“Why would I want to be all over the Internet if I’m not looking for a job?”

This question comes up all the time, and it’s not a bad one, but…

To me that’s like saying. “I already know some people, why would I go out and meet more?”

If you are any kind of business person, you know the key to business is connections. Whether you follow the old adage ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’, or you just realize the benefit of having people talk about your business, Social Media is the next sure step.

For starters, there is no cheaper or faster way to spread the word about your company, brand, message, whatever, than via the world wide web.

So if you’ve got any kind of product or service you are trying to sell, getting yourself out there in such places like LinkedIn can be extremely beneficial. Make connections at the highest levels for things like partnerships, all the way down to making connections with potential or current customers. If you are selling something, you want to be found, and online profiles like LinkedIn really spread your business across the web.

OK, you’re not selling a physical product or service necessarily. I have a family member who is a stock broker. On average this person deals with folks aged well out of any web generation, and besides, who picks someone to manage their money just by going online? Good point, so why be on LinkedIn? Well I learned a long time ago that word-of-mouth is the best promotion (or demotion) a business could ever receive, and word-of-mouth is more prevalent on the web today than anywhere else. Here’s a very plausible everyday situation:

“Hey Bill, it’s pretty obvious everyone is losing some money in this economy, but I’m just not confident in my stock broker anymore. Seems to me he’s making some bad decisions with my money. Do you know anyone who I might be happier with?”

“Well Frank, I handle mine personally, but a few of the guys at the club rave about their brokers at XYZ Firm. Not sure who they use exactly, or if they would be able to help you out, but that’s all I know.”

So Frank goes home and checks out XYZ Firm’s website. No broker profiles, or even individual contact information. Enter LinkedIn. Frank can either browse XYZ Firm’s LinkedIn Company profile, looking through all the brokers who work there, or he can find individual brokers’ profiles. All of your information is there for Frank to make his intial selections. The most valuable part? Recommendations. Frank can read what other people have to say about you, without ever meeting them!

“I’m not selling anything, and I don’t want any new clients, so what’s the point?”

Portable Equity.

Sure, you’ve got a job now, but can you really be certain about anything going forward in these trying times? Even if you are not expecting to ever move from that desk, it is important that you are always ready.

There is absolutely no harm in having a presence online (especially if it is professionally built and managed), it can only help you. Why? Because it is your personal brand that you can take with you wherever you go. If nothing else, at it’s bare bones you can utilize LinkedIn as a electronic Rolodex.

You meet a lot of people at your current secure job right? Wouldn’t it be nice to always have those people litterally one click away should you ever need anything? It’s quite powerful.