LinkedIn - An Overview

Because akaCRM advises clients on the use of various social media networks, tools and websiURtes, we are providing a series of short overview articles on some of the leading social media networks. In this article, we are providing a briefing on the LinkedIn social network.

LinkedIn publishes the following facts about their service:

• LinkedIn has over 53 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. 
• A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of our members are outside the U.S. 
• Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

Other information we have gathered in our research shows that the average age of LinkedIn members is 41 years old. More importantly, approximately 49% are business decision makers in some capacity.  LinkedIn is most often viewed as a business social network, whereas Facebook and MySpace are most often considered personal social networks. LinkedIn members primarily join the network to search for jobs or create business development opportunities. Creating a profile is free to individuals although it would come as no surprise that premium options are available for a fee. LinkedIn members complete their profiles which contain a number of optional pieces of information, the two most important we believe are:

1. Names of current and previous employers
2. Recommendations received from others

Recommendations are provided from one LinkedIn member to another as an acknowledgement of value. Not only does the recommendation show up in the profile of the receiver, but also in the profile of the provider (e..g, "Brent recommends...."). This provides some credibility as none of us want to recommend people that we would actually not want to be associated with.

At the same time, companies (most often the corporate marketing departments) can set-up an official "LinkedIn Company Page" (this service is still showing that it is in "Beta"). The information on the company page can include a brief overview of the company, company logo, address of headquarters and other locations, company blog or RSS feed (more on this later), company specialities, financial data (optional), number of employees and a link to the company website.  Most of this information is optional. See example company page.

What's really neat about LinkedIn company pages is that as individuals that currently or have worked for the company add the company to their profile resumes, they are automatically linked to the Company page. In this way, LinkedIn company pages grow from within. In addition, because individuals have a work history of places they have worked before, LinkedIn shows career path information which includes the names of companies where employees have previously worked as well as companies they have joined after their employment as the subject company. News, job postings and for public companies, stock information is also displayed.

The company blog or RSS feed is an optional field that many companies fail to take advantage of.  If your website has a blog or group of articles that are enables with an RSS feed, they can be syndicated to the LinkedIn Company page and displayed there. Published once on the company website or blog and now syndicated into the LinkedIn company page.  

Individuals are also able to post Network Updates, a concept made popular with the personal social networks like Twitter and Facebook. If you are getting ready to attend a tradeshow, take a business trip, releasing a new product or service or writing an article on a topic relevant to your network, consider posting a brief network update. This information will be seen by people you add or approve to join your newtork. I have found this often gets unsolicited follow-up inquiries. In the last month, LinkedIn also added the feature to further syndicate your network update to a personal or company Twitter account (see highlighted example).

Another great networking opportunity on LinkedIn is the Answers and Polls features. With the Answers feature, individuals can pose questions to their network or a broader audience. Asking a question is free and can be targeted by industry and geography. You will find dozens of responses to many questions and you get the opportunity to rank which you consider acceptable and which are the best. This gives "ego points" to the people that asked them correctly. I have found that asking questions in the Answers section is a good way to research a product or service, learn about something new or do other business research. The Polls feature allows you to create a poll which can be included on your home page and posted to your network. For an additional fee, you can post it more broadly beyond your network. 

One of the most powerful networking opportunities in LinkedIn is LinkedIn Groups. Groups are mini-networks of individuals that share something in common.  An industry, use of a particular software package or attended the same graduate school. Within these group pages, discussions, job postings and other news is shared. Think of these as highly-targeted channels of networking. If you have a sales person for example that covers the semiconductor industry, they should search and join the appropriate semiconductor groups. This is no different than joining local trade groups, except that your reach is far broader.

akaCRM recommends the following for individuals:

• All career-minded individuals should have a personal page on LinkedIn. 
• We always recommend building your network over time. Seek out a few connections a week. The wrong time to add connections is when you urgently need a job or have a favor to ask. You will find your personal efforts much more successful if you groom your network overtime.
• Be selective in who you invite and who you accept in your network. Your network is a reflection of the company you keep and the circles you run in.
• Keep your LinkedIn page current. As your career evolves or you have something to report, post to your Network Updates. As opposed to a Facebook page where many people post daily, we recommend keeping your LinkedIn Network updates to no more frequently than 1 or 2 times a week. Consider when you post if it is interesting to someone else.
• Solicit recommendations, but do so sparingly. Request these from colleagues who know you well. Remember - to get recommendations you have to be prepared to give recommendations.
• If you have a personal website or are featured on your company website, consider including a link to your LinkedIn profile. This profile is often one of the first places that potential clients, employers and colleagues will look when researching information about you. It is also one of the more credible sources.
• Select an appropriate headline. Most people put their titles as their headline on their profile page. Doing so really doesn't tell viewers much about you. Instead of a job title, consider a one sentence statement of your business objective.
• Include your photo. How many times have you had a meeting with a new prospect, client or colleague that you haven't met before. If I'm meeting someone in a public place and haven't met them before, I often go to their LinkedIn page to see if they have a picture so I will be able to recognize them.
• Make sure your profile is complete. There are many options and the more complete your profile, the better your results will be.
• Make yourself more visible by improving your page rank with Google. LinkedIn allows you to personalize your LinkedIn public profile URL. Take my public profile page for example: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brentmellow is much better than a default URL such as http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=35122395. 

• Marketing departments should create a company page, populated with the requisite information.
• Assuming the company has a blog or RSS fee, it should be connected to the company page.
• Smaller employers may want to encourage their employees to create profiles in order to build the company presence on the website.
• The marketing team should include a link to the company page on its primary company website.
• Designated individuals in the marketing department should be tasked with posting Network Updates including syndicating to Twitter.
• Have the appropriate people in your company join the correct LinkedIn groups. Not only should they join, but it is your company's opportunity to position itself as a thought leader though the participation of your colleagues.
• For companies using Salesforce CRM, consider having your administrator install the free LinkedIn AppExchange application. While we expect the integration between salesforce.com and LinkedIn to get better over the next year, this makes it really easy to do a quick look-up on your contacts or leads to learn more about them.

The following is a good overview video of how the LinkedIn social network works.

How do you use LinkedIn? Share your stories, questions, feedback or comments below.