LinkedIn has always been considered to be a unique and versatile platform since its initial launch in 2003. Since then, the platform has amassed  722 million active members in over 200 countries across the world. With social media platforms growing larger by the minute, it seems that LinkedIn has been pushed to the sidelines. However, LinkedIn can be a tremendous platform for influencer outreach, helping you find the perfect candidate for your next marketing campaign. Thus, Netinfluncer has all of the necessary steps needed to successfully conduct influencer outreach on LinkedIn.

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What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn was first developed by Reid Hoffman in 2002, who finally released the platform a year later. This intuitive platform was first used as a simple social media platform, encouraging corporate professionals around the world to connect with each other and devise new business ventures. The founders of LinkedIn aimed to diversify themselves from other popular platforms at the time such as Facebook and MySpace. They wished to appeal to older generations, who were also trying to diversify themselves from traditional commerce practices.

In January 2005, the platform launched LinkedIn Jobs, an innovative tool that allowed businesses from around the globe to post open roles on its unique jobs board. As such, recruiters could use real-time data to determine the best candidate for their new role. Over the years, LinkedIn has become an incredibly resourceful platform with 35.5 million people being hired through a person they connected with on the platform.

Hoffman and his other associates believe that LinkedIn is operating at its best capacity, moving away from traditional social media aspects and focusing solely on recruitment. The globalized interconnectedness of this platform means that a wide selection of jobs can be advertised, something that is integral to influencer marketing in the modern age. 

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What type of influencers can be found on LinkedIn?

Although LinkedIn is most known for its popular recruitment and training tools, many influencers use the platform to promote their new ventures and attract more people to their content. A majority of the influencers found on LinkedIn produce Business To Business (B2B) content, combining the nuances of corporate life with the creative skills of a social media influencer. 

Influencers on LinkedIn are also seen to be leaders in their respective fields, offering support, advice, and education to others looking to tap into their market. For example, the founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson, uses LinkedIn to share his collection of informative blog articles. Therefore, Branson is able to use the platform to connect with other business leaders and assert his dominance over his respective market.

In fact, LinkedIn even has its own independent influencer program, designed to collate the world’s leading minds into one place. LinkedIn Influencers are carefully selected and invited to share their view on world events as well as connect with other members of the general public. This program showcases how influential LinkedIn can be, and encourages businesses to use the platform to seek out other experienced creators in their field.

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How to conduct influencer outreach on LinkedIn

With so many incredible leaders and thinkers on LinkedIn, it can be hard to find the right influencer that matches both your business’ needs and budget. So, here are just four steps to conduct influencer outreach on LinkedIn.

1. Determine your objectives

As with any influencer outreach strategy, it is paramount that you define how you want your campaign to operate before selecting an influencer to work with. Therefore, you need to create a set of measurable goals and strategies so you know what type of content you want an influencer to create. In turn, this will help you to seek out the perfect influencer for your niche.

2. Discover an influencer you wish to work with

Now, you must try and find the right influencer for your brand. This can be done in a plethora of ways, such as searching for your niche market within LinkedIn’s database. Perhaps you could try looking through your competitor’s connections to see what influencers operate in your market. Once you have found your influencer, examine their social media platforms. This will give you a better idea of their engagement rates and give your business some idea of how it can help gain a better ROI for your campaign.

3. Pitch your campaign to the influencer

Here is where you will actually connect with your chosen influencer. You can decide to message them via LinkedIn’s direct-messaging application, or through a proposed contact email, if they have one. This message should briefly outline the goals of your campaign and why you believe that this specific influencer would be a good fit. Lastly, it is vital that you include some additional contact information within this message to help keep the conversation open and flowing. 

4. Follow up if needed

If you are trying to network with an extremely popular influencer, chances are that they will not reply to your pitch straight away. This is why it is important to follow up with them to try and attract their attention. Try messaging them on another platform or sending the pitch to their creative agency, if that is appropriate. However, if the influencer has not responded within another two weeks, it may be best to connect with someone else within your niche.

What are the benefits of using LinkedIn to contact influencers?

Using LinkedIn for influencer outreach can be a very profitable strategy as it does not require much time or effort. Simply, search for your desired influencer and you are likely to find everything you need to know about their brand and engagement rates on other platforms. Additionally, LinkedIn can also give you some background on their past experiences, helping you to learn more about an influencer’s work ethic and previous roles.

Also, LinkedIn is a great way for an influencer to easily learn more about your business. If all of your details, history, and resources are all laid out on one platform, then an influencer can better determine whether your business is right for them. This can help save valuable amounts of time as you are less likely to need to implement multiple rounds of interviews.

Thirdly, this platform is known for its professionalism, helping to create a formal bond between you and the influencer. Therefore, the influencer can see that your campaign is legitimate and is more willing to consider creating a suitable deal with your brand.

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How successful has influencer marketing been on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn may not be most known for its influencer marketing resources, but there is no doubt that the platform is making a positive change within the industry. Recent data suggests that ‘96% of B2B content marketers use LinkedIn for organic social marketing.’ This staggering percentage highlights that LinkedIn is a centralized hub for B2B marketing, helping some of the largest corporations in the world find a platform that gives them the best engagement rates.

Furthermore, LinkedIn hosts a vast amount of educational and training resources, many of which educate businesses on the importance of influencer marketing. Their LinkedIn Learning course ‘Influencer Marketing Foundations’ goes over the basic principles of a successful influencer marketing campaign and gives some real-life examples of how these campaigns have performed. Thus, the platform is enabling other businesses to jump on the profitable trend of influencer marketing.

LinkedIn is a prominent platform within our modern-day society, quickly becoming the leading standard for recruitment and hiring practices. That being said, LinkedIn has not strayed away from its social media roots, helping businesses of any size connect and bond with an assortment of successful influencers. To discover more about the influencer outreach strategies, visit our website.