Why LinkedIn Advertising is indispensable for B2B marketing

Do you only use LinkedIn as a digital Rolodex or an online CV? You’re missing out! LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network, offering unique opportunities to connect with other experts in your field. In this article, we’ll make the case for the power of LinkedIn: why and how to use it, both for your personal brand and your organization.

In the Netherlands, LinkedIn has been a trusted platform for years, maintaining a steady and slightly growing user base. Research shows that in 2023, over 5 million people in the Netherlands used LinkedIn, with the platform growing by 47,000 users since 2022. This makes it the premier professional social media network and, in our view, the only one truly focused on business. But why do we choose LinkedIn en masse to maintain and expand our professional circles?

Why LinkedIn is an essential social network for business

Both individuals and organizations use LinkedIn for a variety of reasons. At its core, it revolves around professional networking and career-oriented goals. Common reasons to use LinkedIn include:

• Networking
• Job hunting
• Visibility and personal branding
• Knowledge and advice
• Company promotion
• Researching potential partners or clients
• Career development and coaching

It goes far beyond a simple contact list or CV, wouldn’t you agree?

Why LinkedIn is the platform for professional networking

LinkedIn makes it easy to stay in touch with existing contacts such as colleagues, business partners, clients, and friends. However, it also allows you to easily connect with other professionals in your industry. You can join groups, follow specific topics, or post your own content about these subjects to engage with interesting people in your field. Networking on LinkedIn leads to new business opportunities, jobs, partnerships, and expert advice. The platform’s increasing focus on content and its various interaction features specifically help expand your professional reach.

Find your next job or colleague on LinkedIn

Naturally, the largest professional social network must provide space to discover new career opportunities. Companies post vacancies, and for recruiters and headhunters, LinkedIn is a goldmine because it bundles so much information about potential candidates in one place. Are you looking for a new role? You can build your professional profile so that your knowledge and skills are visible to the right people, making it easier to get in touch and increasing your chances of landing a new job.

Building visibility and personal branding with LinkedIn

What is your area of expertise? LinkedIn offers several ways to share your knowledge and experiences with other professionals—for example, through posts, articles, and updates on your personal profile or in specialized groups. By sharing valuable content, you don’t just build visibility; you build your personal brand. Who knows, it might even lead to new connections, insights, or business ventures!

Why LinkedIn is the go-to platform for exchanging knowledge and advice

You’ve seen them mentioned before in this article: LinkedIn groups. A group is a simple way to get in touch with people from the same industry, or even those in different sectors who share your skills or job function. Here, you can participate in discussions, ask questions, and exchange knowledge. In recent years, LinkedIn has doubled down on content, making it even easier to share diverse formats via your personal profile, start discussions, and swap expertise. No other platform lets you connect so easily with other professionals in your field, especially those you don’t know yet.

Why LinkedIn is ideal for company promotion

It’s not just for individuals; LinkedIn is an excellent platform for organizational branding and promotion. Organizations can create a profile, giving them their own page similar to an individual’s but with specific business functionalities. Through this page, they share news, business updates, and vacancies, and they can advertise on LinkedIn. In our other articles, we explain why advertising on LinkedIn is a smart move, but we can already say that company promotion on the platform—both paid and organic—is incredibly valuable because everyone uses LinkedIn with a professional mindset. This makes LinkedIn unique compared to all other social media.

Researching potential partners or clients via LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one massive directory of professionals and organizations, making it the perfect place to research potential partners or clients. You can easily view and analyze the background and expertise of individuals and companies before you ever start a conversation or send a connection request.

Why LinkedIn is your platform for career development and advice

There are countless ways to develop your career and seek advice via LinkedIn. As discussed, asking for help is easy via groups or your profile, but LinkedIn also provides deep insights into job openings (and how you rank in the market), average salaries per industry or job function, and the ability to request and create references. Furthermore, LinkedIn offers courses for the skills you want to polish before applying for your next role, such as Excel, SQL, Photoshop, and communication skills.

4 tips to get more out of your LinkedIn profile

After reading the points above, have you decided to get (more) active on LinkedIn? Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Optimize your profile. Use a professional headshot, a background image, a clear and professional headline, and an engaging summary about your expertise, background, skills, and goals. Don’t forget to add all relevant work experience, education, and certifications.
2. Expand your network: Start with people you already know, such as colleagues, family, friends, and existing business relations. Don’t be afraid to connect with interesting people you don’t know yet, but always include a personalized message in your invitation to introduce yourself.
3. Regularly share valuable content. Think of articles or updates that fit your field, such as posts from the organization you work for. Are you sharing a post directly from your employer? Don’t forget to add a short blurb of your own—for instance, why the piece is relevant or how you contributed to it. This makes it much more engaging for your followers.
4. Stay active: Try to log in regularly, for example, once a week. Don’t just post your own content; react to others’ posts and stay active within your network. It helps to set a goal, like posting one personal update every week.

Tips to increase LinkedIn usage within your organization

Are you a manager, team lead, or owner who wants to boost your brand’s visibility on LinkedIn but aren’t sure how to motivate your team? Here are some tips:

• Explain the ‘Why’: Tell your team why LinkedIn is relevant to your organization’s goals.
• Lead by example: Make sure you are active on LinkedIn yourself! React to your employees’ posts so they see that their efforts are noticed and appreciated.
• Provide guidance: Offer tips or training if team members find LinkedIn daunting. Show them how to build a strong profile, how to share content easily, and how to participate in groups.
• Make sharing easy: Distribute links that your team can share and collaborate on content that team members can post directly.
• Use a content calendar: A shared content calendar can encourage your team to post more frequently. Plus, it makes visibility a collective responsibility, fostering better team spirit.
• Set clear goals: What do you want to achieve as a team? Break this down into company page goals and personal goals so everyone knows how they contribute to the collective success.
• Monitor progress: LinkedIn provides plenty of insights regarding content reach, likes, and company page followers.
• Celebrate milestones: Did you set a goal for a certain number of followers or impressions this year? Make sure to acknowledge and celebrate as a team when you hit that target.

Would you like to start a conversation about LinkedIn and how to leverage it within your organization? We’d love to share our insights and experiences regarding both organic and paid LinkedIn campaigns with you. Want to read more first? Check out our LinkedIn advertising page, where we share a wealth of data and examples from paid campaigns.