The world has changed much in the past 5 years. This is because we have evolved along with the technology we use, smart phones, higher Internet speeds, and the emergence of a highly mobile world. Did you know that more than half the world’s population shopped online in the past 30 days? And LinkedIn is a major part of this digital world.

Bob Milliken

LinkedIn is described as a social networking service for professionals, but we believe that it can be best described as a social media platform designed to cater to all kinds of business oriented people, including business owners, job seekers, employees, employers and even graduates.

LinkedIn works the same as any other social media platform on the surface, as it allows people to join it for free and to create social profiles.

The difference lies in what people use profiles on LinkedIn for: whereas profiles on other social networks are mostly designed to showcase people’s interests, hobbies, and everyday moments, LinkedIn is designed to highlight professional, business and career related information.

Professional and work skills, employment history and education are some of the highlights that you will find on a common LinkedIn profile, and contacts are called “connections” to give a professional tone to interactions made by users of the platform.

Connections allow LinkedIn members to connect with people whom they know on a professional level, whether online or offline.

LinkedIn also leverages user generated data such as job titles, geographical locations, skill sets, and industry to connect job seekers with employers.

This has led LinkedIn users to use their LinkedIn profiles as a resume, with lots of people finding success in using the platform to find their dream jobs!

LinkedIn can also be used as a great educational resource, as lots of industry leaders from around the world have LinkedIn profiles that any user can follow to get tips from.

Your Takeaway

LinkedIn is a force that you cannot afford to ignore. Just under 500 million users worldwide recognize that LinkedIn is a premier social selling business platform; 40% of us live in North America, 56% of all of us are over 35, with a 56%/44% male/female mix, 85% are grad or post grad educated, and 78% drive business decisions.

You can use LinkedIn to find the exact group of people that make up your target audience from professionals, business owners, and job seekers. Which means that the job of targeting your audience is half done. The good news is that it just so happens that LinkedIn has the perfect advertising platform where you can do the rest.

Are you using LinkedIn in your social selling programs and not getting the results you expected? Call us, we’d love to help.

Bob Milliken is a master marketer specializing in helping businesses achieve outrageous levels of success. Bob can be reached by phone at 604.270.1730 or by email at thenaughtymarketer@rfmholdings.com