Just When You Thought LinkedIn Couldn’t Get Any Cooler: Targeted Status Updates Is Now Available to All!

With a gazillion cool features, LinkedIn is by far one of the finest tools for business networking.  And, just when you thought it couldn’t get any cooler – yet another brilliant feature:  Targeted Status Updates.  This feature essentially enhances the relevance of conversations between LinkedIn users and companies.  Originally launched in April, but only made available to a few companies, Targeted Status Updates is now open to all businesses that have LinkedIn Company Pages.  And, that’s over two million!

Targeted Status Updates facilitates the flow of pertinent information between users and the companies they follow.  In the words of LinkedIn project manager, Mike Grishaver, “...companies can now communicate with their followers in a very personalized way and provide content tailored to specific audiences.”

   

Now, when you follow a company on LinkedIn, information, news and updates (industry trends, job opportunities, product & service information, etc.) are sent to the activity stream.  And, the amount of relevant content that you receive is proportional to how much and how often you engage with a company. 

Businesses can target their status updates to users based on company size, industry, function, seniority and geography.  It streamlines the information that you receive and makes it much easier to follow companies.

Here’s how it works:

Log into your company’s LinkedIn page.  Type the content you want to share into the “Share an update” box.  Click on the dropdown menu beside “Share with: All followers”, then click on “Targeted audience”.

The next window you see will read, “Specify a target audience” at the top left.  Select the criteria for your target audience from the options listed across the top of the box:  “Company size”; “Industry”; “Function”; “Seniority” and “Geography”. 

It’s as simple as that!  Now, not only will your status update be visible on your company page, but it will appear on the homepages of followers whom you have targeted via the criteria you selected.

 

And, it doesn’t end there.  Analytics for each post are available following a twenty-four hour period.  The company page admin will be able to see these analytics, which include how many impressions the update received; how many clicks it garnered; how many times it was shared and the engagement percentage, underneath each post. Targeted Status Updates is a brilliant means of streamlining what and to whom you post on LinkedIn. 

According to an article on brandchannel.com, “LinkedIn found that 67% of members follow a company to gain industry insights, 61% for company news, and 49% for the peer community.” 

Targeted Status Updates is a brilliant means of streamlining what and to whom you post on LinkedIn.  Just another way that LinkedIn makes social media marketing a breeze!