Earlier this month, WashingtonExec’s MARCOM Committee hosted Dan Horowitz, director of advocacy and campaigns for LinkedIn, to explore how marketing teams can best use the social platform to reach a larger, targeted audience.
The roundtable, sponsored by Sage Communications, started with some facts and statistics about LinkedIn. Horowitz said LinkedIn has over 450 million members, and it is one of the few global platforms also available in China.
Also, nearly 60 percent of all activity on LinkedIn is on the mobile app, and since the app re-launch this year, daily use has increased by 30 percent.
“LinkedIn is the most powerful social media platform for B2B/B2G marketers,” Horowitz said, adding that over 94 percent of B2B marketers distribute content on LinkedIn, and 92 percent say they use LinkedIn over other social media.
Citing National Journal‘s “Washington in the Information Age” study, Horowitz said LinkedIn is the most widely used social platform for work by D.C. influencers.
“If you are looking to connect with federal and other D.C. audiences, LinkedIn is the place to start,” he added.
In his presentation, Horowitz stressed that marketing teams should not only use their LinkedIn company page, but should also consider creating a showcase page for their federal messaging. The showcase page is a page connected to the larger company page meant exclusively for marketing.
Company and showcase pages only become useful when they have a solid set of followers and publish regularly.
“Publish on your LinkedIn page at least once a day,” Horowitz said. By doing so, you are able to reach your engaged supporters and they can share that content with their own followers.
Horowitz contrasted LinkedIn with a platform like Twitter, which is well known for sharing and engaging in breaking news. On LinkedIn’s feed, members tend to engage in more evergreen content that can help get them smarter about their industry, profession and career.
That professional context LinkedIn members have when they are in the feed helps explain the success of LinkedIn’s main advertising platform, Sponsored Content. LinkedIn has over 14 different ways users can target their audiences and deliver sponsored content. This includes everything from the company or industry someone works in, to the skills they’ve been endorsed for on their profiles.
When it comes to Sponsored Content, marketers only pay when someone clicks an ad, which allows for precise budgeting and planning as well as clear measurement and reporting all the way through to a conversion.
“Social media adoption for business usage in the B2G community is growing dramatically and LinkedIn is emerging as the one of the best platforms for engagement,” said Julie Murphy, partner and senior vice president, public relations at Sage Communications. “Dan provided invaluable insight and tips on the platform’s influence and usage, from sponsored content for lead generation and events to personal brand and recruitment.”
Andrew Bryden, chief marketing officer of CSRA Inc., and Matt Mcqueen, sector director, communications cyber and intelligence missions solutions and space ISR systems divisions at Northrop Grumman Corporation are chairs of the WashingtonExec MARCOM Committee.
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