By Eleanor Pierce
Wait, don’t start snoring yet.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: LinkedIn can be a very valuable tool. With 2015 upon us, now is a great time to take a look at your LinkedIn strategy.
There are even interesting campaigns happening on the social network for professionals. Take the Liam Neeson movie promotion (H/T to James Halloran for pointing this one out to me a few weeks ago!).
In an effort to promote the soon-to-be-released movie Taken 3, 20th Century Fox created a contest in which one individual can win an endorsement from Liam Neeson (among other social campaigns) on LinkedIn.
The entire contest is built around the idea of a “Particular Set of Skills,” which Neeson’s character in the Taken series has cultivated.
As the video that promotes the contest outlines, Neeson’s character has skills such as “transportation logistics” and “the recovery of valuable assets.”
Those sound nice and professional, but if you’re familiar with the series, you know these particular skills are much more weighted toward violence and explosions than your average LinkedIn profile.
If you win the contest, Neeson will create an endorsement for you, based on your skills.
Fun, right?
The way I look at it, Liam Neeson is one of those actors who would be interesting to listen to read the newspaper, so why not have him read my qualifications as listed on my LinkedIn profile?
Interestingly—to nerds like me, anyway—the contest makes use of a LinkedIn showcase page for entries. It’s probably one of the more creative (and effective, looking at the follower count so far) uses of showcase pages I’ve seen so far.
Why a LinkedIn Strategy?
But the bigger question is: Why would a brand use LinkedIn, of all places, to promote a movie?
They’re not just using LinkedIn, but perhaps they’re also betting that a good segment of their target audience are regular users of the social network.
Maybe they’re older. Maybe they’re a bit more educated. The logic was probably much like that behind the recent Mercedes contest held via LinkedIn.
Who’s most interested in Liam Neeson thrillers? Probably not the kids on SnapChat.
It’s an interesting campaign to pay attention to, and it will be interesting to see if there’s success from it. If they can prove demonstrable success, I’d be willing to bet other B2C campaigns will begin to make use of LinkedIn.
B2B is Still the LinkedIn Meat and Potatoes
In truth, as interesting as the Liam Neeson campaign is, you’re probably thinking B2B with your LinkedIn strategy. And they probably don’t involve famous actors and explosions.
That’s OK! There are still a few interesting things happening there that you should pay attention to, including an update to the LinkedIn homepage.
JJ Samp outlined several of the changes in a post on the SHIFTCommunications blog just before Christmas.
In case you missed it—I know a few of you were a little checked out as the holidays descended—here are a few of the key takeaways:
- The new homepage will start rolling out in 2015, and will attempt to focus even more on the Pulse section. Which means if you’re not already publishing to LinkedIn, the time is nigh (oh, I guess that means me, too!)
- You have to become a content curator on LinkedIn. Add value!
- Paid advertising options on LinkedIn will continue to evolve. As JJ said in the SHIFT blog, “With LinkedIn’s recent acquisition of B2B marketing platform Bizo hinting at expanded paid advertising options to come, it would behoove any business to keep a watchful eye out for any updates.”
Your LinkedIn Strategy
So what can you learn from Neeson and JJ?
First, don’t ignore LinkedIn as you’re laying out your social media strategy for 2015. Think about your audience. If they’re on LinkedIn, you should make use of the platform!
Here are a few ideas for you:
- Start a LinkedIn showcase page. We’ve started playing with a Spin Sucks LinkedIn showcase page. We’re still experimenting, and you likely will need to, as well. It’s not just a duplicate of your existing company page, a showcase page should be created around a standalone brand or product you offer. So make sure you have a plan for how you’ll differentiate the content as well as figure out what your goals are for the showcase page.
- Use LinkedIn advertising to support your content strategy. You can get pretty granular with LinkedIn advertising, and it can be a great way to boost your content strategy, even if all you do is pay to support a few of your most important pieces of content on your website.
- Don’t feel like you have time to create all-new content for LinkedIn? Take some of your most popular blog posts from your own blog (or guest posts you have the OK to reprint) and rework them specifically for the LinkedIn platform (Just be sure to link to where they were originally published).
What are your 2015 LinkedIn plans?