If you’re wondering whether social media branding works for businesses, Lab42 posted an infographic saying that it really matters. The market research company surveyed 1,000 social media users and asked them how they interact with brands on Facebook. As it turns out, a Facebook Page is more useful than a brand’s official website.

What the Facebook Users Say

According to Lab24’s infographic, 87 percent of users Like brands on Facebook, while 13 percent of them don’t. Those who are a fan of a business on the social network say that the website is a good place for them to interact with brands. In addition, 35 percent of them feel that companies and organizations listen to them more on Facebook.

This explains why 50 percent of users believe that brand’s Facebook Page is more useful than a website. But here’s the million dollar question: What encourages a user to like a business page on the social network?

According to Lab24’s research, 34 percent of users Like a brand to get promotion and discounts. There are also those who Like a page to get free giveaways or because they are the business’ loyal customers. Thus, consumers use their Facebook connection with a brand to print coupons, like or comment on their post, or learn about new products.

In turn, 77 percent of Facebook users who Like a brand say that they were able to save money. In fact, 66 percent of them saved more than $20 in the past year, while 17 percent of them saved over $100.

On the other hand, 46 percent of Facebook users who Liked a page did not intend to buy any items from a brand. That’s because majority of them wanted a free item, even though some of them can afford the brand’s product. Additionally, minority of a brand’s fans Like their page to help out a friend.

While there are a lot of reasons why a user would Like a Facebook page, there are also reasons why 73 percent of users would unlike a page:

1. Brand posted too frequently
2. Stopped liking the brand
3. Bad customer experience

In relation to this, 22 percent of users don’t Like a Facebook page because they are too embarrassed about the brand’s products. This includes adult novelty items, diet or weight loss products, and health and wellness.

This means that in order for business to encourage a user to Like their page, they have to post less often, allow fans to hide that they Like a page, and give more freebies.

The post Does Social Media Branding for Businesses Matter? appeared first on About Social Media.

If you’ve been using LinkedIn for a while, you’ll notice that three top stories in your selected industry constantly appear above the updates section. This is the LinkedIn Today, the network’s news aggregation service.

Additionally, users can have the option to send the LinkedIn Today headlines to their email, either on a daily or weekly digest. Good thing, there are simple ways on how you can bring your content on LinkedIn Today.

Start a Blog and Publish Your Content

This is one great reason why your business must have a blog. When it comes to online marketing, you have to realize that people tend to read content and ignore ads. Although advertising can help your brand create awareness on LinkedIn, a great content that has a great chance of landing on multiple user homepages is more important.

Be your own publisher and start a blog. That way, you can share a content that your followers can promote further in order to land on LinkedIn Today.

Add Share Button on Your Blog

Of course, there’s no point of creating your content if you won’t make it shareable. It is a good idea to embed a LinkedIn share button on your blog, as it gives your posts the opportunity to land on various user homepages. In addition, this also gives your readers to follow your account on LinkedIn. As a result, more and more users can see your content, which gives it a greater chance to be posted on LinkedIn Today.

Join Groups and Interact

Since your content can become viral on LinkedIn, this is more reason to be active within your online community. This means that you have to establish a proactive communication with your connection, so that your content will more likely to be shared and featured.

You can also join LinkedIn groups and take part in the discussion with the other members. This is a great way to share your content. The more users find how useful your blog posts are, they greater the chances that they will share it with their network.

You may already know how to promote your business on LinkedIn, but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop there. In fact, a lot of new tools are being added of the business-related social media site all the time. Therefore, you have to follow its progress, and see how it can benefit your brand and your content. You can check out LinkedIn’s Learning Center to have in-depth tutorials that your business can take advantage of.

The post Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Today appeared first on About Social Media.

Based on our previous posts, there are two ways to generate leads on LinkedIn: the direct and indirect approach. Now that you know how you can do inbound marketing through your company page, it’s time to learn the different ways to do it.

LinkedIn Answers

This is one of the most useful but under-utilized tools on LinkedIn. LinkedIn Answers is where people from your network ask a question about the business where they’re in. This helps your followers to get help, additional information, or some advice.

The good thing about this feature is that you can answer, offer help, or give advice to other users. This would help you establish your online presence as a thought leader in your industry, as you will be considered by your network as an industry-insider.

LinkedIn People

This feature is ideal for salesperson, job hunters, or those who want to establish a business-to-business connection. You can simply do a search in the upper right-hand box of your target company, and then it will show you a list of company.

By clicking each company page, you can see a box that shows your first and second connection. From there, you can invite other users to add you into their network, or ask a friend to introduce you to your second connection via LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Groups

Joining LinkedIn Groups is another great way to generate leads on your company or landing page. However, you shouldn’t only join groups that are relevant to your niche. Be part of groups that are outside of your circle that might help grow your business.

For instance, you work as an editor in a publishing company. You don’t just join an Editor Group in LinkedIn; you can also be part of groups of other publishers, independent publishers and writers, online publishers, and aspiring writers. This could help you stretch your profile a bit, which could do your business good.

LinkedIn Applications

The Applications area is one of the interesting places that users can visit on LinkedIn. This is the section where you can add new and interesting applications that can help improve your followers’ user experience in the professional network.

Example of apps in LinkedIn is the automatic blog posts and poll creator. There are also apps that let your network know what business books you are currently reading. What’s good about this is that each application has an easy instruction on how you can implement it.

LinkedIn Mobile

LinkedIn also has a mobile application, which is ideal for making one-on-one contacts during an event. You can simply ask your prospect to turn his LinkedIn profile account via mobile, then bump your phones lightly. It will then transfer your contact information between each other through Bluetooth.

LinkedIn Direct Ads

LinkedIn Direct Ads works the same as Google’s paid search ads. It is the social media site’s advertising program that can drive traffic to your group page, company page, or landing page. All you have to do is write a headline, add some copy, and create a destination link. After setting a budget, you’re now all set.

The post How to Generate Leads in LinkedIn appeared first on About Social Media.