With more than 80 million users, LinkedIn has long been the top social network for the business crowd, and has grown quickly as a tool for recruiters and sales teams looking for new leads and connections. But what about brand marketing? Yes, LinkedIn has “Groups,” but they have always driven far less traffic, engagement and brand awareness than Facebook pages or Twitter—and as a result, LinkedIn has always been a something of a second-tier destination for tactical social marketing.
With the recent launch of Company Pages, LinkedIn is trying to change that.
The unique attraction of the new feature, said LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner in a press release, is to take “product and service recommendations to another level, allowing professionals to benefit from the considered perspectives of those whom they trust and relate to the most—the people they know.”
In addition to allowing written recommendations from customers and clients, Company Pages lets marketers post product listings, informative videos and online promotions, and offers targeted advertising capabilities based on users’ geographic locations and titles.
This recommendation aspect, expanding on LinkedIn’s core mission of allowing users to recommend other members, goes a step beyond the concept of “liking” or following a brand and becomes more of an endorsement. A written recommendation for a company’s products requires a significantly greater commitment, can carry more weight, and be a stronger reflection of a brand’s online popularity.
More than 3,700 companies have set up their Company Pages in the week since the program’s launch, including JetBlue, HP, AT&T and Kodak, and B2B companies seem especially excited. We recently chatted with Anna Griffin, VP of global brands and campaigns at Juniper Networks:
This is a brilliant move by LinkedIn to take a job networking opportunity and turn it into a valuable b-to-b recommendation and endorsement. When I think about what this could become…it’s going to make for a really strong recommendation platform, not just an “I Like it” or “I Digg it.”
Social marketers in both the B2B and B2C arenas will certainly test Company Page product recommendations vigorously in hopes of seeing the same viral impact offered by Facebook and Twitter. Whether marketers will see any impact at all, however, is a big question: LinkedIn is not exactly known for overwhelming engagement. And while B2B marketers might see the occasional product recommendation with Company Pages, it’s difficult to imagine seeing any significant impact on the B2C space. (Will anyone be up for recommending 3M Scotch Tape, McDonald’s Happy Meal, or Tide Original with Bleach Alternative on LinkedIn? Doubtful — especially considering they can already “Like” those on Facebook with relative ease and minimum involvement.)
Which leaves us with B2B. Is it possible that the social network’s mostly-business audience will start recommending company products like the Dickens? Sure, it’s possible. The big question is whether these recommendations will actually influence other peoples’ purchase behavior — and if it does, brand marketers may have finally found their “in” with LinkedIn.
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