Wondering how to get the word out to your professional network about an event you’re hosting? Have you heard about the new LinkedIn Events feature?
After first announcing that it was developing and re-launching its own events tool in November 2019, LinkedIn has now officially released this new feature, providing the capacity for members to create and organise events via the social network. Recently, the team at Social Progress were asked to test this new feature, and give feedback directly to LinkedIn, so we thought we’d share with you some of the advantages to using LinkedIn events for your business.
If you are already hosting professional events – both online and in person – you should take time to have a closer look at LinkedIn events to see if this feature could benefit you and your business. You can use this feature for events such as workshops, webinars, product launches, business meet-ups, networking and conferences – really, any event where you would like to engage with a professional audience.
The new LinkedIn events feature allows you to create an event from either your personal profile or from your company page. From your event page you can invite like-minded professionals, easily track attendees, post updates and interact with those attending your event, even if you are not already connected via LinkedIn. If you are familiar with Facebook events, the functionality is not dissimilar, but one of the benefits of adding an event to LinkedIn is the ability to attract a more business-minded audience, given the nature of this particular social network platform.
There’s a number of features within this tool that we found to be advantageous. One of which is the ability to really personalise the event through the event description and visuals – this allows you to be completely on brand with your business, and use key words and phrases that attract your target audience. You can also add external links to your website and/or ticketing website for the event, which is a useful tool to drive traffic to your business.
Another feature you may find useful is the ability to keep the event private, for things such as training, business meetings and events targeted at your personal business connections. Alternatively, if you make your event public, you can allow your guests to invite their own LinkedIn connections, and once your guests choose to attend your event it will then show in their newsfeed – it’s a really easy way to reach professionals outside of your own network.
One of the features we would like to have seen included in this tool is the ability to see relevant related events, such as networking events in your local area, or training relevant to your field of expertise. The good news is that once LinkedIn events has been up and running for a little while, and more members have used it to upload their events, you will be able to discover other events relevant to your profile and business page, which will allow you to grow your network and develop new relationships that benefit you and your business.
Whether you’re an event marketer or simply looking to promote your business via an event, LinkedIn Events are just one of the many options you have to improve your social media engagement and outreach.