From the Blog: August 22, 2024

LinkedIn Strategies: Understanding Paid Ads and Organic Growth

Lauren Helm PR speaking at the Florida Public Relations Association's (FPRA) PR & Comms Summit in Tampa, Florida. Lauren is wearing a floral blazer, orange shirt, and navy blue pants while standing in front of the projector screen at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay with the words "Elevating Your Brand's Potential on LinkedIn" across the screen.

Recently, I spoke at the Florida Public Relations Association’s PR & Comms Summit in Tampa, Florida, to a standing-room-only crowd of public relations and communications professionals eager to learn how to harness the power of LinkedIn’s potential for their brand. In the breakout session, we discussed the average return on investment (ROI) for paid LinkedIn ads, how to evaluate the need to purchase LinkedIn’s premium options, and brand strategies to boost visibility. We profiled two case studies on the power of organic LinkedIn growth. I highlighted a few high-level critical points in this blog post.

LinkedIn Paid Ads

A LinkedIn paid ads strategy can immediately boost your visibility and exposure with laser-focused targetability to garner tangible results. But if your advertising budget isn’t $25K per quarter, you’re left without a consistent strategy to use LinkedIn’s advertising tools such as display ads, sponsored InMail messages, and sponsored groups effectively.

So, what happens to small to medium-sized businesses that want to advertise on LinkedIn but don’t have a large budget? The alternative is sponsored content (similar to Facebook news feed ads or sponsored Instagram posts) and text ads (similar to pay-per-click ads on Google).

In full transparency, LinkedIn ads tend to be more expensive than other platforms, but they can be worth the investment if you use their targeting options and develop micro-campaigns. For example, instead of doing one extensive campaign that reaches 50,000 people, consider doing 50 micro-campaigns that reach 1,000 people, which is easier to track, provides the most visibility, and ultimately reduces the overall costs to advertise on LinkedIn.

Each month, Social Status publishes LinkedIn insights based on the hundreds of thousands of posts from around the world that their team indexes. This can be an effective tool for measuring the trend of your LinkedIn paid ad strategy.

LinkedIn Organic Growth Considerations

I like to think this is where I really shine in the time I have been using the LinkedIn platform. I make a conscious effort to nurture relationships by providing consistent value through authentic engagement. I consider this a budget-friendly marketing strategy, and I’m not the only one who has found success in this method.

Green Apple Strategy Group capitalized on their company’s organic growth and increased their LinkedIn followers 5x in 6 months. Their approach was simple: create a goal, divide tasks based on the team’s strengths, and get to work. Through a strategic social media plan, six months into the strategy, they were able to increase their reactions by 4,827%, commends by 7,800%, and shares by 2,566%.

The International Advertising Association (IAA) also understands the power of LinkedIn. They were able to determine how their members engaged with the Association on professional and personal networks. This research allowed the IAA to deliver intentional content on the appropriate platform based on their key messages, and turned it into a learning module for their members.

How did they do this? Consistency. Developing a content calendar is a great way for business owners to remain accountable and ensure timely messaging for their products or services. It also provides an opportunity to measure results and capitalize on content that is resonating with your audience.

I’ll also share my LinkedIn content calendar template, which you can download to help you begin your LinkedIn organic growth strategy.

Conclusion

The LinkedIn algorithm craves valuable connections and authentic engagement. It goes deeper than a “Congratulations!” comment on a colleague’s recent promotion or an InMail message asking to introduce yourself. Here are a few questions to guide you in your LinkedIn marketing strategy:

  • What goals do I want to achieve on LinkedIn?
  • Who am I trying to help, and what problem am I trying to solve?
  • What brand attribute will help me stand out?
  • How does my target audience use LinkedIn?

These questions can help shape your LinkedIn marketing strategy, whether through paid advertising or organic methods. Either way is beneficial, depending on your goals. If you don’t know where to start with LinkedIn, I encourage you to sign up for my LinkedIn profile audit to help unlock your full potential.