This may come as a surprise. But LinkedIn is now as large as Instagram in Sri Lanka. Then again, that would probably explain the increasing number of inspirational posts and meme content on a regular basis. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be rocket science to see that you should probably be more active on LinkedIn. Particularly if you’re a brand that’s looking to be more engaging with your audience.
There are currently at least 1.1 million users on LinkedIn in Sri Lanka. That’s roughly as many users Instagram had in Sri Lanka at the start of the year. Whether you’re an individual trying to advance your career or a brand that’s looking to create better awareness, it’s high time you paid better attention to the platform.
Does LinkedIn actually work for better career prospects?
According to neo@Ogilvy, 82% of the users fall under the 18-34 age category. This could mean that more and more of the younger generation are looking to advance their career prospects and have found this to be a useful tool. It could also mean that there’s too much noise on the other social media platforms and LinkedIn somewhat offers a more refined experience.
Either way, LinkedIn is gradually becoming a more active space in the Lankan context. It’s a great platform if you’re looking to advance your career. Companies like MAS and Dialog regularly post job vacancies on the site. Plus, certain platform-specific features like “Easy Apply” makes things more convenient for someone who’s regularly active on LinkedIn.
Additionally, other related resources like LinkedIn Learning offers some great courses that could help anyone learn specific skills to help your professional life. They range from writing to Marketing, Photoshop, etc.
So just like Facebook and other platforms, LinkedIn can be of productive value to you. That is if you’re willing to leverage it properly.
Opportunity is still ripe for brands
1.1 million active users are no joke. Particularly for a country with over 7 million internet users. Even today, not a lot of businesses utilize LinkedIn in their marketing strategy. On the one hand, if you’re looking at advertising costs and ROI, LinkedIn does fall a bit on the more expensive side. Facebook still takes the top spot in terms of Value For Money for your advertising costs. But there’s a lot to be said for the platform’s organic reach and engagement.
Last month, LinkedIn finally revealed how they rank posts in the feed. There’s the technical side of it, the machine learning part. Then there’s the overview of the business side of things. Revealing what goes on under the hood, helps both users and businesses to get the best out of the platform. After all, if you want more users it makes sense to be transparent about the LinkedIn feed works exactly.
Another interesting aspect is how a certain post could potentially reach beyond more than just your intended audience. If a post does well on the platform, chances are it might do even better and open up to a bigger crowd. According to Buffer, unlike other algorithms, LinkedIn actually has staff members that look at content and prioritize them in your feeds. Hence the potential to reach a broad as well as a more focused audience.
At a basic level, what you need to know is that engagement and consistency go a long way on LinkedIn.
“People You Know, Talking About Things You Care About”
One side effect of a wider userbase on LinkedIn is how the platform is being leveraged in a similar fashion to that of other social media platforms. For example, there’s an increasing number of meme content that users often take from other sources and post on LinkedIn directly just to get that engagement. There is also a sudden rise in “motivational speakers” as well. These aren’t necessarily bad things. But it can be a bit offputting to see content that’s perhaps meant for other platforms.
Then again, social media isn’t perfect and neither are the users. Each platform is plagued with its own nightmares. It’s just a matter of making sure you get the best out of them. For LinkedIn, it’s simply about utilizing the network to build your career, or for brands to make their voices heard more effectively. Either way, it’s a strategy that cannot be ignored in the Sri Lankan digital space in 2019.