Social Media Case Study: General Electric on LinkedIn

How was a major impact made in specific industries by General Electric on LinkedIn?

As one of the largest brands in the world, there are not many verticals in which General Electric has not made an impact. When the energy and healthcare divisions wanted to reach out to influencers and policymakers around the world to promote new initiatives, the most logical choice was for the brand to focus on LinkedIn.

Using content and display ads geared towards industry leaders around the world, Sponsored InMail to speak directly to individual users, and by building communities around the content of General Electric on LinkedIn, some impressive results were achieved.

By the end of the campaign, General Electric saw a 5.75% interaction rate with their ads, leading to over 1,300 downloads. They also saw a whopping 13% open rate for their InMails geared towards specific industry leaders and personalized for the individual. Ultimately, there was a high rate of traffic generated as a result of their efforts on LinkedIn.

The Lessons

What can marketers take away from this campaign? General Electric can teach virtually any business professional a lesson or two in any of their campaigns. Just a few weeks ago, we even wrote another case study on General Electric. But in this case, even one of the largest brands in the world used the tools available to the average LinkedIn user in the right way, and the results were outstanding. Here’s why.

Find Your Audience

Would there have been the same results for this campaign if it had been conducted on Facebook, Twitter, or some other network? Probably not. General Electric succeeded with this campaign because from the outset, there was a clear target audience in place, and research showed the brand where they would be most likely to find success in targeting said group.

Know where your audience is before launching a campaign. It will be much harder to succeed when you know who you want to target, but do not know where they are talking.

Develop a Strategy

Strategy is at the heart of any successful social media program or campaign. In this particular case, it was clear that every aspect of a social media strategy was considered before launching the campaign. In doing so, each step was easily measurable and General Electric was able to monitor their successes and knew exactly where improvement would be needed in the future.

Personalize Your Campaigns

When sending InMail to industry leaders, General Electric was able to personalize their campaign. People like the one-on-one approach from big brands, particularly the largest in the world. That is why General Electric saw such a high open rate on these messages. People like to be addressed by name. A personal touch goes a long way on social media, and should never be discounted.

What other factors do you think went in to the success of General Electric on LinkedIn? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!