LinkedIn Growth is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Long-Term Strategies to Elevate Your Presence (and Your Company’s!)

LinkedIn Growth is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Long-Term Strategies to Elevate Your Presence (and Your Company’s!)

LinkedIn has evolved beyond a simple job-hunting platform—it’s now a powerful tool for building professional influence and enhancing corporate brands.

But we oftentimes can forget that building a strong presence on the platform is a marathon, not a sprint. Sure, it’s easy to want immediate results, but much like professional relationships, growing your LinkedIn influence takes time, patience, and persistence.

In my time working at Amendola, I’ve seen how an active LinkedIn presence can open doors, foster relationships, and position individuals AND their companies as industry thought leaders. When employees are engaged and visible on LinkedIn, they’re not just investing in personal growth—they’re actively driving results for the company.

As the human face behind the brand, employees can foster more meaningful interactions than brand channels alone. Research supports this, showing that content shared by employees has far more reach, receives more engagement, and generates more leads than content posted by the company itself:

  • 81% of B2B buyers consider LinkedIn a significant source of research before making a purchase decision (Fronetics).
  • Employees on average have 10 times more connections than their company’s LinkedIn followers (LinkedIn), giving their posts greater potential for expanding visibility.
  • 91% of B2B sales are influenced by word of mouth (Demandbase), underscoring the power of employee advocacy in generating authentic and impactful engagement.

Looking to help your employees not only build their personal brand, but also contribute directly to the company’s overall success? Here are a few strategies we recommend to our clients that have proven long-term impact.

Optimize Your Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is your personal brand’s landing page. Ensure it’s fully filled out with a professional headshot, a concise yet compelling headline, and a detailed experience section. A polished profile elevates both your credibility and your company’s reputation. Here are some other elements to consider:

  • Add a header image that aligns with your professional brand
  • Include keywords in your headline and/or summary
  • Avoid using overused buzzwords/phrases
  • Personalize your URL, shorten it and add to your email signature
  • Be somewhat selective when choosing skills and endorsements
  • Provide details about education, qualifications, volunteer experience and accomplishments, but avoid bragging.

 Share Valuable Content

What you post on LinkedIn should provide value to your network. Share insightful articles, industry news, and your perspective on current trends. When you do this, you position yourself—and by extension, your company—as a thought leader.

Consistently sharing valuable content helps attract potential clients and partners. I recommend following the 80/20 rule: 80% of your posts should deliver value—sharing industry news, thought leadership, and relevant insights—while only 20% should promote you or your company’s offerings.

Remember: LinkedIn is a space where professionals come to learn, engage, and connect—not just to be sold to. My colleague Brandon Glenn explains the 80/20 rule in more detail here.

When posting an update to LinkedIn, keep these optimization strategies in mind:

  • Post frequently (at least one time per week – five is optimal), focusing on quality over quantity
  • Two posts that offer followers valuable insights are better than five posts that promote products
  • Offer informative, insightful, inspirational content; users are looking for information and education
  • Optimize posts by including an attractive image, graphic, or video; ensure text is legible
  • Include a stat, quote, or interesting line at the beginning of the post from the article rather than the title to make your post stand out
  • Ask questions to encourage conversation.

Engage, Comment, and Share

It’s not enough to post and log off. Engagement is key. Comment on industry discussions, share others’ posts, and add your perspective. By actively participating in conversations, you’re not only building relationships but also increasing your company’s visibility.

Stay Active and Be Consistent

LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards consistency. Make it a habit to engage with the platform regularly, whether by posting, liking, or commenting. A consistent presence keeps you top of mind within your network, and the more visibility you gain, the more likely it is that people will associate your company with thought leadership.

Invite and Follow New Accounts

Expanding your network is crucial. Don’t limit yourself to people you already know—reach out to professionals in your industry, potential clients, and partners. Joining relevant groups and becoming an active participant in discussions can also help you gain recognition and authority. A growing network is mutually beneficial, exposing you and your company to new opportunities and increasing your company’s influence in the industry.

Be Patient

Building a strong presence takes time. You won’t see overnight success, so stay patient. As your network grows and your engagement increases, so will your influence—and by extension, your company’s credibility.

When employees are active on LinkedIn, it creates a ripple effect. Every post, comment, or share contributes to your company’s overall brand presence. In B2B, trust and relationships are everything. The more employees position themselves as experts, the more the company is seen as a leader in its field.

Remember: LinkedIn growth is a marathon, not a sprint. Building influence and trust takes time. Every thoughtful interaction you make adds up over the long run – and sets you up for long-term rewards for you and your company.

 

Carta Healthcare Selects Amendola to Promote Its AI-driven Data Abstraction Technology 

Carta Healthcare Selects Amendola to Promote Its AI-driven Data Abstraction Technology 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Aug. 22, 2024 – Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare technology and life sciences public relations and marketing firm, today announced that it has been selected to implement a national public relations, content and social media program by Carta Healthcare, whose mission is to reduce the costs, save time and improve the quality of clinical data abstraction. 

“As a six-time Amendola client, the agency is part of my magic formula for business development success through powerful storytelling, category creation, and thought leadership,” said Greg Miller, Vice President of Business Development for Carta Healthcare.  “We are excited to have Amendola as an extension of our team to help promote our belief that data is the most essential ingredient for improving healthcare.”  

Clinical data abstraction is essential for hospitals to improve patient care, meet quality standards, and reduce costs. However, manual data abstraction is inefficient, labor-intensive, and expensive, leading to poor quality data. Currently, due to labor shortages and overworked staff, these methods are not sustainable and increase healthcare delivery costs. The current manual approach is inefficient and tedious, resulting in overworked and burnt-out staff. 

To that end, Carta has developed Atlas™, an AI-powered platform that automates data abstraction for clinical registries by efficiently extracting information from medical records. By leveraging AI, Atlas increases data availability and accuracy, enabling staff to focus on other tasks and clinicians to prioritize patient care. This is executed through a “human in the loop” approach, where expert abstractors review the quality of the AI-abstracted data. Carta’s team of abstractors work alongside current staff to ensure quality of data and seamless processes.  

“The time and effort required to cleanse and normalize data for quality initiatives too often depletes the resources essential for delivering high-quality patient care,” said agency CEO Jodi Amendola. “We are excited to help Carta Healthcare educate the market on the importance of automating and streamlining the labor-intensive process of locating and interpreting patient data for clinical registries.” 

About Amendola 

Amendola is an award-winning, insights-driven public relations and marketing firm that integrates media relations, social media, content and lead gen programs to move healthcare, life sciences/pharma and healthcare IT decision-makers to action. The agency represents some of the industry’s best-known brands as well as groundbreaking startups that are disrupting the status quo. Nearly 90% of its client base represents multi-year clients and/or repeat client executives. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros understand the ongoing complexities of the healthcare ecosystem and provide strategic guidance and creative direction to drive positive ROI, boost reputation and increase market share. Making an impact since 2003, Amendola combines traditional and digital media to fuel meaningful and measurable growth. For more information about the industry’s “A-Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

About Carta Healthcare  

At Carta Healthcare, we believe high-quality data is essential to improving healthcare. Current methods to abstract data for clinical registries are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and costly. By combining artificial intelligence (AI) technology with skilled expert abstractors, Carta Healthcare helps you abstract data faster, more efficiently, at a lower cost, while delivering the highest quality data. 

Learn more about how Carta Healthcare applies the power of AI technology, combined with expert clinical data abstractors, to harness data and insights as catalysts for healthcare transformation at www.carta.healthcare.  

Media Contact: Marcia G. Rhodes, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com, Amendola Communications 

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The Cardinal Rule of Social Media: It’s Not All About You

The Cardinal Rule of Social Media: It’s Not All About You

We all understand that the role of a corporate marketing department, among other things, is to promote its company, educate potential customers, and strengthen the company’s brand image – with the ultimate goal of driving higher sales.

Most marketers know how to articulate the benefits and value proposition of their company’s products, and, generally, they do a solid job of it.

What fewer marketers understand is when NOT to talk about their companies – particularly on social media. (For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on LinkedIn because it’s the most valuable social site for business users.)

It’s important for marketers to remember that social media platforms are intended to encourage two-way communication, as opposed to functioning like a megaphone used to blast messages.

Accordingly, corporate social media must focus on providing value to followers. Indeed, corporate social media success requires putting followers’ wants and needs above the company’s own objectives.

The 80/20 rule for social media success

The 80/20 rule is the answer for keeping marketers focused on delivering value to their audiences. This cardinal rule for social media simply holds that 80% of the content posted to a social account should deliver value to the audience (think general industry news, opinions, and observations) while it’s ok for the other 20% to be blatantly promotional.

In my experience, most corporate marketing departments have mastered the 20% aspect of the rule but tend to struggle with the 80% part. Admittedly, it can be a little daunting in the beginning to understand and figure out how to fulfill this goal.

First, start with a list of keywords that pertain to your company’s niche in the industry. For example, if the company works in the virtual care space, create news alerts and perform searches for keywords like “telehealth,” “virtual care,” “virtual nursing,” “value-based care,” “healthcare staffing shortages,” and “healthcare burnout,” for example. Relevant hash tags can also help to surface third-party articles that discuss industry trends.

These articles make up the 80% of non-promotional content, while the other 20% can consist of product and technology-related information specific to the company.

Professionals go to LinkedIn when they need information, making it a great place to demonstrate thought leadership by sharing insights, stats, and case studies. These users want to discuss topics in their industry, cultivate professional connections, and better themselves as professionals along their career trajectory.

By adhering to the 80/20 rule, brands can help LinkedIn users accomplish these objectives. Just keep in mind the cardinal rule of social media: It’s not all about you.

Six Considerations When Evaluating A PR Agency

So, you want to engage a PR agency to help get the word out about your solutions or services.

Sounds like a plan. Sounds easy.

But the process can be daunting, time-consuming, and expensive. And, most importantly, it may not help you achieve your goals.

If this sounds oddly pessimistic coming from someone in an agency, bear with me. I’m here to share some considerations, observations, and best practices gleaned from over three decades split between agency and corporate marketing gigs. Avoiding the mistakes of others can save you time and money, and result in a productive, positive working relationship with your agency.

Know what you want to accomplish.

Do you need straight-up media relations? Industry analyst engagement? Help with messaging and positioning? Social media strategy and support? Editorial and content development? Speaking opportunities? Is there the potential for crisis management? Will your executives require media training?

Having a grasp of your near- and longer-term objectives can help you narrow the field. Most agencies will claim to provide a full menu of such services, but the quality and scope of the offerings can vary wildly. Be skeptical and do your due diligence.

PR Agency? Full-Time Employee? Freelancer?

There are pros and cons to each of these approaches, and your organization’s budget, timeline, and internal processes will dictate the best approach.

Agencies can be expensive, depending on the retainer structure or the billable rates of your account team, but can actually be more cost-effective than the alternatives. They also bring a wealth of expansive and deep marketing expertise, along with a solid bench. They are often very good at helping determine what you need (see above), are responsive and reliable, and 100% dedicated to your agenda. Agencies also provide access to a host of services––from art/creative direction and design, to web development, digital marketing, and social media strategy and support.

Full-time employees are great because they are invested in your success and are in it for the long haul. But they often require substantial budget outlays, and can take months to identify, recruit, sign, and onboard. Once they are thoroughly steeped in your offerings, they can be outstanding brand ambassadors and stewards, and can also work on other marketing initiatives as needed. But once they leave, you’re back to square one.

Freelancers can be nimble hires––they often have excellent credentials, can start right away, and hit the ground running. But they typically operate with minimal resources, have no back-up, and must dedicate hours to other clients. They also can be brutally hard to integrate into existing systems (HR/accounting, project management, content management). They also are prone to terminating their arrangements abruptly (which can also work in your favor if you only need a limited engagement).

One size does not fit all.

Yes, big agencies have big resources, but don’t let claims of a national footprint, local presence, global reach, or head count sell you on an ill-matched relationship. Think expertise, applied experience in your market, and skillsets that dovetail with your agenda. Access to creative resources is a plus. Know how many hours are available to your account each week or month.

Who’s on the team? 

This consideration also hinges on knowing what you want to accomplish. If you’re looking for a clip shop to get you mentioned in every low-value round-up article, then seniority matters little. But if you’ll need responsive counsel with expertise in and contacts spanning your market, look for senior-level account team members. Ask the tough questions: What’s the average tenure of your account team? Where have they worked? What companies have they represented? What results have they generated? How many former journalists are on staff? How many accounts do they manage at once?

Mind the old switch-a-roo.  

Let’s assume you’re down to a few final candidates and are evaluating pitches. For these meetings, most agencies will send out the big guns––often including the person with his/her name on the door. But will you ever see or hear from these folks again? Many times, agencies get a bad rap by orchestrating a senior executive dog-and-pony show, only to later hand the account over to junior staffers (or even interns) who, while eager, often require more direction and a longer ramp-up period. Get firm commitments on your team’s composition, and don’t hesitate to challenge if you aren’t sold on the match. You want them to operate as an extension of your team.

Beware of scope creep.

Will the agencies you are considering be able to accommodate your needs as your marketing strategy evolves? If your program may eventually require social media support, make sure the agency of record has the capabilities––and not just an intern with a huge stable of Instagram followers, but applied expertise in cultivating an online presence with a custom mix of organic and paid content. Ditto for the media training and crisis communications mentioned earlier. Otherwise, you’ll be saddled with the chore of evaluating and enlisting additional vendors.

In the end, it’s entirely up to you, and highly dependent on your organization’s budget, processes, and requirements. And remember, the old adage, “Fast, cheap, or good? You can only pick two” applies here as well. If you want something fast and good, it won’t be cheap; if you want it cheap and good, it won’t be fast; and if you want cheap and fast, it won’t be good. Choose wisely.

Curebase Taps Amendola Communications for Strategic Public Relations and Social Media Services

Curebase Taps Amendola Communications for Strategic Public Relations and Social Media Services

Award-winning healthcare IT PR agency and fast-growing decentralized clinical trial (DCT) technology company align to advance the future of global healthcare research

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., August 17, 2021 – Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and technology public relations and marketing firm, announced today that Curebase, a company committed to democratizing access to clinical studies, has selected the agency to launch a comprehensive media and communications program highlighting its innovative Decentralized Clinical Trial (DCT) software platform and work to make clinical trials not only more patient-centric but also faster and more cost-effective. The decision comes after an extensive review of other national agencies.

Curebase is engineering a new approach to the entire clinical trial process with a unique DCT model that revolves around the patient’s lifestyle, enabling diverse studies with broader patient populations. The Curebase platform allows sponsors, CROs and physicians to conduct first-of-their kind study designs in which patients participate both at home and in real-world settings with best-in-class software experiences.

“We are excited to leverage Amendola, which brings a stealthy team, strategic healthcare IT expertise, and a long history of proven wins,” said Tom Lemberg, founder and CEO of Curebase. “We are proud to have helped many companies rapidly complete their clinical research, including those who achieved emergency use authorization during the pandemic. Our vision is to make clinical research an option for all patients, regardless of their care setting, and we are certain the Amendola team will be terrific partners in these efforts.”

“We look forward to the opportunity to help bring Curebase’s vision for a democratized clinical research industry to life,” said agency CEO Jodi Amendola. “They are a fast-rising powerhouse in the DCT space—developing innovative approaches for their clients and redefining how the world executes healthcare research. Curebase is building a future that includes better diversity, quicker enrollment, and improved patient satisfaction for all clinical trials.”

To learn more about Amendola, visit www.acmarketingpr.com. To learn more about Curebase, visit www.curebase.com.

About Amendola

Amendola is an award-winning, insights-driven public relations and marketing firm that integrates media relations, social media, content and lead gen programs to move healthcare, life sciences/pharma and healthcare IT decision-makers to action. The agency represents some of the industry’s best-known brands as well as groundbreaking startups that are disrupting the status quo. Nearly 90% of its client base represents multi-year clients and/or repeat client executives. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros understand the ongoing complexities of the healthcare ecosystem and provide strategic guidance and creative direction to drive positive ROI, boost reputation and increase market share. Making an impact since 2003, Amendola combines traditional and digital media to fuel meaningful and measurable growth. For more information about the industry’s “A-Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Curebase

At Curebase, our mission is to bring quality medical innovations to patients faster and improve human wellbeing through more efficient clinical studies. We are proving that clinical research can be radically accelerated if we empower physicians everywhere to enroll patients in the communities where they live. By applying cutting edge clinical software and remote study management techniques to the problem, we are reinventing clinical trials and research from the ground up. For more information, please visit www.curebase.com.

Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com