LinkedIn is getting more serious about being a platform for sharing more targeted paid and organic content.
I recently blogged about a major step forward for the 610-million strong business-to-business platform: the launch of live video. This was an important move for LinkedIn to catch up to platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, which already allow users to create live video.
What really jumped out at me when I heard about LinkedIn’s adoption of live video was LinkedIn’s intent to offer options for broadcasting content across LinkedIn as well as to more targeted groups within LinkedIn. Imagine, for example, using live video as part of a drip campaign with prospects, or for colleges to recruit talent.
The ability to target business-to-business audiences is a crucial advantage for the platform. And now, LinkedIn is playing to that advantage with the recent launch of another intriguing feature, Interest Targeting in Campaign Manager.
How Interest Targeting Works
For context: Campaign Manager makes it possible for companies to create LinkedIn ads such as Sponsored Content. With the tool, LinkedIn members can launch Sponsored Content campaigns to target different audiences on the platform. But the targeting has not always been as precise as LinkedIn would like it to be. For example, businesses have been able to target LinkedIn members based on information they share about themselves such as the college degrees they hold, but users don’t always share very useful information about themselves.
With Interest Targeting, businesses can target people based on content they like and share. Content likes and shares are crucial because they say something about topics that resonate with a user. For example, if a LinkedIn member is posting a lot of content about, say, the cost of attending college, a university might target that user with Sponsored Content that discusses its financial aid packages.
What You Should Do
I advise businesses to start incorporating these tools into your paid/organic content strategy (although live video for now remains available on an invite basis). It’s also important to incorporate a tool such as Interest Targeting with LinkedIn’s other targeting attributes such as job title even though those attributes have their limitations, as I’ve noted. When a business combines multiple targeting attributes, it can obtain a far more complete picture of its audience.
In addition, align these targeting features with your campaigns along the entire customer journey, from awareness to customer acquisition. Doing so will ensure that the tools achieve measurable business goals such as new hires or customers gained.
To learn more about how to incorporate platforms such as LinkedIn into your online marketing, contact True Interactive. We work with businesses to launch successful campaigns on platforms such as LinkedIn all the time. We are here to help.
