13th May 2008
Are you linked in
A few years ago I joined the online networking website LinkedIn. Did you? Have you gained anything by being a member?
I can’t say I’ve noticed any particular benefit but I think I’ve been missing an important point here.
You see, over the last few months I’ve been checking how social bookmarking and online networking helps business growth - specifically by encouraging traffic to web sites.
A great many of the bookmarking and networking websites are geared towards the social aspects of interaction. But LinkedIn is, supposedly, geared more towards business networking, which makes more sense to me.
But how to use it? I’m still exploring that, but I wanted to share what I’d discovered so far with you. And this is something that is particularly interesting to anyone selling to the larger companies.
Jill Konrath (I’m sure you remember Jill from my earlier posts) decided to ask the LinkedIn community how being a member had helped them in their business because, like me she hadn’t seen any advantage to being a member. She created a report based on the answers she got. In her report she cites 8 case studies from people who have used LinkedIn to enhance their business activities, as well as passing on some useful tips she received on how to use LinkedIn.
Her report has certainly opened my eyes; and at just 14 pages it’s definitely a worthwhile read.
You can download it for free (she doesn’t even ask you to subscribe to anything, but I’d strongly recommend visiting her blog page at Selling To Big Companies).
Get Jill’s report at http://tinyurl.com/4e293g
Share Your LinkedIn Experiences
Do you have a story to tell about being a member of LinkedIn? Have you made a useful connection? Or got some valuable research from it?
Use the comment link below to tell us what you experienced.
~ Carol Bentley
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while the products that I sell are 1) my editorial writing skill and 2) my web 2.0/social media/ viral marketing skills, I find that linkedin.com is a real hard nut to crack but once opened and understood what it can do, is a great way to network and get your name out there
1) you network/connect like crazy with people who are in similar businesses but
2)also connect with those are people “in the know” .. those who provide relevant, applicable answers to questions posted
3) connect with people that your friends might know
4) get references posted about you and you post about others who do great work.
5) put yourself out there as wanting a specific kind of work or position.
you would be surprised at what can happen!
Reply from Carol
Thanks for sharing Stevie - I look forward to discovering more about LinkedIn and I’ll share what I find out in future posts.