Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Learning LinkedIn - The Social Media King For Business Professionals

Sometimes Facebook can seem like the Wild West—full of baby pictures, engagements, vacation sunsets and political rants. It’s personal - and not exactly the most intentional platform for a professional to create their own personal identity or brand.

LinkedIn is a social platform that fits that very niche - in a professional way. Although it’s been around since 2003, LinkedIn has now grown to become one of the top four platforms in terms of the amount of active users and is the number one business social media platform.

So what exactly is LinkedIn and why should you, as an employee of a business or a business owner, be on it? 

LinkedIn is a thriving online community of professionals looking to make connections, recommendations and network for professional purposes. LinkedIn has their own mail system called InMail that allows you to send 5 messages to others (more are available in premium membership packages) for a variety of purposes.

You’re able to search for and find others at your company, in your field or in a profession that you are interested in learning more about.

LinkedIn offers professional “Groups” that you can request to join that serve as discussion boards for job postings and for sharing information with others.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for a LinkedIn profile today and stay tuned for ways you can utilize your profile to build a great business community online.