Which content types, including visual branding, most effectively drive engagement on LinkedIn B2B accounts?

Abstract

This thesis aims to derive vital findings and conclusions regarding the drivers of LinkedIn B2B engagement in the context of a mixed-methods case study with an Upper Austrian B2B plastic pipe manufacturer. Questions of qualitative nature such as the impact of the general depiction and scenery, image sources and the influence of textual overlays are taken into account and quantified through the use extensive data tables. This is being explored, as existing literature does not differentiate between the distinctive visual elements featured in LinkedIn B2B postings. Data is obtained through the analytics section of three corporate LinkedIn accounts and through the tool Hootsuite. Hootsuite provides the ability to create automized reports and the ability to draft postings beforehand and schedule them in a calendar. The company uses both tools regularly to derive insights. However, in this thesis, not only the pre-determined quantitative metrics such as reactions, comments and shares are considered, but also the additional qualitative metrics. In July 2024 a content planner was developed and introduced at the partner company. The company’s aspirations? To provide relevant content at the right time for the follower bases on all corporate accounts. The approach? Online, location-independent collaboration of marketing and sales personnel. This led to the posting of relevant and timely-placed content. The data sets themselves are split into a pre-intervention and post-intervention period, to gain insights into the drivers of LinkedIn B2B engagement rates. The importance and effects of CEO-shared content with own comments are explained. Furthermore, the general concept of the engagement rate expressed in percent is being questioned, due to the detection of two major outliers, experiencing high absolute engagement. Business-to-business companies on LinkedIn must rethink what their content wants to achieve and express. Furthermore, observations in engagement patterns are being crosschecked with the sister accounts, as to find out about common patterns and deviations within the target regions. All in all, one can conclude that carousel postings, meaning postings containing at least two photos paired human-centric content with real backgrounds perform best. This proves to be especially effective when combined with topics such as company news, reference projects and trade fairs. As it is a case study, the limitations include the limited timeframe of observation, the analysis of content does not extend to other B2B rivals of the partner company, the interpretation of visual elements for the categorization framework. Also, the user sentiment was merely assessed through the comments, not on the type of reactions (like, celebrate and so on) as they merely represent positive sentiment. The managerial implications include the push of CEO-shared content as well as the continuation of the LinkedIn content planner and new ways to promote the LinkedIn accounts.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Birgit Margareta Hollaus (Supervisor)