LinkedIn - the hottest B2C advertising platform in town (yes I said B2C)

It was just your average Sunday morning looking after a young child.

You’ve done the ‘I can’t believe it’s only…’ 11.43am time check on your smartwatch. You’ve probably done at least one class, likely a park visit, the dishes you didn’t do yesterday and maybe, just maybe you are thinking about pouring a 'well...it’s the weekend’ glass of wine, or another suitably relaxing beverage of choice. Despite being a devoted parent you are probably also sneaking a quick surf on your device as something like Teen Titans streams on another nearby device (other kids programmes are available, they are just not as good – "gooaaaalllllllllllll..."). During this precious moment you might – okay almost certainly if you are reading this - happen to open up LinkedIn.

When it first emerged as the serious business platform, logging into LinkedIn on a weekend would typically be the preserve of people browsing for jobs. Of course, now many and most of you reading this will regularly check LinkedIn 24/7/365, just like you do Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, ‘that Snapchat’ or even TikTok for the super cool amongst you. I imagine you might well have and this is why LinkedIn is rapidly becoming THE platform for targeted and personalised B2C advertising – yes, not just B2B (although I can’t guarantee this means a total end to the messages asking if you are interested in SEO/Mobile App/HTML5 and digital marketing services).

So, one recent weekend as I waded through ample humblebrag posts (not just my own), and shaky handheld video perspectives on cloud architecture, interspersed with these were neatly presented promoted adverts in my stream.

First up was a really neat piece of short-form video content from office footwear label Goodwin Smith (love my brogues):

Next up was this lovely holiday inspiring Hugo Boss gallery clearly encouraging me to try more cream menswear this summer (hmmm, maybe not too targeted to my pasty Welsh complexion):

Both of these items happened to be fairly well aligned to my personal interests of clothing (and clearly know that I am obviously very stylish) and the targeting was key - they both caught me at a great time for more extended browsing time than my regular (crushed) tube carriage commute, and I was presented with them when they had a fighting chance of achieve the holy-grail of click-through from a prospect like me.

The sophistication of B2C brand activity is now improving daily; I really enjoyed the new Ford EcoSport video clip - and again, interesting use of LinkedIn to target an potential audience during what should hopefully be their leisure time;

The growing audience and traction this platform is getting is what makes LinkedIn such an exciting B2C innovation opportunity, and potentially a game-changing new channel for marketeers.

Convinced? Ok, let's get started - try this:

1.  Don't wait - just try something

With the changing context and growing use of the LinkedIn platform, no matter what market sector you are in, you do not have any excuse now to try SOMETHING on here. So this week, don't wait, test the medium for your brand now.

2.   Be ready for feedback!

Yes, the wonderful thing about advertising on a platform with comments and likes enabled is you are sure to get some... brace yourself and try not to panic. In fact consider this a learning opportunity for your brand and how people feel about you and your products presently.

3.   Measure, test (and then test again).

As with any form of digital marketing, you need to ensure you are measuring everything you can - and in LinkedIns' case, your first test is an initial a benchmark. Try something new - try a different visual, another way of presenting a product - a video, see what the reaction is and go again. Try targeting the ad in a different way, try the same one again with different copy - just keep trying different things!

Summary

One of the best parts of LinkedIn is finding out about cool things my colleagues do or are interested in; it makes them and all of us so much more rounded and can help spark incredible ideas and collaborations. The same can be completely true for LinkedIn Advertising also, so let’s all experiment away and share what works and what doesn’t – after all, we are all learning together in this crazy digital age.

Good luck! Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of this article and any good (and not so good) examples of LinkedIn advertising you’ve seen.

For more content like this you can also find me on social media @ DrGeraintEvans