Why Use LinkedIn?

LinkedIn for Individuals

There are many reasons for using LinkedIn as an individual, even if you are currently employed. LinkedIn is much more than a place to post your resume. It can be a key networking tool, and a way to stay in touch with former classmates and colleagues, and give and get referrals. Here are a few reasons to use LinkedIn as an individual:

Stay in touch. Keep in touch with former colleagues, clients, and other contacts by connecting with them and viewing their updates through LinkedIn.

Obtaining referrals. You can pass referrals to people in your network and also receive referrals from your contacts.

Get relevant industry news. Use LinkedIn Today as a personalized newspaper to receive industry related news, and use LinkedIn Groups to find out what’s going on in your sector and connect with other people in your industry.

Demonstrate your expertise. Post your current and past work experience and allow people to endorse you for your current skills and write referrals for you.

LinkedIn for Employees

Just because you have a job doesn’t mean you can’t use LinkedIn. It’s a great way to network and discover other people in your industry who are sharing ideas and insights.

Connect with your colleagues. Connect with your fellow employees on LinkedIn, and endorse each other for the skills that you have, or write each other recommendations. Once you’re connected you’ll benefit from seeing each others’ updates too.

Connect with suppliers. Connect with your regular suppliers on LinkedIn for many of the same reasons you connect with colleagues. It’s a great way to extend a business relationship to the online world.

Use LinkedIn for research. Join industry related Groups and get involved in relevant conversations around your area of expertise.

Use LinkedIn as a news source. LinkedIn Today is a great way to find relevant industry news and articles of interest. You can also follow companies of interest and receive their updates directly in your news feed.

LinkedIn for Students

Students should be encouraged to create a LinkedIn profile as early as possible in their college career. This will allow them to start gaining insights in their industry of choice, showcase their portfolio, promote their skills and begin to build their network.

Get job opportunity email alerts. Students can set email alerts to receive notifications of recommended jobs. This can help them get a sense of what opportunities exist in their chosen field.

Connect with professionals. Students can seek out friends, co-workers, classmates, family members and professors on LinkedIn and connect with them. Encourage students to continue to grow their networks throughout their time at college so they’ll have a strong network by the time they graduate.

Conduct company research. Students can seek out the company pages of their targeted employers and research products, services, and job opportunities.

Get recommendations. Students can solicit recommendations from their contacts that will help improve their credibility and attract the attention of potential employers.

Attract employers’ attention. Students with a robust profile on LinkedIn stand a better chance of attracting the attention of potential employers. 94% of companies use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool.

LinkedIn for Companies

Establish your presence. Invest time to ensure that your page is visually appealing and professional. Update your profile image and profile information, write a compelling biography that tells your brand’s story, and highlight employees, programs and services.

Build a community. LinkedIn users are 8x more engaged with brands, and 2x more likely to recommend brand once they’ve connected with a company on LinkedIn (Source: HootSuite). Start by connecting with employees. Their professional networks of clients, colleagues and friends will help to ensure that a solid follower base is established. Promote your Company Page on your already established social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Engage with your followers. Start conversations around topics of interest to your community, post status updates that link to industry news and thought leadership articles, or use images to spark interest. LinkedIn also has targeted audience status update capabilities, which means you can focus in on just the audiences you’re trying to reach.

LinkedIn for Colleges/Universities

Complete your profile. Fill in all of the information for the page, including the “General Information” section, loading up videos and photos, listing groups relevant to the college, and highlighting notable alumni.

Update regularly. Post regular updates about what’s going on at the college, and start conversations. If a faculty member or student wins an award or is featured in an article, post a link or photo. Talk about new hires, scholarship winners, renovations on campus, or college events. Let students, staff and alumni know what’s going on at the college.

Respond to comments. Interact with others posting to the page and answer questions in a timely fashion.

Use targeting options. Students, staff, faculty and alumni all have different interests, so use LinkedIn’s targeting feature to target your updates to a particular group. People are more likely to pay attention to updates if they are relevant to them.