Sustainability, What Community Workers are Reading, and More Insights from the Latest Content Insights Quarterly

At LinkedIn, we recognize that communities are core to the success of every business. Employees, partners, customers and job candidates comprise a community, and together, can help drive an organization’s growth through meaningful conversations. Our recent launch of LinkedIn Pages is just the latest way LinkedIn helps organizations create community on our platform.

To that end, in this quarter’s edition of the Content Insights Quarterly, we decided to explore two new areas that LinkedIn members engaged with on the platform:

1) Community: Content that attracted the attention of what we’ll call “community” workers on LinkedIn, that is, members who work in the following kinds of organizations:

• Civic & social organization
• Non-profit organization
• Fundraising
• Political organization

2) Sustainability: Since climate change and the environment have been top of mind for a lot of professionals on LinkedIn, we also examined the top articles and topics around sustainability that they engaged with.  

If you’re new to the Content Insights Quarterly, we share the top topics and content that LinkedIn’s more than 590 million members engaged with over the last quarter. Read on for insights into how you and your company can better understand how LinkedIn members are engaging with content on the platform — and how you can use that to help drive your business forward.  

Audience of the Quarter: Community Workers

On the LinkedIn platform, there are nearly 7 million community workers globally. Based on the topics and articles that they are engaging with on LinkedIn, many are using the platform to learn more about their sector in general and also how specifically they can help their own organizations thrive.  

Top Topics for Community Workers

For businesses, selling product is how they make the money to pay their employees and invest in the future. On the other hand, non-profit organizations rely on fundraising and grants to stay afloat.

So it’s no surprise that four topics related to raising money appeared in the top 10: fundraising, philanthropy, charities, and charitable giving. The top topics also gave some indication that politics at the national level is having an impact on the community sector: “Refugees” appeared in the top 10 topics, likely because of today’s global sociopolitical climate.

Lessons for Marketers

The key lesson? The non-profit companies and workers have buying power and marketers should understand that community organizations also need things like health care insurance plans, software and office furniture. With the current administration’s policies on refugees and immigration, many non-profit organizations are at a crossroads and may also need consulting help to figure out their next moves.

Top Articles for Community Workers  

Of the top 10 articles, seven (including the top article, “London Breed will become the first black woman to lead San Francisco after opponent concedes,”) explored diversity.

Lessons for Marketers

Marketers take note: four of the top articles featured how big brands, like Kate Spade Brand, Starbucks, Weight Watchers, and Johns Hopkins are getting attention by making big investments in diversity and mental health. These investments not only help important causes but a great way earn good will.

1. London Breed will become first black woman to lead San Francisco after opponent concedes
2. The Kate Spade Brand Is Donating $1 Million to Mental Health Organizations
3. Netflix creates new executive position focused on inclusion and diversity
4. Weight Watchers announces major change to name and mission
5. Starbucks is opening its first "signing store," where all employees will be fluent in sign language
6. Unpaid Internships Are Going Out of Style
7. Johns Hopkins Welcomes Its First Black Female Neurosurgeon Resident
8. Why Women Volunteer for Tasks That Don’t Lead to Promotions
9. Office queen bees bully female workers
10. Black Girls Code has a new lab inside Google’s New York office

Topic of the Quarter: Sustainability

Although some sectors of the political world remain dubious about the science of climate change, 62 percent of Americans believe that global warming will have an affect on them, according to a Quinnipiac poll. The professionals on LinkedIn have also shown an interest in climate change, with four of the top five articles in the sustainability category addressing the topic.     

Lessons for Marketers

Clearly, LinkedIn members are interested in sustainability from a professional standpoint. Many companies, from Patagonia to SolarCity, are making big bets that consumers of all stripes will boost brands that promote sustainability and take steps to fight climate change. In other words, sustainability appears to be good business.

LinkedIn members also seem especially interested in solutions for sustainability. Whether through technology or diversity, there is a desire for a positive approach to tackling climate change among our members.

Top 5 Articles on Sustainability

1. Tackling Climate Change Is Our Responsibility — and in Our Interest
2. Climate change: An urgent threat to global health
3. There is a forgotten solution to climate change that we must invest in – nature
4. How AI could help prevent the next extinction (and you can, too)
5. Women are driving climate solutions today and tomorrow

Hot Topics on LinkedIn

This quarter's fastest growing topics reflected the low levels of unemployment in the United States. Two of the 10 fastest-growing topics on LinkedIn were “changing career” and “Education and Learning”-- an indication that members feel the economy is strong enough to consider a new job, and are also looking to their further education and training for their next move.  “People management” also made the list, which showed us that employers were exploring how to better management talent to retain workers.

The challenges of technology were also evident through increased interest with topics like “antivirus and malware” and “cybersecurity” ranking in the top three and “blockchain technology” and “digital currency” both ranking in the top 10.

Lessons for Marketers

LinkedIn is a living, breathing platform. The topics that members are discussing change from day-to-day and month-to-month. Marketers, especially if they have a helpful and useful point of view, can join these conversations — and potentially benefit from them.  

Top Topics on LinkedIn

Over the last quarter, “Business and Management” continued to be a top topic that interested most LinkedIn members. While business topics dominate, with “Finance and Economy,” “Technology,” “Internet,” and “Energy” all appearing in the top 10, LinkedIn’s members aren’t all about the bottom line, as “Society and Culture” holding the No. 1 spot clearly shows. Additionally, diversity is a touchstone for many businesses, as the presence of “LGBT Culture” in the top 10 indicates, which demonstrates the breadth of topics being discussed on LinkedIn.  

Lessons for Marketers

LinkedIn provides a business context for marketers, but the presence of topics such as “Art and Entertainment” in the top 10 topics shows that LinkedIn members aren’t just about the bottom line. Marketers should keep in mind that even in the B2B world, it’s important to make human and emotional connections.

Top Articles on LinkedIn

This quarter’s list of top articles features a mixture of topics and themes. The standout theme  focuses on new jobs, which is likely a reflection of the 3.7% unemployment rate in the United States. The flipside of this is retaining existing talent, as some of the top articles address the importance of allowing employees to be honest and a good boss.

Lessons for Marketers

Given today’s employment landscape, marketers should focus on reaching employees and potential new hires. One option is to invest in employer branding to show the world how helpful and inspiring your company can be.

We also saw an article on the environment land in the Top 10, which underscores that sustainability may be a winning topic for businesses. We’re learning that LinkedIn members are not only striving to be good stewards of their companies, they’re also increasingly interested in becoming good stewards of our environment.  

Top 10 content engaging LinkedIn members

1. Homeless man hands out resumes, gets hundreds of job offers
2. Millennials are bailing on their high-paying jobs to travel
3. It’s Official: Open Plan Offices Are Now the Dumbest Management Fad of All-Time
4. Never Punish Loyal Employees for Being Honest
5. 13 Things You Should Give Up If You Want To Be Successful
6. A good boss  is better than a good company!
7. The World's Largest Ocean Cleanup Has Officially Begun
8. Student walks 20 miles to new job — so CEO gifts him a car
9. Thinking of Changing Jobs? ... Jump!!
10. 13 things successful people do in the first 3 months at a new job

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