Here is your complete guide to what linkedin is used for
Introduction to What Linkedin is Used for
Have you ever looked up what LinkedIn is used for? You’re not alone! LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network, created specifically for business professionals. Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Jean-Luc Vaillant, and Konstantin Guericke cofounded the website. LinkedIn had over 467 million professional members in 2016 and is still growing.
Anyone who wants to join the social networking website has two membership options. The basic membership option allows members to connect with people they know. It could be people they went to school with, work with, or know from another group to which they belong. LinkedIn Premium is the second level of membership.
Premium plans are not cheap, ranging from $30 to $120 per month. Premium accounts are not for everyone, and having a basic account is perfectly fine. The vast majority of LinkedIn’s premium users are job seekers, recruiters, and sales professionals. Approximately 27 percent of Linkedin subscribers, according to co-founder Reid Hoffman, are recruiters. If you want to try premium, you can, but if you decide it’s not worth the investment, you can revert to the basic free membership.
What Is the Purpose of LinkedIn?
The website’s goal is to help connect different business people of all ages and 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 meet (owners, CFOs, and high-level executives).
Connect with professionals and prospects!
It’s also a fantastic resource because it encourages ongoing communication. If you have a meeting with a marketing manager from a company and want to contact him again to set up another meeting, you can use LinkedIn. Additionally, business owners can use LinkedIn to refresh their memories or learn more about a client they just met with for the first time. LinkedIn assists business professionals in connecting, reconnecting, communicating, and developing valuable relationships that are critical to a company’s success.
Additional LinkedIn Advantages
- create a professional profile for yourself
- create and maintain your own personalized professional network
- locate and reconnect with your former colleges and classmates
- learn about other companies in your industry
- Using LinkedIn groups, you can find other professionals in the same industry.
- Use LinkedIn’s publishing platform to share your ideas.
- discover new job opportunities
How Do You Use LinkedIn?
Create A Profile Page After You Register
The initial step in using LinkedIn is to create a profile. To register, you must provide your email address, name, location, current employer, and where you currently or previously attended school. Your profile should read like a professional resume. As a result, your focus should be professional and consistent. You should include your employment and educational history, but not your favorite movies or hobbies.
Lead with value and communicate with your audience!
There is also a “Summary” section where you can provide a brief description of yourself and anything else you think is relevant. It could include your business interests, education, or objectives. There are also sections dedicated to education, work experience, skills and endorsements, languages, groups, news you follow, and certifications. There are also additional sections where you can add more information to your profile in order to build your online profile.
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LinkedIn Contacts
Following the completion of your profile page, the next step is to build your contact network. You should look for and connect with any business colleagues you already know, whether through social media, work, or outside involvement groups. LinkedIn offers numerous ways to search for and find contacts. You can search for contacts by uploading your email contacts, colleague search, classmate search, name search, or advanced search.
Each search method has its own advantages, but they all use information from your profile page in some way. As a result, it’s critical to take your time when creating your account. Once you’ve uploaded or found your contacts via search queries, you can choose which ones to “connect” with. You can also use this opportunity to invite friends who are not on LinkedIn to join.
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LinkedIn Connections
Finding your contacts is only the beginning. The true value of LinkedIn is in building your own powerful network of contacts and connections. You must invite desired members to join your network in order to gain connections. These connections imply that you know the person well or that they are a reliable business colleague.
Make connections and expand your network.
LinkedIn encourages you just to connect with people you know or have met. LinkedIn asks you to specify how you know the person you are inviting in order to prevent you from inviting people you don’t actually know. Your responses are a colleague, classmate, business partner, friend, group or association, or “I don’t know.” If you select “I don’t know,” LinkedIn will not allow you to send the invitation.
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Direct Links
LinkedIn has policies and procedures in place for contacting people on the social network. A “direct connection” or a “first-degree connection” is anyone who has accepted your invitation to join their network. You are free to contact them directly via email or messaging via their profile page because they are a first degree, direct connection. You must use special tools called Introductions, InMail, or OpenMail to contact second or third-degree connections (connections with people you know).
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OpenMail, InMail, and Introductions
Because you cannot message second and third-degree connections directly, you must use various LinkedIn tools as a form of permission. “Introductions” is the first choice. When you sign up for a free account, you are given five introductions. You must upgrade to a premium account if you want more. These introductions serve as a link between you and the person with whom you want to connect.
You must have a direct connection with the person you wish to contact in order to send an introduction request. Then send them your introduction message and ask them to forward it to the appropriate contact. If they choose 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 along the chain by either your direct connection or the desired connection.
Send an InMail to anyone.
The second choice is to use InMail. InMail is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allows you to contact anyone on the LinkedIn network directly without the need for an introduction. The third option is to employ OpenLink. You can receive messages from anyone in the LinkedIn network using OpenLink. The benefit of using OpenLink is that your email address and other contact information will remain private. The only disadvantage of InMail and OpenLink is that they are only accessible to premium account holders who pay a monthly fee.
