Leverage brands using Linkedin

Linkedin was launched in 2011 with sole purpose of building a social networking platform for business people and reaching out to people from different organizations.

Why Linkedin?

Many brands aim to create brand awareness among the working professionals. They also focus in building brand loyalty and aspiration among the users. It is interesting to observe these inferences and how top brands are taking advantage of these statistics to promote their brands.

How companies use Linkedin for promoting their brands?

1. Citi, a financial service corporation wanted to reach out to professional women using Linkedin. They launched “Connect: Professional Women’s Network” in May 2012.

Aim:

• To bring awareness about the brand among women
• To share content about the investment plans and offers provided by Citi to secure her financial future

Results:

• Most active group in Linkedin with More than 2,40,000 active members
• Members engaging in discussions and sharing advices at a rate twice the level of engagement when compared to other groups in Linkedin

Inference:

Citi utilized the advantage of Linkedin being the best platform to reach to business professionals who are spread across different geographical locations. It served as a great platform to post new job opportunities and share advices with high profile entrepreneurs and executives. Similarly business organizations who are looking out to reach more people can use Linkedin to not only promote their brand presence but also for posting job vacancies, viewing the opinion of employees, rewarding their work and even sharing the details about their business or product performance.

2. Volkswagen (VW) one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers wanted to make their brand more prominent in the Indian market and grow their profit through increased car sales.

Aim:

• To strengthen the brand equity
• To promote their cars thereby increasing sales

Results:

• Linkedin Marketing created 2700 product recommendations in just 30 days
• Campaigns generated 9,60,000 viral updates about the car models

Inference:

Volkswagen designed campaigns which allowed customer interaction where the users submitted their innovative ideas about car designs which were later adopted by the product team to study the feasibility of introducing these ideas in the upcoming vehicles.  Hence companies who are seeking to reach out to public for their product feedback can use Linkedin recommendations effectively. Users can be encouraged to write testimonials with pictures of the happy customers. Sharing the experiences and reviews about the product can help to spread positive feedback among people. This will encourage sales and bring growth to business.