New guidelines on LinkedIn influencer marketing will help grow trust and engagement

Put together, these insights point at the growing importance of LinkedIn as a marketing tool. However, LinkedIn influencers were not on the industry’s watchdog, the Advertising Standards Council of India or the ASCI’s radar till recently.

In the week of January 6 alone this year, ASCI recorded 60 influencer violations on the Microsoft-owned platform.

The growing instances of such violation puts the apex body’s recent clampdown on influencers in perspective. Its advisory requires disclosure of any material connections with brands, advertisers or services they promote. Back in 2023, the central government had made it mandatory for social media influencers to disclose all material interests such as gifts, discounts and equity when making endorsements. ASCI too has issued advisories for social media influencers over the past few years but the practice of influencers misusing the platform to promote brands without disclosing their relationship with those brands has persisted.

Experts say that unlike Meta and Google, where tags like ‘paid partnership’ are prominently displayed and easily trackable, LinkedIn’s disclosure mechanisms are less standardised. Most LinkedIn influencers typically operate under limited scrutiny, often posting paid content without clearly labelling it as such.

Chetan Asher, founder & CEO, Tonic Worldwide, says in the absence of platform-specific disclosure tools, the responsibility for compliance will rest squarely on the brands and influencers involved. “Reputed brands will likely recognise that they are under the scrutiny of the industry watchdog. Any lapses in adhering to the guidelines could result in loss of credibility and potential punitive actions by regulators,” says Asher.

The advisory however doesn’t really specify the punitive action ASCI will take against violators. Asher proposes that the organisation could take a leaf out of its approach with misleading ads on mainstream media. “Publicly naming brands that violate guidelines and detailing resultant actions could further promote transparency and accountability,” he suggests.

LinkedIn v/s the rest

In the world of influencer marketing, Instagram is the most popular platform among influencers and brands across India with over 5 million creators, as per industry estimates. It is followed by YouTube at 3.5 million. LinkedIn trails behind with less than 1 million influencers in the country. “The latest thing on LinkedIn is to flex how well an ad created is being spoken about by industry peers. If your campaign gets discovered on the LinkedIn feed by someone not attached to it, that’s considered a success,” says Rajni Daswani, director, digital marketing, SoCheers.

Additionally, some companies push narratives around their corporate culture. Daswani illustrates, “A company giving its staff mental health time-off wants to be applauded within the community and hence will see a lot of people talking about it. Some conversations may happen organically while others get seeded through LinkedIn influencers. That drives the discoverability of the content on the platform.”

So what are the big challenges brands face on the platform? Sahil Gupta, lead, influencer marketing at IPG Mediabrands’ Interactive Avenues, says limited performance transparency is a challenge. “Unlike platforms by Meta or Google, where engagement metrics are publicly visible, LinkedIn only shares basic data such as likes, comments, and reposts. Metrics like views remain visible only to the creator, making it harder for brands to assess influencer impact comprehensively,” explains Gupta.

Brands that operate in the B2B space in particular use the platform, though it is also widely being used by segments like e-commerce and banking. However, LinkedIn gets a mere fraction of the influencer marketing budgets on an average, compared with other platforms.

Sums up Udit Pathak, founder and director, Mileage Media Mantra: “The guidelines will only make influencer marketing stronger on LinkedIn. When trust is built with the audience, engagement and impact will automatically follow.”