You're putting all of this effort into your LinkedIn Company Page

and all you hear are crickets.

So in today's episode, I thought we'd talk about the ways that you can improve your

LinkedIn Company Page engagement rate.

G'day everyone.

It is coach Michelle J Raymond, and I hope that LinkedIn's been treating you well.

And this week we're back onto LinkedIn Company Pages.

Of course, it's one of my favourite topics, but it's also the one that most

people reach out and they've got questions or let's be clear, you're up against it

with the LinkedIn algorithm and they're wondering like, how do I fix this?

So in most cases, the Company Page admins, whether you're a social

media manager, whether you're doing it for your own business, maybe

you're a B2B marketing manager.

Most of you are being measured on things like follower growth, followed

by impressions, followed by engagement.

So today we're going to look at the third one, engagement, and what are the things

that I think are causing the problem, and most importantly, how can you fix it?

I know that I just briefly mentioned the LinkedIn algorithm,

but the truth is it really doesn't favour LinkedIn Company Pages.

And just a quick scroll of the home feed, and you'll see that your content is not

being shown as much as that of personal profiles or sponsored content, i. e. paid

campaigns through LinkedIn Company Pages.

So given that's the case, the fact is when it comes to LinkedIn Company

Pages, if we want results, we've really got to get strategic and most

importantly, intentional with our actions.

In today's episode, I really want to talk about the biggest mistakes that

I think are killing your engagement on your Company Page, how you can fix them.

But before we do that, here's a quick word about our podcast sponsors, Metricool.

The biggest mistake that I see coming from LinkedIn Company Pages across

the board and this is going to sound hilarious coming from somebody that

is all about leveraging LinkedIn for business growth, is that the

focus is entirely on get more leads.

And I don't care what your role is within the business, but when your focus is

on get more leads, then in turn, the content is geared towards get more leads.

And let's be clear, nobody's coming on to LinkedIn to just have this stuff coming at

them all day, every day from your brand.

So what kind of content falls under the banner of lead gen content?

Think about these things.

We are talking about white papers where you have to go off and give

your email address in exchange to be able to download something.

We also have a look at events.

You know the ones.

Go to an external landing page, sign up for the event, drop your

email address in, then we're going to share the details with you.

Also, we've got book a demo, another classic lead gen post that goes

through on too many Company Pages.

We've got promos and giveaways, probably not something that I see a lot.

I don't necessarily think that they're the culprit, but if they're only

being used with all of the other types of lead gen content, then that

playbook gets pretty monotonous.

And also sharing of case studies.

And the main theme that happens through these is people can

smell that from a mile away.

They're really aware that, hey, you just want my email address.

So you can put me into a funnel so that you can go and spam

me with stuff afterwards.

And you may be arguing, but Michelle, it's marketing.

It's not spamming.

And I beg to differ because it's not up to me.

It's not up to you.

It's up to your audience.

And if your engagement rate on LinkedIn is showing that your

audience is not commenting, they're not liking, they're not showing

up, then that's the real judge.

At the end of the day, my opinion doesn't matter.

But if you are getting measured on engagement rate and you keep posting lead

gen content, then you're on a highway to nowhere and you are not going to

get those results that you're after.

And the problem is that ultimately you fatigue the audience.

They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

When it's in here once or twice, it's great.

But when it's every single post, you want something from me.

Oh, it's a bit of a snooze fest.

And the main issue that I have with this is not that they're not valid

forms of content is the fact that there's a bigger opportunity that you

are missing out on for your brand.

The main issue that I have with lead gen content is the fact that it is a

really short term focus, and there's a bigger opportunity that you're missing

out on, and that is building your brand.

And that's typically what people will refer to on LinkedIn as demand generation

content, which we're going to have a look at that in a moment, but it really,

the main difference is shifting your focus from trying to get your audience

to take action immediately, to building your brand, so we have long term actions.

Because as we've shared before in previous podcast episodes, if you

look at things like the 95-5 rule that LinkedIn produced with the B2B

Institute, then what you're looking at is most of your audience pretty much

right now are not in the market to buy.

So if you keep shoving lead gen content, Hey, come this way.

Are you ready to buy?

And they're looking at it going no, honestly, I just

wanted to learn something.

I've got a problem.

I was hoping you might be able to solve it.

And all you're doing is give me your email address.

Give me your email address.

And realistically, it's just with some graphic that really doesn't

exchange any value with them.

So it's a one sided relationship.

And as I say, people can smell that desperation from a mile away.

And we want more than that for your brand, because I know if we focus on the

longterm, if we build your brand, this is where we get to charge higher prices.

This is where people can recall your brand because you are top of mind.

This is how you distinguish yourself from your competitors.

All really cool stuff, whether you come from marketing, sales or you're the

business owner and really care about both.

And so after the break, let's take a look at demand generation content and how this

can really help your engagement rate.

What is this demand generation content that I speak of?

Well, I'm glad you asked and I'm glad you're here listeners because ultimately

this is the kind of content that distinguishes you from your competitors.

And we are talking about content that focuses on educating your audience,

we are doing things in service of them, content that helps them make buying

decisions, content that helps them solve maybe small problems in their business.

So when they move on to those bigger ones where they need help,

well, guess who they think of?

Your brand.

Now, when you create content that is in service of your audience and they

find it really valuable and useful, you are building that know, like and trust

factor, which we're always talking about.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I find a piece of content and I don't really care

where it comes from, but if it helps me get towards my goals better, then I am

the one that is going to leave a comment and say thank you for sharing that.

I've been having this issue, or I'll just hit the like button

as a simple way of acknowledging that I got value from that post.

But if you're just talking about yourself as the brand, and again,

going back to that lead gen content, where it's all about you.

Then I'm not going to do that because I'm going to keep scrolling.

So what's some really good examples of demand gen content?

Well, this is what we would probably talk about in terms of thought

leadership posts and industry insights.

Especially if you've done some really great research internally in your business

and you share those results, those posts always perform so well on LinkedIn.

Why?

Because people can't find that information anywhere else.

It's unique to you and your brand and that is what makes it super valuable.

And again, how can they use what they've learned in their day to day life?

So think about who is your target audience?

You know, I've been thinking about this a lot this week, you know, Your ideal

customer profile, ICP as it's thrown around, like everybody needs to define it.

That's great.

But if you don't keep them in mind while you're creating content,

realistically, it's a waste of time.

And this is why when you create thought leadership content, you really have to

be focused on who you're doing it for and hint: thought leadership content,

in my opinion, is never, ever, ever about making the brand look good, but

it is every single time instilling confidence in your audience so that

they look good, so that they achieve their goals, so that they get closer to

those KPIs, which they're measured on.

And when you focus on that, the audience feels that and they're drawn to that

and they want more of that and they may not engage as much as if it's person

to person, like over on the personal content, but it will absolutely fix your

engagement issues on your Company Page.

If you start to switch things around from all about the brand

to all about your ideal audience.

We've established that there's lead gen content and demand gen content and neither

of them are good or bad, right or wrong.

The holy saviour of all content on LinkedIn that's gonna bring

in all of these leads or not.

But the most powerful thing that I can give you today to fix your

engagement rate is to make sure that we are using a good balance of both.

And when I talk about my 3 2 1 content strategy, that is

exactly what we are going to do.

Now I've covered it in episodes from quite a while back, but I think this

is so important to help you fix your engagement rate on your Company Page.

I'm going to go over it again and you are going to want to write this down

or go and check out the transcript.

There's always a fully edited transcript in the show notes.

And so go back and take a look at this.

Okay.

So now that you're ready, here's how the three, two, one content strategy works.

It is all about having the right mix of demand gen and lead gen content.

Now, how does it work?

We're talking three plus two plus one equals six posts.

Now if we look at those six posts on a Company Page for most businesses,

if you are of a reasonable size, we would spread that out over two weeks.

I think that's a nice number.

If you create less, spread it out.

This is all about how much we rotate the different types of content more

than how quickly we get it done.

So let's take a look at the first type of content, which is three posts.

The three posts are what we call Good To Know.

And this is where you can share those industry insights.

This is where you are giving us helpful tips on how I can make

choices, make decisions, make buying decisions on the other side.

So think about your ideal audience.

What problems do they have?

As people say, not the headache everyday ones, but what about those migraine

ones that keep them up at night?

How can your business help them solve those types of things?

And quite often when you've got a business that's got subject matter experts.

You've got leadership teams.

You've got a wide variety of people working in the business.

You have such a pool of knowledge that you can create some amazing content

that can really help these people.

So working together as a team to give those really valuable and

I think actionable insights is really important and that is going

to help people on the other side.

So thought leadership type content from your brand, which falls under the demand

generation style of content, right?

So then we're going to move across into two posts.

Now, if we just do lots and lots of thought leadership, then it can

get pretty dry and boring and dull.

Sorry, but it's really hard for someone to have enough charisma to put that

kind of stuff across all the time.

So we need to have a good mix and especially with brands.

So two posts are what I call Good To Feel.

So what can your brand share that is a feel good type post where I can see

your brand and what it stands for.

So I want to see your values.

I want to see whether you care about your people.

I want to see behind the curtain of how stuff's made.

So think about what are the cool things that are going on in your business that

are not about your products and services.

This type of content is heavily focused on the people within your business

and the values that your business has.

And so this also falls under, I would say the demand gen content, because you're

giving your audience further insights into your business and again, helping

them choose whether they choose you or your competitor can sometimes come down

to not just the knowledge, but also the type of business and what you stand for.

Now that leaves us with one type of post that is left out

of the six when we're rotating.

And that is the Good To Buy posts.

And Good To Buy posts, these are our lead gen posts.

Again, they are super important, but they shouldn't be every single post.

But equally, please don't ignore these posts.

So this is where you can genuinely mix in things like register for my event,

things like download my white paper.

They have their place.

And the good part is you've already earned the right and the interest from

your audience and your community on LinkedIn to then want to know more.

And that is brilliant.

That is exactly the time that you want people to engage

with your lead gen content.

That is when they are ready.

That is when they trust your business.

They know that you show up and give value day after day, time after time.

So why wouldn't things like your events have that even more?

So again.

Three Good To Know, two Good To Feel, one Good To Buy.

And that is the perfect balance of demand gen content and lead gen content.

And when you get this mix right, I promise you, you will fix your

engagement rates and you will get those qualified leads that you're looking

for and not just qualified leads, but high quality leads, ones where they

show a really high level of interest.

I know that the 3 2 1 content strategy works.

I see it with my clients all the time.

And when we find the right balance and we're in service of our audience and we

stop focusing all about the brand and actually building your brand and building

that trust, that pays off in dividends.

Listeners, as I wrap up today's episode, I've got a challenge for you.

It's time to get this and put it into action.

I want you to go back to your Company Page, take a look at the

last 10 or 20 posts and mark them.

Were they Good To Know, Good To Feel or Good To Buy?

I. e., are you also doing demand gen and lead gen content?

And have you got that balance right?

And if when you go back over things and all you see is download my white paper,

sign up for my events, here's our case studies and things along those lines

where you're just talking about your brand because you want their email address.

You've got some homework to do.

So until next episode, cheers.