![\"full-funnel-marketing\"](\"http:\/\/ebookhandy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/full-funnel-marketing.png\")
<\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t that long ago that\u00a0most business marketers thought of LinkedIn purely as a place for online resumes and prospecting future hires. Today, with nearly 350 million members world-wide, LinkedIn has become a formidable marketing and sales resource for B2B marketers across the web.<\/p>\n
In fact, LinkedIn is evolving as a full marketing funnel solution through it\u2019s mix of content and advertising solutions. In particular, through the LinkedIn Lead Accelerator that serves as a lead generation and nurturing service.<\/p>\n
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While new product and service offerings are fine and good, there\u2019s a saying I live by when it comes to tools. \u201cA tool is only as useful as the expertise of the person using it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why this updated version of The Sophisticated Marketer\u2019s Guide to LinkedIn<\/a> is so timely.<\/p>\n For sophisticated B2B Marketers that implement integrated marketing programs, I have no doubt this eBook is going to be a very useful resource.<\/p>\n Before I get into what you\u2019ll find in this free eBook, here\u2019s a little more about LinkedIn Lead Accelerator<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cAs a new lead generation and nurturing product,\u00a0LinkedIn Lead Accelerator\u00a0connects companies to the right professionals with the right content as they make their way through the purchase decision process. Think of it as an advanced nurture engine, one that goes beyond the inbox to allow marketers to reach unknown prospects (anonymous website visitors) and known prospects (through captured contact info), nurture them with display and social ads on and off LinkedIn, and convert them when they\u2019re ready to buy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Think of LinkedIn Lead Accelerator\u00a0as marketing automation for display and social advertising that you can use to identify audiences, sequence ads, increase conversions, optimize your creative and of course, measure impact.<\/p>\n Now on to the updated Sophisticated Marketer\u2019s Guide to LinkedIn<\/strong>: It\u2019s essentially all about how\u00a0to use LinkedIn as part of you integrated approach to marketing \u2013 updated for 2015.<\/p>\n Wrapping up the guide is a fine list of 25 Social Media Marketing Experts<\/a> you need to know.<\/p>\n You might be wondering who is giving all this advice? Internal marketing experts at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions of course. There are also a mix of\u00a0quotes and expert opinions from a selection of sophisticated marketing influencers that includes:<\/p>\n Lastly, this eBook is full of useful\u00a0stats that you can use in blog posts, presentations or in a brief to win budget for\u00a0the LinkedIn Lead Accelerator And a few stats about and from LinkedIn:<\/p>\n If that\u2019s not all, here\u2019s a mini-interview I did with LinkedIn for the\u00a0Sophisticated Marketer\u2019s Guide\u00a0on how I use the platform and advice on how to get more out of it:<\/p>\n Do you regularly check your Pulse feed? If so, how do you use it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I check LinkedIn daily including the Pulse feed. I follow a number of the thought leaders and also look for the news stories my network is engaging with. The feed offers content that I can interact with through liking, commenting, sharing on LinkedIn or curating to our broader community.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your best advice for writing a compelling company page update?<\/strong><\/p>\n This might seem like a cart and horse situation, but it\u2019s important to have an audience. Updating a company page to 2 followers vs. 200 just isn\u2019t the same. As with any other publishing platform, think of who your network is and what they\u2019re interested in. What do they expect?<\/p>\n Giving people what they want in the form of useful content, tips and information about changes at your company is a great way to attract more followers and better engage those that you already have.<\/p>\n From a writing standpoint, write snappy, compelling titles. Check ubersuggest.org for popular keywords How can a business take advantage of LinkedIn as part of a content marketing strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Content participation on any social network or web platform should be informed by a company\u2019s business The specific way LinkedIn is used depends on the company, industry and product mix. It also depends on what kinds of opportunities there are to be \u201cthe best answer\u201d on LinkedIn for the things customers are interested in.<\/p>\n At a minimum: Beyond that, LinkedIn\u2019s social network platform provides many opportunities to engage with prospects, support individual and brand thought leadership and connect with other groups like industry media and prospective employees. Whether it\u2019s targeted advertising or curating a mix of industry and company news on the brand page, companies that want to attract and engage other businesses need to be on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It wasn\u2019t that long ago that\u00a0most business marketers thought of LinkedIn purely as a place for online resumes and prospecting future hires. Today, with nearly 350 million members world-wide, LinkedIn has become a formidable marketing and sales resource for B2B marketers across the web. In fact, LinkedIn is evolving as a full marketing funnel solution<\/p>\n![\"optimized-linkedin-profile\"](\"http:\/\/ebookhandy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/optimized-linkedin-profile.png\")
At\u00a058 pages,\u00a0it\u2019s a soup to nuts resource on everything from the thinking behind\u00a0full funnel marketing on LinkedIn and the ad network\u00a0to\u00a0practical advice on:<\/p>\n\n
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\nand consider using specific phrases in the title and description, but only if they make sense and add value to the message. You can attract more followers to your company LinkedIn page through search on LinkedIn as well as organic search.<\/p>\n
\nand content marketing strategies. Are customers there and what are they doing? What are they interested
\nin? What opportunities are there for the brand to be valuable to those prospective customers?<\/p>\nFor most companies that sell into the business market, participating on LinkedIn should be a no-brainer.<\/h3>\n
\n1. Ensure executive LinkedIn profiles are filled out and optimized
\n2. Make sure the Company Page is robust.
\n3. Curate useful news as status updates and on the Company Page
\n4. Use LinkedIn as a follow up after meeting people online and especially at offline events where business cards are exchanged<\/p>\n