For my inaugural post in this blog, which is dedicated to effective branding and impactful communications, I thought I would take a look at LinkedIn and its utility as a professional and personal branding platform.
LinkedIn, like so many platforms that fall under the social media category, has become a robust resource for its more than 467 million users worldwide. Employers, recruiters, job seekers and the business community at large indeed turn to it to find workforce talent, but have come to rely on it for much more. While it began in 2002 as a platform to ease one’s job search by connecting people, LinkedIn has evolved into a topical newsfeed, idea exchange, lead-generating engine and online community within which thought leadership can gain serious traction. It is, at a minimum, the 21st century’s virtual water cooler -- but is arguably an essential component of marketing your/your company’s brand.
Skepticism about the Relevance of LinkedIn
Still, I have debated and discussed with colleagues the true utility of LinkedIn. Some questions and comments I’ve received: ‘Isn’t it just a vehicle for shameless self-promotion?’ and ‘I get unnecessary news about friends' job changes, work anniversaries, etc. that I don’t care about’ or ‘People don’t actually check messages that come into their LinkedIn accounts - they are usually attached to personal emails.’ It’s true that many engage in self-promotion using LinkedIn -- to promote their companies, their participation in a webinar/panel discussion/event and their own skills but to that I say: good! It doesn’t mitigate its utility. And as habitual users of social media, our expectations have changed: we understand and relate to individuals' posts about themselves, we’re used to it.
Through LinkedIn posts, we learn about our colleagues’ expertise, movement within their respective industries and major events within an industry -- be it an individual’s career trajectory, a company merger, a trade show event or a webinar. This is actually news LinkedIn users can use - and not just about the LI user’s aimless desire to post. LinkedIn, like Facebook and other social media platforms, does alert connected users about individual work anniversaries and job changes BUT any user of the platform can decide what/when they should be notified by adjusting their personal settings.
Similarly, most people do tie LinkedIn to their personal (gmail, hotmail, cable provider email) accounts because it’s the main broadcast channel that people use to announce that they’ve made a job change. They cannot do this if their LinkedIn account is tied to a work email, and they leave the company. Because it’s the personal email that LinkedIn notifications go to, recipients more likely to read emails that come through this communication channel, not less. The direct line of communication to one’s network means that regardless of your industry, function or title, by staying informed through LinkedIn you facilitate what you are trying to do: grow your brand profile and develop leads. They could be job leads or sales leads, but by staying current through LinkedIn - you are more likely to hear about opportunities as well as be a part of the ongoing business dialogue and idea exchange. And the the delivery and use of LinkedIn news is industry-agnostic: regardless of where you work, by utilizing LinkedIn, you stay informed about major news and events impacting your industry, your colleagues and ultimately, your own business objectives for raising your public profile.
