Introducing the "Content Marketing 50: SMB Edition"

Small and medium-sized business have many challenges in getting marketing messages to their target audiences – with limited budgets and headcounts being two of the chief challenges. To overcome these challenges, an increasing number of small enterprises are seeing an opportunity in content marketing — specifically content marketing on LinkedIn.

Many SMBs are using the LinkedIn platform to reach their audiences, and some of the most effective are featured in our new infographic, “The Content Marketing 50: SMB Edition.” In this infographic, we’ve identified the 50 most effective SMB brands when it comes to using the LinkedIn platform to engage, educate, and inspire their target audience. Not only do these SMBs know how to position their brand and products with engaging content on LinkedIn, they also know their audience – and where to find them.  (For this infographic, SMBs were defined as companies that have self-identified on the LinkedIn platform as having 200 or fewer employees).

The top 50 most influential SMB brands on LinkedIn were determined using the LinkedIn Content Marketing Score.

A brand’s Content Marketing Score is calculated by measuring the ratio between the total target audience and the unique users that engaged with the content in 2015. The Content Marketing Score evaluates all content-based activities on the LinkedIn platform, such as Company Page updates, employee shares, Sponsored Updates, and Influencer and employee posts through self-publishing on LinkedIn.

The 50 most influential SMB brands on LinkedIn shared some common best practices:

• 94% regularly share updates on their LinkedIn Company Page with the top brands averaging between 14 and 46 posts per week.
• 92% of the 50 top SMB brands have employees sharing content with their networks.
• 88% have employees who create and post their own content on LinkedIn.
• 42% invest in LinkedIn Sponsored Updates to give their brands a consistent presence in the LinkedIn feeds of their target audiences.

What do these numbers mean? They mean that the top 50 SMB brands on LinkedIn are using a mix of reach, frequency, and engagement to reach their audiences — and boost their CMS score. These brands are encouraging their employees to share and post content on LinkedIn, thus allowing them to act like influencers and boost the reach and engagement. Additionally, they are posting frequently, consistently and in a timely manner in a way that is relevant to their audiences. In fact, the most effective LinkedIn marketers take an always-on approach to content. This approach helps to keep them front-of-mind among high-value consumers – but it also ensures that those consumers feel uniquely informed about the brands they identify with.

Based on their content marketing scores in 2015, here are the top 10 most influential SMB brands on LinkedIn:

1. TalentSmart
2. Inc. Magazine
3. Latest News India
4. TED Conferences
5. Entrepreneur Media
6. Business Dubai
7. Careerealism
8. Human Workplace
9. Kiplinger
10. CareerHMO.com

Did your brand make the top 50? Did your competitors? To view the entire top 50, take a look at the complete “The Content Marketing 50: SMB Edition” infographic.

Many of the top SMB brands use LinkedIn Sponsored Updates and text ads to promote their best performing content. If you want to give LinkedIn advertising a try, we’re offering you a $50 credit on your first LinkedIn Sponsored Updates campaign.