Is making a LinkedIn important?

In today’s digital world, having a strong online presence is crucial for career and business success. One of the most important platforms for establishing your professional brand online is LinkedIn. But is having a LinkedIn profile really necessary? Here we’ll explore the key benefits of being on LinkedIn and why it’s an indispensable tool for networking and advancing your career.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 740 million members worldwide. It allows you to create a digital profile summarizing your professional background, skills, accomplishments, and interests. You can then connect with other professionals in your industry or location and join relevant groups and conversations. LinkedIn profiles are optimized to be found by recruiters and hiring managers searching for candidates. It’s the top platform used by companies and recruiters to find qualified job applicants.

Networking Opportunities

One of the greatest advantages of LinkedIn is the networking potential. You can easily connect with professionals working for companies you’re interested in, fellow alumni from your university, former colleagues, and more. Having connections on LinkedIn allows you to stay in touch and nurture important relationships even when you’re not interacting regularly. You never know when a connection might result in a career opportunity down the line. LinkedIn makes it easy to discover inside connections at organizations you want to get noticed by. Those shared connections can often help get your foot in the door.

Stay Visible

LinkedIn keeps you on the radar of professional contacts even when you’re not actively job searching or networking. Your connections get updates when you change jobs, get promoted, publish content, join groups, etc. This ensures colleagues, peers, and recruiters will think of you when new opportunities arise in their networks. Over 50% of LinkedIn members use the platform to stay up to date on industry news, trends, and changes within their professional circles. By maintaining an active, up-to-date profile, you’ll stay top of mind.

Build Your Professional Brand

LinkedIn allows you to craft your virtual resume far beyond what you can fit on a one or two page paper document. The content you share shows off your expertise and thought leadership. You control how you present your professional brand online. Recruiters review LinkedIn profiles to evaluate candidates as part of the hiring process. A well-rounded LinkedIn presence can give you an advantage over other applicants. Some key elements for building your brand include:

• A professional headshot
• An engaging summary section highlighting your skills and achievements
• Experience descriptions emphasizing your responsibilities and accomplishments
• Examples of your work through links or multimedia
• Recommendations from managers, colleagues, professors, etc.
• Industry keywords to help you come up in recruiter searches

Showcase Your Knowledge

You can further demonstrate your expertise by publishing long-form posts, articles, videos, and other content directly on LinkedIn. This content shows up on your profile and in the feeds of your connections. It’s a great way to establish thought leadership in your niche. For example, an accountant can share tax tips while a marketer can provide guides on social media trends. You can write posts on LinkedIn or link to content you’ve published elsewhere online. Sharing useful insights and how-to guides builds credibility.

Discover New Job Opportunities

The LinkedIn Jobs portal allows you to search millions of open positions by industry, location, company, job title, and other keywords. You can tailor your search to quickly find roles that match your skillset and interests. Recruiters also actively use LinkedIn to identify and contact qualified passive job seekers. Keeping your profile updated alerts recruiters that you may be open to hearing about new career options, even if you aren’t actively job hunting. Some additional benefits of the LinkedIn job portal include:

• Applying for jobs with just the click of a button through easy apply
• Saving job searches to be automatically notified of new postings
• Following specific companies to always see their latest openings
• Getting insights into hiring trends and salary ranges for roles

Be Discovered by Recruiters

Over 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn to source and contact potential candidates. Even if you aren’t looking, there’s a good chance a recruiter will discover your profile if you have the right experience, keywords, and qualifications. You may be presented with an exciting new role or company you hadn’t previously considered. By keeping your profile updated, recruiters will know to contact you about opportunities that align with your professional goals and aspirations.

Research Companies

Before starting a job search, it’s important to research the companies, mission statements, and workplace cultures that appeal to you. LinkedIn makes this process easy. You can follow companies to get regular updates on new products, initiatives, and news articles related to the business. LinkedIn Company Pages showcase useful information like:

• Company size, funding, revenue, etc.
• Founders, executives, and team members
• Company history and trajectory
• Office locations
• Company-related statistics, awards, and milestones

Following or interacting with a company’s posts and content shows them that you have a genuine interest in what they do. When applying or interviewing, this gives you an edge in conversations and demonstrates your alignment with their work.

Evaluate Company Culture

LinkedIn is often used by employees to post about their work, company culture, and day-to-day professional experiences. Following a company and its employees can give you an inside look at what it would actually be like to work there. Employee reviews on sites like Glassdoor are also helpful, but following real employees on LinkedIn provides unfiltered insights into work culture.

Expand Your Professional Skills

Beyond networking and job searching, LinkedIn hosts an extensive library of professional development courses through LinkedIn Learning. Users can access over 16,000 expert-led courses covering business, creative, and technology topics. You can build in-demand hard skills in areas like graphic design, web development, marketing analytics, and more. Some other benefits of LinkedIn Learning include:

• Receiving a certificate for completing courses
• Learning at your own pace with flexible access
• Enjoying easy-to-follow video tutorials and lessons
• Gaining skills employers are looking for

Highlighting the courses you’ve completed on your profile shows dedication to continuously improving your skillset. Whether you want to pick up a new skill or brush up on something you learned in the past, LinkedIn Learning is a powerful asset.

Join Industry Groups

LinkedIn Groups based on professional fields, industries, interests, schools, and other topics are a great way to meet like-minded professionals, discuss industry news, and get answers to your questions from the group. You can join up to 100 groups. Being part of the right groups allows you to establish yourself as an expert in your niche and gain new connections and opportunities. Follow Group Rules and engage respectfully when posting, commenting, and networking.

Grow Your Business or Brand

LinkedIn isn’t just for job seekers. It’s an essential platform for business networking and growth. Companies can create LinkedIn Company Pages to market products, share company news, hire employees, and attract new customers. Having a Company Page lets you connect directly with your target audience. Some specific benefits include:

• Increased brand awareness and credibility
• SEO value from regular high-quality content
• Promoted post and sponsored content options
• Metrics and analytics to fine-tune your strategy
• Contact management and lead generation capabilities

Company Pages synergize well with other marketing efforts across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. No modern digital marketing strategy is complete without a presence on LinkedIn.

Showcase Thought Leadership

By regularly sharing long-form posts, videos, and other content on your Company Page, you can establish your brand as an industry thought leader. This attracts new followers and drives engagement. Content that provides value, entertainment, or practical tips performs best. You can repurpose content from blogs, podcasts, and whitepapers. Posting unique content optimized for the LinkedIn audience is key to cutting through the noise in people’s feeds.

The Power of Recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements from professional connections serve as powerful social proof vouching for your skills and positive traits. Recommendations should come from managers, colleagues, professors, or clients who can speak first-hand about your accomplishments, work ethic, talents, etc. The more tailored and genuine, the better. Some tips for getting great LinkedIn recommendations include:

• Only request them from people who know your work well
• Aim for 3-5 recommendations at minimum
• Personalize each request to the specific individual
• Suggest 2-3 skills or traits you’d like highlighted
• Offer to return the favor with your own recommendation

Quality endorsements also validate expertise. Receiving endorsements for key skills related to your profession from numerous connections makes recruiters and hiring managers take notice.

Maximize Your Profile’s Impact

To get the most out of your LinkedIn profile:

• Craft an informative, keyword optimized headline
• Summarize your background in an engaging About section
• Show off thought leadership through long-form posts
• Join relevant industry groups and local Networks
• Follow companies you’re interested in working for
• Publish multimedia examples of your best work

Profiles that demonstrate expertise through content, recommendations, and specific details excel at driving opportunities.

Start Building Your LinkedIn Presence

Here are some steps to take to create a complete, professional LinkedIn profile:

1. Make your profile photo a clear professional headshot
2. Write a summary highlighting your background, skills, and goals
3. Include all current and past work experiences with detailed descriptions
4. Add any volunteering, education, certifications, awards
5. Get recommendations from managers, professors, or colleagues
6. Follow companies and join Groups relevant to your industry
7. Share content and engage with your network consistently

Optimizing your LinkedIn presence takes time, but the investment will pay dividends for your career or business goals. The more comprehensive your profile, the more opportunities will come your way.

Consistency Is Key

Once your profile is initially set up, you need to invest time regularly to maintain and enhance it. Set reminders to post content or share updates at least once a week. Stay engaged by commenting on connections’ posts, joining discussions in your Groups, and liking or resharing relevant articles.

You get out what you put into LinkedIn. Consistently interacting and publishing new content will lead to a thriving professional network full of referrals, collaboration opportunities, and open doors.

Conclusion

Creating and maintaining a strong LinkedIn presence provides substantial value for job seekers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses. It allows you to build connections, display your expertise, access opportunities, and elevate your career or company brand. LinkedIn is the go-to platform leveraged by recruiters, hiring managers, and salespeople to find qualified candidates, business partners, and potential clients.

The time investment required to keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date pays dividends through the doors it opens. Establishing yourself on LinkedIn now will continue to benefit you at every stage of your professional journey. Don’t wait to start networking and showcasing your know-how.