Why LinkedIn Events Will Be a Game-changer in Promoting Webinars

Are you on a hunt for game-changing tools to apply in your marketing strategy for 2019? Still looking for a missing puzzle to reach B2B prospects with your webinars? Then you should keep an eye on LinkedIn’s pilot feature – LinkedIn events! Why? Let’s dive into it!

From this article you will learn:
What are LinkedIn events
How will they work
How can you use them in your B2B marketing strategy
Would you still need Facebook events to promote your webinars

Table of Contents

LinkedIn Events – what took them so long?

This announcement certainly grabbed marketers’ attention. This career networking giant is releasing a platform that can make a huge difference for digital marketing players. Although LinkedIn events start as an MVP, a pilot version for users from San Francisco and New York, it will be available worldwide in the next few months.

What’s it about?

LinkedIn events is a tool for creating online events, much like Facebook events. Yes, you’re right – that’s not the first feature that LinkedIn has borrowed from Facebook. Although they did the same with the carousel ads (among other things), the events tool is really something we’ve been missing.

How will they work?

Before we all sigh “Finally!”, let’s see what we’ll be able to do with the new tool:

Create an event.This is the core of it – we can create events by setting up a name, date, description, and relevant hashtag. For webinar business, it refers to the title, date, and content of your webinar.
Promote an event. This is the true power. Imagine inviting all your professional connections from LinkedIn to your webinar. How much will it simplify your process and power up your lead nurturing? This will be real!
Manage an event. It’s all about tracking your attendees and invitees, updating your event, and most importantly – running follow-ups after your webinar!
Host conversations with other attendees. This is social networking at its best. All event attendees can gather around the event, chat with each other, and build relationships. For you, it’s a chance to build a community around your webinar, and – from a wider perspective – around your brand!
Check who else is attending. This is a useful tool from the attendee’s point of view. If you consider joining an event but hesitate – you can check if any players from your business sector are attending and do the same.

LinkedIn promises more pros are coming in the future, like finding events that are similar to your interests or to events you have hosted or attended.

But, before that becomes a reality, you might think “OK, but this feature is a copy of Facebook events, where’s the disruption?”

Ready? Here’s the deal:

B2B shot callers are out there

Time to do some business intelligence. B2B decision makers love video content and webinars, and that’s a fact! Quoting ClickMeeting’s State of Webinars 2018 report: 76% of B2B buyers attended webinars to make purchasing decisions. This statistic already points a direction when it comes to allocating your marketing efforts.

As you know, LinkedIn is heaven for the B2B sector. All the C level managers and execs are out there, ready to interact and find new solutions for their businesses. According to LinkedIn itself, their network site is: “the most effective social media platform for delivering content and securing audience engagement.” (2017)

If you still feel unconvinced, we highly encourage you to explore the Hubspot’s Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2018. Let’s take a look at few findings about LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has 562 million members. (LinkedIn, 2018)
CEOs on LinkedIn have an average of 930 connections. (LinkedIn, 2017)
40% of members visit the professional social network each day. (Omnicore Agency, 2018)
In the past two years, content consumption on LinkedIn has increased by 21%. (HubSpot, 2016)

How can you reach them?

From solo entrepreneurs up to top level managers and CEOs – all serious players are active on LinkedIn and reaching them is easier than ever before. They want and need content to justify their business decisions. Let’s get back to the Hubspot’s report: “96% of B2B buyers want content with more input from industry thought leaders.” (Demand Gen Report, 2016)

That’s a huge opportunity for you:

Think of your webinars as premium content. Invite an influencer – an expert from your niche that will be recognizable to your C level prospects. Try Ninja Outreach or Buzzsumo to find the most relevant ones.

Prepare content that will answer your prospects’ needs. Observe your contacts on LinkedIn. Check what they share, what they post, how they comment, what tags they use.

Be ready when LinkedIn launches their events feature globally. Schedule your webinar and create an event on LinkedIn. Invite your most promising contacts and deliver your best quality to attract them!

What about Facebook events?

We’re definitely not saying to stop creating events on Facebook. Although it’s not easy to cut through the enormous clutter of entertainment, culture, sports, or even totally nonsense and hilarious events on Facebook, this is still a smart thing to do. Why? Because according to Hubspot’s report:

74% of people say they use Facebook for professional purposes. (HubSpot, 2017)
79% of people online use Facebook. (Pew Research Center, 2016)

So, if you promote your webinars with Facebook events (and most importantly – it works for you), keep doing it!

Keep your eyes open. As soon as LinkedIn kicks off their event platform for all users, apply it to your digital marketing playbook. Do Facebook and LinkedIn events on a regular basis, and measure the effects of your marketing activity.

At the end of the day – it’s about hacking your webinar growth!