LinkedIn is one of the most common marketing channels startup founders use to connect with potential investors and convince them to fund their ventures.
But with so many startups in the UK competing for the attention of angel investors on LinkedIn, it can be challenging to launch a crowdfunding campaign that stands out.
LinkedIn: A Vital Social Media Channel for Your Crowdfunding Campaign
LinkedIn can help you expand your startup business’ connections, discover new marketing opportunities and create a strong network of professional followers.
It gives you access to a network of skilled and qualified individuals and the chance to find potential investors for your startup’s financial needs.
LinkedIn is also the most used social media platform by angel investors, with over half of angel investors and VC partners using the network for professional or financial purposes.
And when it comes to getting your products to the public, LinkedIn is the single most effective channel, generating227% more effective leads than Facebook or Twitter.
Why Launch a Crowdfunding Campaign?
If you’re new to startups, you would want to pitch your idea to potential investors. One way to achieve it is to get in touch with friends, family, investors, and businesses. Otherwise, current technology could perform the task for you.
Here’s where crowdsourcing happens: by pitching the idea to as many people as possible, it uses digital marketing to reach everyone. This is achieved through social media, online advertising, and online communities.
Through crowdfunding, a business venture is financed with a small amount of money from many individuals. Crowdfunding uses the easy accessibility of various individuals’ networks through social media and crowdfunding websites to bring investors and entrepreneurs together.
This will increase the opportunity for entrepreneurship by expanding the pool of investors outside the traditional circle of owners, relatives and venture capitalists.
Some of the benefits you can get from launching a crowdfunding campaign include:
A wider reach to potential startup investors
Many would think you can only raise capital from accredited investors, venture capitalists, and banks outside their network. However, this is untrue.
Crowdfunding is an excellent option to fund a company without giving up equity or accumulating debt. Rewards-based crowdfunding platforms let you raise money for the community by offering tangible goods or other gifts.
Promote awareness about your product and brand
As it is a free and straightforward means to reach many channels, an active crowdfunding campaign is a terrific approach to introduce a venture’s mission and vision to the market.
It’s now simple for the website and other social media accounts to receive referral traffic thanks to the frameworks for social media processes on many crowdfunding platforms.
This typically helps businesses to get thousands of natural visits from unique users and potential investors. These people are also important for viral marketing because they can share and tell their connections about the campaign.
Minimal paperwork required
One of the most challenging tasks that entrepreneurs go through, especially in the early phases of the business, is applying for a loan or looking for other sources of money. Thankfully, the application procedure for crowdfunding is significantly easier than these traditional methods.
How to Launch a Crowdfunding Campaign on LinkedIn
1. Create a Professional-Looking LinkedIn Profile
The LinkedIn community has two categories: members and organisations. Both are essential to the daily conversations and engagements on the platform.
A Personal Page on LinkedIn is a digital representation of your professional brand. You can use this to post information to promote thought leadership, expand your network, list past experiences, and stay in touch with your connections.
When people want to know or learn more about you, they go to your page.
Investors will look at your profile, so make sure your profile makes a great first impression on potential investors. It’s often the first page that angel investors will check out, so it must be professional.
Your headshot will be the basis for people’s initial impressions of your page. Adding a decent headshot is one thing you can do to establish a solid and outstanding LinkedIn profile.
Also, no investor will be impressed if you only copy and paste your CV on your LinkedIn profile. They will, however, be impressed with the long list of achievements your startup’s accomplished. So make sure you include these within the Experience section of your LinkedIn profile. You can add the organisations you’ve worked with in your career in the Experiences section and your About or Summary section.
Look at how I wrote up the About section in my LinkedIn profile.
Notice how I included here my achievements and added a dose of my personality. You can put your best self out there in this section, strengthening your first impression like no other profile section can.
2. Set up a LinkedIn Page for Your Startup
Your LinkedIn Page is where you can specify your brand’s identity, voice, purpose, capabilities, and culture on the network, whether you represent a business, school, non-profit, or organisation. People who want to learn about your organisation go to its LinkedIn Page.
Visuals are crucial. Every company should use relevant, high-resolution photos for the images that website visitors will see first.
To generate an excellent first impression, it’s crucial to have sharp images since people frequently glance at photos before reading the content.
Make sure to also inject your brand’s personality in your “About Us” section when you describe your organisation and why it’s great. This will help close the gap between your visitors’ impression of your business and the one you want them to have.
Finally, be sure to include keywords to assist the proper audience in finding you and answering fundamental questions about your business, such as who you are, where you are located, and what you sell or offer.
3. Have a CRM in Place
A customer relationship management system, or CRM, helps you keep track of and manage connections with your existing investors while attempting to attract new ones. It’s often used interchangeably with CRM software, a consolidated SaaS platform that streamlines management throughout the entire customer lifecycle, including marketing, sales, and customer care.
Having a CRM in place can help startup owners follow up with angel investors they connect with on LinkedIn, keep them informed about their company’s progress, and expand the pool of angel investors they can persuade to invest in their company.
With a CRM, investors will have the assurance that their investment is safe and grows exponentially, one that comes from credibility. When a startup can back its claims with factual data, it establishes credibility that can be managed using CRM.
4. Start Sharing Content That’s Quality and Relevant
Creating quality content will help build your authority online. Suppose your business is established as a credible place to get information. In that case, you can begin to establish yourself as an industry leader, and you’re more likely to rank higher in search engines.
Additionally, clients who see you as an industry expert are more likely to trust you. Your content should highlight your expertise and knowledge in your field and offer insightful responses to your audience’s queries.
5. Engage with Posts Made by Angel Investors
Startup founders should warm up their connections with the angel investors following them so that when it’s time to reach out to them, these angel investors will become more receptive.
It’s essential to provide quality information (not just “Great post”) when they comment. Check their posts and start engaging with them, whether by commenting on one or more posts or liking and reacting to them. Don’t shy away from asking a question or sharing doubts.
Share posts published by angel investors and tag them into these posts. Sharing content and participating in relevant conversations can quickly build a rapport with potential customers and establish yourself as an industry expert.
6. Create a video pitch deck
An investor pitch deck is a presentation which aims to get to the next meeting. You’ll want to present investors with one that’s well-thought-out, realistic, and showing potential to engage with you. You want to convince your audience to some degree, using hard facts and well-researched data to show that your startup is deserving of their money.
An investor pitch deck can be combined using a sophisticated platform, a PowerPoint presentation, or a video. A pitch deck’s most crucial aspect is communicating your company, where it’s going, and why you need money to make it a successful venture.
And although PowerPoint presentations are the most common form of pitch decks, videos are also an excellent way to use them, as it’s a massive part of the LinkedIn content experience.
Videos are 20x more likely to be shared than any other content, and they have been shown to draw viewers’ attention to their feeds. It’s also an essential strategy for engaging C-suite decision-makers and senior influencers, and LinkedIn is quickly emerging as one of their most reliable sources of video content.
7. Take Time to Craft Your Messaging
Start your pitch with a compelling story. It should address the problem you’re solving in the marketplace, immediately piquing the interest of your audience. You can also put actual statistics here if you’ve conducted any testing.
Even better if you can connect your message to your audience—in this example, the investor. What sectors have they previously invested in? What problems did their previous entrepreneurship projects have? Do some research on your potential investors so you can understand their priorities and adjust your message accordingly.
8. Convert Your Crowdfunding Campaign into Ads
Since most—if not all—of LinkedIn users are those looking to increase their business and professional network. Its lead conversion rates are three times greater than other significant social media platforms. Additionally, of all the social media platforms a business employs, LinkedIn provides 80% of its B2B leads.
You can create an ad campaign with a call-to-action button to visit a landing page with gated content. The target audience then goes to a landing page and leaves their contact information.
9. Partner with Crowdfunding Platforms
Before you launch a crowdfunding campaign, startups need to understand their market. You’ll need to consider your target market, what drives them to interact with your brand or product, and how to engage with them.
Additionally, if particular crowdfunding platforms are likely to attract backers from beyond your network, you should make plans to get all the supporters needed for the campaign to be successful.
This implies that a crowdfunding plan needs to be established before it can be implemented. Veteran crowdfunders frequently cite network benchmarks that call for at least 1,000 designated targets to have 30% of their support committed before the initiative begins. It will take more time than anticipated to arrive at those figures.
Fortunately, partnering with crowdfunding platforms like Trendscout can allow you to launch a crowdfunding campaign that will reach a broader audience of angel investors.
TrendScout was founded to close the gap between angel investors looking for opportunities with high returns and startup founders wanting to make a positive change in this world. TrendScout has helped 200+ startups launch successful crowdfunding campaigns, and we have our network of 4,000+ high net-worth and sophisticated investors to raise the capital you need to scale.
From the pre-seed to the series C stage (and beyond), we’ll provide the guidance and resources you need to effectively raise your subsequent funding round.
Interested? Click here.
10. Post about Your Milestones
Sharing posts on the milestones you achieved in terms of crowdfunding can help make your startup even more appealing to investors and help encourage them to want to learn more about your startup. Help your prospective backers feel part of a broader community that all see the value in this project and share the support you’ve received.
Key Takeaways
Using LinkedIn when you launch a crowdfunding campaign increases the chances of finding potential startup investors. More importantly, you can now have a channel to start a conversation with them.
Combine the steps shared here with a properly planned out pitch deck, and you can significantly increase the chances of getting them interested in funding your startup.
I hope this guide helped you start launching a crowdfunding campaign on LinkedIn.
If you want more tips on how to launch a crowdfunding campaign to find potential investors on LinkedIn or through a crowdfunding platform, click here.
Rest assured that I or someone from our team will get in touch with you every step of the way.
