As of March 2012, there were 160 million professionals in over 200 countries on LinkedIn. The online networking site is free for anyone, and only costs if you would like extra features.
Many business professionals are already on LinkedIn, but if you’re not yet there, take a moment to evaluate why not. Are you one of the professionals who wouldn’t benefit from a LinkedIn account? Or are you someone who could have new business and allies coming your way if you presented a full profile on LinkedIn?
Professionals who wouldn’t benefit from a LinkedIn account:
–You don’t have internet access and don’t plan on getting it.
–You have reason to keep a low profile, a threat to your life, or something of that nature.
–You are retired and not growing your business, and you still keep in touch with all your business contacts, so if a nephew or friend’s daughter needed an introduction, you’d be able to do it easily.
–You feel or think you have no extra time for anything.
–You don’t do market research about peers or companies in your field.
–You already have all the experts you need in your own in-person network.
Professionals who would benefit from creating and maintaining a LinkedIn account:
–You are growing your business and want people to discover you.
–You are growing your business and want to learn more about professionals you could do business with.
–You are always evaluating new opportunities, technologies and ways of being more efficient, so you want access to LinkedIn’s answers.
–You know a lot of people from school and your business interactions, but haven’t kept in touch with them, but you could find them on LinkedIn.
–You want to connect with people in new industries and professions.
–You have customers who value your work so highly they have written recommendation letters, but those are on paper, and not public where others could read them, and know where you excel.
–You do research and want to learn more about companies.
–You want access to experts in different fields for quotes.
–You have expertise and could answer questions on LinkedIn and thus reach more people for future business.
What fields are considered professional? Would a plumber join LinkedIn? A massage therapist? A landscaper? A nurse?
All of the trades tend to deal with people across many professions, and thus can get recommendations from people in different fields, reaching their contacts. And people like caterers and dentists, can network with their peers, vendors, as well as their customers.
Those who have attended college or graduate school or gone to many conferences may know more people than others, but you don’t have to have 500 contacts to make your time on LinkedIn worthwhile. Just present yourself as professionally as possible. Fill out your profile thoroughly. Put up a professional photo. And reach out via your email contacts to the people you already know.
Perhaps the most important reason to be on LinkedIn with a professional profile is that people can learn about you and decide if they would like to do business with you.