COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge disruption in the businesses, as a result of which, there is uncertainty around employment and existing jobs. This could be the reason that the world’s largest professional networking platform LinkedIn has seen a surge in traffic during the pandemic.
According to the statistics provided by LinkedIn, we can see that there is an increase in engagement activities on LinkedIn over the time from January to March 2020, and there is a big spike in engagement towards the end of February. The surge in the traffic is not only due to those related to jobs, but brands that connect with their audience through employees and leaders have also increased their activities. The professional networking platform has witnessed an increase of 20% in total number of posts and 14% increase in engagement on organic posts shared within a month.
The major brands in India that are taking their brand activities and stories to LinkedIn are Airtel. Larsen & Toubro Technology Services, Swiggy, Flipkart, and Lenovo India. The significant observation here is that there is also an increase in brand’s organic activities and posts on the platform which are explicitly related to the coronavirus. As also seen from the reports given by LinkedIn, the hashtags used on the platforms are also shifting in accordance with today’s environment. The hashtags #coronavirus, #covid19, #jobs and #marketing were the trending ones on LinkedIn during March 1-25, 2020.
There is also an increase of 60% on the content creation on LinkedIn this year compared to last year. The statistics and reports released by the professional networking platform also show that IT companies, financial services and marketing and advertising sectors are the top 3 industries actively discussing the coronavirus pandemic. There is also an overall surge in weekly posts on LinkedIn pages by 8%, an increase of 10% in the content shared by LinkedIn pages and 26% increase in original posts with native video weekly.
“The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an uncertain future for marketers today. At this time, marketers have a unique opportunity to find the right tone of voice and position their brand as a trusted, credible, and authentic advisor to customers. It’s a time to signal strong brand values, and humanising your brand using storytelling will be key to connect to your customers, employees, and stakeholders. At LinkedIn, we’ve seen how listening intently, sharing responsibly, and boosting executive presence have helped many brands unlock stronger relationships and customer engagement during these testing times,” said Matt Tindale, Senior Director and Head of Enterprise for the Asia Pacific, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions.
