Business networking site LinkedIn is extending its advertising platform with the addition of Sponsored Updates, a feature that ports announcements directly into the news feeds of LinkedIn users.
Sponsored Updates provide advertisers with more visibility for their content than they would normally get from current right-hand sidebar space available on LinkedIn. The notion is that viewers are more apt to view and click on the advertisements inserted in their news feeds since the ad appears when they are more engaged.
With more than three million company pages in LinkedIn, companies organizations and institutions have emerged as highly valued sources of relevant content on LinkedIn,” wrote Bill Hahn, vice-president of marketing for LinkedIn, is his blog. “Sponsored Updates enable these entities to build relationships by delivering their content into the homepage feed of members beyond those who are following their company.”
LinkedIn also assures users that their newsfeeds will not be flooded with ads.
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“In the development of Sponsored Updates, we’ve taken a measured methodical approach to create and experience that strikes the right balance for our members and companies,” said Hahn.
Sponsored Updates can be viewed on desktop, smart phones and tablet devices and will be clearly marked “sponsored.” The ads will appear in a LinkedIn member’s homepage feed along with organic posts from the member’s network and companies followed by the member.
The member has the options to “Follow” or “Like” the sponsoring company as well as comment on or share the post to other people.
Customers will be able to select either CPC (cost-per-click) or CPM (cost-per-1000-impressions) pricing and can promote updates in 20 languages.
Among the companies using Sponsored Updates are software company Adobe Systems, cloud analytics tool maker Domo Inc., luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz and copying machine company Xerox.
In the case of Adobe, LinkedIn helped the company by analyzing the search results for the company and promoting the company’s push to establish itself as a leader in digital marketing and digital media solutions.
“We partnered with Adobe to perform research to understand their results,” said Hahn. “Marketing decision makers who saw Adobe updates were 50 per cent more likely to agree that Adobe is shaping the future of digital marketing and 79 per cent more likely to agree that Adobe helped them optimize media spend compared to those not exposed to the company’s Sponsored Updates.”