March 2021

All posts from March 2021

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How to Leverage LinkedIn Publishing to Increase Your Authority

J.C. Granger March 30, 2021

Millions of businesses are established on LinkedIn to connect with potential prospects and generate leads. If you aren’t using LinkedIn to post content, however, you’re not taking advantage of all that the networking platform offers. LinkedIn has its own publishing tool that is a powerful feature for connection, which you can use to develop your company’s professional identity.

Whether you post articles weekly or like and comment on other people’s posts, the more active you are on LinkedIn, the more you’ll be rewarded for it. There are many benefits to gain from understanding how LinkedIn can work for you. Leveraging LinkedIn publishing will help expand your engagement with customers and increase your brand’s authority in your field.

Benefits to Leveraging LinkedIn Publishing

Increasing Your Authority

Publishing high-quality content is a great way to stand out on LinkedIn and provide value to the community. Once you begin to use the publishing platform, your network will view you as an authority. The more content you publish, the more you’ll add to your brand as people become familiar with your business.

You’ll also gain access to another distribution platform for your company’s content. You can reach people you would not otherwise be able to connect with, and LinkedIn allows you to view analytics for each article you create so you can gain insight into how readers are engaging with your posts. By using LinkedIn, you can expand your authority and measure what type of content works best for your business.

LinkedIn Rewards You for Being Active

LinkedIn is all about connecting with people. The more active you are on LinkedIn, the more opportunities you have to find new leads and make new connections. Each piece of quality content increases your visibility to other industry experts and potential customers. And it’s not just about posting – any time an article is liked or commented on, this activity is recorded.

LinkedIn also has advanced search functions that allow users to search for specific keywords. Incorporating keywords into your content will help bring you to the top of these search result pages. If you’re active on the site, the more visible you will be in these search results. This helps set you apart from the thousands of other businesses that currently use the platform.

With Infinity Marketing Group, you can use LinkedIn to drive warm leads for your business. This done-for-you LinkedIn service is helping B2B companies increase their ROI on the platform. Want to learn more? Contact them today at info@infinitymgroup.com or reach them at (303) 834-7344.

Increased Engagement with Your Content

On LinkedIn, you may find that it’s easier to have people like or comment on your posts than elsewhere (on your personal website’s blog, for instance). That’s because anyone on LinkedIn can see and follow your posts; you can gain engagement outside the limits of your immediate network. The “follow” button allows anyone to stay updated on what you’re posting, so if you publish content on a regular basis, you’ll slowly build up a following.

Once you’ve published, you can share your article in a status update. Include hashtags in your status; not only does this give readers more of an idea of exactly what the article is about, but people can also follow individual hashtags such as #sales and #creative. Content with those hashtags will automatically appear in their feeds, and it will come up in search results when someone searches for a specific hashtag. This is a great way for you to connect with even more prospects.

Google Indexes LinkedIn Publisher Posts

The articles you publish on LinkedIn will be indexed by Google, which means that when people search for keywords in Google’s search engine, your LinkedIn post will appear in the results. This is one of the most beneficial features to LinkedIn Publisher, as people don’t have to be logged into the platform in order to see your content.

This also makes it easier to rank highly in search results. Naturally, a popular and well-established site such as LinkedIn will be listed at the top of a search page. Your business website may not be able to rank as well on its own. In many cases, your post on LinkedIn will appear in search results before your own website, so use Google indexing to your advantage and optimize your content.

Best Practices for LinkedIn Publishing

You can write about whatever you want and publish it on LinkedIn, but there are a few tips that will help your content find success on the platform. Keep these best practices in mind as you use the LinkedIn publishing tool:

Remain professional. Your personality can come through so your content is genuine and resonates with readers. Remember, however, that LinkedIn is for business professionals. Be yourself, but craft stories and advice that are appropriate for a work setting.

The ultimate goal is to add value. Avoid being overly promotional with your content; instead, provide your reader with new insights and focus on information that will improve the community as a whole.

Ensure your content is tailored for LinkedIn. Be clear and concise with your information, write on timely topics, and make sure the layout is reader-friendly. This includes breaking up your content into smaller chunks or lists so that it is more easily readable.

After you post, remember to engage with your readers and connections. LinkedIn makes it easy to interact with your connections. Reply to comments on your post and ask people to follow you for more updates, news, and tips or tricks. Keep track of which articles tend to be liked or commented on the most.

Stay consistent with your brand. Publishing on LinkedIn requires a few tweaks, but you shouldn’t present content that is completely different than what you otherwise have on the internet. Keep your tone and style consistent with what’s on your business’s website.

Want the experts to manage your LinkedIn profile? Infinity Marketing Group offers a done-for-you LinkedIn marketing service that drives warm leads to your sales team. Contact them today at info@infinitymgroup.com or reach them at (303) 834-7344.

Types of Content to Post

Originally, LinkedIn Publishing was intended for long-form articles, but currently, LinkedIn promotes short-form articles as well as other types of media such as videos. Shorter posts are a great way to get started if you are hesitant about creating content on LinkedIn. It’s not easy to put yourself out there online, and the professionalism of LinkedIn can be intimidating.

Try to think of LinkedIn users simply as people who you want to reach out to. Your content should be professional, but it can be personal, too. Take personal experiences and craft a story about what you learned, positioning your lesson in a way where the reader can relate. If you regularly provide quality and helpful content, people will notice. Eventually, you’ll find what works for your readers and what types of content speaks to your audience effectively.

Another easy way to start posting on LinkedIn is to create articles that are based on the content you have already published on your website. This is known as “repurposing” content, and it’s a highly useful strategy to take advantage of.

Using LinkedIn to Recycle Old Content

To truly leverage LinkedIn publishing, use it to repurpose content from your website. Consider LinkedIn as a distribution channel that you can take advantage of to get more eyes on your content and connect with a broader audience.

When you recycle old content on LinkedIn, be careful; you can’t just copy and paste, you will have to re-spin it. There are a few tricks you can do:

Split a long interview or article from your website into a series of individual posts.
Turn key points of a popular blog post into polls or quotes.
Make an infographic to present crucial information in a new way.
Otherwise, tweak your content to match your LinkedIn audience.

There are lots of different ways you can repurpose content, but keep in mind that this strategy works best for evergreen content (optimized content that continues to stay relevant). Some other best practices to stay mindful of include:

Wait a couple of weeks after the original publishing date to repurpose your content on LinkedIn.
Stay consistent with your established online brand.
Include links to your website in the article so you drive traffic.
If you create a series, link to each one so people can easily read the entire series.
Promote your content multiple times to your network.

Leverage LinkedIn Publishing to Benefit Your Company

If you are using LinkedIn simply to host your company’s profile, you may be missing out on big opportunities to increase your authority and build a following. By leveraging LinkedIn’s publishing tool, you can create fresh content or repurpose popular content from your own website to gain leads and have more exposure. LinkedIn makes it easy to engage with other people, rewards you for being active, and maximizes your distribution.

Once you make the most out of your opportunities on LinkedIn, you’ll find that it gets easier and easier to grow your reputation and your audience. Looking for more ways to use LinkedIn publishing to grow your business? Infinity Marketing Group can help you build your messaging to drive leads. Contact us today at info@infinitymgroup.com or call us at (303) 834-7344

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Email Subject Lines: 10 Best Practices to Increase Open Rates

J.C. Granger March 16, 2021

In email marketing, a crafty, engaging subject line is your key to catching people’s attention. This line is the first impression you’ll make on readers; in many cases, it’s more important than the actual body of your email, because all the effort you put into creating an excellent email doesn’t matter if it goes unopened in the first place.

The goal is to hook readers so they click on the subject line and open the email. The more times your email is opened, the better the open rate–which is the number of people who actually opened your email out of the total number of subscribers you sent it to.

How can you create eye-catching, successful subject lines and avoid coming across as potential spam? Incorporate these best practices into your subject lines to make them stand out and ultimately increase your open rates.

Email Subject Line Best Practices

1.) Understand Your Audience

Like many other aspects of digital marketing, it’s essential to be familiar with your audience as you create email subject lines. This familiarity will set your tone and help you cater to specific interests. It’s possible to use funny or shocking email subject lines (ones that use puns or make a jolting statement), but these run a lot of risks and you have to know whether your audience will be receptive to them.

You can also personalize subject lines by using an individual’s first name. Or, utilize retargeting to provide a specialized offer on items that a customer may have looked at or purchased previously. Take time to understand what style, language, and offers your audience will find attractive.

Examples:

Mary, thanks for participating
More art classes offered in your area

Infinity Marketing Group creates high-coverting email marketing campaigns for B2B tech and software companies. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call (303) 834-7344 to learn more!

2.) Keep It Short and Direct

People are busy. Your message should be short and sweet, providing as much information as possible. Keep in mind that most subject lines need to be 50 characters or less, and ones that have 4-7 words have a higher open rate. Even subject lines with just a few words can attract readers.

Examples:

How are things going?
Top suggestions for this week

3.) Use Punctuation and Emojis Sparingly

Punctuation and emojis are great tools to make your subject line stand out and break up the normal text. However, use them sparingly; excessive emojis may alienate some readers, and make sure the ones you use truly are relevant to your subject or sale. Exclamation points can help you emphasize your message, but more than one or two can also be off-putting.

In fact, MailChimp conducted a study that found 3 punctuation marks and 1 emoji is the general limit for a subject line.

Examples:

Remember–sale ends today!!
Reasons we 💚 St. Patrick’s Day

4.) Include Numbers and Lists

There is a reason why “Top 10” blogs are so popular. Listing content helps break it into smaller and more readable chunks, promising an easy and quick read. It also generates curiosity, as people want to see what the #1 thing is. This trick can work in your subject line.

Another way to include numbers in your subject line is to use a statistic. This additionally provides insight and straightforward information.

Examples:

The easiest 7 dinners that kids love
70% of people buy their gifts last minute
Our top 10 lipsticks for fall

5.) Take Advantage of FOMO

The fear of missing out is very common. A great marketing strategy is to tap into this fear and other scarcity tactics such as putting a time limit on a sale; this provides incentive and a sense of urgency. Emphasize this urgency in your subject line with numbers and exclamation points.

Examples:

50% off jeans. Today only!
10 spots left, reserve your place now.
Free shipping! (48-hour offer)

6.) Tap Into Positive Emotions

You don’t have to necessarily make your readers fearful in order to get them to open your email–there are plenty of positive incentives to tap into as well. For example, people enjoy being on top of the latest fashions and trends. An email promising a sneak-peek into something that’s up and coming can get a high open-rate.

Or, offer great incentives that subscribers can’t pass up. This might be exclusive content, the chance to win something, or a free trial. People are likely to open the email just to get more information on the offer.

Examples:

An exclusive look at our new features
Our predictions for trends in 2021

7.) Ask A Question

Posing a question immediately engages your subscribers. Rather than simply stating something, you open the opportunity for conversation. Open-ended questions that don’t simply have yes-or-no answers pique a customer’s curiosity.

Examples:

How’s your new laptop?
How much chocolate is too much?
What’s next for remote workers?

8.) Include a CTA

A CTA (call to action) is another marketing strategy you can use in your email subject line. These are quick, simple phrases that tell the reader the action they should take. They express urgency and are very direct. Following with exclamation points enhances the impact (but remember to use only one or two).

Examples:

New expert webinar. Reserve your spot now!
Subscribe now for daily beauty tips

9.) Go Local

By using location-specific language, you show subscribers that you’ve done your research; you’re familiar with their vicinity and have information or offers that apply to their unique circumstances. It’s an extra step to personalization that can do the trick–many people open emails like this just because they are interested in seeing what’s happening in their local area.

Examples:

The best new restaurants in Los Angeles
Join us at Millennium Park in Chicago

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10.) Test Your Subject Lines

One of the best ways to learn if your subject line is successful is to run an A/B testing campaign. A/B testing is a simple experiment that compares two versions of one variable and determines which version is more effective, depending on a subject’s response.

In this case, your experiment will involve creating two emails that are similar in every way except for the subject line. Send them to randomly selected subscribers, then observe which email gets opened the most. This tells you what subject line appeals to your readers and how even a small difference can make a big impact on open rates.

The more you run A/B testing on your subject lines, the more you’ll begin to understand your audience and their interests or preferences. It’s a simple yet effective way to familiarize yourself with subscribers and create successful email campaigns.

How Increasing Open Rates Helps Your Business

Generally, the higher your open rate, the bigger your outreach. In combination with other marketing strategies and metrics, this helps to enhance sales. Open rates are an essential metric because they are a good indication of your engagement with your subscribers. If your open rates are very low, you may be sending too many emails or not doing enough to encourage readers to open them.

A great technique to boost open rates is to create great email subject lines that connect with your subscribers’ interests and hook them into finding out more. Create a few experimental subject lines by incorporating the best practices listed above. Run A/B testing to see which ones get the most open rates, then base your email subject lines on what’s successful.

Need to further develop your email marketing strategy? Infinity Marketing Group can help you target your emails to boost your ROI. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com today or call us at (303) 834-7344

Create a Custom LinkedIn Background on Canva in Three Steps

J.C. Granger March 2, 2021

Having a LinkedIn profile is an essential aspect of professional networking. Whether your profile is personal or for your business, LinkedIn helps you connect with others in your field and potential employers or customers. The goal is to engage with as many people as possible. Since LinkedIn has hundreds of millions of users, it can be difficult to stand out. Luckily there are a few tricks you can use to grab people’s attention and encourage them to browse your profile. It begins with creating a custom LinkedIn background that’s eye-catching and engaging.

Creating a Custom LinkedIn Background with Canva

When someone looks at your profile on LinkedIn, one of the first things they’ll see is your background. LinkedIn provides a default picture for this background when you first sign up. Although many people simply keep this placeholder, it doesn’t provide any useful information. Creating a custom background will help you utilize this space for branding and connection.

You can personalize your background with Canva, a free design program. Canva helps you build a professional and high-quality LinkedIn background in three easy steps:

1.) Select the Perfect Template

In Canva, you’ll have hundreds of templates for LinkedIn backgrounds to choose from. You’ll find templates for every industry and theme, so you can find one you like and match your profile’s background perfectly to your career or business.

Remember, LinkedIn is a network for professionals. Regardless of your industry, you’ll want a high-quality background that highlights your professionalism. Keep in mind these best practices as you create your LinkedIn background:

The simpler, the better. Stick with minimal text that provides a quick and specific message.
Use high-resolution images. These won’t blur or become pixelated.
Ensure your background fits the theme of your brand. If you’re creating a business profile, match it to your business’s website.
You can use colors and images to grab people’s attention, but keep things friendly and professional.
Your LinkedIn background will be in a shape that’s a lot wider than it is tall, so be mindful of this space as you complete your design.

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2.) Choose Your Images and Other Features

Canva offers hundreds of thousands of pictures for free that are easy to insert into your template. You can also insert a photo you’ve taken yourself or images that you’ve found that are licensed for open usage from Google Images. Make sure you use images that are high resolution (or more than two megapixels).

Canva also provides illustrations, graphics, and image filters. You can experiment with font combinations, color schemes, and the layout of your template as you settle on a LinkedIn background that’s professional yet uniquely you. You’ll be able to further personalize by adding branding elements, your company logo, and more.

One of the most important factors to remember is that an area at the bottom of your background, a small half-circle, will be blocked by your profile photo. Like the rest of your profile, you should have something professional here that creates a strong first impression. Use these tips for a professional profile picture:

Take a headshot–a photo that includes your head, neck, and top of shoulders.
Dress professionally. Consider what you would wear to work or for an interview.
Keep it simple. It should be of only you–no group photos or pets. Make sure you’re standing against a solid background such as a white wall.

3.) Get Ready to Upload to LinkedIn

The required dimensions for your LinkedIn background is 1584 pixels by 396 pixels. Keep in mind that you may have to click “customized dimensions” and make sure your background will be compatible. Even if you are using a template on Canva, check your dimensions just in case.

Save your background as a .png or .jpg so you’re able to upload it to LinkedIn. Add your professional profile picture, then tie your profile together with a dynamic headline–which is the description following your name that describes who you are and what you do.

LinkedIn provides another default here: your headline will automatically list your current job title and employer. You can customize it, however, to make a powerful and creative statement about your expertise, achievements, and what you have to offer. This is another opportunity to stand out.

Crafting a Successful LinkedIn Profile

Canva makes it easy for you to shine on LinkedIn with customized backgrounds. By strengthening your headline and adding a professional profile picture, you’ll be able to use your comprehensive LinkedIn profile to promote your business or personal brand to as many people as possible.

Now that you know all about creating a custom LinkedIn background, do you need more advice on LinkedIn marketing? Infinity Marketing Group’s LinkedIn lead generation strategy helps your business drive leads and close sales. Contact us at info@infinitymgroup.com or call us today at (303) 834-7344.