LinkedIn: You’re doing it wrong [Infographic]

Growing your revenue and reputation online has become a strategic imperative for businesses today. While many are actively embracing the social revolution, substantial improvements have yet to be made to leverage the lead generation and reputation management opportunities offered by the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn, according to a new study conducted by LinkedIncome.

517 businessmen participated in the survey and according to the results, 94% of them believe that their businesses should be participating actively on LinkedIn.

However, 81% report that they don’t have a clear understanding of all the features and benefits, despite the fact that nearly all of them say they are represented personally on LinkedIn.

The study found that 91% believe that a holistic, structured approach to educating businesses on the optimal use of LinkedIn was key to tapping into the hidden opportunity of online networking for lead generation and reputation management. Most of the survey respondents prefer a weekly newsletter and e-book for LinkedIn training.

According to Dr Nikolaus Eberl of LinkedIncome and author of ‘The Hidden Power of LinkedIn’, LinkedIn has become a secret weapon for B2B activities such as replacing cold calling, generating new leads, finding the decision maker, accelerating the sales cycle and connecting with C-level Executives. Eberl points to a recent study of over 5 000 businesses, which found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost three times higher (277%) than both Twitter (69%) and Facebook (77%).

Infographic courtesy of LinkedIncome