SENIORITY OF LINKEDIN STUDY PARTICIPANTS

Marketing Solutions

With IT budgets on the rise and most IT organizations planning signi�cant

investments in 2011-12, the software market is positioned for its strongest

growth in a decade.1

Software marketers can take advantage of these opportunities with

LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s membership includes leaders from every Fortune 500

company2 as well as executives at thousands of small and mid-sized

businesses. LinkedIn connects marketers with the most in�uential,

af�uent, and educated audience on the web3 – but can it connect you

with senior IT executives who drive enterprise software purchase

decisions? This is the question we looked at in LinkedIn’s 2011 U.S. IT

Software Buyer audience study.

We surveyed 800 U.S. IT Leaders and C-Level IT executives who are active

members of LinkedIn. The study examined decision-making responsibilities,

LinkedIn usage, trust factors, purchase intentions, and brand af�nities to

learn whether IT executives on LinkedIn:

• In�uence software purchase decisions at their companies

• Actively use LinkedIn to do their jobs and make IT decisions

• Have budget for major enterprise software purchases in the next 12 months

• Recognize and recommend speci�c enterprise software brands

SOFTWARE DECISION MAKERS ON LINKEDIN

ACTIVE BUYERS92% plan enterprise software purchases in the next 12 months

ENGAGEDSpend 5-9x more time at LinkedIn than leading IT sites

AUTHENTICParticipate under their real names and company af�liations

TRUST LINKEDIN & THEIR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK93% rely on their work colleagues / professional network for software recommendations

56% look to LinkedIn for enterprise software information

Reach IT Software Buyers with LinkedIn

Participants in the 2011 IT Software Buyer audience study included a representative sample of C-level IT executives (CIOs, CTOs and COOs with IT responsibilities) and IT Leaders (VPs, Directors, and Managers). Base: all survey respondents (n=800)

LinkedIn IT Software Buyer Audience Study, 2011

1

10% 20% 30% 40%0%

CIO, CTO, COO IT C-LEVEL

IT LEADERS

VP

DIRECTOR

MANAGER

50%

REACH SENIOR IT DECISION MAKERS ON LINKEDIN

IT executives are active on LinkedIn – and not just for job searchesThe number of channels that compete for the attention of technology

leaders continues to grow. How are these IT executives using LinkedIn,

and how does their LinkedIn usage compare with time spent on leading

IT channels?

As a group, IT professionals tend to be early adopters and have long

been actively engaged on LinkedIn. In fact, IT professionals who visit

LinkedIn spend more time on site per visit – and view more pages per

visit – than they do at leading IT sites such as ZDNet, IDG, and Ziff Davis

Enterprise.5

Do IT executives spend their time on LinkedIn to network, share

recommendations, and seek IT information – or are they simply looking

for jobs? We examined the activities of IT executives on LinkedIn during

a typical month and found that IT executives primarily use LinkedIn to

engage in professional networking activities, view people and pro�les,

participate in LinkedIn Groups around a professional interest, and learn

about companies and products. Participation in each of these activities

exceeds job hunting by a wide margin.7

75,000+IT LEADERS

OVER 88,000 IT LEADERS AND C-LEVEL IT EXECUTIVES ARE ACTIVE ON LINKEDIN EACH MONTH 4

12,000+C-LEVEL IT EXECS

2

IT PROFESSIONALS ON LINKEDIN ARE HIGHLY ENGAGED

Average Pages per Visitor (US)

Minutes per Visitor (US)

34

19

4 3

LinkedIn ZDNet IDG Tech Network Ziff Davis EnterpriseSites

3 2 2 2

IT professionals spend more time and view more pages per visit on LinkedIn than on leading IT sites.6

IT execs on LinkedIn are senior decision makers It can be dif�cult for marketing professionals to ensure that their

messages are reaching the right people at the right level in an

organization. LinkedIn makes it easier for marketers to reach their target

audience, because LinkedIn members participate under their real names

and organizational af�liations, and senior executives comprise a

signi�cant portion of the overall audience.

Of the 800 IT executives who participated in the LinkedIn Software

Buyer audience study, 70 percent were director level or above,8

76 percent are employed by organizations that have over 1,000

employees, and all play a signi�cant role in IT software purchase

decisions in their companies.

LINKEDIN CONNECTS SOFTWARE DECISION MAKERS TO TRUSTED ADVICE

When making software purchase decisions, ‘Work colleagues/professional network’ is the #1 trusted resource for IT executives on LinkedIn, surpassing other trusted sources of information. Base: All survey respondents. (n=800)

IT execs trust their colleagues and professional networksAccording to Forrester Research, business technology buyers consistently rank ‘peers and colleagues’ as the number one source of in�uence in the buying process.9 The LinkedIn Software Buyer audience study reinforces this �nding, with 93% of decision makers looking to their colleagues and professional networks for trusted advice on enterprise software purchases.

Furthermore, IT executives on LinkedIn are exceptionally well connected, with three to �ve times more connections in their network than the

average LinkedIn member.10

REACH ACTIVE SOFTWARE BUYERS

92%OF IT EXECUTIVES SURVEYED

IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS; 79% PLAN TWO OR MORE

20%

93%

80%

59%

58%

51%

23%

22%

40% 60% 80%0% 100%

WORK COLLEAGUES/PROFESSIONAL NETWORK

INDUSTRY ANALYSTS(GARTNER/FORRESTER /IDC)

IT PUBLICATIONS (CNET,ZDNET, ETC.)

VENDOR WEBSITES

VENDOR SALESPEOPLE

IT FORUMS AND MESSAGEBOARDS

CONSULTANTS

When deciding whether to purchase a particular software product for your company or institution, do you trust recommendations from the following sources?

IT executives consider LinkedIn to be an important asset in getting their jobs done, with 50 percent or more of respondents rating LinkedIn a good resource for:

• Getting information about enterprise software companies or products

• Getting advice on how to solve an enterprise software challenge

• Finding recommendations for enterprise software products

Additionally, 24 percent of C-level IT executives stated that information on LinkedIn had directly in�uenced a recent enterprise software purchase decision.

IT execs on LinkedIn are active enterprise software buyersWith major analyst �rms reporting double-digit increases in spending across most software categories in 2011-201211, it’s not surprising that most IT executives on LinkedIn are planning major purchases.

We surveyed LinkedIn users on their purchase plans across major enterprise software categories and found that 92% of IT executives had budgeted purchases in at least one software category, 79 percent in 2 or more categories, and 59 percent in 3 or more categories.

We also looked at purchase plans by category and measured awareness of major software brands across multiple categories. Contact your LinkedIn

account executive for more information on speci�c brands and categories.

CATEGORIES INCLUDEDIN THE STUDY

ANTI-VIRUS SOLUTIONS

BACK-UP SOFTWARE

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SOLUTIONS

CLOUD-BASED SOLUTIONS

COLLABORATION SOFTWARE

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP)

VIRTUALIZATION SOLUTIONS

PLAN AN ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE PURCHASE

Advertise on LinkedInLinkedIn is a powerful vehicle for enterprise software marketers to reach

their target audience. Our marketing solutions provide advertisers with

the ability to target audiences based on our members’ pro�le information,

including job title, job function, seniority, company name, company size,

industry, and geography.

To learn more about the LinkedIn IT Software Buyer audience study and

how you can tap into LinkedIn’s audience of af�uent, in�uential,

hard-to-reach professionals, contact your LinkedIn account executive.

MethodologyLinkedIn’s 2011 U.S. IT Software Buyer audience study was an online

survey �elded in Q1 2011. The survey was conducted with 800 active,

U.S. LinkedIn members whose LinkedIn pro�les met the de�nition of IT

Leaders and C-Level execs, and who were screened for their involvement

in IT software purchase decisions within their organization. For the

purposes of this survey, ‘active’ means a LinkedIn member who has used

LinkedIn at least once in the last 30 days.

The demographics of the survey were representative of the broader

LinkedIn Audience at the time the survey was conducted. A total of 800

LinkedIn members completed the survey; however, a number of analyses

focused on subsets of participants (n ~634 and n~166). The margin of

error on reported percentages is +/- 3.5% for the entire sample. The

margins of error for subgroup analyses are +/- 3.9% for the IT Leader

subgroup (n=634) and +/- 7.6% for the C-Level IT executive subgroup

(n=166), assuming a 95% con�dence level.

Software categories included in this study: cloud-based solutions, CRM,

collaboration, antivirus solutions, business intelligence, ERP, backup

software, and virtualization solutions.

Copyright © 2011 LinkedIn Corporation, Inc. LinkedIn and the LinkedIn logo are registered trademarks of LinkedIn Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

BRANDS INCLUDEDIN THE STUDY

For more informationhttp://marketing.linkedin.com/contact

4

Andrew Bartels, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, “What CEOs Of Small Software Companies Need to do In 2011” July 7, 2011.

As of January 2011, LinkedIn counts executives from all 2010 Fortune 500 companies as members.

The Nielsen Company @Plan data, released December 2010. U.S. LinkedIn members include more decision makers, more college and post graduates, with higher average household incomes, than many leading business websites.

LinkedIn active audience, February 2011. At the time the survey was conducted, 88,000 IT decision makers were active on LinkedIn each month, and the number continue to grow.

Comparative pages per visitor and minutes per visitor from the Nielsen Company, @Plan January 2011.

Nielsen Company, @Plan January 2011.

In January 2011, 90% of active IT executives communicated with their network, 82% searched or viewed pro�les, 31% participated in a LinkedIn group for like-minded professionals, whereas only 12% looked at job listings.

At the time the survey was conducted, 22 percent of participants in LinkedIn’s 2011 U.S. IT Software Audience Study 2011 were C-level executives in IT (CIOs, CTOs , COOs), 10 percent were vice presidents, 38 percent directors, and 32 percent managers.

Kim Celestre, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, referencing Forrester’s Social Technographics® �ndings in her June 14, 2011 report, "The Social Tech Product Launch: Monitor Social Conversations to Guide New Product Introductions.”

‘Number of connections’ data based on LinkedIn active audience statistics, January 2011.

Andrew Bartels, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, “Mid-year update: Tech Industry Outlook for 2011 and 2012” (teleconference presentation), June 23, 2011.

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