The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
January 2010, Volume 9, Issue 1

LinkedIn: Key B2B Benefits Beyond Networking

By Michelle Ragonetti, Search Marketing Specialist, iProspect

While LinkedIn is primarily thought of as a networking device, with the right strategy, B2B marketers can leverage it as a powerful tool for managing brand reputation and increasing visibility.

Understanding its potential to affect brand reputation
Unlike many other platforms, LinkedIn users are predominantly there for business opportunities. In fact, a 2008 study by Anderson Analytics found that the majority of LinkedIn users are decision makers within their company (66%), and that they tend to be active on the site. Considering that, the opinions of these users could be very valuable for your brand, and increased interaction with them could sway purchasing decisions in your favor. Overall, interacting with LinkedIn users, and gathering insight from the marketing tools available on the site will help you build your brand's reputation with your B2B customers.

How it can boost visibility
In addition, LinkedIn provides multiple opportunities for visibility gains, both within the platform itself, as well as in the search engines. More links pointing to your website and an optimized company profile will increase the likelihood that your customers will find you on LinkedIn. Moreover, LinkedIn pages are indexable in the search engines. By optimizing groups, answers, and company and individual profiles, you increase your chances of ranking and driving traffic. The benefits of having LinkedIn pages rank are two-fold: You can increase the number of company-controlled listings that appear in the search results, and you can push competitor rankings downon the page.

Getting the job done
The most effective way to leverage LinkedIn for reputation management and visibility gains is by developing an effective strategy that includes the five best practices outlined below:

Encourage company employees to fill out a complete profile: Include up to three links to your company websites. Focus on priority pages. Although these links no longer pass along link value, they will increase visibility within LinkedIn, and increase the potential to drive qualified traffic to your site.

Complete your company profile: Optimize the description for keywords and include your company's specialties in the indicated section. Company profiles rank well in search engine result pages. Additionally, LinkedIn users can search for companies by keyword, which will return results based on the specialties listed.

Create groups optimized around keywords vital to your campaign: Target keywords that you may not be able to use on your website in order to increase search engine visibility on these terms. Ensure that these groups are also valuable for your target audience within LinkedIn.

Ask/answer relevant inquiries in LinkedIn Answers: Engage your audience to gain valuable insight that can be used to improve your brand. Provide customer service and direct users to your website in your responses. Remember, LinkedIn Answers are indexable!

Take advantage of LinkedIn applications: Use LinkedIn Buzz to monitor Twitter activity regarding your company. Use LinkedIn Polls to gather information from your target audience. Any polls you create can also be indexed in the search results.

Overall, LinkedIn offers a lot more than just networking. Smart B2B marketers will tap into it as a cost-effective brand management and SEO tool.

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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: January 2010, Volume 9, Issue 1

LinkedIn: Key B2B Benefits Beyond Networking

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
January 2010, Volume 9, Issue 1