With over 810 million users across over 200 countries (211 million in Europe), LinkedIn has become a truly established global platform since its inception in 2003. In this time, the oldest of the major social platforms has built a reputation as the home of B2B social marketing, and for good reason: 

• LinkedIn ads reached over 808 million users in Q1 2022, and are still growing

• 40% of all users are active daily

• LinkedIn can double conversion rates

• 77% of content marketers say LinkedIn is the best organic platform

However, recently the go-to networking site has seen a shift in its position within the social media landscape, better aligning with the bigger social platforms. This shift is clearly reflected in the rise of so-called “LinkedInfluencers”, and the addition of the “Funny” emoticon to users’ arsenal of post reactions. So, has this change in tone affected the efficacy of LinkedIn as a marketing tool? Let’s find out.

First, let’s get the obvious answer out of the way: yes, the change in tone has altered LinkedIn’s position as a marketing platform. But does this mean that LinkedIn is no longer a good platform to market on? The real answer is dependent on a few key factors. 

The foremost of these is a question of audience: do the people you are targeting with your campaign spend time on LinkedIn?

Ideally you should know the answer to this question, but if not there are a few approaches you can take to figure things out. 

The simplest indicator is your current performance on LinkedIn – how well do your posts engage at the moment? If there is clear engagement from your target audience, LinkedIn is probably a strong platform to market through. 

On the other hand, lower engagement does not necessarily mean that LinkedIn should be written off – it may just be that your approach on LinkedIn needs improvement. If you have a presence on LinkedIn but do not engage well, compare your target audience to LinkedIn’s user demographics – how well do the two align? Here are some key stats to get you started:

• LinkedIn has a 57% Male : 43% Female gender split

• 59.1% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25 and 34, while 18-24 and 35-54 year olds make up 20.4% and 17.7% respectively

Likewise, take a look at your competitors’ engagement, as this is another strong indicator of audience presence. If the industry does not meet its audience well across the board, then perhaps LinkedIn isn’t the platform for you.

The next consideration is subject matter, or, to be more straightforward: what you are trying to market.

Generally, LinkedIn is seen as a B2B platform: great for marketing certain things, but if your thing is, say, baby food, you might want to consider your options before committing your resources to LinkedIn. If your business is B2B, there’s a better chance that LinkedIn is for you – there are approximately 65 million business decision-makers on LinkedIn.

That said, B2C marketing on LinkedIn should not be ruled out, as when done well, it is possible to see success. Just take a look at thursday and BrewDog – two B2C brands who use examples of their own marketing efforts to market on LinkedIn (marketing-ception, if you will). 

Granted, both of these brands have had their fair share of controversy surrounding their marketing tactics (BrewDog, thursday), but it’s undeniable that these alternative tactics have broadened brand awareness to potential B2C customers within the B2B world. When successfully executed, showing innovation as a business via LinkedIn can build the reputation of your brand significantly amongst other LinkedIn users, providing an alternative way to reach your target audience. 

The final factor to take into account is your adaptability: how prepared are you to move with the social landscape? 

The new face of LinkedIn is different. The platform’s mission is to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful”, although some might argue that it has evolved instead into a place for showing others how successful (or virtuous, or hardworking, or relatable) you already are. 

LinkedInfluencers are a perfect example of this, often churning out content designed purely to spark a manufactured reaction, whether positive or negative. Given how fast the social landscape continues to change, it’s likely that LinkedIn is only going to continue to evolve in an attempt to keep up with the likes of Meta, Twitter, and TikTok; all of whom seem to be trying to outdo each other at their own game. 

This means that if you are considering marketing through LinkedIn you need to factor in your ability to adapt to whatever big changes happen next. Failure to do this will risk your business falling into the wall of corporate noise which floats along in the background, ultimately wasting your valuable marketing resources.

So, to conclude, LinkedIn can be a fantastic platform to market through, but there are certain things you will need to bear in mind if you hope to be successful in doing so:

1. Ensure that marketing through LinkedIn will reach your target audience

2. Make sure the way you deliver your subject matter is relevant to the platform

3. Be prepared to invest fully into LinkedIn as it develops to align with other platforms