LinkedIn is not just an HR tool or a way to catch up with your friends from school or former colleagues, it is an absolutely great marketing tool for property developers. From ads and employee engagement to your company page and personal profile, let's have a discussion about the biggest professional network in the world.
LinkedIn: a bit of backstory
Started in 2003 and acquired by Microsoft for $26 billion in 2016, this popular professional network has come a long way. From no more than 20 sign ups a day at its beginning to over 500 million users today, LinkedIn offers a lot of tools and opportunities to property developers and marketers.
Before discussing the details, management strategy and different aspects of this social media platform, let's briefly look at the 5 main advantages of this social network:
1. A personal professional network
Networking, there is no debating how crucial it is. Your LinkedIn profile is not only an online CV; it is the building block of your professional network.
2. A great marketing tool for your company
Usually seen as the ultimate social network for B2B companies, LinkedIn offers unique marketing opportunities as well as a different targeting options which differs from other social platforms. Contrary to popular belief, this platform could also be used for B2C marketing.
3. An incredibly rich sales tool
LinkedIn's sales navigator allows you to track your leads like never before based on a series of professional criteria.
4. A recruitment platform
LinkedIn is most famous for its recruitment tools. It's one of the most efficient ways to publish a job ad and manage your recruitment process.
5. A publishing platform
With tools like LinkedIn Publishing and the purchase of the professional content sharing platform SlideShare, one of the long term objectives of this social network is to become a professional knowledge hub.
LinkedIn: Great for B2C marketing
From car manufactures to retailers, there are a lot of B2C companies who already understand the added value of this professional social network and are using it to their advantage. You are already convinced of the importance of other social media platforms in your marketing strategy, so why not LinkedIn?
Of course, you have to do it in a smart way. Your audience's mindset is different and so should the way you communicate to them. We are going to the review the different ways to market your new developments on LinkedIn using examples from famous B2C companies.
1. Marketing through your company page and finding the right content strategy
Just like your Facebook page, growing your LinkedIn company page followership and posting relevant content is very important. Contrary to what a lot of marketers are doing, it shouldn't only be company updates, HR news and a recruitment tool. You can generate leads through LinkedIn even if you are a B2C company! I am going to give you tips and show you what to do and what not to do using examples of famous B2C companies.
What should you talk about on your company page and how should you talk about it? For this section I am going to investigate 5 types of posts that could boost your marketing efforts using real life examples.
For every one of these examples I want you to keep in mind that your audience is in a different, more professional mindset. This is not the place for emoji's or slang terms. It is what I like to call a "formal wear" event and you should adjust your language and branding accordingly.
a) Long-term Branding Posts
Social media marketing isn't only about trying to make a quick buck, there is also a long term strategy to think about. It's the footprint of your brand online and nowadays probably the best way to showcase your identity to the world.
There are a lot of ways to do that. You can talk about how you are using technology to develop innovative products or talk about your long term vision. Here is a great example from Audi AG.
b) Talking about your products and projects
There is absolutely nothing wrong with more "sales oriented" posts. You launched a new development or are starting the construction of a new building? Go ahead, talk about it, this might be a great opportunity to capture new leads. As always, keep in mind that a great visual is necessary!
Once again, Audi AG is a great example to follow in this category.
c) Talk about your employees
What makes a brand unique is not only its products but also its employees. Employee advocacy is crucial to the development of your social media strategy, especially on a network based social platform such as LinkedIn. Highlighting your employees is a great way to spark word of mouth, the oldest and most powerful form of marketing.
Here is an example from Google and Drawbotics.
d) Sharing tips, blog posts and videos
Post content that is useful to your audience. That's when having a relevant content strategy (both through blog posts and videos) really pays off. Whether it's about giving them taxation tips that come with the purchase of real estate or giving them decorating guidelines, there are plenty of creative ideas to be had!
For example, you might want to write an article (even better if it's a video) giving them 5 tips about how to create the perfect home office. It's about real estate, it makes a lot of sense on LinkedIn, it's easily readable and sharable.
Here is an interesting example from Pinterest
e) Corporate social responsibility creates shareable content
People care more and more about how a product is made, about the values of a company and its social and environmental engagement. It's especially true when it comes to expensive purchases such as in real estate.
For the same price, same type of product or service, who would you purchase it from? A company that you know is using its influence and revenues to create a better world, to help the community or its counterpart that you don't know anything about when it comes to values?
I wanted to share an example from a company that is active both in the B2B and B2C sphere. Especially because they have been sharing amazing content related to their environmental and social engagement regarding the production of coffee.
2. Ads on LinkedIn
We already covered the world of Facebook ads for property developers in a previous article. Every social media enables you to target your audience differently, based on numerous factors. What's so interesting about LinkedIn is the fact that you can target people based on their job, location and therefore expected revenue. That's an undeniable advantage compared to Facebook.
Let's say you have a new development coming up in the center of London. Your target audience could be people working in the financial district with a certain level of seniority. LinkedIn would allow you to target them better than Facebook!
Just like for any social media ad the quality of your visuals, calls to action and targeting is going to have an effect on the results of your marketing campaign. There is just one tip I would give you, if your audience is big enough, well targeted and you follow up the principles I talked about in my previous article, go for a CPM ad, not CPC, you will reduce your costs.
3) LinkedIn Publishing
LinkedIn could be considered as a blogging platform as well. Thanks to its publishing platform, you can write lengthier articles to your followers and network.
This is something you have to do via your personal profile and you can share it via your company page afterwards. The question is: what's the advantage of using this publishing tool?
First of all, it's a very personal way to share a story about your work, projects and company. Giving people a personal insight into a product or service is always a good idea. Secondly, it is very shareable content. Finally, these articles are known to rank very well on search engines.
4) Some LinkedIn tips to follow
a) Don't forget about the image size
99% of company posts aren't sized correctly, which is something I don't understand at all. Contrary to Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn posts have a fixed size of 1200 x 628 pixels.
I am going to show you the difference it makes between a post we made and one from a famous coffee company...
This is also true for mobile, which really goes to show that image sizes matter! Not being a photoshop pro isn't an excuse, you can use a tool like Canva to resize your images super easily for free!
b) What thumbnail did you choose?
Sharing a link on your company page has two advantages: first of all you don't have to worry about resizing your image, secondly it's a great way to attract leads to your website.
But be careful about the thumbnail! Here are two examples of the same post with the same link but different thumbnail images.
I am not saying that one image is better than the other, this isn't an engagement rate experiment. I just really want to stress the fact that you should consider changing the default thumbnail image by another.
c) Ask your colleagues to participate
Employee advocacy is the best way to make sure your engagement rates skyrocket! LinkedIn is a second and third degree network, meaning that one of the best strategies to grow the number of views, clicks and likes on your company posts is to ask your colleagues and employees to share it. It's simple yet very effective!
Conclusion
The goal of this article was not only to give you tips about marketing on LinkedIn, it was also about raising awareness about the potential of this social media and how you can use it to generate leads, whether you are a B2C or B2B company.
We have been able to generate on average about a 3% engagement rate on LinkedIn. Knowing the average is about 0,05% (source: Buffer), that's close to a 5000% increase. It is a clear sign of the amazing effectiveness of these tips.
Next to all the analytics, tips and tricks, the important thing to understand is the added value of LinkedIn, how you can use it to your advantage and if you decide to use it, what you should be doing.
