Live From DM Days 2009: LinkedIn Exec Lays Down the Rules

To hear Mike Gamson tell it, Linked can solve all your marketing problems.

But you have to follow the rules.

First, be authentic. “As a consumer, the last thing I want is for a pitch to look like a late-night infomercial,” said Gamson, vice president, corporate solutions for LinkedIn, during a keynote at DM Days 2009. “There’s a time and place for that, but not in a Web 2.0 community.”

You also have to encourage conversation, even when users are unhappy with you.

“We can bury heads in sand, or try to control the conversation,” he continued. “Don’t worry about editing out remarks that aren’t flattering—this is way it needs to be.”

Social networks like LinkedIn fuel interaction and they’re loaded with user-generated content, Gamson added. They also facilitate viral messaging.

LinkedIn’s success is due, in part, to workplace changes. Far from being tied to one corporation, employees are now “mobile assets,” engaged in a “dynamic professional journey,” he said. LinkedIn allows them to keep track of each other and manage their own brands online.

How does the firm monetize these services? For one, it sells advertising. For another, it offers premium access to users. Finally, it conducts research for marketers.

Mazda, for example, sponsored a series of questions on consumer preferences when buying a car. Tens of thousands responded, and they were able to see how people in their cohort groups answered the question, he said.

Similarly, Southwest Airlines asked how it could better serve business people. Several hundred answered, and the airline made good use of this information.

These questions are a form of content, he added.

That said, list sellers might object to one statement he made.

“Gone are the days when we had to guess what message sending to what person,” he said. “Let’s say your perfect demographic is a 35 year-old male director of IT. You’d have to go to great lengths, renting lists from magazines and trade shows.”

Instead, he added, companies can now identify those prospects online.