How do you position your wholesale business on the Internet? There are a ton of places to be online these days. Agencies would have you believe that you must be everywhere to succeed with digital marketing. They’re wrong, however—you only need to be in as many places as your target audience is. Does your target audience use Pinterest? If not, you don’t need to be there.
We’re willing to bet that your customers are on LinkedIn. As a social media platform, it offers the most returns to B2B companies looking to connect with their customers. Wholesalers should pay attention to this platform.
In today’s post, we’ll cover how to set up your company and personal pages. By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to move onto the next phase: your LinkedIn strategy (don’t worry, that will be the next article).
Wholesale Is B2B, and LinkedIn Is Great for B2B
8% of LinkedIn’s users are decision-makers inside of their companies. Sounds small, doesn’t it? How about 40 million? That’s 8% of LinkedIn’s 500 million users. There’s no networking event in the world that can connect you to 40 million decision-makers. Why do they all gather here?
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is all business. According to a LinkedIn study, 49% of B2B buyers research their vendors by looking at their profiles and the company on LinkedIn. What will they find should a potential buyer look up your company?
If you’ve invested in content marketing, or you’re considering it, keep in mind that 78% of B2B marketers find LinkedIn effective for content marketing in any campaign.
How to Set Up Your Personal LinkedIn Page
First, give LinkedIn your name and email address, and set a password. Then add your location. After those small things, we get into the important stuff. You’ll be able to edit these things later, but it doesn’t hurt to get them right the first time around.
Provide your current job title and company:
You can proceed this way if you want to use the LinkedIn Profile wizard. If you exit, no worries. LinkedIn will still prompt you when you log back in to let you know the status of your profile.
LinkedIn has a profile wizard to guide you in completing your profile.
Each section of your personal profile page is a chance to engage your future buyers. You want to start out with a professional-looking headshot. You don’t necessarily need a professionally done headshot (although it’s a good idea), but don’t use a Snapchat-filtered photo. Be sure to also use the name people are likely to look for when they look you up.
In the photo below, you can see exactly what people see when they view a profile:
- Name
- Location
- Job Title and Company
- School
- Number of connections
- The start to your intro
Fred Crosettos’ LinkedIn profile
You can have more than one current position—for instance, if you have an employer and you work with a nonprofit—but be sure to select the job title you want showing first. You’ll also have an opportunity to include your:
- Current and past work experience
- Education
- Volunteer experience
- Skills and accomplishments
- Recommendations
Don’t Underestimate the Value of Your Introduction
The biggest mistakes people make with their introduction are:
- Not having an introduction. An introduction improves the chances of your profile popping up in search results for keywords. Not to mention, if a potential buyer is researching you and your company as a vendor, having an engaging introduction is a great way to pique their interest.
- Having a boring introduction. Your introduction isn’t a cover letter. You don’t need to make it stiff and boring. Infuse it with your natural voice and character so it’s like a written handshake for whoever browses your profile. You can even embed a link to a video of you describing what you do and your skills.
Make Your Profile Stand Out with Skills, Accomplishments, and Recommendations
Skills and Endorsements
Add the skills relevant to your profession. You want to do this because your connections can rate your proficiency, further optimizing your profile when people search for you. Rated skills provide “social proof.” According to Social Media Today:
“Research shows that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations. In this new reality, it’s critical for brands to provide social proof within the online space in order to maximize their opportunities.” via The Importance of Social Proof in the Digital Space
The best endorsements are from people who are considered highly skilled in that same area.
Accomplishments
You might be surprised at the number of things that fall under “Accomplishments” on LinkedIn. Use them to your advantage:
- Publications
- Certifications
- Patents
- Coursework (think prior or continuing education)
- Projects
- Honors & Awards
- Test Scores
- Languages
- Organizations
There is a lot of opportunity in these categories to highlight your dedication and experience. Including things like organizations and projects allows you to highlight activities outside your industry that provides greater insight into who you are as a person. Offering points of commonality with your target audience is important to developing your personal brand.
Recommendations
Recommendations go even further than skill endorsements for providing social proof. When someone recommends you on LinkedIn, they are providing a testimonial to your skills. A LinkedIn recommendation shows the recommender’s profile picture and title, in addition to their written statement. This is something you can request from people you’ve worked with using this button when you navigate to their profile:
Navigate to your contact’s profile and scroll down to their recommendations. You can use this button to request a recommendation from previous coworkers, managers, and teachers.
How Do Personal Pages Play a Role in a Company B2B Marketing Strategy?
Our next article in this series will delve deeper into how you can incorporate employee LinkedIn pages into your overarching marketing strategy. Anyone involved in sales, marketing, or other customer outreach should be considered viable opportunities, as well as C-suite level executives in your company.
How to Set Up Your Wholesale Company’s LinkedIn Page
The option to create a company page is a little hidden. Click on the “Work” button in the upper right corner, scroll down, and click on “Create a Company Page.”
Next, you’ll land on a page where you’ll enter your company name and select your company’s unique LinkedIn URL. You won’t be able to select one that’s already in use, so depending on your company name, you may need to add an identifier, like your industry.
You’ll also need to verify that you’re a representative of your company, and you have permission to create the page.
Besides entering your company name and LinkedIn URL, you’ll need to enter a 250- to a 5,000-word description and the company’s website URL. That’s it! Once you hit publish, your company page is live.
Of course, if you want a successful company page, there’s quite a bit more to it.
How Can I Set Up My Company Page for Success?
There are a few things that you can do to drastically increase the success of your company page:
- Add a logo to your page for up to 6x more traffic than competitors who leave it empty.
- Make the first 156 characters of your company description eye-catching for Google search result previews.
- Use Showcase pages to highlight a particular initiative or speak to a specific buyer persona.
- Include links to the company blog or media appearances.
- Share daily updates on your company page. Posts with images receive a 98% comment rate, and videos to get 75% more shares.
- If your company is in global markets, you can create a company profile in more than 20 languages (same with personal pages).
AMMEX’s LinkedIn Company page is optimized and structured to speak to our ideal client: a wholesale company that would benefit from adding disposable gloves to its inventory.
AMMEX uses LinkedIn’s showcase pages to highlight certain products. Your company could also use them to highlight projects and new initiatives.
Remember, the best place to be on social media is wherever your ideal customers spend their time. Have you incorporated LinkedIn into your B2B content marketing strategy?