LinkedIn, the world’s largest pro­fes­sion­al net­work, is an indis­pens­able tool for pro­fes­sion­als, busi­ness­es, and job seek­ers alike. With over 774 mil­lion active users glob­al­ly, and a pres­ence in more than 200 coun­tries, LinkedIn offers unmatched oppor­tu­ni­ties for net­work­ing, career devel­op­ment, and mar­ket outreach.

The plat­for­m’s user base pri­mar­i­ly con­sists of the 25–34 age group, mak­ing up the largest seg­ment of 40% of LinkedIn users. Evi­dent­ly, the plat­form appeals to pro­fes­sion­als in the ear­ly stages of their careers eager to explore oppor­tu­ni­ties and expand their pro­fes­sion­al networks.

LinkedIn is also high­ly pop­u­lar among busi­ness­es and dig­i­tal mar­keters, with 97% of B2B mar­keters using the plat­form for con­tent dis­tri­b­u­tion and lead gen­er­a­tion. This over­whelm­ing pref­er­ence points to Linked­In’s effi­ca­cy in deliv­er­ing mar­ket­ing per­for­mance goals and facil­i­tat­ing B2B interactions.

Not only is LinkedIn a cor­ner­stone of mar­ket­ing strate­gies all over the world, but the plat­form is still grow­ing. In 2024, LinkedIn pro­files sur­passed the 1.5 bil­lion fig­ure, show­ing that it’s still high­ly rel­e­vant and full of potential.

Linked­In’s expan­sion is not just in its num­ber of pro­files, but in the pop­u­lar­i­ty of its adver­tis­ing plat­form – with over 65% of B2B mar­keters plan­ning to increase their bud­gets this year. Clear­ly, peo­ple recog­nise the plat­for­m’s poten­tial for tar­get­ing and effec­tive­ly reach­ing the right audience.

To help you use LinkedIn to its fullest poten­tial this year, we’re going to delve into the top LinkedIn trends for 2024. This arti­cle will help you under­stand what your com­peti­tors may get up to and how your busi­ness can be up to date on the plat­for­m’s capabilities:

Use of AI and automation

As we ven­ture into 2024, the land­scape of LinkedIn is becom­ing increas­ing­ly shaped by arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and automa­tion tech­nolo­gies. This devel­op­ment is not just alter­ing the way busi­ness­es inter­act with the plat­form but also how they strate­gise their mar­ket­ing, recruit­ment, and net­work­ing efforts.

For busi­ness own­ers, under­stand­ing and lever­ag­ing AI and automa­tion on LinkedIn can unlock new lev­els of effi­cien­cy, tar­get­ing accu­ra­cy, and engagement:

1. Harnessing AI for enhanced personalisation

The uses of AI are sev­er­al, mak­ing its role in LinkedIn mul­ti­fac­eted. Two of its pri­ma­ry ben­e­fits are the abil­i­ty to per­son­alise con­tent and make accu­rate recommendations:

AI algo­rithms can be trained to analyse user behav­iour, pref­er­ences, and inter­ac­tions to tai­lor the con­tent feed, job rec­om­men­da­tions, and net­work­ing sug­ges­tions. This means busi­ness­es can now reach their ide­al audi­ence more effec­tive­ly by cre­at­ing con­tent and ads that are auto­mat­i­cal­ly opti­mised for engage­ment and relevance.

For mar­keters and busi­ness own­ers, this trans­lates to high­er con­ver­sion rates and more mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions. Lever­ag­ing Linked­In’s AI-dri­ven insights allows for the cre­ation of high­ly tar­get­ed cam­paigns that speak direct­ly to the needs and inter­ests of poten­tial clients or candidates.

2. Automation tools to streamline operations

Automa­tion on LinkedIn is anoth­er game-chang­er for busi­ness­es. Tools that auto­mate repet­i­tive tasks, such as send­ing con­nec­tion requests, mes­sag­ing, and post-sched­ul­ing can save valu­able time and resources. This enables busi­ness­es to focus on strat­e­gy and cre­ativ­i­ty rather than man­u­al tasks.

How­ev­er, the use of automa­tion must be approached with care to main­tain authen­tic­i­ty and per­son­al touch. Linked­In’s poli­cies on automa­tion are strict to pre­serve the plat­for­m’s pro­fes­sion­al integri­ty, so it’s cru­cial to use these tools with­in Linked­In’s guide­lines to avoid penalties.

The trend of automa­tion could be a dou­ble-edged sword on LinkedIn if users do not famil­iarise them­selves with the rules and vio­late them unknowingly.

3. AI in recruitment and talent acquisition

Linked­In’s AI fea­tures can help both sides of the recruit­ment process. While employ­ers can use them to draft mes­sages and job descrip­tions, job seek­ers can use them to opti­mise their profiles.

Devel­op­ments in this field are rev­o­lu­tion­is­ing recruit­ment. AI algo­rithms can analyse vast amounts of data and sug­gest high­ly suit­able can­di­dates. These can­di­dates don’t just meet the job require­ments but are also more like­ly to be inter­est­ed in the role. For hir­ing deci­sion-mak­ers, this means a more effi­cient hir­ing process, with AI nar­row­ing down the tal­ent pool to those can­di­dates who are the best fit for the com­pa­ny cul­ture and job specifics.

To effec­tive­ly utilise AI and automa­tions on LinkedIn, busi­ness own­ers should:

• Edu­cate them­selves and their teams on the lat­est AI and automa­tion tools avail­able on LinkedIn.
• Exper­i­ment with tar­get­ed con­tent and adver­tis­ing fea­tures pow­ered by AI to see what res­onates best with their audience.
• Adopt a data-dri­ven approach to recruit­ment by lever­ag­ing Linked­In’s AI capa­bil­i­ties for tal­ent search and acquisition.

If busi­ness­es are inno­v­a­tive enough to use them, AI and automa­tions on LinkedIn def­i­nite­ly offer a com­pet­i­tive edge, enabling them to con­nect with their audi­ence more per­son­al­ly and effi­cient­ly than ever before. By embrac­ing these tech­nolo­gies, busi­ness own­ers can enhance their LinkedIn strate­gies, cul­ti­vat­ing grow­ing and effi­cient operations.

LinkedIn content trends in 2024

Research shows that “peo­ple who come across a busi­ness’s con­tent on LinkedIn are six times more like­ly to buy from that brand.” No won­der busi­ness­es are so keen to pub­lish their con­tent on LinkedIn.

You guessed it. The sec­ond sig­nif­i­cant play­er in 2024 trends is con­tent. More specif­i­cal­ly, how mar­keters will approach LinkedIn con­tent this year:

4. The (still) growing use of video content

Every year, video con­tent gets a men­tion on our lists of social media plat­form trends. Nonethe­less, it’s with good rea­son. Video con­tent on LinkedIn has seen an expo­nen­tial rise, dri­ven by con­tin­ued user pref­er­ences for engag­ing, infor­ma­tive, and con­cise media – and this isn’t slow­ing down.

Videos are a pow­er­ful tool for sto­ry­telling, brand pre­sen­ta­tion, and knowl­edge shar­ing, allow­ing busi­ness­es to deliv­er infor­ma­tion to audi­ences in acces­si­ble ways. In 2024, LinkedIn will sup­port this trend with LinkedIn Live and native video fea­tures (which facil­i­tate real-time engage­ment and broad­er reach).

Did you know that users see sev­en times more reac­tions and 24 times more com­ments on their LinkedIn Live videos com­pared to their sta­t­ic posts?

So, while we may be in dis­be­lief about the con­stant growth of video con­tent, its effi­ca­cy in dri­ving engage­ment rates is indis­putable and there­fore it’s a must-have in all LinkedIn con­tent mar­ket­ing strate­gies this year.

5. Catering to new content behaviours

Linked­In’s plat­form enhance­ments in 2023 will sig­nif­i­cant­ly influ­ence con­tent mar­ket­ing efforts in 2024, with a clear shift towards more dynam­ic and user-dri­ven con­tent. The plat­for­m’s con­tin­u­ous updates, aimed at improv­ing con­tent dis­cov­ery and user inter­ac­tion, have facil­i­tat­ed a rich­er con­tent ecosystem.

Fea­tures like improved con­tent ana­lyt­ics, bet­ter con­tent rec­om­men­da­tion algo­rithms, and enhanced con­tent cre­ation tools have empow­ered mar­keters and con­tent cre­ators to opti­mise their LinkedIn strate­gies effectively.

These fea­tures demon­strate the plat­for­m’s respon­sive­ness to user pref­er­ences, and we’ll see the result­ing changes in 2024. Think enhanced con­tent dis­cov­ery, engage­ment, and user experience.

6. Influencers and Thought Leaders

Linked­In’s land­scape is increas­ing­ly influ­enced by the pres­ence of influ­encers and Thought Lead­ers – and this will per­sist in 2024. This is an impor­tant trend because these indi­vid­u­als play piv­otal roles in shap­ing per­cep­tions, dri­ving engage­ment, and influ­enc­ing the deci­sions of pro­fes­sion­als and busi­ness lead­ers on the platform.

Their con­tent not only enrich­es the plat­form but also sets trends with­in var­i­ous fields, mak­ing them key dri­vers of pro­fes­sion­al engage­ment and Thought Lead­er­ship on LinkedIn. This con­tent also fos­ters a cul­ture of learn­ing and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, but more on that later.

For now, sim­ply know that you could be see­ing influ­encers crop­ping up in your indus­try and you may ben­e­fit from get­ting there first.

7. The role of user-generated content

In 2024, we’re like­ly to see an increase in the amount of user-gen­er­at­ed con­tent on LinkedIn. This trend reflects the pref­er­ence for authen­tic­i­ty we’re see­ing in cur­rent audiences.

As a result, it’s a good idea for your busi­ness to get involved in this trend and lever­age the authen­tic voic­es of your con­nec­tions. This will undoubt­ed­ly build trust and engage­ment with your cur­rent clients and poten­tial leads.

User-gen­er­at­ed con­tent such as tes­ti­mo­ni­als, reviews, and case stud­ies pro­vide real-world glimpses into the expe­ri­ences and opin­ions of peers and clients, mak­ing it a pow­er­ful tool for influ­enc­ing decisions.

Changes to hiring processes in 2024

While 2024 will bring numer­ous changes for mar­keters, it will also see a few sig­nif­i­cant changes to the job mar­ket. The most promi­nent trends are the hybrid work­ing mod­el, green

skills, and skills short­ages. While this will affect job seek­ers, they’ll also affect busi­ness own­ers using LinkedIn:

8. Embracing the hybrid working model

The hybrid work­ing mod­el (blend­ing remote and office-based work) has become much more com­mon since the pan­dem­ic. It is large­ly accept­ed by employ­ers and employ­ees alike because it offers flex­i­bil­i­ty and does­n’t threat­en productivity.

The adop­tion of the hybrid work mod­el sig­nif­i­cant­ly affects busi­ness own­ers using LinkedIn because they can expand their search for tal­ent­ed staff beyond geo­graph­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions. It also neces­si­tates a shift in man­age­ment strate­gies, requir­ing the adop­tion of dig­i­tal tools that facil­i­tate com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion. In addi­tion, busi­ness­es may feel more inclined to mon­i­tor staff per­for­mance met­rics and anx­ious about team cohesion.

If your busi­ness is open to the hybrid work­ing mod­el, you’ll find it very easy to list vacan­cies on LinkedIn. How­ev­er, if you’re not so con­vinced, you may strug­gle to meet can­di­dates on the plat­form who don’t expect it.

9. Green hiring

Respond­ing to the glob­al con­cern for sus­tain­abil­i­ty, there’s been a large rise in “green job” list­ings such as roles focus­ing on envi­ron­men­tal con­ser­va­tion, renew­able ener­gy, and eco-friend­ly prac­tices. As a result, can­di­dates are under pres­sure to high­light “green skills” in their profiles.

On the busi­ness side of things, this trend high­lights the shift towards sus­tain­abil­i­ty in the world of com­merce. Busi­ness­es want to cre­ate eco-friend­ly ini­tia­tives and car­ry out sus­tain­able busi­ness prac­tices because being green is of the utmost impor­tance. While you may have already felt the pres­sure to rebrand as a sus­tain­able com­pa­ny, you may want to jump on this green trend in 2024:

Busi­ness­es that invest in green skills and pro­mote their com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty can gain a com­pet­i­tive edge, attract envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious tal­ent, and meet the grow­ing con­sumer demand for respon­si­ble busi­ness prac­tices. For­tu­nate­ly, can­di­dates and con­nec­tions on LinkedIn are already expect­ing it this year.

10. Skills shortage

Due to rapid tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments and evolv­ing job roles, a skills short­age has devel­oped – and it’s not set to improve in 2024. This pos­es sev­er­al threats to growth and inno­va­tion, as com­pa­nies face the daunt­ing task of find­ing enough tal­ent equipped with the nec­es­sary skills to dri­ve future initiatives.

This short­age, par­tic­u­lar­ly in areas such as tech­nol­o­gy, health­care, and renew­able ener­gy, caus­es crit­i­cal issues that busi­ness­es and pro­fes­sion­als on LinkedIn must nav­i­gate with caution.

The urgency to bridge the skills gap has nev­er been more appar­ent. Busi­ness­es must invest in train­ing and devel­op­ment pro­grams, and indi­vid­u­als must con­tin­u­al­ly adapt and learn new skills. If the sit­u­a­tion does­n’t improve, it may lead to increased com­pe­ti­tion for skilled pro­fes­sion­als, dri­ving up salaries and poten­tial­ly length­en­ing the time it takes to fill crit­i­cal roles.

In response, busi­ness own­ers may need to lever­age LinkedIn more strate­gi­cal­ly to show­case their com­pa­ny cul­ture and career devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties to attract and retain tal­ent in a com­pet­i­tive market.

Final thoughts

LinkedIn has vast user engage­ment with over 1.6 bil­lion plat­form vis­its and a strong inter­na­tion­al pres­ence. It’s unde­ni­able that LinkedIn is at the fore­front of pro­fes­sion­al net­work­ing and dig­i­tal marketing.

The plat­for­m’s glob­al reach, tar­get­ed adver­tis­ing capa­bil­i­ties, new fea­tures, and a strong pref­er­ence among B2B mar­keters, make it a tool that is crit­i­cal not only for indi­vid­ual career growth but also for busi­ness devel­op­ment and indus­try insights.

To get the most from LinkedIn in 2024, both busi­ness­es and indi­vid­u­als will need to make use of all its pos­si­bil­i­ties – from AI inte­gra­tions to new con­tent for­mats. They’ll also need to con­nect with LinkedIn com­mu­ni­ties in ways that they pre­fer – such as UGC, Thought Lead­er­ship, and flex­i­ble employ­ment packages.