Every smart business understands the critical importance of social listening in today's fast evolving mobile and digital world. This is especially true for mega social media platforms like LinkedIn.
LinkedIn certainly deserves accolades for its overwhelming success in adopting the unique content publishing platform known as Pulse. More than one million members have shared their important insights and knowledge via a tidal wave of Pulse blog posts, according to LinkedIn.
The Pulse project appears to have initially fallen into the category of no risk, no reward. Yet the rewards have been plentiful for LinkedIn. This is particularly impressive in today's fast evolving brave new world of social media (to paraphrase the title of the widely read 1930s science fiction classic by author Aldous Huxley).
LinkedIn's foresight in implementing Pulse just goes to show that sometimes you have to say, what the heck and make your move. Sometimes you have to roll the proverbial dice, as any successful social media site does at some point to survive and thrive in today's interconnected global economy.
Perhaps no where is this more evident than in Silicon Valley, where fortunes are made and lost based on implementing new and cutting-edge ways of doing business in the face of fierce competition.
Benefits of Pulse
Some of the benefits which LinkedIn has accrued via the adoption of Pulse include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Members enjoy receiving daily professional insights and practical advice on a broad range of issues from some of the world's leading subject matter experts, policy makers and thought-leaders (the Influencers).
- Helping to transform LinkedIn into a popular publishing platform for all members who choose to use it -- rather than just a jobs, recruiting and professional networking site.
- Increasing membership, brand loyalty and engagement by those who choose to pen blog posts for Pulse, which recently surpassed one million according to LinkedIn.
In short, Pulse has helped to enhance and solidify LinkedIn's professional brand image as a multi-purpose "go to" publishing platform. Moreover, the increasingly popular "Daily Digest" on Pulse is helping LinkedIn to squarely lay down its footprints in an ultra-competitive and fast evolving digital news and publishing environment.
But to quote the title and mantra of one of my favorite business books by Jim Collins:
How does LinkedIn Pulse now take the leap from Good to Great?"
Syndicating Influencers
According to a recent article on Recode.net, LinkedIn is now in the initial stages of "building a syndicated content network" -- albeit, for the chosen Influencers only.
- "LinkedIn has gotten a lot of mileage out of the free content that famous people like Richard Branson write for the social network."
- "Now it wants to get more: The company wants to syndicate that content for publication on other sites."
- "LinkedIn is emailing the 500 people it calls its 'Influencers' and asking them for permission to automatically hand their stuff to other sites that want to republish it in full."
But why stop there?
LinkedIn should also consider offering some syndication to non-Influencers as well.
Opening the possibility of potential syndication to all members would offer expanded opportunities and reach for LinkedIn and its growing user base of nearly 400 million.
If LinkedIn eventually considers piloting this suggestion, it could likely implement the same game plan which proved so successful in rolling out Pulse: start with the Influencers and then gradually expand the syndication option for selected featured blog posts which are already being promoted on various Pulse channels. The syndication of non-Influencers would be strictly limited to those whose content is deemed worthy by Pulse's expert editorial team.
As Dan Roth, LinkedIn's Executive Editor, told Recode about Pulse:
There's so much more we want to do with it. The monetization part is not part of the discussion. It's all about engagement."
Thus, expanding the Pulse syndication function for selected non-Influencer blog posts would have a multiplier effect in yielding LinkedIn some of the many benefits noted above. These include further expanding LinkedIn's global membership, enhancing the brand image as a multi-dimensional professional platform, and bolstering member loyalty and engagement.
Of course, LinkedIn knows what's best for LinkedIn. However, as competitive social media marketplace continues to evolve, it simply makes good business sense for LinkedIn's executive leadership to contemplate further improvements to the unique publishing prowess of Pulse.
Any successful business or organization understands the importance of listening to customer/client feedback. And any mega social media platform understands the importance of social listening -- especially from its own members.
Thus, thanks for listening, LinkedIn.