Can we all agree, the best LinkedIn content is personal, adding value to our work and illuminating the endeavors of companies, thought leaders, and groups striving to transform their industries, enterprises, and, to some extent, our collective future.?Much like a Camera Obscura, such as the one in Edinburgh, which grants a 360-degree real-time view of the entire city, LinkedIn should offer a similar capability, yet it falls short in curating an equally effortless panoramic perspective of the world around us.
It should provide us with a means to witness the industrial world sharing its ingenious ideas and achievements at our convenience, along with the ability to effortlessly explore the latest developments in aerospace, automotive, medical fields, technology, and innovations in pharma, among others. LinkedIn should be a Camera Obscura for the professional realm.
A dynamic environment cultivates engagement, captures attention, and fosters various business models. However, since May 2023, LinkedIn has announced the layoff of over 1,300 employees. Although the tech industry is downsizing, LinkedIn boasts 930 million members, and users invest a substantial amount of time on the platform. On average, each person spends 7 minutes and 38 seconds per visit.
Based on my modest account and the variety of job titles and connections I engage with, it’s evident that LinkedIn serves as a direct gateway to engaging in discussions with highly influential figures, sharing groundbreaking ideas, and experiencing pivotal moments across various industries. Rather than sifting through 500 press releases or 50 specialized publications, LinkedIn should function as the Google of the business arena. Regrettably, it falls short of this potential, squandering the valuable expertise and energy that it houses, as well as the 900 million-plus members who live and work within its virtual confines.
LinkedIn’s primary revenue focus is unsustainable.
Relying heavily on revenue from recruiting firms was a significant blunder. Much like the real estate sector, this industry experiences cycles of boom and bust. This approach turns LinkedIn into a predominantly monolithic economic marketplace, making it vulnerable to economic fluctuations.
Although LinkedIn can serve as a recruitment tool, the historical effectiveness of recruiting advertising mediums is far from stellar. The industry often exhibits a locust-like behavior, swarming to one location, depleting its resources, and moving on. How frequently do users utilize LinkedIn for job-seeking purposes? If the average daily visit spans only seven and a half minutes, the answer, hopefully, is not very often. This means that the primary revenue source is in direct contradiction to the experiences and needs of its users. This tension is unsustainable. LinkedIn should generate revenue from aspects that genuinely matter to its users, as it constitutes a more sustainable and logical approach.
LinkedIn has smoothly surfed the wave of recruiter revenue. However, this model is unsustainable and significantly undervalues LinkedIn’s potential as a curated gateway or Camera Obscura to the business world. Excluding China, the business world constitutes approximately 35% of the global economy, and anything that captures seven and a half minutes of daily attention from over 900 million users should be deemed a major media channel. For comparison, Fox News secures an average of 25 minutes of daily viewership with just under 2 million people per day, generating a $12.9 billion business in 2021. With 900 million users, each spending an average of seven minutes and 30 seconds per day, LinkedIn’s potential reach should be far greater than a $12.9 billion enterprise, considering its audience is 500 times larger.
Curated AI engines would flourish on LinkedIn, effectively transforming it into the Google of the business world.
The question arises: How much untapped revenue is LinkedIn leaving on the table with its current reliance on recruiter and subscription-based revenue? Here are three straightforward ideas aimed at driving substantial and more pertinent revenue growth. They revolve around the curation and personalization of content to offer genuine value, emulating Google’s model for consumer search. Contemplate these two ideas for transformation:
Idea One: Curated Content Algorithms for Personalization
Imagine if all the content were curated and tailored to specific user groups, sponsored by brands (similar to search ads), and delivered at the frequency preferred by users. Users could access the content they desire, experiencing the world with the level of detail they seek. With the aid of learning AI algorithms that curate content to an incredibly detailed level, users could gain insight into the world, akin to the Camera Obscura concept. Presently, the sales navigation subscription is rapidly becoming obsolete due to AI advancements, and LinkedIn should replace it with a content curation AI service. LinkedIn’s 900 million-plus users represent a vast living data engine.
Idea Two: Sponsorship of Highly Targeted Moments by CMOs
Picture a scenario in which marketers could sponsor incredibly precise combinations of content. For example, they could sponsor content related to solvency news in the financial sector or content about edge-based embedded devices in the automotive industry. The B2B business sector is expected to be valued at $7 trillion in 2023. Typically, 2% to 5% of this sum is allocated for marketing, with 2% devoted to branding. This presents a multi-tens of billions of dollars opportunity. Visualize the ability to deliver highly specific ad campaigns centered around expertly curated content, targeting CFOs with solvency news or heads of embedded software development with content tailored to edge technologies in the automotive industry.
This would be a dream scenario for CMOs, necessitating the utilization of AI to create high-value, precisely targeted content for relevant moments. LinkedIn is currently failing to generate significant revenue from the seven and a half minutes each user invests and the multitude of content segments they curate, presenting a less-than-optimal approach.
LinkedIn has overlooked the substantial and symbiotic relationship it should occupy within the realms of B2B ideas, news, engagement, and marketing. The goal should be to monetize the interactions and content generated by the vast majority of users, rather than relying solely on recruiters and salespeople. This is the genius of Google, and LinkedIn, at its own risk, has disregarded the fundamental economic reality of its platform. It is a dormant giant in need of AI-driven transformation.
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