eMarketer’s Digital Trust Benchmark Report ranked LinkedIn as the most trusted social platform for five consecutive years. However, most people still viewed it solely as a place to get a job rather than somewhere for meaningful connections and conversations.

To help elevate LinkedIn as a community built on trust and a hub for professionals, we needed to shift brand perceptions around community, belonging and content on LinkedIn, plus increase on-platform engagement to appeal to both members and creators alike.

To achieve this, we had to demonstrate the value of the LinkedIn platform beyond hiring and job searching, by:

• Humanising the brand beyond the corporate world

• Driving quality conversation on platform around topics LinkedIn members care about

• Building a strong community for LinkedIn members and creating a sense of belonging (“LinkedIn makes me feel like I’m part of a community”)

The average person spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime. How people feel about that time is changing with individuals now expecting their employers to share their values and communicate purpose in a world demanding responsibility.

Our challenge was to transform the perception of LinkedIn into a safe space for dialogue around some of the most prominent and urgent issues affecting workplaces and working culture today.

We identified an authentic opportunity for LinkedIn to stand with selected professionals on the platform, and to challenge the narrative around the topics that mattered to them. We needed real people, to have real conversations, so we asked them: “What one thing would you change about the world of work?”

We wanted to encourage more transparent and frank dialogue around topics that are often taboo in workplaces and professional environments, but highly important to the world at large.

Our goal was to demonstrate LinkedIn’s relevance as a community platform, with Infrequent Members aged 25-49YO, by challenging their perceptions that LinkedIn is only a place to find a job, rather than a place to join a community.

Social listening and commissioned international third-party research revealed the most talked-about issues affecting the world of work: DE&I, mental health, sustainability, flexible working, unconscious bias, and social mobility. We created a campaign to change the narrative around these topics, identifying individuals with credibility and lived experience of them, who became our voices of change.

Starting in the UK, we formed a year-long partnership with seven ‘Changemakers’ setting out to inspire our audience to have and participate in #ConversationsForChange on LinkedIn.

This influencer-first, social programme delivered a highly successful proof of concept by testing the relevance and response to influencers’ activity amongst an audience of individuals navigating their professional lives.

The campaign launched in 2020 in the most turbulent of times – just as the remote working revolution took hold and the physical disconnection forced by the pandemic meant living our lives online. It was also when ‘armchair activism’ became prevalent as people pushed back against injustice and inequality.

Our seven Changemakers fronted a timely crusade for change in the future of work; creating and featuring in content, telling their unique, personal stories in emotive and provocative ways, helping to fuel and channel positive dialogue, leading the #ConversationsForChange.

In 2021, the programme evolved into an above-the-line brand campaign, relaunching through a partnership with Channel 4’s Black to Front initiative (a programming day dedicated to black talent), and scaling into France, Germany, and Australia with TEDxSydney.

35 LinkedIn Changemakers are now driving #ConversationsForChange across the world. LinkedIn is amplifying their stories through TV, VOD, audio ads, paid social and PR.

This campaign marked a turning point for LinkedIn, setting the bar for what valuable content and meaningful engagement is on the platform.

It established LinkedIn as a powerful place for influencers and creators, and contributed to unprecedented growth in on-platform content creation generally, with YOY increases seen in:

• Number of Feed Updates +31%

• Public Conversations happening on platform +30%

• Public Content shared on platform +14%

Emotional and Functional brand perceptions were sharply impacted too*, and records achieved in impressions (+557million) and engagement rate 7.49% (vs. 3% benchmark).

Changemakers themselves saw exponential follower growth on LinkedIn, and were catapulted into the top 0.09% of most influential LinkedIn members. They’ve also achieved globally renowned honours, including: an MBE, an Honorary Doctorate degree, a Forbes’ 30 under 30 listing, a feature in VOGUE’s global showcase: ‘activists determined to make a difference’, and a top spot on Amazon’s Bestsellers list.