A little late on this one but wanted to share nonetheless. Last week our friends at Candybox Marketing hosted a LinkedIn Boot Camp for Brokers webinar. A few interesting stats we learned… on an (average) daily basis:

* 82% of Canadians are active on social media (91% on YouTube, 85% on Facebook, 46% on Twitter, 39% on Instagram, 30% on LinkedIn and 26% on Pinterest)
* We check our smartphones 150 times
* We spend 2 hours and 19 minutes on social media
* 75% of business-to-business sales happen through search
* Canadians search before going direct to any other source
* Millennials (15 – 35) search 43 times (a day!)

LinkedIn started as a job site but has become the platform to build and prospect contacts. While only 30% of Canadians are active on the site, that 30% is arguably the most influential across platforms. As someone wise (Oprah?) once said, surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher. And as another wise person (Darrell) said last week, meet people where they spend time. He also shared some sweet*** tips for being awesome on LinkedIn:

* Dress to impress: your profile page should be professional, expert-focused (i.e. what are you bringing to the table), content rich and personable
* Get started by existing online – you and your company need a (separate) presence; you can then focus on updating/improving
* Stay top of mind by adding comments to discussions and sharing postings of your own
* Get engaged by joining groups and generating leads with new connections

A note on that last point, straight from Candybox but something we couldn’t agree with more – content’s only job is to lead to conversation. So when you’re joining groups and making new connections, don’t head straight for the sale: create an active presence by sharing and commenting on content, start to be seen as an expert in your field, build relationships based on advice… and then revenue will enter the equation. That’s the magic behind social media generating sales (thanks Candybox for another enlightening webinar).

*** That one’s for you Darrell.

 

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