NEWS

Linkedin is increasingly taking a permanent place in the marketing mix. But how is messaging on Linkedin now perceived and what impact should you expect it to have?

More and more SMEs are incorporating Linkedin into their marketing mix. Not only B2B but also B2C companies are using Linkedin to generate visibility with the right recruitment target group. We also notice an evolution in the type of content published on Linkedin: more personal content, tips & tricks, reports of events, etc. But besides the evaluation we can make from a performance perspective (ROAS/POAS), we thought it might be interesting to poll the perception your communication on Linkedin gets from the receiver of your publications.

In total, our survey was completed by 79 respondents. The majority (63%) are business owners or working in an SME, 17% are from the corporate world and the remaining 20% are working in a start-up, government, sole proprietorship or non-profit organization. We group all individual responses into 3 groups: corporate, SME (SME, start-up, sole proprietorship) and other (government & non-profit).

How often is a Linkedin profile viewed?

Among SMEs, LinkedIn usage is high: just under 60% say they consult their Linkedin profiles at least once to more than once a day. Among respondents from non-profit & government, 60% also view their Linkedin profile multiple times a day. For respondents from a corporate organization, this is only 28% and nearly half indicate that they only view their Linkedin profile once a week to very occasionally.

How do people perceive the quality of publications on Linkedin?
80% of SME respondents indicated that they found the quality of messaging on Linkedin sufficient to high. Among corporate respondents, 78% say they find the quality sufficient, 22% say they find the quality rather low. Among respondents from the government and non-profit sectors, 60% indicate they find the quality sufficient and 40% find the messaging of high quality.

How is the frequency of publishing messages perceived?

Respondents from SME are less bothered by high frequency of posting: 56% say they are not bothered when users post frequently. But… 36% do. If we add to this the 7% of respondents who have no opinion about this, it is safe to assume that too high a frequency of publication is perceived as disturbing by many SMEs.

We get the same picture among respondents from a corporate organization: 35% say they are bothered by too high a frequency of publication. Among respondents from government & non-profit organizations, 100% indicated that they were not bothered by a high frequency of publication.

What type of posts get the most & least attention?

SME respondents are primarily looking for concrete tips & insights (78%), updates on career (e.g., new role) (58%) and updates on the organization (e.g., new partnership) (56%).

Corporate respondents also expect concrete tips & insights (78%) but in second place they like to read personal stories (64%) followed by an ex aequo of updates on career (57%) and updates on the organization (57%).

For nonprofit and government respondents, you may primarily publish updates about your career (80%) followed by tips & insights (60%) and personal stories (40%), updates about your organization (40%) and job postings (40%).

When asked about the type of messages they would prefer to see less of, SME respondents indicated that they would mainly like to read fewer polls (53%) and personal stories (34%). Respondents from corporate would rather not read personal stories (63%) and also not complete polls (45%). Respondents from government and non-profit also prefer not to see personal stories (50%) and polls (50%) appear in the Linkedin feed.

How does one perceive an active Link user, someone who publishes a lot, writes comments and shares posts?

The majority of SME respondents (70%) indicated that an active Linking user primarily has his or her sales & marketing in good order. However, 18% also indicate that these are people with too much time on their hands.

In a corporate organization, it is divided: 42% indicate that active Linking users are mostly too busy, 42% indicate that these people have their sales and marketing in order.

Among government and nonprofit, the majority (80%) feel that active users have their sales and marketing in order. The remaining 20% had no opinion.

Does sharing tips & insights contribute to positive perceptions?
Among SMEs, 58% of respondents indicated that regular sharing of tips & insights contributes to their perception as experts. Yet also 43% indicate that these users are primarily looking to sell themselves.

Among corporates, only 35% of respondents feel that regularly publishing tips & insights gives a perception of expertise. 50% feel that these users are primarily looking to sell themselves, and 14% say that regularly sharing tips & insights is just a sign of little real expertise on the subject.

In government and nonprofit, 100% indicate that sharing tips & insights contributes to the perception of being an expert on the subject.

To what extent do publications affect the author’s credibility?

58% of SMEs indicate that the messaging on Linkedin contributes little or nothing to author credibility. Among corporate respondents, this is as high as 93% and among government and nonprofit respondents 60%. Among the latter, however, 40% indicate that the messaging affects the author’s credibility.

What impact does messaging on Linkedin have when making commercial decisions?

Both majority of SME respondents (65%) and corporate respondents (64%) say they are not influenced by messaging on Linkedin in the buying process (contract, partnership, etc.). Among government and nonprofit respondents, 60% do say they are influenced by messaging on Linkedin.

Some handles for optimal Linkedin use

1) Choose your target audience and tailor your content accordingly

2) Determine a message frequency that you feel comfortable with… Less is more!

3) Go for content (quality) and not frequency (quantity)…. Kill your darlings!

4) It’s about give & take: the interaction you expect you will first have to give yourself…think-through!

5) Keep in mind the algorithm: conscious hash/tag use, proper mention of external links, quality media, etc.

6) Boost your hero content with adbudget

7) Define metrics by which you monitor and evaluate your Linkedin strategy

This article was written for Alexander Schmitt, business manager of Authority.

Alexander already has 20 years of experience in digitizing businesses and optimizing various eCommerce platforms.