LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 810 million members worldwide. As a professional networking platform, LinkedIn allows users to connect with other professionals, search and apply for jobs, publish long-form posts, join groups, and more. One of the key features of LinkedIn is its powerful search function which allows users to find and connect with other professionals based on location, industry, job function, skills, education and more.
In addition to its networking and job search capabilities, LinkedIn also provides users with a suite of research tools to gather insights on companies, industries, and professionals. LinkedIn’s research tools leverage the platform’s extensive database of member profiles and company pages to uncover trends, patterns, and opportunities. For recruiters, marketers, product managers, researchers, and other professionals, LinkedIn’s research tools provide valuable data to inform business decisions and strategies.
LinkedIn Recruiter
One of the most widely used LinkedIn research tools is LinkedIn Recruiter. LinkedIn Recruiter is a paid subscription tool designed specifically for recruiters and talent acquisition teams to find, connect with, and manage candidates. Some key features of LinkedIn Recruiter include:
- Advanced search filters to find candidates by location, current company, years of experience, skills, and more
- Save search alerts to be notified when new candidates matching your criteria join LinkedIn
- InMail integration to directly contact candidates through LinkedIn messages
- Analytics on your sourcing activities and pipeline
- Integration with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to manage candidates
With Recruiter, talent acquisition professionals can leverage LinkedIn’s extensive member base to identify and engage qualified candidates for open roles. Recruiter provides data and insights to improve sourcing efficiency and quality of hire.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sales intelligence tool to help sales professionals find new leads, uncover sales insights, and build relationships. Key features include:
- Lead recommendations based on your ideal customer profile
- Company and contact insights to guide your outreach
- Search filters to find prospects by industry, job title, location, and more
- Save lead lists and get notifications on list updates
- Relationship insights to identify connections for warm introductions
For sales teams, LinkedIn Sales Navigator leverages the platform’s professional data to identify best-fit prospects and provide actionable insights to personalize outreach. The tool aims to increase sales productivity and efficiency.
LinkedIn Talent Insights
LinkedIn Talent Insights is a self-service talent market research tool to analyze supply and demand trends. HR professionals and recruiters can use Talent Insights for activities like:
- Identifying locations with the best talent supply for open roles
- Researching talent migration patterns
- Analyzing skill gaps within the company or industry
- Comparing talent pools across multiple locations
- Benchmarking hiring and attrition rates
The platform provides access to LinkedIn’s extensive database of member information to uncover real-time, actionable data on the global talent landscape. This helps guide important talent acquisition and workforce planning decisions.
LinkedIn Audience Insights
LinkedIn Audience Insights empowers marketers and advertisers to analyze LinkedIn member demographics, interests, and behaviors to identify their ideal audience. Marketers can leverage Audience Insights to:
- Discover audience segments based on member attributes like job title, industry, skills, etc.
- Analyze audience interests and engagement with content
- Compare audience overlaps between segments
- Identify lookalike audiences
- Plan targeted ad campaigns
With access to LinkedIn’s member data, Audience Insights enables precise targeting and personalization to increase marketing performance.
LinkedIn Page Insights
LinkedIn Page Insights provides analytics on company pages to track engagement and inform content strategy. Using Page Insights, companies can:
- Monitor page views, follower growth, post clicks
- Analyze follower demographics like location, industry, job function
- Identify top-performing content by engagement
- Assess post engagement by day and time
- Set benchmarks and analyze trends over time
These insights help companies optimize their LinkedIn Pages to increase awareness, reach the right audiences, and highlight their thought leadership.
LinkedIn Trends and Insights
LinkedIn Trends and Insights provides access to aggregated LinkedIn data to uncover high-level trends and patterns. This tool allows you to explore insights like:
- Hiring trends by country, industry, and job title
- Skill trends and emerging skills by country and industry
- Talent migration patterns
- Salary trends
- Gender diversity across industries
These insights can inform strategic planning, talent management, and investment decisions across entire companies and industries.
Getting Started with LinkedIn Research Tools
Here are some tips to help you get started with leveraging LinkedIn’s research tools:
- Carefully review each tool and identify which features address your specific research needs
- Follow LinkedIn Learning courses to enhance your skills using the tools
- Start with high-value searches and reports to uncover key insights
- Leverage multiple research tools to cross-reference findings
- Analyze trends over set intervals to identify variances and patterns
Depending on your role, utilize the combination of LinkedIn research tools that will provide you with data to drive the best business decisions. Approach your research with clear objectives and a plan to apply the insights for maximum impact.
Use Cases
Here are some examples of how professionals can apply LinkedIn’s research tools:
Recruiting
- A recruiter leverages Recruiter to source candidates with digital marketing skills in Toronto for an open role.
- A recruiter uses Talent Insights to analyze talent migration patterns from Vancouver to guide expansion plans.
- A recruiting coordinator uses Recruiter analytics to benchmark hiring velocity and report to leadership.
Sales
- An SDR uses Sales Navigator to identify VP level prospects at software companies.
- An account executive analyzes Audience Insights to create targeted campaigns for net new logos.
- A sales leader tracks Sales Navigator usage and conversion rates to demonstrate ROI.
Marketing
- A marketer creates lookalike audiences in Audience Insights to expand marketing reach.
- A content marketer uses Page Insights to determine top performing content types.
- A marketing leader uses Audience Insights to analyze audience overlap and fragmentation.
HR
- An HR business partner leverages Talent Insights to analyze an internal skills gap.
- An HR analyst uses Trends and Insights to benchmark employee turnover rates.
- An HR manager creates targeted talent pools in Recruiter as part of diversity hiring initiatives.
LinkedIn Research Tools Overview
Here is an overview of LinkedIn’s key research tools:
Tool | Key Features | Use Cases |
---|---|---|
Recruiter | Advanced candidate search and sourcing, pipeline management, integration with ATS, recruiting analytics | Recruiters and talent acquisition teams to source and engage candidates |
Sales Navigator | Lead and account recommendations, contact insights, saved lead lists with alerts, analytics | Sales professionals to identify prospects and inform sales outreach |
Talent Insights | Talent supply and demand analysis, talent migration patterns, skill gap analysis, hiring and attrition benchmarking | HR, recruiting, and business leaders to inform talent strategy |
Audience Insights | Detailed audience research and segmentation, lookalike modeling, campaign targeting | Marketers and advertisers to identify, understand, and reach target audiences |
Page Insights | Company page analytics on followers, engagement, top content, etc. | Companies to optimize LinkedIn presence and content strategy |
Trends and Insights | Macro talent and hiring trends analysis by country, industry, function, and more | Business leaders for strategic planning and decision making |
Choosing the Right LinkedIn Research Tool
With several powerful research tools, LinkedIn provides actionable data to support diverse objectives across functions. Here are some best practices when selecting which LinkedIn research tool(s) to use:
- Align tool capabilities with your specific research goals
- Consider access and budget constraints which may limit tool availability
- Start with tools offering quick access to high-value insights
- Layer tools to blend macro and micro level insights
- Ensure proper team access and training on selected tools
- Analyze usage and ROI to refine tool selection over time
While all LinkedIn research tools provide robust data, carefully defining your needs and resources will ensure you choose the offerings with maximum impact for your goals.
Research Ethics and Data Privacy
When leveraging LinkedIn’s research tools, it’s important to maintain responsible data practices:
- Honor member privacy settings when searching for individuals
- Use member insights for stated business or research objectives only
- Avoid sharing identifiable member data outside of designated teams
- Provide transparency on how insights will be used to guide members
- Consult with legal/compliance on data practices and regulations
- Report unethical or illegal use of data to LinkedIn immediately
With the right ethics and governance, LinkedIn research tools empower professionals to uncover powerful insights safely, responsibly, and for positive impact.
Conclusion
LinkedIn’s suite of research tools provides unmatched access to professional insights from the world’s largest talent network. For functions like recruiting, sales, marketing, and HR, LinkedIn data powers more strategic decisions and impactful results.
From LinkedIn Recruiter to Audience Insights, Talent Insights, and more, professionals have an extensive set of resources to tap into LinkedIn’s membership. Aligning clear business objectives with the right research tools unlocks game-changing professional insights.
With responsible usage, transparency, and governance, LinkedIn research tools represent a new frontier in data-driven decision making and business strategy.