LinkedIn - 60 Millions Users!

[Scottish Business Owner]

Came across the article below today which says LinkedIn has now past the 60 Million user mark. Not really sure how many of these will be active but it did get me wondering whether anyone is having any success with it?

LinkedIn hits 60 million global users - V3.co.uk - formerly vnunet.com

I have an SBF group on LinkedIn but to be honest dont really know what to do with it! I also have a profile myself which I do visit occassionally. I'm not having a go at LinkedIn in anyway because I think it's a decent site.

I guess where i'm getting to is if people are having success with it then it would be good to know what they are doing etc to basically get some value out of it

 

[Dizzydiza]

Its funny you should mention LinkedIn as I was going to post a question the other day about it. I have been invited to join it by someone who used to work for a partner in swarovski crystals but now apparently has has his own business in houses. Not sure how joining would help me business wise considering he has change his career direction. Does anyone else use it and is it useful?

 

[Former Member 1]

Does anyone else use it and is it useful?

Can't say I've found it significantly useful... though a few old colleagues from Thames looked me up through it; and it's aye nice to touch base with folk... But I don't think it's likely to do your business any harm...

 

[Mike Lewis]

I've been a member of LinkedIn for a couple of years. The only result is that I get a stream of emails telling me that people I've only vaguely heard of have linked to other people who I've never heard of. Occasionally, one of these unknowns invites me to join their network. In the early days, I would accept the invitation. Now, they just go into my spam folder.

Probably, I'm not using the system correctly. There could well be benefits to be had, if only I went about it the right way. But I've never understood what those benefits are, or how to go about enjoying them.

Mike

 

[Adventurelife]

Not something I use a lot as I do not think it is that suitable for the industry I am in, however, have made contacts via it that led to business.

I do know others in different industries that use it on a daily basis and it drives significant revenue to them.

With all these different platforms you just have to find the ones that suit you and your business and put the effort in. Without doubt they are all useful but need to be managed like every other resource.

 

[johnthesearcher]

I agree with points made above .......

'different strokes for different folks'

I viewed it initially as like an extension of Friends Reunited but for the business sector.

It seems a good enough site (60 million users can't be wrong but a high % may have just added it to their list of sites to sign up for........ then ignore!)

I have made a few business contacts through it but get a bit 'cheesed' with the amount of requests I receive ..........which I would like to think my popularity had something to do with it ........ but it's not ! there just seems to be a lot of John Wylie's in remote corners of the globe.

Different platform ..... it's true........ but not a patch on the SBF forum.

John (posted remotely from Edinburgh)

 

[EmployEasily Legal Services]

Interesting thread.........I've been a LinkedIn user for a few years now and find it to be a very useful tool.

In addition to getting key information about me / my company in front of other business people on a daily basis, it provides a great tool for quickly connecting online with people that I meet at various networking events.

Also, other people I know have been able to forward my details onto people they know who are looking to speak to someone that does what I do.

AS someone already said, its horses for courses but IMHO its a great tool and well worth using.

 

[Eagle]

I would agree that it's not all that useful for SMEs. BIG, complex but ultimately useless.

 

[Murray]

This is an interesting thread and good to read other peoples thoughts about linked in. I think if used in the right way that it can be a useful business tool, I need to work on using it in the right way though!

 

[OurScots]

I joined LinkedIn a while ago and then didn't do much with it, but having recently filled out my profile, searched my address book and joined some relevant groups, the "viral" effect is working. People I have done work for may recommend me to others, and I am in contact with other folk who do the same work as I do, although not in the same geographical area, therefore not competing, and can compare notes on how we operate our businesses.

I like it.

 

[Edward]

I joined Linkedin a few months back and it is showing moderate but good enough returns. I have, however, come across two baffling problems.
1). I get a different public profile according to which channel I come inot Linkedin from. If I go through my university alumni group it keeps showing my earliest profile with, for example, only the initial 5 connections I started with. Yet when I log on from my own 'Favourities' on my laptop it shows up-to-date information with now over 50 connections. Is this kind of outdated variation in profiles usual?
2). The really maddening one - I somehow accidently double entered a position I hold. So I carefully followed the instructions to edite my profile under 'positions', and it just does not work out.
When I go to 'profiles' and then 'edit profile' all it shows is a single, current part-time position (this is just one part of my work). So I cannot edit anything - including my double entry because it is not shown.... but then! if I go back to my public profile all my positions are shown! (I do part-time and freelance therefore have a number of current positions).
In case it was just me being stupid, I ran through all this this morning with a bright young student who is more techie than me. Her response was 'wow, I wonder why that is?'
If anyone here is still awake and can offer advice, I'd really, really appreicate it.

 

[Eagle]

I think you should always use your 'Public' profile i.e.

www.linkedin.com/in/eagleimagery

 

[lizmelv]

Gosh, where to start! LinkedIn is probably the best source of B2B connections of all the social media sites available. However, it can take some figuring out, and definitely takes some effort and dedication to reap the benefits.

There is a lot you can do to engage with other businesses, get recommendations, and be seen to be an expert in your field. And, although it can be a slow burn to see leads coming through, once they do, LinkedIn has the best conversion rate of leads to sales of all the networks. But I'm not going to give away all my tips here - more of that in a future blog post I think!

Don't discard it if you feel it isn't working for you. Find someone to talk you through all the additional features you can use on the site, and review your current approach to see if there is something else you can do.

Liz

 

[Mike Lewis]

Liz,

I think the problem is that there are people like you around, who obviously understands social media and how to make it work. And then there are the rest of us. We're constantly told about the business potential, but if you're not already familiar with that world, it can be hard to figure it out.

Linkedin is a good example. In my case, a colleague recommeded it to me. So I visited the site. I looked in vain for an explanation of exactly what the service is and how it works. All I saw was a few vague selling points, like "Discover inside connections" and "Share with industry experts".

When I clicked on a link to "find more", it refused to let me go any further until I had registered. Eventually, I went ahead and did that. But even then, I couldn't find a comprehensive explanation of the concept.

I went through the motions of filling in details about myself. For months afterwards, I was bombarded with emails telling me that XXX (who I had never heard of) wanted to join my network, or wanted me to join their network. Or sometimes that XXX and linked up with YYY (also never heard of).

I got so fed up with it that I eventually cancelled my membership.

Now, I will be the first to admit I wasn't using the system properly - that I should have worked hard on setting up a profile, developing a network (whatever that means),etc.

But, quite honestly, given that nobody seemed able to tell me what the tangible benefits would be, there was no incentive to do that.

OK, that's my rant for the day over with.

Let me welcome you to the forum, and I look forward to tapping into your expertise.

Mike

 

[Adventurelife]

See my post on this thread of 10 months ago. I was wrong! We operate both B2C and B2B and LI has become and essential B2B tool. Probably one of the best in on the online world. Still not sure if I am using it even remotely well but it does work.

 

[Edward]

Re my earlier posting, I have to say that after quite a bit of energy-sapping and nail bitting (and maybe even some effing 'n blinding:blushing I'm really glad that I persevered with this.

I observed the golden rule of 'more is less'; i.e. it is the value of each individual member of your network that is critical. Quantity means nothing and is maybe even counterproductive. I've had bit of fun at conferences or network events where someone (almost inevitably) asserts something like " oh yes, Linkedin, I have around 900 connections in my network". My amused (but silent of course) reaction is "well what you have is not a network, it's a telephone list".

A piece of advice I would offer is to join one or two carefully chosen online forums on Linkedin. The quality of your postings (or your observing of some such postings by others) can open up some really high quality contacts.