LinkedIn is a medium in social media consisting of a professional network of trusted contacts which gives you an advantage in creating a community of like minded professionals.Few facts:
• LinkedIn has over 85 million members in over 200 countries
• A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of their members are outside the U.S.
• Every CEO from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn membersTheir mission is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. They believe that your success as a professional and your competitiveness as a company is dependent on faster access to insight and resources you can trust.In today’s business world it is vital to be connected with trusted professionals, specialists, services and support. The larger more broad your business network of trusted professionals the greater the probability creating a leveraged network and increase business activity and revenue. For example, imagine having a large network of professionals and businesses of qualified prospects where you can share ideas, increase referrals and evaluate their background and accomplishments and see what others have to say about their character.Here is the breakdown of the blog series in four parts:

• Part (i): Value of having a LinkedIn recommendation
• Part (ii): Strategies in building a solid business community using LinkedIn
• Part (iii): Strategies using LinkedIn to increase brand awareness and revenue
&
• Part (iv): Conclusion

Part (i): Value of having a LinkedIn recommendation

LinkedIn has a phenomenal network of professionals and businesses. Having a strong online reputation by having a number of recommendations from your colleagues, clients, business relationships and past work experience is a very powerful tool for online reputation management. Imagine the impact of having a living resume where your past experiences are measured by the recommendations from your past work experience, specialties, and business successes which are viewed by millions of professionals and businesses.

The key to success with any business is reputation. Here is detailed description of how to manage your recommendations using LinkedIn. Under your profile the third item down from the drop down window is “Recommendations”. After clicking on this field you will enter where you manage your recommendations. This includes; received recommendations, sent recommendations and how to request for a recommendation. Imagine the impact of having a well completed LinkedIn profile including multiple recommendations will have on the future of your business.

The value of having recommendations in business has not changed from years past. What has changed is how transparent they have become. LinkedIn has the ability to build communities of professionals and businesses giving transparency to an incredible amount of information. The power of the internet is enormous. Harnessing the vast network of professionals and businesses on LinkedIn is very powerful. To get the most out of your LinkedIn account take the time to build a complete profile and most importantly get quality recommendations from your clients, vendors, patients and past colleagues.

(ii): Strategies in building a solid business community of using LinkedIn – Link (Click Here)

Paul Bradley Smith
Social Media Strategist/Blogger
E-mail: paul@smitherswebsolutions.com
Web Services: smitherswebsolutions.com
Facebook page: smitherswebsolutions
Blog: www.paulbradleysmith.com
LinkedIn: paulbradleysmith
Twitter: tweetsmithers
Youtube: wordsmithers

© Paul Bradley Smith