Thanks to people like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and the “PayPal Mafia,” (just to name a few), we have beautiful phones and visually stunning places to go and hang out – all on the web. This is great (I guess). And as small business owners, the number one question might be: “Great. Social Media…how do I use this to make money for my business?” Social platforms, like Facebook and LinkedIn (and now one of our personal favorites-Pinterest), have come on the scene – and all of our customers now literally live in them.

They’re no long rooming the shopping malls or browsing mailed catalogs. No, they’re up at 2 am watching YouTube! videos and at daylight on Facebook (if they can get away with it) or LinkedIn (which everyone finds time for (ahem… ‘excuses‘). As a digital media agency specializing in all things social media – we’re thrilled (of course). And keeping up with the blizzard of changes one finds in these ecosystems can be daunting.

Take LinkedIn for example. Nearly 400 million people can be found day in and day out “networking,” “conversing” (via group memberships), and gracefully (read: discretely) taking a pulse on career opportunities.

As a social platform, LinkedIn has its critics. The common perception (and rep) is that it’s a professional job or corporate networking platform and therefore a platform not suited to business development. And if you are among those who believe this, you be mistaken and are likely missing out on one of the best platforms for reaching customers for your products or services. Small business owners take note: it’s worth your while to add LinkedIn to your marketing strategy.

Here are 8 Epic stats that we think you will find compelling:

Our advice: Get started by taking a few small steps – But GET STARTED. We timed it: It takes about 10-minutes to set up a basic profile (for the company), about twice this for a good CEO/Owner profile (nice photo, well thought-through, and interesting bio. Oh, and did we mention a “nice photo?”), and maybe 5 to 10-minutes to search for and find 1 or 2 groups to join.

So, within 24 hours:

With just a little investment of time and effort, you’ll gain traffic to your digital assets, engage in meaningful conversations, and most importantly, create valuable leads for your business. *Image Source