LinkedIn - A forerunner for social media strategy

By Kay Ridge

Linkedln has a strategy - it is simple. Connections, Connections, Connections. It is the social media platform for business and Linkedln users are there to make new connections - true. However they are also there to create brand awareness.

Our Social Times

Gives a few examples, One is of American Express. Linkedln is a major publishing platform (the Content Marketing Institute's research found that 91 per cent of B2B marketers use Linkedln to publish.) But with three million users sharing content at least weekly, cutting through the white noise with a message that engages your target audience is easier said than done. American Express tackled that challenge head-on by partnering with the Global Business Travel Association to create a research report that piqued the curiosity of business travellers. American Express then used Linkedln to publish blog posts and infographics that had been reappropriated from the original report. Taking the time to produce quality content resulted in a 100 per cent increase in engagement on Linkedln.

Looking for a new employee?

You could do worse than turn to Linkedln. With 500 million users generating 106 million monthly unique visits, you can rest assured there's no shortage of talent out there. But how to find them? Just follow L'Oreal's lead.

As you might imagine, a company with 70,000 employees. 27 global brands and operations in 130 countries requires a steady stream of incoming human resource. In fact, L'Oreal looks to recruit some 6,000 new managers every single year. To help find passive candidates and shout about the benefits of a career with L'Oreal, the cosmetics behemoth makes use of some simple yet highly effective strategies.

That starts with a highly polished company page with a branded 'Careers' tab. This tab features a statement on what it's like to work at L'Oreal, an embedded YouTube video and testimonials from current employees. The careers page is also regularly updated with new job openings. L'Oreal also calls on their own network of 15.000 managers and employees that are currently on Linkedln to find passive talent. This approach has saved many thousands of pounds on recruitment costs. One Parisian employee even managed to source 90 top profile candidates in less than five months. Like Linkedln says, the best employees refer the best candidates...

Remember if you create quality content you do not need huge marketing spend.