Benefits of joining LinkedIn

When it comes to business, one of the most popular social networking sites is LinkedIn. While it already has millions of members, there are millions of other people (including yourself!) who could benefit by joining and building their profile. So what are the benefits?

Self-promotion

A profile on LinkedIn will help promote yourself, your career and your achievements. Your profile is your online resume and it is a great way of showing what you are capable of doing. As you build your profile, others that you have worked with are able to add recommendations about the work you have done and these people can also add endorsements, showcasing the best skills that you have.

If you have your own website or blog, you can easily promote it to your connections on LinkedIn. An occasional personal update will help to remind people that you are there. Many people who use LinkedIn use it on a regular basis, so ensure that the content that you link to is professional and it will help boost your visibility as well as the visibility of your business.

Networking

LinkedIn is the online equivalent of a business networking event so make the most of your membership by joining groups that can benefit your company. You can share blog posts on them, but make sure it is relevant to the purpose of the group, otherwise you could find that you are blocked from posting further updates.

Groups also give you access to expertise. You can get advice and answers from people who have been in your line of work for much longer than you. Discussions will be started regularly by members of the group that give you the chance to bounce ideas off each other.

Promotion

You have the option to email people on your connections list. The settings on LinkedIn allow you to email up to 50 people at a time – perfect if you are promoting a product or service. You can also search for connections by linking the site to your email contacts, so LinkedIn is doing the hard work for you.

You get the opportunity to build a wider network by making use of introductions from others. If you want to connect to a specific person you can ask others who are connected to that person to set up an introduction, instead of just randomly sending connection requests.

Remember that while you are searching for others, they are also carrying out searches and if you keep your profile up to date then you will appear on their search results more often than you think. LinkedIn is easy to use and it can take just a few minutes each week to keep a profile up to date. Whether you run your own business or are looking for a new work opportunity, LinkedIn has the potential to help you achieve your goals.  I hope you found this post helpful. As always, feel free to email me with your marketing questions at amy@socialfocus.com.