A friend Shani Lee asked me directly today “How do you use LinkedIn? What do you see as the benefits?”
So here are 10 of them:
1. LinkedIn is considered a “business” network, that is to say, formal and corporate to some extent, the platform has kudos in that world, it is considered a “serious” medium for networking.
2. LinkedIn allows me to obtain recommendations for my work, which is then laid out professionally on my profile.
3. LinkedIn allows me to “clean-up” a mailing list (see below)
4. LinkedIn is low maintenance, I need very little time to devote to it.
5. LinkedIn allows me to export my contacts for use in other applications.
6. LinkedIn opens me up to a very large network (only work related), some of whom are seeking my services, or my recommendation of another person.
7. LinkedIn has no “social clutter” or annoying applications.
8. LinkedIn enables me to seek opinion in a business context quickly.
9. LinkedIn can be the first line in “breaking the ice” on a new contact
10. LinkedIn is a CV in a URL
One of my favourite aspects is number 3, where I can “clean-up” a mailing list. I’ve worked online in various capacities for about 10 years and one of the things I have always done (you should too) is to build up your mailing lists. I have built a mailing list for almost every project I have been involved with, this is essential as that’s the method for pulling them back to your content time and time again. I probably have around 100,000 email addresses in one form or another I’ve collected over the years.
LinkedIn then, allows me to import a list of contents and will find out if any of those email addresses are LinkedIn users. This is brilliant as I can friend a contact (stating how we contacted each other initially) and I can then export a clean fresh list for other purposes.
How do you use LinkedIn yourself, what have I missed here?