Is LinkedIn a Component of Your Marketing Strategy?
Since its launch in 2003, LinkedIn has been the de facto social media platform for professionals. For much of that time, LinkedIn was largely a forum where folks could chronicle their expertise, seek new job opportunities, fill open positions, and so on.
It was buttoned up. Formal. The superego to Facebook’s ego and Twitter’s id, so to speak. But in the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, things started to shift.
People were dropping the facade of total professionalism in their communication. Where before the concept of “total professionalism” meant the strict partitioning of one’s personal and professional lives, the dramatic shift from office to remote work caused those worlds to bleed together.
Instead of conversations centered around the concepts of leveraging skillsets, finding synergies, and circling back to close the loop on strategic optimization protocols, people were being open, vulnerable, and dare I say authentic about their life and work experiences.
The tone shifted, and now, many years removed from those early days of the coronavirus pandemic, LinkedIn remains a space where professionals engage with one another to discuss business opportunities, innovations in technology, the everyday trappings of life that exist outside of work — and how to make them all work together to create something more fulfilling.
Formada considers LinkedIn a foundational element of our marketing strategy. It’s a place where we can share original content and engage with other businesses and peers across any number of industries.
It’s created countless opportunities — for our organization and for individual team members. And it doesn’t appear to be slowing down. LinkedIn has 1 billion members across the globe — with over 230 million active members in North America. It’s the cornerstone of our marketing strategy.
LinkedIn Is Critical for Brand Building
Formada is in the B2B space, providing digital marketing strategies for medical and healthcare organizations, as well as a number of other specializations.
When we were first starting out, like a lot of startups, we were looking everywhere to find our footing. Formada is a completely self-funded, bootstrapped agency, and while we’re intelligent, talented, and driven people, building a successful business is a steep mountain to climb.
For Meghan, LinkedIn was not only a place where we could network with other professionals and identify businesses whom we wanted to work with, but it was also a place where we could share content and tell stories.
Specifically, it was a place where she could tell her story. Building a business tests your resolve. It teaches you about who you are, things you didn’t even know about yourself, and Meghan found LinkedIn to be the exact right venue for sharing her experiences.
Unsurprisingly (to those of us who already know Meg), people instantly connected with her content. They identified with what she was sharing because she was being honest about it all — the fears, the risks, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from turning an idea into reality.
And as she gained engagement and followers, we began to realize that her story was central to the Formada brand.
LinkedIn Isn’t Just About Professionals, It’s About People
Every business feels unique. And, by and large, every business is unique, but many of us struggle to effectively communicate what precisely makes us so special.
Instead, we can get distracted into projecting what we think matters to others — e.g., the latest features, the cheapest prices, and so on.
This isn’t the arena that the Formada team is interested in playing in. We have an incredible team of exceptionally talented people. We know that we do great work. But Formada is also hyper-focused on our communication, our service delivery, and our ability to improve our offerings.
Formada is built for growth. But, unlike organizations that are built for growth by any means possible, our commitment to growth — your growth and our growth — is predicated on building great relationships, developing trust, gaining insight, and personalizing our strategies.
LinkedIn has been a venue where we can express ourselves authentically, share content organically, run paid campaigns, and build an audience that connects with us because they relate to who we are as people just as much as they appreciate the quality of our work.
Come For The Stories. Stay For The Opportunities.
Years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined myself on LinkedIn every day. It wasn’t that I had anything against the platform, but I didn’t necessarily understand where it fit into my work or my goals at that time.
Now, LinkedIn has become a place where I’m able to learn something new nearly every day. It’s filled with creative professionals who have insightful and inspiring stories to share.
We’ve learned from our own experience that sharing these stories can lead to incredible opportunities for your business. Our intent has always been to simply talk about who we are and what we’re passionate about. This includes all of the challenges and successes that we’ve experienced along the way.
Why? Because that’s the sort of content that we’re interested in seeing more of — the warts and all experiences of being in business, building teams, and trying to perfect something that others can benefit from.
Every day is different. There’s always a story to tell. Always something to be learned. So we’re glad to have a place where we can tell those stories and connect with more people. Hopefully, we’ve created something that others can find valuable, whether it’s one of Meg’s posts, a blog from the team, or the services we’re providing our clients.
We’re just glad we’re here to tell the tale.
Formada specializes in LinkedIn advertising, content marketing, digital marketing consulting, and much more. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you achieve your goals, then we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today for more information!