LinkedIn has huge potential for B2B marketers because it’s often the only place you can get your message in front of decision-makers while they’re in ‘business’ mode. It’s harder to reach them on sites like Facebook and Twitter because they typically use those networks for a different purpose.
In fact, LinkedIn is particularly powerful when it comes to personal branding, and its useful features – such as the ability to join groups and publish articles – allow you to use the site as much more than just a digital CV.
One of the great things about it is that it’s not just used by graduates who are looking for a new job role. It’s hugely popular throughout the business world, especially amongst entrepreneurs and thought leaders, which means that there’s also plenty of inspiration out there – whether you want to learn more about your industry or whether you want some inspiration for your own LinkedIn presence.
Here are just two B2B thought leaders who are using LinkedIn to great effect.
Hiten Shah
Shah is a true entrepreneur, the founder or co-founder of more companies than you can shake a stick at. He’s particularly known for starting three SaaS companies – Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics and Quick Sprout.
What’s interesting about Shah is that it’s hard to tell whether he’s an ardent content marketer or whether he simply feels compelled to write about his industry. He hosts an email newsletter called SaaS Weekly where he shares his top links of the week, providing a valuable service for free, and he also blogs on his website, covering topics like “growth hacking was invented with a mint julep and two beers”.
Shah’s LinkedIn presence is interesting because despite having several thousand followers, he seems genuinely approachable. Much of his activity consists of liking and commenting on updates from his professional network, which shows that he really is committed to the SaaS community. For Shah, LinkedIn isn’t about selling himself or his companies – it’s about taking part in a wider community, and he does a great job of that.
Bernard Marr
From Shah to Marr! Bernard is a bestselling author and keynote speaker with a focus on big data, analytics and enterprise performance. He’s also the founder and CEO of the Advanced Performance Institute, but this is a case of a company and an individual coming together to be greater than the sum of their parts.
If Shah is passionate about SaaS, Marr is his equivalent in the complicated field of data analytics. What’s interesting, though, is the different approaches that the two take. Marr has posted over 500 articles, picking up more than a million followers along the way, with titles like “Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence – and the Future of Accounting”.
Bernard has written bestsellers, research papers and over 500 reports and articles, contributing to the World Economic Forum and Forbes amongst other well-respected publications. But despite all of that, it’s LinkedIn where he really shines – and his dedication to creating high quality content for the network has led to him being recognised by LinkedIn as one of the world’s top five business influencers. Not bad!
Visit Bernard Marr on LinkedIn.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.