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Like many business owners, I’m skeptical of social media marketing claims. For many of the B2B (business-to-business) organizations we work with, Twitter and Facebook have proven to be high-effort/low-return marketing channels.

Despite this challenge, it’s no secret that social media offers a unique opportunity for businesses to network on a global scale … and unlike Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn presents a particularly appealing option for B2B companies. With nearly 259 million members, LinkedIn hosts profiles for nearly half of the world’s professionals and provides a level of targeting not seen elsewhere.

That is why, if you’re in the B2B space (and ESPECIALLY if you provide a service), I’m advocating that your first social move should be LinkedIn.

The power of LinkedIn

As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn is like one giant cocktail party where everyone is passing out business cards (and NOT sharing cat videos).

While being on LinkedIn is relatively easy (create a profile, accept invitations), marketing in this space requires much more effort and discipline. It means building both a personal page and a company one; it means writing recommendations and giving endorsements; it means commenting on what others are doing, and celebrating your network’s business wins and work anniversaries. In short, marketing on LinkedIn requires engagement.

So, what’s in it for you?

For starters, by engaging in LinkedIn, you will grow your network. And, if you do this right, you’ll grow your network of relevant connections – people who can help you, buy from you, and grow your business and career. Marketing through LinkedIn helps establish you and your business as a thought leader…someone top of mind when your network needs your services or is looking to make a career move.

But as you grow your networks, remember one caution: do so thoughtfully. My own experience has been to only connect with people I knew well or with whom I had a strong business or personal relationship. I steadfastly ignore invitations from people I don’t know or for which there was no apparent reason to connect (these, by the way, are mostly salespeople and recruiters).

This strategy has worked wonders: I’ve successfully used LinkedIn to generate new business, hire top-notch employees and grow Kinesis’ brand.

The downsides

There are, however, some drawbacks. For starters, LinkedIn only provides limited analytics on who has shared your content. Even worse, your status updates have an expiration date; after about two weeks, your updates simply disappear, and you can no longer reference or point people directly to them. This last piece in particular highlights why it’s critical to own your content and house it on a company blog, rather than rely entirely on social media (but that’s the subject of another article).

Guiding principles

In summary, there’s simply no better way for B2B companies to leverage social media than on LinkedIn. I leave you with these final tips:

• Company pages provide analytics, but personal updates often have greater network penetration.

• Relevant connections matter most. Ten valuable contacts will do a lot more good than 100 miscellaneous ones.

• Time isn’t on your side. Keep the two-week expiration date in mind as you post status updates, and consider which posts might make more sense for your company page or blog.

• Get ready for the slog. Like anything else, LinkedIn requires effort – and that means devoting time to creating highly valuable content for your audience.

• What works today probably won’t work tomorrow. This is true of most marketing tactics – keep an eye on what’s working, and be ready for a new trend to rise from the shadows just as you get the hang of this one.

Shawn Busse is the owner of Kinesis, a Portland agency that provides marketing strategy and branding expertise for B2B companies. Learn more at www.kinesisinc.com. Busse and his team are longtime supporters of American Marketing Association PDX. Learn more at www.ama-pdx.org.