B2Believe and LinkedIn's New Product Announcements

You're listening to LinkedIn Ads Radio, the podcast dedicated to exploring and mastering LinkedIn advertising, with your host, Anthony Blatner from Speedwork.

All right. Hello, LinkedIn marketers. Today we're going to be talking about LinkedIn's recent B2Believe event. This is their yearly flagship event, I guess now second annual. Last year it was in San Francisco. This year it was in New York City. I just got back from this event, so I'm super excited to kind of talk further and share with you guys what I heard at the event, people that I talked to, things that I'm excited for coming up. Super interesting to go to go to New York City, hear right from LinkedIn kind of what's coming down the pipeline, what's in the roadmap, hear from some of the partners, LinkedIn partners on their thoughts on B2B marketing today. And then I also got to talk to a lot of people from LinkedIn. Some of them were reps that I've worked with on accounts for a long time. It was great to meet a lot of them in person and then also got to talk to a lot of people from LinkedIn product team who are, who are actively working out these products. And those are some of my favorite discussions because, you know, we work with LinkedIn so much every day that it was really cool to hear and talk to the people who are building these products, hear their thoughts, hear what they're excited for, hear what they're working on coming up, and then be able to share some of my thoughts with them on the how, how the tools work for me. My feedback for some very interesting new tools that have been released Both on the LinkedIn side in terms of the revenue attribution report. That's been great to connect Salesforce, close one data to LinkedIn's impact and then lots of other tools like the Conversions API. I guess that's another one I'll add in here is the Conversions API that they talked about. But then the measurement API has enabled a lot of new tools that have been released, such as, like Dream Data and Hockey Stack. These have been very interesting tools because they can plot and a user journey how and when LinkedIn impressions happen and then how that could lead to maybe somebody going to your website to request a demo. And you know, before a lot of these tools, if somebody didn't click on an ad and go to the website and was tracked as a user, a lot of that impression data was very hard to track. So, you know, it'd be very hard to know, like, oh, did this person see any impressions? And they go to my website and there's some very interesting user journeys that some of these have shared in post, where, oh, this company saw, you know, hundreds of impressions for months beforehand. And then finally they went to the website to request a demo. You know, was that demo request due to Google Search, or was it due to all Those impressions that LinkedIn drove ahead of time? You know, probably those impressions had some sort of impact. So excited to see this, this API continue to develop and it to enable more tracking tools. If you want to know more about measurement and tracking for LinkedIn, we just released another episode with a couple of LinkedIn's product managers who worked on these tools. So go have a listen to that episode where we deep dive even further onto measurement. All right. And that was the morning session. And then we broke for lunch and I got to go hang out and meet with a lot other people, Both on the LinkedIn side and then other companies using LinkedIn. And then coming back to the event for the afternoon, they talked through a lot of different features that LinkedIn's releasing. And then there was also some really interesting announcements, some speakers panels and keynotes. All right. Now, in the afternoon, there was several more features and product announcements that came out. Um, the morning ones were about the APIs and the partner ecosystem. In the afternoons, it was more about the products themselves. Um, so one of the first ones that were talked about were live event ads. So at the moment, on LinkedIn, you can promote an event with an event ad format, and currently it'll pull in that event and you can promote it ahead of time, but people can click to go to the event and then register. New live event ads will kind of do the before, during and after of the event, so you can continue running them beforehand. They'll. You can, you can run a live event ad and it can get people to click to event to RCP ahead of time when, while the event's going on, it'll promote the actual event while it's going on. Like, click here to watch and you can jump in to watch the live event. And then after the event, it'll share the recording. You can click to go watch the recording and then see what happened during the event. I've been very excited about LinkedIn events, so I think it's great that they're continuing to promote those events. It's like such a natural thing for the LinkedIn platform because so many companies host webinars or just product announcements and stuff like that. So I think live events are A great thing to see more kind of coming out there with that. The next one was talking more about the Conversions API, so more abilities for companies to do better tracking using the Conversions API. With the change in cookies and privacy changes over the last couple years, a lot of this has changed. So it's great to see that the Conversions API is now coming out to fill some of those gaps. This is definitely part of the bigger measurement and tracking and attribution initiatives by LinkedIn. Again, go have a listen to our other podcast episode to learn more. The next topic was around the Measurement Maturity Index. So this is a new tool designed to help marketers assess and elevate their measurement strategies. I think it's kind of like a questionnaire or an assessment a company will take to know what do they have in place, what do they not have in place and identify what are those gaps that could be better in their tracking and attribution. There was talk about predictive audiences, so predictive audiences are the new version of lookalikes on LinkedIn. The lookalikes feature has been sunsetted, so it's no longer available. But new predictive audiences feature has been released and predictive audiences, it's kind of the next evolution of look alikes where these are now driven by AI. They're generated using AI. They're also regenerated I think daily, so that list stays fresh. Previously lookalikes were just a one time static list that was created. So it's great that these are going to be fresh lists dynamically created because of course people are always changing. So it's been interesting to see that these have rolled out. And then lastly, probably the biggest one was the topic on LinkedIn Connected TV. So this is a big new product announcement from LinkedIn, a great new feature that's coming available. I've been hearing about the beta over the last several months that now the LinkedIn connected TV feature basically matches up, you know, the LinkedIn users you're targeting on platform using job title function, company size targeting. So using all that professional targeting capability to now reach those same people via tv. And there's lots of different streaming platforms out there that have their own ad networks. So LinkedIn will now be able to plug into these other networks in the ecosystem and be able to show your video ads on tv. This opens up a whole new world of opportunity because you know LinkedIn ads are great, but right now they're only on LinkedIn. So there is a LinkedIn Audience Network which, which will show ads on the display network. But you know, opening Up TV is like a huge new channel. So it's also a different type of ad. You know, someone's sitting there watching TV and you can play a whole video ad. People don't skip video ads on tv. They usually sit there and watch them or they'll be in the background when they're doing something else. So very interested to see how this rolls out and how it works. One of the comments was no one ever talks about a display ad they ever saw. But people talk about TV ads all the time. They might talk about those to their friends, they might quote them. So I thought that was very interesting. This announcement session was they brought on Tiana Palumbo Price to make this announcement and talk about the partnership that they have as they're releasing this with NBC Universal. So I think this is really interesting. They've talked about a couple premier partners and they're. They're actually calling it LinkedIn Premiere. So this is where they're going to focus on delivering video ads under very high quality channels. Of course, LinkedIn's already a very high quality platform and already is very selective in the partners it uses for the display network. So I'm not surprised that they've been very selective in the partners that they're choosing for connected TV. So NBCUniversal is a huge platform. So very interested to see how this is going to work out with them. Tiana brought on Trevor Fellows from NBC Universal to talk about CTV advertising. It was a very interesting discussion talking about how the power of TV and the power of running commercials on tv. You might remember a few episodes back on our podcast where we talk about thought leader ads. Tiana came on the podcast to talk about thought leader ads. So it was very cool to hear more from Tiana and hear her session. Next section here I'll talk about some of the keynotes and panel discussions that we heard at B2 believe. And I thought it was great that they brought on these different speakers to talk and it was very interesting to hear about, you know, how are other people thinking about B2B marketing today? What are some of the most important topics? What should you be considering for your marketing? So the first one was from Liz Ruckardson, the CEO of iProspect. She talked about managing teams and fostering growth amid uncertain markets. And, you know, a lot of this is sounds very familiar to everyone. The last couple years have been, of course, very crazy with the pandemic and then the post pandemic and then the economy being a lot of uncertainty there. So in our in the marketing world, it is very often the marketing budgets are the very first ones cut. So our industry has been some of the most affected by some of these changes and we're still seeing changes continue to happen. But we've definitely seen kind of traffic and activity and marketing pick up a lot in the last few months here. So I'm very excited for that kind of the future to come. So she kind of just spoke on a lot of that uncertainty and dealing with it and how their company is handling it. The next one was about creativity in B2B marketing. We heard from Melissa Selcher, she's the CCO at LinkedIn. And then Jim Habig, he's the VP over LinkedIn ads. And it was about harnessing creativity and emotional connections with advertising. I think a lot of times, you know, of course B2B marketing has the stereotype that it's boring, it's buttoned up, it's not exciting, but the opportunity comes from if you can infuse this emotion and creativity into your advertising, then that helps you stand out from kind of all the rest of this. And also best stereotype is definitely a stereotype on LinkedIn. If you've been on LinkedIn recently, there's been a lot of great new content out there. Creators and people are posting a lot more engaging content and a lot more personal content, of course, in a, in a professional context. So it's been great to see kind of the next evolution of content on LinkedIn and it was interesting to hear their discussion on the, the power of creativity and then the power of emotion. I forget the stat they shared, but emotional ads are like 120% more effective than non creative ads. It makes sense. If you make an emotional connection with your viewer, they're going to be more likely to remember that interaction and then remember your brand in the future versus if you don't make that emotional connection, you know, they might just see that one impression and then probably forget about it after that. They also talked a lot about how B2B marketing is having a renaissance and that kind of encapsulated all this discussion around creativity. The renaissance is how we are moving from that old boring style to the new style today. And we're kind of just still very early stages of that. So excited to see kind of the next evolution of all this here. And I am very glad that LinkedIn's promoting creativity and stuff like that in the platform. Going back to my notes, the last panel discussion that I wrote down here was around DEI and the importance of diversity in your creative. Louisa Wong from Extreme Reach came out to talk about that and that was a very interesting session. Hearing about diversity and ad creative. Again, not a surprising topic, but also a very important one. We definitely see lots of times if your ads and your marketing materials only show one type of Persona and one type of person, then you're missing a lot of. You're ignoring a lot of the market and you're going to be. Your ads are not going to be engaging to them versus if you show more diversity in your ads, you're going to engage the larger portion of your audience and then they're going to perform better. So it was very interesting to hear her talk as she deep dove into that topic and great to hear that discussion. All right, to cap it off, in the last session of the day was Ben Proudfoot coming out and talking about storytelling. And this. The session started because LinkedIn is going to be filming a video, a documentary about B2B marketing, which, you know, by itself you might just think it's like of a boring video. But they played the trailer for us and it was actually very exciting. I don't know if you've seen any of the recent commercials or video ads LinkedIn has put out, but they've done an excellent job at them. So very excited to see this movie come out. And Ben is an Academy Award winning director and filmmaker. When he came on stage, he said he didn't bring any notes with him and he just kind of gave the talk and he did an excellent job. I was like on the edge of my seat listening to him. He had a lot of funny stories and stuff. I hope that someday I can speak like him on stage. But I was impressed by that first of all. And then it was very interesting to hear his take and his thoughts approaching the B2B marketing world. Of course, most of his work is in filmmaking films that consumers are going to see. So this was a very different style of project to him. But he had a lot of good things to say about the B2B marketing world. And this video looks very interesting. So I'm very excited to see this be released. We'll link to the trailer if we can find it here in the show notes, have a watch on it and uh, it'll be interesting to see. All right, so that was the main event and then after the main event, we all got to go to, I think it was called the Peak, but it was like a rooftop type of place in a, you know, one of the New York City skyscrapers right on the edge of the city there. But it was awesome because you could oversee the city and they had a wide view there. You could even see the Empire State Building from there. So that was really cool. And it was like a really cool little social hour and great to get to chat with a lot of people from LinkedIn and a lot of other people working on the LinkedIn platform. Um, so yeah, part of the event that was great was just kind of to be able to meet a lot of other people there. I'll give a shout out to the LinkedIn certified marketing experts Group. A lot of them were able to make it and show up there. So it was great to reconnect with a lot of them too. And then the next day in New York City on Friday, there was like a mini earthquake that happened. And maybe I shouldn't say mini. I think it was like, you know, a small earthquake. It wasn't anything serious, but definitely felt it in the morning there. And then I got the Apple notification later on in the day saying that yes, it was an earthquake because at first you're like, what, what was that? It was that just me. Did I just. I was in a. I was in a hotel at the time and I just thought somebody was dragging something heavy above me. And then I was like, you know what, what if that was a her. An earthquake? So then an hour later I got the Apple notification that yes, that was an earthquake. And then just reading all the news and media about the earthquake. So my joke was that the event, the B2B event, was so big that New York City was still reverberating the next day. But anyways, that is a recap of the Be to Believe event. We'll link to lots of different announcements and highlights in the show notes there along with the that video trailer. You'll definitely have to check it out. So that'll be an end for this episode. Here, have a listen in for some next ones we have coming up that are very exciting. We're gonna deep dive on some topics. We have some people from LinkedIn coming on that I'm very excited about. So stay tuned for some more episodes coming on LinkedIn ads radio. Thanks.

Thanks for listening to LinkedIn ads radio. That's it for this episode. Stay tuned for more.

Listening to him. He had a lot of funny stories and stuff. I hope that someday I can speak like him on stage. But I was impressed by that first of all. And then it was very interesting to hear his take and his thoughts approaching the B2B marketing world. Of course, most of his Work is in filmmaking films that consumers are going to see. So this was a very different style of project to him, but he had a lot of good things to say about the B2B marketing world. And this video looks very interesting. So I'm very excited to see this be released. We'll link to the trailer if we can find it here in the show notes, have a watch on it, and, uh, it'll be interesting to see. All right, so that was the main event. And then after the main event, we all got to go to, I think it was called the Peak. Um, but it was like a. A rooftop type of place in a, you know, one of the New York City skyscrapers right on the edge of the city there. But it was awesome because you could oversee the city and they had a wide view there. You could even see the Empire State Building from there. So that was really cool. And it was like a. A really cool little social hour and great to get to chat with a lot of people from LinkedIn and a lot of other people working on the LinkedIn platform. Um, so, yeah, part of the event that was great was just kind of to be able to meet a lot of other people there. I'll give a shout out to the LinkedIn certified marketing experts Group. A lot of them were able to make it and show up there. So it was great to reconnect with a lot of them too. And then the next day in New York City on Friday, there was like a mini earthquake that happened. And maybe I shouldn't say mini. I think it was like, you know, a small earthquake. It wasn't anything serious, but definitely felt it in the morning there. And then I got the Apple notification later on in the day saying that, yes, it was an earthquake. Because at first you're like, what. What was that? It was that just me. Did I just. I was in a. I was in a hotel at the time, and I just thought somebody was dragging something heavy above me. And then I was like, you know, what. What if that was a her? An earthquake? So then an hour later, I got the Apple notification that, yes, that was an earthquake. And then just reading all the news and media about the earthquake. So my joke was that the event, the B2B event, was so big that New York City was still reverberating the next day. But anyways, that is a recap of the be to believe event. We'll link to lots of different announcements and highlights in the show notes there along with the. That video trailer. You'll definitely have to check it out. So that'll be an end for this episode here. Have a listen in for some next ones we have coming up that are very exciting. We're gonna deep dive on some topics. We have some people from LinkedIn coming on that I'm very excited about. So stay tuned for some more episodes coming on LinkedIn Ads Radio. Thanks.

Thanks for listening to LinkedIn Ads Radio. That's it for this episode. Stay tuned for more.