LinkedIn Finally Came up With Something Useful!

I've not been a fan of LinkedIn to this point (see old blog post on the topic), as I feel like, sure, it doesn't hurt to have your resume up there and have a few recommendations in case someone wants to connect with you there, but it's certainly not a place like Twitter or Facebook that I want to keep going back to on a regular basis.

But now, I think they've actually done something pretty useful: They've added a functionality that lets you "follow" companies on LinkedIn.

A while ago they created company pages (see my company's for an example), where you can create a profile about your company, link your employees to it, link your blog to it, post new hires, list promotions, etc. That was all well and good, but what reason do I have for keeping that updated and who's really going to keep going back there?

This new functionality lets you "follow" this activity without having to take any action (well, except click the "follow" button :)). I think this could be very helpful for businesses who are frequently hiring employees and for people looking for a job. You might get a notification about someone getting promoted, so, hint, hint, I bet they need someone to fill their old job! And businesses have an interested audience with whom they can now share job postings.

I can also see this as beneficial to journalists who want to know what's going on at major companies or for businesses looking to prospect. This is an easy way to stay on top of the changes and get a sense of the goings on and personnel changes at companies of interest.

Companies will see they have followers and that will encourage them to keep their page updated. Afterall, they want to look relevant and savvy in social media and they've got people who want to know this information. Plus, this could be a time saver instead of posting to hundreds of different job sites.

When you follow a company, essentially, you're telling LinkedIn you want email notifications about changes at that company and you can set them to come as frequently as you'd like. To change your notification settings, go to More/Companies/Following Tab and then click Notification Settings. Here are also some good tips from LinkedIn on how to follow the companies you're interested in.

What do you think about this new feature? Do you have a company profile? Will you update it? Anyone following you yet?

About Lyn Mettler
Lyn is the mother of two young boys, a social media nerd and the founder of Step Ahead Inc., a company which combines the best of traditional public relations with social media campaigns and Internet marketing to maximize visibility for clients both online and off. She is the social media featured blogger for TwitterMoms.com and also blogs regularly on her company Web site. Follow her on Twitter at @webprgirl

Tags: linkedin, tmfc, tmmoney&business

Comment

You need to be a member of Social Moms: the influential moms network to add comments!

Join Social Moms: the influential moms network

Comment by Beth Gaddis on May 27, 2010 at 6:42am: I'm like you. I updated my profile on LinkedIn, then never went back to it except to accept invites from other people. This does seem like it would be a good tool.

Comment by lemontzz_aide on May 25, 2010 at 8:15pm: Good information - like you I was not a 'great' fan of linked in either. I'd be looking into it with this new feature. Thanks again.
lemontzzaide

Comment by Lorna d'Entremont on May 25, 2010 at 6:00am: Thanks Lyn,
I am also on LinkedIn and have not gotten the hang of it yet. Appreciated your post as it shows another reason for companies to use it.

Comment by Ann Williams on May 23, 2010 at 5:33pm: Thanks for letting us know about this!

Comment by Aimee Wilson on May 19, 2010 at 12:47pm: Lyn,

Thanks for bringing this new feature to our attention. I use LinkedIn to a less degree than Facebook or Twitter. I wondered what the "follow" was for. Given the nature of LinkedIn and the points you made here, I can see the value now.

Savor life's best,
Aimee

Occasions To Savor

Comment by Lyn Mettler on May 19, 2010 at 9:49am: Ok, cool. Will check him out. Thanks!

Comment by Lea Curtes-Swenson on May 18, 2010 at 9:12pm: Lyn, great post! Have you heard of Joshua Waldman? You may want to check him out - he was a guest speaker during a copywriting webinar, and I was impressed by his knowledge of how best to use LinkedIn. Might be interesting to hear his perspective, as a LI "believer"...

Comment by Lyn Mettler on May 12, 2010 at 6:12pm: Sure, I would be happy for you to! Thanks.

Comment by Robin Tramble on May 12, 2010 at 4:28pm: Thanks for this information. I am not to involved with Linkedin, however, I am learning more about how to effectively use it. I have over 7000 followers/friends on twitter and over 1500 on facebook. Believe me I'm not a numbers person. When I first started twitter my goal was 100 people and I soon moved away from the quantity to embracing quality and the rest is history.

I would like to use your post on my blog if you don't mind with your resource attached of course.

Robin
Online Business Empowerment