The previous year 2020, was marked by a pandemic in all fields of life and business. We have all, as individuals or companies, been forced to think fast and find new ways to preserve, start or even improve our business. 

It was especially hard for small businesses and beginners who are always more sensitive to market changes. 

Thanks to the pandemic, online platforms have experienced expansion. As a result, almost every company tried to organize its business online and generate as many conversions as possible.  According to prediction and global situation, that practice will continue in 2021.

If you are an owner of a small business, you must be present online to succeed nowadays. The website is not enough. You need quality digital marketing channels. Besides Facebook and Instragam, LinkedIn is an excellent choice, especially for small businesses. 

The global network of companies and professionals you can learn a lot from, for free, is – huge!

Why choose LinkedIn?

Following the trend, LinkedIn recognized the golden moment and made many changes to its platform. 

Since 2020, LinkedIn has released many new features that more than ever helped businesses optimize their profiles and grow faster. Some of them are:

  • Live video
  • Reactions
  • LinkedIn stories
  • Polls
  • Carousel posts

Even though LinkedIn is not popular as Facebook or Instagram, 2021 will be a good year to be linked in. This huge social network is profiled for various types of business. 

On this platform, it’s possible to create different page types for small businesses – medium to large. Also, showcase pages and pages for educational institutions.

It is an excellent choice for growing brand awareness.

Here are a few tips on creating a small business LinkedIn profile that will help your company eventually transform into a much bigger one.

Define Strategy

Before creating a profile for your small business, define strategy. Think about how you want to present it and for what values ​​it stands for. What messages do you wish to send to future customers and employees?

Find and establish a rhythm of announcements. You can start gradually or publish a post every time you have something to say. Whether you decide to publish or announce a new product, support an idea or social movement, anything that helps your business’s concept will do! The only thing to keep in mind about LinkedIn is – stay away from digressions. They can harm your business more than anything.

Use Business and Personal Profile

Why is it essential to create a personal and business profile and use them simultaneously? Because you will use your personal profile to announce new business ideas and plans to your friends. And you will use a business profile to present news to associates and other important connections. So inspire them all, and engage them with interesting concepts and content. 

What we learned in the previous year and what will continue this year is the aspiration to be transparent and open and always available for communication. Such a relationship will bring new connections who will then share your content.

Encourage associates, employees of all profiles who are or will participate in your business to share your business LinkedIn page on their profiles, or even create quality content that will link to your business profile.

Content and Communication

It is all about communication and conversion when it comes to online businesses and social networks. According to changes, Linkedln now prefers engaging and transparent business profiles. Transparent and intriguing content is much more inspiring to the audience, and it will cause positive reactions and – sharing.

Also, make sure to post content regularly. Like the other social networks, Linkedln has its algorithm, which is regularly updated and filtered so the best and relevant content can always be served to the audience.

Be creative and specific. Avoid marketing hype, but also generic posts. Remember that you must tell your business story.

Storytelling and Leadership

You may find it challenging at first, but with patience through the mistakes, you will help your business create closer relationships with current and future customers.

According to Darshan Somsashekar, the entrepreneur who runs FreeCell Challenge, the essence of leadership is attitude and authority. Of course, this doesn’t include dictatorial and monopolistic relations but emphasizing the values ​​that your company consistently represents and projects the future based on it.

Be creative. Try your best to present your business from different perspectives. Always provide users with relevant information and value. This approach will very quickly take you to the desired positions.

Embrace diversity – create guides, webinars, short videos… any content that will tell the story about your business to a broader audience.

Publish Video & Photo Content

Using quality photos or interesting photo formation (such as a collage of 3-4 images) can significantly increase conversions. The visual identity of the profile is just as important as the textual one. It helps to define the brand more strongly.

Also, video content, especially the so-called native or live videos, will further animate users. It can be used as customer testimonials or for a business intro and announcements.

Use Analytic and Paid Promotions

Monitoring and analyzing LinkedIn analytics is the best way to plan future actions. This way you will know exactly what users like and what they don’t like, and that will give you space to adapt. Based on careful analysis, you will better understand the audience and test the extent of the target group you set for your business. Over time, you will develop better communication and generate more conversions.

Using analytics is also good for designing paid ads. For example, it helps to define the target group more clearly. For promotion, it is possible to use LinkedIn’s Direct Sponsored Content tools to test different types of ads.

Additional Tips

Don’t forget the details! Use every tool offered as part of the LinkedIn platform and always stay consistent with your brand mission. Here are some additional tips on boosting the small businesses page to convert more.

  • Use the summary section and highlight the essence of your business mission. Let it be striking and specific.
  • Add a LinkedIn button to the company’s website; this will make it easier for users to find you.
  • If you use email marketing, insert a link to the LinkedIn page of your business at the bottom of the email, 
  • Mention people and use hashtags in posts.
  • Communicate with your connections, answer their questions and always be polite.

Synchronize all elements of your business presence on LinkedIn. Create a powerful and flexible mechanism that will stand out with its quality.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is constantly changing, and the number of profiles is continually growing. Therefore, this is an excellent opportunity for small businesses because they can significantly increase conversions for free.

Use these guidelines to optimize your profile and make sure you’re always up to date with all LinkedIn trends.