Upon hearing the word “Influencer”, the vast majority of us are quick to think of Instagram. But, what about LinkedIn influencers? Doesn’t sound quite so familiar, right?
That’s because influencers are normally associated with B2C (Business to Company) marketing strategies. There are, however, many companies that aren’t trying to reach the end consumer with their communication strategies, but rather other companies and professionals.
LinkedIn is a professional network and therefore perfect for B2B (Business to Business) strategies, meaning there’s absolutely no reason to believe that influencer marketing will not be as effective on LinkedIn as other platforms.
What isn’t particularly clear, however, is exactly how one becomes a LinkedIn influencer or what we need to be looking for when trying to find profiles to collaborate with brands on this social network.
Still having doubts about using LinkedIn for your marketing strategies? In this article, we’re going to show you just how to use this social network to carry out influencer marketing campaigns.
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LinkedIn has many features that make it a great choice for launching influencer marketing campaigns, such as the following:
LinkedIn has 500 million users from all across the world, meaning an influential person’s opinion can have a significant impact
If you’re thinking about using LinkedIn as a platform to promote your products or services, you may be stuck choosing between these two options. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each method.
There’s just one problem with LinkedIn Ads; it can be considered intrusive advertising.
That’s where Influencer Marketing is more appealing. LinkedIn influencers who take part in campaigns aren’t necessarily trying to sell anything.
In 2013, LinkedIn launched a programme called “LinkedIn Influencers”, in which a series of important personalities, including some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, were given the opportunity to write publications which were shared directly with LinkedIn users.
These LinkedIn Influencers consisted of world-renowned profiles who are recognised for being referential within their sector, and who could only access the programme via an invitation from the social network.
The opportunity to write posts about any topic related to an area of expertise was later extended to all users. What didn’t change, however, is the way in which certain profiles are selected to join the exclusive LinkedIn Influencers club, which is a privilege that is only granted with a direct invitation from the social network.
LinkedIn Influencers are profiles that regularly post quality content related to current trends and topics, interact with other users and actively participate in groups.
LinkedIn Influencers are profiles that regularly post quality content related to current trends and topics, interact with other users and actively participate in groups.
In reality, there aren’t any huge differences between what characterises an “official” and an unofficial influencer on LinkedIn, since both profiles are rather similar.
LinkedIn Influencers:
To conclude, they’re people who demonstrate a successful professional career through their profile, have credible opinions and use LinkedIn as the central platform for their activity.
For that reason, when selecting profiles for carrying out influencer marketing actions on LinkedIn, you need to evaluate a combination of things, from the influencer’s authority, to their audience and network of connections.
The structure of an influencer marketing campaign on LinkedIn will not differ to that of a campaign on any other social network.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty lies in tracking down profiles that are considered to be influential, since the majority of profiles that are considered influencers won’t benefit from the official status granted by LinkedIn.
Just like with any other campaign, you need to contact influencers with an attractive proposal and work together in order to create quality content and develop marketing actions throughout the campaign.
Although influencers on LinkedIn don’t have as many visual tools as influencers on Instagram or Youtube, this doesn’t mean that their campaigns are any less effective.
In terms of analysing the results, it’s important to bear in mind an important factor when evaluating the effectiveness of a campaign, which is that B2B products tend to have a longer conversion cycle. Therefore, when analysing metrics, particularly if the campaign is sales-orientated, it will have to be active for at least two months in order to evaluate its impact.
If you want to find out more about what metrics you should be analysing and controlling in your LinkedIn influencer marketing campaigns, download our free ebook.