What Microsoft's LinkedIn Acquisition Means for Marketers
June 14, 2016 |
Yesterday, everyone awoke to the news of Microsoft’s $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn. And while everyone speculated on the reasoning behind Microsoft’s hefty purchase, one thing was certain: Marketing tech is here to stay.
(Image via The Wall Street Journal)
Here are three ways the LinkedIn acquisition can affect your marketing strategy.
1) Social media is more important than ever
If you thought this was the year you could afford to slack on your brand’s social media presence, you couldn’t be more wrong. With Microsoft’s LinkedIn acquisition, your brand’s LinkedIn page is more important than ever. Soon, Microsoft Outlook will be able to integrate with LinkedIn, making it easier to delve deeper into your meeting participants’ titles, job responsibilities and common interests.
This means it’s time to start integrating your company’s branding with its social media presence. Include LinkedIn URLs, Twitter handles and Facebook pages in all company branding, including business cards, office supplies, etc.
Whatever you’re handing to potential clients needs to display these links prominently.
2) Native advertising is king
Along with the massive amounts of data Microsoft marketers now have access to, marketers also will be able to implement more specific content marketing strategies. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned that marketers now can push native ads so publishers can get more benefits. LinkedIn will be able to decipher what projects users are working on in Office, and infuse relevant articles into their LinkedIn news feeds.
(Image via Share Through)
This means it’s time for your marketing team to take another look at your content marketing strategy.
3) Tech promotional products are necessary
For your last event, did you include any tech giveaways? Did you utilize mobile chargers or USB drives branded with your company’s logo? A magnet might seem like a more obvious canvas for garnering eyeballs, but with so much of our world centering around tech, it’s the branded tech products that make more sense.
Here are some tech ideas to implement into your branded merchandise:
