The biggest change in B2B marketing in 2020 has undoubtedly been the need to conduct business engagements virtually, instead of face-to-face.
Organisations had to constantly adapt, thinking on their feet to keep up with the changing landscape brought about by COVID-19. An intensified focus on digital interactions throughout the year has highlighted for companies the critical importance of humanising their operations (particularly in a B2B setting) and building trusting and lasting relationships rather than forming mere connections.
This is exactly what LinkedIn facilitated for companies in May when it introduced Virtual Events. Recent updates to its Linkedin Pages are enhancing this feature and are intended to help B2B users collect leads and boost marketing outreach more efficiently in a virtual setting through ads and retargeting capabilities.
So, what are the major updates to LinkedIn Business Pages that B2B marketers should be excited about?
Traditional event-based marketing has been pushed to embrace virtual formats almost overnight. LinkedIn Events has made easy for users to create and join professional Events, including meetups, online workshops, webinars and virtual lessons.
Since May, organisations have readily embraced LinkedIn Events as a means to join communities, grow businesses, network with others, and learn new skills, with more than 200,000 events attracting almost 10 million attendees.
Why LinkedIn Events?
- Greater network visibility for Events: Grow attendees through personalised event recommendations and automatic notifications for followers based on their interests.
- Sponsored Content Single Image Ads: Easily promote virtual events alongside organic posts, enhancing targeted reach for executives, sales professionals and decision-makers.
- Retarget interested attendees: Create custom target audiences in LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager for lead nurturing with the ability to hone in on users who have shown interest in a company’s content or brand.
And coming soon…
Lead Collecting Registration Forms: A much-anticipated feature currently in beta will soon allow marketers to effortlessly collect leads with forms that automatically compile names and emails of event registrants directly from event sign-up landing pages. Imagine being able to capture this data directly into the business CRM!
Other LinkedIn features that will delight B2B marketers
Better search tools:
One of the biggest usability changes is the overhauled search tool, available on both the website and in the LinkedIn app. Before, search was outcome-specific, allowing you to search for either jobs or people. Now, search is keyword-based, providing a unified search experience to easily find jobs, people, courses, groups, learning content and more.
- LinkedIn’s search now breaks down results by category: people, jobs, groups, courses, companies, posts, events, etc.
- Users can go granular by applying multiple keyword filters: Search for companies based on location, company size, or industry. Keyword search is now also available on mobile.
LinkedIn Stories have landed:
LinkedIn Stories is a new way to share 24-hour updates on your company page.
How can this benefit your business?
Stories are the new go-to format, encouraging publishers to share in the moment, rather than cementing a permanent post in the feed.
How does it work?
In Stories you can add text overlays, mention relevant accounts, share a question to start a discussion, and use a variety of stickers:
Once published, viewers can share a Story via direct message, making quick and casual conversations easier on the platform.
Organisational performance will always be dependent on humans and human interaction. LinkedIn Events are making it easier for marketers to connect and build relationships that can only aid to enhance performance.
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