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How Your Employer Benefits from Your LinkedIn Activities
It may be a surprise to some, but LinkedIn isn’t useful only for job search and recruiting. Active participation is good for your career and good for your employer as well.
NOTE: Before you join LinkedIn or participate in any social media, be sure to check for an official policy from your employer about employee use of social media. Some employers ban social media use by employees, at least while the employees are at work. Some don’t want any mention of the employer at all, while others think social media is great and encourage employee participation. So, it’s best to check for a policy and/or guidelines to be sure.
In fact, your employer may benefit from your active participation in LinkedIn. Even if you are the only employee who is a LinkedIn member, your participation puts your employer “on the map” (virtually) as an organization.
And, IF you are looking for a job with a different employer, your LinkedIn usage that supports your current employer’s goals makes you look good too. A win/win! And, certainly, while it does raise your visibility, too, it increases your understanding of how the social media world works and is evolving.
Your LinkedIn participation builds your professional social media skills (and demand for social media skills is increasing). For job seekers hoping to move into marketing, PR, recruiting, or Human Resources at his or her current employer (or a new one), these skills are growing in importance and demand.
Benefits for Your Employer
Through your network, you can increase awareness of your employer’s existence AND the products, services, and expertise, in as wide – or as narrow – a market segment as you want.
- Through participating in LinkedIn Groups, you can raise the organization’s visibility in Groups (good for sales, marketing, recruiting, reputation management, etc.).
- Through your participation in LinkedIn Groups, you may learn about competitor's products and services, perhaps product bugs or other vulnerabilities that will help your employer competitively (and possibly position you to work for the competitor).
- Groups may also help you identify potential new customers and/or suppliers (potential new employers for you).
- If there isn't one yet, ask your manager if you can set up the LinkedIn Company Profile – this is great experience and a new skill, too!
- More benefits of LinkedIn membership for your current employer:
Research use of LinkedIn for business and you may end up with a great new job at your current employer.
Through LinkedIn, you can do a soft sell for the organization’s products, services, expertise to potential customers and clients. You can help the organization with recruiting (may be a great place to work for someone else, if not you). Your LinkedIn participation has manybenefits to your employer.
Bottom Line
You don’t need to be a hypocrite and support the employer as a great place to work (if it isn’t) or the products and services as wonderful (if they aren’t). But you can mention them. Most of the time, you can find something you like that you can support without major qualms.
Or, if the place is terrible and the products/services are awful, you can focus on learning as much about the industry and/or profession and/or marketplace, while learning and polishing your social media skills, so you can do a better job until you leave. (If you are ready to leave, read LinkedIn for Your Stealth Job Search.)
About This Author:
Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, NETability purchased Job-Hunt.org, which Susan has edited and published since. Susan also edits and publishes WorkCoachCafe.com. Follow Susan on Twitter at@jobhuntorg and on Google+.
