For years, many business owners and decision makers viewed LinkedIn as an online CV – originally it was the ‘recruiters’ platform where you were hunted out for (or searched for) that perfect job; a place to update your job title, connect with a few people and maybe post the occasional company update.
But, the way we research and buy has changed.
Buyers are researching differently, prospective customers form opinions before they even click on your website and potential employees are judging teams and company ethos before applying for roles.
Whether it’s a founder, sales director, tech specialist or your company page, every interaction helps build up a bigger picture of who you are, what and who you know and whether you’re a business they can trust.
That’s why having a strong Linkedin presence has become so important.
Trust starts long before the conversation
Whether you’re running a manufacturing company, engineering business, consultancy, tech firm or professional service, your customers are making decisions based on trust and confidence.
They want reassurance that you understand their challenges, evidence that you’ve solved similar problems before and to know your business is credible, experienced and capable.
Trust used to be built almost exclusively through face-to-face interactions – trade shows, networking events, sales meetings and trusty referrals. But covid forced change for a lot of people and we all adapted to a new way of working (and living!)
Of course, those more traditional channels all still matter, but they’re no longer the only places where trust is formed. Trust starts online, it’s available 24/7/365 and we don’t need to be in the office (or on office hours) to start researching.
It’s very likely that before a prospect has even booked a meeting, they’ve visited your website, looked at your LinkedIn profile, browsed your content and researched your company. If they’re really keen, they’ve probably checked out your Instagram too!
They’ve formed an opinion before you even know they exist.
Your buyers watch before they enquire
One of the biggest misconceptions about LinkedIn (I’m focusing on Linkedin because it’s the biggest B2B social channel, it’s where all your customers and prospects hang out) is that if people aren’t liking, commenting or sharing your posts that they’re not bothered about what you have to say – or aren’t paying attention.
The reality is very different.
– Many decision makers rarely post.
– Many never comment.
– Most don’t engage publicly at all.
But they’re reading.
– They’re consuming content.
– They’re researching suppliers.
– They’re checking profiles.
– They’re seeing who’s knowledgeable, credible and trustworthy.
This is important for those industries with longer sales cycles.
In the manufacturing, engineering and technical sectors, buyers often spend weeks or months researching potential suppliers before making contact. If your competitors are consistently in their feed while your business remains invisible, who do you think they’ll remember when the time comes to have a conversation?
You have more content than you think
One of the biggest barriers businesses face is thinking you need endless content ideas – most assume they have nothing worth talking about, but the opposite is usually true!
I advise clients to think about conversations you’re having every week, the questions customers ask, problems your team solve, industry news, lessons learnt, the wins, the losses…there’s heaps of content opportunities, and it’s deciding which is worth sharing.
What feels obvious or disinteresting to you is often incredibly useful to someone else. People want opinions, insights, experiences…they want a story. The expertise developed over years in your industry is exactly what potential customers want to learn from.
Consistency is important, purpose even more so
Many businesses approach LinkedIn with an all-or-nothing mindset, and I’ve been guilty of it myself.
Posting every single day for two weeks, get busy, disappear into the sunset only to come back and start again – repeating over and over.
My clients always come first, so their work is prioritised. But when does that become detrimental to growing our own business? It’s the same with you and your clients. That visibility (or invisibility in my hiatuses) starts to build up over time.
Rarely is anything built – or sold – in one post but it is built through consistently being seen with content that has purpose.
Show up regularly, share useful insights and demonstrate expertise. I’d much rather see one genuinely useful post each week then daily content with very little substance (don’t get me started on random awareness days or office pets…)
It’s not just about personal profiles
We’re often asked whether businesses should focus on the founders or senior leadership profiles, or the company page.
It depends is my honest answer.
For some businesses, the founder naturally becomes the voice of the company. For others, a strong company page supported by technical experts or the wider leadership team is a better fit.
Most often, the strongest Linkedin strategy combines both. Your company page reinforces your expertise, company brand and values whereas the people behind the business add personality, credibility and real world experience.
Together they create a joined up presence that builds trust more effectively than either could do alone.
Linkedin supports more than sales
Most people associate Linkedin with generating enquiries. While it plays a role in business development the benefits can go further.
– Attract better talent + support recruitment effort
– Strengthen customer relationships
– Increase referral opportunities + create partnership conversations
– Open speaking opportunities + position your business as an industry expert
– Improve credibility during lengthy sales processes
In many cases, prospective customers arrive at sales conversations already familiar with your business because they’ve been following your content for months.
That means instead of starting from zero, you’re building on existing trust.
The goal isn’t more followers
The goal isn’t to collect likes and follows – it’s to stay visible to the people who matter, to build trust before conversations begin and to create a digital presence that reflects the expertise you’ve spent years developing.
If you think about your current profile and page, will viewers find a visible, credible expert or an empty profile that tells them very little so they scroll by?
People want to know who they’re buying from, who they’re partnering with and who they’re trusting with their investment.
LinkedIn gives business owners and senior decision makers a huge (free!) opportunity to build that trust at scale by consistently sharing valuable insights, expertise and experience.
Whether you’re looking to build your personal Linkedn profile, grow your company page or create a Linkedin presence across both, the important thing is that everything works together – they should all tell the same story.
That’s exactly what we help businesses to do. You can check out our Linkedin packages here or book a conversation to find out more.