Summary of "LinkedIn Updates: Video Features, Qualified Leads Optimization, LinkedIn Verification, and More"

Social Media Marketing Talk Show
Host: Jerry Potter
Guest: AJ Wilcox, LinkedIn Ads Expert
Release Date: May 5, 2025

In this episode of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, host Jerry Potter engages in an insightful discussion with AJ Wilcox, the world’s leading LinkedIn Ads expert. They delve into the latest LinkedIn updates, focusing on video enhancements, qualified leads optimization, verification processes, company page growth, and advanced advertising tools. The conversation provides marketers with actionable insights to leverage LinkedIn’s evolving platform effectively.

1. LinkedIn's Enhanced Video Features

Transforming into a Creator Platform

AJ Wilcox highlights LinkedIn’s unexpected transformation into a robust creator platform following Microsoft’s acquisition:

“Who would have thought when Microsoft bought LinkedIn that it would become the cool creator platform, right?” (01:45)

Mini Site for Content Creation

LinkedIn has introduced a mini site designed to aid marketers in crafting better content. This platform offers tips, specifications, and templates for six different post types, making content creation seamless:

“LinkedIn is really catering to the creators out there... you can even click on the button that says create one of these right now and it'll take you right into your LinkedIn profile where you can create one of these...” (02:44)

Canva Integration and Video Templates

A notable partnership with Canva allows users to create video content within Canva and export it directly to LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager, streamlining the ad creation process:

“You can actually connect your Canva account to your LinkedIn ads account. And as you create some of these new pieces of content, you hit export and it just goes right into your LinkedIn campaign manager.” (04:08)

Vertical Video and Safe Zones

LinkedIn is pushing for vertical video formats and has introduced video safe zones to ensure proper framing across devices:

“It's all about vertical video, right? That seems to be what they're pushing.” (06:00)

Trends Highlights in Video Feed

The introduction of trends highlights within the video feed allows creators to tap into trending topics, enhancing visibility and engagement:

“...if you have an opinion on certain topics, you happen to see that one of these topics is in your wheelhouse and it's hot right now. It's a great time to go and create a video about that topic.” (07:28)

2. Expansion of LinkedIn Verification

Strengthening Trust and Authenticity

LinkedIn is expanding its verification system beyond its platform to external sites like Adobe Behance, Trust Radius, G2, and UserTesting.com. This move reinforces trust by providing verification badges across multiple platforms:

“LinkedIn has fully invested in this. Just last week I got my own verification... they're now sharing it with other brands.” (08:59)

Impact on Trust Signals

AJ Wilcox emphasizes the importance of consistent verification across platforms as a reliable trust signal:

“If you're verified by LinkedIn somewhere else, I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, I don't have to recheck what that means.” (10:19)

3. Enhancements to LinkedIn Company Pages

Introduction of LinkedIn Premium for Pages

LinkedIn now offers a Premium tier for company pages, introducing features aimed at boosting follower growth and engagement:

“Premium page... will automatically invite people for you to follow the page.” (11:38)

Key Features of Premium Pages

• Automatic Invitations: Encourage follower growth by inviting followers of similar pages.
• Custom Call-to-Action Buttons: Enhance page functionality with tailored CTAs.
• Visitor Insights: Access detailed information about individuals visiting your page.

Cost and Effectiveness

The Premium service costs approximately $77/month in North America. However, opinions on its value are mixed, with some users finding limited benefits:

“We're only seeing like one or two new followers. Probably not worth it.” (12:49)

4. LinkedIn Ads Updates

4.1. Qualified Leads Optimization

LinkedIn’s new Conversions API allows marketers to report qualified leads back to the platform, enabling better ad targeting based on CRM data:

“When you use LinkedIn's new conversions API... LinkedIn help. With all of my campaigns that I'm running, let's try to optimize and find more people who look like this.” (13:32)

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Enhanced targeting based on qualified leads.
• Cons: Technical setup is complex, and the required bidding model is expensive:

  “It's pretty technical, and so I don't see a whole lot of accounts doing it.” (14:44)

4.2. Campaign Manager Enhancements

• Media Planner: A forecasting tool to help predict campaign outcomes, though historically unreliable:

  “I just honestly don't trust them. But it seems like they're probably taking a little bit more into account.” (15:53)

• Ads Duplication: Simplifies the process of duplicating ads across different campaigns and accounts:

  “This is going to make my life quite a bit easier.” (16:56)

• Dynamic UTM Parameters: Automates UTM tagging for ad URLs, improving tracking efficiency:

  “Pretty cool in concept. The one thing that it's missing is you can't give it anything at the ad level other than telling it to dynamically insert the ad id.” (17:23)

• Marketing Overview Homepage: Provides a snapshot of campaign performance metrics, useful for quick reporting:

  “I just think it's a splash page or a landing page before I navigate to the ads account.” (19:49)

4.3. Accelerate – AI-Based Campaign and Ad Creator

LinkedIn’s Accelerate tool leverages AI to create campaigns by analyzing URLs and generating audiences, ad copy, and images automatically:

“All you do is you give it... LinkedIn's AI looks at it and goes, oh, what audience do we think would like this?” (21:55)

Potential and Limitations

While promising for automation, AJ Wilcox expresses a preference for greater control over targeting:

“I love the control. I love being able to make sure that unticking all the boxes that waste money and being ultra specific about who my audience is.” (22:55)

4.4. Brand Lift Testing

Available to advertisers spending $90,000+ per quarter, this feature conducts market research to measure the impact of ad campaigns through surveys:

“LinkedIn will run this market research for you and report back and let you know how it's doing.” (23:38)

Conclusion

This episode underscores LinkedIn’s strategic enhancements aimed at empowering marketers through advanced video tools, robust verification processes, and sophisticated advertising features. AJ Wilcox provides a balanced perspective on these updates, highlighting both their potential benefits and existing limitations. Marketers are encouraged to explore these tools to stay competitive and optimize their LinkedIn strategies effectively.

Notable Quotes:

• “LinkedIn is really catering to the creators out there...” — AJ Wilcox (02:44)
• “I love verification as a concept, especially for LinkedIn.” — AJ Wilcox (08:59)
• “This is going to make my life quite a bit easier.” — AJ Wilcox (16:56)
• “LinkedIn's AI just keeps getting better.” — AJ Wilcox (22:55)

Connect with AJ Wilcox: For more insights and updates, connect with AJ Wilcox on LinkedIn or listen to his LinkedIn Ads Show Podcast.

For more detailed discussions and weekly updates, visit SocialMediaExaminer.com.