The top three LinkedIn trends B2B marketers need to know for 2025. Learn how to navigate LinkedIn's evolving landscape and make the most of these trends to enhance your B2B marketing strategy.
Key moments in this episode:
00:00 Introduction to Key LinkedIn Trends
02:36 The Pros and Cons of AI on LinkedIn
06:15 Navigating LinkedIn's Video Content
09:57 Embracing Page Advocacy
13:38 Future Outlook
Today's episode is sponsored by Metricool. Make sure to register for a FREE Metricool account today. Use Code MICHELLE30 to try any Premium Plan FREE for 30 days. https://i.mtr.cool/NEDXVZ Try out Descript today.
ABOUT MICHELLE J RAYMOND
Michelle J Raymond is an international LinkedIn™️ B2B Growth Coach.
To continue the conversation, connect with Michelle on LinkedIn™️ and let her know you are part of the community of podcast listeners.
Connect with Michelle J Raymond on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellejraymond/
B2B Growth Co offers LinkedIn™️ Training for teams to build personal and business brands and a LinkedIn™️ Profile Recharge service for Founders/CEOs.
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#LinkedIn #LinkedInTrends #B2BMarketing
00:00:00
Michelle J Raymond: In 15 minutes, you'll have the key trends and actionable tips to
00:00:03
make your B2B strategy stand out on LinkedIn.
00:00:24
G'day everyone.
00:00:25
It is Coach Michelle J Raymond, and listeners, there are two things that I am certain of.
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Number one, that there is lots of conflicting info on how to get the most
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out of LinkedIn all over the platform every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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And the other thing is, I know that B2B marketers are being asked to do more and more and be
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masters across so many different platforms, as well as websites, internal comms, and all types
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of social media and their time is stretched.
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And so in today's episode, I thought that I would make your life easier B2B marketers.
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I'm going to shortcut your research and in 15 minutes, I'm going to give you three
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trends that are happening on LinkedIn.
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What you need to know about them actionable tips I think you need to know
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so that you can get precious time back.
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So before we go into that, a quick word from our podcast sponsors, Metricool.
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The first and probably most obvious trend that I want to talk about is the
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rise of AI content on the platform.
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So let's look at it from both sides, good news, bad news.
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And I'm going to start with the good news first, because that's the kind of person that I am.
00:02:50
The good news is the tools that we were flooded with last year certainly have evolved very
00:02:56
quickly and they're really now something special.
00:03:00
So when you find the right AI tool, and I think that's part of the
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problem is which one should you trust?
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Do you have time to go and invest and figure out how they all work?
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But when you find your ones, then it makes a huge difference.
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So for me right now.
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I'm using of course, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
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They are the ones that help me to organise my ideas, refine my ideas.
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And really that saves me a ton of time having something that I can brainstorm with and
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something that can often work with me to take my longer form content and turn it into
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shorter form formats, which is definitely how I was able to save so much time last year.
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But my favourite one of all has to be Descript.
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It's what I use to record the videos for the podcast, which I turn into the
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audio, which you may be listening to.
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I then take the transcript, it turns into a LinkedIn newsletter.
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There's short form posts that go across on YouTube, on TikTok, on Company Pages.
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The list goes on and none of that would be possible without Descript.
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I am not being paid by them to say this, but I will put an affiliate link
00:04:11
into the show notes because if you aren't using it, you need to learn how.
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And for anyone that hasn't used it before, if you can edit a word document or a text document,
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you can use Descript to edit audio or video.
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It really is that easy.
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And so that's why I fell in love with it.
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Cause my rule for tools is they have to be easy to use.
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So when it comes to my first actionable tip, when we're talking AI, if you don't
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have some part of your suite yet, start with ChatGPT, Perplexity and Descript.
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They are going to get you out of trouble.
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The downside to these AI tools is quite often on the surface they appear
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to make your life so much easier.
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Sign up here.
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We'll automate comments.
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We'll automate your connections.
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We'll automate relationships.
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And these kinds of tools are the ones that scare me the most because the main problem
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I have with them is not that they're not great, is not that they make your life easy
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and give you time back, is the fact that they jeopardise your whole LinkedIn account.
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Do you realise when you sign up that you are actually in violation
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of LinkedIn's user agreement?
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And so this is the thing that I just want marketing managers to be aware of.
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Before you sign your team up for lots of these cool tools that are available.
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Make sure you check that fine print and the terms and conditions to make sure that you are not
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putting their personal LinkedIn accounts at risk because you can get kicked off the platform in
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total if you use the wrong tools in the wrong way.
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And that to me, is a risk that I'm not prepared to take.
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So imagine what happens in a workplace, if you recommend a tool to your employees,
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they use that tool on LinkedIn in good faith, and then they lose their account.
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Then the implications of that and what happens within the business could be kind of ugly.
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So let's avoid that situation by reading the fine print.
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There's a lot more technical stuff to it, but if in doubt, check it out.
00:06:15
Second trend you should know about is video content on LinkedIn.
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LinkedIn have introduced a short form TikTok style video feed that is on the platform.
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And it started off with a bit of a bang, lots of noise around it, but I haven't really heard
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too many people loving it, getting excited by it and really genuinely thinking that
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it's a replacement for the other short form platforms like TikTok and Reels and Shorts.
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Let's have a look about why this is a trend I want you to know about.
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Number one, LinkedIn as a platform, 65 percent Gen Z.
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That is who this particular format is targeted at.
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Does that mean if you fall outside of that, like I'm a Gen X that we can't use it?
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Absolutely not.
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I have found with people, Gen X that have been using LinkedIn for a long time.
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There's a lot of reservation around this short form style of video,
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many preferring to go back to text.
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What I would say to you here is that there isn't a right and wrong.
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There isn't a prescriptive way to win at LinkedIn.
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There is getting the best out of your business, out of your team and the resources that you have.
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There is no point going back to your team and saying, LinkedIn,
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short form video, vertical video.
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It is the way to go.
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Everybody has to do it if your team hate being on video, because what will happen
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is that friction will cause them to move away from the platform altogether.
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And that is the last thing that you want when you're trying to use LinkedIn for business growth.
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So think about when are the right times to use it.
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What are the tools that your team need to be able to do it and refer back to Descript.
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That's a pretty cool tool that I think people can use and make sure that they're set up for success.
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Don't push too hard if they're not interested, because honestly, if they're creating
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content already and it's resonating with their audience, that is most important.
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For all of the noise that I've heard where people have genuinely got millions of
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impressions from their short form video.
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I have not heard the correlating excitement around follower growth, like targeted
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follower growth, business growth, new business opportunities, anything along those lines.
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It just seems that that number's gone sky high.
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And it's kind of like LinkedIn giving us a bit of a taster of what's possible.
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You know, for me personally, I mix short form video in, like I always have.
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I haven't changed it from how I've previously worked.
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And you know, some of that for me is just because I have to stay on track and stay focused to
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what I know works for me and in my business with the resources I have and the time I have
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and I highly recommend that to everybody else.
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The platform will get better video content.
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I hope the diversity of what we see in some of those feeds improves because quite frankly, I'm
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turned off by it because every time I go in to have a peek around, honestly it all looks like
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it's carbon copies, same, same, but different, might be a different topic, but they all
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look so similar that they've to me have lost the opportunity to be unique and stand out.
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And that is the problem that we'll have across the platform, not unique to video content,
00:09:30
but just something to be mindful of there's being inspired by, and then there's copying
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other people and blending into the background.
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And that's the last thing that we want.
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So keep an eye on video content.
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I don't think it's as huge as what people were making out.
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I've certainly got to keep monitoring it and I'll be, you know, coming back.
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I'll let everybody know if I notice anything shifting on the platform.
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The third trend that's going on, on the platform, which I want you to be aware
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of, and this has come from my own personal research that I'm finding is having such
00:10:05
great results with the teams that I'm working with is getting started with Page Advocacy.
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And you might be thinking, what are you talking about, Michelle?
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Isn't it employee advocacy?
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Aren't we pushing our employees to generate content?
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Isn't that what all the excitement is about?
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And it is, except have you ever tried to push employees to create
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content when they don't want to?
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Have you ever tried to get a whole business to start creating content on
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LinkedIn, just because it's a trend?
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Give you the handy tip doesn't work.
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You'll get so much pushback.
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And after a very short period of time, you'll be going, that's enough of that.
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This doesn't work.
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Let's go back to the drawing board.
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What is Page Advocacy?
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So glad you asked.
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I'm going to be speaking about that a lot this year.
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When I go to the UK to speak at Uplift Live and Social Media Marketing World,
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I'm going to be speaking on Page Advocacy.
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This is how big this is and I want everybody to know about it.
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So as my podcast listeners, you get a quick insight into this already.
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You don't have to wait until the end of March or April when the rest of the world will find out.
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And what I've discovered is the more that you use your Page.
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And by this, I mean your Company Page, the more you use it to put your employees in the spotlight
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to support what they're doing, to put them up on a pedestal, their name in shining lights, whatever
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you want to call it, the more that you do that, the more they pay attention, And when they pay
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attention and see that there's something in it for them, the more they are keen to explore LinkedIn.
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So we're actually going the other way around.
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We're not expecting employees to lift up the brand.
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It's the brand via the Company Page that's lifting up employees.
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So if you're lucky enough and got employees that are creating content, I want you to make
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sure that your page is there cheering them on.
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And sometimes that can be liking and commenting on every post.
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It could be something as simple as repost their individual content onto the Company Page.
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Really make a big deal about this.
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Really, as I say, and it could be just because I have a secret inner part of me
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that really wants to be a cheerleader.
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I think it's such an important part of how sports are played and especially in the U.
00:12:31
S.
00:12:31
And shout out to my friend, Ashley Faus, her and I, it turns out bonded over the Dallas
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Cowboys Cheerleaders series on Netflix.
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Go and check it out, but don't judge me on my trashy TV choices.
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So Page Advocacy, all about getting your Company Page to be the cheerleader for your team,
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encouraging your team, supporting your team, and not just using the Company Page in a lazy
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way, where it posts content and expect something to happen when we all know it just doesn't.
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The Company Page is not showing in the feed.
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So I want you to think about how can I make this thing active?
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So Page Advocacy.
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You heard it from me.
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I'm the only one that's talking about this.
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And I promise you, if you implement it as part of your B2B marketing strategy
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on LinkedIn, you will stand out.
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It will help your team get seen by more people.
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And it's amazing at how quickly this will help you generate followers as well.
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So more engagement, great follower growth, Page Advocacy for the win.
00:13:38
There you have it.
00:13:39
They are the three trends that I think you should be aware of when it comes
00:13:43
to LinkedIn as we start off the year.
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And no doubt that will change at the further that we get down the track.
00:13:48
Who knows what new features LinkedIn will add, or maybe what they'll take away.
00:13:52
So goodbye to LinkedIn audio, the way that that's changed I'm not sure that that's
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even going to be around for much longer.
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It's a bit of a shame.
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I know that there was a good audience for it, but the facts will remain, LinkedIn will change.
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How we use it will change and we need to adapt.
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And one last thing, no matter what trends come and go, don't forget, check out your analytics.
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We want data driven strategies on LinkedIn this year.
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What are the numbers telling you?
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Let them guide you and look well beyond just post impressions.
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There you go, listeners.
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They are the 2025 LinkedIn trends that I think every B2B marketer should know.
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So until next week, Cheers.