Marketing Strategy Planning

4 Ways to Use LinkedIn for B2B Sales

Do you know that the amount of time spent viewing online videos has increased? Statista data published this year show that an average person watches online videos for 10 hours every week. Apart from that, by 2025, the number of social media users will be about 4.41 billion worldwide. Isn't that a great market? Demand for videos from consumers has also gone higher. To put it into perspective, about 88% of buyers will consider buying your brand if they see it in a video. Being a marketer, you should take advantage and come up with brand videos that your audience can't resist watching. That way, you will increase the chances of converting them into paying customers and generate more revenue and sales. Look at it from this perspective, the number of social media users is rising faster. Demand for videos from your customers isn't lagging either. So, how do you use video content to increase your social media conversion rate? If you're an amateur in video marketing, you can begin with the steps below. Effective Tips to Increase Social Media Conversion Rate Using Videos 1. Have Clear Video Marketing Goals Before undertaking social media video marketing, you need to have a goal. What do you want to accomplish with your videos? Among the objectives you can consider is introducing your new brand, creating brand awareness, or attracting huge traffic to your brand site. When just starting, make sure to create a few goals. That way, you won't be overwhelmed. But what is the essence of having marketing goals in place? Well, they will help you know your audience, the type of content to create, and the platforms to post your content. Apart from that, when you have clear goals, you plan your budget to suit your video creation needs. Remember, you need equipment like cameras, a tripod, a lighting system to create engaging videos for your social media platforms. Therefore, with clear goals, you will decide on better video-making gear to help you achieve your objectives. 2. Choose the Right Platforms to create Your Videos Your target audience may not be on all social media platforms. First, you need to establish where your potential customers spend most of their time. That helps you post content that reaches a huge brand audience. If you haven't used video on any platform, start with the one where you have an established audience base. If you aren't sure what type of video to create, take the footage, make use of different tools available online, come up with different types of video content and run concurrently on social platforms. You should also check what each platform offers and the video dimensions you can display there before you choose. That's essential if you want to repurpose your video. If you're going to post recurring video series, you can consider YouTube or Facebook. The two platforms allow you to categorize your videos into a playlist. Live streaming has also become a great way to attract and engage your audience. Through live videos on your social platforms, you can respond to queries from viewers about your brand. Apart from that, live streaming helps to build trust around your brand. So, as you choose your preferred social platform, you can pick YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook that allows live streaming. 3. Select Video Types Your Audience Wants Many customers want a video that reflects a specific brand or service they have interests in. You will convert many social media users into paying customers if you post the content they want to watch. Creating and posting a testimonial video will help build trust from your audience, which is suitable for your brand. On the other hand, you can use educational videos to empower your potential buyers. When viewers watch how your brand works, they will consider it. That way, you will know the one with more views, likes, and comments. From there, you can tell the type of videos your audience wants. 4. Develop a Content Production Plan Develop a clear content plan to save time and money during the video-making process. A plan helps you figure out what your final video looks like. When planning, ensure to get the right equipment and props, a video script, and a video editor you will use to polish your content. That's not all. You should also know where you will be shooting and the time of the day to capture beautiful natural lights in your video. Failure to plan will leave you lost in the video creation process. You wouldn't want to finish shooting, and while editing, you realize there can be more clips to capture and add to your footage. That is why a plan will be essential. You will know what to film and estimate the number of clips you need for your project if you have a good video plan. 5. Edit Your Video to Tell a Story To capture attention and convert your social media followers through videos, make sure to tell a story. Everyone loves stories, and you'll win many viewers by telling your brand story. When editing, keep your audience in mind. You can make your social media video more attractive by adding some music. Apart from being attention-capturing, good music helps to set the right tone and mood in your audience. Your video should also have closed captions, a call to action, and a text overlay. Ensure to get a free video editor that helps add all that to your video without struggle. 6. Schedule Posting and be Consistent Converting social media followers into buyers isn't a one-time event. You need to create more videos and maintain consistency in posting. Don't post one video and wait for long before providing your audience with the content they want. You risk losing your audience to your competitors if you keep them waiting for long. You should think of social media video marketing as a series, not a one-and-done act. If you're such a busy person and not sure when you will film next, ensure to capture many clips when you get time. Depending on your schedule, you can then create multiple videos you can post later. 7. Promote Your Video After you've come up with engaging content, you need to let the world know about what you offer. And the best way is to promote your content. Ensure your videos are optimized for search engines. If you will post your video on YouTube, ensure that it has attention capturing the title. Within your video title, add a keyword. Don't forget to include descriptions and tags for your video. All that helps YouTube to rank your content giving it popularity. Apart from SEO, you can share your video on multiple social platforms. That increases the chance of reaching a broader audience base. As many people watch your video, the higher chances of conversion. Conclusion Social media video marketing will propel your business to a great height of success. Get your video ideas, shoot quality clips, edit your footage and begin marketing your brand. You can rely on these tips to launch effective video marketing. The number of active social media users is rising every year, which provides a wider market to sell your brand. However, you should post quality videos to attract and change your audience into loyal customers.

LinkedIn is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms and a dynamic network for B2B marketing. It successfully builds a solid professional network that every business needs and is an inevitable part of digital marketing. You can generate more leads and referrals using LinkedIn, build a personal brand in your industry, and do more targeted prospecting.

However, if you have never used LinkedIn before to make sales, it may feel like an intimidating and time-consuming prospect. Here are some of the most effective ways to use LinkedIn for B2B sales generation.

1.   Optimize your profile for sales

Optimizing your business page is an excellent LinkedIn B2B marketing strategy. There are three primary parts of your profile that you should improve:

  • Your headline

  • Project and media

  • Your current job description

LinkedIn sets out your headline to your current job title by default. Change your tagline to be a value proposition. If, for instance, you sell medical equipment and health supplies, a good tagline could be, “I help healthcare facilities improve efficiency.” You have a space for 120 characters, meaning you can get as creative as possible with your headline. Remember that this is the first thing people see when scanning your profile, so make it a value proposition to grab their attention.

2.   Develop a strong network for B2B sales

Once you have honed your profile, you can start connecting with prospects in your target industry and like-minded businesses and providers. Start by putting the time and effort into finding the right connections. If, for instance, you sell digital equipment for offices, you should start connecting with IT managers and decision-makers at hospitals. You can find the right connections on LinkedIn by commenting on relevant posts, searching relevant hashtags, and engaging with others’ content.

3.   Leverage LinkedIn ads

LinkedIn ads provide various types of campaigns through which you can expand your reach and boost your B2B sales. It offers a wide range of opportunities for marketers. Sponsored InMail, Text Ads, and Sponsored Content are the most used ad formats.

Sponsored InMail allows you to send customized personal messages to the target audience using the private messaging platform. It allows your content to reach the audience directly. Text ads display at the top or right side of the users’ feeds. It’s a short text in a small optional image often used to drive leads and promote certain offers. Sponsored Content is LinkedIn native advertising. It’s a standard post that the publisher improves with an ad budget.

4.   Create content that generates leads

Content marketing is essential for generating sales leads, which still applies to LinkedIn. You should publish content about topics that your target audience is interested in. Here are a few recommendations for quality content:

  • Exciting and practical insights from your personal experience
  • Valuable industry news
  • Adverts
  • Infographics
  • Images
  • Video content

Whatever you decide to share, be sure to publish a variety of content for the best results. Ensure the content is always relevant, engaging, helpful, and eye-catching to your target audience.

Endnote

LinkedIn provides many opportunities and is a perfect resource for B2B marketing. However, if you want to make the most out of this platform, you must think beyond the basics and focus on how you can turn leads into customers. Leverage all the tools LinkedIn offers, create valuable content, improve your LinkedIn profile and connect with your target audience to effectively use this platform for B2B sales leads.

Author

Asad Gill

Asad Gill is a serial entrepreneur who founded SEO Calling, a holdings company that owns: Provide top-rated SEO services, and product selling over 50 countries with #1 worldwide digital marketing consultancy firm. (Contact: [email protected]) (Skype: [email protected])