People will sometimes refer to LinkedIn as your “online resume.” Frankly, it’s a disservice to a very powerful tool. The reach, features, and reputation of LinkedIn can provide you with much, much more. If you are building or growing any sort of business, offline or online, you need to not only have a LinkedIn profile, but a profile that accurately reflects both you and your business.
Why Join LinkedIn?
It’s one of the web’s most credible sources. At last check, LinkedIn had 50 million registered users. That’s an impressive community. But more impressive is the credibility a presence on LinkedIn confers to its members. By encouraging bona fide business use and discouraging inappropriate tactics like spam, it has built a rock-solid reputation for legitimacy. That reputation is transferred to its members. By simply joining, you send out a signal of authenticity.
LinkedIn helps you make a good first impression. It is now common for people go online to learn more about you and your business. Because of LinkedIn’s legitimacy and large user base, individual and business profiles typically show near the top in search engine results pages. For new or small businesses, this might be the only way to show up on the first page of the results without spending significant sums of money.
It’s a rolodex on steroids. Because the site is business oriented, people tend to keep their information up to date. People you want to stay in touch with will move, change jobs, or get a new email address. Chances are they’ll update their profile sooner rather than later. I’m able to keep touch with hundreds of former colleagues from all over the country – relationships built over a decade of consulting projects. Any other means of keeping up would be overwhelming.
And there’s more
LinkedIn allows membership in groups for associations, products and interests. It has a unique question and answer feature that helps you establish your expertise or get relevant answers to business questions. And for those who create content, it provides the ability to show blog feeds and share slide shows with your network. The benefits are more than can be covered in a single blog post.
But you can’t enjoy any of the benefits unless you are registered and you have a decent profile. You can learn more about LinkedIn here.
