Editor's Note: This post was originally created by Spredfast before Spredfast and Lithium merged and became Khoros.

Far beyond being a digital bulletin board to pin your resume to and forget, LinkedIn is a powerhouse for marketers who need to get their company in front of executive eyes. The popular professional networking platform now boasts 500 million users, and those users are sharing their location, education, professional history, skills, interests, and more. This trove of data is essential for marketers of all stripes—and with new lead-generation and targeting tools introduced in the last year, advertising on LinkedIn has become more streamlined than ever. Another boon for marketers and users alike: unlike other social networks, LinkedIn’s professional tilt means spam profiles, comment bots, and fake news are less clamorous, giving good content more room to get noticed.

It’s been nine months since Microsoft closed the $26.2B acquisition of LinkedIn, making the strong social networking site even stronger. Whether your team hasn’t yet jumped into LinkedIn or your brand already has a presence on the platform, the following statistics will help your team build and strengthen an effective strategy.

1. Sixty-one Percent of LinkedIn Users are between 30-64 Years Old

(Source: Big Commerce)

Folks between 30 and 64 are in their prime earning—and spending—years, making them particularly attractive to marketers. This age group (millennials and boomers) purchases more consumer package goods than any other age group, they’re building and planning their financial futures, and they tend to take more vacations, too. Understanding that the majority of LinkedIn users are older than they are on other social media platforms can help marketers create content that’s more likely to connect with people these ages. There are important differences between the way this age group and the younger generation (Gen Z) responds to marketing: these consumers are particularly responsive to word-of-mouth marketing (that can include the right type of influencer) from people they can trust, even in more traditionally straight-laced industries like financial services.

2. Seventy-five Percent of LinkedIn Users Earn More than $50,000 a Year

(Source: LinkedIn)

And even more attractively, 44 percent of LinkedIn users earn more than $75,000 a year. Understanding that LinkedIn users are likely to have a higher income than average incomes is an important part of building a social strategy on the platform, writes LinkedIn. LinkedIn users are likely to have more disposable income and more income for luxuries like travel.

75% of LinkedIn users earn more than $50,000 a year

3. Hiring Across the U.S. was 12.1 Percent Higher in June 2017 than it was in June 2016

(Source: LinkedIn)

Companies in the U.S. were on a hiring upswing this summer, and with greater employment numbers comes more disposable income, an appealing fact for marketers. Brands on LinkedIn are more likely to encounter a newly hired LinkedIn user this fall than they were last fall, and marketing aimed at these newly hired consumers is likely to resonate more deeply.

4. Fifty Percent of B2B Buyers use LinkedIn When Making Purchasing Decisions

(Source: LinkedIn)

LinkedIn isn’t just for job searches and recruitment. Not only are 50 percent of B2B buyers using LinkedIn to make their purchasing decisions, but B2B marketers are on LinkedIn in full force, too: 94 percent of them use LinkedIn to distribute content, writes LinkedIn. In fact, 85 percent of B2B buyers believe companies should present information about their services on social media and 80 percent of B2B social media leads come from LinkedIn.

80 percent of B2B social media leads come from LinkedIn.

5. Forty-three percent of Marketers Say They Sourced a Customer through LinkedIn

(Source: LinkedIn)

We might expect B2B marketers to find success on LinkedIn: it is, after all, a professional networking tool, meaning that users are primed to find professional services on the site. But this stat proves that marketers of all types are finding receptive customers through LinkedIn—customers who are looking for more than professional services.

Increasingly, consumers are looking to social media to aid in their purchasing decisions, and LinkedIn’s professional reputation is attractive to many consumers. Let us aid your new LinkedIn strategy: we have lots of ideas about how to appeal to consumers on social, from the travel and hospitality industry to finserv to the CPG industry.

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