With nearly 700 million active users in 2020, LinkedIn’s expanded from a networking site for professionals to one of the top social media platforms.
By now, most of us have used LinkedIn to market our brands, post industry thought leadership, or look for our dream jobs.
As LinkedIn’s continued to evolve by adding new features, like live video, it’s steadily grown its user base. While the LinkedIn audience still skews towards career-minded professionals, the industries, interests, and demographics represented on the platform have become much broader since its launch.
Aside from LinkedIn’s user growth, it’s also continued to expand on advertising opportunities, which has helped make it the second most used platform of B2B marketers.
Today, it’s becoming quite clear that LinkedIn isn’t just for people in executive corporate roles. With millions of company pages and individual members, there’s a discussion, post, or professional network for almost anyone on this channel.
But, despite LinkedIn’s growth and advertising opportunities, many marketers or brands still worry that the platform is still too formal or corporate for their audiences.
The truth is — LinkedIn could very well be one of your most underrated marketing channels.
If LinkedIn’s growth has caught your attention and you want to determine if it’s audiences and ad offerings are right for you, it’s important to do some research before devoting more time and resources to this network.
To get you started on your LinkedIn research, here are 24 need-to-know stats about the platform’s audience, growth, and most common marketing tactics.
LinkedIn Stats to Know in 2020
General LinkedIn Stats
- In Q2 of 2020, LinkedIn revenue increased 21 percent year-over-year (LinkedIn)
- In 2019, LinkedIn made more than 6.8 billion in revenue. (LinkedIn)
- LinkedIn has more than 690 million active users. (LinkedIn)
- In Q1 of 2020, LinkedIn sessions increased 22 percent year-over-year. (LinkedIn)
- Marketing Solutions is LinkedIn’s fastest-growing segment. It grew 44 percent year-over-year in Q1. (LinkedIn)
- LinkedIn received 30 billion sessions from its members in 2019. This was a year-over-year increase of 27 percent. (LinkedIn)
- In 2019, LinkedIn was voted the most trusted network. (Business Insider)
- In March of 2020, professionals watched more than four million hours of LinkedIn Learning content — a nearly 50% increase month-over-month. (LinkedIn)
- LinkedIn Live streams have increased by 158% since February 2020. (LinkedIn)
- More than four million LinkedIn members were hired through the platform in 2019. (LinkedIn)
- LinkedIn’s Talent Insights service, launched in 2019, got more than 1,300 customers in its first year. (LinkedIn)
LinkedIn Demographics
- 57% of global LinkedIn users are male. (Statista)
- 25% of U.S. internet users say they use LinkedIn. (Pew Research Center)
- While 34% of those between 25 to 30 and 33% of those aged 30 to 49 say they use LinkedIn. (Pew Research Center)
- 45% of internet users who make more than $75,000 annually use LinkedIn while only 25% of those in the $50,000 to $74,999 range use the platform. (Pew Research Center)
- 50% of internet users with a college degree or higher use LinkedIn. (Pew Research Center)
- Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions at their companies. (LinkedIn)
Marketing Tactics and Lead Generation
- LinkedIn is the second most popular platform of B2B marketers, followed by Facebook. (Social Media Examiner)
- As of January 2020, 663.3 million users have been reached by LinkedIn Ads. (We Are Social)
- Data shows that the most engaging LinkedIn posts are published on Wednesdays between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and noon, Thursday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and Friday at 9 a.m. (Sprout Social)
- LinkedIn’s lead conversion rates are 3X higher than other major ad platforms, including Google Ads. (LinkedIn)
- Roughly 15% of marketers are creating content for LinkedIn. (HubSpot)
- Only 10% of marketers say they’re investing in LinkedIn. (HubSpot)
- In a study of over 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost three times or 277% higher than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%). (HubSpot)
Mastering LinkedIn Marketing
Because LinkedIn is a slightly different audience from other major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat, you’ll want to understand the audience before investing time or resources into a campaign or advertisement. Be sure to keep the stats above, as well as emerging research about the platform and its audiences, in mind as you prepare your next social media strategy.
If you’re looking for more inspiration or hard research to help you guide your LinkedIn strategy, check out this great post which highlights the most engaging topics and posting strategies on the platform. If you’re more interested in boosting your personal profile and network on LinkedIn, here’s a guide on how to become a LinkedIn thought leader.
