How LinkedIn Can Be Useful to Your Business And/Or Career

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What do you know about the website LinkedIn? Maybe you have heard a few things, like:

  • a networking site for people looking for jobs and/or a career change
  • a site where business professionals and entrepreneurs can network
  • a social media site where people can make new friends and reconnect with old friends
  • a site where employers can actively seek and recruit qualified candidates for jobs that need to be filled

Truth is, LinkedIn is all of the above and more. If you have a business and want to increase sales or look for new customers, LinkedIn could be a very valuable tool to use. If you are fed up and stressed out in your current job and wish to find a better job, LinkedIn can also be of help. Let me show you how….

linkedIn logo

What’s It All About?

LinkedIn was created by co-founder Reid Hoffman in 2002 and the website was officially launched on May 5, 2003. It now has over 380 million members worldwide, including executives from Fortune 500 companies. As stated on the official website, its mission is to “connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful”. Therefore, if you are a business entrepreneur or professional and have the desire to become more productive and successful, then joining LinkedIn should be a no-brainer for you.

Types of LinkedIn Accounts

There are 2 main types of LinkedIn accounts to choose from–the Basic, which is free, and the Premium,  which is a paid subscription. The price varies from $29.99/month to $119.95/month depending on the type of plan chosen. All Premium accounts have a 30 day free trial period.  Based on my research, I would recommend you open a basic account if you are just starting out. However, if you have a business and wish to increase sales or you are a job seeker who is really serious about standing out from everyone else to potential employers, I would recommend you open a Premium account. The Premium account has more features that will better enhance your profile and make it stand out more. Here are some of the popular features of the Premium account:

Premium_Linkedin_features
image courtesy of www.linkedin.com

 

A Personal LinkedIn Testimony

If you are still on the fence as to whether or not to join LinkedIn or have doubts that LinkedIn really works, I can understand how you feel because I also felt that way.  I no longer have any doubts as to LinkedIn’s validity because it has helped me get a new job that I am very glad to have stumbled upon. When I say I “stumbled upon”  the listing for my new job, I mean just that–I found my current job by accident.

Back in April of 2015, I received an email from my investment broker saying that he wanted to connect with me on LinkedIn. I thought about it, and decided to make the connection. So I clicked on the link from the email that would connect me to the LinkedIn website. (I have had a LinkedIn account for some time; but prior to receiving the email from my investment broker, I seldom logged into it.) I made the connection with my broker. Once that was completed, I decided to just scan the website to see what was happening. Lo and behold, I saw a job listing for a lab technologist position at a hospital that I had worked at 11 years ago. I left this hospital because I was downsized.  Fortunately, the position listed  happened to be in the same department with the same manager that I had previously worked with. I couldn’t believe my eyes; I wondered if this was for real.  I quickly decided to apply because I felt that I had a real good chance of getting this job. The manager was not happy that I was downsized; she did not want to lose me because she felt I was a good worker. When I called her, she was happy to hear from me and glad to know that I was interested in the position, and immediately set up an interview for me. I went to the interview, and four months later, I was officially hired.

This experience has made me realize the following:

  1. Many employers now use LinkedIn to list job openings
  2. Making connections with other members can directly or indirectly lead to a new job or new opportunity
  3. If I did not make the connection with my broker, I would never have known about the job opening at the hospital

 

Conclusion

I hope that I have shed some light on what LinkedIn is all about and why you should consider joining it if you are serious about either increasing your business or looking for a new job. Of course, I cannot predict that what happened to me will happen to you. However, you will never know if you don’t take the opportunity to find out.  Remember, you can try it out for free with a Basic account.  This website also has webinars on how to set up your LinkedIn profile and also how to make it work best for you.  If you need help, feel free to either comment or ask questions below.  I wish you much success in your endeavors.

 

Source: www.linkedin.com

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14 thoughts on “How LinkedIn Can Be Useful to Your Business And/Or Career

  1. Darren says:

    Loved the job example you put into your post. It really illustrates how one thing can lead to another and you have no idea that it’s going to at the time.

    I’ve been a member of LinkedIn for years, but to be honest I’ve hardly ever used it. I guess I hadn’t really seen the benefits. Thanks to your article it’s opened my eyes to LinkedIn’s potential.

    • Deidre says:

      Hi Darren,

      Yes it’s funny how the smallest of things can open doors to opportunities that might otherwise be missed. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank God for opening the door to a new job through LinkedIn. I was very unhappy with my former job and I was silently praying for another job opportunity to come up. By all means update your LinkedIn profile and browse through the website–maybe you might come across something that may interest you. Thanks for commenting, and best wishes.

  2. Neil says:

    Very nice review of LinkedIn and how it works. I have had a LinkedIn basic account for quite a few years now and use it mainly to keep in touch with colleagues I have worked with in the past. I do not use it to promote my business, but I know others who have with some success. If I was ever on the look out for a new job though it is the first place I would go to look, update my profile and probably upgrade to one of the premium accounts.

    • Deidre says:

      Hi Neil,

      Before I got my current job, I only used LinkedIn on occasion, to either connect with someone by invitation, or to see what is going on with friends and acquaintances. Now that LinkedIn has features available that people can use to promote their businesses, I think more business entrepreneurs will take notice. From the people you know that have used LinkedIn successfully to promote their businesses, did they tell you how they did it? I’m just being curious….

      Thanks for the comments, and best wishes for continued success.

  3. rufat says:

    Thank you for a great info about Linkedin. I know that a lot of people are using Linkedin for their business, but to be honest, I’ve never used it. I use other social networks such as Facebook, Google plus, Twitter and Pinterest, but never Linkedin. I didn’t know that they had premium account and 30 day free trial. It’s good that you found a good job, but I would like to know if you have been able to use Linkedin to increase sales on your website? Can you share some of your experience?

    • Deidre says:

      Hi rufat,

      Thanks for commenting. No I have not used LinkedIn to increase sales on my website, so I cannot give you any tips on this. If you are having any success with the other social media websites like Facebook and Google plus, I would continue using them. Perhaps you may want to take a look at LinkedIn Sales Navigator– their social selling feature. This also has a free trial period. Best of luck to you.

  4. Leighann says:

    Nice site. Lots of helpful information on LinkedIn. I opened my account when I was in school. It has lots of useful information on it. I did not know about the premium plan. I have not been on it in a while. But now that I think about it I might look at my account. You were really lucky that you looked on your account to get your current job. Hope you have lots of luck with your site.

    • Deidre says:

      Hi Leighann,

      Yes, it is a good idea for you to look at your account, even just to update your profile information or to see who you know that is also on LinkedIn and make connections. You just never know where one or two connections will lead you. Thanks for commenting, and best wishes for success on your website as well.

  5. Having helped set up my husbands linked in account a couple years ago I know it can be time consuming. He found a link where he was guided through the steps and for a small fee he was linked-in.. I mean he got a whole lot of “connections” which put him in a special group.. . I have been thinking about making my own account, but I am not sure how effective it will be with out a college degree.. Thoughts?

    • Deidre says:

      Shelley,
      If you want to set up a LinkedIn account for yourself, I would not let the lack of a college degree stop you. You can set up
      a free Basic account. I’m pretty sure there are others on LinkedIn who for whatever reason, don’t have college degrees. What
      skills do you possess? What are your interests or hobbies? Perhaps you should emphasize that instead. How did things work out for
      your husband? My advice to you is to open an account and see what happens… Hope this helps; any more questions, just ask.
      Thanks for commenting.

  6. Tobias says:

    Just read your post and I really like the info! Linkedin can be so powerful if you manage to use it right! I saw you wrote about to differnect accounts, the basic one and the premium one. I wonder how much difference is it between the 29.99 and the 119.95?

    • Deidre says:

      Hi Tobias,

      Thanks for commenting. I really did not look into the difference between the 29.99 and the 119.95 premium accounts, so I would suggest you go to the LinkedIn website and research further. Personally, I think the free account is just fine; unless you really want to use LinkedIn as a primary source of promoting your business.

  7. Justin says:

    I have heard a lot of good things about LinkedIn, but I had completely forgotten that there were some job listings on it. I have been job searching for a few months myself, but I haven’t really utilized LinkedIn. Also, how do businesses use LinkedIn to increase sales? It seems like advertising would be frowned upon on a site like that. Thanks for the information!

    • Deidre says:

      Hi Justin,

      Like you, I never took LinkedIn seriously until I found my current job with it. This whole experience has changed my mind regarding LinkedIn. Since you are currently looking for a job, I would suggest setting up a free account with LinkedIn and doing a job search. As for businesses using LinkedIn to increase sales, they do have a marketing platform (called LinkedIn Ads) specifically for businesses. I did not do much research into that, so I am not familiar with how it works. Thanks for commenting on this post.

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