Social Media Marketing: a Study on the Role of Linkedin in Marketing Communication

Social Media Marketing: A Study on the Role of LinkedIn in Marketing Communication

By

Fai Leung

30th October 2013

ABSTRACT

The social ecosystem is fragmented, where different social media platforms will have different positioning, natures and hence different target audiences. It is crucial that marketers choose the appropriate platform to deliver their message in order to achieve the most satisfactory return on investment (ROI).

LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 238 million members in over 200 countries and territories (LinkedIn Corporation, 2013).

It is an ideal social marketing platform for targeting expat or senior executives, who are normally hard to be reached in other channels. More, as the platform is business oriented, B2B marketing would be more suited. To better utilize LinkedIn, marketers must first evaluate their corporate positioning, campaign nature and target audiences.

TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT 3

1 INTRODUCTION 5

2 THE LINKEDIN BASICS 6

2.1 WHAT IS LINKEDIN? 6

2.2 WHO IS USING LINKEDIN? 6

2.2.1 INDIVIDUALS 6

2.2.2 ENTERPRISES 6

2.2.3 HEADHUNTER AGENCIES 6

2.3 THE LINKEDIN BUSINESS MODEL 7

2.3.1 TALENT SOLUTION 7

2.3.2 MARKETING SOLUTION 8

2.3.3 PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION 8

3 MARKETING SOLUTION OF LINKEDIN 9

3.1 MARKETING TOOLS 9

3.1.1 COMPANY PAGES 9

3.1.2 DISPLAY ADS 9

3.1.3 CUSTOM GROUP 11

3.1.4 SPONSORSHIPS 11

3.1.5 PARTNER MESSAGES 11

3.2 CASE STUDY ON THE UTILIZATION OF LINKEDIN IN MARKETING 11

3.2.1 HP CASE STUDY 12

3.2.2 CITI BANK CASE STUDY 12

4 DISCUSSIONS 12

4.1 EXPAT MARKET OR MASS MARKET 13

4.2 B2B OR B2C 13

5 CONCLUSION 14

REFERENCE 15

1 INTRODUCTION

Social media is a disruptive technology. The emergence of social media has been a great hit to the online ecosystem, as well as the way people use Internet. People spend more...