B2B marketers are incredible at adapting to emergent technologies and changing business trends.
Case in point: LinkedIn’s publishing platform—which landed LinkedIn the #1 spot on the list of the best brands in content marketing—is relatively new, but cutting-edge B2B businesses have already worked out how to incorporate it into kick-ass content marketing strategies.
These 6 influencers have discovered the secret of LinkedIn marketing.
And they’re attracting attention to their businesses in the best way possible: by inspiring us to be better marketers, business people, and human beings.
1. Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot
Dharmesh’s LinkedIn presence is pretty reflective of his joint role as HubSpot’s founder and CTO—sharing a mixture of cutting-edge marketing insights with more generalized business savvy. He’s a great example of marketers practicing what they preach, finding time amongst his myriad responsibilities to publish awesome content to an impressively consistent schedule. He’s also the owner of the Inbound Marketers group on LinkedIn, a case study in community management done right.
My favorite post: Marketing Doesn’t Have to Be Evil
2. Beth Comstock, GE
Beth’s social media presence showcases both her brand’s core values and her own personality and convictions. It’s the perfect marriage of personal and corporate—pairing unparalleled marketing expertise with a dedication to conscientious business practice that’s nothing short of astounding. She’s the marketer we should all aspire to be; especially given her love of MacGyver.
My favorite post: When Leadership Means Wielding a Toilet Brush
3. Jonathan Becher, SAP
SAP just gets content marketing. Whether they’re entertaining their audience with Stars Wars-themed infographics, or personalizing their brand through YouTube, they understand the importance of consumer-first content. Unsurprisingly, the man behind SAP’s marketing strategy, Jonathan Becher, employs the same principles on his LinkedIn page—creating a ton of engaging benefit-focused content for his followers to learn from.
My favorite post: The Art and Science of Storytelling
4. Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Twitter
LinkedIn is a serious network, for serious business people, right? As a result of this belief, most enterprise-level marketers limit their LinkedIn content creation to thought-leadership pieces and grandiose “State of Marketing”-style articles. In doing so, they forget the golden rule of content marketing—know your audience.
Claire leads social innovation at Twitter. She has a broad audience, but it’s largely characterized by SMEs and a pretty young demographic. Claire understands this, and writes content that’s short, sweet, and super-actionable. It’s not always big, and it’s not always serious—but it’s perfect for her audience.
My favorite post: How to Start a Blog: A Complete Guide
5. Dave Kerpen, Likeable
Dave has mastered the art of viral marketing, leveraging LinkedIn’s publishing platform to put his content in front of millions of people. His approach to social media marketing proves that success on LinkedIn relies on the same core principles as every other form of content marketing:
- He’s a truly prolific publisher, publishing on a regular weekly basis.
- He uses catchy click-bait titles that intrigue as much they educate (I dare you to avoid clicking 5 Google Results That Can Destroy Your Career).
- He blogs around his business—attracting readers with broad-themed content inspired by all aspects of the B2B industry.
- He pours his personality into his content.
My favorite post: 7.5 Steps to Winning at Blogging
6. Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard
Meg’s LinkedIn presence succeeds where thousands of other B2B businesses fail: she publishes corporate blog content, written about a massive company, but still manages to relate her writing back to the people that matter—customers. Her best content bridges the gap between big business and consumer, and shows how customer-centric marketing strategies can be integrated into even the largest of businesses.
My favorite post: Put Customers at the Center of Your Organization