, you should make LinkedIn Reporting and Analytics your new best friend! Data is the best tool that tells how to harness the power of analytics and work around your marketing strategy. It helps you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns. It leads you in the right direction for achieving the best results in the future and how to stay ahead of the pack. 

No social media strategy is complete without ads. To reap the most benefit out of content on LinkedIn, marketers are boosting it through paid promotion. In fact, 80% of B2B marketers invest in their content marketing strategy on LinkedIn.

Adding ads to your regular marketing strategy not only brings more traffic to your page but also drives the three components of inbound marketing: attract, engage and delight. Reports suggest that ads make brands look more professional and respectable.

Marketers need to be on their toes and keep themselves updated with the latest updates on different platforms. Your social media strategy should be aligned with these changes and keep evolving. This gives us more opportunities to grow and achieve more success than ever.

As the world of digital marketing continues to change and evolve to be more video-focused, make sure to stay current with the latest trends and keep your marketing strategy fresh. Sign up for our newsletter below to stay in-the-know.