How to Reduce the Creep Factor on Paid Social
In my last post, we examined the importance of defining a tailored nurture and scoring strategy in conjunction with launching any new demand generation Content Syndication program. Failure to do so will impact your opportunity to realize true ROI. Next up I’ll dig into one my favorite channels, Paid Social.
Paid Social. Sounds a bit creepy, right? Well, it can be if it’s not done right. It’s one of the primary channels we leverage in our marketing programs. We love incorporating it (I’ll focus here specifically on LinkedIn) as part of multi-touch campaigns because it represents a highly targeted, cost-effective tactic way to get our content and brand in front of ideal buyers. From Sponsored Content to InMail, we’ve leveraged LinkedIn to acquire new names to our database and remarket to those we’ve already seen. However, I’ve learned that content is king when it comes to making the most of LinkedIn.
Take a minute to think about when you login to the LinkedIn platform. What are you there for? Personally, I’m connecting with my network for inspiration to help me do my job better. My intent is broad, I’m not typically looking for a specific thing but rather window shopping for something interesting. Enter your content strategy. If it’s not relevant and helpful, I’m not going to stop.
Apply this to our marketing mix and it’s obvious why offers such as “get a free trial” and “watch this product demo video” are consistently outperformed by more neutral, thought-leadership content such as analyst reports, white papers, and topical blog posts. Also, consider your gating strategy as it relates to Paid Social. Do folks want to be hit with a form from the get-go? Probably not, especially considering they may or may not know who you are and how you can help them.
So, when leveraging Paid Social in your multi-touch marketing programs take the time to build trust with your audience with relevant, useful content and nurture your audience before hitting them with product offers that may just be ill-timed and costly in the long run.