As the social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn is great for business. I landed my first job out of school on LinkedIn and built my best professional relationships.
But what I’ve more recently discovered is that LinkedIn the company is excellent at business too.
Here are my business takeaways from LinkedIn.
Your best collaborators are your competition.
So far as I can tell, LinkedIn has the most coherent social media strategy of all social media companies.
(Meta, right?)
For example, LinkedIn has a help account on Twitter. This is the perfect platform for providing technical assistance to providers — it’s speedy and text-based.
Tweet a question about using LinkedIn and you’ll hear back within an hour. You may even get something cheeky like this:
I tried the same strategy wtih Instagram, tweeting for tips on sizing videos for upload.
I’m still waiting on an answer.
LinkedIn has a brilliant social media strategy, using each platform’s traits to its advantage. I get the feeling that Twitter and Facebook/Instagram don’t share the love here.
Talk to your tribe…then get them talking
The best brands don’t just get customers talking with them, they get customers talking with each other.
Through Pulse, Slideshare and its numerous other platforms, LinkedIn has built a powerful network. Frequently I see the editors and executives of LinkedIn posting content and engaging with users. LinkedIn editors have personally commented on and shared some of my work, which brought me new follows and connections. LinkedIn has built a self-replicating network by getting users to talk to each other.
My engagement with other users on Twitter or Instagram seems haphazard. I need to search for hashtags, sift through user profiles, etc. By having an active team of editors, LinkedIn has brought the tribe to me — then got us talking.
Be an adaptable, expandable brand
Tech companies regularly buy social media platforms: Amazon/Twitch, Facebook/Instagram, etc. I wonder how many of these users even know of these partnerships.
Instead, LinkedIn has been able to expand its brand with each major acquisition. Pulse and Slideshare have become platforms for users’ thought leadership and personal branding.
Recently, LinkedIn has bought Lynda.com. As a voracious user of each, I’m pleased to see how this parntership is unfolding. As Pulse and Slideshare allowed users to promote their influence, Lynda will let users signal their expertise.
No way can you call LinkedIn “just an online resume” these days. Instead it’s a dynamic platform for professionals to advance careers and add value to their network.
LinkedIn, you’re not a bad brand yourself.
Thanks, LinkedIn.
You’ve not only given me a platform for my personal brand, you’ve been a model brand yourself.
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