The document explores LinkedIn's evolution from a recruitment platform to a robust, editorial-driven marketing channel for brands. It emphasizes the importance of a tailored approach to content and engagement on LinkedIn, highlighting best practices for company pages and the integration of LinkedIn's API. Additionally, it outlines strategies for measuring success and building a comprehensive activation plan to leverage LinkedIn's unique opportunities.

1. LINKEDIN: AN EVOLVING
PLATFORM FOR BIG BRANDS
SEPTEMBER 2013
©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 1

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INTRODUCTION
LINKEDIN USER SNAPSHOT
LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES
DEVELOPING AN EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE FOR BRANDS
OTHER LINKEDIN OPPORTUNITIES
BUILDING AN ACTIVATION PLAN AND MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK
CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS
01
02
03
04
05
06
07

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01. INTRODUCTION

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Over the last several years, LinkedIn has evolved beyond its use
as a recruitment tool, which centered only around job postings and
social networking.
For brands to break through in this channel, they must think
about LinkedIn as a unique, editorial-driven marketing channel,
leveraging its full Company Page functionality, its suite of
publishing tools and its APIs for maximum effect.
In this document, we discuss how to do all three.
INTRODUCTION

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RELEVANT
BRANDS MUST BE:
LINKEDIN REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Brands require a different approach and content model for their
narratives on LinkedIn.
VALUE-DRIVEN
Brands must focus on adding value, not promoting themselves.
HUMAN
Who your brand is is as important as what it does.
CONNECTED
Brands must embrace followers as peers, and not fans.
INSPIRED
Content and conversations should be aspirational in nature.

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LEVERAGE PAID, OWNED AND EARNED CHANNELS TO DRIVE CHANNEL GROWTH
API integration within
web properties
Company Page
promotion on dot-com
House content within
web properties
LinkedIn Today
Executive articles
Internal PR
On-site ads
Off-site retargeting
BRANDS
GO HERE
OWNED
PAID
EARNED

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02. LINKEDIN USER SNAPSHOT

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LINKEDIN IS A GLOBAL NETWORK OF PROFESSIONALS…
225M+Registered members
as of May 2013
200+Countries and
territories
64%Of LinkedIn members
are outside of the US

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…AND IS COMPRISED OF A SMART, AFFLUENT AUDIENCE
41%
HHI of $100k+
32%
Higher than Facebook
52%of LinkedIn monthly visitors have
a college or graduate degree
18%
Higher than Facebook

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LINKEDIN IS MORE THAN JUST JOBS
Groups/
Company
Pages
SlideShare
Integration
LinkedIn
Today
LinkedIn
Influencers

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LINKEDIN USERS ALSO HAVE A VERY DIFFERENT MINDSET
1 – The Mindset Divide research study, LinkedIn and TNS, September 2012
SPEND TIME
Personal Networks
Info on friends
Info on personal interests
Entertainment updates
INVEST TIME
Professional Networks
Career content
Updates on brands
Current affairs
TOP THREE TYPES OF CONTENT EXPECTED1
Vs.
Vs.
Vs.
in professional networks
26% HIGHER

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03. LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES

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INTRODUCTION TO LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES
LinkedIn announced the launch of company profile pages in 2008; they have
since evolved to today’s more robust Company Pages offering. As of June
2013, there are more than three million LinkedIn Company Pages, with 500K
+ created in the last year.
According to a recent HubSpot study, LinkedIn generated the highest
visitor-to-lead conversion rate, with 2.74% of site visitors converting into
leads, compared to Facebook and Twitter, with respective conversion rates
of 0.69% and 0.77%. As a Company Page is the primary owned touchpoint
in the LinkedIn ecosystem, it is important to utilize its full range of
functionality.
WITH 500K+ CREATED IN THE LAST YEAR.
THERE ARE MORE THAN THREE MILLION LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGES
A LinkedIn Company Page provides the following:
1. A hub for thought leadership and other company-
related editorial content (e.g. blog posts, white
papers).
2. An additional platform for customer and follower
engagement.
3. A dedicated space for job postings and additional
careers- and recruitment-related information.
4. An overview of a company’s products and services.

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COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: HOME TAB (ADOBE)
Frequent status updates
Custom header image,
consistent with other creative
Promo area for “Products” tab

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COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: HOME TAB, CONTINUED (ADOBE)
Fully completed “About” section

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COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: CAREERS TAB (ADOBE)
Banner image customized for Careers Tab
Key jobs (and people) showcased;
link to Adobe Jobs search in LinkedIn
Job Search functionality
Unique content above the fold

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COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TAB (ADOBE)

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COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES: INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTS (ADOBE)

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SOME LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE BEST PRACTICES
Fill out your company overview page completely, using
relevant keywords as needed.
Spice up your company page with splashy banner visuals,
switching out the creative as needed for new product
releases, events, conferences and other newsworthy items.
Provide specific calls to action as necessary.
List your company’s main products and services, and
encourage your customers to “recommend” them.
Post regular company status updates. Link to timely,
relevant news and announcements when appropriate.
Engage brand page followers by posting questions and
other conversation topics.
Augment your brand page presence through original
editorial content and other thought leadership for
LinkedIn Today.

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04. DEVELOPING AN EDITORIAL
EXPERIENCE FOR BRANDS

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BACKGROUND
LINKEDIN’S NEW APPROACH AS PUBLISHER
Over the last few years, LinkedIn has shifted its approach to favor brands that have a
robust editorial presence, process and publishing model:
• March 2011: LinkedIn rolls out “LinkedIn Today,” an aggregated news experience, to
live on user homepages.
• October 2012: LinkedIn announces its Influencers program, a platform for business
thought leaders to create original content for the platform. It also announces the
ability for users to “follow” other users’ updates without connecting to them directly.
• April 2013: LinkedIn acquires Pulse, a mobile news aggregator app with hundreds of
content partnerships.
• Today: There are 1.3 million publishers on LinkedIn.
Editorial content is featured at the top
of the LinkedIn mobile app (pictured)

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LINKEDIN TODAY IS:
LINKEDIN TODAY
1. An aggregator of the top articles shared by a user’s
LinkedIn network, Company Pages and topic channels
they follow.
2. The publishing platform for original content posted by
LinkedIn Influencers.
3. Driven by InShare (sharing) buttons that are placed on
publisher sites, as well as in feeds.

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THREE MAIN INGREDIENTS FOR EDITORIAL SUCCESS ON LINKEDIN
2. DEFINED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
3. ROBUST EDITORIAL APPROACH
AND CALENDAR
1. COMPETITIVE AUDIT

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LINKEDIN AUDIT OVERVIEW
We recommend that brands conduct a competitive audit, creating a Distribution Map of other Company Pages in their industries. Look at:
• Status updates + follower response (engagement through likes, comments and shares)
• Content in the Careers and Products & Services tabs
• Overall page creative and messaging
Also determine if these companies’ Pages are:
• Utility-driven: Posts mostly comprised of Product announcements, job postings
• Brand-driven: Posts comprised of company innovation, career positioning (e.g. “Life at Adobe”), thought leadership
From here, brands should be able to create their competitive Distribution Map to assess how they stack up against their competition on LinkedIn,
and help determine the platform’s role in their digital communications ecosystem.

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SAMPLE LINKEDIN DISTRIBUTION MAP

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CREATING A LINKEDIN EDITORIAL MODEL WILL DEFINE RESPONSIBILITIES
Once an editorial calendar has been developed, roles and ongoing
responsibilities must be identified and assigned, with processes being
developed. (A RAM or RACI matrix might help with this.)
The goals:
• Identify content owners (e.g. PR/Comms, Marketing, HR)
• Identify stakeholders for buy-in (e.g. Legal, Executive Sponsor)
• Identify additional resources required (e.g. Community
Management, Technology)

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EXAMPLE: EDITORIAL MODEL + TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES MAP
COMPANY TEAM LEADS
EXECUTIVE SPONSOR
EDITOR
MEASUREMENT AND OPTIMIZATION
CONTENT LEAD
LEGAL
COMMUNITY MANAGER HR
(Product, Design, Maketing, PR, Brand, HR)
Program oversight
COMPANY TEAMS
+ PARTNERS TECH SUPPORT
Creates / manages publishing
calendar and editorial plan
Coordinates with internal and
external contributors to secure
content and determine quarterly
content plan
Works with measurement team to
tweak editorial approach, if needed
Secures and remixes
existing assets
Curates external content
Publishes content
Monitors and responds to conversation
Gathers additional story ideas from
community
Manages and
updates job
postings (titles,
descriptions)

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LINKEDIN SAMPLE EDITORIAL CALENDAR: YEAR ONE
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
EDITORIAL
YEAR ONE BUILD-UP THE BASICS OUR PEOPLE INNOVATIONS THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP
Story Focus “What we do” “Who we are” “Where we are going” “What we can do
together”
Narrative
Key products
Company overview
Company values
Partnerships
Key company talent
Thought leadership
Hero innovations
Behind the scenes
What we’re working on
LinkedIn-customized
company thought
leadership (e.g.
Influencers)
Content Source EXISTING / REMIXED EXISTING / REMIXED
CURATION
EXISTING / REMIXED
CURATION
Potential Content
sources
Company News and
Announcements
Press releases
Third-party sources
Company News and
Announcements
Press releases
Third-party sources
Additional sources, plus new
platform-specific content
LinkedIn Influencer
contributions
Hero Thought
Leadership (IG)
1-2x / Month 2-3x / Month 3-4 / Month 4-5x / Month
Product Stories 4x / Month 4x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month
Announcements 2x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month
CAREER
Recruitment
Campaigns
TBD TBD TBD TBD
Employee Profiles 1x / Month 1x / Month 2x / Month 2x / Month
Job Postings 1x / Week 1x / Week 1x / Week 2x / Week
CONVO
Monitoring & Response Daily Daily Daily Daily

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05. OTHER LINKEDIN OPPORTUNITIES

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LEVERAGING THE LINKEDIN API
In order to fully take advantage of the LinkedIn platforms, brands must look beyond their
Company Pages and to their own websites for integration opportunities.
LinkedIn features a robust API around the following areas:
• People / User Profiles: Brands can leverage LinkedIn’s API around user registration for
its company websites (e.g. jobs portals).
• Social Sharing: LinkedIn’s share API allows for users to share a brand’s web content
from directly in their feeds.
• Jobs: LinkedIn’s Jobs APIs allow users to save, search and apply for jobs (pictured) from
company websites.
• Other APIs: LinkedIn offers additional APIs around Group discussions, Company Page
updates and other communication.

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ADVERTISING ON LINKEDIN
In addition to its standard ads, LinkedIn boasts a variety of premium ad offerings that
drive awareness, engagement and leads, including:
• Branded Communities: Brands can partner with LinkedIn to launch Managed Groups
(pictured), which host branded editorial-based conversations around topics of interest.
• Sponsored Content: Brands can promote their Company Page status updates through
Sponsored Content, which appear in users’ feeds.
• Targeting Capabilities: With standardized profile data on its 225 million members and
partnerships with Experian, Polk and others, LinkedIn offers professional and consumer
targeting capabilities.
• Additional Segmentation: LinkedIn can target users based on who they are, as well as
what they interact with on and off the site to create vertical and/or intender segments.
• Retargeting Capabilities: LinkedIn ad units can target users that have visited brand
websites in the past.

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COMPANY PAGE UPDATE TYPES
According to LinkedIn, the types of Company Page update
types with the highest follower engagement are:
1. Exclusive “behind the scenes” content and interviews
2. Career-related posts, including job opportunities
3. Tips and best practices
4. Company and industry facts and quotes

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EDITORIAL APPROACH AND CONTENT FILTER ARE KEY
• Content Development and Ownership: Which stakeholders create
and “own” the content that will eventually get published on a
LinkedIn Company Page? Will it work as is, or will it need to be
reworked?
• Brand Values: Does the content align with and display a company's
unique brand values and positioning?
• Short-Term vs. Long-Term Content: Does the topic address a subject
that’s of long-term interest to the company and its followers (e.g.
sustainability, retirement planning), or is more timely and short term
(e.g. new product release, conference announcement)?
• Audience interest: Based on the company’s goals and audience, is
there interest in this topic? (Will be determined over time with
engagement level, LinkedIn Insights.)
When evaluating content (original and curated) for a LinkedIn Company Page, consider the following:
Once topics are defined, brands can start to plan their editorial calendars.

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06. BUILDING AN ACTIVATION PLAN AND
MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK

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INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ACTIVATION
A successful LinkedIn Company Page activation requires both internal and external activation. This includes the following activities:
INTERNAL EXTERNAL
LinkedIn personal pages for key company thought leaders
Internal employee “follower” campaigns
Recruit internal champions to contribute to company page
Cross-promote through other owned properties (e.g. website,
social channels, email)
Leverage existing influencer relationships / campaigns
Follower acquisition campaigns (paid)
Activation campaigns (leverage LinkedIn API)
Recruitment (career) campaigns

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DEVELOPING KPIS
In order to prove the success of any marketing program,
especially new channel activations, measurement must be
an integral part.
After roles, responsibilities and an activation approach have
been defined, measurable KPIs must be proposed, as well as
a reporting schedule.
The KPIs will be tied to a company’s overall channel strategy,
as well as individual goals and objectives.

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SAMPLE KPIS
House elevated conversations
designed to lead the industry
Highlight company talent,
ideas and innovations
Treat followers as peers
Reinforce pride of association
and evoke a desire to be part
of company culture
Promote thought leadership
Spark debate
Initiate conversations
Create brand associations
Follow our stories
Users actively shape the story
Attract top talent to the brand
Improve employee satisfaction / pride of
association among current employees
Profile of followers
Share of followers at more senior level (e.g. VP, CEO)
Number of posts impressions
Clickthroughs to content
Number of comments
Content Marketing Index score
Total number of followers
Repeat engagements
Number of likes
Number of shares
Number and share of followers from the client’s industry
Engagement rate (% of engaged visitors)
Numbers of new applications
Number of company employee followers
STRATEGY
1
2
3
4
GOAL KPIs

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07. CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS

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CONCLUSION AND ACTION ITEMS
LinkedIn presents a vast, yet mostly untapped opportunity for brands to
break through with high-value, professional content. However, to be
competitive in the LinkedIn space, brands must do the following:
" Recognize that LinkedIn users have a different mindset from other social
networkers.
" Conduct a competitive audit of Company Pages in their verticals to identify
the opportunity.
" Provide all required content for their Company Pages.
" Develop a full editorial model, identifying key responsibilities and
stakeholders.
" Look beyond their own Company Pages to other owned, earned and paid
LinkedIn opportunities.
" Based on a brand’s goals and activities, develop a measurement
framework to attribute success and identify weaknesses.

40. CRITICAL MASS
About
Critical Mass, an Omnicom digital
marketing agency, helps the world's
leading companies use digital media to
create extraordinary experiences—
experiences that bring together creative
thinking, smart ideas and emerging
technologies to drive our clients’
businesses. Consistently recognized as a
leading interactive agency, Critical Mass
operates globally from offices in Calgary,
Toronto, Chicago, New York, Nashville, Los
Angeles, London, Amsterdam and Costa
Rica.
CriticalMass.com
Follow
LinkedIn.com/company/critical-mass
Twitter.com/CriticalMass
Facebook.com/CriticalMass.Agency
YouTube.com/CriticalMassAgency
Slideshare.net/CM1234
Social Media Team
David Jones, VP Social Media @DoctorJones
Alison Fraker, Sr. Social Planner @AlisonFraker
Daniel B. Honigman, Sr. Social Planner
@DanielHonigman
Kyle Bottoms, Social Planner @KyleBottoms
Lindsay Renwick, Social Planner
@LindsayRenwick
Nikki Lloyd, Community Manager @Nikki_Lloyd
©2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 40

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FURTHER READING
http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5011
http://blog.linkedin.com/2012/10/02/follow-people/
http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/04/04/start-a-conversation-by-mentioning-your-connections-on-linkedin/
http://press.linkedin.com/about
http://developer.linkedin.com/apis
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/linkedin-pivoting-one-marketing-deals-content-based-ads-149120
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30030/LinkedIn-277-More-Effective-for-Lead-Generation-Than-Facebook-Twitter-New-Data.aspx

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