Month: January 2018

8 LinkedIn Changes That Help With Your Marketing

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A year ago LinkedIn revamped its system in an attempt to increase functionality and make it more user friendly, a move that came after its acquisition by Microsoft in 2016. The changes are evident from the moment you sign in to your account. The new app-like home page has been streamlined, giving you quick and easy access to the information you want to see – with the goal for you to use LinkedIn more often and stay engaged longer.

If you’re like me, you haven’t taken the time (until now) to investigate all of the changes. Here are the top eight changes that marketers should know about.

  1. More Content

Your LinkedIn home page now features more organic, sponsored, and native advertising content users may be interested in reading. And shortcuts like the “Work” button in the top navigation bar next to your profile picture make it easy to manage your company page as well as your groups.

  1. Easy Messaging

The new and improved LinkedIn makes it even easier to private message contacts. Now there’s a pop-up “Messaging” window on the bottom right of your home page screen that allows you to quickly and easily select one of your contacts and shoot them off a message without leaving the LinkedIn homepage feed. And, when you receive messages, new “smart replies” automation provides three automated replies you can select – no typing required. Adding personalization to the automated message – like: Thanks, Jane – is coming soon.

  1. Easy Searching

New search features offer a universal search box that lets users search by people, jobs, companies, groups and schools. You can search all of these LinkedIn categories with a single, unified keyword(s) – all of the relevant items will come up on one page, and you can toggle between different categories. Before this change, you had to search in each category separately.

  1. Trending Topics At A Glance

LinkedIn is taking its cue from Facebook, adding an algorithm that selects trending stories for this news feed on the top right of your home page. This move makes it easier for users to engage within the system.

  1. More Analytics

 This one is really good. LinkedIn now provides more analytics so you know how other users interact with your content you post. LinkedIn now shows you things like who liked your content, the company they work for, their job title, where they are located, and where they found your content. If that weren’t enough, the system will also suggest additional articles to share with your network to increase engagement.

  1. Native Videos

Remember how frustrating it used to be to try to embed video into LinkedIn?! Now LinkedIn lets you upload native videos directly to LinkedIn using its mobile app. In addition to being convenient, this enhancement also helps the videos on company pages appear more authentic/organic and less “corporate.”

  1. Blogging Interface

Now you can create a blog post from your home page by clicking on the “Write An Article” link in the top box on your home screen. Before you had to navigate to another page called LinkedIn Pulse and write your post there.

  1. Learning Center

The new “Learning” option in your top navigation bar enables you to enter a skill set that are of interest to you and then access pertinent content that informs you on a multitude of subjects that meet your criteria.

With these changes, it’s likely LinkedIn users could start using this platform even more, which would definitely capture the attention of marketers wanting to reach prospects where they are. You may want to consider creating more LinkedIn campaigns and content for the site.

If it’s been awhile since you’ve checked out LinkedIn, I suggest you log on and see how this platform can help your business.

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How Recent Changes to Facebook May Affect Your Marketing Efforts

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Recent changes at Facebook may affect how we market to prospects using this social media. Facebook has decided to show less news articles, marketing content, and ads to make way for more personal content from each user’s personal connections. Here are the highlights of this news feed change that you should know:

Changing Its Image

At the heart of this change is the controversy Facebook has had over the years regarding its somewhat tumultuous relationship with the news industry. By showing more personal content and less news and advertising content, Facebook eliminates some of their headaches.

Responding To Numbers

Nielsen data shows a small decline in the number of hours people are spending on Facebook. By increasing the amount of personal content that directly pertains to each user, Facebook likely hopes to stop this decline.

Time Will Tell

For those of us who use Facebook for organic distribution by posting content in prospect’s news feeds, it seems we’ll have to wait and see how far reaching these changes are. There may need to be a shift to purchasing online ads on Facebook if content posts are no longer enabled. Facebook seems to be banking on this, hoping advertisers won’t mind paying for ads if they are seen by “happier” Facebook users.

I’m sure you’ll join me in closely monitoring these Facebook changes and their impact on marketers.

Understanding Net Neutrality and What It May Mean to Your Business

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted recently to repeal regulations of Internet service providers, referred to as “Net Neutrality.” Understanding what this means can be confusing. Let’s take a look at an overview of the possible impact for marketers.

Net Neutrality is simply a collection of regulations. In 2015, the FCC adopted historic Net Neutrality rules based on Title II of the Communications Act, giving Internet users the strongest protections possible. This worked to keep the Internet free and open — ensuring users can access and share Internet information without interference from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This means ISPs cannot interfere with the content you view or post online. Net Neutrality reflects how the Internet has always worked – what we’re accustomed to when we think of Internet functionality.

Since the FCC repealed Net Neutrality, the concern is that ISPs can now slow down content, block content, and charge extra fees for companies to receive preferential treatment — all would be potentially detrimental to most businesses marketing online that rely on the open Internet to advertise their products and services and reach customers. Net Neutrality fosters competition, innovation, and job growth.

Proponents of the repeal claim Net Neutrality micro-manages the Internet and removing it will foster innovation and create competition in Internet access pricing and options among ISPs that will be good for consumers. However, in most locations in the U.S. there isn’t much ISP competition, as they function more like a monopoly.

Regardless of which side you agree with, the debate isn’t over. Over a dozen senators are working on a Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to counter regulatory rulings from federal agencies and would nullify the FCC’s vote. If the Act is passed and the repeal reversed, the FCC could not repeal net neutrality again. I’m sure we’ll all be watching this very closely.