Launched in 2003 in the USA, LinkedIn is a professional business-related social networking site that is now used by over 120 million registered users across the world.
A lot of people enjoy belonging to a community, and LinkedIn offers this service, with people connecting globally and enjoying the benefits. Some people have built their businesses entirely on LinkedIn.
If you would like to build your brand and share this brand with others, LinkedIn may be the way forward for you. You are able to showcase the services or products you have on offer and allow other visitors to the site access to your company. You are able to announce when you have a new product or service on offer or you may just wish to offer a company update. Don’t forget – you are also able to see what your competitors are offering and monitor their trends. It may help keep you one step ahead of your competitors.
You could ask your satisfied customers to write a recommendation which can be published on your LinkedIn profile and then it will be visible to the entire network. This is a great way of advertising globally.
With LinkedIn, you have the ability to open those doors to opportunities you perhaps thought were closed to you, by using those professional relationships that you may already have built up. This in turn will help you become more effective in opening doors to potential opportunities.
If you are searching for a job, you can use LinkedIn as a springboard to expanding your network. LinkedIn has the facility of linking you with others who may be able to offer help in the advancement of your career. This is a good way of finding out about a company prior to you contacting them for a job. You could perhaps link with former employees of a company and read their comments and you can then be the judge on whether you wish to apply for a position.
LinkedIn also has thousands of company profiles for you to look at, where you can view company promotions, statistics, hirings and changes within that certain company. This makes companies more transparent and you are able to get an idea if the company is forward-thinking and fast-moving and the type of organisation you would wish to work for.
When you are applying for a position, you would normally send a curriculum vitae one or two pages long, but on LinkedIn, you can build your own personal profile and include topics that you may feel would be too detailed for a curriculum vitae; don’t forget to enter all your personal achievements and professional accomplishments. The prospective employer can then obtain further information on you and your lifestyle.
LinkedIn is a very powerful tool and by connecting on this website, you are proving that you are learning and sharing and using technology to its best advantage. Your profile can be found by your former colleagues, partners and clients and you may add more connections if you invite trusted contacts to connect to you. You will be amazed how quickly the links can build.
LinkedIn is a great way of letting everyone know who you are and letting everyone know what you have to offer.