Business owners without a LinkedIn profile are damaging their business
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service that is primarily used for professional networking. LinkedIn has more than 400 million users world-wide and 6 million in Australia.
The basic functionality of LinkedIn allows users (employees, job seekers and employers) to create profiles and ‘connections’ to each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.
This list of connections can be used in a number of ways:
- Obtaining introductions to the connections of connections (termed second-degree connections) and connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections).
- Users can find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in their contact network.
- Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.
- Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.
- Users can post their own photos and view photos of others to aid in identification.
- Users can follow different companies, which means they receive updates posted by the business and notifications about job opportunities.
- Users can ‘like’ and ‘congratulate’ each other’s updates and new employments.
Businesses can create LinkedIn business pages and interest groups. These tools help businesses engage with LinkedIn members by posting company news and industry updates. In Australia, 80% of business owners are currently LinkedIn users. Business owners without a LinkedIn profile are harming their business as they are seen as behind the times.
