Are You Actively Linking on LinkedIn?

Several months ago, I had this research project that required me to look up for some decision makers in US-based companies (private equity firms, to be precise). I rummage the entire web only to find out that I could have taken a shorter route and went straight to LinkedIn where most of the DM's profile were there.

It surprise me a bit because, honestly, I never expect that majority of my searches would be coming from LinkedIn. That project has changed how I viewed Linkedin. I need not read articles that justify how significant Linkedin is for marketers and business, I know it as a fact--first hand experience.

Since then, I updated my LinkedIn profile. Though, I must admit, I am not well-versed with the social media site because most of the time my focus has been in Twitter and Facebook.

Facts

Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with 161 million members in over 200 countries and territories. It was founded by Reid Hoffman in 2002 and was officially launched on May 5, 2003.

LinkedIn's CEO is Jeff Weiner. The management team consist of seasoned executives from well-known companies like Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, TiVo, PayPal and Electronic Arts. As of March 2012, LinkedIn has has 2,447 full-time employees located around the world.

As of March 2012, Linkedin reports receiving two new sign-ups per second

(Source: LinkedIn - About Us)

So, my question again is: are you actively linking on LinkedIn? If you're not, you might be missing out some opportunities. If you are--then, kudos! I would love to hear how it works for you.

Independent contractors, marketers and business owners should take time learning and connecting in LinkedIn. It is not sufficient to have a presence in the community; we need to socialize. But unlike Facebook, participating in the LinkedIn  may take a different approach.

Benefits 

LinkedIn as a social networking sites seems like an understatement. It feels more of an online tool.

Here are some of the key benefits mentioned in an article: The Benefits of LinkedIn for Business

• Finding business partners, clients and service providers
• Recruitment
• Access expert advice
• A blog promotion tool
• Recommendation
• For SEO
• Groups
• Advertising

Mastering LinkedIn Marketing

Last July 19, Hubspot hosted a workshop on how to leverage LinkedIn to attract new leads for business. The second and the third part of the series would be on August 8th & September 27th. If you want to join in, kindly click the link below:

Join our three-part series to learn how you can leverage LinkedIn to attract new leads for your business.

The event was hosted by Director of Online Marketing at LinkedIn Scott Engelman and HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe. As many questions were raised during the webinar, Hubspot posted the 7 most asked questions about LinkedIn.

One of the question that is most relevant to my profession is: What's the best way to find potential customers on LinkedIn?

Quoting the answer from the blog post: "Groups are your best bet, especially if you consider your business to be relatively niche. In a group, you can establish yourself as an industry expert very quickly through discussions and announcements. In general, groups are very engaging and allow for great communication between professionals interested in the same topic. So if your company sells guitars, joining or creating a group for guitar players makes a lot of sense. If someone has a question or problem with their current instrument, you will be the first one there to hop into the conversation and solve their problem.

LinkedIn Groups are your starting point to built trust and create awareness around your brand. Once group members trust you as a professional and understand what your company does, you might be wise to invite them to follow your LinkedIn Company Page for more updates."

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