Why LinkedIn? LinkedIn for the UnLinked Workshop 2016 The Business and Professional Women of Durham Presented by Kim Beatty, Marketing Master Creating Buz CreativeBuz Marketing Services November 12, 2016

LinkedIn is a place where relationships matter, a tool to reach out to whomever you need while growing your professional presence.

What is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service Founded on December 14, 2002, launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs. As of September 2016, LinkedIn has more than 467 million accounts, out of which more than 106 million are active. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection. The site has an Alexa Internet ranking as the 14th most popular website (October 2016). According to the New York Times, US high school students are now creating LinkedIn profiles to include with their college applications. (Source Wikipedia) Based on the principle of 6 degrees of separation. Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based company that provides commercial web traffic data and analytics. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com. Wikipedia

Building a strong presence in LinkedIn’s professional environment is a bit like combining some of the functions and presentation of a company website with the interactive nature of a social media profile. Why join LinkedIn? With LinkedIn’s connections, you can strengthen and extend your professional network of trusted contacts. Stay up to date on industry trends and best practices, and both learn and share what you know. Join Groups to connect with people who share your interests. The network allows you to establish thought leadership roles, build vital relationships, generate valuable leads, gain insights, conduct market research, maintain and improve your online reputation, and build online communities. https://business.linkedin.com/us-government/why-linkedin#!

Build your LinkedIn profile Your profile is a key part of your presence on LinkedIn. It’s how potential contacts find you and learn about who you are and what you do. It’s easy to build an effective profile using our step-by-step process. Just follow the prompts in our profile guide.
 Discover content that matters to you LinkedIn Pulse delivers you personalized news – news that is powered by your professional world. Get instant access to the latest news and ideas based on the industry you work in, who you’re connected to and which organizations, topics and influencers you follow on LinkedIn. Join Groups to stay informed and connect with people who share your interests. Stay engaged in the dialogue by commenting directly on posts and sharing them with your network. https://business.linkedin.com/us-government/why-linkedin#! https://9clouds.com/guide-to-linkedin/why-linkedin-matters/

Why does LinkedIn Matter Why does LinkedIn Matter? The beauty of LinkedIn is that you do not have to be limited to connecting with people that you know and who know you well. LinkedIn provides a way to become linked in to the most influential people, groups and areas of study. As the world’s largest and most influential professional social network, LinkedIn allows you to reach out to business people and connect with all types of professionals worldwide. You can expand your network by connecting with current or past classmates, individuals in your industry, prospects, co-workers and those who reach out to you. The tools within LinkedIn help you expand your network so you can have connections from near and far alike.  https://9clouds.com/guide-to-linkedin/why-linkedin-matters/

SEO Being visible on search engines is one of the most important aspects of a brand in our search-happy society. You ideally want your brand’s name, address, and phone number to be listed in the top business directories and LinkedIn offers a great way to display your brand. It’s important that your customers see the information that you want them to see about your company. It’s much better to have positive content on LinkedIn ranked high in search and show up first in results rather than neutral or negative content elsewhere, which could turn potential customers away. https://9clouds.com/guide-to-linkedin/why-linkedin-matters/

Is LinkedIn Good for Business? Yes!!!! LinkedIn made it possible for brands to have a platform for promotion by creating company pages. These pages allow your business to create content explaining your brand, products, and services. By having a LinkedIn company page, your employees can link their employment experiences to your page.  Also, users of LinkedIn can follow company profiles much like they would on Twitter and Facebook. https://9clouds.com/guide-to-linkedin/why-linkedin-matters/

Here are five ways using LinkedIn can help your business grow: 1) Reinforcing your reputation: As a marketing tool, LinkedIn provides a great way to share your company’s story, and develop trust and subject-matter authority through regular updates and customer recommendations. 2) Generating leads and referrals: Your LinkedIn activity shows other professionals that you value and participate in business communities, and sends a message about your company’s competence with technology and emerging media. Especially for business-to-business firms, these connections can drive referrals that result in new clients, customers and contracts. 3) Showcasing products and services: With LinkedIn’s company pages, it’s easy to communicate what you have to offer, and to tailor this message for different industries, groups and demographics. Listing your products also allows you to collect recommendations, as one report notes, and “to drive traffic back to your website’s products or services page, which can ultimately drive sales.” 4) Building your brand: As current and previous employees actively use LinkedIn, they create a growing network that links (quite literally) back to your company page, expanding your brand presence. 5) Attracting new talent: While LinkedIn is useful for job hunters, it’s much more than a place to surreptitiously post resumes. The network offers companies a great way to advertise job openings to a diverse talent pool. Plus, the candidate profiles say much more about a potential employee than the typical resume and work samples. http://www.coxblue.com/5-reasons-why-linkedin-matters/

In the first quarter of 2016 Canada had 12 million registered users on LinkedIn. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/272783/linkedins-membership-worldwide-by-country/)

LinkedIn User Stats and Demographics # of new LinkedIn members per second: 2 (Last updated 1May2014) # of monthly unique visiting LinkedIn members: 106 million (28April2016) Geographical reach of LinkedIn: 200 countries and territories (18April2014) Adding a professional photo to your profile makes you 14x more likely to be found on LinkedIn. (Last updated 13August2015) Adding a photo to your profile makes you 36x more likely to receive a message on LinkedIn. )Last updated 8March2016) http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-a-few-important-linkedin-stats/

LinkedIn User Stats and Demographics Listing skills on your profile increases profile views 13X (16Oct2014) LinkedIn users that listed at least 5 skills on their profile received up to 17X more profile views % of Male LinkedIn users: 56%, % of Female LinkedIn users: 44% (18April2014) Total Number of LinkedIn Company pages: 4 million (9Nov2014) Best Day and Time to post on LinkedIn for engagement: Tues, 10-11AM EST (3April2014) http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/linkedin-business-page-and-group-statistics/

If you’re not using LinkedIn for business, you’re missing out on several opportunities to boost your company’s reach — and bottom line. “LinkedIn’s party line has always been that you need to know the people you connect with. However, with the new Company Page, you have the ability to increase your following, without increasing your connections. And this is good news for people who are more interested in building their company’s visibility and business than their own.” — Viveka von Rosen, social media expert and author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day http://www.coxblue.com/5-reasons-why-linkedin-matters/

Want to Connect? https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kimbeatty2

Resources to help you build your Profile Your Personal Brand: What to include and words to avoid: https://blog.linkedin.com/2015/01/21/brand-you-year-how-to-brand-yourself-without- sounding-like-everyone-else Profile Tips: http://www.slideshare.net/MichaelCirrito/how-to-build-a-great-profile-and- professional-brand-56017829 Tips for Joining Groups: https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/04/04/introducing-a-new- destination-to-stay-up-to-date-with-your-linkedin-groups LinkedIn Pulse: https://mobile.linkedin.com/pulse How To Get The Most Out of LinkedIn's New Features: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2016/04/18/how-to-get-he-most-out-of- linkedins-new-features/#51122b7d3f8d

Sources and Notes Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based company that provides commercial web traffic data and analytics. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com. Wikipedia https://business.linkedin.com/us-government/why-linkedin#! https://9clouds.com/guide-to-linkedin/why-linkedin-matters/ http://www.coxblue.com/5-reasons-why-linkedin-matters/ In the first quarter of 2016 Canada had 12 million registered users on LinkedIn. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/272783/linkedins-membership-worldwide-by- country/) http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-a-few-important-linkedin-stats/ http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/linkedin-business-page-and-group-statistics/