LinkedIn puts B2B marketing in motion with video power

With 83% of B2B buyers in India perceiving short-form videos (SFV) from industry experts as a highly trusted B2B content form, LinkedIn has introduced a range of video features targeted at B2B marketers.

With live video events on the professional networking platform, up by 14.4% in the past year and thought leader ads generating 2.3x higher click-through-rate (CTR) compared to single image ads, LinkedIn has introduced new features to allow marketers to maximise participation in their events.

Starting from this quarter itself, B2B marketers can promote a members’ post about a live event hosted by a company page with a thought leader advertisement that links directly to the event to drive registrations, views, and engagement. Marketers will be able to post a 30-second video on LinkedIn to offer a ‘sneak peek’ into the event to provide the potential audiences with a preview, before and after the event to help drive registration and attendance. They can regionally target their potential audience when setting up the event to promote a more personalised event experience.

LinkedIn has also offered support for video ads on the beta release of Accelerate, LinkedIn’s AI companion. Accelerate, with enhanced support for video, aims to help B2B marketers craft high-impact campaigns. According to LinkedIn, Accelerate campaigns demonstrate up to 42% lower cost per action, compared to advertisers who run a classic campaign with LinkedIn.

Starting this quarter, B2B marketers will have an option to add a video or document ad, like an eBook, white paper, or customer testimonial, in addition to a single-image, when creating an advertising campaign with Accelerate. With these new functionalities, B2B marketers will be able to customise their AI-generated campaigns. In the coming months, LinkedIn will also introduce new objectives such as ‘brand awareness’, ‘video views’, and ‘website conversions’ gradually, across the globe.

The beta version of Linkedin Accelerate has been made available for lead generation and website visit objectives to all advertisers globally in all languages. However, AI creative making is available only in English at the moment.

As brands look to reach and engage new audiences through authentic brand storytelling, they want to partner with credible and expert voices on the platform. LinkedIn’s new feature, ‘sponsored newsletters’ will help them boost their own or any member’s newsletter article as a thought leader ad to drive engagement and build thought leadership at scale.

Soumyajit Day, global head of digital experience optimisation, Thoughtworks, said, “LinkedIn Accelerate has proven to be a valuable tool for piloting our campaigns. We have experienced 30% reduction in end-to-end campaign setup and launch time.”

A B2B marketer survey

The new video features have been added following ‘The Business of Influence’ research, carried out by LinkedIn, which surveyed over 1,700 B2B tech buyers in the US, UK, and India. The survey revealed how buyers looked to receive information, with video standing out as the most compelling and trusted form of content in influencing buying B2B decisions.

The survey found that 66% of B2B buyers in India believed that short-form social video content helped inform buying decisions, and the majority (83%) of those who consumed video content said that video-focused influencer content was one of the most trusted forms of content in B2B.

LinkedIn data shows that video is now the fastest-growing format on the platform, with uploads up 34% year-over-year, and according to ‘B2B Video Marketing in 2024’ report by Emarketers, brands perceive LinkedIn as a leading B2B video platform.

About 72% of buyers in India who consumed B2B influencer content said that it helped build brand trust, and 70% said it created awareness of different products and solutions. More than two-thirds (70%) of B2B buyers in India, who were aware of B2B influencer marketing, said that influencer content played a critical role in the consideration stage of the IT buying process.

Nearly 56% of all B2B buyers surveyed said their use of B2B subject-matter experts in the tech buying process will increase over the next three years. The survey also captured the responses of Gen Z buyers. About 93% of Gen Z buyers in India, who were aware of B2B influencer marketing, said they engaged with B2B influencer content on a monthly basis, which is 14% higher compared to all other buyers.

Capturing attention and engaging with 95% of buyers who were out-of-market was seen as one of the biggest challenges facing B2B marketers globally, especially when 81% of B2B buyers chose to purchase from brands they already knew on day one.

LinkedIn data showed that brands were turning to their community of more than a billion members to help stay top of mind with buyers – in the past year there had been a 23%+ jump in posts from chief executives, 14.4% increase in live video events, and more than 220,000 newsletters published on LinkedIn.

Sachin Sharma, director, LinkedIn marketing solutions, India, said, “B2B buying is a complex journey due to multiple stakeholders involved. With buyers favouring brands they know and trust, it’s critical for them to remain top-of-mind across touchpoints–even when buyers are not buying. Building strong recall is key to influencing future buying decisions, which is best done by humanised storytelling. Authentic, expert-led videos can capture attention, cultivate trust, and create human connection can set brands apart in a crowded market.”