Linked: The B2B Marketing Platform

Linked
THE B2B MARKETING PLATFORM

« From social marketing to smart social selling »
Semiocast
The Social Media Intelligence Company
LinkedIn — The B2B Marketing Platform — From social marketing to smart social selling Semiocast, 2017
Introduction: why this research?

It is no secret to Chief Marketing Officers of B2B brands Are you reaching and engaging  
that most of their customers today use LinkedIn — except the right decision makers?
maybe in countries where the business-oriented social
network is still weak, such as Japan and Germany. And this is How can you design the best influence strategy 
why, besides the recruitment-related revenue stream,
for your marketing campaigns?
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 The fundamental aim of marketers is to reach their audiences
makers? How to design an influence strategy reaching the with the most adequate proposition, on a wide range of
best suited actors for a given marketing campaign? These are features, to foster proximity, relation, engagement. Measuring
typically the questions where social media intelligence can performance has to be grounded in sound, objective data.
help: as a significant portion of LinkedIn members share Semiocast is now providing new ways to gain a most precise
public content on the social network, data and insights are picture of targets and to better assess impact of marketing
there to be analyzed and transformed into efficient B2B campaigns on very select, most relevant, segments of
marketing strategies. population. Using world-class, in-house designed technologies,
Semiocast offers the analytical skills that will turn insights into
This unprecedented research is a set of universal benchmark intelligence, artfully shed light on facts and trends, and
results we are publishing to assert the role of LinkedIn as the eventually help you drive decisions and measured, most
B2B marketing platform. It is meant to help you quickly adequate actions.
assess your team’s performance on LinkedIn and
demonstrate the value of being active on the social network Jean-Baptiste Dézard, 
for marketing and sales specialists. Marketing and Sales Director, 
Deloitte France
2
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.
3
A growing worldwide network

of professionals
4
#1.1
With a steady
international growth,
LinkedIn attracts
decision makers
5
April 2017
500M
Microsoft
acquisition
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration
IPO 300M
Syncs its Sales Navigator with SalesForce
Set up Conversion Tracking
Launch of social selling tool (eg. Newsle)

37M
Direct sponsored content
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Number of LinkedIn members
SINCE 2014, LINKEDIN IS INCREASINGLY A SOCIAL SELLING PLATFORM WITH A GROWING NUMBER OF
RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
6
*TOP 10 COUNTRIES *TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY SHARE OF

BY NUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS INTERNET POPULATION ON LINKEDIN
United States 139 M United States 58%
India 40 M Malta 43%

17 % OF EU
POPULATION IS ON
China 31 M Iceland 43% LINKEDIN

Brazil 29 M Canada 42%
United Kingdom 22 M Australia 40%
Canada 13 M Netherlands 40%
France 13 M United-Kingdom 36%
Italie 10 M Denmark 34%
Mexico 9M Singapore 34%
Spain 9M Ireland 34%
*Total number of profiles located in each country *Share of LinkedIn profiles among population with
internet access (all devices)
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
7
Share of LinkedIn profiles by language
+ 99% OF PROFILES USE A 10% Other languages
SINGLE LANGUAGE 4%
6%
French
Chinese
6% Portuguese
10% Spanish
64% English
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
ENGLISH IS THE MAJOR LANGUAGE ON LINKEDIN, INCLUDING IN NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING

COUNTRIES, WHILE USAGE OF CHINESE IS BOOMING SINCE 2015
8
#1.2
On LinkedIn,
every member is a brand
9
LEVELS OF LINKEDIN PROFILE STRENGTH
4%
ALL STAR Having skills
10%
+
EXPERT Adding education
12% + 1% OF PROFILES COMBINE

ADVANCED 2 Adding a position ALL STAR LEVEL WITH A
+
ADVANCED 1
12%
Filling out industry
BACKGROUND IMAGE
31%
+
INTERMEDIATE Adding location
10%
+
BEGINNER 2 Writing a summary
21% +
BEGINNER 1 Adding a profile photo
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.
10
16% OF PUBLIC PROFILES DISPLAY
A PHOTO
3% OF MEMBERS ALSO UPLOADED A
BACKGROUND IMAGE
TO CONVINCE USERS TO ADD A
17,075
11% OF MEMBRES HAVE SUMMARY, LINKEDIN USES ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE TO AUTOMATICALLY
A PROFILE SUMMARY 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.
11
41% OF MEMBERS ADDED THEIR
12,128
EDUCATION
62% SAY THEY ARE CURRENTLY
HOLDING A POSITION
6,872
67% OF MEMBERS SPECIFIED AT LEAST ONE
WORK EXPERIENCE
WHILE MANY PROFILES ARE INCOMPLETE, 48% PROVIDE PRECISE CURRICULUM VITAE INFORMATIONS
12
WORK EXPERIENCE BASED ON 48% OF PROFILES WITH SUFFICIENT RESUME DETAILS
4% 31+ years
2% 26-30 years
4% 21-25 years
1/3 OF MEMBERS DISPLAY
7% 16-20 years
MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF
17 % 11-15 years
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
15 % 6-10 years
17 % 0-5 years
34 % Students
YOUNG TALENTS PERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT LINKEDIN SOCIAL NETWORK BRINGS TO THEIR
PERSONAL BRANDING
13
#1.3
LinkedIn ignites
social recognition
14
Skills & endorsements

22%
3% OF MEMBERS RECEIVED AT LEAST
✓ 1 RECOMMENDATION Skills but no endorsement

7%
1.5%
0.5% 0.4% 0.5%
0.2%
1 2 3 4 5+
1% OF PROFILES 1% OF PROFILES
DISPLAY
RECEIVED AND GAVE
40+ SKILLS WITH
RECOMMENDATIONS
ENDORSEMENTS
BEYOND COMPLETION OF PROFILES, LINKEDIN FAVORS VARIOUS MEANS OF SOCIAL RECOGNITION

SUCH AS RECOMMENDATIONS. 75% OF PROFILES WITH SKILLS HAVE BEEN ENDORSED.
15
SKILLS MENTIONED
ALL PROFILES PROFILES WITH 1,000+ CONNECTIONS
MICROSOFT OFFICE LEADERSHIP
1.40% 1.17%
CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT

1.12% 1.12%
PROJECT MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

1.09% 1.07%
BUSINESS & MARKETING
MANAGEMENT MARKETING STRATEGY ACTORS FOUND THEIR
1.02% 0.93% PLACE AMONG MOST
CONNECTED PROFILES
LEADERSHIP SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
0.96% 0.87%
PUBLIC SPEAKING MARKETING

0.91% 0.87%
SOCIAL MEDIA ENTREPRENEURSHIP

0.81% 0.82%
TEAM BUILDING DIGITAL MARKETING

0.72% 0.80%
STRATEGIC PLANNING TRAINING

0.66% 0.80%
SOFT SKILLS RELATED TO MANAGERIAL PRACTICE ARE PARTICULARLY POPULAR ON THE SOCIAL
NETWORK.
16
#1.4
LinkedIn’s social
graph is defined by
connections and
sources of influence
17
ACCEPT TO BE FOLLOWED 
BY NON-CONNECTIONS
TRADITIONALLY, LINKS BETWEEN LINKEDIN MEMBERS WERE SYMETRIC
CONNECTIONS : YOU ARE A CONNECTION OF YOUR CONNECTIONS. 99.5%
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.
0.5%
DO NOT WANT TO BE FOLLOWED
NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS
& FOLLOWERS
63%
21%
5% 5% 2% 3% 2% 1%
0 0-99 100-199 200-299 300-399 400-499 500-999 1000+
MORE THAN A HALF OF

$€£
PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS HAVE
500+ CONNECTIONS
NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS TRADITIONALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC OF LINKEDIN PROFILES.

ALMOST 1% OF PUBLIC PROFILES HAVE 1,000+ CONNECTIONS.
18
10% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW AT LEAST ONE

18% OF MEMBERS ARE MEMBERS INFLUENCER
OF ONE GROUP OR MORE
FOLLOWERS
TOP 15 INFLUENCERS (MILLIONS)
1 Richard Branson 11.6

2 Bill Gates 8.2
3 Jeff Weiner 5.6
4 Jack Welch 5.6
49% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW 5 Arianna Huffington 5.5
A COMPANY OR MORE 6 Deepak Chopra MD 5.1
7 Daniel Goleman 4.0
8 James Caan CBE 2.9
9 Tony Robbins 2.6
10 David Cameron 2.5
11 Guy Kawasaki 2.4
12 Mark Cuban 2.3
23% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW 13 Liz Ryan 2.3
A SCHOOL 14 Gretchen Rubin 2.3
15 Narendra Modi 2.2
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.
19
Social media activity on LinkedIn
20
#2.1
On LinkedIn, content is
shared by few members
21
Video & job offers 5%

Text 9%
Images 35%
Posts
7% OF ALL MEMBERS EVER SHARED A
CONTENT PUBLICLY 70%
6% WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS Articles 51%
Reshares
30%
LINKS TO EXTERNAL MEDIA AND LINKEDIN PULSE (ARTICLES) REPRESENT HALF OF POSTS ON
LINKEDIN.
22
AMONG PUBLISHING MEMBERS (6%) FOR THE PAST 12 MONTHS
5% SHARED THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS

MORE THAN ONCE PER WEEK
8% SHARED THE MODERATE POSTERS

1 TO 2 TIMES PER MONTH
67% SHARED THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS

LESS 6 TIMES PER YEAR
TOP 1% OF 500M+ MEMBERS SHARE, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN ONE CONTENT PER MONTH.
23
NATURE OF
LINKEDIN POSTS THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS THE MODERATE POSTERS
COMPANY-RELATED CONTENT 97% COMPANY

(NEWS, JOBS OFFERS, PRODUCTS…)
69% PROMOTION 43%
INDUSTRY-RELATED CONTENT 10% GOOD

25% 37%
(NEWS, INSIGHTS …) PRACTICES
6% 20% 48% PERSONAL

UNRELATED TO BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
MOST ACTIVE POSTERS (ONCE PER WEEK) FLOOD THEIR FOLLOWERS WITH MESSAGES PROMOTING
THEMSELVES OR THEIR COMPANY. THOUGHT LEADERS BELONG TO MODERATE POSTERS.
24
#2.2
Moderation and
leadership generate more
engagement
25
40% 52% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET,

ON AVERAGE, ONE LIKE/COMMENT
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS
36%
PER POST OR MORE
32%
1% OF LINKEDIN
28%
24%
20% MEMBERS GET AN

16% AVERAGE
12% ENGAGEMENT ≥ 4
8%
4%
0 0,5 1 2 4 8 16 32 32+
AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA

KPI DEFINED HERE AS THE AVERAGE NUMBER
OF COMMENTS AND LIKES PER POST
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.
26
BELONGING TO TOP-HALF 
PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY
GENERATED ENGAGEMENT
THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS

(MORE THAN ONCE PER WEEK)
53%
THE MODERATE POSTERS
(1 TO 2 TIMES PER MONTH) 79%
44%
THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS
(LESS 6 TIMES PER YEAR)
MODERATE POSTERS GET THE HIGHEST AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT ON THEIR POSTS, WHILE MOST ACTIVE
POSTERS CREATE SOME FATIGUE AMONG THEIR FOLLOWERS.
27
BELONGING TO TOP-HALF 
PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY
GENERATED ENGAGEMENT
TOP MANAGEMENT 68%
OTHER PROFESSIONALS 52%
STUDENTS 53%
UNEMPLOYED &
INCOMPLETE RESUMES 34%
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.
28
SHARE OF PROFILES FOR WHOM

THIS TYPE OF CONTENT
GENERATES MORE ENGAGEMENT
IMAGE 53%
ARTICLE
WITH IMAGE 22%
TEXT 14%
VIDEO 6%
ARTICLE
WITHOUT IMAGE 4%
JOB OFFER 1%
FOLLOWING A GENERAL PATTERN ON SOCIAL MEDIA, IMAGES GENERATE MOST ENGAGEMENT. JOB
OFFERS ONLY GENERATE MORE ENGAGEMENT FOR 1% OF MEMBERS WHO SHARE THEM.
29
#2.3
LinkedIn feed is designed to

favor viral content
30
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE

NUMBER OF DIFFERENT “LIKERS”
1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS
GOT LIKES FROM
26%
24% 7 DIFFERENT USERS
WITHIN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
14%
12% 12%
7%
5%
No engagement 1 2 3-5 6-10 11-20 20+
40% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GENERATED ENGAGEMENT WITH ONLY 1 TO 2 MEMBERS.

THE TOP 5% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS ENGAGED 20 OR MORE DIFFERENT USERS
31
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF

INDUSTRIES THAT REPRESENT THEIR “LIKERS”
25%
GOT LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 
22%
19%
7 INDUSTRIES OR MORE
9%
6% 6% 6%
4%
1% 1% 1%
No engagement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
ON LINKEDIN, 21% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS HAVE MORE THAN HALF OF "LIKERS" WHO COME FROM
ANOTHER INDUSTRY. ONLY 5% FROM THEIR OWN INDUSTRY
32
SHARE OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS BY THE NUMBER OF

COUNTRIES THAT REPRESENT THEIR “LIKERS”
46%
GOT LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 3
COUNTRIES OR MORE
24%
15%
7%
3% 4%
2%
No engagement 1 2 3 4 5-9 10+
LINKEDIN IS THE PREFERRED CHANNEL FOR CONNECTIONS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL PROFESSION

PROFILES. 30% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 2 OR MORE COUNTRIES.
33
Who are LinkedIn top members ?
34
TOP 1% OF LINKEDIN MEMBERS IN TERMS OF …
WHEN THEY REGISTERED REGISTERED IN 2006 OR EARLIER

ALL STAR LEVEL WITH A
COMBINE
COMPLETION OF THEIR PROFILES
BACKGROUND IMAGE
NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS HAVE 1,000 CONNECTIONS OR MORE
SUBSCRIBED TO 75 INTERESTS
NUMBER OF INTERESTS (PAGES, INFLUENCERS AND GROUPS) OR MORE
ENDORSEMENTS
RECEIVED
ENDORSEMENTS
FOR 40 SKILLS OR MORE
✓
RECEIVED AND GAVE
RECOMMENDATIONS
1 RECOMMENDATION OR MORE
THEIR ACTIVITY
SHARE ONCE PER MONTH OR MORE
FREQUENTLY
GET AT LEAST 4 LIKES OR COMMENTS

THE ENGAGEMENT THEY GENERATE
ON AVERAGE ON THEIR POSTS
GET LIKES FROM MEMBERS IN 7 INDUSTRIES

THE VIRALITY OF THEIR SHARES OR MORE WITHIN A YEAR
35
Semiocast
The Social Media Intelligence Company
For more information
[email protected] 
+33 1 83 62 79 48

Linked: The B2B Marketing Platform

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Linked

THE B2B MARKETING PLATFORM

Introduction: why this research?

Methodology and outline

This research is drawing from our experience helping B2B

A growing worldwide network

Set up Conversion Tracking

Launch of social selling tool (eg. Newsle)

Direct sponsored content

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Number of LinkedIn members

*TOP 10 COUNTRIES *TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY SHARE OF

United States 139 M United States 58%

India 40 M Malta 43%

China 31 M Iceland 43% LINKEDIN

United Kingdom 22 M Australia 40%

Canada 13 M Netherlands 40%

France 13 M United-Kingdom 36%

Italie 10 M Denmark 34%

Mexico 9M Singapore 34%

Spain 9M Ireland 34%

Share of LinkedIn profiles by language

+ 99% OF PROFILES USE A 10% Other languages

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

ENGLISH IS THE MAJOR LANGUAGE ON LINKEDIN, INCLUDING IN NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING

LEVELS OF LINKEDIN PROFILE STRENGTH

12% + 1% OF PROFILES COMBINE

LINKEDIN HAS BEEN GAMIFYING COMPLETION OF PROFILES, GENERATING THOUSANDS OF THIRD-

16% OF PUBLIC PROFILES DISPLAY

TO CONVINCE USERS TO ADD A

BEYOND ALL-STAR LEVEL, LINKEDIN’S INTERFACE ENCOURAGES MEMBERS TO COMPLETE THEIR

41% OF MEMBERS ADDED THEIR

62% SAY THEY ARE CURRENTLY

WORK EXPERIENCE BASED ON 48% OF PROFILES WITH SUFFICIENT RESUME DETAILS

Skills & endorsements

✓ 1 RECOMMENDATION Skills but no endorsement

BEYOND COMPLETION OF PROFILES, LINKEDIN FAVORS VARIOUS MEANS OF SOCIAL RECOGNITION

CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

PUBLIC SPEAKING MARKETING

SOCIAL MEDIA ENTREPRENEURSHIP

TEAM BUILDING DIGITAL MARKETING

STRATEGIC PLANNING TRAINING

MORE THAN A HALF OF

NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS TRADITIONALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC OF LINKEDIN PROFILES.

10% OF MEMBERS FOLLOW AT LEAST ONE

1 Richard Branson 11.6

LINKEDIN SUCCEEDS IN GETTING MEMBERS TO SUBSCRIBE TO SOURCES OF INFLUENCE AS MORE THAN

Social media activity on LinkedIn

Video & job offers 5%

AMONG PUBLISHING MEMBERS (6%) FOR THE PAST 12 MONTHS

5% SHARED THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS

8% SHARED THE MODERATE POSTERS

67% SHARED THE LEAST ACTIVE POSTERS

COMPANY-RELATED CONTENT 97% COMPANY

INDUSTRY-RELATED CONTENT 10% GOOD

6% 20% 48% PERSONAL

40% 52% OF PUBLISHING MEMBERS GET,

20% MEMBERS GET AN

AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MOST ACTIVE POSTERS

TOP MANAGEMENT 68%

TOP 10 COUNTRIES TOP 10 COUNTRIES BY SHARE OF