Customer Experience

By adaptive - June 24th, 2014

New research from LinkedIn confirms that its professional users are avid consumers of content that can deliver high levels of engagement

For B2B marketers LinkedIn has transformed how they reach their commercial partners and develop customer-facing relationships. LinkedIn as a social media network has been quietly growing its user base, and developing new tools to expand its application for corporate marketers. New research also reveals that content sharing is now as active on the site as corporate users have seen in the B2C space.

“There have been major shifts in the way content reaches professionals,” says Forrest Baker on a LinkedIn blog. “First, the Internet blew open constraints on getting access to information, moving power away from brands and into the hands of consumers. Then, advances in search gave consumers two approaches to surfacing information on the web: passively discovering it while “browsing” or actively “searching” for it. More recently, the rise of online social networks offered a new way to filter the massive amount of content on the web. Consumers can now passively browse content that has been shared by their social network or directly ask their advice.

“We conducted a survey of over 2,700 LinkedIn members in the U.S. who actively share and consume content on LinkedIn, which revealed some surprising statistics: On average they spend about one full workday (8 hours) consuming professionally relevant content as a way to educate themselves on industry news and trends. Additionally, we discovered that, on average, they spend more time consuming professionally relevant content than they do news and entertainment; 41% versus 29% respectively.”

The corporate B2B marketer needs to think carefully about the content they are sharing and how this is packaged for its intended audience. Some of the key conclusions of the LinkedIn report include:

Content must be mobile friendly. 43% of unique visits to LinkedIn in Q1 2014 came from mobile devices

Marketers must ensure that the content they provide meets three specific goals:

1. Enhances knowledge
2. Strengthens networks
3. Boosts personas

Members are more likely to share professional content that:

• Builds their professional brands.
• Strengthens their professional networks.
• Helps them sell to their networks.
• Marketing content will be shared more if it fulfils these needs.

Above all else, the content that B2B marketers place on LinkedIn has become the number one resource when social media is considered. Content such as new research, breaking industry news, case studies and career advice are all types of content your corporation should be actively placing on its LinkedIn profile. What is clear is that this content fuels conversations that in turn, promote more sharing.

And if your corporation is in the tech sector, LinkedIn could be the perfect social media network to generate a buzz around your products and engage with buyers, what LinkedIn have dubbed ‘indulgent techies’.

Indulgent techies rely on technology even more so than the average LinkedIn member, and are the primary audience for tech content marketing. Indulgent techies utilize various online resources to gather critical information about their tech purchases.

• 92% spend time researching products/services before purchasing
• 88% place more weight on product value over price
• 88% find enjoyment in owning quality products
• 87% only buy new products if adaptable with their current technology