Entrepreneurs drive most local economies. Not only do they provide jobs to the local community but also boost consumerism. This is one of the main reasons why the growth of an economy is directly related to the number of professionals starting their own venture.
So it is surprising why so many of them don’t use LinkedIn to promote their services. Instead it is large corporations that have made good use of LinkedIn.
Most corporations do not understand the principles of Social media. They mostly use it as an extension of their PR and communication strategy. In a piece called Does corporate India understand social media blogger Archana Venkat had discussed some key reasons why this was a challenge for most corporations. But on LinkedIn almost 82 Fortune 100 companies are present actively scouting for talent.
But this is the tip of the iceberg. I will give you three reasons why entrepreneurs should leverage social media to enhance their offerings.
Reason 1
The Average household income of a LinkedIn user is roughly around $ 110,000 per annum according to a recent report. In India almost 24 % of users have household incomes above Rs 15,00,000 .
This is also significant as Indian professionals form the second largest group in the LinkedIn roughly around 13 Million users. So what you have on LinkedIn is a target base that has the money to buy your product or services. As an entrepreneur you would understand the importance of having a base that has the money to spend. As compared to this Twitter and Facebook users have much lower household incomes.
Reason 2
39% of LinkedIn users manage the budgets for their companies. Now this is a significant statistic. Those of us who have sold to companies or individuals realize the importance of the consent of the budget owner. So when you use LinkedIn you are reaching out to a professional handling the budget 2 out of 5 times. That is an incredibility high average.
This solves the problem of not reaching the decision maker. Most startups with frugal budgets can ill afford to spend time and money convincing a prospect only to find out that he is not the decision maker.
Reason 3
1.8 Billion Business leads were generated on LinkedIn in 2011. So if you are not among those generating leads on LinkedIn, definitely your competition is doing it. In India there were 149 Million leads that were created in 2011. Business leads on LinkedIn usually accelerate the sales cycle. This means that the entrepreneur can realize the returns on his investment much faster.
These are the three reasons that I found in my experience that are very important. But there could be other reasons as well. If you do feel there are others, please do share them. I am sure all of us would love to get a deeper perspective on this topic.
Till then happy prospecting.