Social media can be a huge contributor to a company's lead generation efforts in both B2B and B2C. But how efficient are the various different social channels in directly driving leads? In a recent study of over 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 3 times higher (277%) than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%).
LinkedIn's conversion rate also outranked social media as a channel overall. In other words, of all the traffic that came to these business' websites via social media, .98% of that traffic converted into leads, compared to LinkedIn's 2.74%.
So why might LinkedIn be the most efficient social channel for lead generation, and how can you use that to your advantage?
People join LinkedIn to showcase their career, work expertise, and find content and information to make their professional lives better. So businesses who target other businesses will naturally find a higher concentration of their target market on LinkedIn. Also, when someone visits LinkedIn, the person is most likely in a business-focused mindset, helping business' content perform inherently better.
So what about B2C-focused businesses? Less content is generally posted to LinkedIn than to other social networks, which is probably because people almost exclusively post marketing-related content as opposed to their children's photos or social "chatter." This means there is less clutter on LinkedIn, making a person capable of consuming a higher percentage of the content that's active on LinkedIn at any given time. In other words, a business' marketing posts are more likely to be noticed on LinkedIn than somewhere else.
So what should you do when you find a specific social channel that's a slam dunk for your business?
How to Leverage Your Business' Top-Performing Social Network
1. Invest time and effort to grow that specific channel. The trick, however, will be trying to maintain a quality network as your community scales.
2. Post more of the targeted content that's working. If you notice people are specifically really enjoying blog posts, webinars, or something else -- keep offering it! How can you tell what content's working? Monitor comments, likes, shares, and clicks.
3. Find more opportunities to post relevant CTAs. Can you sprinkle more lead generation opportunities throughout your social media updates? It's quite a balancing act, but a solid mix of calls-to-action (CTAs) and other content is healthy.
4. Don't take success for granted - keep learning. It's easy to get comfortable when something is going well. Remember, there are always opportunities to improve. Keep testing, analyzing your data, and increasing results!
What type of conversion rates do you experience per network? Is the data similar to your own results?
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Emer 9:03 AM on January 30, 2012
Hi Rebecca, thanks for sharing this article. It has some interesting findings.
I wonder, however, if you could specify what use of LinkedIn is driving up conversation rates. For example, is this people using LinkedIn groups, LinkedIn company pages, LinkedIn advertsing, etc. Naturally, it is a perfect fit for B2B marketing, so was surprised to see you mention B2C as well.
The reason we would often stay away from LinkedIn for brand marketing is that it is not as easily configured for brands, but rather for individuals. And its advertising model is much more expensive.
Appreciate your view!
Many thanks,
Emer
Rebecca Corliss 9:50 AM on January 30, 2012
Great questions, Emer.
First - this data only looked at organic efforts from each network (not advertising).
Also, the data didn't give insight into specific efforts w/in each channel, but that would be fascinating to check out.
Emer 9:59 AM on January 30, 2012
Thanks for coming back to me Rebecca! Helps to clarify. The article does bring to light how valuable LinkedIn can be, especially for the small business man or woman who does not have a large marketing budget.
Many thanks,
Emer
Catarina Duarte 11:40 AM on January 30, 2012
Hi,
We have interesting results with the use of groups. We create specific campaigns and promote them in specific groups.
Irene 5:39 AM on January 31, 2012
Facebook is fast taking over as the main internet presence in the world so anyone wanting to advertise needs to be there.
Dario Priolo 8:51 AM on January 31, 2012
Be very careful about jumping to the conclusion that LinkedIn "leads" are better than anything.
We invested very heavily in a LinkedIn PPC program that ran for well over 1 year. We also share content with relevant groups religiously. What we found was that yes, lots of people on LinkedIn will want to click on your ads and download you content, or follow interesting links to your blog and download your content. In fact, the form conversion rates for our LinkedIn campaigns were over 20% -- crazy high.
The problem was that most of the "leads" were either independent consultants (probably looking to steal our ideas) or job seekers (wanting to "get smarter" in hope that would help them land their next job). We got lots of leads, but very few were remotely qualified to buy from us, despite meeting some very strict filtering criteria or being very selective about our groups.
My warning to all marketers: Don't confuse people filling out forms and downloading free content (a.k.a. "leads") with people who have a need for what you sell and who are in a position to either drive or significantly influence the buying decision.
LinkedIn is an amazing research tool to find new prospects and building brand awareness, but so far, LinkedIn "leads" have not converted into much new business for our company.
Simon Breese 1:24 PM on February 01, 2012
LinkedIn is great - I recommend its use in one form or another to most of my B2B clients. It can be used to good effect to build online presence for free, and advertising is so precise you can almost target an individual user.
BUT - there is always a but - start with your audience not with the medium. If they like LinkedIn use it; but if, heaven forbid, they're besotted by BeBo use that instead. Be careful though, if you're of a certain age your intentions might be mistaken!
If you fancy a light 4 minutes to understand what I mean visit www.salestransformation.co.uk/2012-broadcast-launch.html and click through.
Oh and yes ... good point about leads. Much better to call them enquiries until the first glimmer of a sale, otherwise sales and marketing will start pointing their fingers at each other.
John 2:30 PM on February 01, 2012
Hi Rebecca
No offence. What is B2B and B2C?
Thank you.
John.
Virginia Llorca 4:14 PM on February 01, 2012
I am an indie author with, so far, limited success. I am pleasantly surprised how many 'linked in' looks I get on my book sites.
Rahul Chand Tripuraneni 7:23 AM on February 02, 2012
I am not really sure of how effective Linkedin can be for B2C businesses. Anyone has thoughts on how an eCom company can benefit via Linkedin. We tried some linkedin ads, but the cost per sale was way too high for us to continue to invest in it.
Kevin Jerry 5:21 AM on February 08, 2012
We are the fastest growing digital agency in Louisville. I can assure you Linked in takes a back seat in most marketers mind compared to FB. This article proves that assumption incorrect.
Dave F 10:58 AM on February 09, 2012
I agree with Dario. I too have found the quality of leads coming from our LinkedIn campaigns shaky. However I've found using it for targeted prospecting is much more effective.
Andre Morris 11:59 AM on February 09, 2012
LinkedIn is a powerhouse, but rarely used by a large number of people who could really benefit from it. I presented a social media for business class the other day and while 95% of the people in the room had Facebook and a Facebook page, only 8% had LinkedIn accounts. Scary!
Sandrine 12:18 PM on February 09, 2012
@ John -
B2B is Business To Business - companies whose clients are primarily other companies (for example consultants, wholesale organisations, manufacturers of "stuff" used in shops, factories etc)
B2C is Business To Consumer - these companies sell primarily to individual costumers for example Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Coca/Pepsi, Amazon...
Craig 3:42 PM on February 09, 2012
I believe that this would depend heavily on the audience you are trying to capture with your campaign. If you targeted audience is a professional then I would lean towards LinkedIn 100%.
Jonathan Bentz 5:31 PM on February 09, 2012
The organic nature of this is what impresses me the most. Looks like my B2B clientele needs to listen to me a little bit more and better leverage LinkedIn. Thanks for sharing the data.
Dan Blumenthal 6:02 PM on February 09, 2012
LinkedIn is the warm handshake we all need. Good to see the actual results.
Mike Woods 9:13 PM on February 09, 2012
I have been adjusting Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and didn't think about LinkedIN. Thanks for the article. Now, I have another social media site to think about.
Annemieke van Herk 12:07 PM on February 13, 2012
Hi Rebecca, nice stats! I love research on conversion rates... always nice to benchmark! But what is the definition of a lead in this context? Is it simply a person leaving their contact details, or is this after some sort of qualification has been applied? And if it's the first, is this before or after all the "mickey mouse" contacts have been filtered out? As Dario Priolo points out correctly, not all contacts can be considered sales leads...
Rebecca Corliss 12:20 PM on February 13, 2012
Hi Annemeike,
A lead in this case is someone who filled out a form on the person's website, ie "Request a Consultation" or "Get a Free Trial" -- Good question! Glad you like the information!
AJ Perisho 7:26 PM on February 13, 2012
Great post Rebecca!
I find that like minded people reside in the LinkedIn community, vs. the other social platforms.
Twitter would be my 2nd B2B pick for a social channel.
I don't have enough data or experience with any Google + success yet.
Thanks for sharing :-)
Jon Striker 1:11 PM on February 16, 2012
Thanks for the post Rebecca.
I am curious if anyone has any data to support a quantified value to running campaigns on LinkedIn.
@Dario, I appreciate your input, but I need something solid to determine how much resource I can take from our marketing and devote to LinkedIn. Are there any specific case studies that anyone is aware of?
Ivana Bozinovska 6:55 AM on February 21, 2012
I find this post to be very true for the industry I work in.
We offer software development services in the B2B sector and most of our campaigns have a remarkable success rate.
By campaigns I don't refer to PPC ads on Linked In (we have never used these), but more of a direct targeted approach.
Sometimes it is a direct approach to individuals that usually has a lower lead generation, and most of the times we target Linked In groups.
Usually our campaigns are structured in a way that we offer a specific service, so that the targeted leads can recognize their specific needs.
I am satisfied with how our campaigns are performing on Linked In so far and will continue to use it.
So my conclusion will be, that Linked In i mostly for B2B industry, especially the services sector. And if a lead knows what they need, they will come to you.
Steve Mills 7:54 AM on February 21, 2012
This is a really interesting blog and great stats on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is so powerful and great from and SEO view point as well as lead generation.