LinkedIn is THE online platform for business networking. It connects professionals with each other. It is also an online resume and business card where any business partners and potential customers or employers can find you and contact you.
But it is more than that. It's also a powerful channel for profiling yourself as an expert. It is an inevitable part of your digital strategy and an almost inexhaustible source of excellent subject information.
Worldwide, the website has more than 600 million registered users, including 3 million in Belgium and 7 million in the Netherlands (2018).
Generally speaking, you are supposed to network with LinkedIn to expand your group of business connections. To achieve this, people allow each other to make a 'connection'.
Important questions to ask yourself when starting with LinkedIn: What are my goals? Who and what do I want to reach?
Do I want
It is best that you take enough time to write down your answers to the three questions below.
Formulating and putting it on paper helps to structure what you have in mind in an orderly manner and make it a logically workable whole. It will also give you a better insight into what you really want. Once everything is on paper, you have guidance, a guide to implementing your plan.
LinkedIn is of value for the self-employed, for small business owners, for anyone looking for business partners or employees, customers, speakers or consultants. But it is also for people who are looking for work, a better position, an internship assignment, a thesis...
LinkedIn is a network for professionals. It is widely used by entrepreneurs, recruiters, self-employed people without staff, universities and colleges...
LinkedIn groups provide a space for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share their insights and experiences, ask for advice, and build valuable connections.
You can search for groups you want to join (sign up). You can also start (create) a group yourself for a specific topic or industry.
As a group member, you can participate in conversations, formulate questions and answers, and send messages to other group members.
LinkedIn has 3 network degrees
1st degree connections: these are all your direct contacts
2° degree connections: anyone who is connected to someone of your 1st grade
3° degree connections: anyone who is connected to someone of your 2nd grade
By networking with LinkedIn explodes the potential to possible contacts and business associates.
1° degree connections:
Assume you have 200 direct contacts. People you know, they know you. These are people you can contact without hesitation to ask for help and information, for example.
2° degree connections:
If your 200 1° degree connections each also have 200 people in their 1° degree network and you count on an overlap of 50%, then in your 2° degree you have potential access to (200 x 200 x 50%) = 20,000 additional contacts. These are people you can still approach quite easily, because you can refer to a shared knowledge that is part of your 1st degree connections.
3° degree connections:
With the same reasoning for the 3° degree, you arrive (20,000 x 200 x 50%) = 2,000,000 potential 3° degree contacts. Of course, approaching these people will take a little more effort, because you cannot refer to a directly shared acquaintance.
Conclusion: With its own network of 200 direct contacts, LinkedIn opens the door to 2,000,000 potential contacts.
Of course, LinkedIn has many useful tools for managing your network and activities. Your contact list details are always up to date, because everyone keeps and updates their own data.
Your profile is the basis, your sign. It is therefore extremely important to devote sufficient attention and time to properly layout it. Provide professional photos and crisp, relevant, error-free texts.
First of all, ask yourself how you want to profile yourself or your company. Then create your profile and check if it meets what you originally had in mind. Important, make your profile truthful. Don't exaggerate. Don't picture things better than they are.
If you have a good profile, it is easier to attract people who may be important to you. If you invite people yourself, they will decide whether they want to be linked to you or not based on your profile.
When you create an account on LinkedIn, you will be asked to create a profile. Your profile is your digital resume. You decide what to fill in and what not.
As an individual, for example, you can fill in: diplomas, courses, work experience, specialty, current activities, ambitions, place of residence, willingness to...
As a company, you can create a company page. You can choose the type: small company, medium or large company, showcase page (page entirely dedicated to a product or target group), educational institution. After entering a number of standard details, you can start building your company page.
If you have created a profile, LinkedIn provides advice based on your profile and that of other users, for example about users that may be of interest to you or your company.
If you are registered with your own profile, you can also invite people to be linked to you yourself. This can be both registered people with a LinkedIn profile and non-registered people who therefore do not have a profile yet.
When making a LinkedIn post, it's good to know that the majority of users are primarily interested in industry-specific knowledge, company news and new products and services.
Choose topics that attract attention, for topics that appeal. When writing a post, ask yourself who is useful. Make sure the first few sentences are catchy, triggering the reader to continue reading. That the content is exciting and shows knowledge and expertise. Make use of LinkedIn video.
Regularly share valuable content, ask questions, and respond to other people's posts. In short, be interactive. Be careful when inserting external links.
