If you’re a business-to-business marketer and you’re not using LinkedIn to disseminate your content, chances are you’re missing out on a lot of interested eyeballs.
According to a recent study of the 50,000-member strong B2B Technology Marketing community on LinkedIn, 85 percent of respondents said LinkedIn is the best social network through which to spread content. In a separate study, Webbiquity found that, at 17 percent, social media drove a majority of traffic to blogs when compared to other vehicles. Moreover, of the social media networks, LinkedIn generated the most traffic, responsible for 8.5 percent of all traffic.
From weaving LinkedIn into your lead generation strategy to relying on it to increase your website traffic, there are a number of use cases for the exceedingly popular professional networking site. And, in many instances, LinkedIn is surpassing Facebook and Twitter in terms of its marketing potential.
So why is LinkedIn such a dominant force in the B2B marketing community? Because it’s a virtualized extension of that community. Recent research published by eMarketer shows that nearly 80 percent of small- to medium-sized business marketers use LinkedIn for marketing purposes. This all means that marketers are realizing that the social media platform is the perfect venue for which to spread their messages, tell their stories and establish themselves as thought leaders.
LinkedIn, after all, is a community of business professionals. Therefore, one doesn’t expect to see content on the platform that he or she would see on Twitter or Facebook. In other words, B2B marketers now see LinkedIn for precisely what it is: a social media network that is composed in part of its target audience.
Someone who is browsing for content on LinkedIn is more likely to be immersed in that network with business-related thoughts and purposes in mind compared to someone who is clicking around on Facebook. Furthermore, there’s clutter on any given social networking site, but compared to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is relatively free of clutter. That means your content lives longer and potential customers are more likely to digest it.
The numbers are in and the facts say it all: when it comes to social media advertising, B2B marketers are most successful when using LinkedIn. Of course it’s not too late to establish a presence on the social media site. But you should consider doing that sooner or later, because it’s likely your competitors have already done so, establishing themselves as thought leaders and generating leads in the process.
Edited by
Carrie Schmelkin
Whitepaper 
