We can all learn something by looking at the techniques successful brands use for email, but most wouldn’t even consider LinkedIn. Ultimately, emails are designed to bring people back to your website to look around, interact, and engage with you. LinkedIn do this perfectly, aiming to bring members back to the site regularly to respond to connection requests, check job openings, update profiles and congratulate others on their new jobs or job anniversaries.
Email is absolutely fundamental to the success of LinkedIn, and although used to promote social networking there are many best practices marketers can adopt to drive results. Here are just 7 pros;
1. See Jan’s connections, experience, and more
LinkedIn invitations notify you that you could access valuable information about your new connection. Moreover, you can be highly specific about the kinds of notifications you receive from LinkedIn, customising who you can receive messages from and how often.
Having this power gives the individual a sense of control, feeling more engaged with the platform.
2. John has endorsed you!
LinkedIn is the medium people use today to build and maintain a professional reputation, therefore it’s important to stay on top of your endorsements. Emails notifying you a colleague, past colleague, or client has endorsed your skills is a nice compliment and often people will return the favour.
Invitations and endorsements drive overall activity and help grow the LinkedIn community.
3. Congratulate Amy on the new job
Easily and simply clicking a button within an email to compliment a connection on a new job or anniversary build community ties. Marketers can learn from this, reengaging with customers using similar techniques.
E.g. If it’s been a while since they last made a purchase, entice them with a discount or offer to make them feel special.
4. Company A, B, and C are looking for candidates like you
Using the phrase ‘looking for candidates like you’ makes you feel as though LinkedIn are offering a service for you, the platform exists as a service to the individual, not vice versa.
5. LinkedIn Pulse
LinkedIn encourages users to publish content via the platform, its recent big spend being the $90 million purchase of Pulse is part of this tactic. Pulse is a daily newsreader app and helps LinkedIn drive engagement, especially on mobile.
Higher engagement results in greater participation in discussions, and a greater outreach to new users. A marketer can use content to connect with customers and push sales.
6. Join these groups we’ve recommended for you
LinkedIn indicates that it understands you as an individual by recommending groups which fit your profile.
They’ll also inform you when there are new postings, or even give you a gentle nudge to participate more often in a group you’ve joined but rarely involved in.
So, what should I learn from LinkedIn to deploy in my email marketing? Connect with your subscribers through engaging and relevant content, by allowing them to customise the information they receive from you means they’ll always be happy to see an email appear from you in their inbox.