It shocks me every day to see the number of companies that still haven’t embraced the power of social networks and/or don’t fully utilize them. Ask a skeptic why they don’t use social media and I am sure one the following reasons will come into the conversation somewhere:

• “We just don't see the ROI of social media”

• “We don't have the time”

• “We don't feel that our consumers are on social media”

Let’s talk ROI as I hear that one a lot. It is true that it’s becoming more and more challenging to make sure you are getting an ROI (Return on Investment) from all the effort you are putting into social media. But the bigger question is: What is the ROI you are looking for from your social presence? Is it better brand awareness, more followers, more leads, more website traffic or something else? Defining your ROI goal(s) is key to making sure that your social media efforts are successful.

But let’s say your ROI goal is to drive more website traffic. I often think this is an area that companies overlook as a reason for using social networks. It still amazes me to see the amount of traffic that is driven by Marketing Monarchs’ various social networks. Plus, we notice that when we stop campaigns as the traffic drops off. And when we restarts our campaigns, the traffic immediately picks up again. One social network that always seems to standout for us is LinkedIn which. Again, I believe this is a tool that is still overlooked today by many companies and business leaders when it comes to driving B2B website traffic. And that’s a pity.

I must admit, I was an early adopter of LinkedIn and have grown with the platform as it has grown. Along the way I have tried and tested the various features to see how they affect website traffic. 

Before I jump in to my “6 Ways to Drive More Website Traffic from LinkedIn” let me remind you:  LinkedIn is filled with many professionals and decision makers who could be your next customer. So apart from using LinkedIn to increase your website traffic, you will also be increasing your brand awareness.  Let me share an impressive statistic. Over the last 6-months, I have seen that more than 50% of the traffic to my site can be directly attributed to my social network activity!

Here are my “6 Ways to Drive More Website Traffic from LinkedIn”:

1– Profile: At the top of the list is your profile. The trouble with this is, too many people still overlook the importance of having a complete and up-to-date profile. I see this daily because every time I get new invitations from people asking me to connect with them on LinkedIn, I see a lot of incomplete profiles. I get a high volume of invitations to connect on LinkedIn and I review every single one before accepting an invitation. If they are not completed to my liking, I will not connect. Why? Because without a complete profile, I really don’t know enough about these people to determine if I should be connecting with them.

So, make sure to complete 100% of your profile. Use a high-quality image. Tell me about your company’s value proposition.

And most importantly, don’t forget to include a link to your website on your profile page.

2 – Connections: I understand that everyone has their own view on how they want to grow their connections. Maybe you only want to connect to people you know personally. Or maybe you’re more of an open connector as I am. I have built a valuable targeted audience on LinkedIn. The bottom line is the smaller your connections list is, the less traffic you will drive to your website. Why? It’s simply a number and quality of connections game, where the more first-degree focused connections you have, the better chance you have of them seeing your updates and activities on LinkedIn.  

3 – Company Page: Ideally, you have both a personal and a company page on LinkedIn. Make sure that your company profile is completed, updated and showcasing what you do as a company today. I say today because many companies do not update their social network profiles on a regular basis.  Another area of importance is getting as many of your key staff members on LinkedIn and connected to your company page, so people can see your colleagues when they’re evaluating you!

4 – Articles: My secret weapon when it comes to driving more traffic to your website is publishing articles on the LinkedIn platform. There are two approaches I like to take. 1) When I have a new blog like this one for example, I write a short teaser piece and publish it on LinkedIn with a link to read the full article, thus driving the reader to the my website. 2) In some cases I will publish the whole article on LinkedIn. But when I do that, I make sure that the article has internal links to drive the reader back to the website. In addition to driving website traffic, these tactics also show off your domain expertise. Another value add is that when your connections see these articles they also have the opportunity to share, like and/or comment on your article. Sharing your article means that your connections’ connections will see the article and drive even more website traffic.

Can you now see why this my secret weapon on LinkedIn?

5 – Share Content: When you don’t have your own content to publish, make sure to share blogs and other content that your company is creating to keep your personal profile page updated. You also want to impress the person the person who owns the management of your LinkedIn company page with the importance of updating that site on regular basis. People like to see new content frequently posted, but only if it’s relevant to them. Yes, I’m saying that you want to have a hand in making sure that your company is pushing out relevant content. By checking “All Activity” under the “Views” of your article on your main LinkedIn page, you can get a pretty good feel for what is engaging your audience, or not.

6 – Groups: LinkedIn Groups are not to be ignored. They’re a very valuable place to share your articles and posts with other Group members. You can also answer questions posed by other Group members to establish yourself as a domain expert in your industry. Linking back to your company website from these LinkedIn Groups will naturally drive more traffic, too. It’s important to remember not to overdo your Group participation. This can be seen as spam and quickly go against you. Likewise, your Group conversations should more educational than sales oriented. Links to your company’s website should only be included where relevant. After all, the website link can be easily found on your personal or corporate profile, because you’ve added it there, right?

If a Group does not exist on a topic of importance to your company, this is a great opportunity for you to be the leader of the pack. Create the Group! It’s pretty easy to do that. I myself have created and built several Groups which over time have become very successful.

Now you know the top 6 Ways to Drive More Website Traffic from LinkedIn that I live by. These are also the elements I build into the social strategies I design for my clients.

Do you have any success stories to share about how you’ve optimized LinkedIn to drive increased traffic to your website? We’re all ears!

Drop me an email jon.rivers@marketingmonarchs.com