LinkedIn can be an invaluable tool for both business networking and career development. However, there is some debate over whether LinkedIn leans more towards the business side or the career side. In this article, we’ll analyze the key features of LinkedIn and examine how people use the platform for business vs career goals.
LinkedIn’s business focus
There are several elements of LinkedIn that cater strongly towards business networking and lead generation:
- Company Pages – Businesses can create detailed Company Pages to showcase their products/services, company culture, jobs, etc. This helps with brand awareness and establishing thought leadership.
- Lead generation – LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms allow businesses to collect lead information directly within LinkedIn. This makes it easy to generate and qualify new leads.
- Native advertising – Sponsored content, Sponsored InMail, and text ads enable businesses to get their messaging in front of LinkedIn’s audience of professionals.
- Showcase Pages – Businesses can create Showcase Pages to highlight their portfolio, case studies, services, and more. This facilitates business development.
- LinkedIn Groups – Groups centered around industries, interests, alumni groups, etc. enable networking with prospects and like-minded professionals.
With over 30 million businesses represented on LinkedIn, there is tremendous opportunity for business-to-business networking and connections. The platform’s focus on professional identity and careers makes it possible for businesses to connect with motivated, relevant audiences.
LinkedIn’s career focus
At the same time, LinkedIn offers many features geared towards career development and enhancement for individuals:
- Profiles – LinkedIn profiles allow professionals to showcase their work history, skills, accomplishments, recommendations, etc. Profiles act as digital resumes.
- Jobs portal – LinkedIn’s built-in job board connects millions of professionals with new job opportunities and allows targeted job searching.
- Skills assessments – Professionals can showcase their skill levels and get verified skills badges to stand out to recruiters.
- Career Pages – Similar to Company Pages, individuals can create public Career Pages to build their personal brand and share their work.
- Education section – Details on degrees, courses, and certifications allow professionals to highlight their educational credentials.
- Courses – LinkedIn Learning and other course options help professionals gain new skills for career advancement.
With a user base composed mainly of professionals and job seekers, LinkedIn is designed to put career-oriented users first. Features like profile search help recruiters find qualified candidates. Overall, LinkedIn aims to connect the world’s professionals and empower them to be more productive and successful.
Measuring LinkedIn’s business vs career usage
But how can we quantify LinkedIn’s split between business usage and career/job seeking usage? There are a few ways to gather data and insights on this:
User survey data
Conducting surveys of LinkedIn users is one of the most direct ways to understand how people engage with LinkedIn. Asking users about their primary objectives and activities on LinkedIn can provide statistics on usage for business vs career.
Examining user profiles and engagement
Analyzing the details and updates on user profiles can reveal information about usage as well. Those emphasizing skills, certifications, and adding connections are likely job seekers. Users promoting Company Pages and content are likely there for business.
Studying company vs individual engagement metrics
LinkedIn provides data on content views, followers, post reactions, and other engagement for both companies and member profiles. Comparing these metrics can show where more activity is happening.
Ad campaign performance
The performance of sponsored content and job ads aimed at different target audiences can illuminate the size of the active business vs career user bases.
Survey data on LinkedIn business vs career usage
Third-party surveys of LinkedIn users provide some indicative data on whether people use LinkedIn more for business or career reasons. Here are some survey findings:
Survey | % Using for Business | % Using for Career |
---|---|---|
HR.com 2019 | 63% | 84% |
Social Media Today 2018 | 69% | 79% |
MDG Advertising 2016 | 78% | 83% |
This survey data indicates that a strong majority of users turn to LinkedIn for career networking and development. Slightly fewer report using it for business purposes, although business usage remains high. The platform seems to serve both goals for most individual users.
Case studies on business vs career usage
Looking at specific examples of business and career focused LinkedIn users also provides qualitative insight into how each group leverages the platform differently.
Business case study
Sam is an independent consultant helping startups with their digital marketing strategy. Here’s how he uses LinkedIn for his business:
- Complete Company Page showcasing past clients and case studies
- Regularly publishes lengthy posts with tips and insights for startups
- Runs LinkedIn ad campaigns targeted to startup founders and marketers
- Connects with many entrepreneurs, startup employees, and marketers
- Leverages LinkedIn Groups like Startup Hub to network
- Optimizes profile for digital marketing consultant keywords
For Sam, LinkedIn is a crucial hub for establishing his personal brand, connecting with prospects, publishing thought leadership content, and driving new business.
Career case study
Jane is a software engineer looking to advance to a senior developer role. She uses LinkedIn in the following ways for her career:
- Detailed profile highlighting technical skills, certifications, and project experience
- Connects frequently with other developers to build professional network
- Follows tech companies to learn about new job openings
- Takes LinkedIn Skill Assessments to showcase abilities
- Added developer courses to Learning section to signal proactive learning
- Shares technical articles to be seen as a coding expert
For Jane, LinkedIn helps surface new job opportunities, demonstrates her coding skills, and allows her to build relationships with peers and potential referrers at tech companies she’s interested in.
Professional vs social networks
Looking more broadly, LinkedIn differs from social networks like Facebook in being firmly positioned as a professional network from the start. Other platforms have shifted over time to be more career and business focused.
In the early days of Facebook, it was mainly personal connections and photos. But over the years, business Pages, Groups, job listings, and online professional connections became core parts of Facebook. Instagram and Twitter have followed similar evolutions. Yet even so, the primary DNA of these networks remains social rather than professional.
The core value proposition of LinkedIn, by contrast, has always been career networking and empowerment, business development and lead generation. This differentiation has allowed LinkedIn to become the go-to professional platform at scale while competitors have had to balance social and professional elements.
The rise of personal branding
Another key trend is the growing focus on personal branding and career self-marketing across social/professional networks. The lines have blurred between promoting oneself as an individual professional vs. promoting products and services as a business representative.
Platforms like LinkedIn have capitalized on this shift by adding more capabilities for individuals to control and showcase their own personal brand. Features like LinkedIn Career Pages and the expanded Profile provide tools once only accessible to companies and business Pages.
The ability to build a widely visible, influential personal brand supports both career and business objectives at the same time. So this convergence of personal brand building on “professional social networks” has likely boosted engagement across both areas.
The future of business and career networking
Looking ahead, a few key developments could shape the future of professional platforms like LinkedIn and their balance of business vs career focus:
- The rise of remote work expanding professionals’ networks globally, with location becoming less important
- Live and real-time interactions becoming more prominent, such as audio and video rooms
- Bite-sized professional development and learning through microlearning content like podcasts, short videos, and flash cards
- Emerging engagement platforms like TikTok and Snapchat launching their own professional/career focused offerings
- Integration of Web3 elements like social tokens, cryptocurrency rewards, NFT badges, and decentralized consensus mechanisms
- New startup professional networks challenging the LinkedIn monopoly, prompting further innovation
While LinkedIn has achieved dominant market share as the “professional social network” thus far, new trends and entrants could shift dynamics in the years ahead. But the core focus on enabling professional networking, development, and opportunity is sure to remain at the foundation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, LinkedIn appears to serve both business and career objectives for most users, although survey data indicates career usage slightly outweighs business usage on a percentage basis. The platform’s extensive capabilities allow professionals to research jobs, connect with colleagues, learn new skills, build personal brand, and market a business.
However, LinkedIn differentiated itself from other networks by prioritizing professional identity, career advancement, and business opportunities from the outset. This foundational focus on cultivating productive professional relationships is LinkedIn’s unique edge and value. Ultimately both businesses and professionals derive tremendous value from LinkedIn’s professional graph and ecosystem, driving extensive engagement on both sides.