It’s now more than four years since Microsoft announced its US$26.2 billion bid for LinkedIn (and took the business social network over in 2017, once all regulatory permissions had been received).
So how is LinkedIn doing now?
Pretty good.
At the time of the original offer, LinkedIn had 433 million users globally. Now it has more than 660 million.
In 2016, LinkedIn had around 1.5 million Kiwi users. By August 2020, that total had risen to 2.2 million New Zealanders registered on the site.
And those members are drawn from a wide variety of industries, led by Education and Corporate Services.
New Zealanders on LinkedIn, By Industry (000s)
Source: LinkedIn August 2020
Key Global LinkedIn Statistics
What else should we know about LinkedIn today?
Foundation Inc. shares these global statistics:
1) LinkedIn now has over 660+ million members.
[Yes, we mentioned that above. We’ve repeated it here for the completists among us.]
2) LinkedIn has 675 million monthly users.
We know, total members are not the same as active ones. Though, the combination of others signing up points to a strong performance for the social network, with 675 million monthly users.
3) 40% of monthly active users use LinkedIn daily.
Of those using the platform monthly, up to 40% are accessing it on a daily basis. If that is the case, that’s over 200 million professionals you could be targeting every single day. To make that even more excited, LinkedIn users typically use the platform to find relevant content, meaning they’ll be much more willing to check out what you’re sharing.
4) LinkedIn’s reported user goal is 3 billion.
If you think 660 million is enough for LinkedIn to sit back and celebrate, you couldn’t be more wrong. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner has said he wants LinkedIn to be the home of all working professional across the world, and be the central hub for every job posting across the estimated 70 million companies worldwide. As of right now, that number works out to around 3 billion people. They’re not done hustling.
5) 61 million LinkedIn users are senior level influencers and 40 million are in decision-making positions.
This comes straight from LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Blog. From a B2B perspective, the decision-makers you’re trying to reach are using LinkedIn. If you double down on your LinkedIn efforts, you’ll be able to target the right people in the place they like to spend their scrolling time.
6) LinkedIn is the most-used social media platform amongst Fortune 500 companies.
Another B2B statistic from LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions Blog that should definitely pique your interest. This just serves as further proof that LinkedIn is the place to go to reach your ideal customers and clients.
7) Of the 2 billion Millennials globally, 87 million of them are on LinkedIn.
According to LinkedIn and Adweek, Millennials make up a significant chunk of LinkedIn’s total user base. Like it or not, Millennials are the decision-makers of the future (and present in many cases). As a B2B marketer, this should be seen as a great opportunity to get in front of them now.
8) Of those 87 million Millennial users, 11 million are in decision-making positions.
You simply cannot ignore Millennials, and you don’t necessarily have to crack the Snapchat marketing code to reach them. There are 11 million Millennial decision makers on LinkedIn. That makes it entirely possible to get to the Millennials holding buying power without touching Snapchat or Instagram.
9) There are 63 million unique mobile users monthly.
Mobile is booming and LinkedIn’s mobile user numbers reflect that. Their mobile user count is climbing every month, which only makes it easier to reach the people you’re trying to reach. Mobile makes it easier for a user to just open the app and scroll through, giving you more opportunities to reach them.
10) LinkedIn profiles with photos get 21x more views and 36x more messages.
The decision to include a photo or not isn’t much of a decision at all in 2020. Profiles with photos get significantly more views, messages, and results than generic, picture-less folks. Don’t think your profile picture absolutely must be an expensive, professional headshot either – as long as you have a picture, you’re on the right track.
11) Just under half (43%) of all LinkedIn users are women.
Of LinkedIn’s total user base, it was last reported that 44% are women. LinkedIn is quickly becoming a platform for all – no matter who you’re trying to reach in the business world, LinkedIn is a great place to find them.
Worth It
So the stats sound good, but was the Microsoft offer (that 26.2 billion dollar payday) really worthwhile?
By 2019, Bloomberg analysts concluded that the bold move had paid off:
LinkedIn’s user base has grown by more than 50 per cent since the deal was announced.
Revenue has also been on the rise. In the fiscal year that recently ended, LinkedIn generated US$6.8 billion in revenue. That’s a 28 per cent increase from the year before.
“Things have certainly exceeded our expectations. We had a pretty aggressive plan in place and we’ve been able to outperform that plan,” LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner told Bloomberg News in a September television interview.
The driving force behind that outperformance is an improved product. People are spending more time on LinkedIn because they are more engaged, whether it’s because of the content on the platform, messaging features, or more relevant connections to other professionals. [In New Zealand, monthly time spent on the platform tripled, going from 13 minutes in 2016 to 45 minutes by 2019.]
As users spend more time on LinkedIn, it creates more opportunities to generate revenue through higher advertising inventory, more subscriptions, and more user data, which helps improve its recruiter product.
Want to Know More About LinkedIn?
If you’d like to know more about LinkedIn (and whether it’s a good place to promote your goods or services), may we recommend you check out our online training course:
The Principles & Practice of Social Media Marketing
This is a thirteen-part eCourse providing a comprehensive introduction to Social Media Marketing, from the Basics to detailed instructions on how to build and run a Social Media Marketing programme. This course includes a full lesson dedicated to LinkedIn.
For more details of the Social Media Marketing online course, please click here.
