As my children are now of the high school age, and they themselves are starting to create their own LinkedIn profiles, I continue to be surprised by the very few number of people that are on the platform. While I don’t expect every student to be on LinkedIn, having a LinkedIn profile is so important from a professional branding perspective, I still sometimes have to answer this question of what is LinkedIn and why one should join the platform.
I originally wrote this post for a different audience, local social media friends who I met from Twitter back in the day who were hyper active on Twitter but not at all on LinkedIn. Many saw the latter as just being a site for “professionals” or really didn’t know what to do with it.
In order to really explain what is the value of spending time on LinkedIn to those that are new to it or do not fully understand it, I think it is best to ask what it is in the first place and elaborate some reasons why everyone (and I mean everyone from GenZ and high school students to Gen Y and Millenial college students to Baby Boomers) should be utilizing it.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is really a huge database of professionals. Twitter lacks profile depth, Facebook is all over the place demographically and is also hard to find people. LinkedIn standardizes information entered by users into predefined “Profile Headline”, “Summary”, “Education”, “Company”, etc. categories. In addition to this huge database of information, the platform also provides an awesome search tool to allow you to pinpoint the person you are looking for depending on a number of very specific factors (i.e. LinkedIn for nonprofits, for professionals, for businesses, etc).
On the other hand, the more connections you have, the closer you will appear to more people – and the closer others that you might want to contact will appear to you.
So What is LinkedIn? Here’s how LinkedIn defines itself:
And this is how I define LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is the place to find other professionals and be found by other professionals.
How is LinkedIn Different as a Social Network?
As a social network, LinkedIn just differs from others because it is targeted entirely as a professional network. Although there are public profiles just as there are with any other social network, LinkedIn is specifically designed to match potential employers and potential employees and provide a place for online resumes and networking, in order to build a network of potential clients, connections, and business associates. In essence, LinkedIn is designed to maximize career opportunities, rather than acting as a place to casually chat, share images or thoughts, and generally socialize from your email address book. From landing your dream job to building connections with professionals in your field, LinkedIn is made for professionals and aspiring professionals.
What are LinkedIn’s Main Features?
While most people are familiar with the basic features of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, fewer are certain how to use LinkedIn for personal branding, or what components of LinkedIn are actually designed to use and maximize reach. There are several important aspects of LinkedIn and LinkedIn marketing solutions that should not be overlooked. These include:
1. Your Professional Profile
Like the profiles you’ll create on most of your social media sites, expanding your LinkedIn network starts with your profile. While profiles on other sites might focus on personality, your professional profile is used to separate yourself from the countless other internet users on LinkedIn chasing professional connections and exposure. The professional profile attached to user IDs provides LinkedIn’s user base with a platform from which to share their professional achievements, their previous positions, and their current interests.
Here’s a video offering you some profile advice for both students AND professionals:
Further Reading: 12 Killer LinkedIn Profile Examples to Inspire You to Update Your Own
2. Professional Search Engine
The professional search engine is the LinkedIn tool used to find and connect with other LinkedIn users based on their professional interests, previous positions and current positions, and more. User searches can be utilized to locate and develop second-degree connections, third-degree connections, and more from LI’s user base, and can even be used to see how others in your field are utilizing the platform. Business professionals can use the search function to identify prospective employees, while hopeful job-seekers can develop business relationships and put themselves out there for any new opportunities that may arise. Far more than a social networking tool, this search engine tool can help expand your networking reach.
3. In-App Messaging (Emails)
There is something of a LinkedIn learning curve, especially when it comes to messaging. Business owners, burgeoning entrepreneurs, recruiters, and job-seekers alike can connect with people via in-app messaging, which essentially functions like email–with one notable exception: public profiles and private profiles are equal in terms of how messaging works. You cannot send or see messages with those who are not first-degree connections or group members, unless you are seeking an audience, and send another type of message to try to make a connection. The LinkedIn learning curve here can be steep, as you learn the ins and outs of messaging etiquette.
4. Your Newsfeed
Like most social media platforms, your newsfeed is where you will stay up-to-date on the latest information, including career opportunities, from your connections and people in your network and the networks of your first-degree connections and further out. Your newsfeed will contain information from businesses you follow, the people you are connected with, people and things that might interest you, potential employers, and more. Your newsfeed may contain items from the LinkedIn blog that are relevant to your interests, may provide advice and information from LinkedIn top companies, and more, all designed to keep you in the loop and connected with LinkedIn in order to maintain engagement and keep your network growing beyond your first degree connections and even your second and third degree connections.
5. Your Content
The content you post can function as an advertisement, of sorts, for who you are and what you are about, but can also function in a similar way to an email platform, in that it can help you publish content that is relevant to what is going on with you professionally. From your profile, you can publish status updates, blog posts, and newsletters (for those who have Creator Mode). Although the content you publish should not be terribly personal in nature, as this is still a professional social network, it can be used to publish content you’ve posted elsewhere (think guest posts and links to other sites to increase your profile views), update others on your current professional endeavors, and more. Your content is where you are able to show a bit of who you are and what you’re capable of, to set yourself apart from other business professionals–and to set you apart from the fake profiles that are so prolific on social media as a whole.
6. Job Boards
As the name suggests, job boards are a source of business insider posting and recruitment efforts. LinkedIn job boards have a possible advantage over other job postings, as there are professional networking opportunities built into LinkedIn job boards, while other boards do not have this same opportunity. There is also the advantage of built-in contact invitations that do not exist on job boards that are not also social networking tools, and perusing LinkedIn’s job boards can be beneficial for both business owners and prospective employees.
Further Reading: LinkedIn Invitations: All of Your Questions Answered
7. LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups can be groups who exist within the same industry categories to connect and share experiences, but can also be useful ways to connect future employers with prospective employees. From a group within the cottage industry used to connect different builders and specialists, to groups for realtors, LinkedIn groups are an excellent way to increase your networking efforts, connect job candidates to their target company, and provide a consistent space for people to engage with others in their field. Groups can help connect volunteer opportunities to volunteers, introduce one aficionado to another, and even connect people across disparate fields through shared interests.
8. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is a resource unique to the platform, as it provides users with a way to source projects, courses, and classes to make sure they acquire the skills they need to succeed. Classes are technically presented by the LInkedIn corporation, but LinkedIn corp is not the only source of information; instead, learning resources can come from numerous different LinkedIn users, covering everything from online resumes and how to effectively craft them, to how to use LinkedIn to maximize your time and effort spent there, to fulfilling a niche requirement for Excel sheets. From completing a course to successfully function with technical skills in a startup in San Francisco, to technical skills requested within a specific industry, we’ve got you covered.
4 Reasons Why You Should Use LinkedIn Regularly
Here are the 4 biggest reasons you should be more active on LinkedIn for those who are still not sure as to how much time they want to spend on the networking platform
1) Getting Back in Touch (Finding & Being Found)
Yes, Classmates.com and Facebook also allow you to get back in touch. But because of the search functionality that LinkedIn has, I am finding people there that I can’t find on the other social networking sites. And because it is easier to be found on LI, many are finding me too! You can find people primarily from where you both went to school as well as where you’ve worked.
2) Career Management (and Personal Branding)
Social Networking is career Insurance that you can never have enough of.
The advice is the same whether you are looking for a job or are happily employed: a network should be your insurance for your future career growth. Companies are organic entities whose needs change and do not and cannot promise you a guarantee that your job will be there 10 years from now, next year, or even next month. That is why you need to be on LinkedIn so that you can both find potential companies and recruiters as well as be found by them. Even if you are happy in your job, it can’t hurt to have a minimal profile on LinkedIn and receive contacts from recruiters in your industry or specialty who may be able to help you out in the future, can it? LinkedIn is free career insurance! BUY INTO IT with a profile in correspondence regularly with others in your field!
Want to really rev up your personal branding on LinkedIn? Do these things:
- Turn Creator Mode ON
- List the 5 hashtags that you want your personal brand to be known by
- List the up to 50 Skills that best describe your professional experience to increase profile views and make it clear that you are not a fake profile
Further Reading: 15 Killer LinkedIn Headline Examples to Inspire Your Personal Branding
3) Engage in Sales and Marketing to an Influential Business Audience
LinkedIn is the social networking tool for businesses and those in search of business opportunities, so naturally, it makes sense for business professionals to utilize LinkedIn as a source of sales and marketing. This can be achieved through direct application of tech skills and creating ads within LinkedIn, but it can also mean simply reaching out and connecting with others in authentic, genuine ways, prior to making a pitch or suggesting a product or service. Sales and marketing on LinkedIn will target the more tech- savvy individuals, and does not target the way that Instagram, Facebook, and other social sites do.
Further Reading: 5 LinkedIn Summary Examples (and 7 Tips) to Help You Attract More Leads
4) Network with and Recruit Your Next Superstar Employee (or Executive or Business Partner)
As its name suggests, LinkedIn is about linking to others, particularly those who exist in your sphere of influence in your work. If you are a journalist, for instance, you might want to orbit around the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and other journalist-heavy publications. If you are in search of a place to show your tech skills, you’ll want to hover near connections and groups that discuss technical skills. Whether you’re seeking tech skills or you’re looking to drum up some email conversations with potential candidates for a job, LinkedIn has professional networking opportunities for you.
What is the Difference Between a Free and Paid Account (LinkedIn Premium)?
LinkedIn Premium offers several features that go above and beyond standard, free LinkedIn membership. The most significant of these features include:
- Access to LinkedIn learning
- Increased search features
- Additional communication abilities, to connect with others not in your network and fuel contact sales
- Profile viewing analytics tools
- Job and salary insights
All of these functions together can help companies and laypersons alike leverage this social networking tool to increase contact invitations, place emphasis on a target field or company, and increase the likelihood of encountering a future employer or potential candidate for a job, all for significantly less than $12 per month.
Further Reading: These are the Best 11 LinkedIn Premium Features You Should Check Out
In Conclusion
If you still don’t understand what LinkedIn is and its value and why you should join and leverage LinkedIn , I have not done my job as a blogger and LinkedIn advocate. If you are still confused, please comment and let me know how I can help you see the light! Better yet, download the free ebook below for even more free advice to help you get the most from LinkedIn!
Hero photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
What Is LinkedIn FAQs
What is LinkedIn and how does it work? LinkedIn is a huge professional database. It makes finding people very easy due to its predefined categories such as profile headline, summary, education, company, etc — which you cannot find on other platforms. Thus, making it a great platform to connect with old friends, colleagues, and even corporate recruiters.
What is the main purpose of LinkedIn? LinkedIn is mainly used for professional networking, job hunting, connecting with friends and colleagues, and career management. Most companies also use LinkedIn to recruit and search for potential employees. So if you are looking to build your professional reputation, you need to start utilizing LinkedIn.
What is the function of LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a social media platform created for the business community. It allows users to network and connects with other professionals and organizations within the same industry. In addition, users can also look for jobs, tackle business ideas, and grow their business connections.
Does LinkedIn cost money? No, creating an account in LinkedIn does not cost money, however, they also offer premium services that give users access to additional features. The basic account is for anyone that wants to network and build a professional profile. To build an impressive profile, check these 17 must-have profile items.
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