Are You Linked Out?
By Jessica Cook, Director of Internet Marketing, ADCO
LinkedIn does not have the huge user base or the interactive features of Facebook and MySpace. It does not provide users with the feeling that they are a part of the next wave of social media like Twitter or Tumblr. It does not offer the targeted advertising opportunities of niche networks like TheKnot.com or Snooth.com.
But, because it has branded and established itself as the place for professionals, LinkedIn is the social network that all of my clients—even the ones who are fearful or skeptical of social media—ask about and want to join.
So what is LinkedIn really?
LinkedIn is a social network with over 36 million members from across the globe. It assumes a more professional networking demeanor than Facebook or Twitter and, therefore, is often used for more professional purposes—so much so that some people prefer to call it a professional network instead of a social network.
Unlike most social networks, LinkedIn is not entirely free. A free account is available, but upgraded accounts, ranging from $24.95 to $499.95 per month, allow users to access additional features. While the free account provides enough features for most members, the ability to view profiles of people you are not connected to through your network and to send InMail (messages to people you aren't connected with) is useful for many users. Without an upgraded account, members can only view certain profiles (specifically, people who are connected, within three degrees, to people their networks), and they can only email people they are directly connected with.
Who is on LinkedIn? Isn't it just for people searching for jobs?
Millions of professional people are on LinkedIn—half of which are in the United States. With a new member joining approximately every second, someone you know and want to connect with is surely on LinkedIn.
The ranks of LinkedIn users are filled with distinguished business leaders. The average household income of LinkedIn members is $109,000, and executives from all Fortune 500 companies are represented.
Because LinkedIn members create profiles that function as online resumes, detailing their employment and education history, many assume it is just another job site to compete with CareerBuilder and Monster. And although LinkedIn does boast a job board as one of its features, it is quite different from traditional job sites. Many LinkedIn members are looking for jobs, but just as many are looking to build a professional network of knowledgeable, experienced people that they can call upon when they need expertise or assistance.
How do people use LinkedIn?
In many ways, LinkedIn can be seen as the online equivalent of the networking you do at luncheons or after hours events. When you network in-person, you hope to meet new people and learn about what they do. You collect and save business cards so that when you need a new security system or a better Website, you have someone to contact for help.
LinkedIn has taken this professional networking process online. Members create profiles with information about their current and past employment, education, skills, interests, recommendations (yes, members who have worked with you can write recommendations for you) and contact information. Through these profiles, users connect with other members. To connect, users simply view the profiles of people they know and request the connection through a message on LinkedIn's internal email system.
Users connect with others to build their professional networks. The larger your network, the more profiles you can access and the more people you can connect with through introductions. For example, I'm attending a luncheon, and I see someone I have met before talking to someone I would really like to meet. I can approach the person I know and ask that he or she introduce me to the person I don't know. The same process can happen through LinkedIn. If I connect through LinkedIn with someone I know, that person can introduce me to someone I don't know through LinkedIn's "Introductions" feature. Ultimately, this process expands my network, allowing me to know, call upon, and communicate with an even greater number of people.
How do businesses and organizations use LinkedIn?
Businesses and organizations do not create profiles on LinkedIn; people do. But because of the online resume format of the profile, where individuals clearly note their employers (and often link to their Websites), businesses benefit from increased online exposure when executives or employees build large LinkedIn networks.
Additionally, because LinkedIn is more of a professional network than a social network, the majority of individuals are members because they want to use it for business purposes. Some members use LinkedIn to create and establish their personal and company brands. Others use it to find potential clients, service providers, or partners.
Certain users like recruiters and human resources professionals depend on LinkedIn to locate top-shelf talent—through both the job board (reaching active job seekers) and the InMail system which is available only to paid accounts and allows users to send messages to people they aren't connected with. Recruiters can conduct advanced searches for job titles, specialties, and more and review member profiles (complete with work history, education, recommendations, etc.) of interest. Once they find a candidate (often a passive job seeker who hasn't been laid off but who is simply open to opportunities), recruiters can send InMail messages to communicate directly.
Many members use LinkedIn to gain information or knowledge through the "Answers" section of the site. The "Answers" section of LinkedIn features discussion boards or forums where professionals ask specific questions to the LinkedIn community and receive answers from members. Sharing your knowledge and expertise through the answering of questions on LinkedIn is, arguably, the best way to increase your exposure on LinkedIn. Answering questions puts you in front of the asker and anyone who reads your response—setting the stage for additional connections to grow your network and more opportunities to communicate with people. If you're a consistent answerer, LinkedIn may even dub you an "expert" and give you additional exposure for contributing to the community with your content.
Should I join LinkedIn?
LinkedIn isn't useful for everyone, but it's certainly worth setting up your profile and looking for people you know. Odds are, you'll be surprised at how many colleagues, class mates, and friends are on LinkedIn waiting to be found.
Like most social networks, joining LinkedIn begins with creating a profile. The initial process of creating your profile can be time-intensive, especially if you don't have a current resume to pull information from. But successfully using LinkedIn requires a solid profile with detailed information about you. Include as much information about yourself as you're comfortable with, and remember that more is better to ensure that you'll appear in LinkedIn searches.
Once you've created your profile, LinkedIn becomes far less time-consuming than networks like Facebook or Twitter; this is because users don't use LinkedIn in the same way they use other networks. Facebook users often login and interact with the network and others on it every single day. But because LinkedIn focuses on what it does well (for now)—providing a platform for professional networking—it has not created functionality that gives most members a social or interactive reason to login every day. In fact, most users visit LinkedIn only when a need arises—like when they need to find an answer to a question, or they want to make contact with someone.
There are certainly exceptions to this rule. Recruiters, human resources professionals, and job seekers may visit LinkedIn multiple times each day. But they aren't the only ones. Some professionals are using LinkedIn as their primary tool for business development; thus, they log in daily to make contacts, establish connections, answer questions, and more. In fact, as the network grows and as the impact of social media continues to expand, more and more professionals will begin to use LinkedIn more regularly. They'll begin to visit daily and engage with their professional community like they engage with their social community.
But for now, fairly regular visits to the site will allow you to approve connections and conduct searches to expand your network—so there's no reason to not get started. Sign up, create your profile, and begin building your network. And be sure not to miss the fifth and final article in this series, which will give simple tips and things to remember for successful social networking on LinkedIn and beyond.
