For years, corporate communications teams have struggled to accurately measure executive influence on LinkedIn. Trapped in endless cycles of manual data pulls, clunky spreadsheets and surface-level metrics, teams have often failed to extract actionable insights quickly enough to matter.
The result? Wasted hours assembling static reporting decks, and countless missed opportunities to act on trending topics and stakeholder conversations when they bubble up. All of this has made it difficult for comms professionals to navigate what has become the most congested, saturated LinkedIn content landscape in the platform’s 15-year history—a challenge underscored by our analysis with data partner SocialHP, which showed that just one in 13 posts drives 81% of follower, engagement and impression growth.
How LinkedIn's Open API Can Speed Up Work
But a process that once took hours of consolidation and heavy human oversight just to ensure accurate data is now a thing of the past. With LinkedIn’s newly launched open API for personal profiles, which recently rolled out globally, communications teams can now unlock faster, more accurate and actionable insights. It gives PR pros a powerful new tool: the ability to incorporate predictive analytics into an executive’s journey to build influence and better monitor reputation on LinkedIn.
Crucially, this empowers teams to proactively shape executive visibility, benchmark against peers and guide thought leadership strategy with real-time insights. For teams working to build influence at the C-suite level, this is a shift in how reputational strategy can be measured, scaled, and optimized on the platform that matters most.
Expanding Your Executive Digital Content Strategy
So, how should this new API access change your executive digital strategy? Here are three considerations as you begin the journey:
- First, define your goals: Before diving into the data, clearly articulate what success looks like. Are you trying to increase visibility among a niche audience? Improve sentiment on key topics? Drive newsletter subscriptions? Defining measurable objectives ensures that the analytics map back to meaningful, business-driven outcomes.
- Choose the right tools—and layer in AI where it makes sense: The open API doesn’t automatically deliver insights; it feeds data into the tools already in use. Make careful decisions about which platforms to integrate and where artificial intelligence can help you surface patterns and recommendations faster—without replacing the human insights your team brings to the table.
- Incorporate external data to build a holistic view: LinkedIn metrics are critical, but not the whole picture. Layering in outside data—like media mentions, employee advocacy, competitor benchmarking or even trust sentiment from surveys—can help you see how your executive’s influence and reputation are evolving across the ecosystem, not just on one platform.
The opportunity to tap into LinkedIn’s API and build meaningful data frameworks to inform your strategy is an incredible opportunity. Those who embrace this new capability and build smart, measurable programs around it will be better positioned to cut through the noise and build executive influence that truly moves the needle.
Dorianne Ciccarelli is Vice President of Digital at MikeWorldWide. She will also be speaking on LinkedIn Newsletters during PRNEWS's Thought Leadership Masterclass on August 26.