LinkedIn is a social media platform for professional networking. It allows users to connect with colleagues and find new jobs or business opportunities. Users create profiles resembling online resumes to showcase their careers, experiences, skills, and achievements. Common users include executives, business owners, managers, and professionals from Fortune 500 companies. Since launching in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to over 225 million users and is a popular site for job searching and recruiting.

1. By: Courtney Dick and Michael
Sensenbaugh

2. Overview & Description
• LinkedIn is a social networking website for
people in professional occupations trying to
expand their network
• Helps job seekers find job openings, make new
connections, and build their career
• Allows an individual to find coworkers or
acquaintances based on past jobs, their high
school, participation in a volunteer event, or
by groups they are involved in

3. What Makes It Unique?
• Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram are directed towards connecting
with friends, colleagues, and family.
• LinkedIn profiles are unique because they are
used to advance your career, they resemble
"online resumes"
• The platform relates to professional affiliations,
work experiences, skills, and previous job titles.
• It also allows users to showcase their personal
achievements and projects right on their
webpage.

4. Who Uses LinkedIn?
• 12 million small business professionals
• Executives from all Fortune 500 companies
• 1.3 million small business owners
• 5.5 million high tech managers
• 1.5 million C-level executives
• 50% of Fortune 100 companies hire through
LinkedIn
• The average member is a college-educated 43-
year-old making $107,000

5. History
• Date founded: December 2002
– BUT, not launched until May 5, 2003
• Reid Hoffman recruited a team of old
colleagues from previous jobs at SocialNet and
PayPal
• By year 2004, LinkedIn had grown to over 1
million users
• Currently has over 225 million users, and is
growing by a rate of 2 users per second

6. KPI’s
Profile Stats Standard-Free Profile Stats Pro-Premium Users
Up to 5 results of who has viewed your
profile
The full list of who has viewed your
profile
Number of visits to your profile Trends
Number of times you’ve appeared in
search results
Number of times you’ve appeared in
search results
Number of connections Keywords used to find your profile
Industries of people viewing your profile
Number of connections
The number of KPI’s available depends on your membership status, but even with the
free profile some quality KPI’s are at your fingertips:

7. Tips
• Users are urged to use their FULL legal name
• Use recent photos to keep number of fake
profiles down
• Stay away from logos or cartoons as photo
• Steer clear of profiles lacking photos,
summaries, few or no connections, etc.
• Do not use company name as title for personal
profile

8. Tips Video

9. Marketing/Advertising Opportunities
• Sponsored Updates Program
– Allows a company to define a particular target
audience based on location, connections, job title,
school, skills, and more
– Allows you to set campaign budget based on a cost-
per-click (CPC) method
– Companies bid for particular advertising spots, and
pay that amount each time their ad is clicked
– The program also allows companies to set a campaign
budget, which will take away the ad when it has been
reached

10. Examples
• PR 20/20
– Effectively making use of
company status updates,
regularly sharing blog
posts and reports they've
created as well as third-
party coverage of their
brand
– Drives traffic from
LinkedIn back to PR
20/20's website

11. Examples
• Taproot Foundation
– Nonprofit organization
that makes business
talent available to
organizations working to
improve society
– Includes a call-to-action
for visitors to perform a
few different actions:
'Apply Now,' 'Visit Our
Facebook Page,' and
'Learn More.'

12. Future Impact
• Individuals will use their profiles as a personal
tool in order to market themselves.
• Could potentially drive job board only sites
out of business (Monster, CareerBuilder, etc.)
• Companies will continue to market
themselves and interact with potential
customers/employees

13. Your Career Starts Here

14. UPATES!
1. Status updates re-located
2. New publishing platform
3. LinkedIn Signal no longer available
4. LinkedIn Today retired
5. LinkedIn Pulse news and mobile app
6. Profile organizer retired
7. LinkedIn contacts introduced
8. Ability to filter emails removed
9. Products and Services retired
10. Showcase pages introduced

15. References
• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31889/13-
Brands-Using-LinkedIn-Company-Page-Features-the-Right-
Way.aspx
• http://help.linkedin.com/app/home
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/12/12/l
inkedin-opportunities-threats-part-1/
• http://ourstory.linkedin.com/
• I’m On LinkedIn – Now What? By Jason Alba