LinkedIn demystified & explained: Mind-blowing stats, FAQs and stories

“Trust me, LinkedIn is currently the best platform to build your personal brand and grow your business.” Whenever I share that conclusion in my keynotes or trainings, people bombard me with questions:

·      But why, Dr. Nat? Why is it so powerful?

·      What is it good for? What makes it unique as a platform?

·      Who should use it? Isn’t it only a job search resp. a B2B platform?

That’s what this article is all about. I’ll give my best to answer these questions and share two, three facts or stats with you, to help you getting a better idea of LinkedIn and its potential. When you are a LinkedIn newbie or beginner, you’ll love this!

Let’s start with eliminating myths and wrong perceptions

First of all, we need to understand that LinkedIn is not a platform you only use when you look for a job. That’s why your LinkedIn profile also is not an online CV. LinkedIn is not a pure B2B platform. It also is not conservative, boring and stiff. And for everybody out of the German speaking region: It is not like Xing. So, what is it then?

People use LinkedIn to do business, generate leads, learn, network, find a job or employee and build their personal brand. Your LinkedIn profile is more of a landing page or a second webpage. For me, LinkedIn is neither a B2B or B2C platform, it’s an HB2HB platform, which means human being to human being. Since LinkedIn launched videos in 2017, it definitely isn’t as conservative, boring and stiff as it used to be and it has so much more to offer than Xing. More about that in a few seconds.

Why is LinkedIn so powerful?

In direct comparison to Facebook and Instagram, people who are active on LinkedIn have a business mindset. So, if you're active on LinkedIn, the chances of finding a potential customer or cooperation partner are much higher than on other social media channels. Personally, I always compare Instagram and Facebook to a theme park or a club, a disco.

Of course, you can also do business in a theme park or club, but I think your success rate would be much higher at an international networking event. And that's what I consider LinkedIn to be. For me LinkedIn is the biggest online networking event out there.

Who uses LinkedIn?

Here a few interesting LinkedIn stats: LinkedIn has 310 million (= 46,97%) monthly active users. Every second two new members sign up. More than 70% of all users are from outside the US and 57% are male users. 41% of millionaires use LinkedIn. 90 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers and 63 million are in decision-making positions. Only 24% of 18-24-year olds use LinkedIn. 

Now here some Instagram demographics: Instagram has 1 Billion+ monthly active users. 89% believe that Instagram is the most important social media channel for influencer marketing. 72% of teens use Instagram. 65% of the global Instagram audience is between 18 and 34 years old and 56% of Instagram users are Females. Furthermore, 89% of users are outside the US.

Conclusion: The average LinkedIn user is significantly older and seems to be in a higher position than the average Instagram user. This will especially please those whose target group is not Generation Y/Z. 

What makes LinkedIn special?

The social network you can build is six times larger on LinkedIn compared to Facebook. On Facebook, you can have a maximum of 5000 "friends". On LinkedIn you can build a network of 30,000, yep: 30,000,members. Not only that - the filter functions available on LinkedIn to identify exactly the person in city X with the title Y in industry Z will make the hearts of every marketer and salesperson beat faster.

In addition to that, other social media channels are currently pretty saturated. If you look at the user numbers of Facebook (2.5 billion) in direct comparison to LinkedIn (675 million), LinkedIn is still in its infancy. So instead of fishing in a sea where many other fishermen already stay, I would concentrate on the small lake around the corner, which not so many people have discovered yet. That lake is called LinkedIn.

Why it is so influential NOW?

Besides the last-mentioned fact, the organic reach on LinkedIn is currently at the level of Facebook in 2012, according to Gary Vaynerchuck. Organic reach means that the content you publish on LinkedIn, your content, is shown to a large part of your followers without having to put money into advertising. On Facebook, organic reach is now (almost) dead. The only thing that still works without advertising is Facebook Lives. So, if you create a lot of content, LinkedIn is a dream at the moment.

So, when will you finally work on your personal brand, grow your business and “get serious” about LinkedIn? 

PS: Share this article with a friend, client or colleague who still doesn’t see the value of LinkedIn!