LinkedIn has been seeking more interactive ways for users to display their authentic selves and drive engagement, whether they are promoting their personal or company brand. They have launched many new features this year in order to achieve that goal. Some of the updates you may have already noticed and some have been more subtly incorporated – or under-utilized.
Only 23% of LinkedIn’s total user base used the platform on a weekly basis in 2016. It was clear that the company needed to make some dire updates and changes if they were going to have users on the platform for more than just job searching.
What We’ve All Been Waiting For – Video
LinkedIn recently rolled out native video to select accounts. You may have seen some bigger players (like Forbes and Amazon) incorporating video into their posts.
75 million people in the United States alone watch online videos every day, so this was a smart (and long overdue) move for LinkedIn.
As of now, it appears that the feature is only available on mobile. If you don’t have the video option yet, don’t worry – the feature will soon be rolling out to all members globally.
New Insights & Targeting
LinkedIn has been due for more detailed targeting and actionable insight performance metrics for quite some time.
LinkedIn added their Insight Tag option to track clicks to your website from Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, or LinkedIn Text Ads. Much like Facebook’s Pixel tracking, the Insight Tag is a small piece of javascript (non-javascript version available also) code that you add to your website to track conversions, retarget website visitors, and unlock other pertinent data about your prospects.
You can also create conversion tracking actions and add them to a campaign. For example, actions can include a purchase, form completion, or a contact button click. You are then able to see the actions someone took after they clicked your ad.
Bonus – the Insight Tag unlocks website demographic information without ads, too. That’s right – free data collection!
Hashtags
Though Twitter and Instagram rule the hashtagging world, LinkedIn wanted to capitalize on this extremely effective way to organize, search, submit, and filter content.
Adding relevant hashtags to your LinkedIn company summary page, job description, and page headline give your brand the opportunity to show up in a hashtag search. But, like other platforms, don’t overdo the hashtags. Be strategic and remember, quality over quantity.
It is too early to determine the overall success of hashtags on LinkedIn, but now is definitely the time to incorporate them into your LinkedIn strategy to increase brand and content visibility.
Multiple Photos in Posts
Can I get a “finally”? LinkedIn now allows users to upload up to nine images to a post. If you went to an impressive conference and met an influencer, or you held a photo-worthy event, you no longer have to choose the winning photo to feature.
Geofilters (coming soon)
Speaking of conference highlights, LinkedIn announced that they will be launching the ability to create geofilters directly in the LinkedIn app. Much like Snapchat filters, geofilters will give users another way to connect and network with individuals within the targeted areas, as well as create brand awareness for businesses that create filters.
In its infancy, LinkedIn will be mostly controlling which events are eligible for geofilters. Their focus is on major conferences and high-profile events.
New Blogging Interface
Now you can create an article on LinkedIn right from the post section on the homepage. Gone are the days of navigating to LinkedIn Pulse to write a blog. Blogging on LinkedIn is a great way to establish your professional presence individually, and as a company. The easy composition access encourages marketers to share or repurpose their content directly on the platform.
Time will tell if all of these new updates bolster the platform’s audience growth and/or generate more engagement with the current user base. If your audience is on LinkedIn, now might be the time to start thinking about LinkedIn campaigns.