What price can you put on strong creative content? And what does that look like on a saturated professional social network? I headed to LinkedIn’s recent event, 'Unlocking the Power of Creative Content', to gain some insight.
The big stat which set the tone for the event was this: “strong creative content can deliver up to four times more profit*”.
Given the current pressure on B2B budgets—which marketing departments often feel first—this certainly captured our attention. If high-quality creative on LinkedIn can yield such high value to the business, then tell us more.
Thankfully, they did! Here are the top insights I took away from the day about what type of content is working well, what execs are engaging with most, and how creatives can keep ahead of the curve.
1) Ride the nostalgia wave
According to LinkedIn’s data, references to nostalgic pop culture can increase click-through rates (CTR) by over 150%. There’s also a growing interest in behind-the-brand content. We saw a lot of this after the pandemic hit, with people sharing far more personal stories. Authenticity definitely resonates.
2) Make it emotive, but keep it relatable
We also heard that campaigns do better over the long-term when they’re optimized for an emotional reaction. Humour, for example, can improve engagement by 65% and increase lead-gen form fills by 42%. Which supports what many of us already believe: B2B buying isn’t always rational.
3) Know what stops the scroll
Unsurprisingly, LinkedIn has loads of data on what type of ads, formats and content is best at grabbing reader attention. Vertical ads outperform square ads for both click-through rates (11% increase vs 4%) and engagement rates (31% vs 16%). A strategic use of colour can improve these too, boosting brand recognition by up to 80%.
4) Use AI to unlock leads
LinkedIn owns a vast pool of first-party data from its 1 billion members. This is a significant asset that marketers can leverage to personalise and target campaigns to the right audience. The even better news is that LinkedIn is enhancing its AI and predictive analytics capabilities to constantly improve these recommendations.
5) Measure with meaning
There are other LinkedIn tools that boost performance too. The Measurement Maturity Index provides insight on how to improve your current measurement strategy, while the Conversions API connects your marketing data with LinkedIn, to overcome cookie and browser issues and allow full-funnel measurement.
It’s clear that there's huge revenue potential for B2B brands that embrace a more emotive and human-centric approach to their social content. Those that do, and couple it with AI-powered targeting and measurement, can truly set themselves apart from the competition.
If you’d like to find out how The Marketing Practice can help, please don't hesitate to reach out.
(*Source: LinkedIn event, Art & Science Lunch n' Learn)
