LinkedIn recently began supporting video uploads which begin playing silently when they appear in members’ feeds. Videos may run up to ten minutes, though LinkedIn recommends lengths of fewer than five minutes. As with LinkedIn posts, members will also receive analytics on views, likes, shares, and top viewing markets. The new feature provides B2B marketers with a business focused platform on which they can post corporate announcements, executive thought leadership pieces, and corporate event videos.
Business Insider found that LinkedIn is considered the most trustworthy of the social media platforms with people deeming it best at protecting privacy (55%), least likely to display deceptive content (55%), and safest network for posts and participation (43%).
LinkedIn will also be passing along viewer details such as employer and title for the top viewers.
“Analytics about where video viewers work and what they do present substantial opportunities for networking, recruiting, generating sales leads, and so on. For example, executives can announce a new product or service and then dive into their audience analytics to build up a list of prospects; opinion leaders discussing a pressing trend will have more tools for growing their followers; job-seekers can post videos with an eye on courting recruiters or a company’s attention, or vice versa. All these scenarios pave the way for LinkedIn to upgrade free members onto premium tiers, where more advanced customer relationship management (CRM) tools are available.”
- Robert Elder, Business Insider, “LinkedIn Video Sharing Could Be a Revelation”
Video should help address user engagement issues. As of Q3 2016 (their last public quarter), only 23% of users engaged with the platform each month, resulting in an average daily engagement of only two minutes. Consumer platforms have much higher daily engagement rates with Snapchat at thirty minutes and Facebook at fifty.
In other news, LinkedIn released a Windows 10 live alerts app which displays new messages, trending stories, profile views, and other LinkedIn-related alerts. The service supports 22 languages.
LinkedIn also released a set of enhancements to its Advertising platform including expanded demographic data, campaign recommendations, and additional metrics. The Campaign Manager now displays LinkedIn accounts which responded to campaigns. Website Demographics tracks website visitors via a lightweight JavaScript tag. Brands can segment website visitors and create campaigns via job title, industry, job seniority, job function, company, company size, location, and country.
Thus, firms can identify unexpected visitor segments. “With these insights, you can craft new marketing content designed to better resonate with that audience,” LinkedIn stated.
Campaign insights are also displayed as new hover cards which provide budget and performance data for other advertisers and recommends how to boost performance.
New metrics include Sponsored Content shared by members, details on social actions, and better file export and data options.
“The three new advertiser data tools optimize your use of LinkedIn ads, making sure you have maximized social ROI,” observed Francis Rey in SocialBarrel. “Sponsored Content continues to drive most of the company’s ad revenue. With more than 500 million professional members on the platform, LinkedIn already filters a unique audience for your business. You only need to tap into it and take advantage.”
Rey also noted that “While Facebook is still beyond reach in social ads, the social network caters to all audiences. Meanwhile, LinkedIn focuses on professionals, with an entirely different purpose.”