So what exactly happened?
Starting about a week ago, LinkedIn users started getting very similar emails from the popular social network, stating that they are “one of the top 1%, 5% or 10% most viewed LinkedIn profiles in 2012.” And everyone was proud of their achievements, after all they were the most viewed out of 200 million users! So, as things happen in the digital age, everybody started boasting about their popularity – but very soon discovered disappointingly they were not the only ones! In fact, it seems that almost everyone on LinkedIn is in the top 10%, which makes it hard to feel special. It might sound good, but when you start thinking about it, 10% of 200 million is 20 million, which makes it much less impressive.
In January 2013, the top business social networking platform announced that it finally reached the 200 million members milestone, and decided later to celebrate the people who helped them get there: it’s ‘top’ users, the 20 million most viewed profiles on LinkedIn. In a blog post on the LinkedIn blog on 7 February, 2013, Ada Chen Rekhi of LinkedIn announced that, “starting today, we’re sending personal emails to many who have been instrumental in helping us reach this milestone to recognize their part in our journey.” And I have to add, they were putting it mildly when they used the word “many”! After showing an infographic with some fun facts about LinkedIn, Ada adds, “if you get an email from us, we hope you’ll share the news on LinkedIn and beyond to inspire your network to be a part of our community.” A-ha! There’s the premeditation! Here’s the infographic with some interesting facts:
In the beginning, as the emails started rolling out, bloggers and ordinary people alike started asking what was going on. J Andrews of WordPress asks, “so does this mean my profile was actually viewed a lot? Or that there are so many spammers, marketers and recruiters on LinkedIn that the stats are doing funny things…” Actually, wrong and wrong! Twitter was rapidly bombarded with happy, and some incredulous, tweets:
As time went on, people started realizing that being in the top 5 or 10% was not really that much of an achievement and the jokes started:
But at the same time, people started appreciating the campaign:
So their plan worked like a charm. People of all jobs and occupations, all ages and all interests started talking about the LinkedIn Top % campaign. And the stages that people’s mindsets went through should go in marketing books: at first, people were happy and proud. And what else use social media for, if not for bragging? So they started sending out the LinkedIn-composed tweets “Hooray! I have one of the top x% most viewed LinkedIn profiles for 2012” and they started posting screenshots of their emails on their Facebook accounts.
In the second stage, people started realizing that it wasn’t very much of an achievement: everybody was getting the same email! Wherever you looked on the Internet, someone was in top 10% LinkedIn users. So some got mad, bust most were just confused, yet ready to laugh about it. Which led to even more shares and more free advertisement for the social network!
And finally, people are starting to realize the genius of the campaign. It’s been over a week, and people are still talking about it. Some are still in the first stage and still sending out happy tweets, but most are just making fun of it or started talking about the success of the campaign. It even took some of the attention off Facebook and their Graph Search and the new, extremely controversial Bang with Friends app. In a way, LinkedIn took away Facebook’s party and made it all about them for a change. It looks to me that they were trying to steal Facebook’s thunder and that the timing was not a coincidence at all. And in fact, I’ve personally seen more people talking about the LinkedIn campaign on Facebook and Twitter than on LinkedIn! It’s very interesting how instead of the usual Facebook conversations, people took to it more and more to talk about a competing social network. I have to admit, I’m very eager to see how LinkedIn user numbers changed over this period.
A new trend?
LinkedIn were clearly trying to get more people to talk about them and in turn get more registered users through this campaign. They ‘subtly’ suggested so in their blog post when they asked the people that received the emails to share them with their friends on social platforms so that everybody finds out about their extraordinary performance. They tried to create the viral effect, and it’s working beautifully for them! They couldn’t have thought of a better way to make the most out of their 200-million users achievement, as people have been talking about LinkedIn constantly since the first emails were sent, on 7 February. And it doesn’t even seem to be cooling down, because many people have still just received the emails and marketers are just starting to realize the genius of the campaign.
I’m also very curious to see if this is going to start a new trend in marketing… because just as I am writing this, the funniest thing happened: Kred just sent me an email, saying that I am a top 1% influencer (of course, with the “tell your friends” option included):
Coincidence? I have to admit I am a bit skeptical. I think that there is a good chance that the LinkedIn Top % campaign might just be copied by others and I can’t wait to see if it will work with others as well. I love LinkedIn and I am very impressed with their campaign but it probably won’t work for just any other social network or tool (like Kred), but who knows?
What do you think of LinkedIn’s strategy? Have you received an email and how did you feel about it? Please leave your comments and share.
Lilach
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38 Responses to How LinkedIn put on a PR Masterstroke
Hey Lilach,
I heard about it a few days after lots of people told me they were in the top 1%/5% so I didn’t think anything of it. But if I heard of it straight award I would have been inclined to brag about it!!!
Twitter: iancleary
ha Ian – I must admit I heard about it before I received my email congratulating it and was most offended I hadn’t received one! By the time I received it I was less excited about it lol
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Even though I knew what was happening, I still posted a screen capture of my score. My only annoyance was that my husband got his email before me…
Twitter: saraharrow
It’s interesting that we all still posted our scores up… Ah but did Kevin get the same score as you?
I wonder why they staggered the emails, I know people who are still receiving them – another cunning part of their plan methinks lol
Lilach recently posted..101 of the Best WordPress Plugins for 2013
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Loved it. Subtle yet powerful. Not so keen on these badges though … SunZu awarded me a badge for something or other recently and I was tempted to ask if I should print it out and sew it on to my sleeve…
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Yes very powerful and very clever of them. Well some people like badges but let’s be honest I think a badge from Linkedin has more cred than from SunZu lol
Lilach recently posted..101 of the Best WordPress Plugins for 2013
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Nice to have my presence acknowledged, I think it was a good stunt and it has helped people remember LinkedIn does record statistics. Those statistics will no doubt be useful to recruiters and businesses when LI decides to supply them in a set of data that is in a user friendly format. It also provides proof LinkedIn is changing and thinking about where it is headed, LI may be following others on some things, but on this, it was clearly thinking alone. Yet again showing LI has its unique place in the SM market place.
Twitter: simonhamer
Thanks Simon, appreciate your comment. Yes completely agree – I’m looking forward to reading their statistics. Will be interesting to see what else they achieved from this campaign i.e. more activity/users etc.
Lilach recently posted..101 of the Best WordPress Plugins for 2013
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I was a 5percenter and bragged bit of fun marketing
Twitter: creativepubtalk
I think that’s a great attitude to have. I know some people who have got angry and felt used by the experience.
Lilach recently posted..101 Tweet-Tastic Tools for 2013
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Great post, Lilach.
I have been seeing these emails, tweets and blog posts all week and I must say I’m puzzled. I have to agree about the exposure for Linkedin, which has been great due to all this PR activity. But I know of some folks who received the 1, 5 or 10% email and barely ever go to Linkedin and are not active on the platform.
Meanwhile, I give seminars and training on how to use Linkedin (and other social media tools), have a pretty decent following (some 1,300 connections) and post actively to Linkedin. Yet, I did not receive any email at all. Hmm, right?
Not losing sleep over this one, but these kind of initiatives are gimmicky, just like that whole “endorsement” thing, which is pretty irrelevant in my mind. Oh well.
Cheers,
Frederic
Twitter: gonzogonzo
Hi Frederic, good comment. I have the same question as you. It’s a great campaign, right, to get people talking about LI.
However (and this is a big however!), were the statistics true or they just sent the emails randomly? Just saying because I’m not a big fan of LI backend algorithms…
Mara these questions are definitely doing the rounds and making a lot of people wonder…
Whilst you can clearly see my thoughts on the whole PR campaign they did, I find it hard to believe that they would lie about the stats if pushed to reveal them – surely they’d have an uproar (not to mention a few law suits!)
Lilach recently posted..101 of the Best WordPress Plugins for 2013
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Thanks Frederic, appreciate your comment.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you still receive an email, it looks like they’ve staggered them. I didn’t get mine first that’s for sure!
I’m not sure how what algorithms/stats they used but I was led to believe it was mainly based on how many people looked at your profile, regardless of how active/many connections you had.
It’s worth noting that I also don’t spend that much time on Linkedin and yet lately it has been bringing me more traffic than Facebook (before their PR campaign) – a sign that perhaps I should focus more time there.
Lilach recently posted..101 Tweet-Tastic Tools for 2013
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Thanks for the article. I noticed how some LinkedIn users were suddenly posting that they were the top 1-5% in Groups…so even group discussions felt the earth shake on the back of LinkedIn’s PR campaign.
My personal opinion is that LinkedIn had their motives but didn’t necessarily do it for the benefit of their consumers i.e Us Linkedin users.
At the end of the day even if I you are in the top 1% that in itself, although flattering, doesn’t mean that this has business pouring in. The relationship building and using LinkedIn for what it is, a Networking platform, is where the power lies.
Appreciate the feedback on what you thought:)
All the best
Mark
Mark recently posted..LinkedIn For Business – 7 Ways To Get More Clients
Twitter: gostraightline
Thanks Mark, appreciate your comment.
Yes I too noticed a flood of activity although must admit I saw most people talking about it on Facebook and Twitter than Linkedin!
Lilach recently posted..101 of the Best WordPress Plugins for 2013
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Hi Lilach – Love the article! I have done exactly that and introduced LinkedIn to my wider audience!
My first action upon receipt of the LinkedIn (LI) email was to promote the ‘questionable’ status of top 1% to my family members. I know some do not have LI accounts and one probably didn’t know of the LI platforms existence, but now they do and will probably create an account to see what the hype is all about.
I do have to admit I was shocked to receive my LinkedIn email stating I have a profile that features in the top 1% of 200million! My first thought… Really? If this is correct, it’s wonderful to know because it means my LI campaign has the coverage one desires. But, and this is the big but, my account was only created in August when our company Xzist was founded.
Have I really been pushing that hard?
Twitter: XzistSEO
Thanks Dean, appreciate your comment:)
Well done for being a (relatively) new user and achieving the top 1%
.
In answer to your question, who knows? I don’t think Linkedin are going to tell us… yet lol
Lilach recently posted..101 of the Best WordPress Plugins for 2013
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I think it was a smart campaign. Stroking the egos of “influencers” always gets the world talking.
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Thanks Cendrine – couldn’t agree more
Lilach recently posted..101 Tweet-Tastic Tools for 2013
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I guess I’m confused as to why this campaign is getting so much praise when LinkedIn essentially deceived millions of its subscribers into thinking they were something they were not.
How is that good PR? That’s just deceptive marketing. Now some people may applaud deceptive marketing that gets the “job” done, but lets not confuse that with good PR.
Twitter: jamespatterson3
Thanks James, appreciate your comment:)
I’m not quite sure how they deceived us? I don’t think I’m anything that I’m not, I am in the top 1% elite… lol
Seriously though I do think that they’ve had a successful campaign. At the end of the day they generated a huge amount of buzz, stole Facebook’s thunder and continue to get people talking about it. How much money they made as a result I don’t know – I would imagine that they got a ton of new users and many people upgraded. But at the same time there are a lot of folk like you who aren’t happy and feel like they’ve been deceived which any (decent) business doesn’t want and should try to avoid.
I guess the saying “there is no such thing as bad publicity – all publicity is good” springs to mind!
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Pingback: How LinkedIn put on a PR masterstroke
I got my Kred notices before the LI notice and honestly wasn’t so impressed about being in the top 10 million that I wanted to share it as an achievement. Bit cynical when the numbers are that large.
Twitter: JeffMayernik
Thanks Jeff, appreciate your comment.
Funnily enough since writing this blog post and reading everyone’s comments on here and Twitter/Facebook etc. I wonder if their numbers are only 20 million active users…
Lilach recently posted..101 Tweet-Tastic Tools for 2013
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In this hyper-connected world, it is great marketing by LinkedIN to recognize very active member profiles.
As social media & social analytics matures, the real winners will be LinkedIN members who are considered the most trustworthy by the community. Now that is a recognized asset that will make a difference to your life and business.
Rob Peters
Founder, Standard of Trust
Twitter: StandardofTrust
Thanks Rob, appreciate your comment and thoughts:)
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Brilliant post Lilach!
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Hi, I made it to the top 5% which at the time I thought was awesome and all the links linked back to my profile page which I thought was great. However, I think there may 200 million people registered on LinkedIn but they are not active. So perhaps those who did make the top 10% possibly are. However, what is the number of active LinkedIN users would be the question I would ask. Maybe 50,000! Who knows. They were clever though I’ll give them that and it made us all feel good so maybe that in itself will create a few more active users which would be good for all!
Twitter: MNDmel
Of course, that’s great that the number of LinkedIn’s users grows, but I also think that it wasn’t right to place this list of the most viewed pages. There were so many complaints about it
Julia Spencer’s recent post.. How to Target Your Clients Using Facebook and Promoting Your Products Effectively
wow, what a great way to spread the word about your site. I haven’t received an email, at least I haven’t noticed it, about the linked in top %, but it’s a great marketing strategy to get people to spread the word about your site. What a clever LinkedIn LOL
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I rarely let this stuff get to my head Lilach as it is a metric, a stat, but hey, I admit it is pretty clever. Not sure if I received the message or not. I focus on creating and connecting, and leave the social metrics for others to debate. Thanks for sharing
Ryan
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I think that the marketing campaign of LinkedIn was pretty well played. Who wouldn’t brag about being at the top of the most viewed profiles. The strategy may be a bit misleading but still, it was a very wise tactic to use.
I have recieved the same notification too. I really find their approach very misleading but at the end of the day, that’s their strategy.
The only thing that I can say is that LinkedIn’s strategy was effective. I could imagine if Facebook would do that, users would go crazy. Thanks for sharing.
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I’d be surprised if I even see anything on from LinkedIn I did make a profile once before but never updated it or anything. I really don’t find a need for it I guess.
Amazing, amazing idea! This makes me almost think of how certain sites/apps use achievement and badges (like Foursquare) to keep you wanting to use the app. Both are honing in on the human need to be significant…whether it is by having badges your friends don’t have, or having more profile views than 99% of a huge site’s users. Well thought out and executed!
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If it was a PR masterstroke, it worked very well. As state in the article, all users started braggina and talking about their achievements on various forums and social netwroks. Therefore, the company benefited from a lot of free advertising. Intentionally or not, this move brought them great benefits.