LinkedIn is reinventing itself, optimizing for reading patterns, and how to build personalized ad campaigns.

This week you’ll learn:

• 🌟 How LinkedIn is evolving to capture the audience between TikTok and X.

  📖 Optimizing content for reading patterns

  🚲 Design principles for growth and impact

  🎯 How to create effective personalized ad campaigns

  ⚡️ Quick Hits: Google's 'Top Ads' update, faceless creators' popularity, Instagram's carousel comments test

LinkedIn's New Frontier

LinkedIn is evolving beyond its traditional role as a professional networking platform. It's now targeting a new audience: users caught between the short-form video craze of TikTok and the microblogging chaos of X (formerly Twitter).

Twitter's Turmoil and TikTok's Dominance

Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it to X, the platform has seen a significant drop in daily users, with a 25% decline in the U.S. alone.

TikTok surpassed a billion users and became the first non-game app to hit $10 billion in consumer spending, fueled by its addictive short-form video format.

Many users, accustomed to X's microblogging style, find TikTok's format too alien, leaving them in limbo between the two platforms and creating an audience gap.

LinkedIn's Strategic Pivot

To shed its "stuffy" reputation, LinkedIn is borrowing elements from TikTok and X to appeal to a broader demographic. This will allow it to expand its user base and more deeply engage them, boosting its ad revenue.

Recent examples include puzzle-based interactions to help users "deepen relationships", short-form videos in their own feed, and a renewed focus on news content.

With a reported $15 billion in revenue during the 2023 fiscal year and $1.7 billion from premium subscriptions, LinkedIn's financial health allows it to innovate at a pace unmatched by a declining X and a potentially banned TikTok.

If successful, LinkedIn will pull off a long-term expanding pivot, becoming both a professional and informational hub and a key consideration for both paid and organic social campaigns.

Embrace LinkedIn innovation and Adapt Your Strategies

LinkedIn has traditionally been a powerful platform for B2B marketing, but with its recent changes, its appeal and utility for marketers can be much broader.

Here are several easy tweaks to your marketing strategies that will help you keep up with platform shifts:

• Spruce Up Your Page: Treat your LinkedIn company page as a real channel, not just a platform for job seekers. Engage your audience with compelling content, showcase your company culture, and highlight your products or services in a professional context.

• Re-Purpose TikToks: Experiment with LinkedIn's new short-form video feature by repurposing your TikToks and YouTube Shorts that might appeal to a more mature audience. Tailor the content to fit LinkedIn's professional tone while maintaining the engaging, snackable format.

• Cross-Post to LinkedIn: Any content you post on Twitter/X should be cross-posted to LinkedIn with minimal edits. X's new long-form posts, in particular, can make excellent LinkedIn posts with just a few tweaks to align with the platform's professional focus.

• Get Professional: Emphasize the professional aspects of your product or service. Work is a significant portion of life, and most things can be applied to professionals in some way. Showcase how your offerings can improve work efficiency, enhance career growth, or solve common workplace challenges.

By adapting to the changing social media sphere, LinkedIn plans to appeal to a broader demographic without compromising its professional identity. Brands recognizing this change and adapting early stand to benefit the most from an increasing reach and engagement on LinkedIn.

Read Deeper: TechCrunch

Optimizing Your Content with Reading Patterns

Engaging readers effectively requires understanding how they consume content. Most people don't read content front-to-back, instead their eyes wander following specific patterns.

By optimizing for common reading patterns, you can enhance user experience and content engagement by

• Reducing bounce rates

• Building trust

• Moving readers down the funnel

Let's look at three common reading patterns and how you can structure your content to hold attention instead of letting it slip away.

Pattern 1: The F Pattern

In the "F Pattern", users tend to read the headline and first few lines in detail, then skim the rest, looking for attention-grabbing elements.

This pattern is common for those who are casually consuming content and making quick judgments if it is worth their time.

Optimize for these readers by:

• Engaging Intro: Hook readers with a strong introduction that sets the context and piques their interest. Be sure to telegraph the value of the remaining content.

• Using Subheadings: Break up content with descriptive subheadings to draw the eye and keep users engaged.

• Visually Appealing: Incorporate relevant images, graphics, or videos to break up text and maintain visual interest. Avoid a wall of unbroken text to stop the interest of a casual reader.

Pattern 2: The Layer Cake Pattern

Here, users focus on headings and subheadings to understand the content structure and find the information they need. They are utilitarian and might skip any preamble and go straight for the facts.

Cater to this pattern by building your content with a logical structure. They should be able to skim through the headings easily finding all the information they need.

Consider a table of contents with jump links at the start of your content. This allows time-poor users to click directly to the section they need, earning their respect by delivering your value rapidly.

Pattern 3: The Spotted Pattern

Some users skim content for specific keywords or phrases, like scrolling to the "recipe" subheading in a chocolate cake article. They have a narrow goal, and will search until they find it or lose interest.

Optimize for this by strategically placing keywords in:

• Headings and Subheadings: Catch the eye of Layer Cake and F Pattern users.

• Anchor Text: Boost your internal linking structure and encourage users to spend more time on your site.

• Inline Bolding: Bold key phrases related to topics a user might be skimming for.

• Bold Bullet Points: Use a few words at the start of a bullet point to ground it, letting users skim through a list and find what they need.

  Hmmmm, I wonder where you might have seen this strategy recently ....

Analyzing user engagement with tools like Hotjar and Google Analytics 4 is key to understanding how your audience interacts with your content.

Look at your heatmaps and behavioral analytics. Try to break the different session data down into these three reading categories.

Are you catering to all of them well? Which types of content draw which types of readers and how can you push those readers towards your conversion metrics?

Break the "front-to-back" mold and build your content to align with how your customers actually read it.

Read More: Moz

Thousand's Design Principles for Growth and Impact

Thousand founder Gloria Hwang had a theory that designing stylish, functional bike helmets would encourage more people to wear them—and save lives in the process. Their focus on design and utility helped them cruise up to $11.5 million in revenue last year.

Let’s examine her design principles, and how they guided the brand's growth and impact, and how you can co-opt them for your own brand and products.

Merge Form and Function

Gloria found that recreational bikers wanted something functional and safe above all else. However, they wouldn’t actually wear it unless it looked good. "There's a way to elevate style so you're proud to wear the products," she says.

Working with an industrial designer, Gloria created a helmet that met safety standards but leaned into a more minimalist and retro-inspired design.

Being functional and safe is the baseline for a helmet, but by merging that utility with style, Gloria built a product people were proud to wear and share.

At Thousand, the dance between form and function can be the spark for new product lines or entire brands. Their philosophy - take something beautiful and make it utilitarian or shift something mundane into a statement of identity.

Give Customers the Opportunity to Personalize 

Thousand leaned into customization options because customers were picking their helmets to better fit their personalities. Letting customers customize the product and make it their own boosts retention and advocacy.

"It's all centered around this idea of, 'How can products help you express your personal style?'" Gloria says.

Thousand produced the same core product in a variety of colors. But they also offered an upsell letting customers order them monogrammed transforming the helmets into one-of-a-kind statements without increasing inventory requirements.

Focus on Functional Details

Thousand patented the PopLock, a feature built into the helmet that gives riders a way to attach it to a bike lock. If the helmet gets stolen, Thousand will replace it for free.

This addresses the pain point of having to lug a helmet around with no safe way to leave it with the bike.

Small changes to a product can dramatically change its perception. Look at all the different types of expensive water bottles and tumblers. Tiny differences like the way a lid latches or how a straw is attached can help differentiate your products.

Make Your Products Inclusive

Thousand has intentionally created more inclusive products, and not just by offering a wider range of colors. Gloria says:

"Most small bike helmets don't actually fit women because they weren't designed for them. Our size range really takes into account different head shapes and genders."

Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

"We'll sample 10 different versions of a similar color to settle on the final one we want," Gloria says. Thousand often goes through many iterations to find just one piece of their product.

It's important for founders to be the advocate for their customers, especially when working with manufacturers. Even if a design is more complicated for a manufacturer, it pays to push for the features you really want.

By designing helmets more people actually want to wear, Thousand has grown the market and achieved their mission of saving lives.

Read More: Shopify

Mastering Personalized Ads

Personalized ads have become a cornerstone of modern marketing. By leveraging user data to create hyper-relevant ads, businesses can effectively target customers with messaging that speaks to their problems and needs.

If executed correctly, personalized ads can improve the customer experience. 71% of consumers in a recent McKinsey survey expect personalized interactions, and 76% feel frustrated when businesses fail to offer them. Personalized ads make customers feel valued and understood.

They can have a huge impact on your bottom line as well. Companies leveraging personalization see up to 50% lower acquisition costs, 5-15% revenue uplift, and a 10-30% increase in marketing ROI. Moreover, businesses with higher growth rates attribute 40% of their revenue to effective personalization strategies.

Here's how to create effective personalized ad campaigns while respecting data privacy concerns.

How to Create Personalized Ads

Ad personalization can be extremely detailed or as simple as you need. Follow these three steps, picking and choosing the methods best for your brand.

We have a free guide to help you create personalized ads and reach the right target audience. Download the guide here!

Collect Consumer Data: Gather data from web analytics, customer data platforms, third-party providers, surveys, and social media to gain a 360-degree view of your audience.

Segment Your Audience: Analyze the data to identify patterns and segment your audience based on shared characteristics, behaviors, and needs. Common segmentation approaches include:

• Geographic: Group customers by location to tailor messaging.

• Demographic: Segment based on age, gender, income, etc. for targeted campaigns.

• Psychographic: Cluster users by personality traits, values, interests, and lifestyles.

• Behavioral: Create segments based on past interactions and shopping habits.

Craft Targeted Ads: Design ads that speak directly to each segment's unique needs and preferences. Effective personalization tactics include:

• Customization: Use personal details like names or purchase history to create individualized ads.

• Behavioral Triggers: Serve ads based on specific user actions, like abandoned carts.

• Localized Offers: Tailor promotions to the user's geographic location.

• Relevant Recommendations: Suggest products or content based on past behavior and interests.

Best Practices for Success

Although personalized ads can bring great results, there are a few pitfalls you want to avoid.

Privacy is a big concern. Make sure you adhere to regulations like GDPR and CCPA to respect consumer privacy while personalizing ads.

Customize campaigns to different stages of the sales cycle, ensuring a seamless experience from discovery to purchase. Don't have personalized ads dump customers into generic experiences, keep focusing on their unique aspects and close the sale.

Personalized advertising is not just a trend; it's a necessity for businesses aiming to connect meaningfully with their audience. You can start small, pick one customer segment and target them across one channel, then measure the results.

Download our free guide and learn how to create personalized ads and improve your ad strategy!

You'll be surprised at the gains and customer experience achieved when your advertising directly matches your customer’s needs.

Read Deeper: The CMO

⚡️ Quick Hits

• Google Updates 'Top Ads' definition to reflect dynamic placement in search results.

• Faceless Creators Gain Popularity due to their focus on content quality, appealing to 86% of consumers who value authenticity.

• X Usage Drops 25% as Edison Research and others highlight a significant decline in engagement.

• TikTok's Growth Surges by 15%, with 27% of marketers planning to use it in 2024; best engagement times identified.

• Instagram Tests Carousel Comments to allow responses on specific images, boosting engagement.

What we’re working on right now

📣We’re pretty excited to share a recent win where we grew Facebook follows by 106%, visits up 70%, Instagram up 24% in Q1 - all organically.

💭 By crafting a content strategy tailored to your platform of choice and consistently providing your audience with high-quality, relevant, and engaging content, organic growth becomes not only possible, but an incredible driver for your business.

💡 What would an increase like this look like for your brand? Book a meeting with our team this month and receive two free fully designed and expertly written social posts for your brand as our way of showing you the value of working together.

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