About the Activity
During July, August, and September 2020, we collaborated with the Israel Export Institute in an activity aimed at reaching out and inviting a relevant audience to the HLS & CYBER 2020 conference. This is the largest international professional event in Israel for companies in the homeland security and cyber sectors. The event is organized by the Israel Export Institute and the Foreign Trade Administration in the Ministry of Economy and Industry, in collaboration with the National Cyber Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Export Division (SIBAT) in the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Public Security. The conference, held for the sixth time, was conducted virtually for the first time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The two-day conference and exhibition included a variety of leading speakers in their fields, about 100 Israeli companies engaged in HLS and cyber, and an online F2F meeting arena.
What Makes the Activity Special
This type of conference previously hosted thousands of invitees, and the organizers did not intend to lower that number this year. Our goal was to reach as many relevant invitees as possible. To achieve results, we worked simultaneously from two profiles. The main reason for this was that LinkedIn does not favor the sending of numerous connection requests, and its algorithm can block or slow down the process without prior warning.
It was important to invite relevant people who would benefit the most and genuinely be interested in the conference content. Among the invitees were technology managers, innovation managers, senior security personnel, government officials, decision-makers in security and cyber bodies, police chiefs, and even governors – from around the world (mainly the USA, Europe, East Asia, and Australia). It is important to note that people in such senior positions receive many messages daily, so it was crucial to approach them personally with a unique, personal, short, and precise invitation to stand out and capture their attention with content truly valuable to them.
What Worked Well and Brought Us Successes:
From the initial profiling conversation with the client, we understood the importance of this conference and its past results. To reach the volume of invitees as in previous years, we worked simultaneously from two profiles. During a month and a half of work, about 8,000 invitations were sent from the two profiles, and over 2,500 were approved. Unlike other activities where the connection request text contains minimal information, in this type of campaign, the first message already included the conference content and the invitation link (all within a 300-character limit).
The texts sent underwent A/B testing adaptations and were personalized according to the country and role. As a result of constant monitoring and supervision, we received responses from senior figures in the cyber and homeland security industries; senior managers, VPs, C-level executives, CEOs of giant companies, Founders & CEOs, and various technological functions in relevant organizations worldwide.
Results Seen from LinkedIn Invitation Activity Over 33 Working Days:
- Average Connection Requests During the Activity 8,000 – Brand Awareness
This is the number of Marketing Qualified Leads exposed to the conference name and the link to the landing page – sent from two different profiles (by the way, don’t try sending such a large number independently; it’s likely to result in account blocking. We use advanced techniques and build a strong profile image against LinkedIn’s algorithm). - Business Network – Number of Profile Approvals that Became Part of the Business Network: 2,500
This is the number of people who connected with the profiles and became first-degree connections, allowing us to message them. They will be exposed organically (without payment) to future posts. We can also see their data (in some cases, including email). - Number of Positive Responses – Positive Reply Rate: 340
This is the number of people who responded positively to the approach, with varying levels of interest, from mild curiosity to interest, registration, and inviting friends and colleagues to participate in the event.
Number of Registrants for the Event – Positive Leads:290
This is the number of people who actually registered on the landing page.
Summary
We built a precise funnel and funneled highly targeted, daily organic traffic into it. We quickly drew conclusions from the daily results, and at the end of the activity, we received a number that exceeded our expectations. The beauty of this process is that we managed to reach people who couldn’t have been reached by any other means – not Facebook, not Google, not Taboola Outbrain, or similar solutions. In cases where the target audience is senior executives and decision-makers of this type, LinkedIn proves to be the best platform for precise targeting and excellent conversion.