TO: Proximity Social Networking Team
FROM:
DATE: Nov. 4, 2013
SUBJECT: LinkedIn strategy report
LinkedIn is the leading professional social network platform for employers and
business professionals. It is currently enhancing its mobile platform to attract more
premium members. Most millennial users, however, do not subscribe to LinkedIn’s
paid services as a means of job hunting.
LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn provide an online platform where users are able to create and manage a
professional profile, find career opportunities, network with other users, and manage
their portfolio. The company was founded in March 2003 as LinkedIn, Ltd by Reid
Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly, and Jean-Luc Vaillant. It
changed its name to LinkedIn Corp. in January 2005 and made its IPO (initial public
offering) in May 2011 (LinkedIn 2013). Now based in Mountain View, California,
LinkedIn's CEO is Jeff Weiner (Reuters 2013).
LinkedIn's revenue comes from three sources:
• consumers who purchase premium accounts with a monthly subscription fee;
• businesses and employers who subscribe to LinkedIn’s services for hiring
solutions;
• advertisers who use LinkedIn’s marketing solutions to place ads and measure
their effectiveness.
LinkedIn currently has 238 million registered users and generated $972 million in
revenue for 2012, up from $522 million in 2011 ((Standard & Poors, 2013).
Social networking landscape is driven by consumer bargaining power
Consumer bargaining power is very high across all social networks because
substitutes are available and the cost of switching is very low. Although LinkedIn
offers professional features that cannot be found on free platforms such as Google +,
Facebook, or Twitter, career seekers still have other options when it comes to job
searching. Rival sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder, provide extensive lists of
job/career opportunities (Standard & Poors, 2013).
Unheaded Introduction
identifies company and key strategy issue
summarizes millennial appeal
Company Profile
basic story, CEO, HQ
business model revenue sources
comparative performance metric
Competitive Landscape
topic heading and topic sentence identify key forces (not companies) which dominate landscape
examples for forces tailored to company
LinkedIn now focusing on mobile platform
LinkedIn dominated the old desktop computer landscape by creating a useful and
attractive online platform. Now more than 30 percent of the network’s 238 million
users surf the site using their smart phones.(PCWorld, 2013).
LinkedIn is positioning itself to compete in the new mobile landscape by optimizing
its products for smartphones and tablets.
In April 2013 LinkedIn overhauled its mobile apps in an effort to help make
the job hunting experience easier on mobile devices.
In October 2013 LinkedIn released “LinkedIn Recruiter,” a mobile app
version of the recruiter’s dashboard that the company offers on its web-based
platform (NASDAQ, 2013).
Analysts believe that LinkedIn's expansion into the mobile segment with the new
apps is a positive. In addition, LinkedIn’s premium subscription services and recuing
services continue to grow rapidly, generating increased amounts of
revenue. (NASDAQ, 2013). I agree with this position.
LinkedIn appeals to older millennial professionals
LinkedIn’s free services makes the platform very attractive to all millennial job
seekers. LinkedIn’s biggest challenge, however, is attracting younger users to their
paid services. Currently, LinkedIn’s premium services appeal primarily to older
millennial professionals who can afford the pricy $25 per month subscription fee
(Standard & Poors, 2013). Proximity clients who wish to recruit and engage that
cohort should consider paying for premium LinkedIn pages and ads. Clients who
target a younger, less affluent demographic should use other social networking
platforms.
References
PCWorld. (2013, October 16). LinkedIn pitches to recruiters on the go with mobile
app. PCWorld. Retrieved October 18, 2013, from
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2055340/linkedin-pitches-to-recruiters-on-the-go-
with-mobile-app.html
LinkedIn. (2013, February 19). LinkedIn Corp Form 10-K.Shareholder.com.
Retrieved October 18, 2013, from files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-
69T44N/2742485607x0xS1271024-13-10/1271024/filing.pdf
NASDAQ. (2013, October 18). LinkedIn Unveils New Apps - Analyst
Company Strategy
topic heading and topic
sentence state basic
strategy relative to
competitive landscape
provides specific current
or projected examples
illustrating components
of the strategy
provides evaluation of
the strategy
Millennial Appeal
topic heading and
topic sentence state
specific appeal for
millennials
explains relevance of
appeal to Proximity
clients; recommends
client actions
Blog.NASDAQ.com. Retrieved October 18, 2013, from
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/linkedin-unveils-new-apps-analyst-blog-cm289267
Reuters, LinkedIn, Inc. (2013, October 18). LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.K) Company
Profile.Reuters.com. Retrieved October 18, 2013, from
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?rpc=66&symbol=LNKD.K
Standard and Poor's. (2013, October 18). LinkedIn. Standard & Poor's Stock
Reports.
Retrieved October 18,2013, from S&P NetAdvantage database.