Last week I attended an excellent presentation on the use of LinkedIn in the federal space. The presenter was Mark Amtower, known by many as the “Godfather” of government marketing. The discussion was a GovCon ClubTM event organized by Guy (Go-To-Guy) Timberlake, another long-time luminary in federal marketing.
When Mark Amtower talks LinkedIn people listen. He was among the first to recognize the potential of LinkedIn for government marketing. A leading author, radio show host and consultant for over 35 years in the federal market, he has been tracking the growing adoption of LinkedIn by government officials since 2009. His research and consulting have been driving forces in debunking the old conventional wisdom that “govies don’t use social media.”
That research was part of Mark’s first main point in the presentation. Federal marketers need to be on LinkedIn because that’s where the audience is – lots of them. There are 2.5 million currently on LinkedIn according to Mark’s latest annual census. The pandemic accelerated this growth – there are 551 distinct federal government organizations on LinkedIn, a number that doubled from 2021 to 2022.
Despite these numbers only a small percentage of government marketers use LinkedIn effectively to build their brand. Mark talked about how important is it to define your skills and then demonstrate those skills via a quality profile page. Common fails include not using a personalized background, not having a quality headshot and not leveraging the profile headline and the About section to clearly communicate skills and passion.
Two strong examples cited by Mark are Carl Dickson and Carey Bandler. Carl has achieved thought leadership around winning federal contracts, while Carey brands himself as a “Federal CXO Whisperer” in his profile headline.
Next Mark talked about what I call the “perspiration” rule – you need to publish quality content on a regular basis. People used to talk about not letting websites get “cobwebs;” the same is true with your LinkedIn presence. Sharing good content enhances your credentials and differentiates you in the market. It doesn’t always have to be original, you can comment and react to other people’s content – just like I’m doing here!
Success Story
Mark shared how our mutual friend Chelsea Meggitt leveraged LinkedIn to maximize her presence at the recent SOFIC show in Tampa, Florida. Chelsea started promoting the show itself and her attendance four weeks out. She kept this up weekly, and then posted coverage each day of the event. She shared post-event wrap-up content, and tagged people and organizations every step of the way.
The response was amazing. Some of her posts went viral, with her #badasswomenindefense post getting over 8,000 views in one day. Some other results – this type of LInkedIn use should be required reading for anyone looking to get the most out of “just walking the floor” at a show:
Everyone learned something new about LinkedIn from the presentation. I’m a regular LinkedIn user but I was behind on using the QR code to quickly connect with someone in person. I also learned that users of the mobile LinkedIn app can now personalize a connection invite. This is good to know because I always look for a personalized note when getting an invite from someone I don’t know. In the past I’ve wondered if I was discriminating against mobile users who couldn’t personalize.
As Mark will tell you most of this isn’t rocket science. I call it 20 percent inspiration and 80 percent perspiration. It’s doing the small things consistently, like thanking people for comments, recognizing others in the space, responding to issues relevant to B2G marketing and consistently demonstrating expertise through quality content.
Those who can commit to LinkedIn put themselves in position to be much more successful in GovCon marketing. The next time Amtower talks LinkedIn I suggest you register. Or contact him about getting your whole company or team schooled up on using LinkedIn to differentiate and win.