Linked In make more of current users

I posted a couple of weeks ago on growing the core by attracting new users. Another way of growing the core which as just as powerful, if not more so, is to sell more to existing users.

And the real trick with making more of current users is "zero budget" marketing. This involves applying creativity to all the bits of your brand that you’ve already paid for, but don’t use to drive sales: packaging, websites, point-of-sale, secondary packaging. Many of these bits of the brand play a communication role, but not a sales promotion role. But, as Larry Light, Mc Donald’s ex- CMO said, "All marketing should be sales promotion".

Linked In’s new homepage feature that recommend people to link with is a good example of this. This is a bit like the "Amazon recommends" feature. When I tried it out this morning it was scarily accurate, with five of the ten people proposed actually people I knew but had lost contact with. One hell of an algorithm! It also gets smarter as you accept or reject the invitations. This builds on other techniques they use to encourage regular use, such as email updates of people requesting to link in with you.

This makes a lot of sense for Linked In, as their challenge, as with all social networking sites, its to keep people involved once the novelty has worn off.

Here are some other examples of making more use of your brand mix to promote usage from previous posts:
– "Packvertising" to: promote new ways of eating: Kit-Kat; sell a brand message: Splenda
– Making secondary packaging wow: Apple MacBook Air
– Using packaging to remind you to use a product: Day and Night Nurse