LinkedIn Case Study

                         

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with 706+ million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. It began in co-founder Reid Hoffman's living room in 2002 and was officially launched on May 5, 2003.

Today, LinkedIn leads a diversified business with revenues from membership subscriptions, advertising sales and recruitment solutions under the leadership of Ryan Roslansky. In December 2016, Microsoft completed its acquisition of LinkedIn, bringing together the world’s leading professional cloud and the world’s leading professional network.

“Vision

Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

Mission

The mission of LinkedIn is simple: connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.”

The basic functionality of LinkedIn allows users (workers and employers) to create profiles, which for employees typically consist of a curriculum vitae describing their work experience, education and training, skills, and a personal photo. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Users can find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. Users can save (i.e. bookmark) jobs that they would like to apply for. They also have the ability to follow different companies.

LinkedIn allows users to research companies, non-profit organizations, and governments they may be interested in working for. Typing the name of a company or organization in the search box causes pop-up data about the company or organization to appear. Such data may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company's headquarters and offices, and a list of present and former employees.

Now let us look at some important questions:

1. How have successful LinkedIn members used the network to their advantage?

> The members have used many ways to use the website to their advantage.

1. LinkedIn gives you the ability to showcase your profile, expertise, recommendations and connections. Not only is your profile the first professional impression of you when recruiters and employers use LinkedIn to search for candidates, but it also demonstrates credibility in your industry and highlights your achievements. 

2. Having a LinkedIn account also means that you can use the site to research companies, interviewers, recruiters and hiring managers- this is helpful before submitting applications and researching who’s interviewing you and conducting interview research.

3. New opportunities exist through the LinkedIn site that may not exist on traditional job boards. You can directly apply for roles using LinkedIn apply, save job searches, as we all flagging to recruiters that you are open to hearing about opportunities.

4. With LinkedIn, you don’t have to worry about hiring a professional resumes writer or formatting documents. You can just click the edit button and enter your desired information. The formatting is done for you. 

2. Suggest how being a member of the LinkedIn network might help a company to develop better customer knowledge.

>A LinkedIn company page helps you network and prospect for quality sales leads, but it also established your public image on a global scale as a reputable and trustworthy organization.

1. Creating shareable content that benefits your audience- By producing content your viewers want to see and share with others, your viewers become engaged advocates of your company and expand your global reach and influence. 

2. Introducing new products or services you’ve developed- The top 5 reasons why people follow brands on social media are promotions and discounts, latest products information, customer service, entertaining content, and ability to offer feedback. More than half of the vendors say they have generated sales through LinkedIn. 

3. Finding job candidates who can make a significant contribution to your business success- LinkedIn profiles reveal valuable information about people seeking jobs at your company, including their stability, their record of successful accomplishments and their passion for what they do. By hiring and retaining these employees, your company will benefit from their expertise and energy.

4. Improving your ranking in search engines- Google and other search engines rank LinkedIn company pages and posts high in the search engine results page. Thus, adding updates to your company page and optimizing posts for SEO helps to improve your performance in the search engine results page. As a result, your website may see an increase in visitor traffic.