Citi and LinkedIn Partner to Reach Professional Women

In addition to the standard LinkedIn Groups features, the Connect: Professional Women’s Network Powered by Citi will have specially edited content and moderated discussions. LinkedIn editors also will produce a LinkedIn Today Special Edition designed for its members that will include both trending news from publishers and selected content from Citi.

Citi already has a robust marketing program targeting women that includes the ten-year-old Women & Co. content site, as well as newsletters, an email marketing database and a social media presence – including a company page on LinkedIn itself. The financial services giant made use of these resources to invite women to join Connect, resulting in more than 1,000 members today.

Today, Citi is promoting its mobile payments system and its Thank You Premier Card in ads on the group’s main page. The page also includes a dynamic ad unit that features content from the Women & Co. site.

Vanessa Colella, managing director and head of North American marketing for Citi, would not disclose terms of the deal. She said, “This relationship is an ongoing dialog that’s flexible and will evolve over time.” She did acknowledge that some money changed hands as part of the partnership.

Citi and LinkedIn plan to survey members quarterly in order to guide group discussions and also to determine features to add.