Why bother with social media, like LinkedIn?

Younger professionals – in all professions – will find their next job and build their business network through LinkedIn.  Is your firm geared to grab this free opportunity?

The Internet and online social networks have changed the way we communicate with friends, family and colleagues forever. But it has also blurred the lines between what we do in our professional lives with what we choose to do in our own time.

For instance, do you really want your boss or potential new client to see that embarrassing photo of you falling out of a Tenerife nightclub at 4am which someone has tagged you in on Facebook?

That‘s where LinkedIn comes into its own. Quite simply it is the biggest and best social networking tool for professionals linking literally tens of millions of people and organisations online.

But with the seemingly omnipresent Facebook and Twitter taking all the headlines LinkedIn is still an underused resource so, with that in mind, here are a few reasons why you really should be using it more.

Visibility

Adding connections on LinkedIn pushes you to the top of search results, thereby increasing the chances of people finding you when they‘re looking on there for someone to do business with.

Self promotion

Don‘t be a wallflower – if you‘ve had a varied career let people know about it and treat your profile as an executive summary so people can judge your credentials for themselves.

Google ranking

Google loves to index social networks, so make sure your public profile is in full view and try to create web-links to your LinkedIn profile (from blogs etc) whenever you can.

Reference checks

Don‘t just take the word of whoever a potential recruit puts forward as a referee. Research their employment history and find people who have worked with them in the past for a more balanced view.

Job interviews

Before an interview, find out who‘s going to be there and research them on LinkedIn for shared connections or interests.

New job

Before accepting a job offer, seek a company‘s past employees and get some inside knowledge about the business and the personalities there.

Spy on the competition

We all do it. Monitor what your competitors are up to: who they‘re hiring, new connections etc and look for possible business opportunities.  

But to achieve all of the above you must be prepared to engage with LinkedIn and the networks within it. Here are a few “must dos” for getting the most out of LinkedIn:

Profile

Sounds obvious but make sure you add a photo (and not the Tenerife one!). People rarely choose to do business with a faceless entity. Try to use plain English when talking about yourself and your work – remember: not everyone works in your sector, so they won‘t understand your industry‘s jargon and shorthand. Fill out your profile as fully as you can, including current position, work history, education and professional affiliations.

Be social

LinkedIn is a social network – so go and network! Create as many connections as you can and join specialist interest groups of relevance to you and your work. Don‘t be afraid to connect with people you don‘t know, but only do so if you have some genuine reason, such as a shared professional interest.

LinkedIn groups

Research the thousands of groups on LinkedIn and join all the ones relevant to your sector and area of expertise, you can always choose to leave later if you find it is not appropriate. Once you‘re comfortable with the format try creating your own groups to suit an audience (prospective clients and intermediaries) to demonstrate your expertise.

Avoid sales-speak

As a species we‘ve developed an in-built ability to spot a salesperson in an instant, so avoid too much sales and marketing-speak on LinkedIn. People are there to do business for sure, but they don‘t want to be bombarded with thinly-veiled adverts (SEO “experts” take note, you‘re fooling no one!). Take part in the conversations and by all means demonstrate your expertise in a particular field so that people can see a genuine and compelling benefit in contacting you themselves.