February 12, 2026
The era of UGC driving rumbles on – with LinkedIn now saying that content generated by individual profiles is proving more effective for B2B lead/sales generation than business pages.
Yes, people buy from people so we can understand this logic. We’re more likely to engage with a personal post than a brand post on LinkedIn – or any other social channel – because it feels more genuine. It’s ‘likeminded’. Human in nature.
But LinkedIn also says brands should be empowering their employees to become content engines and help drive the wider marketing push. Logical, yes. But the cynic in us sees this as another way to drive ad revenue – so don’t just think this is LinkedIn saying, ‘just do organic, yeah?’. They want your money.
‘Creators are up next in B2B’
LinkedIn’s latest research indicates
These stats are quite compelling and certainly make a strong argument for you to be leaning on your SMEs more. Motivating them? A whole other story (and blog, frankly).
Dwell time on LinkedIn is less than other platforms and it has become something of a digital exhibition hall. You wander (scroll) between the aisles, catching eyes – someone offers you a sweet or asks if you’re the ‘key decision maker in your outfit’. It’s one big sales show and people are fed up of it. So there’s that, on top of the general self-congratulatory nature of the place – but it still works as a platform for driving business and web traffic, which keeps your CMO happy, right?
But perhaps the reason for slower dwell time and longer eye lingering on the likes of Meta is down to the personal nature. An individual’s view or experience does offer better connection. So, LinkedIn’s advice to lean on:
- external creators and influencers
- internal experts and executives
- employee advocates
offers multiple angles and perspectives – doesn’t create a silo or repetitive nature of sharing content.
The sell
From LinkedIn’s perspective, your CIO or Product Manager with over 1,000 followers is going to get good traction – but there’s a ceiling. Because organic always has a ceiling. Don’t let any platform or ‘social media guru’ try and convince you otherwise.
So, it’s therefore no surprise that further down the research link above, we see LinkedIn pushing thought-leadership ads. We think this is a good idea. It doesn’t take tons of budget and you can always test and learn as you go.
This is ultimately how you’re going to pull in new contacts. New leads.
Reaching new logos/customers – paid is how. That is the reality.
Does pushing paid budget to individual profiles ahead of brand make more sense?
We’d say there needs to be a balance.
Always on brand awareness > push through your company page
Siloed marketing campaigns needing ‘truth’ push > SMEs pushing content
AI scraping
LinkedIn is now one of the most cited references for AI chatbots. Searches on Google are picking up organic content; the most rewarded are individual profile posts that receive significant traction, generated by engagement. Reddit the only platform that surpasses it.
This reaffirms the trust in people before brand. Even though everyone knows the person they engage with is likely speaking for the brand, it’s easier to connect and you’re more likely to trust what you’re seeing.
To quote LinkedIn themselves:
“…data shows that the combined networks of employees are about 12x larger than a company’s own following. When those employees share their perspectives and experiences, they become some of the most credible voices your brand has — especially when they’re speaking as practitioners first, and “brand representatives” second.”
Our advice? See what takes off and then put more paid behind it. Repurpose, reshare.
It’s simple and effective.
If you need some advice on starting up UGC for your key stakeholders, let us know.