Re-Thinking LinkedIn
Linkedin is an essential yet often under-utilised tool by many B2B and not-for-profit organisations. This under-utilisation is often due to two reasons. When Linkedin first started, it was viewed as a recruitment tool. People could upload their resumes and make connections, ultimately leading to further employment opportunities. The second reason is time. Developing content for multiple social platforms is beyond the capacity of many B2B and not-for-profit organisations unless they are big enough to have their own marketing personnel.
THE EVOLUTION OF LINKEDIN
This year LinkedIn turns 19, and since 2016 it has been taking steps to reposition itself and build out the platform to be more than just about jobs and recruitment. For example, the option for people to create LinkedIn Newsletters which was introduced in 2017 is one example of the steps they are taking to develop the platform. The newsfeed algorithm enables readers to be shown more relevant and interesting content based on their interests and preferences.
LinkedIn also plans to launch a Clubhouse clone to bring live audio podcasts to the platform.
One of the other changes LinkedIn has introduced is LinkedIn Creator Mode which will improve the opportunity for quality content to be posted and found on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn now has 810 million members worldwide, with the three top countries for membership being the USA, India and China [1]. At 810 million users, it is not the largest social networking platform. Instagram has 1.2 billion users, and Facebook has 3 billion.
LinkedIn is not a platform that is used by members every day. Some estimate that most members will only log onto LinkedIn every three-seven days.
Given the evolution of LinkedIn, it is understandable that many B2B businesses and not-for-profit organisations have not kept up with the changes and are unaware of the potential LinkedIn presents for their business and organisations.
POTENTIAL OF LINKEDIN
LinkedIn has been evolving and adapting to meet members changing requirements and needs. However, many businesses and organisations still question the time involved and whether it is worth it.
There are three reasons why it can be profitable for businesses and not-for-profit organisations to invest time in building their profile and presence on LinkedIn.
- It is the best network for lead generation
- It is an excellent platform for developing authority
- Increased conversion rates
LEAD GENERATION ON LINKEDIN
Hubspot found that LinkedIn is 277% more effective in generating leads than Facebook or Twitter. B2B marketers report that 80% of their business comes from LinkedIn.
One of the interesting statistics linked to all three reasons why we should consider LinkedIn is that of the three largest platforms, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, LinkedIn drives more traffic to B2B blogs and sites. Hence, it not only creates lead generation but also drives traffic to businesses and not-for-profit blogs and sites. It also assists in establishing the organisation’s authority and increasing click-through rates.
Part of the effectiveness of lead generation on LinkedIn is that businesses can target and link to C-suite decision makers within another organisation. Gone are the days when trying to contact a decision-maker in an organisation meant repeated phone calls or emails to administrative support in the hope they would pass the message on.
LinkedIn has made lead generation and connections to decision-makers much more accessible. For salespeople, this accessibility also subtly influences how their discussions are conducted. While there remains a place for cold calling the sales repertory, LinkedIn lets salespeople research the businesses before approaching the decision-makers. Hence allowing for a more nuanced approach to discussing the company’s particular challenges.
PLATFORM TO DEVELOP AUTHORITY
Building brand authority is essential for businesses and for not-for-profit organisations. The way to build your brand authority on social media is through posting blogs and articles that are:
- Informative
- Address your client’s issue and provide solutions
- Demonstrate your compassion and empathy
Developing brand authority on social media is essential for any business and not-for-profit organisation to thrive in today’s business world. Millennials and Gen Z use social media to determine the trustworthiness of a company and whether the organisation speaks to their issues.
LinkedIn, a platform targeting professionals more than Twitter or Facebook, provides an ideal opportunity for businesses and not-for-profit organisations to build their brand authority. LinkedIn is unique in what it achieves because not only are the majority of C Suite leaders on LinkedIn, but 60% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25 and 34 years.
This allows businesses to build brand authority with this cohort of young people. It is essential when building brand authority to connect with individuals rather than amorphous groups of targeted clients.
It has been said there is no benefit in posting for posting’s sake. In many ways, simply posting when there is no strategy behind it leads to content fatigue, damaging an organisation’s brand. When we publish content with no strategy behind it, it comes across as “hit and miss”, which does not build credibility or trust among clients.
We have written previously on the importance of avoiding content fatigue when engaging with clients. Concentrating on producing authentic, handcrafted, relevant and personal material that meets clients’ needs is essential to avoid content fatigue. This is particularly true on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the ideal platform to build our authority, credibility, and trust among our clients. When we use LinkedIn simply to post more work-related photos of ourselves or to virtue signal, we miss the opportunity to build our authority.
INCREASED CONVERSION RATES
As mentioned above, increased lead generation on LinkedIn improves click-through rates, leading to increased sales.
However, LinkedIn is not simply a sales platform; there are different types of conversions other than sales. For example:
- Completing forms
- Downloading content, or
- Registering for events [2]
LinkedIn allows companies to extend how and what conversion rates are essential for their business. This can be done organically, which means it is a low-cost option for many businesses and not-for-profit organisations to increase their visibility, build their credibility and authority and increase conversion rates
LinkedIn is a powerful platform. To use it effectively does require more initial thought than simply uploading photos of your latest work function, which may be suitable for Facebook. Tweets also need to be considered in terms of how the tweets build the company’s authority. However, the time and consideration are valuable because when LinkedIn is used effectively, it increases the organisation’s authority, builds effective lead generation and allows companies to increase conversion rates.
Perhaps it is time to re-think LinkedIn.
[1] LinkedIn Usage and Revenue Statistics (2022) – Business of Apps [2] /blog/social-media/linkedin-conversion-rate/Social Listening
Listening is a crucial part of communication, an area many of us are not skilled in doing effectively. Effective communication requires skilled listening.
- Published in marketing, Psychology
Our Narrative in a Downturn
Many business owners nursed their businesses through the pandemic, believing once people were not in isolation and beginning to return to everyday routine, the economy would pick up.
- Published in marketing
Maximising NFP Websites
Michael Levine has authored a book titled “Broken Windows, Broken Business” in which he applies the broken window theory to businesses.
- Published in Data, Design, Google, marketing, Not-For-Profit
Organic Marketing
ORGANIC MARKETING
With the increasing number of digital platforms and technologies; the need to be seen in a crowded social media space, paid advertising seemed the solution for many businesses. There was a promised return on investment (ROI), and it was quick.
While lip service was paid about the importance of organic marketing, it was often only that – lip service. Budgets, time, and energy went into paid marketing.
Digital marketing’s changing environment
Currently, we are in a changing environment. Some of the change has occurred quickly; others have been flagged for some time, but we are only beginning to feel the impacts of these changes.
CHANGES TO PRIVACY LAWS AND THE ABILITY OF PEOPLE TO OPT-OUT OF MARKETING
While increasing protections for people’s privacy and providing greater clarity around data collection is good, it impacts the ROI for paid advertising. We have previously written about the impact of App Tracking Transparency (ATT) on search ad tools and for businesses.
CHANGES TO THE ECONOMY
The increasing cost of living and talk of possible recession impact the budget for paid advertising. Suddenly, organisations must look at expenditure and ways money can be saved to survive the coming months.
The cost-of-living increases will impact small to medium size businesses the most, and those businesses using paid marketing will likely reduce or stop spending on advertising.
THE RETURN OF ORGANIC MARKETING
These changes present an opportunity for the resurgence of organic marketing for several reasons.
THE COST OF ORGANIC MARKETING
The view is that organic marketing doesn’t cost. You are not using paid channels to advertise your business or brand. While this is true on one level, it does create a false dichotomy.
There is a cost with organic marketing that is paid in time, energy, and effort. This is the time, energy, and effort you put into maintaining your social media accounts, creating and posting relevant information, and building your email list.
It is not a choice between no-cost marketing (organic) vs paid marketing; it is a choice between lower-cost marketing and higher-cost or paid marketing.
SUSTAINABILITY OF ORGANIC MARKETING
When costs are increasing, and there is uncertainty about the future, investing time and energy in marketing is a better alternative than paying for marketing.
Investing time and energy allows for marketing sustainability, which is essential for brand recognition and survival.
Businesses that rely on paid advertising without a solid organic marketing strategy underpinning the paid advertising place themselves in a potentially precarious position. When paid advertising can no longer be afforded, they lose visibility because they do not have a strong organic strategy. This can impact sales resulting in a loss of business opportunities.
Organic marketing is ultimately more sustainable in the long term, particularly when there are cost issues. However, there are other important reasons why organic marketing should be reconsidered.
ORGANIC MARKETING AND BRAND AUTHORITY
Paying for marketing is not the same as establishing brand authority. It is easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of paid advertising and mistake this for brand authority. However, people may love our ads but not trust our business model.
Brand authority is built over time and with hard work. Organic marketing enables you to build your brand authority sustainably over the long term.
Ways to build brand authority are through activities like content writing or blogging. This is one effective way of establishing your brand’s authority, which influences your organic search ranking on Google. When establishing your brand authority, you must consistently produce fresh and engaging content.
If businesses do not have someone continually writing fresh, authoritative content for their organic marketing, they are better off investing in paying someone to do this rather than paying for advertising. The reason is that long-term writing will give them better brand authority and credibility than paid advertising.
ORGANIC MARKETING AND CREATIVITY
Organic marketing is a low-cost, efficient way of trying new things. If you want to create a new campaign or strategy but are unsure how it will work, organic marketing provides a low-cost way of testing it. If the campaign or strategy doesn’t work, you will have lost time and energy but potentially saved thousands of dollars you would have spent on a paid campaign.
Organic marketing also allows you to engage with your clients in ways that are more personal and less salesy. For example, organic marketing will enable you to do quick surveys or questionnaires to get immediate feedback from clients. This information is vital for building brand authority because it increases trust in clients when they see their issues and challenges being addressed authentically and helpfully.
ORGANIC MARKETING AND UGC (USER GENERATED CONTENT)
Organic marketing allows us to concentrate on user-generated content (UGC). This is content that users generate to promote our business or service. Potential clients or customers are more likely to trust another customer’s word, particularly if they are following them on social media.
People are generally wary of what businesses say about themselves; we want to read reviews and the experiences of other people engaging with our company.
This is known as social proof. It is the validation customers, or clients provide about our trustworthiness, reliability, and authenticity. Social proof is not something we can achieve through a paid marketing campaign. We only get social proof from user-generated content; to get this, we need organic marketing.
Organic marketing allows us to be creative, to engage our clients to the extent they carry the information forward, creating greater social proof.
When digital marketing costs are increasing, and the ROI for paid advertising is impacted by privacy laws and changes to data requirements, the place and importance of organic marketing again comes to the fore.
There is a cost to organic marketing, but in the long term, the cost and benefit of organic marketing may outweigh the cost of paid advertising. The reasons for this are organic marketing:
- Is sustainable.
- Enables us to build brand authority in ways not available through paid advertising; &
- Has opportunities for creativity and to generate UGC and social proof that cannot be done through paid advertising.
Roe V Wade Data & Comms Impact
Roe v Wade has changed the lives of many Americans. It will impact many businesses, and given the international nature of many companies, there will be a flow-on effect.
The Workplace Jester
In medieval times, the Jester was an important person within the Royal Court.
Ad Networks
Propellor Ads, MGID, Adcash, Richads TwinRed, Traffic Stars are some of the ad networks for affiliate marketing.
- Published in marketing
Not-for-profits, Funding and Search
Funding in the non-profit sector has always been challenging; however, that challenge has increased over the past few years. Many factors have increased the challenge. Some of these are:
1. THE INCREASING COMPLEXITY OF PEOPLE’S ISSUES
People needing support often have complex problems that require the support of multiple organisations. Most service delivery models are based around solving one problem; for example, housing, employment, or mental health issues. While many services are gradually moving towards a more client-centric model and providing wrap-around services, there is still a lack of these services available.
2. RISING COSTS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY VS LEVEL OF FUNDING
The cost-of-service delivery and wages have increased beyond the level of funding to organisations. Consequently, many organisations reduce service delivery or find less expensive ways to provide services. For example, organisations that have provided face-to-face services may become telephone advice-only services. While telephone advice may be helpful in some situations, it implies the client can act on the advice provided. Many people with complex issues require more support than telephone advice.
3. INCREASING COMPETITION WITH THE NOT-FOR-PROFIT SECTOR
As governments have moved from a preferred service provider model to a tender process to contract for service delivery, not-for-profit organisations are often forced to compete with other not-for-profits. Often this results in two things. Firstly, a reduction in the number of service options for clients. Not-for-profit organisations that are not successful in winning contracts either have to merge or close. The second thing that often occurs is that service delivery is under-quoted, exacerbating the issue highlighted in the second point above.
4. CHANGING NATURE OF DONOR BASE
The traditional donor base they may have relied on in previous years is changing for many not-for-profit organisations. People are more likely to donate online. Businesses can no longer rely on doing things the same way, so not-for-profit organisations must consider how they can build donor loyalty in a new environment. The changing nature of organisations donor-based was discussed previously.
WHAT DOES Search and seo HAVE TO DO WITH THESE CHALLENGES?
Given these challenges, most leaders within not-for-profit organisations would ask, “what does SEO have to do it?”
The simple answer is “a lot”. SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is imperative for not-for-profit organisations in today’s environment for many reasons, some of which we will highlight.
1. CAN YOU BE FOUND?
We are familiar with the “Where’s Wally” books. Crowded pictures where we have to find Wally. The not-for-profit space is a crowded landscape. The ACNC (Australian Charities and NFP Commission) stated there are over 60,000 not-for-profits in Australia, which is growing at 4% per year.
This highlights the point we discussed above, the increasing competition in the sector.
SEO is one major thing that allows you to stand out and be seen in a crowded landscape.
A. BEING FOUND BY YOUR CLIENTS
There are two aspects to being found by your clients.
i. CLIENTS IN NEED
Clients need to find a service that will meet their needs quickly and effectively. You will not be found if your organisation is on the third page of a Google search. To be found, you need to be on the first page of a search engine. A strong SEO strategy is the only way to be on the first page.
Search engines reward strong SEO by lifting the ranking to the first page, enabling organisations to be found quickly.
ii. EDUCATING CLIENTS
Providing excellent client-centric content on your organisation’s website not only builds your SEO but also educates your clients. Fact sheets, information sheets, and content that answers common questions are helpful to have on your website for three crucial reasons.
- It reduces the time you spend on non-essential phone calls and frees up time for clients needing more one-on-one support.
- It means clients who may need information after hours or on weekends can access it through your website; &
- This content boosts your SEO, which is a win-win situation—a win for your clients and your organisation.
B. BEING FOUND BY YOUR DONORS
As mentioned, the majority of donors are now donating online. Donors are often IT savvy, extremely busy, want to donate quickly and smoothly, feel good, and get on to the next thing they must do.
Hence, they are looking for organisations they can donate to that are on the first page of their search engine. They do not have time to click through to pages 3, 4, or 5. If your organisation is on these pages, you will be missing out on potential donations.
A strong SEO that gets your organisation onto the first page of a search engine increases the likelihood of building a solid donor base.
C. BEING FOUND BY FUNDERS
The same principles listed above for clients and donors also apply to funding. When a not-for-profit organisation applies for funding, the funding body will check the organisation’s website. There is an expectation by funders that organisations will have enough IT literacy and professionalism to have an up-to-date website that is SEO optimised.
For example, suppose two organisations providing services to a similar client group apply for funding, and one can be found easily on a search engine. The second is lost on a search engine’s third or fourth page. In that case, the odds are weighted heavily in favour of the first organisation being successful simply because by having strong SEO, this organisation is more likely to be reaching and impacting the lives of more clients than the organisation on page three or four.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DATA IN FUNDING APPLICATIONS
Many not-for-profits fail to realise the importance of SEO and data analytics and do not include these figures in funding applications. Many not-for-profits count client phone calls or face-to-face appointments as client numbers and fail to include the number of people who access their website.
For example, one small not-for-profit organisation, Tonic, works with, provides phone or face-to-face service delivery to approximately 400 clients annually. However, because they have engaged strongly in optimising their website and social media, they average between 12,000 to 14,000 visitors to their website/month.
This example highlights the importance of being found by your client base and puts the organisation in a strong position for funding applications because they can demonstrate a more significant impact.
SEO IS ESSENTIAL
A not-for-profit organisation that fails to capitalise and build a robust SEO platform is doing itself and its clients a disservice. SEO is no longer a nice to have for an organisation. It is essential, particularly when Google provides grants to non-profit organisations for SEO and ads.
Tonic Digital specialises in assisting not-for-profit organisations in applying for and using this grant effectively. If you need further information on how we can help, contact us.
- Published in Google, marketing, Not-For-Profit, SEO
Realising a Blogging ROI
Who has the time to blog? A recent article from the Marketing Insider Group quoted four hours as the average time it takes a person to write a blog.
