executive briefing presentation: a strategic approach to linkedin

Kristy Bolsinger, Senior Consultant | @kristy | [email protected] David J. Neff , Senior Consultant | @daveiam | [email protected]

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Executive BriefingLinkedIn for the enterprise

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

2Proprietary + Confidential | antseyeview.com | Seattle + Austin + Silicon Valley

Session purposeUnderstand how LinkedIn can be a powerful platform for enterprise brands. This session covers four main areas; business development, thought leadership, customer activation, and recruiting.

Outcomes• How to connect and engage on LinkedIn.

• Utilize features to establish thought leadership.

• How brands leverage LinkedIn for content strategy.

• Using LinkedIn for recruiting employees.

• How to turn employees into a valuable first line recruiting force for the brand.

• How LinkedIn is more effective for lead generation than other social networks.

• How to use LinkedIn’s Signal tool.

• How to leverage user-generated LinkedIn groups.

• Advantages of a brand-focused LinkedIn group.

Agenda for this briefing


Collective practitioner experience:• Global brand building

• Global reputation management

• Community management

• Data visualization

• Information architecture

• The Dallas Morning News

• RealNetworks

• The American Cancer Society

• Creating Customer Evangelists (2003)

• Citizen Marketers (2007)

Kristy BolsingerSenior ConsultantSocial Business Strategy Expert

David J. NeffSenior ConsultantTraining and Readiness Content Expert

Ben McConnellVice PresidentLeader of Readiness and Training

Presenters for this briefing

Executive BriefingWhy LinkedIn matters


• 150 million users in 2012.

• $8.9 billion IPO in 2011.

• $154 million advertising revenue in 2011.

• Two new members every second.

• 50% of members are from the U.S.

• 4.5 million unique daily visits (mostly while at work).

• 4.8 million monthly visits via mobile devices.

• 50% of users are company decision-makers.

• 41% of people using LinkedIn for marketing have generated business.

• 20% of C-level executives network professionally in an online community daily; 39% network online weekly.

Source: LinkedIn 2012

LinkedIn by the numbers

Executive BriefingBusiness development


• LinkedIn is the most effective social media network for business development, according to HubSpot.

• LinkedIn says its visitor-to-lead conversion rate is 2.74%.

• LinkedIn says it drove 1.8 billion business leads in 2011.

• 150 million business professionals engage with other business professionals.

Business development

Visitor to lead-conversion rates

Source: LinkedIn 2012


• Keep your company page updated.

• Use the product and services spotlight.

• Highlight the voice of the customer thorough product reviews.

Tips for generating leads on LinkedIn


• LinkedIn drives business value because it’s based on a user’s professional interests.

• The ability to filter thousands of updates inside and outside a brand’s network can help uncover leads.

Business development summary

Executive BriefingEstablishing thought leadership


5 components of thought leadership success

• Multimedia• Authorship• Presentations• Conversations

Content Media

Activation

Channel

Calendar

Thought leadership

• Speaking engagements

• Blog• Forum/group

participation• Industry

interviews

• When and where• Cross-promotion• Content life cycle

management

• Educate, empower employees

• Tools and measurement

• Ideation• Listening• Search data• Industry trends• Memes


Establishing thought leadership

:LinkedIn is great for building and maintaining individual relationships and developing a strong personal brand.

:LinkedIn is an excellent platform to build relationships, trust and ultimately authority in a large scale manner.


The investment made in content strategy can be amplified by strategic distribution.

Using the the RSS feature of your blog, your content can be automatically sent to the company’s LinkedIn page

• Syndicate relevant content only – consider the audience.

• Even if syndication is automated, monitor for opportunities to engage and respond to questions and comments.

• For organizations with distinct audiences, consider segmenting content to distinct pages.

Thought leadership: Content syndication


Membership in groups is opt-in and tends to be highly specific to a user’s interests, affinity and professional specialty.

Organizations can participate in conversations central to business operations, relevant to industry or product categories.

• Participate in the most popular and active groups. Find them via the ‘Most Popular Discussions’ feature.

• Multiple ways to participate:

- Giving a ‘like’

- Commenting on a thread

- Selecting ‘follow’ the conversation to stay up to date

• Create and host your own conversations in addition to participating in third-party groups.

Thought leadership: Group participation


Data is available whether participating in a third party group or a group of your own. LinkedIn provides ability to understand audience from a content and opportunity perspective.

• Identify the target audience and look at specific groups whose demographics align with your objectives.

• In your owned groups, use your available analytics to measure your effectiveness and monitor trends in your audience.

• Target content and conversations to the appropriate demographics as reflected by your analytics dashboard.

• LinkedIn provides tools to aid in group discovery from highlighting the most popular to surfacing relevant groups based on your interest profile.

Thought leadership: Group data and discovery


To network and establish thought leadership on LinkedIn means participating in questions and answers. Users post questions to the LinkedIn community asking for advice.

• Answer questions well and be rewarded by having your content marked as “best.”

• If a brand employee is recognized as an “expert” through contributions, LinkedIn will highlight their answers on the home page.

• Authority is grown in concert with reputation to establish reach of thought leadership.

Thought leadership: Question and answer


Inspired by the methodology at http://predicate-llc.com/

Content strategy on LinkedIn

1. Plan

2. Audit

3. Build

4. Grow

Audience insightsContent inventory

Messaging strategy

Editorial calendar

Product strategy Gap analysis Style guide Presence framework

Messaging architecture

Measurement framework

Channel integration

Content development


Content strategy: Channels within LinkedIn

OwnedIndividuals can share content and target their network from personal profiles.

Brands can do this via RSS. Similarly, within owned groups, organizations can distribute content to a relevant opt-in audience.

OutpostGroups are good for sharing content. Sharing with these relevant and targeted channels can deliver impact and reach.

Observe group rules and norms for maximum impact. Do not spam the groups. This will create negative return.

Executive BriefingActivating customer advocates


Creating customers

“The purpose of a business is to create customers.”

– Peter Drucker


Creating customers

“The purpose of a business is to create customers

who create customers.”–Ant’s Eye View


Every community has a behavior-based ecosystem. Online, behaviors take three forms:

1. Creators

2. Editors

3. Audience

Understanding behaviors in a community is the first step to engage and activate customers as advocates.

LinkedIn has special tools to engage with the influential ‘Creator’ type.

Influencers in each group are highlighted on the right rail of each group, owned or not.

Source: www.antseyeview.com/90-9-1-principle/

Activating advocates


Engaging as an individual on behalf of an industry or company can lead to recommendations. Moving people from like to love through engagement requires specific steps.

Insert a call to actionIntegrate the ‘ask’ into marketing messages to help prompt the behavior.

For individuals seeking recommendations, four tips:

1. Make it personal: Don’t use form/mass requests.

2. Be aware: Is the relationship one that is actually ripe for a recommendation? Be critical.

3. Be specific: Clarity on desired points help elicit a desired recommendation.

4. Follow up, don’t bother: Be reasonable and know when to take a hint.

Engagement breeds advocacy

Executive Briefing:Recruiting


• LinkedIn users display opportunity status on their profile.

• LinkedIn users post work history, job skills, education and recommendations about their work.

• Ability to actively target users through job recruitment advertisements.

Recruiting on LinkedIn


• LinkedIn allows hiring managers to search and filter candidates on a variety of variables.

• Search job history, location, job skills, and group affiliations.

• Use LinkedIn’s InMail to directly contact candidates.

• Actively target users through job recruitment ads.

Help for hiring managers


• LinkedIn users can join groups based on their interests.

• Many groups are run by companies or employee advocates on specific topics. Official and contract jobs are posted.

• Brand recruiters can browse and observe potential hires based on engagement in groups.

• Actively target users through job recruitment ads.

Recruiting from groups


• Corporate recruiters can upgrade account to “talent finders.”

• Corporate recruiters can create a company page on LinkedIn, similar to a business page on Facebook.

• Company pages can display current updates, job listings, and product and service lines.

• Company pages can be upgraded with several levels. This unlocks customized landing pages.

Enterprise HR department


• Managers or HR staff can find candidates for free or purchase upgrades to expand reach.

• LinkedIn company pages with expanded job listings can provide recruiting leads.

• LinkedIn company pages with job listings and easy social sharing can empower employees to become recruiters.

Summary of recruiting

Executive BriefingBonus: LinkedIn signal


• Dynamic tool for gathering intelligence about the brand.

• Filter through thousands of updates across LinkedIn for relevant updates.

• Save advanced searches.

• Display trending links.

LinkedIn Signal : A business intelligence tool


White paper on this subject arriving shortly.

Ask questions on Twitter: #aevbriefing

Key points on strategy• LinkedIn wants brands to engage with users.

• Company pages are a resource for product reviews and recruiting.

• Groups are hubs for employee and customer engagement.

• Groups help build and grow thought leadership.

Review of key outcomes• How to connect and engage with your

community.

• Utilizing LinkedIn for establishing thought leadership.

• How brands leverage LinkedIn for content strategy.

• Why LinkedIn is optimal for recruiting employees.

• How employees can be a recruiting force.

• How LinkedIn is effective for lead gen.

• How to use LinkedIn’s Signal tool.

• How to leverage user-generated groups.

• Strengths and advantages of creating a LinkedIn group.

A summary of this briefing

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