IT Marketers: 6 Types of “Must-Have” Content for LinkedIn Marketing Success
Of all the elements that make for a great LinkedIn marketing program, relevant, original content ranks number one. Here’s why:
Content gives you something to talk about.
Content shows your expertise.
Content draws people into your marketing funnel.
Content gives your IT buyers what they’re looking for.
Your “must have” content list
Assuming you’re on LinkedIn to establish relationships, generate leads, and/or acquire new customers (as most of your fellow tech marketers are), here are 6 types of content that should be on your “must have” list.
Blog articles. Good blog articles are a LinkedIn marketer’s best friend. They are fast and relatively easy to produce on whatever pace and whatever topic is important to your strategy at the moment. And they give you a lot to talk about on LinkedIn. Your blog articles can be traditional text-based posts or you can liven things up by including video and slide decks.
White papers, special or research reports, e-books. While these are different types of content from a writer’s perspective, they are useful in the same way. They can cover business problems and best practices in greater detail than a blog article. And they are one of the most common and effective ways to get prospects to take the first step of commitment – handing over a few bits of contact information.
Case studies. Nothing like a great case study (or five or 10) to add credibility, both to you and your product or service. Buyers read case studies to see how others are using your product or service to solve problems and get results. Early in the buying process, case studies make great, concrete examples to help buyers understand what you do better. Case studies also make good blog articles.
Webinars & teleseminars. This is another way to get prospects even further into your marketing funnel by providing value in exchange for contact information. Since webinars and teleseminars require more of a time commitment from the buyer than a white paper or e-book, they are generally a good indication that the buyer is moving along in the buying process.
Tip sheets and self-assessment tools. According to the Forrester chart below, these pieces tend to appeal to buyers at later stages in the buying process – not a bad thing to do.
Other articles & news coverage. Get yourself written about – in a good way – or place articles on other credible blogs and websites and you’ll not only reach new and different prospects, they’ll help add credibility when you promote them on LinkedIn.
The bare minimum
Those content types I just listed are common to any solid technology marketing program, but what if you don’t have them all yet? Not a problem.
At minimum you’ll need two types of content to make LinkedIn marketing work. The first type gives you something new to talk about on a regular basis. The second type gives prospects a reason to enter your marketing funnel.
Give me a new blog article once a week and a high value white paper or e-book and I can generate leads on LinkedIn.
Content goes beyond lead generation
In the Forrester / ResearchNow study I’ve been talking about seemingly nonstop recently, we can see that IT buyers seek out content on social networks at every stage of the buying process. Here’s a great chart showing what they told Forrester they’re looking for:
Find out more about generating leads on LinkedIn
On Wednesday, April 24, I'll be hosting a teleseminar with LinkedIn lead generation expert Kristina Jaramillo. Listen in while Kristina and I talk the latest content and LinkedIn tactics for IT and software lead generation. Click here to save your place.