I think everyone else is also "clueless" about it, I don't think the jury is out for the possibilities you can have as a Linkedin influencer.
Some people seem to be advertising their coaching services (for example: by targeting people looking for jobs), some are trying to advertise themselves professionally (lots of people showing Microsoft/Oracle/AWS certificates and writing articles about it), some are trying to advertise themselves as industry leaders so they can advance internally in their company, some are trying to build a network they can recruit from, and some are just misguided and are trying to replicate what they see on other networks.
Some people seem to be advertising their coaching services (for example: by targeting people looking for jobs), some are trying to advertise themselves professionally (lots of people showing Microsoft/Oracle/AWS certificates and writing articles about it), some are trying to advertise themselves as industry leaders so they can advance internally in their company, some are trying to build a network they can recruit from, and some are just misguided and are trying to replicate what they see on other networks.
I guess that's why content is all over the place.