Why brands like The League are making the first move to take advantage of LinkedIn’s creator appeal

More intentional mindset

Increasingly, LinkedIn is catching consumer brand marketers’ attentions, said Noah Mallin, founder of Mallination, a marketing consultancy.

LinkedIn creators are seen as more niche, sharing professional insights and industry expertise rather than lifestyle as seen on TikTok or Instagram. LinkedIn reports 1.2 billion members, but it’s unclear how many monthly active users the platform has.

“LinkedIn isn’t like Instagram. Time spent there is shorter and the mindset is more intentional,” Mallin said. “Brands have to set aside their ideas of scale from influencers on TikTok and Instagram and recognize the transactional reasons users are there.”

The League, an exclusive, dating app geared toward professionals, partnered with LinkedIn voices including Chelsey Mori, founder of Unbound Legal, a law firm geared toward the creator economy, and Cherie Brooke Luo, co-host and exec producer of Tiger Sisters podcast. 

The strategy is intended to be an upper funnel campaign with the majority of ad spend dedicated to the creators themselves in addition to some paid boosting, according to Ally Lloyd, head of global marketing for The League. The dating app is eyeing things like engagement, reach and sentiment to determine success, Lloyd added. The League was unable to share specific success metrics in time for publication — or provide details on pricing. 

LinkedIn’s creator moment

There’s a shift in how users are using LinkedIn, making the case for a dating app to launch a campaign on the professional networking platform.

“We really wanted to focus on meeting these high intent, busy professionals where they are,” Lloyd said. “People are sharing more of their lives there. People are becoming more vulnerable.”

Lloyd isn’t alone in her thinking. LinkedIn is having a moment. Increasingly, agencies and creators have taken to the platform — an effort exacerbated after the platform itself launched a creator management program in 2021.

According to Dreamdata, a B2B revenue attribution and activation platform, LinkedIn ads deliver stronger ROAS for B2B marketers than other platforms, like Google Search and Meta. Last year, eMarketer reported that LinkedIn B2B ad revenues were expected to surpass $5 billion. 

Now, more consumer-focused brands, like The League, are waking up to LinkedIn’s offering as a brand safe way to reach affluent and premium audiences, said an agency executive familiar with The League campaign, who spoke on background. 

“People are realizing it’s this whole other territory that’s comparatively untapped. And in addition to that, the audience is more affluent, it’s a more premium place, it’s more brand safe,” said the exec.

Evolving audiences

Aside from the LinkedIn campaign, The League is evolving its media mix to focus on getting in front of more people. Though the app is not abandoning tried and true performance channels like Instagram and TikTok, real life experiences and niche digital channels are becoming more of a priority to reach audiences who are increasingly “numb” to ads, Lloyd said.

“For us, LinkedIn felt like a natural first step and we’re really excited to continue leaning into these more niche channels outside of the traditional media channels that we have going today,” she said.