LinkedIn isn’t just a social media tool for likeminded business individuals; it is a commercial vehicle to advertise, recruit, and target specific groups of people in our industry. This fundamentally enables you to connect with new prospects.
We have been using LinkedIn for some time now as an integral part of our social media marketing strategy; in particular we have taken full advantage of the Pay per Click advertising tools on LinkedIn that enable us to target more specific groups of people relating to the Software market and special interests within that sector.
Just recently we decided to advertise a new vacancy for a Marketing Assistant on LinkedIn, bypassing the usual routes of recruitment agencies and newspapers advertising.
LinkedIn allowed us to advertise our vacant Marketing Assistant position to selected groups of people already registered on LinkedIn. We targeted individuals with particular profiles. Those profiles were based on the geography (in our case Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire being our local counties) and groups who were marketing specialists. Every LinkedIn member who matched our target profile would see our advert when they next logged onto LinkedIn. Those who clicked on our advert choosing to apply were redirected to our website Job page where a LinkedIn button appeared,
Once the applicant had clicked on this all their profile details were automatically sent through to us, and it the applicant had immediate confirmation they had applied, thus making the normally tedious application process relatively pain free.
There was considerable interest in our job advert placed in our chosen target groups, which was really encouraging. With the average cost per click at £1.40, we received 54 clicks on this advert resulting in several very good applications. By using LinkedIn we were able to avoid placing an advert in our local press, saving us advertising fees of over £1000. So next time you need to recruit a new team member be sure to consider the power of LinkedIn before you approach the usual avenues of recruitment.
As a software sales and marketing consultancy owner myself, I would strongly encourage all smaller software companies to ensure that they are using the potential of LinkedIn to their advantage. Don’t miss out on the opportunities that this social media tool for businesses offers. If you would like to discuss in more detail how to build LinkedIn or any other social media tools into your marketing strategy, please call me on 01536 771440 or visit my website www.terryforsey.com
And finally, if you do not already have a copy of my book "Practical Winning Strategies: A Guide to putting Sales & Marketing at the heart of your Business", it is now available to buy online at Amazon.
