How to Get More Followers on LinkedIn

With an astounding 675 million monthly users, LinkedIn is a gold mine for businesses in 2021. The mega networking platform isn’t just your regular go-to for employment purposes; it’s also a game-changing marketing tool.

If you’ve already dipped your toes in the LinkedIn marketing water, you’re on the right track. But simply creating a business profile isn’t enough. You have to go the extra mile and leverage LinkedIn marketing tips to grow your company page.

In this blog, we want to walk you through top-tier strategies to get more followers on LinkedIn. We’ll cover the basics, dive into the deep end, and get into the nitty-gritty.

By the end of this blog, you’ll have a firm grasp on how to engage followers on LinkedIn like a seasoned pro. Let’s jump right into it!

Contents

• • Ways to Get More Followers on LinkedIn
    1. Create a Winning Company Page from the Get-Go
    2. Use the Right Hashtags the Right Way!
    3. Include High-Quality Images in Your Posts
    4. Don’t Sideline the Importance of Engaging Videos
    5. Share Value-Added, Insightful, and Compelling Content
    6. Make the Most of Polls
    7. Highlight Your Company’s Accomplishments
    8. Create Special Posts for Major Events, Holidays, and Trends
    9. Encourage Your Employees to Join the Action
    10. Actively Participate in LinkedIn Groups
    11. Use LinkedIn Sponsored Ads
    12. Promote Your LinkedIn Page on Social Media and Your Website
  • Wrapping Up!

 

Ways to Get More Followers on LinkedIn

1. Create a Winning Company Page from the Get-Go

When getting started with LinkedIn marketing, many companies have a razor-sharp focus on optimization. As they should!

However, jumping straight into optimization without taking care of the basics is not the right way to go. If your company page isn’t up-to-date, optimization simply won’t do the trick.

Start by creating a strong foundation and working your way upwards. Let’s take a quick look at how you can do that with an example.

Dell’s LinkedIn company page checks off all the fundamental boxes.

High-quality profile picture and cover image? Check.

Accurate industry and location? Check.

Concise and catchy subheading? Check.

Once you take a closer look, you begin to realize that they haven’t stopped there.

The “overview” section is replete with to-the-point information.

“What does this have to do with getting more followers?” you may ask.

As a professional platform, LinkedIn has set a high standard for its users. They don’t expect subpar, incomplete nuggets of information. Instead, they’re looking to connect with companies that are on top of their game.

If your company page is incomplete, your lack of interest in comprehensiveness will reflect poorly on your business as a whole. Ultimately, it may cost you your follower count. As a rule of thumb, make sure your company page is updated with accurate information. Avoid going overboard; the descriptions should be concise and the images professional. Anything too flashy or verbose will do more harm than good.

We also recommend adding the “affiliated pages” section to your profile.

Here’s how this section appears on Dell’s company page:

As a parent page, you can link child pages, i.e., companies that are closely associated with your business and owned by you. If you’re a small business or a startup, you can choose to forgo this option.

Ultimately, covering as many bases as possible will help you make a great first impression on professionals who are looking to interact with your brand. A professional, clean, and comprehensive company page will go a long way in adding a touch of legitimacy to your business.

2. Use the Right Hashtags the Right Way!

Is your company page up and running? Great.

It’s time to turn your attention to optimization. Optimization is your golden ticket to engaging a wide audience on LinkedIn. And while there are many ways to optimize your profile (we’ll cover all of them shortly), using hashtags is still one of the most effective strategies in 2021.

If you’ve been navigating the digital marketing industry for a while now, you’re probably familiar with the importance of using the right keywords in your content.

Hashtags are like keywords for your LinkedIn company page. Yes, this means you should have a stellar “hashtag research” (akin to “keyword research”) strategy in place.

If you’re new to LinkedIn, you can use the platform’s in-built hashtag recommendations.

Let’s say you’re sharing an engaging article that covers the benefits of link building.

Once you start typing a relevant hashtag, you’ll get recommendations accordingly.

If you’re completely unsure of which hashtags to use, LinkedIn will do the job for you. The platform will pick up on keywords used in the post, and display a set of relevant hashtags accordingly.

If you’re just starting off, you can rely on LinkedIn’s impressive hashtag prowess. However, for more advanced hashtag research, we recommend consulting LinkedIn marketing pros. They’ll create a customized hashtag strategy for each post, resulting in optimal reach.

Go for 3–5 hashtags in each post. Too little and you won’t reach your target audience; too much and the LinkedIn algorithm will work to your detriment.

Now, when it comes to standing out from the massive competition on LinkedIn, you need to think outside the box. In addition to having a strong hashtag strategy in place, we also suggest letting your creative juices flow.

Sounds vague?

Here’s what we’re talking about. Head over to Puma’s LinkedIn company page and you’ll notice that they’ve sprinkled a specific hashtag across every other post: #PumaFam.

Here’s another glimpse of the catchy hashtag in action:

Creating a whip-smart, memorable, and standout hashtag for your company is a great way to set yourself apart from the hundreds of companies in your industry and city/state.

Whether you create a hashtag for your audience, your products/services, or your brand, you’ll manage to get an edge in your competitive industry.

Over time, the hashtag will catch on.

As your followers use it, it’ll build momentum and increase brand recall.

3. Include High-Quality Images in Your Posts

A whopping 87.5% of marketers state that they use visual elements in online content.

Over the years, the human attention span has dropped to a measly eight seconds. In comparison, a goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds—one second more than ours!

Here’s where we’re going with this: we don’t like paying attention to things that don’t excite us.

Five pages of continuous text? Boring.

A dull concept illustration? Next.

A set of statistics with no visual elements? Pass.

What does excite us, however, is engaging visual content.

Content with high-quality images and videos does much better than content that entirely lacks visual elements. In essence, if your LinkedIn posts feature chunky bites of text without images or videos, you can wave your followers goodbye.

How can you undo the damage? Befriend gripping visuals and don’t let that friendship turn sour.

Let’s take a quick look at brands who walk the visual talk on LinkedIn.

iRobot’s LinkedIn posts feature stunning images that not only instantly catch your eye, but also compel you to engage with the content. The content itself features the perfect mix of high-quality images—enough to make you want to stay put till the very end.

A closer look and you’ll notice that they’ve also used a hashtag that fits perfectly. While we have to deduct a few points for the low hashtag usage (remember: use 3–5 as a general rule of thumb), the engaging image more than makes up for it.

While using the right images in each post is important, we also recommend ensuring that your company page is replete with pictures that pack a powerful punch.

Here’s what we mean by this. Each company page features a section entitled “company photos.” Some businesses make the mistake of uploading little to no images in this section. So when a LinkedIn user clicks on your profile and browses through the “company information” section, all they’ll see is a bunch of text. If there are no visual elements supplementing the text, you can imagine what’ll happen next: the user will “bounce”.

What do you do to set things right?

Here’s what McDonalds did:

And Apple:

And Dell:

Just to reiterate, make sure you upload a set of relevant, engaging, and high-quality images that satiate your audience’s visual thirst.

This is a great way to increase engagement on your LinkedIn company page and, of course, get more followers.

4. Don’t Sideline the Importance of Engaging Videos

As another form of visual content, videos are imperative. Maybe more so than images since they stimulate an additional sense: hearing. LinkedIn pages that feature high-quality videos do much better than pages that don’t. But this is where things get a little tricky—especially for startups and small businesses that don’t have a lot of (or any) video content ready to go.

If you’re unprepared, consider getting help from a professional video design team.

Once you’re equipped with a set of high-quality videos, start featuring them on your LinkedIn company page. Each profile incudes a “recently posted videos” section that shows up right after the “about” section.

Here’s a glimpse:

By default, this section displays the most recently posted video, and features a “+ more videos” tab for LinkedIn users who wish to engage with additional video content.

Once you click on this tab, the rest of the videos uploaded on your page show up.

This is what Walmart’s video panel looks like:

Quite a visual treat, right?

If you take a closer look, you’ll notice that the engagement on each video is pretty impressive. Lots of views, and a plethora of “like,” “celebrate,” “love,” and “support” reactions.

That’s the power of video content, in a nutshell.

A power-packed mix of explainer videos, testimonial videos, company culture videos, product demonstration videos, and behind-the-scenes videos will breathe life into your LinkedIn profile. The outcome? A steady increase in LinkedIn company page followers.

Over time, this LinkedIn marketing tip will help you grow your company page and actively engage your target audience.

If you’ve already uploaded high-quality videos on YouTube (or any other video sharing platform), and engaged an impressive audience there, you don’t have to re-upload them on LinkedIn. Simply embed the video so you can steadily increase views, likes, and comments on YouTube. This is a great way to grow your YouTube page and increase ad revenue via AdSense.

Here’s an example from LARQ’s LinkedIn company page:

As stated earlier, make sure you use 2–5 hashtags in every post, whether it links to a blog, video, or infographic. We’re continually doubling down on this because it’s absolutely imperative. Hashtags are just as important on LinkedIn as they are on Twitter, so take special care to incorporate them into every post.

By combining the power of strong visuals (images and videos) and the right hashtags, you’ll manage to reach, engage, and convert a wide audience.

5. Share Value-Added, Insightful, and Compelling Content

Content has always been at the forefront of any social media or networking platform. If you want your company page to strike a chord with your audience, you have to share engaging content that achieves its purpose.

Remember, people won’t hit the “follow” button if your posts doesn’t resonate with them. Your page should inform, inspire, and excite your audience.

Start by creating a customized content marketing plan for your LinkedIn page. Incorporate different types of content into the mix—blogs, articles, guest posts, press releases, infographics, and instructographics.

Once you have a set of value-added and optimized content ready to go, write an equally compelling LinkedIn post to supplement your content.

Patricia Hartmann, a writer in Ojai, California, creates the perfect segue into one of her blogs:

Keeping the current context in mind, she focuses on inspiring her audience by helping them break away from the ongoing uncertainty, chaos, and stress triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recommended Read: 8 Ways to Adjust Your SEO Strategy Amid the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

Starbucks used a similar approach on New Year’s Eve:

Ultimately, your content should make an impact. Avoid cookie-cutter content strategy. The more creative you can get, the better. And, of course, keep optimization in mind at all times.

6. Make the Most of Polls

Over the past few years, polls have taken LinkedIn by storm, and it’s easy to see why. They’re quick. They’re engaging. They’re exciting. The best part? You can leverage polls for a wide range of purposes.

Whether you’re trying to get feedback on a newly-launched product or curious about where your audience stands with respect to something like remote working, creating a quick poll is a great way to double down on engagement.

Netflix’s smart poll earned a whopping 13,633 votes because of the compelling question and equally impressive options.

Let’s be real; if we could, we’d immediately hit one of those four options depending on our Netflix viewing history.

There’s something about polls that compels people to participate, which is exactly why they’re so popular on LinkedIn.

We strongly recommend posting 1–2 polls every other week.

However, make sure you’re not posting polls just for the sake of it. If you don’t have a great idea in mind, it’s better to skip your weekly poll than to post one that’s too dull to engage people.

Here’s another great example to help you get inspired:

What makes this specific poll even better is the unique way it brilliantly prompts further engagement in the comments. This is how you check off all the boxes! Not only did this post receive a plethora of votes, but it also earned a decent amount of comments.

Follow suit and you’ll be taken aback by how rapidly you manage to increase your LinkedIn followers.

7. Highlight Your Company’s Accomplishments

Whether you run a small business or recently launched a startup, we’re sure you’ve accomplished certain milestones along the way—both big and small. Many businesses manage to check off 1–2 accomplishments within the first few month of inception!

If you have something to show off, show it off.

Be proud of your company’s performance and growth, and don’t shy away from announcing it on LinkedIn. You’ll manage to present your business in a flattering light, and engage more people.

Tesla frequently posts its accomplishments, and this strategy always works in their favor.

18,385 reactions and 402 comments. Now, that’s engagement. Showcase your company’s achievements accordingly and you’ll manage to climb the rungs of LinkedIn. You don’t have to highlight awards. You can also announce the number of projects you closed, especially if your company exceeded its goals. If a certain product did exceptionally well, highlight that. If you earned a noteworthy mention by an industry giant, highlight that. If your customer satisfaction (CSAT) score improved by leaps and bounds, highlight that.

In essence, drawing attention to your company’s successes will help you build a great reputation and get more followers on LinkedIn.

8. Create Special Posts for Major Events, Holidays, and Trends

Struggling to increase engagement on your LinkedIn company page? Take a quick look at your recent posts. Did you create a custom post for New Year’s? Christmas? Black Friday? Cyber Monday? If you didn’t, make sure you double down on major events, holidays, and trends in 2021. Covering important occasions will help you connect with your audience and watch your follower count go up.

Here are some great examples to help you get inspired:

Plan ahead to ensure you don’t miss out on an important event or holiday. Since you can’t plan trends in advance, make sure you have a team ready to create content for trends that develop within a matter of hours. This will help you stay on top of things!

9. Encourage Your Employees to Join the Action

When it comes to growing your business via LinkedIn, your company page isn’t the only page that should be spruced up and optimized at all times.

We touched upon Puma’s custom hashtag (#PUMAFam) earlier. If you browse through the hashtag on LinkedIn, you’ll come across a plethora of posts, and not all of them come from their company page!

In fact, their managers and employees have also joined the action to keep the momentum going.

Here’s a glimpse:

This is team effort at a glance. And when it comes to succeeding on LinkedIn, you can’t run a tight ship on your own. You have to recruit the rest of your team to help grow your company page and crystallize your online presence on the mega platform.

Encourage your team to share frequent posts that reflect your company in a positive light. They can share behind-the-scenes images, repost your company’s posts, and help custom hashtags do even better. You can also request them to engage with your posts to improve their reach. Collectively, these strategies will go a long way in helping your company page grow.

10. Actively Participate in LinkedIn Groups

Looking to connect with likeminded individuals in your industry? And we don’t mean your competitors, we mean thought leaders and industry insiders who are passionate about the same products/services/ideas/strategies. If you’re nodding your head in the affirmative, make sure you join relevant LinkedIn groups.

As you engage in niche-specific conversations, you’ll manage to reflect your company’s expertise and create awareness for your brand.

You can also start your own group and share your content (blogs, articles, etc.). It’s a little more work, but it’s worth it. As the group gains momentum, you’ll marvel at how much traffic it generates for your company page.

11. Use LinkedIn Sponsored Ads

If you’re still frowning upon your LinkedIn follower count, it’s time to let the professionals take care of things for you. Over the years, LinkedIn sponsored ads have become a go-to for thousands of companies across the platform. You can choose from a wide range of ads depending on the specific goal you want to reach. Whether you want to prompt more visits to your page, increase reach, or boost conversions, you can select the right ads accordingly.

Take your time to acclimatize to the purpose of each ad. Once you have a good grasp on the ins and outs of LinkedIn advertising, you’ll manage to make an informed decision that pays off in the long run!

12. Promote Your LinkedIn Page on Social Media and Your Website

While you can take several measures to promote your LinkedIn profile on the platform itself, you also need to branch out into other platforms.

Sharing your LinkedIn profile on social media is a great way to target a different audience that wouldn’t normally discover your company page on LinkedIn. In addition, we recommend linking your LinkedIn page on the “home” and “contact” pages of your website.

 

Wrapping Up!

In this blog, we delved deep into the top LinkedIn marketing tips that can help you increase followers in 2021. Some are straightforward, some require a little assistance, and some can only be implemented by professionals (e.g., LinkedIn advertising).

Depending on where you stand, get a good grasp on your requirements and head in the right direction accordingly.

When it comes to LinkedIn marketing, consistency is the name of the game. Post high-quality, engaging, and optimized content on a regular basis and you’ll manage to steadily increase your LinkedIn followers.

If you’re ready to get started, we can help. Give us a call at +1(833)405-1025 to kick-start your LinkedIn marketing strategy!