Discover in this report by Semiocast new statistics on LinkedIn social network to establish your Social Selling strategy: Who are LinkedIn users? How to reach top 1%? What is the best frequency to share content on the social network?

1. THE B2B MARKETING PLATFORM
« From social marketing to smart social selling »
Linked
SemiocastThe Social Media Intelligence Company

2. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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Introduction: why this research?
It is no secret to Chief Marketing Officers of B2B brands
that most of their customers today use LinkedIn — except
maybe in countries where the business-oriented social
network is still weak, such as Japan and Germany. And this is
why, besides the recruitment-related revenue stream,
Microsoft made the move to acquire LinkedIn last year.
As a result, social selling has grown into the most common
feature of B2B marketing strategy and social selling
consulting has turned into the new social media consulting.
Yet, benchmarks are rare that might help CMOs shape their
strategies and their teams’ objectives. How does the team
perform? Are they reaching and engaging the right decision
makers? How to design an influence strategy reaching the
best suited actors for a given marketing campaign? These are
typically the questions where social media intelligence can
help: as a significant portion of LinkedIn members share
public content on the social network, data and insights are
there to be analyzed and transformed into efficient B2B
marketing strategies.
This unprecedented research is a set of universal benchmark
results we are publishing to assert the role of LinkedIn as the
B2B marketing platform. It is meant to help you quickly
assess your team’s performance on LinkedIn and
demonstrate the value of being active on the social network
for marketing and sales specialists.
Are you reaching and engaging
the right decision makers?
How can you design the best influence strategy
for your marketing campaigns?
The fundamental aim of marketers is to reach their audiences
with the most adequate proposition, on a wide range of
features, to foster proximity, relation, engagement. Measuring
performance has to be grounded in sound, objective data.
Semiocast is now providing new ways to gain a most precise
picture of targets and to better assess impact of marketing
campaigns on very select, most relevant, segments of
population. Using world-class, in-house designed technologies,
Semiocast offers the analytical skills that will turn insights into
intelligence, artfully shed light on facts and trends, and
eventually help you drive decisions and measured, most
adequate actions.
Jean-Baptiste Dézard,
Marketing and Sales Director,
Deloitte France

3. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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Methodology and outline
This research is drawing from our experience helping B2B
brands define and implement concrete strategies to reach
and engage their customers. Beyond statistics on the social
network, our research aims to define a framework to
measure the efficiency of LinkedIn members’ behaviors
and to outline best practices.
Indicators were built on a random sample of 20,000 public
profiles visited in June 2017, drawn from each country
where LinkedIn is present and defined in every language
offered by the social network.
The first part of this research combines official data
published by LinkedIn with our own indicators to draw a
precise image of LinkedIn profiles. For example we reveal
3% of accounts have 500+ connections.
The second part of this research focuses on social media
activity of LinkedIn members, including the growing social
selling efforts of B2B sales people. One of our key findings
is that thought leaders generating most engagement post
only once or twice per month, as LinkedIn feed algorithm
currently favors quality over quantity.
Finally, for selected key metrics, we define the level of the
top 1% of LinkedIn members, providing you with a first,
simple baseline to improve your presence on the social
network.

4. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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A growing worldwide network
of professionals

5. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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With a steady
international growth,
LinkedIn attracts
decision makers
#1.1

6. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Launch of social selling tool (eg. Newsle)
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration
Direct sponsored content
Syncs its Sales Navigator with SalesForce
Set up Conversion Tracking
IPO
Microsoft
acquisition
37M
300M
April 2017
500M
Number of LinkedIn members
SINCE 2014, LINKEDIN IS INCREASINGLY A SOCIAL SELLING PLATFORM WITH A GROWING NUMBER OF
RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

7. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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*TOP 10 COUNTRIES
BY NUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS
139 M
40 M
31 M
29 M
22 M
13 M
13 M
10 M
9 M
9 M
United States
India
China
Brazil
United Kingdom
Canada
France
Italie
Mexico
Spain
*Total number of profiles located in each country
34%
34%
34%
36%
40%
40%
42%
43%
43%
58%
*TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY SHARE OF
INTERNET POPULATION ON LINKEDIN
*Share of LinkedIn profiles among population with
internet access (all devices)
United States
Malta
Iceland
Canada
Australia
Netherlands
United-Kingdom
Denmark
Singapore
Ireland
17 %OF EU
POPULATION IS ON
LINKEDIN
BRAZIL, INDIA AND CHINA REPRESENT A HUGE POTENTIAL IN TERMS OF USER GROWTH AND
LINKEDIN IS STILL STRUGGLING AGAINST LOCAL COMPETITORS, ESPECIALLY IN JAPAN AND GERMANY

8. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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10%
4%
6%
6%
10%
64%
Other languages
French
Chinese
Portuguese
Spanish
English
Share of LinkedIn profiles by language
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
+ 99% OF PROFILES USE A
SINGLE LANGUAGE
ENGLISH IS THE MAJOR LANGUAGE ON LINKEDIN, INCLUDING IN NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING
COUNTRIES, WHILE USAGE OF CHINESE IS BOOMING SINCE 2015

9. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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On LinkedIn,
every member is a brand
#1.2

10. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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ADVANCED 1
INTERMEDIATE
BEGINNER 2
BEGINNER 1
ADVANCED 2
EXPERT
ALL STAR
10%
4%
12%
12%
31%
10%
21%
LEVELS OF LINKEDIN PROFILE STRENGTH
1% OF PROFILES COMBINE
ALL STAR LEVEL WITH A
BACKGROUND IMAGE
Adding a profile photo
Writing a summary
Adding location
Filling out industry
+
+
+
Adding a position
+
Adding education
+
Having skills
+
LINKEDIN HAS BEEN GAMIFYING COMPLETION OF PROFILES, GENERATING THOUSANDS OF THIRD-
PARTY TUTORIALS ON HOW TO REACH ALL STAR STRENGTH. IT NOW FEATURES 7 DISTINCT LEVELS.

11. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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3% OF MEMBERS ALSO UPLOADED A
BACKGROUND IMAGE
16% OF PUBLIC PROFILES DISPLAY
A PHOTO
11% OF MEMBRES HAVE
A PROFILE SUMMARY
17,075
TO CONVINCE USERSTO ADD A
SUMMARY, LINKEDIN USES ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCETO AUTOMATICALLY
GENERATE ONE BASED ON PROFILE
INFORMATION
BEYOND ALL-STAR LEVEL, LINKEDIN’S INTERFACE ENCOURAGES MEMBERS TO COMPLETE THEIR
PROFILES TO MAKE SURE AS MANY MEMBERS AS POSSIBLE PROVIDE CURATED DATA ON THEMSELVES.

12. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
62%SAY THEY ARE CURRENTLY
HOLDING A POSITION
12,128
12
6,872
41% OF MEMBERS ADDED THEIR
EDUCATION
67%OF MEMBERS SPECIFIED AT LEAST ONE
WORK EXPERIENCE
WHILE MANY PROFILES ARE INCOMPLETE, 48% PROVIDE PRECISE CURRICULUM VITAE INFORMATIONS

13. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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34 %
17 %
17 %
15 %
7 %
4 %
4 %
2 %
31+ years
26-30 years
21-25 years
16-20 years
11-15 years
6-10 years
0-5 years
Students
YOUNG TALENTS PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT LINKEDIN SOCIAL NETWORK BRINGS TO THEIR
PERSONAL BRANDING
1/3 OF MEMBERS DISPLAY
MORE THAN 10YEARS OF
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
WORK EXPERIENCE BASED ON 48% OF PROFILES WITH SUFFICIENT RESUME DETAILS

14. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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LinkedIn ignites
social recognition
#1.3

15. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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BEYOND COMPLETION OF PROFILES, LINKEDIN FAVORS VARIOUS MEANS OF SOCIAL RECOGNITION
SUCH AS RECOMMENDATIONS. 75% OF PROFILES WITH SKILLS HAVE BEEN ENDORSED.
3% OF MEMBERS RECEIVED AT LEAST
1 RECOMMENDATION
1% OF PROFILES
DISPLAY
40+ SKILLS WITH
ENDORSEMENTS
✓
1% OF PROFILES
RECEIVED AND GAVE
RECOMMENDATIONS
Skills but no endorsement
7%
Skills & endorsements
22%
1 2 3 4 5+
0.5%0.4%0.2%
0.5%
1.5%

16. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
PROFILES WITH 1,000+ CONNECTIONS
16
MICROSOFT OFFICE
1.40%
CUSTOMER SERVICE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT
1.12%
1.09%
1.02%
LEADERSHIP
0.96%
PUBLIC SPEAKING
0.91%
SOCIAL MEDIA
0.81%
TEAM BUILDING
0.72%
STRATEGIC PLANNING
0.66%
SOFT SKILLS RELATED TO MANAGERIAL PRACTICE ARE PARTICULARLY POPULAR ON THE SOCIAL
NETWORK.
LEADERSHIP
1.17%
MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
MARKETING STRATEGY
1.12%
1.07%
0.93%
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
0.87%
MARKETING
0.87%
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
0.82%
DIGITAL MARKETING
0.80%
TRAINING
0.80%
SKILLS MENTIONED
ALL PROFILES
BUSINESS & MARKETING
ACTORS FOUND THEIR
PLACE AMONG MOST
CONNECTED PROFILES

17. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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LinkedIn’s social
graph is defined by
connections and
sources of influence
#1.4

18. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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M O R E T H A N A H A L F O F
PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS HAVE
500+ CONNECTIONS
$€£
NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS
& FOLLOWERS
0 0-99 100-199 200-299 300-399 400-499 500-999 1000+
1%2%3%2%5%5%
63%
21%
TRADITIONALLY, LINKS BETWEEN LINKEDIN MEMBERS WERE SYMETRIC
CONNECTIONS : YOU ARE A CONNECTION OF YOUR CONNECTIONS.
IN 2015, FOLLOWING FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN INTRODUCED THE ABILITY TO FOLLOW
ANY OTHER MEMBER.YET, THIS « FOLLOWING » EDGE IS STILL UNDER-USED, AND
EXCEPT FOR INFLUENCERS, THE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS EQUAL OR
APPROXIMATIVELY EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS.
99.5%
0.5%
DO NOT WANT TO BE FOLLOWED
ACCEPT TO BE FOLLOWED
BY NON-CONNECTIONS
NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS TRADITIONALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC OF LINKEDIN PROFILES.
ALMOST 1% OF PUBLIC PROFILES HAVE 1,000+ CONNECTIONS.

19. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
Richard Branson
Bill Gates
Jeff Weiner
Jack Welch
Arianna Huffington
Deepak Chopra MD
Daniel Goleman
James Caan CBE
Tony Robbins
David Cameron
Guy Kawasaki
Mark Cuban
Liz Ryan
Gretchen Rubin
Narendra Modi
19
18% OF MEMBERS ARE MEMBERS
OF ONE GROUP OR MORE
10% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW AT LEAST ONE
INFLUENCER
49% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW
A COMPANY OR MORE
LINKEDIN SUCCEEDS IN GETTING MEMBERS TO SUBSCRIBE TO SOURCES OF INFLUENCE AS MORE THAN
HALF OF MEMBERS FOLLOW ONE SOURCE OR MORE.TOP 1% OF MEMBERS HAVE 75+ INTERESTS.
TOP 15 INFLUENCERS
5.5
2.3
2.3
11.6
8.2
5.6
5.6
5.1
4.0
2.9
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.2
1
2
15
14
13
12
11
10
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
FOLLOWERS
(MILLIONS)
23% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW
A SCHOOL

20. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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Social media activity on LinkedIn

21. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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On LinkedIn, content is
shared by few members
#2.1

22. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
70%
30%
22
7%OF ALL MEMBERS EVER SHARED A
CONTENT PUBLICLY
6%WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
LINKS TO EXTERNAL MEDIA AND LINKEDIN PULSE (ARTICLES) REPRESENT HALF OF POSTS ON
LINKEDIN.
Posts
Reshares
Articles
Images
Text
Video & job offers
35%
51%
9%
5%

23. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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5% SHARED
MORETHAN ONCE PER WEEK
8% SHARED
1 TO 2 TIMES PER MONTH
TOP 1% OF 500M+ MEMBERS SHARE, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN ONE CONTENT PER MONTH.
AMONG PUBLISHING MEMBERS (6%) FOR THE PAST 12 MONTHS
67% SHARED
LESS 6 TIMES PERYEAR
THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS
THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS
THE MODERATE POSTERS

24. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
69%
25%
6%
43%
37%
20%
THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS
24
UNRELATED TO BUSINESS
COMPANY-RELATED CONTENT
(NEWS, JOBS OFFERS, PRODUCTS…)
MOST ACTIVE POSTERS (ONCE PER WEEK) FLOOD THEIR FOLLOWERS WITH MESSAGES PROMOTING
THEMSELVES OR THEIR COMPANY.THOUGHT LEADERS BELONG TO MODERATE POSTERS.
THE MODERATE POSTERS
INDUSTRY-RELATED CONTENT
(NEWS, INSIGHTS …)
NATURE OF
LINKEDIN POSTS
48% PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT
97% COMPANY
PROMOTION
10% GOOD
PRACTICES

25. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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Moderation and
leadership generate more
engagement
#2.2

26. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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TO PUBLISHING MEMBERS, LINKEDIN SEEMS TO GENERATE MORE ENGAGEMENT THAN OTHER SOCIAL
NETWORKS AS 1% OF THEM SYSTEMATICALLY GET AT LEAST 10 LIKES PER POST.
1% OF LINKEDIN
MEMBERS GET AN
AVERAGE
ENGAGEMENT ≥ 4
52% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET,
ON AVERAGE, ONE LIKE/COMMENT
PER POST OR MORE
4%
8%
12%
16%
20%
24%
28%
32%
36%
40%
0 0,5 1 2 4 8 16 32 32+
AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT
SHAREOFPUBLISHINGMEMBERS
AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA
KPI DEFINED HERE AS THE AVERAGE NUMBER
OF COMMENTS AND LIKES PER POST

27. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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79%
THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS
THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS
(MORE THAN ONCE PER WEEK)
(LESS 6 TIMES PERYEAR)
THE MODERATE POSTERS
(1 TO 2 TIMES PER MONTH)
MODERATE POSTERS GET THE HIGHEST AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT ON THEIR POSTS, WHILE MOST ACTIVE
POSTERS CREATE SOME FATIGUE AMONG THEIR FOLLOWERS.
44%
53%
BELONGING TO TOP-HALF
PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY
GENERATED ENGAGEMENT

28. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
68%
BELONGING TO TOP-HALF
PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY
GENERATED ENGAGEMENT
28
52%
TOP MANAGEMENT
STUDENTS
OTHER PROFESSIONALS
TOP MANAGEMENT GET THE HIGHEST AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT, AND ESPECIALLY TOP MANAGERS
POSTING MODERATELY (1-2 PER MONTH) WHO GET, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 7 LIKES PER POST.
53%
UNEMPLOYED &
INCOMPLETE RESUMES 34%

29. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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53%
22%
14%
6%
4%
1%
IMAGE
TEXT
VIDEO
ARTICLE
WITH IMAGE
ARTICLE
WITHOUT IMAGE
SHARE OF PROFILES FOR WHOM
THIS TYPE OF CONTENT
GENERATES MORE ENGAGEMENT
FOLLOWING A GENERAL PATTERN ON SOCIAL MEDIA, IMAGES GENERATE MOST ENGAGEMENT. JOB
OFFERS ONLY GENERATE MORE ENGAGEMENT FOR 1% OF MEMBERS WHO SHARE THEM.
JOB OFFER

30. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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LinkedIn feed is designed to
favor viral content
#2.3

31. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE
NUMBER OF DIFFERENT “LIKERS”
31
40% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GENERATED ENGAGEMENT WITH ONLY 1 TO 2 MEMBERS.
THE TOP 5% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS ENGAGED 20 OR MORE DIFFERENT USERS
No engagement 1 2 3-5 6-10 11-20 20+
5%
7%
14%
12%12%
26%
24%
1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS
GOT LIKES FROM
7 DIFFERENT USERS
WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

32. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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No engagement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
9%
1%1%
6%
1%
6%
4%
6%
19%
22%
25%
1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS
GOT LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN
7 INDUSTRIES OR MORE
WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF
INDUSTRIES THAT REPRESENT THEIR “LIKERS”
ON LINKEDIN, 21% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS HAVE MORE THAN HALF OF "LIKERS" WHO COME FROM
ANOTHER INDUSTRY. ONLY 5% FROM THEIR OWN INDUSTRY

33. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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No engagement 1 2 3 4 5-9 10+
2%
4%3%
7%
15%
46%
24%
1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS
GOT LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 3
COUNTRIES OR MORE
WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
LINKEDIN IS THE PREFERRED CHANNEL FOR CONNECTIONS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL PROFESSION
PROFILES. 30% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 2 OR MORE COUNTRIES.
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF
COUNTRIES THAT REPRESENT THEIR “LIKERS”

34. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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Who are LinkedIn top members ?

35. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
TOP 1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS IN TERMS OF …
HAVE 1,000 CONNECTIONSOR MORE
COMBINE ALL STARLEVEL WITH A
BACKGROUND IMAGE
SUBSCRIBED TO 75 INTERESTS
(PAGES, INFLUENCERS AND GROUPS) OR MORE
RECEIVED AND GAVE
1 RECOMMENDATION OR MORE
SHARE ONCE PER MONTH OR MORE
FREQUENTLY
GET AT LEAST 4 LIKES OR COMMENTS
ON AVERAGE ON THEIR POSTS
GET LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 7 INDUSTRIES
OR MORE WITHIN AYEAR
WHEN THEY REGISTERED REGISTERED IN 2006 OR EARLIER
COMPLETION OF THEIR PROFILES
NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS
NUMBER OF INTERESTS
ENDORSEMENTS
RECOMMENDATIONS
THEIR ACTIVITY
THE ENGAGEMENT THEY GENERATE
THEVIRALITY OF THEIR SHARES
RECEIVED ENDORSEMENTS
FOR 40 SKILLS OR MORE
✓
35

36. LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
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