Reasons to Use LinkedIn

1. Connecting with Friends and Colleagues

LinkedIn allows you to connect with friends and colleagues, you can get and give recommendations and references. LinkedIn also lets you see the status updates and recommendations of your connections.

2. Keeping track of everyone

After connecting with friends and colleagues, you can keep track of them, check on their updates and check on the references for new hires and their connections.
3. Join groups and Find likeminded people

There are numerous groups in LinkedIn that allows people to network with others with the same interests or in the same industry. Whether it is an Alumni group to keep up with fellow Alumni or special interest groups to learn about photography, there are always people to connect with to discuss topics that are of interest.

4. Keep up with others in the industry

LinkedIn allows people in the same industry to connect to share knowledge and information.

5. Make business connections

LinkedIn is a perfect tool to make business connections and maintain relations. Besides meeting likeminded people on group forums, you can get recommendation from friends and the connections you make. These business connections can likely end up in sales or partnerships.

6. Resource Center

By joining groups and posting questions and answering other questions, LinkedIn is a great source of information.

7. Personal Branding

By providing insights, tips and answering question, you can demonstrate proficiency and be a thought leader. Adding a link to a blog in your signature can also publicize your blog and other webpages.

8. Recruitment

LinkedIn is a great place to find suitable candidates, besides sourcing from friends, colleagues and other connection; groups allow job posts as well. You can find suitable candidates, view their recommendations and references.

9. Participate or organize professional events

LinkedIn allows hosting of events for professionals in the same area to physically meet up as well. For professional networking, nothing beats face to face.

10. Find Venture Capitalists

There seems to be a willingness to help out others on the network, with the understanding/expectation that someday you might need help or a connection also. Even if you have no VCs in your immediate network, someone in your connection or group may have and can help with the connection.

11. Gain visibility

By just being out there discussing on forums, you inevitably can spread and generate interest in your business and the work that you do. As an entrepreneur or business owner, sharing ideas and information on what your company does, you can generate awareness and branding of your company.

12. Check out competitors

As you can promote your company, your competitors can do so as well. With LinkedIn, you can see your competitors’s teams, clients, references, plenty of information that is not readily available to you otherwise. You may also see where they’re coming from, or what they’ve been up to recently.

13. Conduct Market Research

Crowd sourcing for ideas and opinions on group forums is a good way to understand the trends in the marketplace. If you’re considering launching a new product, you can see what type of demand there is for this type of product. Do research on what companies are offering. Make use of the Q&A feature to post your questions.

14. Facilitate Introductions

You can become a connector for people by introducing someone you know to someone else in your network. This gives you greater credibility and improves your chances of actually getting introduced to others that may be helpful to your network.

15. Show recommendation

One of the most invaluable features of LinkedIn is its ability to show recommendations, which allows employed people to see if a potential supplier, partner, or employee is worth dealing with.