Ever wondered if your LinkedIn posts are reaching your target audience? Is it generating enough interest or engagement? Today we’re wrapping up our series on measuring social media with LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the web. We’ve already explored Facebook and Twitter in our earlier posts and now we turn our attention to every B2B marketer’s favorite. With more than 300 million members to date, LinkedIn is consistently showing its increasing relevance in the social media arena. It’s also distancing itself from the rest with its more discerning target market and more in-depth topics of interest.
Engagement in LinkedIn is mainly grounded on content marketing. This is not surprising as 94% of B2B Marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content, making it not only the most used but also the most effective social media platform. Last March, LinkedIn launched its Content Marketing Score analytics, a platform that shows the performance of your paid and organic content. This tool is best used with Trending Content, a resource that shows you the topics that resonate with specific LinkedIn audiences. LinkedIn calls these the Dynamic Duo that could boost your content marketing.
Content Marketing Score
LinkedIn believes that content is synonymous with marketing. This is why every marketer should take advantage of its publishing platform. From being exclusive to thought leaders and CEOs, LinkedIn opened it to everyone, giving businesses opportunities to publish and distribute their content. Content Marketing Score quantifies the impact of your content. It can simply be measured by dividing your engagement with your audience.
Unique Members Engaged
______________________ = CONTENT MARKETING SCORE
Active Target Audience
It shows you which members engage with your content and provides a breakdown of your performance per Group, post or update. It also suggests how you can improve your score, which is great because if there’s anyone who knows how things work within the site it’s LinkedIn. Through the Score, you will also know how you’re stacking up against the competition. This is very helpful to see how your peers are doing.
Trending Content
As LinkedIn puts it, Trending Content will supercharge your content strategy. The name is basically self-explanatory. It shows you which topics are relevant to specific groups of people on LinkedIn. You may publish content regularly but if they don’t resonate with your target audience then you’re wasting time and resources. You need to know what they’re looking for and address that through the content you produce.
One of the best things about this tool is that it provides a monthly report on the topics members are interested in. For example, from December 2013 to January 2014 topics on Employee Management, Management, and Sourcing are the most sought after. This could help you align your editorial calendar to what’s in demand on the site. According to LinkedIn, members get sources of information and inspiration from four areas—news from publishers, peers on LinkedIn Groups, thought leaders, and brands. These activities are then consolidated to determine the trending topics.
Both the Content Marketing Score and Trending Content are currently available to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions customers only. If you want to avail of it, you can contact a LinkedIn Account Executive for more information. Bottom line, relevant and compelling content is the game changer that will boost your LinkedIn efforts. The quality of your content determines the scope of your reach and the kind of audience you will engage.
Content marketing is your bread and butter in this social media site. Investing in a documented content marketing strategy and a carefully thought out editorial plan is a good way to start your year with LinkedIn. The more quality content you produce, the more credible you become in the discerning eyes of LinkedIn members. This ultimately results in quality leads and connections.
In case you missed the previous posts in this series, you can check them out here:
Overview: Measuring Social Media
How to Effective Measure Facebook Engagement
It’s Not About Tweeting, It’s About Engaging
About Pepper Social Media
Pepper Social Media is an online marketing firm that specializes in social media management, content marketing, SEO, PPC, social media marketing, copywriting, and targeted blogging. Our creative team consists of experienced marketing strategists who can fortify your brand identity and amplify your reach.
