BUS 352 Week 2 Assignment – LinkedIn

e-Business – BUS352

Introductions

Social networks are not just for fun anymore, there are some that are highly utilized by corporations, professionals, employers, recruiters and job seekers. LinkedIn is a professional social media platform that enables users to showcase their professional portfolio and make connections with other professionals, companies and recruiters (Emmo, 2019). It has over 500 million members across the world (Rycraft, 2018). This paper will showcase the community characteristics and benefits of LinkedIn as well as why it has been so successful and why members are motivated to join the community.

Characteristics of Community

LinkedIn was founded in 2002 and has grown considerable over the past ten years. LinkedIn is known as the place to go for professional social networking (Osman, 2019). Members take advantage of the ability to reconnect with past colleagues and classmates as well as connect with people that can possibly help with new business opportunities and even job opportunities. Recruiters peruse members profiles to match potential candidates to available positions (Turban & Lang, 2011). LinkedIn Answers is made up of industry experts that are willing to share advice with anyone willing to ask questions (Turban & Land, 2011). LinkedIn is a community of professional that exchange information, collaborate, share ideas, and opportunities. Colleagues can endorse each other’s skills and make recommendations that appear on members profile’s. This adds credibility to the experience section of the profile.

Benefits

LinkedIn allows members to showcase their personal and professional brand through their personalize profile. Profiles can be used to showcase members expertise, skills, work history, recommendations, connections and education. It is your first impression when recruiters or employers are searching for potential candidates but it is also powerhouse for credibility in industry (Rycraft, 2018). LinkedIn has groups that connect members with similar professional knowledge or interests. According to Sarah Raycraft, “The benefits of LinkedIn are almost endless with no downside to having a LinkedIn profile.” (2018, p. 10). Among all those benefits, creating a LinkedIn profile is absolutely free.

Motivation to Join

Most professionals create a LinkedIn profile to stay relevant in the workplace and for potential employment opportunities. Having a LinkedIn profile is a valuable tool for college students that are entering the job market as well as established professionals. Besides the ability to connect with friends, colleagues, and companies, LinkedIn can be used to research companies’ members are interested in working for, recruiters, and hiring personal (Rycraft, 2018). With the many benefits of having a LinkedIn profile, there is no good reason not to join.

Why is it successful

LinkedIn stats are quite impressive, over 575 million users of which more than 260 million are monthly active users and of those, 40% access the platform daily. According to research, 50% of United States college graduates have a LinkedIn profile. Additionally, more than 40% earn more than $75,000 per year. LinkedIn is 277% better at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter (Osman, 2019). LinkedIn’s success can be summed up in three categories, media, partnerships, and clients. The internet has changed the marketing world and leveled the playing field for competing businesses. The amount of advertising spend a company has does not dictate how successful they will be, as it did in years past. Successful marketers are aware of how important brand awareness is, a great product or service is nothing without consumers knowing it exists. LinkedIn makes it easy and less expensive for companies to create brand awareness and create contacts with professional journalists that could potentially write an article about the company or request an interview (Chansamooth, 2017). Free advertising! Building strategic partnerships is an effective way to grow a business and these partnerships can be found and fostered on LinkedIn. Many professionals utilize this powerful platform for these partnerships. Finally, LinkedIn is a great resource to find clients. The feed, laid out similar to Facebook, is a great place to promote any size business. CEO of Accelerate Global, Creel Price, used LinkedIn to generate over 3,000 leads and generate over $150,000 and spending less than $1,000 on marketing (Chansamooth, 2017). Those are powerful tools anyone can take advantage of from LinkedIn.

Conclusion

LinkedIn has proven to be a priceless tool for anyone that needs a professional brand. The communities and groups available create connections that can grow a business, help a company find the right candidate for an open position or help a job seeker find the position that matches their specific skills. Facebook created a place for friends and family to stay connected and LinkedIn has created a place for professionals to grow, share and connect.

References

Chansamooth, A., (2017). Why LinkedIn is the Most Powerful Marketing Tool of the 21st Century. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-linkedin-is-the-most_b_5706017

Emmo, L., (2019). How Does LinkedIn Work? Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/linkedin-work-11688.html

Osman, M., (2019). Mind-Blowing LinkedIn Statistics and Facts (2019). Retrieved from https://kinsta.com/blog/linkedin-statistics/

Turban, E., King, D, Lang, J. (2011). Introduction to Electronic Commerce (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Retrieved from https://vitalsource.com/