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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.