Is LinkedIn A Viable Alternative To Facebook? Here's how

As a LinkedIn speaker, trainer and consultant, I got into a discussion yesterday with someone who felt that LinkedIn is just terrible at how it promotes itself.

Arguably, parent company Microsoft and CEO Jeff Weiner don’t have too much to worry about on that front because they have over 500 million members. But it did get us thinking about who LinkedIn is trying to appeal to.

Is it a jobs site? Maybe it’s a networking platform – how exactly does LinkedIn see itself? As a speaker on how to use LinkedIn to increase sales, I’m often asked the same question around the world at conferences – not least of which is

"Just how useful is LinkedIn really Phil? I’m on LinkedIn but I don’t really get it…”

When you think about the site’s functionality, it has several different target audiences, so it means different things to different people: What is LinkedIn to you?

• A recruitment tool?
• A blogging platform?
• A networking platform?
• A statement of your professional expertise?
• A prospecting and sales tool?
• A place to highlight your company news?
• A tool to showcase your products and services?
• A messaging tool?
• A learning platform?
• A place to build community around your brand?
• An advertising platform?
• A ‘people search engine’?
• A salary comparison service?
• A tool to follow thought leaders?
• A competitor intelligence tool?
• A place to network with alumni?
• A place to attract and share testimonials and endorsements?
• A tool to meet people who share common interests – business or personal
• A document and presentation sharing service?
• A video sharing service?
• An SEO tool?

Wow, when you break it down, LinkedIn has much to offer different users – so promoting it as one particular service or another isn’t helpful.

LinkedIn’s functionality changes too over time; many of us still mourn the loss of its excellent Events, Q&A and Interests features. But LinkedIn is a very shareholder-focused organisation and is not afraid to ditch features which it doesn’t feel are producing value.

So, how do you get real value from LinkedIn?

At the end of the day, LinkedIn is a piece of software – and like any software that you use in your business, you’ll never really see its full benefits until you’ve had training on it. And even that pre-supposes that you know why you need the software in the first place.

The list above is as good a place as any to start, and once you’ve identified how the site might be able to help, you then need to decide why you should be on it. In short, you need to write down a clear objective – otherwise, to be frank, you’ll waste a lot of time dabbling around on LinkedIn.

So for me, I’m looking for speaking bookings, so I use the site and its functionality in a way that helps me to engage with meeting planners, event professionals and conference organisers. For you, once you know your main objective, then come up with a plan of action that is right for you.

Personally, I can’t see Facebook going away anytime soon, but whilst the media and some people continue to ask questions about privacy and data protection on the social media giant, LinkedIn is gaining appeal as the ‘professional alternative’.

LinkedIn’s look, feel and functionality doesn’t come close to that of Facebook, but what it does have is extremely powerful when you know how to use it and have a plan of action that’s right for you.

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