You know LinkedIn is a professional social media platform, and way less fun than Snapchat and Instagram. But did you know that people actually use LinkedIn for their social networking? That’s right: out of the 400+ million LinkedIn profiles, approximately 40% are actually using the platform every day. It’s the world’s largest professional network, and it’s about time the rest of us start paying attention. Discover the following LinkedIn trends to watch out for in 2017, and start posting to this professional social platform today.
The LinkedIn Marketing Trends You Should Watch Out for in 2017
Top 10 topics shared on LinkedIn in 2016
To understand where Linkedin Marketing is going, it’s important to know where it’s been. Here are the top 10 topics that trended on the Linkedin social media platform in 2016:
- Social media
- Real estate
- Big data
- Internet of things
- Artificial intelligence
- Machine learning
- Content marketing
- Performance evaluation
- Data center
- Customer experience
Honorable mention: Pokemon Go was the number 11 on the list of most trending topics on LinkedIn in 2016. Just goes to show that even professionals can hop on a national trend and play a little Pokemon Go now and then.
If you’re a professional, take advantage of this crucial information when thinking about your LinkedIn marketing strategy and the next posts to your LinkedIn profile or business account. Best practices say you should combine top trending topics to reach more people.
For example, talk about social media and artificial intelligence to reach a variety of audiences that regularly participate in LinkedIn. But be sure to provide your target audience with valuable content to get the best results. No one looking at a business page for real estate wants to get inundated with information about big data.
LinkedIn hashtags
LinkedIn tried hashtags once. Sadly, it didn’t work. So they stopped supporting hashtags, but then secretly added hashtag support to their mobile app. Since then, hashtags have officially come to LinkedIn (probably for good). They are still finishing up adding hashtag support to their desktop website, which you can expect to be rolled out in 2017. Until that time, the LinkedIn mobile app is convenient and hashtag-friendly for the millions of users who are already using their mobile to check other social media platforms.
Linkedin ads
Social media advertising is nothing new. Until now, many businesses have not used social ads because they haven’t needed to. But the algorithms across Facebook and LinkedIn social media platforms are making it increasingly difficult for your audience to see your posts without throwing a little money into the situation. 2017 will be the year of “pay to play” to reach your ideal audience with social media marketing.
LinkedIn is planning some big changes to their advertising in 2017. First, display ads will become 100% programmatic, so businesses will no longer have to go through LinkedIn’s sale’s team to start a display ad campaign. Second, LinkedIn will add some basic retargeting options available in their advertising platform.
Third, LinkedIn’s uniquely accurate and valuable data of its users will go beyond LinkedIn in 2017 when they introduce sponsored content beyond LinkedIn. Fourth, LinkedIn will add in the ever-important call-to-action buttons in their ads. Although we still don’t know exactly what this will look like, we can safely agree that these opportunities will be good for both LinkedIn and its user base – businesses and business professionals.
LinkedIn is one of those social media platforms everyone casually forgets about. However, it still has over 465 million users, most of which are business professionals who are they key decision makers in their companies. Ignoring Linkedin marketing is ignoring potential customers you won’t find on other platforms.
Don’t miss out on the plethora of opportunities LinkedIn can provide businesses and business professionals. 2017 will only bring more opportunities to the platform. Contact Post Launch to learn more about the importance of LinkedIn marketing. Dive deep into your social media marketing presence, including new opportunities and trends to expect for your business in 2017.
