By Kim Densberger
There are many benefits that Linkedin can provide, whether you are a business owner, account manager, or anyone in sales. Launched in 2003, Linkedin is used for professional networking and has 150 million registered users in over 200 countries. One purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people with whom they have some level of professional relationship, called Connections.
Linkedin benefits are numerous. Here are just a few:
• Using Member Profiles, you can identify potential customers or prospects.
• Making use of the Introduction Tool, you can receive introductions or referrals to prospects.
• Viewing Connections in Member Profiles, you can research relationships between customers, prospects, and other contacts.
• Utilizing information in a Member Profile can provide information about prospects and customers which can make live conversations and online communication easier.
• Contributing to Answers and Discussions can give the perception to others that you are an expert. Others mentioning you in Discussions and referring to you as an expert in Answers create positive word-of-mouth publicity, both inside and outside of Linkedin.
• Profile and contributions in Answers and Discussions, you, as well as your organization, has visibility not only on Linkedin, but also search engines like Google.
• Participating in Discussions in the groups of your customers and of your peers allows you to pick up trends in the marketplace.
• Network Updates can give you notification when someone changes jobs which is an opportunity for you to contact them in their new organization plus possibly be introduced to the individual who is replacing them in their previous position.
