LinkedIn is the world’s professional community with more than 740 million members worldwide and 170 million in the United States. Its vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Its ability to do just that, requires a diverse, thriving community on the platform. Going into February 2021, however, qualitative research informed us that Black Professionals in the United States didn't feel like they belonged on LinkedIn. This was due in part to lower representation, especially at more senior levels. LinkedIn saw this problem as an opportunity to spark meaningful conversations for Black History Month 2021.

The Big Idea: Shine a light on career journeys of Black Professionals through #ConversationsForChange

A more equitable world of work requires more equal representation of Black leaders both on and off LinkedIn. It’s why we ensured that Black professionals not only helped drive the conversations necessary to create lasting change, but also were integral in developing the idea and making the work.

Target Audience: Black Professionals 25-40.

Research: We knew that just understanding the numbers of unequal representation was not enough. We had to understand the people behind them. To get at the core of the problem, we conducted Qualitative research to help us better understand this unfortunate reality, where we heard:

“In every job I’ve ever done I’ve always been the only one”

“The hardest thing is to see the path, you know? To know it’s possible

“I need insider knowledge – how did YOU make it?”

“I want to see people who have succeeded, who have gone through what I’ve gone through”

These verbatims informed the strategic insight that inspired the work: It’s hard to be what you can’t see.

Implementation, Timeline, Placement, Scale

Implementation: We used TV and online video to share Black professionals authentic and, often, uncomfortable experiences. We then leveraged our News platform to get influencers like Tyler Perry, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Ibtihaj Muhammad to share their career paths to success and encourage others. We also made relevant profile headers and commissioned a Black artist to create custom stickers to help employees and members tell their stories. We changed our logo to reflect the moment and linked it to a curated story about the topic. Finally, we made diversity, inclusion, and belonging LinkedIn Learning courses free to all members for the month.

Timeline: The entire duration of Black History Month 2021

Placement + Scale:

Paid Media: 120mm+ impressions through national TV (NBC, BET, BETHer, Bounce, ESPN, TBS, AMC), digital and social media

LinkedIn product: 120mm+ notifications, 40+ pieces of editorial, stories, Linkedin Learning, and newsfeed.