Taken from SFgate.com, a March 23 article by Rashad Dixon. Its entirety is here, but I pulled an excerpt pertaining to financial services marketing:

Since its launch in 2003, LinkedIn has come a long way. Originally little more than a Facebook for the working world, the professional social network now boasts more than 575 million members. Along the way, it’s become a top recruiting platform, a must-have for marketing, a networking platform and a saving grace for salespeople.

But LinkedIn’s legacy isn’t written just yet. In fact, the social media platform’s future looks brighter than ever. Media consultancy 4C reported last August that the only social media platform to beat Instagram’s 204 percent year-over-year growth in ad spend was LinkedIn, which posted a 212 percent jump over the same period. For all other social platforms, 4C found that ad spend grew less than 50 percent last year.

Neither sales nor networking look the same in the retail industry as they do, say, in financial services. To help leaders take a tailored approach to talent development, LinkedIn regularly publishes guides and webinars that cover best practices in each industry.

LinkedIn’s latest industry webinar, for instance, helps those in the financial services sector maximize its tools. “The growing complexity of the advisory business is requiring Wealth Managers and Financial Advisors to rethink the way they do business,” LinkedIn’s Jennifer Benincasa wrote in a blog post. “Social networks can help financial professionals differentiate their value proposition to prospects and clients.”

In addition to its content for the financial services industry, LinkedIn also publishes articles and guides specific to marketing, higher education, recruiting and more. What’s more, LinkedIn encourages users to fill its industry gaps by suggesting the best content for company pages to share.