Over 1.2 Million Users in Bulgaria for LinkedIn’s 20th Anniversary
The largest professional network in the world, LinkedIn, celebrates its 20th birthday with 930 million registered users worldwide and surpassing the 1.2 million user mark in Bulgaria. National growth has been 20% in just over a year, according to a report on the platform’s usability by BookMark, the first Bulgarian LinkedIn marketing agency.
According to the data in the report, over half of the Bulgarian users on LinkedIn are aged 25-34, which is also considered the most active age group in the labor market. Nearly 200,000 people use the professional network every month, and 30,000 of them have published content in the last 30 days. A detailed analysis of the behavior of Bulgarian users on LinkedIn can be downloaded for free at BookMark.bg/LinkedInBG.
Founded by American Reid Hoffman on May 5, 2003, LinkedIn is the largest platform for business communication globally. The network is a preferred communication channel for world-renowned entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and Arianna Huffington. They were part of the world’s first influencer program, LinkedIn Influencers, launched in 2011. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, and in the summer of 2021, it surpassed an annual revenue volume of $10 billion for the first time.
“Most users are surprised that LinkedIn is the oldest of the major social networks we use. That’s probably why the platform’s high percentage growth year after year is also surprising,” says BookMark founder and LinkedIn marketing lecturer Alexander Krastev. “Although it’s entirely geared towards business users, during the pandemic, LinkedIn was the network that reached out to professionals worldwide with many new free features and learning opportunities, access to resources, and insights from the most successful entrepreneurs globally. We see that this is now paying off with high trust and increased engagement levels,” he adds.
As the first Bulgarian agency fully focused on LinkedIn communication, BookMark will celebrate the anniversary with a series of informational resources for a better understanding of the platform. On the website BookMark.bg/LinkedIn20, users can find interactive materials about LinkedIn’s history and various features and ways the network helps tens of millions of businesses worldwide.
More and more businesses in Bulgaria are actively using the professional network. “Over the past three years, we have seen a significant interest from companies not only in searching for new employees but also in engaging current ones, which leads to attracting new clients,” summarizes Dilyana Deneva, a partner at BookMark agency. “Although growing company pages is significantly more challenging compared to other social networks, in the last six months, we have seen a growth of over 70% in Bulgarian businesses that pass the psychological threshold of 5,000 followers,” she adds.
Over the years, the understanding that LinkedIn is a place to find a job has taken a backseat. “The network is now much more focused on content and attracts more and more young people. It’s no coincidence that nearly a quarter of a million Bulgarians under the age of 25 are already on the platform, and we try to create special content to help them in their first steps,” says Teodora Rafaailova, a partner at BookMark with a focus on young users.
For the first time, the agency will also provide access to its self-assessment tool for personal LinkedIn profiles, called Satlo. It allows users to measure the potential of their profiles and receive guidance on how to improve them.
For additional information and interviews:
Dilyana Deneva
dilyana@bookmark.bg
+359 899 190 284