Patrick Crane, VP of Marketing for LinkedIn, delivered the opening keynote last week at BtoB Magazine’s new virtual event titled, Leading Edge: Demand Generation in the Digital Age, the magazine’s first-ever, daylong virtual trade show. Highlighting the growing power of social networks to reach prospects, Crane pointed out that 38% of all online media is now consumed on social platforms.
Using LinkedIn’s own strategy as a case study, Crane said it is critical for marketers to consider the “intent” of social communities, as many networkers use Facebook for personal and entertainment reasons, while conversations on platforms such as LinkedIn and Ning tend to be more oriented to business.
Looking deeper at social strategies, Crane suggested BtoB marketers tap into the huge growth of targeted groups. He pointed out that there are now more than 350,000 different groups now within the LinkedIn community, with 1,000 new groups created every day and 100,000 new members joining a group every day.
Crane added that LinkedIn is tapping into other social tools, broadcasting relevant industry content through Twitter, publishing a series of industry specific blogs and fielding a number of different industry polls. He also emphasized that social participation must be monitored and tracked for feedback, and pointed to tools like TweetDeck and LinkedIn Company Buzz as solutions to track customers and prospects. According to BtoB Magazine, the Leading Edge virtual event attracted more than 4,600 registrants. The content from the event will be available on BtoBonline.com for six months after June 29.
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Looking deeper at social strategies, Crane suggested BtoB marketers tap into the huge growth of targeted groups. He pointed out that there are now more than 350,000 different groups now within the LinkedIn community, with 1,000 new groups created every day and 100,000 new members joining a group every day. 
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