An Interview with Digital Strategist Rachel Segal: Using LinkedIn To Build Brand Engagement

Felicity_LinkedIn

Last week, members of the Felicity team gathered for a learning session with Rachel Segal, Felicity’s resident digital strategy expert, who flew in from British Columbia to share her tips for using social media—particularly LinkedIn—as a business development tool. As Felicity continues to expand, we wanted to provide our team with practical training and tips for using LinkedIn as a marketing, networking, brand building, and growth tool—for ourselves and for our clients.

The insights Rachel shared could—and should—be applied by any brand looking to build its LinkedIn presence. LinkedIn is the #1 business network, connecting professionals, clients, colleagues and other contacts. And it’s not going anywhere. While there are many new social platforms touted as the “next Facebook,” there aren’t any that can really compete with LinkedIn.

But why is it important for brands to look beyond LinkedIn’s function as a professional networking tool? “It’s no longer just a recruitment and job-seeking tool. LinkedIn has grown to become a great way for companies to keep their employees engaged, informed, and connected,” Rachel explains.

“Of course, it’s important that the company work with employees to understand what they value most and would like to share. There’s no sense in publishing content that your team isn’t going to be proud of, excited about, or interested in promoting to their social circles.”

Rachel shares four tips organizations should consider when encouraging their employees to engage with and amplify their brands online:

1. Produce Great Content. In order for your content to be “share-worthy” it needs to be top-notch. Take the time to really create and curate great content, and your team (as well as other folks within your social media communities) will appreciate it. Be sure your employees know they don’t have to share everything, but that the posts that matter the most should be promoted the most. For example, a simple “Like” would suffice for a typical blog post, but one they particularly connect with should be shared, even a couple of times. Remember to be consistent: a little liking/sharing regularly works better than a sharing spree once in a blue moon.

2. Have a Perspective. Curating content can be an effective part of a corporate LinkedIn strategy, but it will start to feel flat if there isn’t a regular stream of original content such as blog posts to showcase the company’s perspective. This is likely the type of content your employee ambassadors will also be most excited about promoting and sharing among their own communities.

3. Celebrate Diversity. Get other people beyond just the marketing team contributing to your content activities. There are likely many experts within your organization who could be lending their own unique perspectives. This ultimately does a better job showcasing the talent your company has attracted. Encourage your employees to take advantage of the opportunity to promote themselves both inside and outside of the organization.

4. Reward Your People. Offer incentives and understand that the time spent using social media is likely above and beyond the regular work hours your team is putting in. Make sure you recognize and reward this in a way that will be appreciated by individuals in your organization.

If you have questions about how you can strategically utilize LinkedIn within your organization we encourage you to get in touch!

 

Posted on: March 11th, 2015 by

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