In early 2010 the world’s largest business networking site, LinkedIn, reached an important milestone, passing the 60 million user mark.
Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to become the most popular social media network for professionals, providing a great tool for anyone seeking to connect with people they know and to access reliable information on businesses throughout the world.
The Power of LinkedIn
Online networking sites such as LinkedIn allow business professionals to make connections to highly targeted local and global networks with the help of digital technology.
LinkedIn allow business professionals to make connections to highly targeted local and global networks with the help of digital technology
One of the reasons why online networking sites are enjoying such meteoric growth is the role they play in opening up very real business opportunities – ranging from making contacts across multiple industries or promoting your brand directly to a targeted list of professionals in overseas markets.
Marketing with LinkedIn
At the heart of social networking sites such as LinkedIn is the professional profile. By creating a profile, the site allows you to detail your professional experience and achievements, education and recommendations, which will help you to connect with other professionals. The better your profile the more effective your brand visibility and credibility will be. You can also use your profile as a broadcast tool by announcing new services, company news, recent hires or client wins.
Users are also encouraged to ‘connect’ to other people on LinkedIn, for instance from colleagues to service providers. However effective marketing on Linked In is about more than simply making connections with people you already know. While it can be tempting to stick to this approach, it’s a bit like hiding at a local networking event or quickly finding the few people you know and not introducing yourself to the other people in the room! To get the best out of the service you need to interact and engage with fellow professionals.
Beyond connections
One of the primary ways of boosting your profile is to gain recommendations from clients or previous colleagues. Recommendations have a critical role online as they provide a great way for people to quickly assess trustworthiness.
You can also join multiple LinkedIn groups of which there are many thousands ranging from Alumni, corporations, charities spread across multiple industry sectors areas including education, travel, legal and marketing. With a little research you could identify several very relevant groups matching your business sector and interact with them to drive sales.
The site also lets you contact other professionals who you are unconnected to, through InMails. It’s here that you can see the real value of LinkedIn, especially if you want to use the site to market your company or services to particular professionals.
LinkedIn has been careful to avoid the ‘spamming’ plague that characterised ‘free’ online communications tools including email and directories. LinkedIn users have to pay for InMails so you tend to only use them in a more personal way with professionals that you really want to talk to.
All of which has implications for the future of old style direct marketing which can be ineffective and expensive. There is no doubt that the impact of LinkedIn and other business social media tools will encourage business to see the value of promoting themselves within a trusted online marketplace.
