The benefits of businesses using social media are countless, which is why LinkedIn is such an asset for the business world.
And, with a growing number of companies both large and small linking in everyday, the B2B aspect of the site is an essential networking tool.
With that in mind, why exactly should businesses use Linkedin and how many have already jumped onboard?
Some Statistics
According to Lab 42, a leading infograph and research website, there are currently 200 million users on LinkedIn. Not surprisingly, of those users, 2.7 million have active business pages and 1.5 million of those business pages are part of networking groups.
To further break down these numbers, 22% of the industry networking that takes place on the site is done so by top-level executives and 20% by middle management. And, almost every business with a LinkedIn account promotes or recruits through their business pages.
Business Pages on Autopilot
A LinkedIn business page allows for B2B networking, promoting, and gives companies a place to actively update their profile.
These are all great features, but LinkedIn is making it even easier for business pages to take shape. For example, current employees that already have a LinkedIn account are automatically added to their company’s business page.
Additionally, for those companies that don’t yet have a business page set up, once a certain amount of employees set up a personal account, LinkedIn will automatically create a page for the business. So, businesses can network before they even realize they’re in a network.
Real-time Recruitment
LinkedIn is an indispensable resource when it comes to employee recruiting. Not only can employers search candidates based on previous company information, profile keywords, and job boards, but all these conveniences lead to an almost 60% faster position fulfillment.
Backed by Google
Online reputation is extremely important to businesses that have an online presence; Google considers LinkedIn personal and business profiles high authority making them a trusted source of information.
Likewise, company and employee names associated with LinkedIn usually rank among the top in terms of Google’s ranking and search result systems. In fact, try googling an employee or company that uses LinkedIn and see for yourself.
Keeping In Touch
Professionals’ change companies all the time and because of this, LinkedIn features a unique tracking system that allows businesses and individual employees to follow other’s career moves.
When an employee changes companies, updates a skill, or gets promoted to another position, that employee’s contacts are instantly notified. The same goes for businesses that change their name, geographic location, or profile.
All of this is essential for continued networking as well as network growth.
Making Company Visibility More Visible
Company branding and marketing efforts are almost effortless with Linkedin. Not only do businesses stay connected with one another through LinkedIn, but by simply having the LinkedIn logo associated with their brand, businesses stay connected with customers too.
The little blue “in” logo keeps interested customers in the know on everything about a business on an industry level. And, that kind of web presence plays a major role in brand visibility.
So, from network growth to business pages, LinkedIn is connecting the world of business to the world at large.