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Almost 60% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 25 and 34, making it the single largest demographic to use the platform. And this is a demographic with a willingness to pay for news.
At a time when publishers are moving past seeing social media platforms as traffic drivers, and even a major publication like BuzzFeed News shut down because of a sharp decrease in Facebook referral traffic, LinkedIn is giving publishers a reason to smile.
According to AOP’s latest survey, Digital Publishing: Outlook and Priorities for 2023, LinkedIn is currently the leading choice for publishers to drive content discovery.
Unsurprisingly, 44% of B2B publishers are dependent on LinkedIn, investing in the platform to promote their content. And while consumer publishers invest across multiple off-platforms, LinkedIn maintains a leading position, coming in just a hair behind Facebook overall when it comes to driving content discovery.
And while Facebook is still the leading source of referral traffic, its importance as a referrer for news sites has been declining.
“Publishers are coming round to the potential of the platform”
Echobox’s latest white paper on 2023 Social Media Benchmarks also paints a similar picture about LinkedIn’s growth and increase in referral traffic.
“Year on year, the number of people using LinkedIn grows; and year on year, more publishers are coming round to the potential of the platform, not only for recruitment, but for content distribution,” the report states.
News publishers in particular retain a major presence on the platform, with data published by Axios finding that publishers currently have more followers on LinkedIn than TikTok.
Echobox’s 2023 Social Media Benchmarks
“An excellent platform for news publishers”
Revenue growth is dependent on audience growth, and the Echobox report goes on to explain exactly why LinkedIn is an excellent platform for news publishers.
“Like any other business, news publishers focus on monetizing their audience, and LinkedIn offers substantial opportunities,” it mentions. “Research from Pew suggests that as of last year, more adults in the US have used LinkedIn than Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok or Reddit.”
What’s more (and perhaps surprisingly) almost 60% of LinkedIn’s users are between the ages of 25 and 34, making it the single largest demographic to use the platform. And this is a demographic with a willingness to pay for news.
Echobox’s 2023 Social Media Benchmarks
A 2020 World Economic Forum report found that the 16-34 age group are more likely to pay for news than the global average. Exposure to this age group gives publishers the opportunity to engrain their brands in the minds of potential subscribers and develop relationships for the long term.
The average visit lasts about 7 minutes
Optimizing sharing on LinkedIn gives publishers the chance to increase reach and engagement with an important demographic.
The average visit to the platform lasts about seven minutes — roughly the same time as Instagram, another platform publishers are using successfully — which implies that there is significant scope to grow referral traffic from LinkedIn.
While the company is having its own troubles, especially in China, one thing is clear: LinkedIn has emerged as a powerful tool for publishers looking to drive referral traffic, and it is a platform that should not be overlooked.
