Telstra jumps into new LinkedIn content marketing program
- 24 July, 2013 15:47
Telstra has been revealed as the first Australian brand to get on-board Sponsored Updates feeds on LinkedIn’s professional social networkiing site.
Telstra, along with global brands such as Adobe, Nissan and Xerox, have spent the past six months testing and target any segment of the social site’s 225 million members. Content can include text, videos and presentations.
According to LinkedIn, posts will be clearly marked ‘sponsored’ and appear among a user’s newsfeed. Members can like, share and comment on the content, as well as follow the company that generated it. According to Telstra general manager of digital marketing, Harry Lowes, Sponsored Updates enables the telco giant to share highly targeted content, and has already generated significant results.
“We accelerated the rate at which we attract new followers on LinkedIn by about 12 per cent,” he said. “We are now approaching 50,000 followers, making us the third most-followed company in Australia on LinkedIn.”
Sponsored posts will be displayed across desktops, tablets and smartphones and will be available to marketers both on a CPM and CPC basis via a bid-based auction. LinkedIn said companies can track post and campaign effectiveness through analytics to glean insights and fine-tune strategy in real time.
While users' homepages will not appear dramatically different, “you may occasionally see sponsored updates in your feed,” said Gyanda Sachdeva, who handles product management for the site, in a separate post.
Enterprise companies can use Sponsored Updates from today (24 July) and the offering will be rolled out to self-service customers by the end of the month. They form part of LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions offering and will be available in 20 languages across 200 countries and territories.
“Content marketing is at the heart of LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions strategy,” said LinkedIn director of marketing solutions for Australia and New Zealand, Matt Tindale. “Our goal is to develop a definitive professional publishing platform and create opportunities for marketers to drive business results by sharing relevant content with our members.”
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia
