LinkedIn's Evolution for Big Brands: Social Media Week Chicago 2013 presentation
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LinkedIn has evolved from a networking site to a unique publishing and marketing platform. We explored this in a 2013 Social Media Week presentation with Daniel B. Honigman, from Critical Mass, and Ryan Walker from LinkedIn.
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LinkedIn's Evolution for Big Brands: Social Media Week Chicago 2013 presentation
- 1. LINKEDIN: AN EVOLVING PLATFORM FOR BIG BRANDS SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK CHICAGO: SEPTEMBER 2013 ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 1
- 2. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 2 HOUSEKEEPING + INTRODUCTION LINKEDIN USER SNAPSHOT LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES THE EDITORIAL ECOSYSTEM OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE API BUILDING AN ACTIVATION PLAN AND MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK CONCLUSION + Q&A 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 AGENDA
- 3. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 3 01. HOUSEKEEPING + INTRODUCTION
- 4. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 4 DANIEL B. HONIGMAN: ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Ryan leads LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions business for automotive clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Land Rover Jaguar, Porsche, Volkswagen and Audi. Most recently, he partnered with MB-USA and Nissan Global on LinkedIn’s pilot launch of Sponsored Updates, the first native content ads used to reach the 225 million global professionals on the platform. Twitter: @rwalker2018 RYAN WALKER: Daniel is a Senior Planner with Critical Mass’ Chicago’s office, working with clients such as HP, the Illinois Lottery and others. He has produced award-winning work in various roles at Sears Holdings Corporation, Tribune Interactive and Weber Shandwick. Twitter: @danielhonigman
- 5. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 5 #SMWLINKEDIN HASHTAG FOR USE DURING PANEL
- 6. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 6 02. LINKEDIN USER SNAPSHOT
- 7. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 7 RE-INTRODUCING…
- 8. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 8 LINKEDIN IS A GLOBAL NETWORK OF PROFESSIONALS… 225M+Registered members as of May 2013 200+Countries and territories 64%Of LinkedIn members are outside of the US
- 9. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 9 …AND IS COMPRISED OF A SMART, AFFLUENT AUDIENCE 41% HHI of $100k+ 32% Higher than Facebook 52%of LinkedIn monthly visitors have a college or graduate degree 18% Higher than Facebook
- 10. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 10 LINKEDIN IS MORE THAN JUST JOBS Groups/ Company Pages SlideShare Integration LinkedIn Today LinkedIn Influencers
- 11. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 11 BRANDS MUST BE: LINKEDIN REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH RELEVANT
- 12. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 12 BRANDS MUST BE: LINKEDIN REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH VALUE-DRIVEN
- 13. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 13 BRANDS MUST BE: LINKEDIN REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH HUMAN
- 14. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 14 BRANDS MUST BE: LINKEDIN REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH CONNECTED
- 15. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 15 BRANDS MUST BE: LINKEDIN REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH INSPIRED
- 16. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 16 HOW TO DRIVE CHANNEL GROWTH API integration within web properties Company Page promotion on dot-com House content within web properties LinkedIn Today Influencers Internal PR On-site ads Off-site retargeting Data matching BRANDS GO HERE OWNED PAID EARNED
- 17. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 17 03. LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES
- 18. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 18 INTRODUCTION TO LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES 500K+ WERE CREATED IN THE LAST YEAR ALONE THERE ARE MORE THAN THREE MILLION LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES
- 19. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 19 1. A hub for thought leadership and other company-related content. 2. An additional platform for customer and follower engagement. 3. A dedicated space for job postings and careers-related information. 4. An overview of a company’s products and services. A LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING:
- 20. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 20 COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: HOME TAB (PORSCHE CARS NORTH AMERICA) Custom header image, consistent with other creative Frequent status updates Promo area for ‘Products’ tab
- 21. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 21 COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: CAREERS TAB (ADOBE) Banner image customized for Careers Tab Unique content above the fold Key jobs (and people) showcased; Link to Adobe Jobs search in LinkedIn Job Search funcionality
- 22. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 22 COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: PRODUCTS TAB (PORSCHE CARS NORTH AMERICA) Unique, product-related banner creative. (Can link to external site.) Full product name, description and image Product endorsements/recommendations
- 23. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 23 COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTS (ADOBE) Link to product page on company website Full product overview text Multiple recommendations
- 24. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 24 04. THE LINKEDIN EDITORIAL ECOSYSTEM
- 25. LinkedIn rolls out LinkedIn Today Influencers program launched, as well as ability to “follow” users MARCH 2011 OCTOBER 2012 LinkedIn acquires Pulse APRIL 2013 There are 1.3 million publishers on LinkedIn TODAY ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 25 BACKGROUND LINKEDIN’S NEW APPROACH AS PUBLISHER
- 26. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 26 LINKEDIN TODAY IS: LINKEDIN TODAY 1. An aggregator of top articles. 2. A publishing platform for original content. 3. Algorithmically driven by InShare.
- 27. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 27 THREE MAIN INGREDIENTS FOR EDITORIAL SUCCESS ON LINKEDIN: 1. COMPETITIVE AUDIT 2. DEFINED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 3. EDITORIAL APPROACH AND CALENDAR
- 28. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 28 LINKEDIN AUDIT OVERVIEW BRANDS SHOULD CONDUCT A COMPETITIVE AUDIT, LOOKING AT: • Status updates and follower response • Careers and Products & Services tabs • Page creative and messaging (brand vs. utility) From here, brands should be able to create a Distribution Map to assess their competition.
- 29. UTILITY-DRIVEN (e.g. products/services overview; sales) BRAND (purpose/values, thought leadership)-driven HIGH ENGAGEMENT LOW ENGAGEMENT ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 29 SAMPLE LINKEDIN DISTRIBUTION MAP
- 30. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 30 CREATING A LINKEDIN EDITORIAL MODEL WILL DEFINE RESPONSIBILITIES Roles and responsibilities must then be assigned, and processes built around them. The goals: • Identify content owners • Identify stakeholders for buy-in • Identify additional resources required
- 31. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 31 SAMPLE EDITORIAL MODEL + TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES MAP COMPANY TEAM LEADS EXECUTIVE SPONSOR EDITOR MEASUREMENT AND OPTIMIZATION CONTENT LEAD LEGAL COMMUNITY MANAGER HR (Product, Design, Maketing, PR, Brand, HR) Program oversight COMPANY TEAMS + PARTNERS TECH SUPPORT Creates / manages publishing calendar and editorial plan Coordinates with internal and external contributors to secure content and determine quarterly content plan Works with measurement team to tweak editorial approach, if needed Secures and remixes existing assets Curates external content Publishes content Monitors and responds to conversation Gathers additional story ideas from community Manages and updates job postings (titles, descriptions)
- 32. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 32 SAMPLE LINKEDIN EDITORIAL CALENDAR Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 EDITORIAL YEAR ONE BUILD-UP THE BASICS OUR PEOPLE INNOVATIONS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Story Focus “What we do” “Who we are” “Where we are going” “What we can do together” Narrative Key products Company overview Company values Partnerships Key company talent Thought leadership Hero innovations Behind the scenes What we’re working on LinkedIn-customized company thought leadership (e.g. Influencers) Content Source EXISTING / REMIXED EXISTING / REMIXED CURATION EXISTING / REMIXED CURATION Potential Content sources Company News and Announcements Press releases Third-party sources Company News and Announcements Press releases Third-party sources Additional sources, plus new platform-specific content LinkedIn Influencer contributions Hero Thought Leadership (IG) 1-2x / Month 2-3x / Month 3-4 / Month 4-5x / Month Product Stories 4x / Month 4x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month Announcements 2x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month CAREER Recruitment Campaigns TBD TBD TBD TBD Employee Profiles 1x / Month 1x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month Job Postings 1x / Week 1x / Week 1x / Week 2x / Week CONVO Monitoring & Response Daily Daily Daily Daily
- 33. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 33 EDITORIAL APPROACH AND CONTENT FILTER ARE KEY TO SUCCESS • Content development and ownership • Brand values • Short-term vs. long-term content • Audience interest WHEN EVALUATING CONTENT FOR A LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
- 34. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 34 05. OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE API
- 35. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 35 USER PROFILES
- 36. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 36 JOBS AND CAREERS-RELATED FUNCTIONALITY
- 37. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 37 OTHER API INTEGRATIONS
- 38. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 38
- 39. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 39
- 40. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 40 OTHER API INTEGRATIONS: JONES NEW YORK
- 41. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 41 06. BUILDING AN ACTIVATION PLAN AND MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK
- 42. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 42 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ACTIVATION INTERNAL • LinkedIn Personal pages for key company thought leaders • Internal employee follower acquisition • Recruitment of internal contributors to Company Page • Cross-promotion through other brand-owned properties EXTERNAL • Leverage existing influencer relationships and campaigns • Paid “follower” acquisition • Activation campaigns and programs that leverage API • Recruitment (career) campaigns
- 43. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 43 DEVELOPING KPIS Measurable KPIs must then be proposed, as well as a reporting schedule. KPIs will be tied to overall channel strategy, and goals/objectives. As the strategy and responsibilities evolve, so do the KPIs.
- 44. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 44 SAMPLE KPIS House elevated conversations designed to lead the industry Highlight company talent, ideas and innovations Treat followers as peers Reinforce pride of association and evoke a desire to be part of company culture Promote thought leadership Spark debate Initiate conversations Create brand associations Follow our stories Users actively shape the story Attract top talent to the brand Improve employee satisfaction / pride of association among current employees Profile of followers Share of followers at more senior level (e.g. VP, CEO) Number of posts impressions Clickthroughs to content Number of comments Content Marketing Index score Total number of followers Repeat engagements Number of likes Number of shares Number and share of followers from the client’s industry Engagement rate (% of engaged visitors) Numbers of new applications Number of company employee followers STRATEGY 1 2 3 4 GOAL KPIs
- 45. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 45 07. Q&A
- 46. ©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 46 THANK YOU
Editor's Notes
- Over the last several years, LinkedIn has evolved beyond its use as a recruitment tool, which centered only around job postings and social networking. For brands to break through in this channel, they must think about LinkedIn as a unique, editorial-driven marketing channel, leveraging its full Company Page functionality, its suite of publishing tools and its APIs for maximum effect.
- Pause for observations/notes from RyanRyan to provide update to statistics. Questions:- Biggest growth areas? Why?
- Other stats:second-most popular social network for adults, behind Facebook (Pew)20 million-plus students and recent grads, making it the site’s fastest growing demographic35% of users use daily (lab42 survey)42% of users update their profiles regularly (lab42)Pause for observations/notes from RyanQuestions:- Ask for updates from Ryan
- People spend time on personal networks, and invest time in professional networks, according to the 2012 Mindset Divide research study by LinkedIn and TNS.The top three types of content expected in personal networks are: info from friends, info on personal interests and entertainment updatesIn professional networks, people invest their time. They expect career content, brand updates and info on current affairs. And according to the report, the percentage of people expecting brand updates is actually 26% higher in professional networks. (Not surprising, but it sort of makes you wonder why more brands aren’t investing in their own LinkedIn company page status updates.Pause for observations/notes from Ryan. Questions:- Time breakout of what people are doing on LinkedIn
- Relevant: Brands require a different approach and editorial model for their narratives on LinkedInRyan’s example: Jones New York?
- Value-driven:Brands must be consistent with their own brand values, and also focus on adding value, as opposed to overpromoting themselves.Ryan’s example: Coca-Cola
- Human:Who your brand is is as important as what it doesRyan’s example: L’Oreal
- Connected: Brands must embrace followers as peers, and not fans. Ryan’s example: Samsung
- Inspired: Content and conversations should be aspirational in natureRyan’s example: American Express (inspiring SMB owners)
- Brands must leverage paid, earned and owned channels to drive growth. These are just a few of the offerings, with more being launched all the time.Question for Ryan: How often do you see brands leveraging the full ecosystem and to what extent?
- LinkedIn announced the launch of company profile pages in 2008; they have since evolved to today’s more robust Company Pages offering. As of June 2013, there are more than three million LinkedIn Company Pages, with 500K+ created in the last year.According to a recent HubSpot study, LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate, with 2.74% of site visitors converting into leads, compared to Facebook and Twitter, with respective conversion rates of 0.69% and 0.77%. As a Company Page is the primary owned touchpoint in the LinkedIn ecosystem, it is important to utilize its full range of functionality. (Conversion rates obviously more for B2B companies)Question for Ryan: What’s driving the growth? Questions about quality of traffic, etc.
- A hub for thought leadership and other company-related editorial content (e.g. blog posts, white papers).An additional platform for customer and follower engagement.A dedicated space for job postings and additional careers- and recruitment-related information.An overview of a company’s products and services.
- NOTE: Ryan to walk through.Also, don’t forget to fill out your About section completely
- NOTE: Ryan to walk through.
- NOTE: Ryan to walk through.
- NOTE: Ryan to walk through.
- Over the last few years, LinkedIn has shifted its approach to favor brands that have a robust editorial presence, process and publishing model:March 2011: LinkedIn rolls out “LinkedIn Today,” an aggregated news experience, to live on user homepages.October 2012: Influencers program launched, a platform for business thought leaders to create original content for the platform. It also announces the ability for users to “follow” other users’ updates without connecting to them directly. April 2013: LinkedIn acquires Pulse, a mobile news aggregator app with hundreds of content partnerships.Today: There are 1.3 million publishers on LinkedIn. Ryan:What do you think has been one of the more important events on the LinkedIn timeline?
- LinkedIn Today Is (slide build)An aggregator of the top articles shared by a user’s LinkedIn network, Company Pages and topic channels they follow.A publishing platform for original content posted by LinkedIn Influencers.Algorithmically driven by InShare(sharing) buttons that are placed on publisher sites, as well as in feeds.Question for Ryan: Where do you see LinkedIn Today going in the future?Voice over after: Where do brands need to really begin when they’re working on their editorial approach? (Next slide)
- Before diving in, brands should conduct a competitive audit of other Company Pages in their industries, looking at: Status updates + follower response (engagement through likes, comments and shares)Quality of content in the Careers and Products & Services tabsOverall page creative and messaging Kick to Ryan for chiming in (e.g. content creation capabilities)
- Subjective, but you’ll want to do this with your own batch of competitors. One axis should refer to the types of posts the brand makes, and the other could speak to the level of engagement. Brands that just post press releases and job postings might go in the bottom left, but brands with a great mix of messaging about the company, its values, etc. will likely appear in the top right. Other brands can get away with more job postings if they’re an aspirational brand anyway (top left), and others might have great brand messaging, but no one knows who they are, resulting in low engagement.Keep in mind things like consistency with overall branding, positioning and it should help you identify your own LinkedIn opportunity.
- Once an editorial calendar has been developed, roles and ongoing responsibilities must be identified and assigned, with processes being developed. (A RAM or RACI matrix might help with this.) The goals:Identify content owners (e.g. PR/Comms, Marketing, HR)Identify stakeholders for buy-in (e.g. Legal, Executive Sponsor)Identify additional resources required (e.g. Community Management, Technology)
- Different stakeholders in different departments (editorial, marketing, HR, legal, analytics/measurement)
- Year one sample editorial calendar. You can see that over time, the approach is evolving and expanding to include fewer news items and press releases, and more original content.According to LinkedIn, the types of Company Page update types with the highest follower engagement are:Exclusive “behind the scenes” content and interviewsCareer-related posts, including job opportunitiesTips and best practicesCompany and industry facts and quotes
- Content Development and Ownership: Which stakeholders create and “own” the content that will eventually get published on a LinkedIn Company Page? Will it work as is, or will it need to be reworked?Brand Values: Does the content align with and display a company's unique brand values and positioning?Short-Term vs. Long-Term Content: Does the topic address a subject that’s of long-term interest to the company and its followers (e.g. sustainability, retirement planning), or is more timely and short term (e.g. new product release, conference announcement)?Audience interest: Based on the company’s goals and audience, is there interest in this topic? (Will be determined over time with engagement level, LinkedIn Insights.)Once topics are defined, brands can start to plan their editorial calendars. However, it will take someone with this sort of experience, or experience in content strategy, to drive these efforts.
- In order to fully take advantage of the LinkedIn platforms, brands must look beyond their Company Pages and to their own websites for integration opportunities. LinkedIn features a robust API around the following areas.
- Site registration/user profile API- API used for site registration, profile creation and the usual, but it’s also the foundation of the entire site. (Q&A, forum threads, etc.)
- The program invited devs to submit resumes and LinkedIn info in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), storing it in Mongo. It was a relevant technical challenge that enabled MetLife to streamline recruiting efforts.RESULTS GO HERE.
- “For many people, their car reflects their professional life, and their professional identity affects their car choices.” - Lutz Kothe,Head of Marketing & PR, Volkswagen Passenger CarsProject pitted people against each other to see who was most full of themselves.VOLKSWAGENChallenges: Raise brand awareness for Passat, build VW loyalty and influence decision makingSolution: Leverage custom API for contest allowing members to challenge each other to “duels” to find out who has the best LinkedIn profileResults:15K entries before paid media startedResults after 3 weeks:- 4 minute average visit time- 30,000+ unique duels- 180,000 unique visitors- 3.9 viral factor
- “Lee Daniels: The Butler” promotion called “Path to Success”Objective: Engage professionals looking for career enhancement by tying in the incredible story of ‘The Butler’ main character, Cecil Gaines
- Other API integrations: Jones New York
- It’s important to measure all promotions
- A successful LinkedIn Company Page activation requires both internal and external activation. This includes the following activities:
- In order to prove the success of any marketing program, especially new channel activations, measurement must be an integral part.After roles, responsibilities and an activation approach have been defined, measurable KPIs must be proposed, as well as a reporting schedule.The KPIs will be tied to a company’s overall channel strategy, as well as individual goals and objectives.
- Strategy defines the goal, which defines the KPIs. This should be the case not only for linkedin, but for any marketing initiative.
- LinkedIn presents a vast, yet mostly untapped opportunity for brands to break through with high-value, professional content. However, to be competitive in the LinkedIn space, brands must do the following:Recognize that LinkedIn users have a different mindset from other social networkers.Conduct a competitive audit of Company Pages in their verticals to identify the opportunity.Provide all required content for their Company Pages.Develop a full editorial model, identifying key responsibilities and stakeholders.Look beyond their own Company Pages to other owned, earned and paid LinkedIn opportunities.Based on a brand’s goals and activities, develop a measurement framework to attribute success and identify weaknesses.
- LinkedIn presents a vast, yet mostly untapped opportunity for brands to break through with high-value, professional content. However, to be competitive in the LinkedIn space, brands must do the following:Recognize that LinkedIn users have a different mindset from other social networkers.Conduct a competitive audit of Company Pages in their verticals to identify the opportunity.Provide all required content for their Company Pages.Develop a full editorial model, identifying key responsibilities and stakeholders.Look beyond their own Company Pages to other owned, earned and paid LinkedIn opportunities.Based on a brand’s goals and activities, develop a measurement framework to attribute success and identify weaknesses.