Access to exclusive content is the most enticing drawcard for luring new LinkedIn users into following brand pages, the business social network revealed.

While in the earlier days of the social network’s adoption, the inclusion in a community of like-minded professionals was the most common reason for following companies, the focus has shifted to information as content hungry professionals seek out insights and proof of business’ expertise.

The findings come from research conducted by LinkedIn on its Asia Pacific user base. Among the 32% of users – which number around 65% of professionals in Australia – who have liked a brand page, 67% initially did so to connect with like-minded professionals.

However, among the 41% of LinkedIn’s user base which are not currently following a company but are open to doing so in the future, 48% would follow for exclusive content or information.

The next most common reasons future followers would like a company were to engage in a personalised and ongoing dialogue with the company, and to be the first to know what’s new, both attractive to 46% of future followers.

The reputation of the company and perusing the company’s profile before purchasing from them are other key reasons why people would follow a company on the network.

Followers expect to receive insights and news from companies they follow on LinkedIn, rather than entertainment, the company’s senior director of marketing solutions, APAC, Olivier Legrand told the media at an event last week.

“On platforms like twitter and Facebook, there are high expectations around deals and special offers,” Legrand said. “On our platform, there’s expectation around features, more information about the brand, product information… they come to our platform to gather the right kind of information to be able to make the right decisions for their business.”

Talking about future plans for the social network, LinkedIn’s co-founder Allen Blue added that the aim is to build a content product that will have a focussed experience around specific industries or around companies, to provide professionals with the information they need. In the future it is envisaged the service will be used to help decide who it is best to do business with, whether that be finding a social media agency with the right experience or getting feedback on what the best hosting provider is.