Content marketing

7 Examples of Powerful Thought Leadership on LinkedIn

Editor's Note: Enjoy this special encore post, which was one of our readers' favorites in 2020. 

The 2020 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study confirmed with data what many of us have long assumed: Brands that succeed in building a culture of thought leadership have better reputations and higher sales figures. 

In other words, as my colleague Alex Rynne said in this five-step guide to creating high-impact thought leadership: “If you’re not leading, you’re following.” 

The companies featured below are clearly leading with thought leadership on LinkedIn. The examples that follow show how they’re setting the pace. 

7 Companies Exemplifying Impactful Thought Leadership on LinkedIn

Deloitte Delivers Tech Trends With Beauty and Brevity

Trend-related content – always in demand, never in short supply. How’s a marketer to stand out from the swath of trends reports available? Deloitte does so by succinctly capturing top trends in an eye-catching, easy-to-read way. With Deloitte’s eight-page executive summary, readers can explore what lies ahead without needing to leave their LinkedIn feed. 

Jacobs Sets its Vision with Video

Big picture thinking, when well executed, is without question one of the more inspiring forms of thought leadership a company can create. Here, Jacobs, a civil engineering company, shows with vivid imagery how they’re solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. 

Philips Leads Followers Behind the Scenes with Live Video

It’s been said countless times that people don’t necessarily buy into your company because you can solve their problem – they buy into your company because they understand and subscribe to your approach to solving problems.  

What better way to demonstrate your problem-solving approach than by telling the story via the employees who live it? That’s exactly what Philips does in their first LinkedIn Live installment, which gives followers a backstage pass to see how the company’s approach to design aims to enrich lives.

Aurecon Simplifies Stories with a Human Touch

Engineering, design, and advisory company Aurecon has conducted lots of interesting interviews via its Engineering Reimagined Podcast, an excellent example of thought leadership content in its own right. 

A common challenge with this growing medium, though, is attracting new listeners when there’s so much competition for finite listening time. By posting the attention-commanding sizzle reel above, Aurecon shines a spotlight on the contributors who make the podcast great while giving LinkedIn members an easy way to click through to the full library of episodes.

A Modern Twist on a Familiar Format

Magazine readership continues to decline, yet trade publications are still very relevant in the B2B space. With its digital magazine, Hays Journal, Hays Company capitalizes on a well-established format. And by making it super simple for all to access and enjoy, the company also creates its own white space – the post above allows readers to page through the entire periodical right on LinkedIn. 

Breaking Through with Complete and Utter Utility

It’s one thing to have a product that helps your audience. It’s a whole other thing to have an always-on content arsenal that makes life easier for your audience every day. That’s exactly what roadmap software company Aha! has created, taking all three types of thought leadership to another level. And thankfully, they liberally share their wealth of knowledge with LinkedIn members. 

Other cool things Aha! shares on its LinkedIn Page are blog posts that showcase employees’ interests, experiences, and expertise (below), as well as access to company-hosted forums where experts can freely discuss the most prevalent questions in product roadmapping (also below).

Pushing the Potential of Thought Leadership Content 

There’s a big interest in disruptive technology in the Middle East. What was lacking, though, was really good technology content available in Arabic. Enter AEC. To fill this void, the company created a series of 12 whitepapers and 12 infographics, all exploring the various aspects of emerging technologies, all written in both English and Arabic. In creating this content, AEC found competitive white space where others didn’t think to look. 

Inspired to reach new audiences with your own thought leadership content? Choose the appropriate objective in Campaign Manager and get started.