With over 450 million professionals now signed up, LinkedIn has become an important business tool. No longer seen as just ‘an online CV’, the site has adapted over recent years to become a powerful, professional network.
The ability to publish long-form content has set LinkedIn apart as a respected knowledge sharing platform and enabled individuals to position themselves as thought leaders. This paired with the recent introduction of native video has also provided a way for brands to connect with their audiences on a more relatable level. To prepare for the coming year, we’ve put together a roundup of 5 LinkedIn trends you need to know about for 2018.
1. Pulse
Since launching in 2014, LinkedIn’s self publishing platform, Pulse, has grown rapidly. This year saw 377,000 articles published compared to 80,000 in 2014. It’s proving to be an invaluable tool for individuals to grow their online visibility and position themselves as a thought leader in their niche.
Over one million long form articles have been published on LinkedIn to date and this number is only set to grow. More and more people are heading to the social networking site for business advice and tips. In 2016, LinkedIn had more shares of B2B content than Facebook and Twitter, proving it’s where people go for this type content. If you want get ahead of the game with Pulse in 2018, focus on writing practical ‘how to’ style guides as statistics show they are most popular.
2. Video
It’s no secret that video is now a key part of most marketing strategies. Its power to reach mass audiences and even go viral has proved extremely valuable. Compared to Facebook, LinkedIn was a relatively late adopter of native video. However, thanks to its reputation as a professional platform, it’s likely to become an important channel in the B2B arena.
As we enter 2018, brands will continue to show a more personable side and video is the perfect platform for this. It’s a great way to build trust with potential customers in a relatable way. Having directors and employees talk openly and engage in Q&As can provide an authentic insight into your business.
3. LinkedIn Ads
Sponsored content has proven extremely powerful across all social platforms for reaching a highly targeted audience. According to LinkedIn, 80% marketers say business leads come through the platform and 43% have used it to source new customers .
With a minimum daily budget of $10 it’s pricier than the likes of Google and Facebook. However, thanks to the customisation and flexibility that the platform offers, businesses are seeing a strong ROI. In fact, although LinkedIn ads receive less clicks than on Facebook and Twitter, those who do click are 277% more likely to convert. Here’s a handy guide on how to use sponsored ads for your business.
4. Engagement will continue be key
A few years ago, LinkedIn realised that users were only really logging onto the platform to update their CVs or search for job opportunities. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, it wasn’t part of their daily routine. Therefore, a number of updates were introduced to change the way people use the platform. LinkedIn focused on increasing engagement and interaction by incorporating new features such as groups, influencers and long-form publishing.
These updates provide users with more reason to login on a daily basis. Consequently, knowledge sharing has proved a key impetus in driving more traffic along with group engagement. This change in the way people use the platform is set to grow in 2018 with a continuous rise in engagement levels.
5. Groups
Connecting with like minded professionals is an integral part of business and a key reason why the group feature on LinkedIn has proved so popular. It has provided a platform for users to interact with others in their sector; sharing and receiving valuable insights and advice.
Users have managed to really boost their visibility and drive leads through group engagement. Businesses have also found new employees and built their status as a thought leader. It is just important to keep in mind that groups are not places to blast out sales messages, they are for sharing useful content that’s relevant.
As we progress into 2018, it’s clear that engagement and knowledge sharing with continue to play a key role in the platform’s growth. Users will continue to take advantage of the increased visibility that content can build. Sponsored content will also continue to grow as businesses continue to see a strong ROI.
Nice and informative blog post. I am an active user on LinkedIn and I always appreciate that platform more than Facebook, or Twitter. I never knew these statistics you have shared here about LinkedIn, so I enjoyed your article very much. I think engagement score of LinkedIn is better than Facebook.
You have presented good insight into LinkedIn and great assumption about ROI and sponsored content. Thanks for sharing such a nice post.