LinkedIn has been rated the #1 most trusted social media platform by Business Insider for four-consecutive years. Many B2B marketers choose LinkedIn as the home for their professional community because the platform is trusted, they recognize the value of professional community building, and believe a strong community online drives real business impact. LinkedIn page followers who were exposed to both organic and paid content were over 60% more likely to convert compared to followers who only received paid content. That’s a compelling stat! In this blog post, we will outline how a mix of organic and paid solutions could drive more conversions for your business.
Organic Vs. Paid
Before we discuss the “how”, it’s important to understand the basics of organic and paid media. Organic media can be described as any unsponsored content that is posted on social media that encourages a natural interaction with audiences. It’s free, the content is limited to followers who are interested in your brand, and requires time and effort to maintain an active, authentic presence with quality posts. Paid media is content that you pay to promote (usually ads), is for existing and prospective customers, requires a direct investment to run, and reaches your existing and targeted audience.
Start With an Organic Media Strategy
Professional communities can be a great foundation for an integrated organic and paid marketing strategy. Before you invest in building a community on LinkedIn, there are a few steps to take to help kick-start an organic social media strategy.
- Know your ideal community member: while anyone can be interested in your brand, you should first start with an ideal profile in mind. Who is your ideal community member and what are you trying to achieve? When you understand your goals, all the other aspects will fall into place.
- Start small if needed: Find an ideal posting rhythm, whether it’s daily posts or once per week. Make sure to test your content and format to see what resonates best with your audience.
- Consistently produce relevant content: take an audit of your existing content inventory (think media releases, articles, guides) and repurpose for social media. Use relevant hashtags or share your best @mentions.
When your audience decides to join your LinkedIn community, they are showing interest in your brand, and by engaging them with authentic organic content, you are consistently adding value and deepening their interest in your brand, therefore making your audience primed for conversion.
How to Reach Your Organic and Paid Audiences
Blending organic and paid media can produce improved results for your business. Once you have established your community, there are several ways you can reach your organic and paid audiences.
- Boost your high-performing organic content: When you find that an organic post is generating a good amount of engagement, you can use LinkedIn Boosting to turn it into a paid ad, which immediately expands your reach beyond your followers.
- Retarget your organic audience: Since your audience on LinkedIn is already engaged with your brand, this can make them ideal candidates for your paid messages. You can use company page retargeting to create an audience based on members who have viewed your page or clicked a call-to-action button.
- Retarget event audiences: Members that have RSVPed to your event can be quickly turned into a campaign audience and once you have 300 members, they can be used for paid campaigns.
Overall, the give-and-take of organic and paid media can be powerful because they have many things in common. Both efforts share objectives that contribute to building a brand that your audience will want to engage with. They also share a common audience, existing customers and prospective buyers. Lastly, there is a connected experience where your audience can move freely between organic and paid interactions with your brand and won’t see the messaging as separate. The more you deliver a connected experience with them, the stronger results you will have for your organization.
Not sure where to start? Our team at JSK Marketing is here to help! We understand how to take the best parts of an existing brand and translate that through various digital ad strategies that will help you reach new customers and remind your existing ones why they love you in the first place. Contact us today to get started!
