LinkedIn Marketing Yearbook 2014

The LinkedIn
Marketing Solutions
Yearbook

A look back- 2014, The Year at LinkedIn
A look forward- The Marketing Industry in 2015
Conclusion
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The LinkedIn
Marketing Solutions Yearbook
The LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Yearbook 2

The Marketing Industry in 2015

Trend 1: Values based marketing will become the norm
More than ever, a company’s brand is as much about the people they employ, the culture they
create and the values they believe in, as it is about their ads or even their products.
As a result, consumers increasingly make buying decisions on a wider range of factors and
supply chain transparency, corporate social responsibility, employee satisfaction, diversity in
the workplace and the longer-term company vision all play a role. This means marketers now
need to work alongside all these divisions to develop and convey a more rounded story, in a
landscape where social media has put the balance of power firmly in the hands of consumers,
enabling them to force the hand of companies that don’t meet their ever-increasing expectations.
The Marketing Industry in 2015
Josh Graff, Senior Director, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions EMEA, on the key trends that will
dominate the marketing landscape this year – and how they’ve informed our development
over the past 12 months

Trend 2: As the business world speeds up, decision-making
slows down
Companies worldwide are taking advantage of technology to connect teams and foster
collaboration across different functions and geographies. There are dozens of well-documented
benefits to this, however one of the looming pitfalls is the complexity and speed of decision-
making in large multi-nationals.
Marketers need to be locally agile, so that they can adopt new disruptive technologies which will
capture the attention of their customers without waiting on a 6-month internal approval process.
If they fail this agility test, they’ll be left behind and lose share-of-voice to the likes of Uber,
Dropbox, Airbnb, Kymeta, Warby Parker and other nimble challenger brands.

Trend 3: The talent gap will widen
This time last year we said 2014 would see more and more brands and media agencies bringing
editorial skills into their organisations to compete in the content marketing space. A quick look
shows that Whole Foods, Uber and Debenhams all have open roles for editorial positions on
LinkedIn. Not surprisingly, many of these positions are being filled by experienced journalists
who understand what consumers actually want to read.
Recruitment will remain a key battleground in 2015, with agencies and brands fighting to retain
top talent, in what has become a covert war with media owners and start-ups. The most desired
marketing skills in 2015? Data scientists and experts in marketing automation, with the greatest
challenge for companies being the right balance of skills across all levels of seniority to avoid a
‘skills gap’, where younger talent holds all the data expertise but lacks business acumen, and
commercially savvy leaders remain unsure about data.
A platform at the heart of business and branding
LinkedIn is positioned at the heart of these key trends: a natural platform for values-based mar-
keting as we sit at the intersection of employees, employers and consumers, an essential tool for
B2B marketers looking to negotiate an increasingly complex buying journey,and the foundation
of an effective employer brand. In this review of 2014, we pick out some of the innovations of the
last 12 months that are helping marketers to master this fast-changing landscape and highlight
some brands that are already reaping the benefits.
Josh Graff
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Director EMEA

2014
The Year at LinkedIn

January
Where the affluent come to think
about money
From the UK to the UAE, our research
confirmed LinkedIn as the place where
high net worth individuals seek out
guidance on financial decisions – when
they’re making buying decisions for
a business, and when they’re looking
at options for their own money. In the
UK, 71% of high net worth people visit
LinkedIn almost every day.
The secret to turning heads on
Slideshare
We served up some inspiration for
marketers looking to make more of
Slideshare, with a selection of the most
impactful content on the platform.
HSBC makes Global Connections
on LinkedIn
HSBC’s Global Connections campaign
leveraged the full power of LinkedIn to
bring business leaders together with
original insights. Sponsored Updates
delivered expert content to a precisely
targeted audience. Custom Groups
embodied the concept of leaders
exchanging ideas, and paved the way
for hugely successful offline events.

February
LinkedIn for Sophisticated
Marketers
We kicked off 2014 with the launch of
The Sophisticated Marketers Guide
to LinkedIn, a one-stop shop with
everything marketers need to get
maximum value from our platform.
Capgemini becomes daily reading
for decision-makers
With 130,000 LinkedIn followers,
1.8 million shares and 368,000
viral impressions in just six months,
Capgemini proved the value of content
at the heart of B2B strategies. Its
innovative Content Loop microsite,
developed with LinkedIn and promoted
through Sponsored Updates, tailored
business stories to the profile of each
reader.
LinkedIn Number 1 for content
marketing effectiveness
Research from the Content Marketing
Institute confirmed LinkedIn as the
dominant publishing platform for B2B
marketers. LinkedIn was also the clear
number 1 when it came to marketers’
confidence in how effective their content
was on different channels: 66% agreed
that our platform delivered for them.

March
Content Marketing Score and
Trending Content arrive
LinkedIn’s Content Marketing Score
maps the impact and influence of your
content on LinkedIn, with clear guidance
for greater return on investment.
Trending Content helps you hit the
hot-button issues that will get your
audiences clicking. Together, they’re
ready to rescue content marketers
seeking more robust ROI
The Mindset Divide: Spotlight on
Content
Did you know that professionals spend
60% more time consuming professional
content at home than they do at
work? Our in-depth report revealed
groundbreaking truths about the role
such content plays in people’s lives.
It was standing room only when we
presented the results at a packed-out
Ad Week Europe seminar.
Sponsored InMail goes mobile
One of LinkedIn’s most powerful and
popular channels can now reach
members across all devices, thanks to
flexible formatting and an experience
optimised for iPhone, Android and the
mobile web.

April
Ad Week Europe:
The Graphic Novel
DrawnIn, our unique visual coverage
of Ad Week Europe, captured subjects
as diverse as lipstick on pigs, vigilante
consumers and Tom Cruise. And as
we predicted beforehand, few words
cropped up quite so often as ‘content’.
The 5 things a winning content
strategy needs
From the right skills, to mind-reading
powers and a robust approach to ROI
– we set out the 5 characteristics of
successful content in an increasingly
competitive landscape.
LinkedIn scoops Gold at Festival
of Media
Our high-flying, API-driven campaign
for Etihad was among the big winners
at the Global Festival of Media. Mapped
Out, which invited Etihad passengers to
set up meetings in different destinations,
landed the Gold award for Best Digitally
Integrated Campaign.

May
Helping brands do more with
Sponsored Updates
The roll-out of our Sponsored Updates
Partner Programme empowered brands
to maximise the ROI of their updates, by
working with our certified partners for
best-in-class campaign management
and strategy.
Greater control over Company
Page content
The launch of personalised page feeds
and language preference targeting
equipped marketers with all of the tools
they need to deliver personalised,
locally relevant content through their
Company and Showcase Pages.
LinkedIn joins top brands’
100 Club
LinkedIn smashed its way into BrandZ’s
Index listing the 100 most valuable
global brands, landing at number 78
and overtaking big names like Intel,
Pepsi and KFC in the process.

June
How social is driving Europe’s
economic recovery
Research published by LinkedIn
and Join the Dots demonstrated how
Europe’s fastest-growing businesses
are those giving a central role to social
media in all aspects of their operations.
Sharing our vision of a
transparent economy
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner took to the
Croisette at the Cannes International
Advertising Festival, sharing LinkedIn’s
vision of the Economic Graph: a
digital map of the global economy
that connects talent with opportunity
at scale. As Rob Norman of Group M
put it at one WPP session: “LinkedIn is
describing the world’s entire economic
value.”
Europe’s most influential content
brands revealed
From the Financial Times to L’Oréal and
from Red Bull to Ernst & Young, we used
Content Marketing Score to identify
the brands generating the greatest
awareness and engagement through the
content they share on LinkedIn.

July
The power to publish direct to the
LinkedIn feed
With the launch of Direct Sponsored
Content we gave brands the capability
to publish direct to the LinkedIn feed of
precisely targeted audiences, without
the need to post updates on a Company
Page first. The result? Far greater
flexibility when it comes to targeting,
tailoring and testing your content.
Professional Content Report
shows revolution in media habits
The 2014 Professional Content
Consumption Report demonstrated how
LinkedIn members spend more of their
time consuming professional content
than they do news and entertainment.
It also identified the key characteristics
of the LinkedIn audience leading the
professional content revolution.
New era for B2B marketing as
LinkedIn acquires Bizo
Our acquisition of Bizo, announced on
July 22, combines the world’s largest
professional network with the leader in
business audience marketing; and the
world’s leading B2B content platform
with uniquely powerful targeting and
nurturing solutions. Our vision is to
build full-funnel marketing that reaches
and engages at every stage of the B2B
buyer’s journey.

August
1 in 10 LinkedIn members seeking
the right MBA
New research revealed that 1 in 10
LinkedIn members are actively planning
to take an MBA course in the near future
– and 58% of these potential students
will research their choice of course on
LinkedIn. Our blog post announcing the
findings revealed how MBA providers
can capture their attention.
UAE’s most influential content
brands revealed
Travel led the way in our ranking of the
UAE’s most influential content brands,
measured by their Content Marketing
Score on LinkedIn. Etihad took top spot
with fellow airline Emirates and the hotel
group Jumeirah close behind.
LinkedIn is UK members’ primary
source of business content
Our Audience 360 research revealed
our UK members’ most frequently used
source of business content: not The
Economist, FT, Guardian or Twitter.
Instead, 55% get their news and insight
through LinkedIn.

September
TechConnect 2014
Innovators and marketers gathered
in Silicon Valley on September 23 for
LinkedIn’s TechConnect 2014, which
was streamed live to audiences across
EMEA.
Using LinkedIn Sponsored
Updates to Achieve Thought
Leadership Goals
Our eBook guide explored how
marketers can use Sponsored Updates
to deliver the right thought-leadership
content, to the right audience, at the
right time, with key insights for linking
such content to business goals.
Nurturing the IT Committee Lead
55% of IT Buying Committee members
admitted lying on data capture forms in
our report on Nurturing the IT Committee
Lead. It was just one of the key findings
that are helping to guide a more
effective approach to lead nurturing for
Tech marketers.

October
LinkedIn goes
‘Behind the Content’
We love to hear about the stories behind
classic movies, legendary albums
and great novels – so why should
branded content be any different? We
teamed up with Hubspot to reveal the
secrets behind remarkable marketing
campaigns.
Emirates hits new heights
on followers
The announcement that Emirates had
passed 250,000 followers on LinkedIn
didn’t just make it the most followed
travel brand on our platform; it also
demonstrated what’s possible when
a company seamlessly integrates
talent, corporate and consumer brands
through a single channel. Emirates has
both established itself as an employer
of choice and effectively targeted the
1 in 5 LinkedIn members taking eight
business flights or more each year.
CMI explores 5 ways to get more
from LinkedIn
In a post for the Content Marketing
Institute, Ann Gynn shared her top tips
for maximising the value of LinkedIn for
brands.

November
A new mission for Tech Marketers:
Save the CIO
In his keynote address at Tech Connect
London, Computer Weekly Editor in
Chief Bryan Glick lifted the lid on the
internal pressures piling up on Chief
Information Officers – and revealed how
Tech marketers’ future success depends
on relieving them.
Do you know what your B2B
brand is?
Where is the next generation of great
B2B brands? That’s the question we
asked in a challenging blog post that
argued for the importance of building
awareness, credibility and trust.
The UK’s 10 most engaged
marketers revealed
Marketers from Coca-Cola, Post Office,
Adobe and Unilever rubbed shoulders
with their peers from Starcom MediaVest
and XChanging in our ranking of the 10
most engaged marketers on LinkedIn.
Our 10 standout marketers are all
advocating effectively for their brands
whilst building a powerful brand of their
own.

December
Most engaged talent brand
professionals revealed
For the first time, we unveiled our
ranking of the most engaged employer
brand professionals on our platform,
ranking members on metrics such
as the number of LinkedIn groups
they joined and their recent activity in
posting comments and participating in
discussions.
Our marketing blog’s biggest hits
We marked the year-end with a
round-up of the most popular posts
on our EMEA Marketing Solutions
blog, revisiting the pieces that got
marketers reading and sharing in 2014.
Top posts included our feature on
professional content transforming media
consumption, and our declaration of the
5 things a winning content strategy must
have.
An audience of 1.2 million for
the Shell story
Shell surged past the 1-million follower
mark on LinkedIn, after putting our
platform at the heart of its strategy for
telling “one Shell story”, and leveraging
Company Updates and tailored LinkedIn
Groups to do so. “We needed to bring
the different elements of our business
to life for a diverse, wide-ranging
audience, and we needed to do so in a
unified, cohesive way that could make
it clear what our brand stands for,” said
Don Bulmer of Shell Social Media and
Innovation. “LinkedIn has provided a
very effective platform for this.”

Conclusion
2014 was a great year for LinkedIn, not only
because of the advances we made during
the last 12 months - but because of the vast
potential those developments provide for the
year ahead. We look forward to sharing these
with you as we aim to continue to reinvent
the role of professional social media for both
consumer and B2B marketing.

Visit emea.marketing.linkedin.com
for all of our 2014 articles and more

LinkedIn Marketing Yearbook 2014

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