Case study on LinkedIn

 

LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with 706+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.LinkedIn began in co-founder Reid Hoffman's living room in 2002 and was officially launched on May 5, 2003.Today, LinkedIn leads a diversified business with revenues from membership subscriptions, advertising sales and recruitment solutions under the leadership of Ryan Roslansky. In December 2016, Microsoft completed its acquisition of LinkedIn, bringing together the world’s leading professional cloud and the world’s leading professional network.Our Vision is to create an economic oppurtunity for every member of the global workforce

Q) How have successful members used linkedin to their Advantage?

Advantage or the need to be on LinkedIn are for the following reasons:

• Recruiters and Human Resources professionals are on LinkedIn. People who are hiring are looking at your profile on LinkedIn. In fact, if you’re not on LinkedIn, it may lead them to speculate why. For example, are you not Internet savvy? If you’re looking for a job, it’s expected you’ll be on LinkedIn.

• LinkedIn has extensive job listings. If you’re looking for work, you can take advantage of LinkedIn’s job search engine. Many top brands are using LinkedIn as a way to find suitable candidates through job listings, and there are plenty of listings exclusive to LinkedIn.

• Receive (and give) endorsements and testimonials. LinkedIn enables your peers to endorse your skills and write up recommendations, and you can do the same for them. People who are searching for networking connections or job candidates will take these recommendations into consideration.

• Make important business connections. You get to choose whom to ­connect with on LinkedIn. For example, you can connect with past co-workers, employers, and Fortune 500 executives. You never know who will accept your invitation.

• Join professional groups that include like‐minded people. LinkedIn hosts thousands of online groups, enabling professionals to network within their respective niches.

• Reach out to the people who are viewing your profile. LinkedIn tells you who’s viewing your profile, which opens the door when it comes to meeting new people and making important connections. 

   Q) Suggest how being a member of the LinkedIn network might help  a company to develop better customer knowledge?

A) Here are a few tips or ways to grow or develop a better customer knowledge:

1. Personalize Your Connection Requests

When scrolling through LinkedIn's list of "people you may know," don't simply click the  "connect" button. If you do, a generic request will be sent. Instead, go to the person's profile page and click the "connect" button there. Doing so will bring up the box shown below and allow you to add a personal note with your connection request, such as "Good to meet you last week while traveling to Chicago. Let's keep in touch." If you're interested in connecting with someone you don't know, such as a person who works in a similar role at another company, add relevancy by letting them know why you’re messaging them.

2. Follow Up

Believe it or not, networking can still happen the good-old-fashioned way by actually meeting people face-to-face. Shocking, I know. Did you meet someone at a trade show or conference? Volunteer or serve on a committee for a charity event? How about the business owner at your favorite coffee shop, your healthcare provider, yoga instructor, classmates...you get the idea.

3. Post Often

This one is self explanatory. When a connection likes, shares or comments on your status update, all of their connections are more likely to see your original post in their feed. If your content seems relevant, those “2nd degree connections” may take the step to send an invitation to connect with you.

Posting more often creates additional opportunities for engagement, thus syndicating your content across home page feeds everywhere. Don’t be concerned about annoying people by posting every day. LinkedIn’s algorithms are tricky, and your network isn’t likely to see every post unless you publish an article natively with LinkedIn’s article tool (more on that later), which does notify your network.

4. Use Images

Using images on social posts can significantly increase engagement with people in your existing network and exposure to potential connections. How much? Research shows that using visual content will increase views by 11 times. So mix it up. Don’t always just share links, but include actual photos.