semiocast : linkedin the b2b marketing platform (2017)

THE B2B MARKETING PLATFORM« From social marketing to smart social selling »

Linked

SemiocastThe Social Media Intelligence Company

LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017

2

Introduction: why this research?It is no secret to Chief Marketing Officers of B2B brands that most of their customers today use LinkedIn — except maybe in countries where the business-oriented social network is still weak, such as Japan and Germany. And this is why, besides the recruitment-related revenue stream, Microsoft made the move to acquire LinkedIn last year.As a result, social selling has grown into the most common feature of B2B marketing strategy and social selling consulting has turned into the new social media consulting. Yet, benchmarks are rare that might help CMOs shape their strategies and their teams’ objectives. How does the team perform? Are they reaching and engaging the right decision makers? How to design an influence strategy reaching the best suited actors for a given marketing campaign? These are typically the questions where social media intelligence can help: as a significant portion of LinkedIn members share public content on the social network, data and insights are there to be analyzed and transformed into efficient B2B marketing strategies.This unprecedented research is a set of universal benchmark results we are publishing to assert the role of LinkedIn as the B2B marketing platform. It is meant to help you quickly assess your team’s performance on LinkedIn and demonstrate the value of being active on the social network for marketing and sales specialists.

Are you reaching and engaging the right decision makers?

How can you design the best influence strategyfor your marketing campaigns?

The fundamental aim of marketers is to reach their audiences with the most adequate proposition, on a wide range of features, to foster proximity, relation, engagement. Measuring performance has to be grounded in sound, objective data. Semiocast is now providing new ways to gain a most precise picture of targets and to better assess impact of marketing campaigns on very select, most relevant, segments of population. Using world-class, in-house designed technologies, Semiocast offers the analytical skills that will turn insights into intelligence, artfully shed light on facts and trends, and eventually help you drive decisions and measured, most adequate actions.

Jean-Baptiste Dézard,Marketing and Sales Director,

Deloitte France


3

Methodology and outline

This research is drawing from our experience helping B2B brands define and implement concrete strategies to reach and engage their customers. Beyond statistics on the social network, our research aims to define a framework to measure the efficiency of LinkedIn members’ behaviors and to outline best practices.Indicators were built on a random sample of 20,000 public profiles visited in June 2017, drawn from each country where LinkedIn is present and defined in every language offered by the social network.The first part of this research combines official data published by LinkedIn with our own indicators to draw a precise image of LinkedIn profiles. For example we reveal 3% of accounts have 500+ connections.The second part of this research focuses on social media activity of LinkedIn members, including the growing social selling efforts of B2B sales people. One of our key findings is that thought leaders generating most engagement post only once or twice per month, as LinkedIn feed algorithm currently favors quality over quantity.Finally, for selected key metrics, we define the level of the top 1% of LinkedIn members, providing you with a first, simple baseline to improve your presence on the social network.


4

A growing worldwide networkof professionals


5

With a steady international growth,

LinkedIn attractsdecision makers

#1.1


6

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Launch of social selling tool (eg. Newsle)

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration

Direct sponsored content

Syncs its Sales Navigator with SalesForce

Set up Conversion Tracking

IPO

Microsoftacquisition

37M

300M

April 2017

500M

Number of LinkedIn members

SINCE 2014, LINKEDIN IS INCREASINGLY A SOCIAL SELLING PLATFORM WITH A GROWING NUMBER OF RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES


7

*TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY NUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS

139 M

40 M

31 M

29 M

22 M

13 M

13 M

10 M

9 M

9 M

United States

India

China

Brazil

United Kingdom

Canada

France

Italie

Mexico

Spain

*Total number of profiles located in each country

34%

34%

34%

36%

40%

40%

42%

43%

43%

58%

*TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY SHARE OF INTERNET POPULATION ON LINKEDIN

*Share of LinkedIn profiles among population with internet access (all devices)

United States

Malta

Iceland

Canada

Australia

Netherlands

United-Kingdom

Denmark

Singapore

Ireland

17 % OF EU

POPULATION IS ON

LINKEDIN

BRAZIL, INDIA AND CHINA REPRESENT A HUGE POTENTIAL IN TERMS OF USER GROWTH AND LINKEDIN IS STILL STRUGGLING AGAINST LOCAL COMPETITORS, ESPECIALLY IN JAPAN AND GERMANY


8

10%

4%

6%

6%

10%

64%

Other languages

French

Chinese

Portuguese

Spanish

English

Share of LinkedIn profiles by language

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

+ 99% OF PROFILES USE A

SINGLE LANGUAGE

ENGLISH IS THE MAJOR LANGUAGE ON LINKEDIN, INCLUDING IN NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES, WHILE USAGE OF CHINESE IS BOOMING SINCE 2015


9

On LinkedIn,every member is a brand

#1.2


10

ADVANCED 1

INTERMEDIATE

BEGINNER 2

BEGINNER 1

ADVANCED 2

EXPERT

ALL STAR

10%

4%

12%

12%

31%

10%

21%

LEVELS OF LINKEDIN PROFILE STRENGTH

1% OF PROFILES COMBINE

ALL STAR LEVEL WITH A

BACKGROUND IMAGE

Adding a profile photo

Writing a summary

Adding location

Filling out industry

+

+

+

Adding a position

+

Adding education

+

Having skills

+

LINKEDIN HAS BEEN GAMIFYING COMPLETION OF PROFILES, GENERATING THOUSANDS OF THIRD-PARTY TUTORIALS ON HOW TO REACH ALL STAR STRENGTH. IT NOW FEATURES 7 DISTINCT LEVELS.


11

3% OF MEMBERS ALSO UPLOADED A BACKGROUND IMAGE

16% OF PUBLIC PROFILES DISPLAY

A PHOTO

11% OF MEMBRES HAVE

A PROFILE SUMMARY17,075

TO CONVINCE USERS TO ADD A SUMMARY, LINKEDIN USES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE ONE BASED ON PROFILE

INFORMATION

BEYOND ALL-STAR LEVEL, LINKEDIN’S INTERFACE ENCOURAGES MEMBERS TO COMPLETE THEIR PROFILES TO MAKE SURE AS MANY MEMBERS AS POSSIBLE PROVIDE CURATED DATA ON THEMSELVES.


62% SAY THEY ARE CURRENTLY

HOLDING A POSITION

12,128

12

6,872

41% OF MEMBERS ADDED THEIR

EDUCATION

67% OF MEMBERS SPECIFIED AT LEAST ONE WORK EXPERIENCE

WHILE MANY PROFILES ARE INCOMPLETE, 48% PROVIDE PRECISE CURRICULUM VITAE INFORMATIONS


13

34 %

17 %

17 %

15 %

7 %

4 %

4 %

2 %

31+ years

26-30 years

21-25 years

16-20 years

11-15 years

6-10 years

0-5 years

Students

YOUNG TALENTS PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT LINKEDIN SOCIAL NETWORK BRINGS TO THEIR PERSONAL BRANDING

1/3 OF MEMBERS DISPLAY

MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

WORK EXPERIENCE BASED ON 48% OF PROFILES WITH SUFFICIENT RESUME DETAILS


14

LinkedIn ignitessocial recognition

#1.3


15

BEYOND COMPLETION OF PROFILES, LINKEDIN FAVORS VARIOUS MEANS OF SOCIAL RECOGNITION SUCH AS RECOMMENDATIONS. 75% OF PROFILES WITH SKILLS HAVE BEEN ENDORSED.

3% OF MEMBERS RECEIVED AT LEAST

1 RECOMMENDATION

1% OF PROFILES DISPLAY

40+ SKILLS WITH ENDORSEMENTS

✓

1% OF PROFILESRECEIVED AND GAVE

RECOMMENDATIONS

Skills but no endorsement7%

Skills & endorsements22%

1 2 3 4 5+

0.5%0.4%0.2%0.5%

1.5%


PROFILES WITH 1,000+ CONNECTIONS

16

MICROSOFT OFFICE1.40%

CUSTOMER SERVICE

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MANAGEMENT

1.12%

1.09%

1.02%

LEADERSHIP0.96%

PUBLIC SPEAKING0.91%

SOCIAL MEDIA0.81%

TEAM BUILDING0.72%

STRATEGIC PLANNING0.66%

SOFT SKILLS RELATED TO MANAGERIAL PRACTICE ARE PARTICULARLY POPULAR ON THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

NUMBER OF SKILLS

LEADERSHIP1.17%

MANAGEMENT

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

MARKETING STRATEGY

1.12%

1.07%

0.93%

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING0.87%

MARKETING0.87%

ENTREPRENEURSHIP 0.82%

DIGITAL MARKETING0.80%

TRAINING0.80%

SKILLS MENTIONED

ALL PROFILES

BUSINESS & MARKETING ACTORS FOUND THEIR PLACE AMONG MOST CONNECTED PROFILES


17

LinkedIn’s social graph is defined by

connections andsources of influence

#1.4


18

M O R E T H A N A H A L F O F PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS HAVE 500+ CONNECTIONS

$€£

NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS

& FOLLOWERS

0 0-99 100-199 200-299 300-399 400-499 500-999 1000+

1%2%3%2%5%5%

63%

21%

TRADITIONALLY, LINKS BETWEEN LINKEDIN MEMBERS WERE SYMETRIC CONNECTIONS : YOU ARE A CONNECTION OF YOUR CONNECTIONS.IN 2015, FOLLOWING FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN INTRODUCED THE ABILITY TO FOLLOW ANY OTHER MEMBER. YET, THIS « FOLLOWING » EDGE IS STILL UNDER-USED, AND EXCEPT FOR INFLUENCERS, THE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS EQUAL OR APPROXIMATIVELY EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS.

99.5%

0.5%DO NOT WANT TO BE FOLLOWED

ACCEPT TO BE FOLLOWED BY NON-CONNECTIONS

NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS TRADITIONALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC OF LINKEDIN PROFILES. ALMOST 1% OF PUBLIC PROFILES HAVE 1,000+ CONNECTIONS.


Richard Branson

Bill GatesJeff Weiner

Jack WelchArianna Huffington

Deepak Chopra MD

Daniel GolemanJames Caan CBE

Tony RobbinsDavid Cameron

Guy Kawasaki

Mark CubanLiz Ryan

Gretchen RubinNarendra Modi

19

18% OF MEMBERS ARE MEMBERS

OF ONE GROUP OR MORE

10% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW AT LEAST ONE

INFLUENCER

49% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW

A COMPANY OR MORE

LINKEDIN SUCCEEDS IN GETTING MEMBERS TO SUBSCRIBE TO SOURCES OF INFLUENCE AS MORE THAN HALF OF MEMBERS FOLLOW ONE SOURCE OR MORE. TOP 1% OF MEMBERS HAVE 75+ INTERESTS.

TOP 15 INFLUENCERS

5.5

2.32.3

11.68.25.65.6

5.14.02.92.62.52.42.3

2.2

1

2

15

14

13

12

11

10

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

FOLLOWERS (MILLIONS)

23% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW

A SCHOOL


20

Social media activity on LinkedIn


21

On LinkedIn, content is shared by few members

#2.1


70%

30%

22

7% OF ALL MEMBERS EVER SHARED A CONTENT PUBLICLY

6% WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

LINKS TO EXTERNAL MEDIA AND LINKEDIN PULSE (ARTICLES) REPRESENT HALF OF POSTS ON LINKEDIN.

Posts

Reshares

Articles

Images

TextVideo & job offers

35%

51%

9%5%


23

5% SHARED

MORE THAN ONCE PER WEEK

8% SHARED

1 TO 2 TIMES PER MONTH

TOP 1% OF 500M+ MEMBERS SHARE, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN ONE CONTENT PER MONTH.

AMONG PUBLISHING MEMBERS (6%) FOR THE PAST 12 MONTHS

67% SHARED

LESS 6 TIMES PER YEAR

THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS

THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS

THE MODERATE POSTERS


69%

25%

6%

43%

37%

20%


24

UNRELATED TO BUSINESS

COMPANY-RELATED CONTENT(NEWS, JOBS OFFERS, PRODUCTS…)

MOST ACTIVE POSTERS (ONCE PER WEEK) FLOOD THEIR FOLLOWERS WITH MESSAGES PROMOTING THEMSELVES OR THEIR COMPANY. THOUGHT LEADERS BELONG TO MODERATE POSTERS.


INDUSTRY-RELATED CONTENT(NEWS, INSIGHTS …)

NATURE OF LINKEDIN POSTS

48% PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

97% COMPANY PROMOTION

10% GOOD PRACTICES


25

Moderation and leadership generate more

engagement

#2.2


26

TO PUBLISHING MEMBERS, LINKEDIN SEEMS TO GENERATE MORE ENGAGEMENT THAN OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS AS 1% OF THEM SYSTEMATICALLY GET AT LEAST 10 LIKES PER POST.

1% OF LINKEDIN

MEMBERS GET ANAVERAGE

ENGAGEMENT ≥ 4

52% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET,ON AVERAGE, ONE LIKE/COMMENT

PER POST OR MORE

4%

8%

12%

16%

20%

24%

28%

32%

36%

40%

0 0,5 1 2 4 8 16 32 32+

AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT

SHA

RE

OF

PUBL

ISH

ING

MEM

BER

S

AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA KPI DEFINED HERE AS THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF COMMENTS AND LIKES PER POST


27

79%


THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS

(MORE THAN ONCE PER WEEK)

(LESS 6 TIMES PER YEAR)


(1 TO 2 TIMES PER MONTH)

MODERATE POSTERS GET THE HIGHEST AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT ON THEIR POSTS, WHILE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS CREATE SOME FATIGUE AMONG THEIR FOLLOWERS.

44%

53%

BELONGING TO TOP-HALF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY

GENERATED ENGAGEMENT


68%

BELONGING TO TOP-HALF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY

GENERATED ENGAGEMENT

28

52%

TOP MANAGEMENT

STUDENTS

OTHER PROFESSIONALS

TOP MANAGEMENT GET THE HIGHEST AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT, AND ESPECIALLY TOP MANAGERS POSTING MODERATELY (1-2 PER MONTH) WHO GET, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 7 LIKES PER POST.

53%

UNEMPLOYED & INCOMPLETE RESUMES 34%


29

53%

22%

14%

6%

4%

1%

IMAGE

TEXT

VIDEO

ARTICLEWITH IMAGE

ARTICLE WITHOUT IMAGE

SHARE OF PROFILES FOR WHOM THIS TYPE OF CONTENT

GENERATES MORE ENGAGEMENT

FOLLOWING A GENERAL PATTERN ON SOCIAL MEDIA, IMAGES GENERATE MOST ENGAGEMENT. JOB OFFERS ONLY GENERATE MORE ENGAGEMENT FOR 1% OF MEMBERS WHO SHARE THEM.

JOB OFFER


30

LinkedIn feed is designed to favor viral content

#2.3


SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF DIFFERENT “LIKERS”

31

40% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GENERATED ENGAGEMENT WITH ONLY 1 TO 2 MEMBERS. THE TOP 5% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS ENGAGED 20 OR MORE DIFFERENT USERS

No engagement 1 2 3-5 6-10 11-20 20+

5%7%

14%12%12%

26%24%

1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS GOT LIKES FROM

7 DIFFERENT USERSWITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS


32

No engagement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

9%

1%1%

6%

1%

6%4%

6%

19%22%

25%1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS GOT LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN

7 INDUSTRIES OR MORE WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF INDUSTRIES THAT REPRESENT THEIR “LIKERS”

ON LINKEDIN, 21% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS HAVE MORE THAN HALF OF "LIKERS" WHO COME FROM ANOTHER INDUSTRY. ONLY 5% FROM THEIR OWN INDUSTRY

CONTRE 5% POUR LEUR PROPRE INDUSTRIE


33

No engagement 1 2 3 4 5-9 10+

2%4%3%

7%

15%

46%

24%

1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS GOT LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 3

COUNTRIES OR MORE WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

LINKEDIN IS THE PREFERRED CHANNEL FOR CONNECTIONS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL PROFESSION PROFILES. 30% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 2 OR MORE COUNTRIES.

SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF COUNTRIES THAT REPRESENT THEIR “LIKERS”


34

Who are LinkedIn top members ?


TOP 1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS IN TERMS OF …

HAVE 1,000 CONNECTIONS OR MORE

COMBINE ALL STAR LEVEL WITH A

BACKGROUND IMAGE

SUBSCRIBED TO 75 INTERESTS

(PAGES, INFLUENCERS AND GROUPS) OR MORE

RECEIVED AND GAVE

1 RECOMMENDATION OR MORE

SHARE ONCE PER MONTH OR MORE

FREQUENTLY

GET AT LEAST 4 LIKES OR COMMENTSON AVERAGE ON THEIR POSTS

GET LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 7 INDUSTRIESOR MORE WITHIN A YEAR

WHEN THEY REGISTERED REGISTERED IN 2006 OR EARLIER

COMPLETION OF THEIR PROFILES

NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS

NUMBER OF INTERESTS

ENDORSEMENTS

RECOMMENDATIONS

THEIR ACTIVITY

THE ENGAGEMENT THEY GENERATE

THE VIRALITY OF THEIR SHARES

RECEIVED ENDORSEMENTS FOR 40 SKILLS OR MORE

✓

35


For more information

[email protected]+33 1 83 62 79 48

SemiocastThe Social Media Intelligence Company