LinkedIn what is it and how can it help me?
Have you ever tried to find out what LinkedIn is used for? You are most likely not alone! LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network, designed specifically for the business community. Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, and Konstantin Guericke founded the website. LinkedIn had over 467 million professional members in 2016 and is still growing and expanding.
Anyone who wants to sign up for the social networking website has two membership options. The first option is the basic membership, which allows members to connect with people they know. It could be people they went to school with, work with, or know from a different group they are a part of. Premium account is the second type of membership.
Premium accounts are an investment!
Premium plans aren’t cheap, ranging from $30 to $120 per month. LinkedIn premium accounts are not for everyone, and there is nothing wrong with having a basic account. The majority of premium users on LinkedIn are job seekers, recruiters, and sales professionals. According to co-founder Reid Hoffman, approximately 27% of subscribers are recruiters. If you decide to give premium a try, you can, but if you decide it isn’t worth the investment, you can revert to the basic free membership.
What is the Purpose of LinkedIn?
The website’s goal is to connect various business people of all ages and to allow registered members to establish professional networking relationships. These networking relationships can be used for business purposes, connecting professionals with people they might not otherwise be able to find (owners, CFOs, and high-level executives).
Make contact with professionals and prospects!
It’s also an excellent resource because it encourages ongoing communication. If you had a meeting with a marketing manager from a company and would like to contact him again to set up another meeting, you can use LinkedIn. Furthermore, business owners can use LinkedIn to refresh their memories or learn more about a client they just met for the first time. LinkedIn enables business professionals to connect, reconnect, communicate, and build valuable relationships that are critical to a company’s success.
More LinkedIn Advantages
- create a professional online profile for yourself
- create and keep your own personalized professional network
- Find and reconnect with your college and high school classmates.
- learn about other businesses in your industry
- Using LinkedIn groups, you can find other professionals in your industry.
- Use LinkedIn’s publishing platform to share your own thoughts.
- find out about new job opportunities looking for work on LinkedIn
How Should You Use LinkedIn?
Create A Profile Page After Signing Up
Creating a profile is the first step. To register, you must provide your email address, name, location, current employer, and school district. Your profile should look and feel like a professional resume. As a result, you should maintain a professional and consistent focus. For example, while you should include your employment and educational history, you should avoid mentioning your favorite movies or hobbies.
Lead with value and address your target audience!
There’s also a “Summary” section where you can give a brief description of yourself and anything else you think is relevant. It may include your business interests, education, or objectives. Education, work experience, skills and endorsements, languages, groups, news you follow, and certifications are also separated into sections. There are also additional sections where you can build your online profile.
Contacts on LinkedIn
After you’ve finished your profile page, the next step is to start building your contact network. You should look for and connect with any business colleagues you know, whether through social media, work, or outside involvement groups. There are numerous ways to search for and find contacts on LinkedIn. You can find contacts by uploading your email contacts, conducting a colleague search, a classmate search, a name search, or using the advanced search.
Each search method has its own advantages, but they all make use of information from your profile page in some way. As a result, it is critical to take your time when creating your account. Once you’ve uploaded or found your contacts using search queries, you can choose which ones to “connect” with. You can also use this opportunity to invite non-LinkedIn friends to join.
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Connections on LinkedIn
Finding your contacts is only the first step. The real advantage of LinkedIn is the ability to build your own powerful network of contacts and connections. You must invite desired members to join your network in order to make connections. These connections imply that you are acquainted with the individual or that they are a reliable business colleague.
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Make new connections and expand your network.
LinkedIn also advises you to connect only with people you know or have met. LinkedIn asks you to specify how you know the person you’re inviting in order to prevent you from inviting people you don’t actually know. Your responses are a coworker, a classmate, a business partner, a friend, a group or an association, or “I don’t know.” If you choose “I’m not sure,” LinkedIn will not let you send the invitation.
Direct Relationships
LinkedIn has its own set of rules and regulations for contacting people on the social network. A “direct connection” or a “first-degree connection” is someone who has accepted your invitation to join their network. Because they are a first degree, direct connection, you may contact them directly via email or messaging on their profile page. You must use special tools called Introductions, InMail, or OpenMail whenever you want to contact second or third-degree connections (connections with people you know).
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InMail, OpenMail, and Introductions
Because you cannot message second and third-degree connections directly, you must use various tools on LinkedIn as a form of permission. “Introductions” is the first option. When you sign up for a free account, you will receive five introductions. If you want more features, you must upgrade to a premium account. These introductions serve as a link between you and the person you want to meet.
You must have a direct connection with the person you want to contact in order to send an introduction request. Then send them your introduction message and ask them to forward it to the specified contact. If they decide to forward it and the desired contact accepts, you can then invite them to join your network. Your invitation can be blocked or denied at any point in the chain by either your direct connection or the desired connection.
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Directly send InMail to anyone.
InMail is the second option. LinkedIn’s internal messaging system, InMail, allows you to contact anyone on the LinkedIn network directly without an introduction. Finally, there is the option of using OpenLink. You can receive messages from anyone on the LinkedIn network using OpenLink. The benefit of using OpenLink is that you can keep your email address and other contact information private. The only disadvantage of InMail and OpenLink is that they are both restricted to premium account holders who pay a monthly fee.
