Chapter 1: LinkedIn

This is the first chapter of our new series ‘Why should you use…?’ which will cover all there is to know about the most popular social media platforms, and how they can benefit you and your digital marketing.

This way, you can start to understand which platforms are better for you and how you can tailor them to your digital marketing.

We’ll start off with LinkedIn, the platform where it’s completely accepted to show off all your professional endeavours to your colleagues, and strangers, all year round.

Being the largest business-oriented networking website, with over 500 million members across 200 countries, a professional LinkedIn profile can certainly open doors to opportunities and networks that you may not have been initially aware of.

LinkedIn gives you the ability to showcase yourself, expertise, recommendations and your connections, not only is it the first professional impression you give to possible employers, it also demonstrates your credibility within the industry and highlights your achievements.

Exposure, exposure, exposure

One reason to use LinkedIn is to gain easy exposure, without having to do that much!

If you’re looking for a new career path, LinkedIn is the place to be. 93% of recruiters use the platform to research and recruit candidates, which means you could design the perfect profile, all decked-out, and tailored to the next position of employment you’re aiming for. It also means when your name is put into a search engine such as Google, you have an online personal brand that will appear in search results.

It’s for this reason you need to make sure you treat your profile in a similar way to your CV and you ensure what is on the profile is selling you in the best way possible.

Don’t worry though, if you’re not looking to change your job any time soon, LinkedIn still has a purpose for you. It is one of the easiest ways to showcase what your brand does, what you’re currently up to, behind the scenes at work and much more, making your company much more attractive to prospective clients and employees.

You never know, a simple connection that you make could turn into a lifelong relationship with a client and best of all you didn’t have to pay hundreds or thousands in marketing purposes to advertise your brand.

The content you post on LinkedIn is a great way to attract new clients, companies that may want to collaborate with you and employees that are so interested in the work you’re showing, they drop you a message asking for employment.

Building your Brand

Just like companies build their brand, it’s important to build your professional brand online. How do you stand out from others in the same industry? What makes you perfect for the company? Why should someone pay you more than the average Joe?

Obviously, there are online portfolios and websites that are a great for showcasing yourself, but they often come with regular payments and are very time consuming. LinkedIn is a simple way to put your name on the professional map without the heavy costs.

When recruiters, employers or co-workers come across your profile, they should be able to get a strong understanding of who you are and what you can bring to the company.

Ever-lasting list of contacts

One of the best things about LinkedIn is it how easy it is to connect with like-minded individuals.

Rather than printing out a million business cards or saving everyone’s in your drawer, LinkedIn makes it easy to add people to your professional network when you meet them. This means you can keep them in your connections and if you need them in the future, it’s easy to get in touch!


Keeping up with news

Like every other social media, it’s easy to keep up to date with any industry news going on at the time. LinkedIn forms a timeline composing a boat load of information, informing you with updates from your connections, your groups, and even your company.

Not only is it fun, and a little nosy, to keep up to date with what’s going on in people’s professional lives, it’s also wise to know what’s what with industry trends. We all know that feeling of being on the spot and not knowing the answer, let’s avoid it where possible…

Round up

It may be a situation where you are aware of LinkedIn but haven’t bothered signing up or finishing off your profile yet. After reading these few pointers, it may inspire you to change that and get your profile up and running!

Whatever it is you do, it’s important to remember that the platform is great for showcasing your work, sharing information and making new connections – whether you are looking for new employment or fancy improving your company’s digital marketing, LinkedIn is the place to be.