Now in our virtual working and networking times, LinkedIn needs to be leveraged as an effective PR tool to spread your message, connect with your audience and build the credibility of your brand authentically.

With our normal networking events cancelled, postponed or moving into the virtual world thanks to COVID-19 and its continuing impact, it’s the ideal space to connect with likeminded business people and support the growth and reach of your brand no matter your industry.

Here’s how to use LinkedIn as a purposeful PR channel.

To find out more about any of the below, or if you have any further questions – please do not hesitate to reach out!

Build Your Network

Whether you’re managing a personal LinkedIn profile or business page the first step is a focus on building your network. Search for people, businesses, and pages that align with your brand and industry and therefore sits in your target audience. Refer to your social media strategy to inform the content that you’re posting and sharing. This is your chance to start the conversation with your audience. Don’t be afraid to message connections directly to tell them why you would like to join their network.

We can create an audience of raving ambassadors for your brand together.
Find out more about my Social Media Strategy service.

Share Your Message

With your LinkedIn presence underway, now is the time to approach your messaging from a PR lens. Use this channel as another means to publish and share your media releases, spotlighting your call to action. For example, sharing media coverage you have achieved,  linking to the full release on a website or directing your connections to a booking page if promoting an event.

Could you break down the media release into bitesize chunks to tell the story over a series of posts?

With a media plan that has several media releases planned across a period how can you connect these key moments through regular posts and authentic messages? Can you refer to results and events that took place in a past PR campaign to build brand awareness and educate your followers on your business?

Position Your Company as an Industry Leader

With an engaged audience understanding that LinkedIn can keep them up-to-date regarding a subject or industry this is your business’s time to shine. Use LinkedIn as a platform to position your brand as a resource for your customer, and ensure you always add value to your network when you share information.

Follow me on LinkedIn for regular PR insights and another way to reach out.

Connect With Your Audience

People connect with people and expect brands to show their personality and values on the platform that your customers are following you on. How can you do this? You should respond to comments and messages and also join conversations. By following like-minded people and organisations you should be leveraging LinkedIn as a PR tool to comment on and share content that relates to your brand.

For example, if you’re an organisation that supports a certain group of individuals are there community groups or news stories about your industry that you should be aligning your brand with?

This is where I can help – reach out today to find out more.

Generate Endorsements

If you’re executing a PR campaign on a personal profile you can reach out to your network to endorse the skills and attributes that are listed on your page. This will build your page’s credibility. For a business page do you have a series of customer testimonials that you can post to show your happy customers? Can you create an engaging PR piece that invites your connections to share their experience with your brand?

Activate Your Employees

Lastly, as mentioned earlier in this article, a major driving factor of using LinkedIn as a PR tool is the emphasis on personifying your brand and showing the people behind your business. In fact, research has shown that 76% of people are more likely to trust content shared by “normal” people than content shared by brands. A great way to do this is by involving your colleagues in your PR plan.

Keeping your colleagues in the loop and encouraging them to like, comment and share the content that is being published, particularly on LinkedIn, will ensure your PR campaign is reached and engaged with by a wider audience base. Employee activation can lead to 5x more web traffic so be sure to educate your colleagues to become regular brand ambassadors.

I hope that the key takeaways from this article will give you and your business the power to leverage LinkedIn as a purposeful PR channel!

Reach out today and let’s discuss how I can deliver a social media strategy for your business that amplifies your next PR campaign.