Is Linkedin Really Social Media?

Most businesses that promote social media on their websites usually include links to their Facebook, Twitter and yes Linkedin pages. Many question if they should be used in the same context. Facebook and Twitter are used by people of all ages to keep up with and communicate what is going on in their daily lives, postings most of the time that you would never see on Linkedin. . Most postings on Facebook and Twitter are personal in nature where postings in linkedin are more pointed at promoting either a business or a person’s professional career. Yes there are business and professional pages on both Facebook and Linkedin that would be considered similar but that is where the similarities end.

If you were to make a study of the three social media sites I mentioned you will find that most business people and professionals that have a presence on all three mediums would never post some of the things they do on Facebook and Twitter to their Linkedin profile. Linkedin has always been and will continue to be more of a professional and business oriented site in comparison to the anything goes attitude of posts to most other social media platforms.

I think everyone would agree Linkedin is not viewed in the same vein as Twitter and Facebook but I say yes it is still a social media platform. If you understand how linkedin works and use it to your advantage it could be a much more powerful tool to promote your business than most of the other social media options now being used for the same purpose. The concept of social media is to connect with others you know or don’t know to share either personal or professional information. The difference with Linkedin is that postings are almost always business related versus personal.

If you are not presently using Linkedin I highly recommend you begin building a profile. Linkedin is actually very easy to get started with.  After you build a bit of a presence
with a full professional profile of your own personal career you would then reach out to those you know and make a connection. The more connections you have the more opportunity you will have to promote yourself and your business. Depending on the profession you are in join as many groups as you feel are pertinent to promote yourself and follow others to keep up on information relative to your interests.

Last but not least if this is your own personal business you should create a company page and link yourself to it along with some information to promote your company. If you are not self-employed your company should still have a page and of course you should have a connection to it as well. One of the search options to find people and companies is to search by the company name so it is important that you are visible in that manner.

Now that you have a profile page and have begun building your connections how can you take advantage of all this? Here is list of options now available to you through Linkedin.

• Post news and information about events in your business
• Post links to Blog articles you or someone in your company has written
• Post personal opinions about business that invoke credibility to you as a professional
• Join groups to post all of the above so others that don’t know you or your business take notice
• Use Linkedin as a directory to find prospects for business or information about what your competition is doing
• Promote your business with an ad campaign directed towards the industries of your choice
• Stay current by reading postings within the groups you join.
• Reach out to your connections for a warm introduction to someone that they are connected to

These are just a few of the ways Linkedin can assist you and your business. This platform will only be worth the effort by continually participating. The more connections you obtain, the more times you post articles and information the more credibility and recognition you will attain from others within the linkedin community. Also as a side bonus Linkedin pages are very highly ranked on Google and other search engines so you will also be found outside the Linkedin platform throughout the internet!