10.18.17
Protect Your Professional Brand With LinkedIn’s New Audience Network
Google and Facebook are the king and queen of generating ad revenue, so when social media channels need to grow, they look to royalty for ideas. Enter the launch of LinkedIn’s Audience Network (FINALLY)!
Advertisers can now place ads across digital properties using the benefits of LinkedIn’s rich professional targeting capabilities. It’s no secret that Facebook has been encroaching on LinkedIn’s territory for a while now, launching a job posting portal and a mentorship feature. Now after much anticipation, LinkedIn is getting serious about expanding its advertising offerings, harvesting customer data and trying to protect its title as the go-to professional social network.
So how will LinkedIn’s Audience Network differ from Facebook or Google’s? LinkedIn is focusing on quality and context, rather than quantity. The career-focused channel is really highlighting “brand safety” through their Audience Network, avoiding scandals that Facebook and Google have faced in recent months. To ensure this, LinkedIn is not only allowing advertisers to create block lists, but they also claim to hand-pick their publishers and monitor for fraudulent activity.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR MARKETERS
LI’s career-oriented data could prove to be much richer and, more importantly, more accurate than Facebook. Many people do not list jobs with detailed descriptions on Facebook, but it’s expected on LinkedIn. Marketers can tap into this career-oriented data to craft and deliver more hyper-targeted, relevant and timely campaigns.
Reducing content churn could be a key benefit. Content tends to be more evergreen on LinkedIn due to the platform’s active user frequency (40% DAU compared to Facebook’s ~65%) and the nature of B2B content which tends to remain relevant for a longer time period in feed. These factors combined give sponsored content a longer shelf life to reach its full potential and prevent content wear out.
LinkedIn is still not out of the woods yet. Marketers are still yearning for improved reporting and unit diversity to create more compelling and innovative ways for users to digest info. Videos are improving on the platform, but what about immersive units such as carousels or canvases?
Be willing and ready to invest…more. Consider accepting a higher CPC in order to get more relevant leads. If you’re going for reach and efficiency, LinkedIn may not be the right channel. But if you have very niche marketing needs or want to build personalized relationships with potential customers, then go for it.
Miró Cassetta
Connections Strategist, Social
Miró Cassetta is a Connections Strategist at T3.
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