What is LinkedIn? What is LinkedIn for?

Created in 2002, today having LinkedIn is essential to succeed in your business and develop a solid business network.
With a community of over 320 million users, and new subscribers every minute, you have direct access to thousands of professionals in your industry.
Most professionals are on LinkedIn to develop their careers, work on their brand and gain visibility by highlighting their key skills.
LinkedIn is more than just an online CV, it’s your showcase! Whether you have a personal profile or one dedicated to your business or institution, used to its full potential, LinkedIn is formidable for the development of your career and your network. With the right strategies, the chances of making LinkedIn a major asset in your professional success are very high.
Here’s what LinkedIn is for.

1. LinkedIn allows you to build a complete professional showcase

LinkedIn is not a simple CV . The social network allows you to present yourself in a complete way thanks to a profile with multiple sections and functions. The summary allows you to present your expertise in an attractive way. In experiences and training, fill in everything you have already done during your professional career in order to show recruiters that you are active and that you have value to bring them. Your LinkedIn profile picture must be neat and your LinkedIn banner carefully chosen and related to your activity. You also have the opportunity to fill in all your skills and have them recommended by your peers. This is mainly to gain credibility, but also visibility. Your LinkedIn profile is referenced on Google, using good keywords is essential for optimal visibility.

2. LinkedIn helps build your credibility with recommendations

Unlike Twitter, LinkedIn allows you to give and receive recommendations. Giving recommendations is just as important in order to show that you are active and that you know how to recognize the skills of others.

Giving recommendations will give you a much better chance of receiving them in return. Having recommendations increases your visibility and your trust capital.

3. LinkedIn is formidable for developing your business network, anywhere in the world

The primary goal of LinkedIn is to allow its members to develop their professional network by connecting with other members in order to communicate with them. Thanks to LinkedIn, it has never been easier to interact with customers, employees or recruiters . However, develop your professional network on LinkedIn does not happen in a few days. You have to be active and consistent to hope to gain attention. LinkedIn allows you to target contacts who potentially have an interest in your professional field. There are several possibilities to develop your network on LinkedIn. Keep in mind that the larger your network, the more credit it will give you. Remember that having a large network is not enough, you have to know how to maintain it!

4. LinkedIn allows you to have an online presence and manage your e-reputation

At present, the internet and social networks have become widely democratized. Companies that do not have an internet presence are marginalized. If in the past word of mouth was one of the only ways to make yourself known, today using this method alone may seem obsolete. You have to force your fate by making yourself known on the internet. Working on your identity and digital presence is essential for a successful professional career in 2020 .

Having a LinkedIn profile means being referenced by the giant Google. You just have to type your name in Google to find your LinkedIn profile. Be active and regular in sharing content. Regularly posting relevant content ensures user engagement and loyalty. In short, LinkedIn is a formidable tool if you want to support your business’ online presence.

5. With LinkedIn you can follow all the news

If you post information regularly, chances are your contacts will do the same. You can thus have easy access to all the news in your sector and to the publications of your peers. A great opportunity to learn more about your customers, prospects, employees, or any other change in your field of activity. Keeping up to date with the latest news gives you more credibility and can be useful for the successful development of your business in your market.

6. LinkedIn is a great tool to demonstrate your expertise

Whether using your summary, content sharing or groups, LinkedIn allows you to prove your worth and expertise publicly . It is not enough to just be active on the network or to share information from others. Creating content gives you the opportunity to position yourself as an expert in your field . You can create content by posting an article on a topic that will bring value to your readers, create a group, or join a group that interests you. Interacting, responding to posts from other users and bringing real added value, increases your sympathy and gives you credibility. What’s more, by studying the behavior of others on the net, you will more easily know their desires and aspirations. Which is ideal then, if you want to approach them ? !

7. LinkedIn helps you find and attract customers

LinkedIn is extraordinary for doing social selling, especially if you are in BtoB! Social selling with LinkedIn means using the network to target, search and find your prospects.

But not only, it is also promoting your expertise, your content to position you with your target, who will identify you as a referent in your market … This will attract prospects who will come to interact with your posts or ask you to help them solve their problems.

I myself use LinkedIn which is my first sales channel. I don’t prospect as such, it’s the clients who come to me.

This is what I teach and share during my LinkedIn social selling training or LinkedIn social selling coaching. In fact by linking inbound marketing + social selling LinkedIn , I generate a regular flow of visitors, who become prospects and then customers and also ambassadors … who bring me other customers.

You could do the same!

8. LinkedIn is at the service of your self-marketing

Developing your personal image has never been more important than it is today.

Read also: self-marketing .

Knowing how to sell your products or services is one thing, but you still have to know how to sell your person and all that it encompasses: experiences, skills, qualifications, values, etc.

To do this, you just have to adapt the techniques of classic marketing to yourself. Developing your leadership, interpersonal and communication skills is essential for success in the B2B and B2C world. If in the past we were loyal to a company for the quality of its products or services, today that is not enough.

If your customers or prospects share the same values and adhere to your company brand (or your personal brand), they will come back much more easily and become, in turn, your ambassadors. The strategy is the same for job seekers looking to grab the attention of recruiters.

9. LinkedIn is one of the world’s largest job boards.

On LinkedIn, employers regularly post new job offers. The social network targets offers that might be right for you. Few job seekers think of checking out these offers on LinkedIn, yet most are unpublished, and not found elsewhere. Not registering on LinkedIn is making sure you miss out on several professional opportunities.

To discover: THE way to find a job with LinkedIn

10. It is the booster that allows you to develop your community professional

Thanks to many marketing tools such as storytelling, LinkedIn gives you all the space you need to produce content that will spark emotion and engagement with your readers. .

LinkedIn can be seen as your showcase and that of your storytelling: your profile must be able to tell your story. Whether it is to attract recruiters, employees or new customers, storytelling has been proven to create a community of followers around you.

The more you share content with high added value for your readers, the more interest you will generate, the more you will gradually create your community. The secret is to put your readers first before promoting your business. First, consider responding to the issues your community is having in your area. With the right strategies, a community is a powerful lever in the development of your career and your business.

In conclusion

LinkedIn is formidable for several reasons: to increase your credibility, considerably increase your visibility, develop your network, position yourself as an expert in your market (including employment), etc. There are many reasons to get started on LinkedIn and the advantages are considerable for the good development of your professional life. In my opinion, not investing on LinkedIn is professional misconduct!
LinkedIn is THE social network you need to invest in, here’s why .