LinkedIn has taken the plunge on sponsored video ads. The popular professional networking platform on Thursday announced two major updates: Video for Sponsored Content and Company Pages. These are a follow up on the momentum (video for individual profiles), which was launched last August. The sponsored video content will appear as a standalone post in the news feed.
LinkedIn says that “Marketers and brands can leverage video for Sponsored Content and Company Pages to reach and engage the right audiences, the right way.” Based on the results of their beta program, LinkedIn says that the Company Page video is 5x more likely than other types of content to start a conversation among members
“We have seen a lot of demand from people looking to use video as a tool to drive results for their businesses,” said Abhishek Shrivastava, Director of Product for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions.
According to an internal LinkedIn study, over 46% of B2B advertisers surveyed said this was a top challenge when running video campaigns on other platforms.
In its blog, LinkedIn says, “Organic native video has been embraced by members as a new and creative way to share knowledge and express themselves. Today, we’re also making video sharing available for all companies and publishers.”
“B2B marketers and professional audiences and professional contacts — they can use the video [tool] we’re launching across their funnels. Whether they’re looking to generate brand awareness, sending people to websites to take an action or connecting leads, they can showcase the video and if the member watching is interested, they can collect the leads right away,” Shrivastava told Marketing Land.
In November 2017, LinkedIn reached the 500 million users mark. When Microsoft acquired it for $26.2 billion at the end of 2016, the platform had 400 million users. LinkedIn has surely made its mark as the go-to-place not just for employees and employers, but for marketers to create business opportunities and reach out to potential clients.
