October 26, 2019
Sunil Nagaraj
LinkedIn is the largest social networking site for professional networking. LinkedIn has more than 303 million active monthly users most of whom are professionals, 40% of which visit the site daily; exchanging business information. LinkedIn is different from other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, which are basically used for friendships, likes, dislikes, interests and hobbies etc. But in LinkedIn you can build connections with professionals who are in similar fields or professions. Recent statistics reveal that after the US, India, Brazil, Great Britain and Canada have the highest number of Linkedin users. You could hook-up with your old college buddies or previous work colleagues. LinkedIn is about recommendations; your work experience details and your work profile.
LinkedIn can be used for your own professional networking as well as for business networking. LinkedIn offers a separate page for companies and businesses. As of 2019, LinkedIn now has over 30 million companies on LinkedIn with 20 million open job listings.
Let’s discuss one by one, how a professional and company can use LinkedIn for achieving success.
LinkedIn gives the best possible option to professionals for exchanging the business information. In LinkedIn you can find people from the President of the United States to Mr. Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra Group and finally your office colleague, who sits in the opposite cubicle.
In LinkedIn you can find experienced professionals and experts related to the field of your work. You can ask for suggestions or advice related to your career or work. If you are an expert, you can also contribute ‘gyan’ means knowledge, to others by joining groups or answering questions in the ‘Question & Answer’ area.
Recommendations – LinkedIn is known for recommendations, you can ask our colleague or you’re Manager or Team leader, your clients for recommendations for your work. Recommendations from top authority professional would add value to your overall profile.
Moreover, LinkedIn also offers separate section known as LinkedIn Answers. Suppose you are facing some problem in your projects or work; you can post your questions and can get the best answers from industry experts. Also, you can see the previously posted questions and all the answers about the question.
Group Discussion- In LinkedIn there are lots of groups related to your profession, you can join these groups and can participate or start discussion on any topic related to your fields. Comments and thoughts of various experts will help you in enhancing your knowledge.
Once you are a member of LinkedIn, look to expand your network or connections. One way to do this is to use groups. In the ‘Groups’ tabs, you will see “Groups Directory”. Select that and on the next page use Search Groups, selecting “other” from the drop-down categories menu. Join the groups that interest you. Once you are a member, you will have access to the members in that group.
LinkedIn offers you an option to follow a particular company. By doing so, you can see the latest updates of that company like for example no. of vacancies in that company, new hires promotions etc. In LinkedIn you can also find the jobs in Job section; you can search jobs, save jobs of interest among the many more interesting options.
These are some of the features and applications, professional can use in LinkedIn
LinkedIn offers lots of applications and feature to companies, some of the important features are: –
Recruitment- Companies can find here desired candidates for their company without any cost. Companies can post the jobs in LinkedIn so that professionals, who are looking for a change, can apply. Moreover, LinkedIn offers lots of recruiting solutions to the companies.
Business Partner – LinkedIn is the perfect place for finding the business partner for your business.
Company Profile- Companies can register their own profile at Company Directory in LinkedIn and can give all information about the company like year of establishment, no. of employees, company achievements etc.
Lead Generation – Many a time, you come across companies or individuals of a group posting requirements of services. If you are very active on LinkedIn, you can be the first of the early birds to capitalize on such opportunities. Working for leads can be time consuming at first on LinkedIn, but with a relentless approach on working on your professional connections, would ultimately bear fruits in the long run.
So, as we can see, LinkedIn can sure be a very exciting online place to be in. Investing some time and learning the ropes in LinkedIn, can sure help professionals and businesses to grow their careers and generate more profits.
