LinkedIn is a social networking site geared towards professionals.  It’s use to connect with current and former colleagues and with individuals in the same industry to establish relationships and find services. 

It’s a great way to find potential clients, service providers and experts.  The service goes out of it’s way to help you make connections for business opportunities and jobs.  It’s also a great place to go when you’re ready to find a new career.

The signup process is similar to MySpace and Facebook. You sign up and complete your profile. The LinkedIn profile is more like a resume and you are encourage to complete every last section. The information gathered includes your educational background and past jobs.

After completing your profile, you are encouraged to find connections to build your network. When linking to other people, you have to specify your relationship — friend, coworker, service provider, etc.  Sometimes it may even be necessary to provide email addresses of old friends before the connection request can be sent. 

What to use LinkedIn for?

 Now that you’ve signed up for LinkedIn, it’s time to start using it to help find other professionals and get recommendations.  LinkedIn provides a variety of tasks o make it a powerful business tool.

 Recommend Experts

 LinkedIn encourages users to recommend other professionals and service providers for a variety of business related tasks.  LinkedIn is different in that you are recommending individuals, not business or retail stores. 

LinkedIn has a Service Provider Recommendation Engine to help you find a service provider when you need one.  The higher number of recommendations a person has, the higher their visibility.

Show off your Expert Skills

LinkedIn provides an area for questions and answers. The LinkedIn Answers section of the site helps show off your expertise.  The LinkedIn Q&A includes topics such as business operations, law and legal, marketing and sales, sustainability, technology and management. 

Not only is it a great place to show off your expertise, but it can be a great resource for your business too.  Asking questions is simple.  You can type in your question, add details, choose the category and then even geotarget it if you would like. 

The more questions the answer, the more opportunity you have to establish yourself as a LinkedIn expert. Thousands of users are actively engaged in LinkedIn and use the Answers area heavily.

 User Groups

One of the most popular features within LinkedIn is the Groups.   LinkedIn Groups can help people stay informed and keep in touch with people that share the same interests.  Some popular groups are centralized around communities, organizations or locations.

LinkedIn makes it easy to find groups by using the Groups Directory or the Groups You May Like sections. When viewing one group, there is also a similar group listing that also helps you find groups.

Can’t find a group that you’re interested in? Start a new group. Groups are easy to set up and only require a name, logos, a summary and a descriptions. You can set up corporate groups, alumni, conference, networking, nonprofit or professional groups.  Within a group, there are discussion boards and news articles.

Summary

LinkedIn is another great tool for your social networking toolbox. It’s another great way to connect with people, get professional advice and possibly find new business opportunities. If  you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for? Visit www.linkedin.com