In 2025, Gen Z is expected to make up 27% of the workforce. As LinkedIn’s fastest-growing audience segment, they represent a major opportunity for the platform’s continued growth. However, there remained a gap in visitation intent between Gen Z and previous generations — meaning that while young professionals were aware of LinkedIn, they weren’t engaging with it as frequently due to a lack of understanding the platform’s value.
We set out to change that by designing content that would resonate with Gen Z, showing them that LinkedIn is not just relevant but essential in their career journey. Our approach was to work with micro-influencers to create content that would be genuinely beneficial for them, and prove that LinkedIn was a place to get real career insights.
Our three main objectives:
Since its introduction on LinkedIn in 2017, video has become the platform’s fastest-growing format, with a 34% increase in uploads and 40% more engagement than written posts. The launch of LinkedIn’s immersive video feature — allowing users to browse content, watch videos in full-screen, and swipe vertically — created the perfect opportunity to showcase bespoke content that contains valuable ‘know-how’ for our target audience.
With research showing that 60 seconds of video is equivalent to reading nearly 1.8 million words (Forrester), we leaned into microlearning — snackable, high-impact content designed to teach something useful in under a minute. Our strategic proposition became: “Credible know-how, in a bite-sized package — wherever and whenever.”
To reach a Gen Z audience already using LinkedIn, we worked with three micro-influencers with a combined following of just under 40k on the platform to create authentic, relatable and credible video content packed full of ‘know-how’. To reach those who weren't using LinkedIn as frequently, we also created a content series that ran on Meta, with each episode featuring a snippet of the micro-influencers’ content.
In the first episode, Patrick Quinton-Smith, founder of The Gen Z Coach who specialises in unlocking the potential of Gen Z professionals, covers what young people should be looking for when trying to find the right job. In the second, Shola West, a content creator who provides young and underrepresented job-seekers with advice on careers in marketing, explains how to do well in an interview. The third and final episode features Heather Elkington, Founder of Fresh Leadership World, and a specialist on how to get ahead in your career, guides young professionals through speaking up in meetings.
‘Know-How That Sticks’ was designed to make career advice more engaging for young professionals by tapping into a popular sticker trend and blending humour with real, expert-led career guidance. To reflect the often overwhelming amount of advice Gen Z encounters online, in each episode we introduced quirky animated talking stickers that humorously exaggerated conflicting guidance.
Bombarded by the noise, the LinkedIn branded sticker provides a voice of reason, directing the protagonist to watch a clip of our micro-influencer content, delivering tangible career tips. This had the aim of hooking the viewer in so they would visit the platform to see the full micro-influencer video. This was reinforced with the message that they can get trusted advice from credible professionals via immersive LinkedIn videos. Each episode wrapped up with the message: “Get the right know-how, from the right people.
The ‘Know-How That Sticks’ micro-influencer videos and the content series provided young professionals with practical, career-focused knowledge. Using Kantar’s Context Labs, and on-platform data, we were able to see a successful increase in LinkedIn's visibility amongst the Gen Z audience and reinforcement in its perceived value as an essential resource for their career journey.
Reach a relevant audience
Perceived Career Value
Improve Visitation Intent
The content series got 1.7m thruplays on Meta (61% higher than planned) and we saw that our micro-influencer posts on LinkedIn received 1,155 engagements, showing that both types of video successfully resonated with our audience.
Overall, the campaign was a success, driving measurable increases in brand awareness, perceived career value, and visitation intent.
