Social media trends are uncannily dynamic. They rarely remain the same year to year and 2020 is not going to be different. As the year rolls by, brands keep reevaluating the metrics that matter the most which include aiming for long-term engagements instead of a sudden surge of likes for chasing a viral moment. Also, brands now target more advanced, dynamic, and direct social ads for the sudden growth of private, interest-driven communities. Keeping all these in mind, brands are now even putting influencers under a microscope for the exponential rise of fake influencers. And for the primary surge of traffic in these times, stories and videos still take the top place of the ladder.

So, which social network might gain an upper hand with this transitory community as of now? Facebook? Instagram? Tumblr maybe?

What if I make a bold prediction and say, LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has been overshadowed by its raucous younger siblings since time immemorial. Established way back in 2002- before Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and even before Twitter- this button-downed business platform has never attracted the drama or hype of other social networks. There’s no interesting movie about it. It is not the hub of political discussions neither it lies in the crosshairs of Congressional discussions. And it is also not the place of interesting influencers like Kylie Jenner but boring business leaders.

But quietly, in a predictable business-like fashion. According to the top online marketing companies currently, LinkedIn has emerged as a social force to be reckoned with. It now counts more than 500 million members. More than 100 million of which are monthly active users, meaning people who check in frequently to post and engage with followers, rather than just update their resume once or twice a year. Perhaps more to the point, these users are sets of business professionals. They are generally upwardly active and turn to the network for serious engagement, not to share memes. Companies as of now seek to engage customers, employees, and stakeholders, while also wrestling with the fallout from scandals on Facebook and Twitter. And for this purpose, quite a number of them are turning towards LinkedIn.

Now a question comes up. What is it that might make LinkedIn the next big thing? Below are some points enlisted, to consolidate the answer.

No-nonsense professionalism.

For most users, social media is a pretty enthusiastic and fun place to exist. But we all know the consequence of too much of a good thing. The glut of memes and clickbait clogging feeds has forced Facebook, Instagram as well as Twitter to renovate and recalibrate their algorithms to surface more relevant and useful content. All these networks have struggled a lot for nullifying the presence of bots and accounts with fake content. LinkedIn on the other hand has been mercifully spared from most of these controversies and confusion as it was never a place for viral videos or buzzy headlines. Posts here have mostly ranged towards the courteous, actionable and insightful and as the hardcore LinkedIn users would believe, there’s certain warm professionalism that underlies this platform too. To be precise, LinkedIn provides civility, stability, and real value that is sorely needed on some social platforms.

A no-brainer employer brand.

Companies in recent terms try to uphold the message that they are genuinely progressive, engaged, and even possess a fun and healthy working environment, to gain an upper hand over the rivals. And for this purpose, LinkedIn has turned out to be the perfect place as it’s filled with nothing but professionals looking for jobs.

Not just for B2B marketers anymore.

Without an inch of doubt, there are obvious benefits for companies operating in the business-to-business space of LinkedIn. For an instance, an estimated 40 million business decision-makers or to be precise the ones who seal deals and sign contracts, spend their time on LinkedIn. It is widely regarded as the number one social network for lead generation and according to some sources, possesses a three-time better conversion rate than Facebook or Twitter.

The capability of LinkedIn which is easily overlooked is that it can also be an effective way for brands to reach a general consumer audience, as, for a fact, half a billion business professionals on the network are also consumers themselves with sufficient income to spare. More than half have a college degree and among the rest, f44% make more than $75,000 per year.

Added to all this, other networks grow increasingly crowded with ads and clickbait, while LinkedIn keeps providing an attractive professional network as well as a social network of choice for many years. LinkedIn, as said by most of its users, isn’t just a place of boring business updates, instead, it has all the tools to hit the sweet spots for personal-meet-professional moments.

As for posts, not just ideas and information, but photos and videos perform equally well on LinkedIn. Adding relatable hashtags with regards to the topic or directly mentioning users also improves organic growth. Alongside engagement, having one’s own company and ensuring all the employees follow and interact with the page, dramatically enhances the reach on LinkedIn posts. Further, businesses hire top social media marketing companies to make sure that the companies profile on LinkedIn as well as all social media platforms is up to date.

Quietly committed to innovation.

If not one of the most, the most exciting element of LinkedIn is it is quiet, but the relentless pace of innovation. For a vivid comparison, just a few years ago the network was just a place to post one’s resume. But as time elapsed, in 2015 they added blogging and publishing 100,000 articles every week. This just keeps getting better. Last year, they revealed native video, turning out to be a video publishing platform. And this fall by anticipating an industry-wide shift by social users to a more intimate, member-only space they worked on their group functionality feature and enhanced to a great extent.

Also, as an added advantage, LinkedIn now possesses hosts of new integrations with its pages, including the one directly under Hootsuite that enables users to post video and respond to comments, making it more attractive than ever for brands.

For a definite closure, LinkedIn like a little wonder keeps catching up with social media trends and ultimately continues to amass followers. As per statistics, the platform has dramatically risen from 500 million to 575 million members over the last 16 months, with no signs of slowing down. And like a direct response, as users rush in, brands will sooner or later follow. Surely, the top social media marketing companies have realized this, and soon everyone will. So, before we even realize it, LinkedIn might just surprise everyone, and from being the steady first-born social network, might finally become the next big thing.