As businesses of all kinds continue move forward into our Internet age, it cannot be stressed enough that being found on the web is of the utmost importance.
This has been reiterated, along with other valuable bits, by Linkedin themselves. One of their bloggers, Adam Nash, recently published a few terrific pointers that EVERYONE needs to read. The whole article is worthy of your spare five minutes, but I will highlight his three most important steps, as they should really hit home with you.
Excerpt:
Be found. It’s almost criminal to leave your LinkedIn profile unfinished. Think of it as search optimization, but not for a website - for you. The more positions you list, education you cite, and skills you highlight, the more likely it is that the right people will find you. It’s not hard - in fact, if you have a resume handy from your last job search, you can fill in a profile typically with a few minutes of cut & paste. Most people are shocked to find out how many great opportunities find them once they fill out their professional profile.
Bring your network online. Your network is one of your most valuable assets, but it does little good for you offline. Upload your Address Book, invite the people you want to connect with, and get connected. Most people don’t realize that having your network online means that you can now use it as a personalized search engine for both who and what you know. That’s exactly you only want to connect with people you actually know. It’s no good finding out you are one degree away from the company of your dreams, if that connection doesn’t know you from Adam (pardon the expression). Worse, that false connection can even “crowd out” a real connection to that company in the LinkedIn search engine. Your relationships are the heart of social relevance - use them.
Search! You’d think that after a decade of search engines people would get this, but it’s amazing to watch the light go on once they search for something other than a name. Interested in working for clean tech? Try searching for it. Search the company directory on LinkedIn. Find companies in your favorite industry, in your favorite city. Then search your network (”People Search”) for that company name. If you’ve done steps 1 & 2, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what a small world it is. If you are looking for a job, and you aren’t spending hours a day on LinkedIn, chances are it’s because you haven’t discovered the power of people search.
The power that Business Social Networking gives to individuals, and their companies, in flat out immense. It’s impact on your business moving forward is clear, you need to spread your credibility across the web, before you fall behind.