As we get closer to the last quarter of 2024, it’s time to ask ourselves a critical question: Why is your LinkedIn strategy so important, and, let’s be honest, is it working? If you’re scratching your head and wondering why your LinkedIn performances aren’t hitting the mark, I’m here to shed some light on a few essentials for revamping your approach.

LinkedIn is more than just an online resume or a digital business card. It’s a profound platform for networking, lead generation, and brand building. A strong strategy can propel your business ahead of the competition, while a broken one will keep you stuck in neutral, wondering why your posts are receiving crickets instead of applause. So let’s break down a winning LinkedIn strategy, focusing on four vital pillars: your company page, key thought leaders, paid advertising, and finally, employee engagement.

The 4 Pillars of A Winning LinkedIn Strategy

Each of these pillars has a different goal and KPIs, so let’s unpack each one.

1. Your Company Page

If your CEO can’t stop talking about increasing the Linkedin page followers – he’s right! Think of it as your organization’s storefront. It’s the first thing potential partners and  clients will see. Now, before you start panicking about what to post, let’s consider three key areas:

Who’s the Audience? A diverse group.
Your followers are a diverse group—they might include customers, potential clients, prospective employees, investors, and partners. Since Linkedin is so influential, perception is key here, and this is how people will perceive your brand’s character. Take a good look at your audience and ask yourself, “What do they want to see?”.

Which Tone of Voice? Remember – Companies Don’t Speak, People Do!
While it’s crucial your tone resonates with your brand identity, please resist the urge to sound like a robot! A professional yet relatable voice will help engage your audience better. Trust me, no one enjoys reading bland corporate lingo! 

Which Type of Content? – DO NOT SELL!
This is where your creativity can shine! On one side, you want to share content that reflects your brand identity, core values, and mission, while also building credibility, trust and position as thought leader. Some ideas (that don’t sell):

• Employee spotlights
• Customer testimonials 
• Behind-the-scenes 
• Team photos from conferences, company events or office day-to-day
• Research reports
• Customer case studies
• Thought leadership posts

All these not only humanize your brand but also foster a deeper connection. Don’t forget – tagging your team and customers adds more eyeballs to every post, and will usually be the posts with highest engagement.
Whatever you choose, ensure it aligns with your overall objectives.

KPIs:
We’re not doing social to just look pretty, we’re measuring success. But it is important to let your CEO know – organic social is an awareness effort, which is extremely difficult to measure with CAC impact! 

KPIs do we want to measure and improve:

• Page followers
• Post engagement
• Impressions
• Website traffic
• Leads & conversations

2. Your Key Thought Leaders

What separates a successful LinkedIn strategy from a mediocre one? REAL thought leadership! This is where your company’s experts shine.

Which Tone of Voice? BE HUMAN.
In a world where everything is chatgpt-d, let your thought leaders be themselves with strict no AI policy! Authenticity is key; their genuine opinions will resonate much better with their audience.

Which Type of Content?
Encourage your thought leaders to share their insights on relevant topics and incorporate key messages that align with your company’s mission. Remember, this is their space to shine, so allow them to express opinions, share experiences, and reveal perspectives that only they can articulate.

• Warning: sometimes the best thought leaders struggle to find the words. Help them. Marketeers are the best storytellers, and they can use that help! 

KPIs:
Look for impressions and engagement metrics as you assess the performance of these thought pieces. Leads don’t usually fly in as a result of opinions.

3. Your Ads

In a perfect world, every post would go viral, and you wouldn’t need to spend a dime. But alas, we live in the real world.

Which Audience? Super targeted, don’t go wildly wide.
Your ad campaigns should target potential customers who might benefit from your offering. Period. Not semi-related, not influencers, not suspected. Linkedin is expensive, use your dollars wisely.  

Which Tone of Voice? Get Creative.
To make it work these days, you have to have some creativity here, combined with a professional tone and clear CTAs. Not easy, but doable.

*Golden Tip: follow brands you like and competitors to get inspired!

Which Type of Content?
The lead generation game here has changed. “Book a demo” ads don’t make the cut anymore. Your advertisements should focus on educational value and incentivize potential clients with resources they can’t resist. Video syndications, free assets, research reports, and comprehensive guides are all great tools.

I recently wrote an article about Linkedin Marketing Solutions, demonstrating how to maximize recent Linkedin features to boost paid campaigns.   

What are the KPIs? $$$

• Leads and MQLs
• Meetings 
• Customers $$$

4. Your Employees

Last but certainly not least, let’s discuss the most undervalued yet critical aspect of your LinkedIn strategy: your employees. Employees play a pivotal role is getting your brand out there. If your employees are not your number one fans, who would be?? 

Your employees can help in getting more eyeballs to your content. Especially the customer facing ones such as customer success and care teams, sales and marketing.   

Which Tone of Voice? Their Own.
Provide your employees with suggested copy that they can tweak and personalize. It’s important they add their touch. After all, it’s their personality that connects with their networks! You can use tools like Heyou.io to auto-like your company’s posts, but don’t forget commenting and sharing, especially for the big announcements and campaigns.

KPIs:

• Impressions
• Engagement
• New followers 

Execute a Multi-Layered LinkedIn Strategy (+ Cheatsheet) 

You might be thinking right about now, “Great, but how on earth do I implement this multi-layered strategy?” Fear not; I’ve got you covered!

1. Company Page Management:
   Create a dedicated social media board that monitors what’s happening on your company page, and implement consistent posting schedules.
2. Empower Your Thought Leaders:
   Develop a social board for your thought leaders to share updates, insights, and engage meaningfully with their audience. Maybe even recruit some friendly faces to lend an extra hand when needed!
3. Integrate Ads Wisely:
   Ensure your paid ads align with your content distribution plan. Launching a new asset? Don’t forget to add LinkedIn ads to your playbook—timing is everything!
4. Boost Employee Engagement:
   Using basic outreach tools like Slack or email to solicit cooperation is one thing, but how about taking it up a notch? Consider facilitating contests that reward your most cooperatively enthusiastic employees or utilize tools like heyou.io to automate likes and engagements. 

Use this cheatsheet I created here for you to measure your performance, and to communicate to leadership your social KPIs in the right context. 

Access the cheatsheet here!

Summing Up

To sum it all up, to win your LinkedIn strategy you need a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach that utilizes the power of your company page, leverages your key thought leaders, maximizes your advertising impact, and engages your employees.

Remember, a broken LinkedIn strategy is like a coffee machine without coffee—worthless! 

Access the Linkedin strategy cheat sheet here.