In this year’s survey of social media marketers worldwide, the results for LinkedIn™ were worse than usual. Although it must be remembered that LinkedIn™ is a business platform and not a recreational one so we're not comparing apples with apples.
When asked which social platforms your brand uses, LinkedIn™ came 4th behind Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and ahead of X and TikTok. 38% of brands use LinkedIn™ for B2B and 31% for B2C.
While this looks good, LinkedIn™ was not in the top 5 for content receiving the most engagement.
Last year, in a list of which platforms offer the highest ROI, LinkedIn™ was way down the list behind the main channels. Only 6% of marketers said it was their highest ROI-generating social media platform.
LinkedIn™ also performed poorly in the list of platforms offering brands the biggest potential to grow their audiences at just 7% compared with YouTube’s 18%.
Other interesting stats:
- 95% of marketers rate long-form videos as having average or high ROI.
- 96% of marketers rate interviews, podcasts, and expert discussions as having average or high ROI.
- 95% of marketers rate ephemeral, temporary content like IG stories and polls as having average or high ROI.
- 96% of marketers rate virtual reality (VR) + augmented reality (AR) content as having average or high ROI. 9
Use of AI is decidedly on the increase with 71% of marketers using AI tools. However, 65% are concerned that using it to create content could harm their brand reputation. Main uses for AI are generating ideas, writing copy and repurposing content.
On the online buying front, consumers primarily do their research via social media and video, not search engines. This is a huge switch and has come about because buyers like to do their due diligence before paying for a product or service.
We’ve all seen how some brands appear to be everywhere online. That’s because they’ve taken the time to build an active online community. 86% of social media marketers say this is crucial to a successful strategy in 2024.
The report says, ‘It has become an expectation for consumers to be able to follow their favourite brands on social media. Our data has shown that consumers are expecting more engagement and support on social media than ever before. Building an online community isn’t the same as just posting on social media. The expectation for social media marketers in 2024 is to become much more involved, meaning less posting just to appear “active on socials,” and more meaningful, reciprocal, community-focused interaction.’
The top benefits of building a social media community are:
- increasing brand awareness (24%)
- promoting engagement (21%)
- strengthening connections between customers (21%)
- increasing brand loyalty (20%)
- fostering trust between your brand and customers (19%).
Hubspot says brands are investing in a dedicated community manager because they are seeing the short-term and long-term benefits in doing so.
Short-form video
Of all the content formats, short-form video has been consistently effective for social media marketers over the past few years. Short-form video lends itself to jumping on trends and aiming for engagement, not sales or revenue.
Hubspot’s survey found that the content formats consumers enjoy most are images or photos, short-form videos, live videos or livestreams, and long-form videos. They also most like content that is humorous (24%), relatable (18%), interactive (12%) and authentic (12%). Being trendy is bottom of the list at 7%.
- Memes and funny posts are outperforming highly produced, product-focused content.
One in four marketers say their main goal for social media in 2024 is to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences.
LinkedIn™ may still be a good platform to invest time in but most brands will be integrating it with other forms of social media, the danger of which is seeing them as the same. LinkedIn™ most definitely is not like other channels and should be treated as such.