The mission of LinkedIn is all about professionals– the global workforce. Many marketers have realized the immense power of reaching business decision-makers on LinkedIn, but they forget that these business professionals are also consumers (who buy cars, upgrade their phones, and open new checking accounts). Behind every professional with business decision-making power is a real person, who also happens to be a consumer, with purchase power.
Why B2C Marketing Works on LinkedIn
This personal purchase power is especially evident for LinkedIn members. Not only are they more likely to own (or plan to own) more high-consideration goods (think cars, tech devices, or mutual funds), members also report that spending more time on LinkedIn further nudges them to save for or purchase those goods. Why does the platform inspire these purchases? It’s simple: members come to LinkedIn with a more intentional mindset, to learn and grow. They also trust content on LinkedIn, find the time spent worthwhile, and even report feeling more ambitious, accomplished, and confident after leaving the platform than they did before.
Source: LinkedIn Meet the Member Research Study, July 2020; n = 2011 US respondents 18+
As a marketer, how do you tap into the potential of LinkedIn members as consumers, and reach them with the right messages? We all know from personal experience that deciding to buy a high-consideration product can be a long, complicated, and evolving process, and receiving the right information, with the right tone, at the right moment is crucial.
Marketers who sell high-consideration goods face a unique challenge: they have to reach consumers when they're in the right mindset and right life stage to make a purchase. LinkedIn has the unique ability to reach members in these key moments: recently promoted, changed locations, or changed careers. This is the context that makes them receptive to the idea of a high-consideration purchase. Finding this context and striking the right tone when you speak to your audience is both an art and a science.
Data from the Nielsen Ad Effectiveness report brings scientific answers to this consumer marketing quandary, giving marketers insight into how to craft their messaging depending on their marketing goals.
The Nielsen Ad Effectiveness Report
LinkedIn collaborated with Nielsen to explore the challenge that many B2C marketers face – given the number of possible creative directions, what’s the best way to speak to your target audience? Nielsen compiled data from 144 consumer (B2C) ad campaigns on LinkedIn with the goal of measuring ad effectiveness. In other words, which ads do the most leg work in achieving the brand’s goal?
The Process
To measure ad effectiveness, Nielsen first looked to find common denominators in the messaging strategies of 144 global campaigns across Financial Services, Tech, and Automotive verticals.
The analysis coded the information they gathered into seven core themes:
- Aspiration – Does the brand help consumers improve their lives and prospects?
- Innovation – Does the brand bring new ideas and products to consumers?
- Social Issues – Does the brand positively impact key social issues?
- Quality/Value – How much value does the brand provide consumers for their money?
- Product Feature – How do consumers feel about specific features offered by a brand’s product?
- Trust/Integrity – Is the brand trustworthy? Does it have integrity?
- Loyalty – Does the brand deliver consumers’ personal needs? Do consumers feel connected to it?
Then, using test/control groups (some respondents saw ads; others did not) to conduct consumer polling, the Nielsen analysis went on to determine how ads that focused on these seven themes impacted brand funnel metrics such as:
- Top-of-Mind Awareness – Does a consumer demonstrate brand recognition without being specifically asked about it?
- Favorability – Does the consumer have a positive perception of the brand?
- Consideration – Is the consumer actually thinking of purchasing the brand’s product?
- Recommendation – Would a consumer recommend the product to someone else?
"Understanding how and why their advertising resonates with target audiences is critical to marketers today. Ad Effectiveness analysis provides marketers with clear insights on messaging enabling them to improve key performance metrics across the marketing funnel from brand recall to recommendation scores." – Arica McKinnon, Vice President of Analytics, Nielsen.
How to Drive B2C Impact on LinkedIn
The report generated quite a few findings valuable to consumer marketers on LinkedIn.
We found that B2C marketers on LinkedIn are more likely to succeed if they focus their messaging on the core themes of Aspiration, Innovation, and Loyalty. In particular, brands that emphasize these themes are more likely to see an increase in their ads’ impact in Awareness, Favorability, and Consideration.
Aspiration lives on LinkedIn
Aspirational messaging is all about connecting your brand to desirability – for example, showing why driving your vehicle will bring a more adventurous lifestyle. This strategy is the best way to increase your impact higher in the funnel, particularly in Top-of-Mind Brand Awareness. But it also increases brand lift in Recommendation, at the funnel’s very bottom. Campaigns that tap into Aspiration are almost 2x as likely to see lifts in Top of Mind Awareness and Recommendation than those that don’t.
LinkedIn members are, by the nature of the platform, aspirational. Our community is career–focused, money-savvy, and stays up-to-date on the latest trends, whether Web3 or AI. They want to better themselves and the more you can tap into this aspirational mindset, the better your campaigns will do.
Innovation happens on LinkedIn
Innovation-based messaging focuses on new ideas and unique products. Either the content itself is unique, or the experience of using the product/service feels unique to consumers. This tactic drives lower-funnel brand lift in both Consideration and Recommendation.
Innovation-focused campaigns are 57% more likely to see significant increases in impact across multiple KPIs, including Favorability, than those that don’t. Campaigns with Innovation attributes are also over 2x as likely to see lifts in Consideration and Recommendation.
Loyalty builds trust with LinkedIn members
Loyalty-based messaging, meanwhile, contributes to mid-funnel Favorability. Does your brand reflect your audience’s values? Would consumers say that they love your brand? If so, centering your messaging around this theme is a sure-fire way to build trust and favorability in the eyes of LinkedIn members.
Campaigns prioritizing Loyalty are 59% more likely to attain significant brand lift across multiple KPIs than those that don’t, and 47% more likely to see a lift in Favorability.
Mix & Match for Best Results
Across the 144 campaigns that were analyzed, these messaging themes did not appear in isolation, and marketers should think about layering each tactic accordingly. Multiple core themes are often used together in a given ad campaign. For example, in the study, Loyalty paired with lots of other core themes, as did Trust/Integrity and Social Issues. Aspiration paired regularly with Innovation, Loyalty, and Quality/Value.
Source: Custom Nielsen Ad Effectiveness B2C Meta Analysis commissioned by LinkedIn on February 2022. Metrics calculated based on 144 campaigns.
Tips for Improving Ad Effectiveness
While marketers have many creative and messaging angles to choose from, depending on their specific full-funnel brand goals, a few top-performing themes emerged: Aspiration, Innovation, and Loyalty. When in doubt:
- Tell stories about the creativity of your product or service
- Spell out how your brand will help your consumers live their best lives
- Speak to your audience in a way that shows you truly get their wants and needs
Why? These findings aren’t that surprising after all, because LinkedIn members have high purchasing power, and are uniquely receptive to the idea of purchasing high-consideration products on the cutting edge. Compared to users on other social media platforms, LinkedIn users:
- Earn 15% more annually
- Own 64% more assets for long-term buying power
- Are 25% more likely to click on relevant ads
- Trust branded content 51% more
- And are willing to spend 22% more on the same products.
Source: LinkedIn Meet the Member Research Study, July 2020; n = 2011 US respondents 18+
Although crafting your campaign messaging can feel overwhelming and ambiguous, these results indicate that the key to success is as much a science as it is an art.
Influencing high-value consumers starts on LinkedIn. Visit Meet the Member to learn more and kickstart your consumer marketing strategy on LinkedIn.
Topics: LinkedIn Ads
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