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Has LinkedIn Reached its Tipping Point?

Posted by: Janice on Thursday, February 10, 2011

When it comes to social media, Facebook and Twitter are usually the first sources that come to mind. But when it comes to social media for the B2B market, LinkedIn leads the way. Hands down.

A recent study¹ shows that LinkedIn has grown significantly when it comes to B2B logins. From 3% in July 2010, to 30% in January 2011. With growth like that, B2B businesses need to make it a priority to consider how they can use LinkedIn to attract new customers and engage their current customers. LinkedIn is not just a networking Web site anymore, it is now a huge opportunity for B2B companies.

900% growth not enough for you? Consider this:

• 41% of people in LinkedIN are in the age group of 35-54.
• People on LinkedIN are on there specifically to discuss business or network.
• You can target businesses & people by industry, and job function.

Job Function Breakdown:

 

With stats like these, it’s a good idea to take some time and figure out how LinkedIn can help grow your business. There is a good chance that many of your employees are already on LinkedIn. Consider taking some time to think through guidelines for your employees' usage of LinkedIn. You may want to encourage them to join in on discussions and questions, therefore helping them establish relationships that can help your business. Or if you are in a regulated industry, you may want to make it clear that employees cannot answer questions that would not be compliant with your industry regulations. Or you may want to get your PR department involved in answering questions on LinkedIn.

Then you need to figure out if you should advertise on LinkedIn. And, if so, how to capitalize on the fact that you can target your messaging by industry, job function, location, etc. Should you have different messages for different industries? If so, then you will need to make sure that your landing page is consistent with that messaging.

There are many ways that LinkedIn can help grow your business. I have listed just a few. Take the time to put together a strategy (even it it's just quick outline). With growth like this, by the time 2012 comes around your company may very well have missed a lot of opportunities.

Don’t have the time, resources or the expertise to figure out how LinkedIn can be used to grow your business? Ridge Marketing can help. We will take the time to understand your business model, goals and culture and develop and manage a LinkedIn strategy for you.

¹ Gigya and LinkedIN; North America Data as of January 31, 2011.