LinkedIn CMO Shares 2026 Playbook for Top Voices, B2B Creators and AI Slop

LinkedIn Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Jensen joined host Jon Evans on the “Uncensored CMO” podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on what works on the platform now, covering Top Voice status, the B2B creator boom, new product features, and how AI is reshaping the job market. Seven takeaways stood out:

1. Top Voice Status Comes From Engagement, Not Just Output

Jensen said LinkedIn’s editorial team selects or accepts nominations for Top Voices based on specific behavioral markers. “We’re looking for people who have a point of view who speak to specific expertise targeted at certain audiences,” she said. “They post frequently. They post thoughtfully. They engage with the comments in their post. They’re not just post and run, post and run, post and run. They are part of the conversation, they solicit conversation, and they engage.” Creators can nominate themselves or others through the LinkedIn help center.

2. Creators on LinkedIn Have Doubled Since 2021

Jensen cited LinkedIn’s own data on creator growth: “We have seen a doubling of creators on LinkedIn since 2021. So it is absolutely blossoming.” She tied the growth to generational buying power in B2B, noting that “86% of B2B marketers say that Gen Z and millennials trust peer recommendations and expert voices more than branded content or ads or marketing.”

3. Brands Should Give Creators Creative License, Not Scripts

Jensen argued that treating creators as media placements rather than partners undermines results. “You give creators creative license to use your products, try them, talk about them in their own voice to their own audience. And that is the union that yields the best results,” she said. She pointed to LinkedIn’s own use of creator Corporate Natalie as emcee at its New Fronts event as an example: “She played a ukulele. She made up a song. She roasted people in the audience… That’s how you work with a creator because they are a creative person.”

4. LinkedIn’s ‘AI Slop’ Flagging Feature Has Cut Flagged Activity 40%

LinkedIn introduced a feature letting users flag posts as AI-generated low-quality content and is introducing a system to notify creators when their posts are flagged this way. “We have already seen a 40% decline in AI slop activity,” Jensen said, adding that the company chose the colloquial term over a more formal label. “The term AI slop is well known and used … we went with the more kind of organic human version.”

5. Video Remains the Most Underused Format on the Platform

Asked which content formats are winning, Jensen said video outperforms other formats but remains underleveraged. “Video performs extremely well, and I think if you want to build your personal brand or your company brand video is critical,” she said. “I will say a lot of people underindex on video.” She recommended portrait orientation for most posts given mobile-first consumption habits.

6. LinkedIn Content and Ads Are Indexed by LLMs

Jensen said LinkedIn posts and advertising register in large language model outputs, a dynamic she said is underappreciated. “LinkedIn happens to be the number one source of LLM information for professional queries,” she said, adding that B2B buyers increasingly use LLMs for research and vendor shortlisting before ever contacting a brand directly. As Evans put it: “If you’re not on the broader consideration set before the decision gets made, you’re too late.”

7. AI Is Widening a Gender Gap in Hiring, Not Just Displacing Jobs

Jensen said LinkedIn’s data does not show broad AI-driven job losses, including at the entry level, but flagged a hiring disparity within AI roles specifically. “Only 26% of new AI-related hires go to women,” she said, attributing part of the gap to “cronyism, which has been a problem for women in senior levels since the start of time.”