The other day in class we touched the point about LinkedIn being one of the top channel for company recruiting. Today I found this article about usage of the professional network, and I think it might be interesting and useful for all of us.
LinkedIn is currently the 2nd largest social network in terms of visitors, after Facebook, having overtaken Myspace a couple of months ago. In July Lab 42, a market research firm, released an analysis on LinkedIn users, aimed at better understanding professionals’ use of the site and improve utility of the network.
Some insights from the research:
- 35% of LinkedIn members check the site daily, while 32% check it several times a week; in addition, 42% of users regularly update their profiles: on average, thus, users are really involved.
- Users are largely interacting, not only viewing, the site, which means that they are interacting with companies too, not only looking at companies’ announcements or ads.
- In terms of purpose for participating in LinkedIn, there are quite significant differences among users, depending on the job position. In fact, while low level employees mainly use LinkedIn to search for jobs and do networking with co-workers (24% and 23% respectively), mid level staff utilize the site for networking at industry level and also for more social purpose, i.e. to keep in touch with others (20% and 24%); finally, top level managers’ use of LinkedIn is principally directed to promoting their business, as well as industry networking (20% and 22%).
All this kind of information is particularly important for companies and marketers using LinkedIn as a tool to reach their ideal target: in fact, based on LinkedIn members’ demographics, they are able to target advertising or research to the demographic type that is more useful, based on information like education, location, job level, groups, etc. Moreover, LinkedIn offers the opportunity for companies and marketers to connect with their target through forums, Q&A, and groups.
It’s for sure a new source of insight for the marketing industry.
2 comments:
I think the advantage to LinkedIn is that it's branded as a professional networking site, versus Facebook which is social and in my opinion - getting completely out of hand. I'm actually glad to see that there are so many active users on LinkedIn, as I think digital media is often too social (do we really need another site that tells the world what we did, when it took place and where it happened?). I can also vouch that my work with PR has often led me back to LinkedIn when locating potential leads. The fact that people willing put out their resumes, makes my job easier.
Ce I agree that while LinkedIn provides great insight for the marketing industry, it is only good for reaching specific people and not for mass market broadcasting. From a marketer perspective it provides a great opportunity to build a quality network – you can leverage your friends contacts, it also helps you to identify gaps in your existing network. It is also a great tool to increase your brand’s visibility and generate direct sales leads. For example,
• You can reach potential clients by showing your expertise/displaying your services and conversing with people, when they ask questions in ‘Answers’.
• Also getting recommendations in ‘Services’ section allows your business to build goodwill in the community.
• Often you can drive more traffic to your blog posts by building in the blog links in your comments/answers.
• The same strategies can also boost the SEO standing of the company. For example the ‘Answers’ pages get indexed by search engines. You can improve the visibility of your website in search engines by giving reference to it in your answers. Also you can request your staff to link back to the company website, generating good quality links to your site.
But it is important to note that while all these marketing strategies available through LinkedIn can provide high quality and relevant traffic it is based on the company continuously monitoring LinkedIn. It requires engaging with the community on a user to user basis making it more effort intensive compared to other social networks.
But again if your business is dependent on brand building efforts the LinkedIn market can be a huge boost to the business. Also it provides a great platform for B2B sales.
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