Can LinkedIn help your B2B Marketing?

Among the 2012 B2B marketing trends, LinkedIn is definitely “in fashion”. Thousands of companies are jumping into LinkedIn to develop business through a new and cost-effective source. But do you know if LinkedIn is a good tool for your business?

Here are a few tips and numbers to help you answer the question:

Is your target market on LinkedIn? This varies by geography, industry and role.

• LinkedIn is very strong in North America but has lots of room for growth internationally.
• To evaluate the size of the accessible network on LinkedIn for particular industries, search for groups related to that industry. The results might look similar to these ones:

Canadian Industry representation through LinkedIn groups:

• Food – 40 Groups with 16,000+ connections
• Pharmaceutical – 12 Groups with 12,000+ connections
• Automotive – 35 Groups with 7,000+ connections
• Human Resources – 60+ Groups with 50,000+ connections
• Aerospace – 17 Groups with 6,000+ connections
• Construction – 60+ Groups with 12,000+ connections

LinkedIn can be valuable for B2B social marketing because as you become a member of industry-specific groups, you can post blogs, PR, corporate updates, invitations to events, promotion, case studies and other marketing communication immediately reaching thousands of prospects. In some cases this tactic becomes a major lead generation source.

Has LinkedIn worked for you? How do you make it work?