Leveraging the Professional Social Media Platform LinkedIn as Part of Your Self-Storage Marketing Strategy

Social media is a wellspring of marketing opportunities. With more than half the world’s population on at least one platform, establishing a presence on these sites has become an absolute necessity for businesses, including self-storage operations. The problem is popular outlets like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have become so saturated that users have come to accept low lead generation. In other words, it’s standard to expect low returns despite high marketing bandwidth.

That’s why, as the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn is pivotal. In fact, it generates leads twice as effectively as Facebook and Twitter, according to HubSpot, which provides software for inbound marketing, sales and customer service. For self-storage operators, marketing on LinkedIn is crucial; but besides creating a business page or professional profile, how do you leverage the platform successfully?

For starters, you need to build a consistent brand for your self-storage company. Let’s explore LinkedIn marketing strategies that’ll help strengthen your company presence and address your target audience.

Content

Content is king, even on LinkedIn. Publishing various kinds of material on a consistent schedule helps build brand trust. Posting at least once a week is essential. Let’s examine a few of the most popular content types.

Articles. Short posts are excellent, but as a business, you should use LinkedIn’s article platform to build brand recognition and establish your company as a thought leader. Articles should be informative and feed into the curiosity of your audience while solving a well-known, industry-related issue. For example, you could write about contactless rental technologies, including why the demand for them is increasing and solutions to consider. On LinkedIn, the most effective way to market your brand is by providing useful information.

Keep in mind, however, you don’t want to oversaturate your feed. It’s essential to switch it up by sharing quick posts with targeted hashtags. Content marketing will always be a balancing act depending on your audience, but a 60-40 split between long- and short-form pieces is recommended. This allows you to present your business as a knowledgeable source while still accommodating the average user’s shorter attention span.

Video. This format is highly lucrative. In 2017, more than 75% of business executives watched work-related videos every week, and that number has tripled since 2021. Video is no longer exclusive to YouTube; it’s offered on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and, most recently, LinkedIn.

Most consumers prefer to watch work-related content than read it. While there’s still value to blogs and written content, video provides exciting, interactive ways to engage with information. Until recently, LinkedIn users were only allowed to embed videos from other sources, but now you can upload video directly to the platform.

Your LinkedIn strategy needs video, but you don’t necessarily have to post pre-recorded or edited content. A new feature allows you to live stream directly to the platform and interact with your audience in an entirely new way. Videos presented this way are easier to manage, provide a great return on investment and help build robust engagement on your page.

As an example, you could host a live video in which you walk through your self-storage facility and give potential tenants a chance to ask questions. Also, consider hosting live streams with well-known industry experts. This is a great way to boost your audience for free. If you haven’t considered a video plan for LinkedIn, now’s the time. There’s a steadily growing market for self-storage video.

Curated content. Another great way to leverage your LinkedIn network is to share articles, videos and posts from well-known industry sources. It gives you a constant flow of content and helps boost visibility. Remember, once you’re established as a self-storage knowledge base, your audience cares what you have to say about the things going on in the business. Let them know your thoughts, whether it’s about a new property acquisition or marketing promotion. Curated content is a great way to build trust and status as LinkedIn thought leader.

Target-Audience Tools

LinkedIn’s targeting features are highly effective. While content is a great way to reach people on the platform, it’s also smart to use some of the baked-in marketing tools. Here are two key places to start:

Interest Targeting. Like Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to target your audience based on their interests; however, it allows you to be much more specific. For example, instead of building a pay-per-click campaign hoping to reach a broad audience interested in self-storage, you can establish a campaign based on precise groups and keywords. Using Campaign Manager, you can create a new audience by typing in phrases like “self-storage operation” or “self-storage management” to find a group of like-minded professionals keyed into your primary interests. This tool is extremely robust, allowing you to reach certain audiences and maximize the return on ad spend.

Ad Targeting. Microsoft recently created the Matched Audience tool to optimize lead targeting on LinkedIn. It can retarget website visitors, account-based contacts or email-based contacts. Matched audiences are important. Since LinkedIn users are primarily professionals, you have viewers who are more likely to convert.

This is why establishing a content plan on LinkedIn is vital. Each click or impression you receive creates a lead that can be retargeted later. Prospects are twice as likely to convert on the second approach by a reliable brand; so, once you establish yourself as a self-storage knowledge base on the platform, your potential customers are more likely to trust your products and services.

Leverage the Network

As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn offers plenty of opportunities to market to self-storage consumers on a business-to-business level. Build brand consistency through long- and short-form content you share, and leverage the site’s targeting features to increase visibility and engagement. By using the platform strategically, you can build robust marketing campaigns that reach potential customers based on the strength of your content.

Russell Severe is the marketing specialist for The Storage Group, a digital-marketing and technology-development firm that specializes in website development, search engine optimization, reputation management and more. He’s responsible for the development and execution of digital and print content as well as special-event planning. To reach him, email [email protected].