In June 2024, the very first Baltic B2B marketing awards were handed out. A tradition, that will hopefully last for many-many years to come. One of the historic Golden Parrots found its way to pan-Baltic law firm COBALT, where the marketing team managed to mobilise their international office to realise a thorough strategic makeover of their corporate LinkedIn profiles.
Region: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
Award category: Golden Parrot for LinkedIn (2024)
Background
COBALT is one of the leading law firms in the Baltics with a presence in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all three offices operate under the COBALT brand. The team comprises more than 250 attorneys and administrative staff. Their services include mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, competition law, intellectual property, real estate, dispute resolution and litigation. Beyond the core legal services, numerous colleagues contribute to legislative committees and public institutions, as well as engage in pro bono work.
COBALT belongs to a trio of law firms, frequently perceived as the Big Three in the Baltic legal sector. The local legal market remains dynamic due to significant mergers within the legal industry in 2023-2024.
The Goal
In 2022, COBALT observed growth on LinkedIn surpassing the number of followers they had on Facebook (4800 on LinkedIn and 4300 followers on Facebook by the end of 2022). They were attracting three times more followers each month on LinkedIn, even though the level of effort was equal for both channels.
"For me as a marketing person, it was clear that LinkedIn is more suited for B2B than Facebook. It was obvious that we need to be not only more present, but knowledgeably more present," explains Ilze Augstkalne, COBALT's Baltic Brand and Marketing Manager.
The primary objective was to optimise COBALT's presence on LinkedIn to elevate brand visibility, engage their target audience, and position COBALT as thought leaders in the legal industry. They aimed to implement a strategy focusing on quality content, strategic engagement, and leveraging employee advocacy. They also made sure to align their efforts with LinkedIn's latest algorithm updates and best practices. The target was to increase follower growth by at least 10% in 2023.
Additionally, address challenges such as relatively low overall and per-post engagement rates (compared to competitors) despite very frequent posting and the relatively low engagement and quality of employee profiles.
"We decided to go for a joint profile because we wanted to position ourselves as a pan-Baltic company. Many of our clients are pan-Baltic companies. From a branding point of view, we wanted to be more consistent in our communication and allow followers to be in the know of deals happening in other countries," adds Ilze when asked about the decision to set up a unified profile for all three Baltic offices with communication in English.
Finally, upon analysing the engagement rates, they realised, that the current volume of posts is perceived as spamming by the LinkedIn algorithm, thereby diminishing the reach.
The Strategy
Analysing their current position and building necessary knowledge
COBALT monitors their social media performance on a monthly basis. They also keep an eye on other relevant industry accounts. The Brand Manager collects and analyses the results covering metrics like post frequency, engagement rates, and top-performing content. This information is then discussed with the marketing team to learn and benchmark their performance against industry standards.
Additionally, COBALT organises internal trainings for the marketing team every half-year. At the beginning of 2023, a LinkedIn audit was carried out that served as the basis for further improvements.
Shift from ‘us’ to ‘them’
Ilze reflects on their early discoveries: "We started from analysing the engagement. Why is it so low? By digging deeper and deeper, we understood that there was too much focus on ourselves. The same principle applies in PR: if you talk about yourself, nobody's interested, but if you get to the point where somebody else is talking about you, it becomes interesting. It’s not that we stopped sharing our success stories, but we flipped the focal point – instead of focusing on ourselves, we highlighted the client."
The new strategy involved a shift from an 'us' to 'them' approach – in other words, they went from extensive ‘reporting’ and self-promotion to ensuring that the posts provide value and address the interests of COBALT's audience.
Following the LinkedIn audit, they revised the internal social media guidelines, placing greater emphasis on industry insights, thought leadership pieces, wellbeing and sustainability related activities, people-oriented and “life at COBALT” type of posts.
They also continued to monitor performance to identify the optimal number of posts, that provide the necessary flow of information and brand visibility, yet receive good engagement rates and are not ‘penalised’ by the LinkedIn algorithm for excessive posting (spamming). Moreover, they began targeting a portion of their posts towards each Baltic country to reduce the 'penalisation' and to better tailor the content to the appropriate audience.
Adapting to algorithm changes
COBALT continues to monitor and adapt their content to LinkedIn's evolving algorithm, implementing best practices such as optimal post frequency, diverse content formats, and strategic use of hashtags. This also included experimenting with different post formats, incorporating more document posts and videos, and using tagging, reposting and commenting wisely to enhance engagement and reach. Furthermore, they have transitioned to using 1:1 format visuals to enhance engagement.
Employee advocacy
"The sales cycle is quite long in our business and LinkedIn is just one part of that cycle. Our services are not directly sellable through LinkedIn. More than half of cycles start from the customer scanning through digital channels, these include LinkedIn. We need to keep our digital face on a very high level across all channels, because we don’t know which one the customer will choose as part of their initial assessment," Ilze on the expectations they had towards LinkedIn.
Having pinpointed the importance of engaging their employees as brand ambassadors, the marketing team made sure to encourage their active participation on LinkedIn:
Two training sessions were conducted for all firm colleagues on setting up a personal LinkedIn profile and effective communication (sharing practical tips from creating a post to various engagement tactics that provide results).
COBALT's Brand Manager conducted a personal audit of the several hundred employee personal profiles, providing personalised suggestions for a professional LinkedIn presence, and encouraging those who have yet to create one.
After a successful pilot run at one of the offices, they organised an internal LinkedIn challenge for all Baltic colleagues. Employees were encouraged to create their own posts and/or repost, make quality comments, and grow their network on LinkedIn. The challenge furthered the educational aspect with practical tips on effective communication. The most active colleagues were honoured with motivational prizes.
"We made sure to give our experts a step by step guide on how to use LinkedIn along with the activities that bring better results. It’s not like LinkedIn is part of a checklist where they can just make ten posts and forget about it. We wanted them to regard it as another tool they have in their arsenal," adds Ilze.
Results
Increased follower base and higher engagement
By prioritising quality content, utilising LinkedIn algorithm tips, and actively engaging their colleagues, COBALT saw an 18% growth in their follower base in 2023 (against the expected 10%), which was also higher compared to their closest competitors (their growth was ~14%).
Some of COBALT`s best performing posts (period 2023-2024):
They observed a 20% increase in posts that have over 30 engagements per post (a solid number for a law firm). Although posts featuring personal narratives and employee spotlights received the highest levels of engagement, many of their top-performing posts featured client work.
Enhanced brand visibility via employee advocacy
Previously, only a few COBALT employees had been active on LinkedIn. Following the activities over the past two years, the number of employees who are actively creating their own content, reposting COBALT's posts, and commenting on a daily basis, increased four times. Several continue to receive more than 100 engagements per post.
Some examples of best performing posts by COBALT employees (period 2023-2024):
Lessons
What was important for me to see is how such industries, for instance the legal industry, are transforming and setting a standard. I was surprised to see how these three Baltic legal companies managed to achieve something that many other B2B companies still struggle to do.
— Golden Parrot Awards 2024 jury member
COBALT's entry was highly regarded for its thorough in-house execution, the strong strategy behind it and how their marketing team managed to rally the entire company to take part in the innovations. That last aspect sparked a lengthy discussion at the judging table — there was significant support for awarding COBALT the Grand Prix due to the exemplary internal mobilisation.
Thorough preparation
Another standout element was the in-house execution along with a very thorough understanding of the subject matter, credited partially to the seminars conducted with B2B Growth. Simply put, the marketing team did their homework which undoubtedly became the cornerstone for further mobilisation.
Internal mobilisation
I know from my own experience how hard it is to activate the whole company for marketing purposes. Especially if it's not a startup. It would be very good to bring them out and say, go for it, do it together as a team!
— Golden Parrot Awards 2024 jury member
In the words of Ilze, it took some argumentation and hard numbers. Firstly, they presented the management with a report on COBALT's current position: how they compare with competitors and where they could end up if certain things would be approved. As it often is, when the management believes in something, they start promoting it within the organisation. It also helped that one of their board members is very active on social media and would in turn lead by example.
The marketing team organised a webinar on the very practical steps on how LinkedIn and its algorithms work. Indrek Põldvee explained the different aspects to consider and the possible outcomes to expect. Ilze believes that others are more eager to follow if they are presented with concrete and quality instructions.
Expectations management
During this journey, I understood that it’s not feasible for everyone to be active. If you get 20 percent of your employees involved or 10 percent to be super active on a weekly basis – it’s a very good result. Do it gradually, be realistic with your targets.
— Ilze Augstkalne, Baltic Brand and Marketing Manager, COBALT
She adds that it’s good to have separate tasks for each group of employees depending on their commitment level. The bare minimum was to have a solid profile, but if they wanted to take it a step further and become active, they were presented with resources on how to do it properly. The smallest and most active group who was willing to create their own content, received even more guidance regarding LinkedIn.
Credentials
Krisly Valge, Head of Marketing and Communications, COBALT Estonia
Cassandra Vään, Marketing Assistant, COBALT Estonia
Kadri-Ann Adra, Marketing Specialist, COBALT Estonia
Krists Berzins, Head of Marketing and Communications, COBALT Latvia
Lelde Paegle, Marketing and Communications Manager, COBALT Latvia
Liva Dumpe, Marketing and Communications Manager, COBALT Latvia
Gryte Onaityte, Head of Marketing and Communication Unit, COBALT Lithuania
Ieva Starovoitove, Head of Marketing and Communications, COBALT Lithuania
Aiste Gustaite, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, COBALT Lithuania
Ilze Augstkalne, Baltic Brand and Marketing Manager, COBALT
With the help of Indrek Põldvee, B2B Growth
© Marketing Parrot OÜ 2024
Comments