Reach Senior IT Executives with LinkedIn
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The 2011 LinkedIn IT Hardware Buyer Audience Study reveals that a significant number of senior IT executives are active members of LinkedIn, utilizing the platform primarily for networking, information gathering, and making purchasing decisions. The survey of 800 executives indicates that 75% planned major hardware purchases within the next year, with a strong reliance on professional networks for advice. LinkedIn has proven to be a valuable marketing channel for targeting influential IT decision makers across various organizations.
Reach Senior IT Executives with LinkedIn
- 1. Marketing Solutions Reach Senior IT Executives with LinkedIn IT DECISION MAKERS LinkedIn IT Hardware Buyer Audience Study, 2011 ON LINKEDIN With IT budgets on the rise and most organizations planning significant ACTIVE BUYERS purchases in 2011-12, opportunities for IT Hardware marketers abound. 100% plan hardware purchases in LinkedIn’s membership includes leaders from every Fortune 500 company1 the next 12 months as well as executives at thousands of small and mid-sized businesses. LinkedIn connects marketers with the most influential, affluent, and 75% plan hardware purchases in educated audience on the web2 – but can it connect you with senior IT 3 or more categories executives? This is the question we examined in LinkedIn’s 2011 U.S. IT Hardware Buyer audience study. ENGAGED Spend 5-9x more time on LinkedIn We surveyed 800 IT leaders and C-level executives in the U.S. who are than leading IT channels involved in hardware purchase decisions at their companies and are active members of LinkedIn. The study examined decision-making responsibilities, CONNECTED LinkedIn usage, trust factors, purchase intentions, and brand affinities to Network with 3-5x more colleagues learn whether executives on LinkedIn: than the average LinkedIn member • Actively use LinkedIn to do their jobs and make IT decisions TRUST LINKEDIN & THEIR • Influence and direct IT hardware purchase decisions at their companies PROFESSIONAL NETWORK 98% rely on their work colleagues / • Have budget for major IT hardware purchases in the next 12 months professional network for IT product • Recognize and recommend specific hardware brands recommendations 63% look specifically to LinkedIn for IT information SENIORITY OF HARDWARE BUYER STUDY PARTICIPANTS CIO, CTO, COO IT C-LEVEL VP DIRECTOR IT LEADERS MANAGER 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Participants in LinkedIn’s 2011 IT Hardware Buyer audience study included a representative sample of C-level IT executives (CIOs, CTOs, and COOs with IT responsibilities) and IT Leaders (VPs, Directors, and Managers). At the time the survey was conducted, 87,000 IT decision makers were active on LinkedIn each month, and the number continue to grow. Base: all survey respondents (n=800) IT executives are active on LinkedIn – and not just for job searches The number of channels that compete for the attention of technology leaders is on the rise. How are these IT leaders using LinkedIn, and how does their LinkedIn usage compare with time spent on leading IT channels? As a group, IT professionals tend to be early adopters and have long been actively engaged on LinkedIn. In fact, IT professionals who visit LinkedIn spend more time on site per visit – and view more pages per visit – than they do at leading IT sites such as ZDNet, IDG, and Ziff Davis Enterprise.3 1
- 2. IT PROFESSIONALS ON LINKEDIN ARE HIGHLY ENGAGED 34 Average Pages per Visitor (US) Minutes per Visitor (US) 19 4 3 3 2 2 2 LinkedIn ZDNet IDG Tech Network Ziff Davis Enterprise Sites IT professionals spend more time and view more pages per visit on LinkedIn than on leading IT sites.4 Do IT executives spend their time on LinkedIn to network, share recommendations, and seek IT information – or are they simply looking for jobs? We examined the activities of IT executives on LinkedIn during a typical month. IT executives primarily use Linked to engage in professional networking activities, view people and profiles, participate in LinkedIn Groups around a professional interest, and learn about companies and products. Participation in each of these activities exceeds job hunting by a wide margin.5 IT execs on LinkedIn are senior decision makers It can be difficult for marketing professionals to ensure that their messages are reaching the right people at the right level in an organization. LinkedIn makes it easier for marketers to reach their target audience, because LinkedIn members participate under their real names and organizational affiliations, and senior executives comprise a significant portion of the overall audience. Of the 800 IT executives who participated the LinkedIn IT Hardware Buyer audience study, 57 percent were director level or above,6 and all play a significant role in hardware purchase decisions in their companies. LINKEDIN MEMBERS DRIVE IT PURCHASE DECISIONS What role(s) do you typically play in purchases of IT products or services for your company or institution? FINAL DECISION MAKER PART OF DECISION COMMITTEE SET BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS & BUDGET RECOMMEND BRANDS TO CONSIDER SET TECH. REQUIREMENTS 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% IT C-Level IT Leaders C-level IT execs on LinkedIn are most likely to be the final decision makers in IT purchase decisions, and IT leaders strongly influence every phase of the purchase process. Base: All survey respondents. IT Leaders (n=656), IT C-Level (n=144) 2
- 3. IT execs trust their colleagues and professional networks IT EXECS ON LINKEDIN According to Forrester Research, business technology buyers consistently ARE ACTIVE BUYERS rank ‘peers and colleagues’ as the number one source of influence in the buying process.7 The LinkedIn Hardware Buyer audience study reinforces 75% this finding, with 98% of IT executives looking to their colleagues and professional networks for trusted advice on IT purchases. IT executives on LinkedIn are exceptionally well connected, with three to OF IT EXECUTIVES SURVEYED five times more connections in their professional network than the average BUDGETED FOR LinkedIn member.8 3 OR MORE LINKEDIN CONNECTS IT DECISION MAKERS TO MAJOR TRUSTED ADVICE HARDWARE When deciding whether to purchase a particular IT product or service for your company or institution, do you trust recommendations from the following sources? PURCHASES IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS WORK COLLEAGUES/ PROFESSIONAL NETWORK 98% VALUE-ADDED RESELLERS/ SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 81% WHITEPAPER 70% IT COMPANY’S WEBSITE 36% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% ‘Work colleagues/professional network’ is the #1 trusted resource for IT Hardware Buyers on LinkedIn, surpassing other trusted sources of information. Base: all survey respondents (n=800) IT executives consider LinkedIn to be an important asset in getting their jobs done, with over half of respondents rating LinkedIn a good resource for: • Getting information about IT companies, services, or products • Getting advice on how to solve an IT product or service challenge • Finding recommendations about IT products or services • Staying on top of the latest news or trends in the IT industry Additionally, 20 percent of IT leaders and 17 percent of C-level IT executives stated that information on LinkedIn had directly influenced a recent purchase decision. IT execs on LinkedIn are active IT Hardware buyers With major analyst firms reporting rising spending across most IT hardware categories in 2011-20129, it’s not surprising that most IT execs on LinkedIn are planning major purchases. We surveyed LinkedIn users on their purchase plans across major IT hardware categories. Every IT executive surveyed had budgeted at least one major hardware purchase in the next 12 months and 75% planned purchases in 3 or more hardware categories. We looked at planned purchases by category, company size, and measured awareness of 40 major brands of computers, servers, storage solutions, networking devices, mobile phones and voice plans, landline phones and VOIP, and printers. Contact your LinkedIn account executive for information on specific brands and categories. 3
- 4. Advertise on LinkedIn BRANDS INCLUDED LinkedIn is a powerful vehicle for IT marketers to reach their target IN THE STUDY audience. Our marketing solutions provide advertisers with the ability to target audiences based on our members’ profile information, including job 3COM JUNIPER title, job function, seniority, company name, company size, industry, and 8X8 KODAK geography. ACER LENOVO To learn more about the LinkedIn IT Hardware Buyer audience study and APPLE LG how you can tap into LinkedIn’s audience of affluent, influential, AVAYA MICROSOFT hard-to-reach professionals, contact your LinkedIn account executive. BARRACUDA MOTOROLA BLACKBERRY NEC Methodology BROTHER NETAPP LinkedIn’s 2011 U.S. IT Hardware Audience Study was an online survey fielded in Q1 2011. The survey was conducted with 800 active, U.S. BUFFALO NETGEAR LinkedIn members whose LinkedIn profiles met the definition of IT Leaders CANON NOKIA and C-Level execs in organizations of 200 or more employees, and who CISCO NORTEL were screened for their involvement in IT hardware purchase decisions within their organizations. For the purposes of this survey, ‘active’ means a DELL ORACLE LinkedIn member who has used LinkedIn at least once in the last 30 days. EMC PALM EPSON SAMSUNG The demographics of the survey were representative of the broader LinkedIn Audience at the time the survey was conducted. A total of 800 FABRK SEAGATE/MAXTOR LinkedIn members completed the survey, however, a number of analyses HITACHI SONY focused on subsets of participants (n ~656 and n~144). The margin of HP SUN MICROSYSTEMS error on reported percentages is +/- 3.5% for the entire sample. The margins of error for subgroup analyses are +/- 3.8% for the IT Leader HTC TOSHIBA subgroup (n=656) and +/- 8.2% for the C-Level executive subgroup IBM WESTERN DIGITAL (n=144), assuming a 95% confidence level. IOMEGA XEROX IT hardware product categories included in this study: computers, servers, storage, networking devices, mobile phones and voice plans, landline phones and VOIP, printers. For more information http://marketing.linkedin.com/contact 1 As of January 2011, LinkedIn counts executives from all 2010 Fortune 500 companies as members. 2 The Nielsen Company @Plan data, released December 2010. U.S. LinkedIn members include more decision makers, more college and post graduates, with higher average household incomes, than many leading business websites. 3 Comparative pages per visitor and minutes per visitor from the Nielsen Company, @Plan January 2011. 4 Nielsen Company, @Plan January 2011. 5 For example, in January 2011, 90% of active IT executives communicated with their network, 82% searched or viewed profiles, and 31% participated in a LinkedIn group for like-minded professionals, whereas only 12% looked at job listings. 6 18 percent of participants in LinkedIn’s 2011 U.S. IT Hardware Buyer Audience Study 2011 were C-level executives in IT (CIOs, CTOs , COOs), 16 percent were vice presidents, 23 percent directors, and 43 percent managers. 7 Kim Celestre, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, referencing Forrester’s Social Technographics® findings in her June 14, 2011 report, "The Social Tech Product Launch: Monitor Social Conversations to Guide New Product Introductions.” 8 ‘Number of connections’ data based on LinkedIn active audience statistics, January 2011. 9 Andrew Bartels, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, “Mid-year update: Tech Industry Outlook for 2011 and 2012” (teleconference presentation), June 23, 2011. Copyright © 2011 LinkedIn Corporation, Inc. LinkedIn and the LinkedIn logo are registered trademarks of LinkedIn Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. 4