Social networks solidified their role as digital lifelines for millions of people when they were stuck at home during pandemic lockdowns. That dynamic included LinkedIn, the professional networking platform that Microsoft acquired five years ago.
“We’ve seen communities come together in ways that we’ve never witnessed before. The community bonds have strengthened around the world,” Illianna Acosta, channel sales manager for ad tech partners at LinkedIn, said in this discussion with Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer of Mediaocean.
As the global economy has rebounded from a short, but steep recession during the early days of pandemic two years ago, there have been dramatic shifts in the way people work. Many industries shed workers, but had troubled rebuilding as millions of people decided to change careers.
“Employees are returning back to the office, but with far more greater demands for flexible work,” Acosta said. “Employees have proven that they can do the job from anywhere.”
LinkedIn has about 800 million members worldwide, bringing together groups of professionals who are seeking to build their businesses, advance their careers and help others to meet their goals. Hiring through LinkedIn surged by 160% last year amid record engagement.
“Our vision of the company to create economic opportunity for every single member of the global workforce is becoming that much more important,” Acosta said.
Brand and Agency Imperatives
Against this backdrop of increased activity and community-building, marketers have an opportunity to raise the visibility of their brands among key decision makers. That’s especially true for information technology (IT) business that cater to enterprise clientele.
“One vital part of marketing that should be in frame-of-mind is ways to engage the full buying community. Many brands often only try to reach decision maker,” Jessy Jacques, partner manager of LinkedIn marketing solutions (LMS) channel sales at the company.
LinkedIn recommends that marketers anchor their strategies with reputation recognition and reviews, use a full-funnel strategy to reach buyers and create evergreen content that provides a positive customer experience for several months.
Video Advertising API
LinkedIn has expanded its ad formats to provide marketers with a way to prolong brand exposure with video. The company created an application programming interface (API) to help advertisers to integrate with its video ad format. With its new LinkedIn Live tool, members can stream video content in real time.
“Video plays a crucial role in the way of consumers receive and absorb messaging in this day and age,” Jacques said. Brands and marketers are “using video to connect with consumers as its growth continues to accelerate”
Supporting DEI Programs
The global protests against racism and police violence in 2020 spurred many organizations to support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts that acknowledge today’s more diverse work force. LinkedIn is among the companies that are backing those initiatives.
“Our goal is to drive social impact and commercial outcomes by empowering our community and of marketers to bring an ‘equity everyday’ mindset to their roles as customer advocates of storytellers and as as brand stewards,” Acosta said. “We are the most trusted global platform to host a dialog around DEI.”
You are watching “Advertising Transformation: What’s Next for Converged TV and Video,” a Beet.TV Virtual Leadership Summit presented by Mediaocean. For more videos, please visit this page.
