Top LinkedIn Demographics That Matter to Social Media Marketers

LinkedIn is the biggest social platform that caters directly to business professionals. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to share great content for your brand, looking for talent, or reaching a new audience—it’s a powerful platform. Understanding LinkedIn demographics will help you understand who you’re targeting, and craft compelling messages for them.

Keep reading to find the most important LinkedIn demographics. Use them to narrow down your targeting efforts—and boost your social impact.

LinkedIn general demographics

LinkedIn age demographics

LinkedIn gender demographics

LinkedIn location demographics

Linkedin income demographics

LinkedIn education demographics

LinkedIn general demographics

LinkedIn launched in 2002 to help business professionals network and connect. Since then it’s grown into the Internet hub for brands, companies, and professionals of all stripes to connect, find talent, and share ideas.

Here are just a few key numbers to keep in mind for context:

Another very important thing to note is how your LinkedIn users are accessing the site. 57% of LinkedIn users access the site using mobile devices. While that number is actually low when compared to Facebook (88%) or YouTube (70%), it’s still important that marketers make sure to optimize their content (e.g. links, forms, video) to mobile.

LinkedIn age demographic

Considering LinkedIn’s goal of connecting business professionals, it’s no surprise that the platform’s users tend to be older. In fact, US Internet users over the age of 35 are more likely to use the platform than younger users.

Here’s a breakdown of US Internet users who use LinkedIn by age (source):

• 15-25 years old: 16%
• 26-35 years old: 27%
• 36-45 years old: 34%
• 46-55 years old: 37%
• 56+ years old: 29%

Some things to note: LinkedIn is most popular with older users, with 46-55 year olds most likely using the site. That’s not too surprising when you consider the average age of a Fortune 500 CEO is 58 years old.

However, millenials are rapidly growing their presence on LinkedIn. They’re also a prime market due to their high-purchasing power and early-career status. Globally, 25-34-year-olds are LinkedIn’s advertising audience’s biggest cohort.

Also, it’s worth noting that Gen Z is still a few years out before they need to be targeted on LinkedIn—so put away all your Fortnite memes and TikTok lip-syncing videos (for now at least).

LinkedIn gender demographics

When it comes to gender, US men and women are equally represented on the platform—with 25% of US men and women saying they use LinkedIn.

Globally it’s a different story. Taking account of all LinkedIn users worldwide, 57% of users are male and 43% of users are female.

Here’s an even more detailed breakdown from our 2020 digital report on social media of LinkedIn’s advertising audience by age group and gender.

Note: Much of the research and data provided by LinkedIn and other survey organizations are presented in the gender binary. As such, there isn’t currently a more detailed breakdown than “men vs women.”

Hopefully, though, this changes in the future.

LinkedIn location demographics

LinkedIn users live in 200+ countries and territories all over the world. Roughly 70% of users are outside of the United States.

However, 167+ million LinkedIn users live in the United States—the most out of any other country followed by India, China, and Brazil. Great Britain and France come in at the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. When looking to target LinkedIn members, consider the vast size, reach, and diversity of the global workforce.

What does this mean for you? When targeting LInkedIn users, consider the vast size, reach, and diversity of the global workforce, as well as the United States.

Taking a deeper look into US users, we find that they live primarily in urban areas. Here’s a full breakdown of US adults who say they use LinkedIn and where they live:

• Urban: 30%
• Suburban: 27%
• Rural: 13%

No real surprises here considering LinkedIn is targeted towards business professionals who tend to work closer to urban centers.

LinkedIn income demographics

Most of LinkedIn’s US users earn more than $75,000—and that only tells part of the story.

Remember: LinkedIn is home to Fortune 500 executives, CEOs, founders of major companies, and more. In fact, 45% of LinkedIn users are in upper management. That means the earning potential of those you can target on LinkedIn can be BIG.

Great news for brands targeting high-paying customers.

It’s part of the reason why 58% of B2B marketers prefer LinkedIn ads compared to other social organizations. Another reason could be that 80% of B2B leads generated on social media come from LinkedIn.

Here’s a full breakdown of the income earnings of US users:

• <$30,000: 13%
• $30,000-$49,999: 20%
• $50,000-$74,999: 24%
• $75,000+: 45%

LinkedIn education demographics

More than 46 million students and recent college graduates use LinkedIn. They are the networking site’s fastest-growing demographic.

50% of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn, versus only 9% of members with a high school diploma or less.

This makes sense. LinkedIn is a great place to network and find jobs. Those having graduated from post-secondary education are likeliest to use LinkedIn to jumpstart their careers.

• High school or less: 9%
• Some college: 22%
• College and more: 50%

Recognizing the ways different groups use LinkedIn is key for your marketing strategy. Once you know information about your audience and how they use social media you’re able to much better understand their needs and find ways to solve their pain points. In understanding your customers on LinkedIn, you’re able to customize your business model to match.

Now that you know more than ever about your potential LinkedIn audience, take your marketing strategy to the next level by scheduling posts and managing your LinkedIn presence using Hootsuite.

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