Vistage boosts content (and results) with relatable messaging for leaders, executives

Challenge

•   Vistage is the world’s largest executive coaching organization for small and mid-sized businesses. The company uses LinkedIn to reach an audience of business professionals seeking leadership guidance, skill-building opportunities, and camaraderie with other decision makers.
•    As Vistage sought to grow its reach on LinkedIn, the company needed more ways to reach an audience outside its established base of 75,400 followers. Beyond attracting new followers, the goal was also to drive traffic to the company’s website to capture leads, as well as increase impressions and clicks.
•    “We wanted to promote content to existing members, as well as supplement our ad-spend reach to prospective members, to engage and delight anybody out there interested in leadership or leadership development,” says Leah Firebaugh, Paid Media Strategist at Vistage.

Solution

•    Vistage participated in the rollout of LinkedIn Boost, which allows brands to amplify organic posts and reach larger audiences outside of their LinkedIn Page followers. The company drew from its diverse scope of content to increase the reach of posts most relevant to broad leadership audiences.
•    Boosted posts included infographics, value-driven articles, thought leadership posts, and more. Vistage aimed to generate awareness by positioning itself as a source of leadership insights, business information trends, and advice relevant to brand-new audiences.
•    “We’ve been using Boost to get more eyes on our content and capture people who don’t necessarily know about our company” says Lindsey Zimmer, Social Media Marketing Specialist at Vistage. “It’s been a great tool for us to expand our reach and audience.”

Results

•   Vistage saw tremendous response from its boosted posts in the form of engagement. “Since we’ve started boosting, we’re consistently getting over 600 new followers a month,” says Zimmer. Boosted posts continue to spark interest in the company, thanks in large part to the pertinence of the information for leaders and executive decision makers prevalent on LinkedIn.
• The company has also seen value in choosing boosted posts vs. traditional paid channels. “Boost looks like it might get a little bit better of a spend efficiency, and that’s one thing that I’m looking at, as I’m sure others are,” says Firebaugh.

Make content more accessible for more people

•   Vistage’s target audience spans a diverse group of leadership-oriented professionals. In boosting posts to increase brand awareness, the company focused on content that would speak to many, but within a firmly defined category. Messaging walked a fine line between being broad and relatable while offering specific, actionable information for leaders.
• To maximize the appeal of boosted posts, Vistage emphasized value-driven content, backed by credible information, which presented the company as a reliable thought leader. “Sometimes content gets lost in the ether, so boosting has been a great way to keep our content at the top of the page and in front of people’s eyes,” says Zimmer.

Diverse content keeps audiences engaged

•   To get a feel for what resonated with broader audiences, Vistage experimented with different types of boosted posts. All posts were informative and built around usefulness, but they delivered value in different ways: testimonials, infographics, thought leadership posts, and more. Varying its posts allowed the company to comparatively measure ROI and engagement.
•   “This is an opportunity to understand what content resonates with your target audience and which content pieces will drive those individuals to engage and be interested in learning more about your company,” says Lindsey. Vistage is using engagement data from its boosted posts to better inform future content, both organic and paid.

A little goes a long way when boosting

•   Cost efficiency is top-of-mind for paid media specialists. For brands with thin budgets, those who are seeking opportunities to diversify their paid media portfolio, or those dipping a toe into more targeted social marketing, driving clear ROI is critical. Vistage, a company with broad experience in social marketing, was highly impressed with the impact of its spend on LinkedIn Boost.
•   “Putting even $50 behind a piece of content can increase our reach, impressions and clicks,” says Firebaugh. “It’s been awesome to see that even a small amount of money can really help drive more clicks and generate more top-of-funnel brand awareness.”