10 LinkedIn Facts All Business Owners Need to Know

How much do you know about LinkedIn? Because it’s “the world's largest professional network with more than 610 million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide,” it would be worthwhile to know all you can about it. LinkedIn began in the living room of its founder in 2002 and was officially launched on May 5, 2003. In 2016, Microsoft completed its acquisition of LinkedIn, “bringing together the world’s leading professional cloud and the world’s leading professional network.” Although its headquarters are in Silicon Valley, it also has offices worldwide to meet the needs of its global members. LinkedIn is considered by many to be the social media platform of choice for companies.

Here are 10 facts about LinkedIn all business owners should be aware of:

1. LinkedIn is a major player in terms of user engagement on social media, seeing an average engagement rate of 0.054%. And, LinkedIn has a more targeted user base than Facebook or Twitter.
2. LinkedIn generates the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate of social media platforms – almost 3 times higher than Twitter and Facebook. And, 80% of B2B social media leads come from LinkedIn.
3. Numbered lists using “top” content are shared more. They’re easy to read and assimilate, so users gravitate to them. One LinkedIn study showed that updates with the heading “top” followed by a number such as 3, 5, 10, 25, 30, 50, or 100 were shared up to 40% more than updates that did not include numbered lists.
4. More than 50% of social traffic to B2B websites and blogs is likely coming from LinkedIn due to content sharing and engagement.
5. 57% of LinkedIn use is mobile. While that is quite a bit lower than Facebook’s 88% of mobile engagement, one possible – and even likely – reason is that more people access LinkedIn during work hours so are more likely to do it from a laptop. However, in Google search results, LinkedIn pages tend to be among the top results.  
6. Content shared on LinkedIn should be a mix of styles and formats, including blog posts, industry news, and research, in-depth how-to and list-style posts, quick tips, photo updates, and company updates. Conversely, two types of posts that do not do well are anything with a header asking a question and videos.
7. Users are spending more time on LinkedIn. The average user spends 6:23 on the platform each day, viewing an average of 4.55 pages per visit.
8. Posting images results in higher levels of engagement. One study estimated that posting images nearly doubled the comment rate.
9. The fastest-growing demographic of LinkedIn users is college students and the newly graduated. If this is part of your target demographic, this is especially important!
10. LinkedIn articles provide a boost to SEO.

Keep these points in mind as you develop and tweak your social media presence, optimizing the benefits of LinkedIn for your business. If you’re feeling unsure of how to get started or how to improve what you’re doing, Evolve Impact Group is happy to talk about possible solutions. We offer social media packages to any or all social media platforms. Let us help you manage your social media presence and make an impact with your customers! Contact us today for more information.