LinkedIn Introduces Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics

LinkedIn’s 150m+ users worldwide are a marketers dream.  Professionals with lots of money and desperate me-too job seekers.  A marketer with the ability to craft intelligent relevant messaging would be able to do good business on the network.  But fortunately for everyone, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner is not necessarily keen on spamming the fragile LinkedIn ecosystem with ads.  But that doesn’t mean he’s not building better ways for brands to connect with people who are interested.
The new services give marketers access to targeting and analytics for advertising campaigns for LinkedIn company pages.  This is an attempt help brands that want to connect with interested users: a brand can now target and analyze whether they are attracting users of certain demographics to their brand pages.  LinkedIn can target “hyper-focused” follower lists based on industry, seniority, job function and other features.  And they can then deliver specific content to those users.  An image of the process of targeting is given below.

After this content is sent out to those users, brands can look at their analytics dashboard which can track engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments and more.  LinkedIn has provided some more data about the new follower ecosystem, as they’re calling it, below.  Check it out and let us know if you agree that this is an effective way for brands to engage on LI.
Additional Information about LinkedIn’s Follower Ecosystem:

• LinkedIn’s Unique Follower Ecosystem: LinkedIn’s follower ecosystem has been designed to enable marketers to: identify and acquire the right followers; more effectively engage and communicate with followers on a regular basis via relevant content; and analyze and optimize the impact of their follower relationships.
• LinkedIn’s Follow Company Button: LinkedIn Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics’ launch follows on the heels of the introduction of the LinkedIn Follow Company button – the first phase of LinkedIn’s follower ecosystem strategy – in February.  It facilitates engagement through a button added to businesses’ Web pages and other marketing materials.

Additional Research about LinkedIn Members and the Value of LinkedIn’s Follower Ecosystem:

• Members expect companies to have a presence and engage on LinkedIn:

o   63% of LinkedIn members expect companies to have a presence on LinkedIn.

• Members are “following” companies and want to maintain these relationships:

o   70% of LinkedIn members follow or would follow companies on LinkedIn.
o   Two out of three LinkedIn followers (64%) would follow companies “indefinitely.”

• Followers are active on LinkedIn:

o   LinkedIn followers are 2x more connected than the average member.
o   LinkedIn followers are in 2x more LinkedIn groups than the average member.

• Engaging followers on LinkedIn significantly impacts brand metrics:

o   Half (49%) of current followers state that they are more likely to purchase products or services from a company that is more engaged with its followers.

• Members are motivated to follow companies on LinkedIn in contrast to other social platforms:

o   Half (47%) of current followers agree that LinkedIn is a more appropriate social environment for hearing company news and updates.