
Learn how to maximize LinkedIn marketing with organic + paid strategies, short-form video, and thought leadership to boost engagement and ROAS.
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Nathan Isaacs
Welcome back to the Insights Unlocked podcast. In this episode, we're diving into the world of LinkedIn marketing with Perna Virjee, principal consultant and Global program manager at LinkedIn and author of High Impact Content Marketing. With millions of posts competing for attention every minute, how can you make your brand stand out? Perna shares expert insights on blending organic and paid strategies, leveraging thon leadership, and the rise of short form video. Get ready for actionable takeaways you can use today. Enjoy the show.
User Testing Host
Welcome to Insights Unlocked, an original podcast from User Testing where we bring you candid conversations and stories with the thinkers, doers and builders behind some of the most successful digital products and experiences in the world, from concept to execution.
Nathan Isaacs
Welcome to the Insights Unlocked podcast. I'm Nathan Isaacs, Senior Manager for content production and user testing and our guest today is Perna Virjee. Perna is the author of High Impact Content Marketing and is Principal Consultant and Global program manager at LinkedIn. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Perna previously led global learning and thought leadership programs for Microsoft. She's been named by adweek on their Young Influentials list. She is a columnist and top rated international keynote speaker who has been featured in the Drum Marketing Land and Ad Week. Welcome to the show, Purna.
Perna Virjee
Oh, thanks, Nathan. I'm delighted to be here, Perna.
Nathan Isaacs
I'm excited to have you on the show and doing some of the research prior to, you know, as preparation for the interview, I came across a couple of stats and I think it's a good foundation for our conversation today. And I want to just kind of cite those two statistics. And the first was from a presentation you made at B2 believe in 2022. And I'll add a link to in the show notes for listeners. But in there you said at one point you said people scroll through about 300ft of content on their phones each day, you know, thumbing up and up and up. And the other stat comes from Microsoft, which owns LinkedIn in a recent earnings release. And that was that. LinkedIn members are engaging with 1.5 million pieces of content every minute on the platform. Now, given all that, how can marketers in 2025 cut through all that noise and connect with their audiences on LinkedIn, one of the most important social platforms and professional platforms out there, especially for B2B businesses.
Perna Virjee
Well, thank you. It's definitely the most important platform in my world. Yeah, you know, but isn't that number bananas to think about? That's 300ft. Like, doesn't your thumb just get tired listening to that? It's the. Just to put it into context, you know what is 300ft? It is the Statue of Liberty in New York. It's also the Big Ben in London. Like that's how much we're scrolling. There's lots of content out there. Ignoring content or scrolling past it takes no effort. Even just that scrolling, it is just stopping to think about it. And if you want to get people to stop and engage with you, it really comes down to two things. It's all about what you say and then how and how often you're showing up. A big mistake we see lots of folks doing is like, oh, we've got this big important launch happening, so let's just go in and throw a little paid campaign beyond it. And then we'll just disappear for a while until we have something else. And then they say, why is anything happening? Or then you see the other side where people are like, well, I'm feeding into my LinkedIn page all the time and posting content organically. We're not seeing too much. I guess that's it. What else is there there? And people, they're just missing out on this incredible field of gold because they aren't being there consistently enough to really build and nurture their community on LinkedIn. And so some of the ways that they can do that is you really need to think about taking a more integrated approach to social media. I mean, regardless of platform, but especially so on LinkedIn where it is so it is built on trust. Now I like to think about this, Nathan, in just a simple three step formula. It's like people need to get to a know you exist, know who you are, then they need to get a feel of, they like you, they connect with you. And then third is when you really built that trust with them and then once you've built that trust, you get so incredibly powerful. And that trust isn't just built overnight, right? Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither is trust. It takes showing up consistently. Now if you're doing only organic, what you're doing is you're only nurturing the existing people who follow you. You're nurturing a very sort of small field. But if you're only doing paid, then you're only planting new seeds, you're only doing ad campaigns. What tends to work best is if you can do both all the time and build an integrated paid and organic strategy both on LinkedIn and in a way it can help save you lots of money. Now we're user testing, we want to talk about all the testing you can be even small, smarter with your budget, if you get to try things out organically, see what works on your existing audience, and then take that and boost it or put ad money behind it to reach a fresh new audience set. Who looks like that? So that's really, really the key. If I had to sum it up, I'd say paid plants, new seeds, and organic is tending the field. So you need to do both if you're a gardener like me.
Nathan Isaacs
Well, and I think, yeah, because what comes with gardening, right, when we talk about gardening is sustainability. And if you really want to do it smartly and you want to be in business a year from now or two years from now, it's doing that, it's building that community, having that long view. Are there sort of metrics that you can share with us about what key benefits are from taking that integrated approach with organic, paid and even boosted posts on LinkedIn, combining these strategies help brands maximize their reach, their engagement, and ultimately that return on that investment.
Perna Virjee
You know, Nitin, it's exactly as you said. It's like if you do only one, you can see some return. But we've all seen that sort of that meme of that drawing where it's like the iceberg and just the tip above the water and everything below. And so if you do both. At LinkedIn, we've done our research to look at some of the stats and the numbers. I was genuinely surprised as well when I saw the numbers, like, you know, conceptually, that if, you know, as consumers, we're so used to navigating the Internet, navigating different channels, we're never in one place. Right. It's never so linear. As I came on LinkedIn, I saw this for the first time. I learned about it. I'm going to buy immediately. Nope. B2B, especially longer buying cycle. So if you can, you'll see an ad on tv, you'll see a billboard, you'll hear from a CEO. There's all of these different things that go in. And so of course it's the same on LinkedIn as it is. And okay, so here's a number. This one really surprised me. So if you are doing both organic and paid as opposed to paid, only then you see that followers who are exposed to both are 61% more likely to convert from a paid ad than if they were exposed to paid alone. So if that doesn't make the case for like, hey, and then if they do both, we really see that it reduce, it reduces cost per conversion by 12% and it lifts overall conversion rate by 14% compared to paid only. So like literally there's organic doesn't cost you any money, but if you add it, it just makes your existing budget work harder. And I don't know if you're like me and certainly I know there's a lot of us out there who've had budget cuts. We're getting increased pressure to show the value of every single dollar. Like we have to be testing all the time. Where else can hear you do something that costs zero dollars and that will make your existing dollars work harder? So for me, I'm a big proponent of don't do one or the other. It's never an either or situation, it's an and and and it doesn't have to be as complicated or hard as you think.
Nathan Isaacs
If I look back, you know, my career as a marketer, we kind of talked about metrics and stuff like that 10 plus years ago. But now as a marketer you need to know, you need to know the effectiveness of that organic that you're pushing out, but also that paid and how it works together. And knowing those sort of stats is just incredible. And we talk about organic and you've talked about user testing and we talk about brands and what you've said in the past presentation is that a brand's pages and their posts, organic posts, is a dynamic laboratory that they can test and learn from. What are some practical ways that brands can experiment with organic posts to gather insights that inform and improve their paid strategies?
Perna Virjee
That is a great question. So if you think about a company's page or an organization's page, typically the earliest or the most followers of that page will tend to be employees, prospective employees or really die hard customers. So these are the customers who are really loyal, they really like you. And so if you can test different creative to a very warmed up audience and see how they react in a way then that's a good sort of measure and benchmark for how you can reach more and more people. So on your company page, many people just think that it's just, there's a one way megaphone to just blast out like we have this update or we are doing this and that's such a missed opportunity. Like yes, it's a company page and it's there to share your updates, but you're also, it's a company page on a social media platform. Don't forget to put the social in social media. Your company page on LinkedIn should be an authentic extension of your brand still in service of your audience. Right. So if I could ask people to make one mental switch. Whether it's your company page, whether it's your organic post, whether it's your paid post, your content is not for you. Your content is for your audience. And so instead of thinking about what do I want to say, it's like, what do they need or want to hear? And if you take that approach, you'll find that you can take some of the more formal updates and then launch it in a way that it's of interest. And I'll give you an example. So this is one of my favorite posts from a few years ago, but it really stuck in my mind. It's from Samsung. Now this was a post around the time of CES or the Consumer Electronics show, which tends to showcase, as most people know, like just the coolest and hottest and most revolutionary new tech. Right? Most of the tech that tends to get showcased at CEX is so cool and sexy. You know, the product would speak for itself. So Samsung could easily have gone out and be like, this is the cool stuff that we are showcasing. But what they did was their post was a human interest story. They said, oh, why don't you hear from the product managers who actually built these products that we're showcasing to learn about how they approach it, how they built it, what did they think about it? Now, instantly it went from being a promotional piece to a human interest story. Right? And that gets a ton of engagement. It gets tons of reactions. We'd find, you know, yes, people look for like the likes, but we find that the more emotional brands and at LinkedIn, we did the study for tech brands and we found like the top 10% of tech brands tend to get more of the emotive reactions like the laugh or the insight or the applause. Those are really much more human engagement at an emotional level. And that tends to do really, really well. Because B2B. Yes, it's a very, you know, there needs to be trust as a buying committee. You need to show a rational trust based decision for why you purchased. But at the end of the day we're all human, right? Business buyers do need to get you buy on a human level.
Nathan Isaacs
Absolutely. Yeah. It also reminds me, well, first of all, I'm like, of course LinkedIn is tracking whether I put insightful or gave a thumbs up. I'm like, ah, I gotta be more strategic about that. But also I think too the importance here is something at user testing. I also edit videos and I have somebody works with me and I tell him often we have to be editing this video to be bringing value to the person that's watching it for our audience. And I think our organic posts on LinkedIn have to be the same sort of way, right? It has to be like, what's the value here? Why I am, I am, I'm killing some time in between meetings and I'm scrolling through LinkedIn, I'm exercising that thumb going through 300ft. How can I, you know, how can I get somebody's attention and give them value and have them stop and read that post? So I think that's, that's good advice. The I wonder though, like, customer feedback plays such a critical role in shaping both organic and paid campaigns, how do you recommend brands leverage the feedback on LinkedIn to optimize their return on advertising spend?
Perna Virjee
There's a whole bunch of different metrics, but there's three I want to call out for organic. These are just different analytics that you can get within the platform as well. So the first one is cumulative metrics, which is just understanding if any of the boosted content. So if you are boosting some of your organic content is having an impact on your followers or your influencers following another one is you want to look at your content engagement metrics to understand if the audiences that you want to engage with your content are engaging. And then of course, within campaign manager, you can go ahead and look at your performance metrics against your other paid and other side. But really, at the end of the day, it just goes beyond some of the metrics that you can capture. So let's say like a really popular both organic and paid strategy that people can do comes with thought leadership. Nathan, you've heard that buzzword all over now and it's making sense. Buying cycles are getting longer and this economic uncertainty competition is so much and often, very often within a couple of different offerings, there's not much difference. I'll ask you this question. Okay, Nathan, if we had to think about how many average companies there are that sell a CRM system in the US today, you probably guess above 1000, I would say, right?
Nathan Isaacs
Oh, absolutely.
Perna Virjee
But if people who are going to evaluate, like if you and I started a new job and they were like, Nathan Emperor, you're tasked with choosing the next CRM system for our company. Like, you and I are going to be like, well, which company should we look at? And then we'll probably look at this list of under 10, maybe under 5. And so what happens if I'm number like 20 or 30 on that list? How do I stand out? And so executive thought leadership and Building that presence is so important and so increasingly whether it's executives, whether it's subject matter experts going out there. A great example, rand fishkin with SparkToro and formerly Mars. What you are doing with user testing where you're building this podcast and going out there, it's putting people in front and you can even sponsor it with thought leader ads, et cetera. But some of these were not always result in your like, oh, what did this do for my reactions. What did it do? But what you will see later is, is my CEO getting more invitations for different podcasts? Is my page getting increased followers? Are my post getting more engagements? Am I getting, you know. Yes, of course you'll see MQLs, but sometimes that's a lot later. Like am I getting more traffic or am I getting, you know, sometimes you won't even see more traffic. But are you getting better traffic? Where are your conversion rates going up, your wound rate? So look at pipeline impact. Yes, but also intangible impact there. So look at those metrics. And then I would also urge people to remember that what makes people stop scrolling is what content that interests them. So often we fall into this trap of thinking that oh, humans have attention span of less than a goldfish. And that's not true. It's not that our attention span has fallen, it's that we're with so much content around us, our filters have become much stronger. Our sort of tolerance for mediocrity is at the lowest ever levels. Right. If we, we will binge watch Netflix all night, right? Hello, Guilty. So many times we'll watch like three hour long movies or you know, we will watch trilogies of movies in a night. We'll watch what interests us. And so your content has to interest your audience. And so make sure you're checking, of course, your engagement, your reach, your sort of sentiment scores as well.
Nathan Isaacs
Well, I think that just speaks to the next question I want to ask about. And that is something that you emphasize in your book, high impact content marketing and that's quality. And can you share examples of high quality content that directly influences the effectiveness and efficiency of paid campaigns?
Perna Virjee
Of course. Exactly. The greetings. Great content can move mountains. I think if we just pause and take a second and we'll think about so many things in our day to day life is a result of content marketing campaigns. So I don't know about you, but did you, have you ever had orange juice for breakfast?
Nathan Isaacs
Sure, sure, sure.
Perna Virjee
So many of us do. It's so common. But it wasn't always so common it was the. These orange growers had the surplus of oranges and they didn't know what to do with this fruit. And they're like, we're going to lose lots of money because there's no way we'll sell it all. And so it was their ad agency who came up with this additional use of the fruit. Like, well, just juice it and we'll like speak to and extort on the virtues of orange juice. And now we all drink it for breakfast. So commonly same thing with diamond rings, right? During just about 100 years ago now, the Great Depression in the 1930s, de Beauce was having a lot of trouble selling diamonds because survival diamonds, very different things. It was their marketing company that came up with a diamond is forever associated with eternal love. And now, decades later, it's common to use diamonds in engagement rings. That's what we'll propose with. It's so funny. There's so many examples of this. And every single day you'll see it, whether it is a Monzo bank, for example, it's a British bank. And they'll have incredible organic content. And then they'll promote it as well. So they'll use a lot of humor. So Real, which is one of my favorite accounts to follow. If you've seen. You've fully seen those.
Nathan Isaacs
I love that copywriter who works for. He is amazing. And we will put some links in there. I bring it to the group just so just to spark creativity. It's original. It's not copying anything. I think this gets back into that creativity and quality that you're talking about is like if you're just doing the same thing that everyone else is doing, you're not given. You talk about it. You said we have a low tolerance of mediocrity. And I think you just have to think about how am I delivering value and how can I do it differently from how everyone else is doing it. You don't have to spend a lot of money to do this. Surreal is not. They make a point of saying that in their copy anyway. Purna, I'm sorry.
Perna Virjee
No, I think that's brilliant. And then they take pictures of their billboards and again, I don't know if they're like real billboards or like spac, but if they are real, then how brilliant that you're taking your existing campaign and doing that. And I'll give you my own example. What we do. So I will. Something that I run is I run this global webinar program at LinkedIn and we'll take Some of our content, we'll take snippets of it and then we'll give it to our social media team to share and to put out on our LinkedIn for marketing page. And so then they'll do that. Sometimes they'll run sponsored ads for it as well and then it just drives more views and then there's such a residual effect. And so paid can help these organic efforts. And I'll still say, I'm like, hey, we can post some of this content organically. We can have some of our people, our employees, our customers shared too. But then we'll also follow it up with paid and just overall it's so much more effective. And so regardless of the case, well, Google does a great job, Microsoft does a great job of doing both paid and organic. Especially if there's a big initiative like a sustainability tourism that like the cop 28 happened recently. So if there's a big push about that, make sure you're having both organic and paid pushes. If you look at the Copilot, yes, the copilot's page on LinkedIn will post these little 30 second videos. So they do a really good job of videos that are about just different uses of Copilot. But then they'll have the people go and share organically about something else so you get that whole balance and the reach. Plus, if you only rely on your followers to the page, then whoever follows you only sees it or if they interact with it, then they're following. But if you get your employees and subject matter experts to share, then you're just exposed to a whole broader wider audience. Again, you never have to force your people to do anything you want. It's their own social media page. But always encourage them, incentivize them and help them share the pride in the place that they work.
Nathan Isaacs
Are there any sort of like real do you, have you heard of how companies are successful getting their employees to do this in an organic add value way rather than just like resharing the company's post and then you know there's no copy to it. You know, it's just like, oh, I'm.
Perna Virjee
Just resharing like whatever I think one is. You need a proof of concept for people to see it because sometimes people think it's so hard to do or not. Then if there's look at people who are already active on the platform, encourage them to share more, give them some kudos for it, showcase them as examples. Then others will see that oh, it's okay because sometimes people are worried about what Will my employer think? And LinkedIn's really amusing. I remember even when my book came out, my sort of when my senior leadership came to me, I was like, oh, that's so awesome, Poorna, that you are doing that. I'm like, that's so great. Because then people feel encouraged and then we can share our pride in where we work. So do that then make it easy. If there's some cool happenings, you could even pass things out. So if I do some of my innovate with LinkedIn sessions, there'll be some awesome takeaways. I'll just share them with sales. I'm like, by the way, this is a super cool stat. If you feel free to share it on LinkedIn, make it easy for people and then they can go out there and do it. And then hopefully the more they see it, it's almost like the snowball effect.
Nathan Isaacs
Speaking of quality and speaking of being organic and spreading the worth and getting your employees and your thought leaders to engage and share content, are there indicators that signal when an organic post is worth boosting?
Perna Virjee
If you see it getting a good amount of engagement and from the type of customers that you wanted to, then if you see it doing well or like a high performing organic post and sometimes you'll see it, whether it's in terms of the number of impressions it might get, a number of engagements it might get, and then it's like, hey, this is doing well. Why not put some money behind it and then help it reach a more targeted set of audience. Organic, it's whoever is following you, that's who you reach. And there's no real targeting that you do. So if you do say like, hey, I am reaching, let's say I'm a car company, I'm reaching people who really like my electric cars and I've got a new electric car coming out and I want to reach maybe people who might not already be my customer and brand new ones that I could just boost it to that kind of an audience with a high income, so I can control it. And then you've already proven it out, there's less risk in taking that. And especially with new formats as well that tend to be doing really, really well at LinkedIn, which like video for example. And I know we'll delve into that in a little bit, but it just helps when there's already risk about a new perceived risk about a new format and how can I create this or not and then see what works. It's as simple as that.
Nathan Isaacs
That brings up and we were talking about. We're going to talk about the platforms themselves and I think we're also, we're so busy doing our daily jobs and we forget that these platforms LinkedIn but if you're on Facebook or Meta, you are on X, whatever it might be. These platforms are always also evolving. They're also evolving new things. But what are trends that you notice in LinkedIn ad creative that resonate well with audiences and drive conversions? Are there any do's and don'ts you'd emphasize video, text carousels, newsletters and AI? What should we be thinking about as we think about this integrated approach between organic, paid and boosted?
Perna Virjee
In terms of trends, I think there's really two or three that really stand out to me. The first one is Vimeo. You can't escape it. We've seen it grow so much, right? Like four years ago when I started that LinkedIn I remember hearing about oh, people are consuming video content 3x more than you know, non video content. And then it's just continued to grow in fact, year over year. If I look at last year, last 12 months to now, we've seen a 34% lift year over year in uploads of video on the platform. It tends to see such incredible levels of consumption, of viewership, of engagement, and it goes back and fulfills the three phases, right? People follow people before they follow brands. And we have been so attuned to watching videos, especially short form vertical videos. It allows people to see you as a person, to get to know you, to get to like you, to get to trust you. It's happened so much faster and quicker in a video format. And so we tend to see video still tends to get incredibly higher levels of engagement and conversion too. So take a look at that. What we are seeing in our latest LinkedIn trend 2025 trends report was that short form vertical video is really where it's at. And I tend to agree. For example, me personally, I'll tend to post like three minutes or two minutes or less videos every Tuesday. I call it Purna's Pro Tip once a week and it's just me talking into my cell phone camera for two minutes at a time. And it gets so much engagement. It's just a way for me to be consistent without always having to be posting 24, 7, which not all of us have time for. So that's one. The second one that's super interesting, which is I love this because it's an ad format only LinkedIn has. It's unique to us, which is called Thought Leader Ads. So this is where a company and the great thing is they don't have to learn anything new. So within an existing campaign manager accounts or wherever the team manages the regular paid ads, you can now boost an employees or an influencer can be a customer as well. So you can post their content and boost it so it will look like it's still. So let's say if user testing boosted your content then in my feed I would still see it as Nathan, like your content but underneath it would say that promoted by user testing. And so then it would be your incredible content that gets to reach this whole maximum targeting like whatever you're targeting with your paid. So that has been incredibly powerful. It also helps build this personal touch rather than the same old genetic stock image ads and all of the things that you are fighting on a day to day basis with user testing. So those two have been, I think the things I'm paying the most attention to that we see that the other one is a new and newer formats that people are seeing a lot of success with which is sponsored newsletters and then CTV or connected tv, which is awesome because I say you can do omnichannel marketing, just all on LinkedIn and you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you just take your existing assets. Do you have a newsletter, just put it on LinkedIn as well. Do you have little ads that you're putting on, you know, over the top tv, you know, any kind of programmatic videos, put them on Connected TV, reach the LinkedIn Audience Network. Programmatic, you don't have to create brand new assets, take what you have, put it on here and see how they all work together within the same platform. Because if I'm scrolling and then I'm going to see Nathan, you're in this letter that I'm going to see a video from you. Then I'm going to get a, you know, a little snippet of your podcast. Now I'm going to be like, oh Nathan, you will be top of mind for me.
Nathan Isaacs
I think all that is great insight and I think I did not ask this question, but I think it all begins with having a strategy, right? You have to say why do we want to build this presence? What do we want this audience to do besides being engaging with us on LinkedIn? You know, we all love LinkedIn but we also want them to come off of LinkedIn, go to her websites, buy our product or service, right? And so we have to think about our strategy. It all begins with that. Even personally, you have to think about Your strategy, even personally, what you want to be doing, not just for the time, you know, this time right now, but five years from now or three years from now. How. What do you need to be doing to build that up and make mistakes along the way? People are going to be afraid to do vertical videos where they're just walking and talking onto their camera phones. But the only way you're going to get better is by doing.
Perna Virjee
Yeah, you learn by doing, which is the thing. And I always tell people that's the good and bad news, which is no one's going to remember a day from now. So if you mess it up, don't worry. Like a day from now, no one will remember, but also remember. So you should be posting more consistently. And it, it takes 90 days really of consistent posting to start seeing noticeable differences. And when it comes to personal brand, you want to have it ready before you really need it, right? That's what they say. Like you want to, whether it's your savings in your bank account, whether it's any kind of, you know, your first aid kit at home, you want to have it ready and in place before you really need it at the last minute. So build your brand. And you can do it at a slower pace, of course. Best practices. I post once a day, every day. But realistically, who's going to do that? And realistically as an audience, like who wants to consume that all the time, it's post consistently if you can. Like for me, I'll post once a week for sure. If I have anything else of value for my audience, I'll post a second time. And if not, I don't like, I don't want to clutter any more than that exists. So just find a way to do that. And even as a brand, be present and have fun with it. Like, here's the other thing. Someplace when you and I were doing work, four hour brands and do it at work, like, then you've got to like follow rules and stay in the boxes and you can't test too much because you don't want to upend the apple cart and get yourself in trouble. But for my own self, I'm like, no one is telling me that I'm going to look ridiculous on my own LinkedIn page, then that's okay, I'll look ridiculous maybe for a day and no one will care. And so I get to remember the joy of what it is to be a marketer because I just get to talk about the things that I really like to talk about. I get to try different formats. I'll get to try different background music or no background music. I'll get to teach myself, you know, editing on like the capcut app or learning how to, you know, some days learning how to use filters to wipe out my under eye dark circles. And you're, you can have fun with it and experiment and go back to it. So there's just a lot of, lots of reasons why you should do it. There's more reasons to do it than not to do it.
Nathan Isaacs
Well, I think that's a good place to end. I am, I am really so thankful for your time today. I learned a lot on the show and I think our audience will as well. Um, how does someone learn more about you, your thought leadership, LinkedIn's thought leadership and the work you're doing there at LinkedIn.
Perna Virjee
Well, Nathan, this has been so much fun. Thank you for having me on. I am on LinkedIn @purunaviuchi. You can find me there all the time. Of course, that's where I am for LinkedIn. You can check out LinkedIn for marketing. That's our page. Or just follow LinkedIn as well. Or you can check out my book, high Impact Content Marketing on either Amazon or Barnes and Noble or your friendly local bookseller.
Nathan Isaacs
Excellent, Purna. I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.
Perna Virjee
Pleasure was all mine, Nathan. Thank you.
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Insights Unlocked: LinkedIn Marketing Strategies (Organic and Paid) That Work
Episode Release Date: February 21, 2025
Host: Nathan Isaacs
Guest: Perna Virjee, Principal Consultant and Global Program Manager at LinkedIn, Author of "High Impact Content Marketing"
In this episode of Insights Unlocked, Nathan Isaacs engages in a comprehensive discussion with Perna Virjee, a seasoned LinkedIn consultant and author of High Impact Content Marketing. The conversation delves into effective LinkedIn marketing strategies, emphasizing the synergy between organic and paid approaches. Perna shares her expert insights on navigating the vast sea of content on LinkedIn, leveraging thought leadership, and harnessing the power of video to create impactful marketing campaigns.
Nathan Isaacs (00:02):
Introduces the episode's focus on cutting through the overwhelming volume of LinkedIn content—"With millions of posts competing for attention every minute, how can you make your brand stand out?"
Perna Virjee (02:36):
Highlights the staggering statistics of content consumption:
Key Insight:
The sheer volume of content necessitates a strategic approach to capture and retain audience attention.
Perna Virjee (02:36):
Emphasizes the importance of a balanced strategy:
Notable Quote (04:10):
"Paid plants new seeds, and organic is tending the field."
Key Insight:
An integrated approach, combining both organic and paid efforts, maximizes reach and engagement while optimizing budget efficiency.
Nathan Isaacs (05:45):
Explores the metrics that demonstrate the effectiveness of combining organic and paid strategies.
Perna Virjee (06:25):
Shares compelling statistics from LinkedIn research:
Notable Quote (06:25):
"Organic doesn't cost you any money, but if you add it, it just makes your existing budget work harder."
Key Insight:
Integrating organic and paid strategies not only enhances conversion rates but also ensures a more efficient allocation of marketing budgets.
Nathan Isaacs (08:31):
Discusses the role of organic content as a testing ground for paid campaigns.
Perna Virjee (09:24):
Explains how brands can use organic posts to gauge audience reactions and refine their paid strategies:
Notable Example (09:24):
Samsung's shift from promotional content to human interest stories during CES, resulting in increased engagement.
Key Insight:
Organic content serves as a dynamic laboratory, allowing brands to experiment and fine-tune their messaging before scaling with paid ads.
Nathan Isaacs (17:28):
Introduces the significance of high-quality content in influencing paid campaign effectiveness.
Perna Virjee (17:49):
Illustrates with historical examples:
Notable Quote (18:07):
"Quality content can move mountains."
Key Insight:
High-quality, creative content not only engages audiences but can fundamentally reshape market perceptions and drive long-term success.
Nathan Isaacs (25:08):
Emphasizes the necessity of a well-defined strategy to guide content creation and distribution.
Perna Virjee (25:59):
Highlights current trends in LinkedIn ad creatives:
Video Content:
Notable Quote (26:30):
"Short-form vertical video is really where it's at."
Thought Leader Ads:
Notable Quote (27:15):
"Thought Leader Ads help build a personal touch rather than the same old generic stock image ads."
Sponsored Newsletters and Connected TV (CTV):
Key Insight:
Staying abreast of LinkedIn's evolving ad formats and trends, particularly video and thought leadership content, can significantly enhance campaign performance and audience engagement.
Nathan Isaacs (29:50):
Reiterates the importance of having a clear strategy for LinkedIn presence, focusing on long-term goals and consistent branding.
Perna Virjee (30:51):
Advocates for consistency in posting to build and maintain brand presence:
Notable Quote (31:15):
"Build your brand. And you can do it at a slower pace, of course."
Key Insight:
A consistent and strategic approach to content creation fosters brand recognition and trust, essential for sustained marketing success on LinkedIn.
Perna Virjee (33:26):
Shares personal branding strategies:
Notable Quote (32:10):
"If you mess it up, don't worry. Like a day from now, no one will remember."
Key Insight:
Building a personal brand on LinkedIn enhances trust and fosters deeper connections with the audience, which in turn supports broader marketing objectives.
Perna Virjee (22:27):
Discusses strategies to motivate employees to share company content organically:
Notable Quote (22:27):
"Encourage them to share more, give them some kudos for it, showcase them as examples."
Key Insight:
Employee advocacy amplifies brand reach and authenticity, making marketing efforts more effective through genuine endorsements.
Nathan Isaacs (23:48):
Inquires about criteria for deciding when to boost an organic post.
Perna Virjee (23:48):
Outlines key indicators:
Notable Quote (23:48):
"If you see it getting a good amount of engagement and from the type of customers that you wanted to, then... why not put some money behind it."
Key Insight:
Identifying and boosting high-performing organic content can effectively extend its reach and impact, maximizing marketing investments.
Perna Virjee (33:26):
Provides resources for further engagement:
Nathan Isaacs (33:55):
Wraps up the session, encouraging listeners to explore additional resources and apply the discussed strategies.
Key Takeaway:
A strategic blend of organic and paid LinkedIn marketing, supported by high-quality content and consistent engagement, is essential for building a strong brand presence and driving meaningful business results.
This episode of Insights Unlocked provides a wealth of actionable insights for marketers aiming to optimize their LinkedIn strategies. By integrating organic and paid efforts, focusing on quality content, leveraging new ad formats, and fostering authentic engagement, brands can effectively cut through the noise and connect with their target audiences on a deeper level.
For those looking to enhance their LinkedIn marketing prowess, Perna Virjee's expertise offers a valuable roadmap to navigating the platform's complexities and harnessing its full potential for business growth.
Listen to the full episode and explore more insightful discussions on usertesting.com/podcast.