How Essential Is LinkedIn? 9 Great Insights

As a 24-year-old entrepreneur that started my business three years ago, LinkedIn and other social media platforms have been, instrumental in my companies growth. LinkedIn allows me to connect with people I may not have access to while managing my company. I never worked in Corporate America, so I never got those connects, by being able to look up people and the companies they work for I'm able to build those connections. I'm heavy into video marketing to promote my brand so after I post the video many of those I connected with see the videos and reach out to me. This had lead to great opportunities for my business!

Contributor: Dean DeCarlo from mission disrupt

LinkedIn has become the de facto way for sales people to find your company, but it's slowly losing utility for other users. Over 55% of prospective employees now report using Glassdoor for the job hunt as a first resource, while more and more decision makers are turned off by the sheer volume of cold calls generated through LinkedIn.

I recently spoke with an executive of a well known CPG company about the issue. She told me that she hasn't updated her LinkedIn profile to her new upper management position 6 months into the job because she doesn't want vendors to kick her door in looking for favors, pitching, and generally reacting to the promotion.

Contributor: Nicholas Kinports from lonely brand

LinkedIn has been shown to be the most effective social media platform to promote new products and services for your business. While the likes of press releases are still important to get word out to the media, LinkedIn is the ideal way to create a buzz within the business community, going directly to other companies and industries.

Contributor: Ben Sherman from ben sherman

Conveying your brand message on LinkedIn is also a fantastic method of recruiting the top talent to come and work for you. Most professionals now have a LinkedIn account and posting your job adverts on the site mean that they will go straight to people who are interested and possess the relevant experience needed to succeed in the role. Sometimes, it is better to take the personal approach and contact someone directly

Contributor: Ben Sherman from ben sherman

LinkedIn is critical in business to business as it helps you to quickly connect with your potential customers. It helps you identify what their interests are and what is going on in their business by having access to their updates and posts on their feed if you are connected. Finally, it allows you to directly build a relationship and engage with the potential customer, creating an opportunity for trust.

One of my biggest customers came directly through LinkedIn, I never initially marketed or did any cold calling to gain this customer. They reached out to me after interacting with me through social media and made a buying decision from our engagement on LinkedIn. This strategy works for all business, but is extremely impactful for small businesses with limited marketing budgets.

Contributor: Petal Bovell-Proffitt from discbodhi

Honestly, in my experience there is a lot of misinformation out there about LinkedIn. I think it is VERY useful for sales people to generate B2B leads and sell product. So in that sense, it is very helpful to grow a business at the grass roots level. However, I don't think it is very useful in other respects. I mean, how often have you sat and looked at a business's company page? It's good to have one and update periodically for the SEO juice it gives, but aside from that it is not very useful, in my experience.

Contributor: Mary Clare Bland at linkedin

LinkedIn has become a site that can make networking easy and personal. You are able to find people within your industry that can give you advice, provide information on events in your area, and you can even communicating through email. You can also use LinkedIn to find your next star employee! The most important thing to remember is to always keep your profile up to date with new opportunities you have acquired, and also with any new credentials you have received. Doing these simple steps, can make all the difference in your LinkedIn success.

Contributor: Sherese Patton, CEO at sherese patton

LinkedIn has been a great tool for our business. We've been able to generate a large amount of sales leads using the massive built in audience LinkedIn has to offer. A great way to utilize the social aspect of LinkedIn is to find a potential lead that is a 2nd connection (your contact's contact) and ask your 1st connection to introduce you to him or her, this easily breaks the ice and makes the cold approach much warmer.

Lastly, the platform is a great place to get your creative juices flowing. The community is very active posting the latest and greatest of what businesses have to offer.

Contributor: Zygimantas from wise team

LinkedIn is great for businesses and advertising. With LinkedIn's sponsored post feature, businesses can promote their LinkedIn posts to highly targeted audiences. Businesses can choose the geographic area, age range, and even employment or industry of their audience members. They also can choose their ad spend budget. Businesses have complete control over their audience,and can hit the right people at the right time with the right messaging.

Contributor: Keri Lindenmuth from kyle david group