LinkedIn Updates: Short-Form Video, Premium Company Pages, and More

Our Take: LinkedIn's new “Contribute your expertise” feature encourages users to share their knowledge by contributing to collaborative articles aligned with their skills. By leveraging its user base's collective wisdom, LinkedIn aims to enhance the quality and diversity of its content. Users are presented with a curated list of articles matching their backgrounds, making it easier to find relevant content and increasing the likelihood of valuable contributions.

The platform's “top voice” badge, awarded to recognized experts, incentivizes quality contributions and motivates users to share unique perspectives, elevating the overall content standard. This feature complements LinkedIn's efforts to extend the lifespan of valuable content, ensuring it remains relevant and accessible for an extended period, benefiting users, and establishing LinkedIn as a go-to resource for professional insights.

As LinkedIn improves its content indexing and search capabilities, the “Contribute your expertise” feature will significantly increase its content discoverability and value. With the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and conversational tools like Google and Microsoft Copilot, LinkedIn's focus on user-generated expertise could help maintain its position as a leading professional networking and knowledge-sharing platform.

Our Take: LinkedIn's move to offer a short-form video experience comes as no surprise, given the immense popularity and influence of short-form video content on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. By joining the short-form video trend, LinkedIn aims to keep users engaged and provide a new avenue for content creation and consumption.

LinkedIn has been actively seeking feedback from beta testers, demonstrating their commitment to refining the feature based on user input. One notable improvement is the addition of a follow button directly on the video content, allowing users to easily follow creators without navigating to their profiles. This update streamlines the user experience and encourages engagement with content creators.

As marketers and content creators prepare for the potential wider rollout of this feature, it's essential to consider the type of content that resonates with LinkedIn's professional audience. Early observations suggest that the short-form video content on LinkedIn's beta test aligns with the platform's existing content mix, focusing on professional insights, industry trends, and personal branding.

Introducing a dedicated short-form video feed on LinkedIn presents an exciting opportunity for marketers and content creators to showcase their expertise, share valuable insights, and engage with their target audience in a new and dynamic format. At the same time, some users may be hesitant to embrace this change, as with LinkedIn Stories, the platform's commitment to user feedback and refinement bodes well for the future of short-form video on LinkedIn.

Our Take: LinkedIn's recent update integrates Shutterstock's vast library of images into its advertising platform, a game-changer for marketers. This integration provides advertisers free access to millions of high-quality images from Shutterstock, making it easier than ever to create visually appealing ads that capture the attention of their target audience.

What's particularly exciting about this update is its potential impact on ad performance. LinkedIn cites data from Microsoft Advertising, which showed a remarkable 21% lift in clicks and a 7% increase in click-through rates when advertisers used Shutterstock images in their campaigns. This suggests that by leveraging the diverse and professional-quality images available through this integration, advertisers on LinkedIn could see a significant boost in engagement and overall ad effectiveness.

Moreover, this update levels the playing field for smaller businesses and advertisers with limited budgets. By providing free access to such an extensive library of images, LinkedIn empowers all advertisers to create visually compelling ads without needing expensive photography or graphic design services.

While the specifics of how the integration works are not entirely clear, it's likely that LinkedIn will require users to connect their Shutterstock account or create one to access the images. This could be part of Shutterstock's strategy to attract more users to its platform, especially in light of the growing concern that AI-generated images may disrupt the stock photography industry in the coming years.

Our Take: LinkedIn's recent introduction of new ad formats and features is a significant development for marketers looking to expand their reach and impact on the platform. These updates offer exciting opportunities to scale messaging, leverage long-form content, and streamline workflows.

One of the most promising new features is the ability to sponsor articles on LinkedIn. This allows marketers to amplify the reach of their long-form content, tapping into the platform's engaged professional audience. By combining the depth and credibility of thought leadership pieces with the precision targeting of LinkedIn ads, brands can build trust and authority at scale.

Another exciting development is the introduction of thought leadership ads, which enable companies to partner with influential individuals who may not be direct employees. This feature opens up new avenues for building brand advocacy and expanding reach through the voices of respected industry figures. By aligning with influential thought leaders, brands can gain valuable exposure and credibility among their target audiences.

Lastly, the streamlined workflow for boosting lead gen ads from LinkedIn pages is a welcome improvement. This update makes it easier for marketers to capitalize on the interest generated by their best-performing organic content, turning it into a powerful lead-generation tool without the need for extra steps or complex campaign setup.

Our Take: LinkedIn's recent updates to its advertising platform, particularly the introduction of CTV ads and Live Event Ads, represent a significant expansion of its capabilities and offer exciting new opportunities for marketers to reach their target audiences.

The ability to advertise on connected TV platforms like NBCUniversal, Roku, and Samsung through LinkedIn's Campaign Manager is a game-changer. As more and more people consume content through streaming services, the ability to reach them with targeted ads during ad breaks can be a powerful way to break through the clutter and capture their attention. While the intricacies of optimizing ads for this format may require some expertise, the potential for increased reach and impact is undeniable.

Another notable development is the introduction of Live Event Ads, which allow marketers to promote their LinkedIn Live events and drive registrations. This feature helps increase the visibility of live events and enables marketers to capture valuable lead information in the form of email addresses from those who register. By extending the reach of live events beyond just passive viewership, LinkedIn is providing marketers with a powerful tool for engaging with their audience and generating meaningful interactions.

Our Take: LinkedIn's recent announcement of a Premium Company Page subscription presents an exciting opportunity for businesses looking to enhance their presence on the platform. With a price tag of around $100 per month, or $1,200 annually, the subscription offers a range of features that could prove highly valuable for companies seeking to grow their audience and engage with potential customers.

One of the most compelling features of the Premium Company Page subscription is the ability to showcase custom testimonials prominently at the top of the Page. In today's digital landscape, social proof is incredibly important, and having glowing reviews from satisfied customers front and center can significantly impact a company's credibility and conversion rates.

Another key benefit is access to a visitor list, which allows page administrators to see who has visited their Page, along with their roles and titles. This information can be invaluable for businesses looking to understand their audience better and tailor their content and offerings accordingly. Additionally, the auto-invite feature automatically invites engaged users and page visitors to follow the company page, which can help businesses grow their audience organically and efficiently.

The AI-powered post-writing assistance is another interesting feature that could save time and resources for businesses struggling to create engaging content consistently. While the quality and effectiveness of AI-generated content remain to be seen, it's an intriguing addition to the Premium package.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Premium Company Page subscription is the exclusive LinkedIn premium logo, which is supposed to “enhance your brand's prestige.” While LinkedIn and Microsoft may believe that displaying this logo will add value to a company's image, prestige must be earned through consistent quality and customer satisfaction rather than purchased.

Our Take: LinkedIn's introduction of Pages Messaging is a significant development for companies looking to engage more directly with their audiences on the platform. This new feature allows individuals to message a company page when they land on it, opening up a new channel for communication between brands and their customers, job candidates, and other stakeholders.

One of the key benefits of Pages Messaging is the ability for companies to integrate the feature with third-party tools like Hootsuite and Zoho. This integration streamlines the management of inbox messages, making it easier for marketing managers and their teams to handle the influx of communication that may come with this new feature.

However, it's important to note that Pages Messaging is currently a one-way street. While individuals can initiate conversations with company pages, those pages cannot yet send outbound messages to users. This limitation helps prevent abuse of the feature and ensures that users are not inundated with unsolicited messages from brands.

Another noteworthy aspect of Pages Messaging is the ability for companies to turn the feature off if they so choose. This is a smart move on LinkedIn's part, as not all companies may have the resources or desire to manage yet another communication channel. For businesses that already have established methods for customer outreach, such as email or contact forms, the ability to disable Pages Messaging prevents unnecessary duplication of efforts.

For companies that choose to leverage Pages Messaging, there are some best practices to remember. One suggestion is to provide users with a simple phrase to include in their messages, such as “Apply for Job X” or “Register for Event Y.” This can help guide the conversation and make it easier for the company to route the message to the appropriate team member.