It’s news! LinkedIn has touched the ultimate mark of 200 Million active users. Though, it is known to none that how many users of this figure are actually active, but keeping in mind the heavy-duty usage of the professional networking site, it is likely that at least 65 % users are active and those who are not, are expected to become active in 2013.
Like many other LinkedIn users, are you also pondering over what this milestone could probably mean to you?
Every social media marketer understands the basic rule- growth in a social platform connotes growth in marketing opportunities. As a platform progresses, opportunities grow, functional enhancements are introduced and new avenues of B2B marketing are open for corporations.
As LinkedIn serves primarily to the business community, the growth in its customer base is likely to bring along opportunities and challenges alike. Let’s review the impact of this newly-registered milestone on various user segments in LinkedIn.
LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs and Sales Professionals:
A surge in the number of LinkedIn users obviously means more business people to network with, but at the same times it means more competition. This means this segment of LinkedIn users will have to invest more effort and time in maintaining a ‘perfect’ profile which updated, engaging and illustrates major business achievements. As LinkedIn profiles are highly transparent, it is essential to add only those recommendations which are from trusted sources. Moreover, the profile should be enriched with keywords that reflect one’s business and brand. This is chiefly significant to rank higher in LinkedIn search engine.
LinkedIn for Recruiters:
Well-known as a talent hub, LinkedIn with its expanded user-base means more prospect candidates and corresponding job postings. Keeping in view this growth, job seekers will have to enrich their profiles with illustration of their knowledge skills, strong delivery experience and valuable connections. Recruiters, on other hand, will have to pose a strong, professional and intriguing presence on LinkedIn. For those searching for prospect employees, this means having well-developed and maintained employee pages and LinkedIn profiles.
LinkedIn for Core Marketing Professionals:
This is the largest user segment on LinkedIn. These folks will have to improve their profiles on LinkedIn but that is not all. They need to take their efforts a notch higher, and start focusing on engaging and targeted advertising techniques. These users will have to start finding and solving queries that are specific to their business niche and regularly update their status with links to original content that serves their business domain.
LinkedIn for Business Professionals:
Business professionals who use LinkedIn as serious marketing and sales tool must focus on daily engagement. Growing valuable network, engaging with customers, sharing and commenting on valuable news articles, answering questions related to your niche and participating in valuable relevant groups are all necessary for salespersons in order to become known entities in the LinkedIn ecosystem. Furthermore, sales people across industry verticals will have to take LinkedIn conversations to next level, via coffee meetings, email-conversations and local networking events which gives them a chance to come ‘close’ to their business networks.
LinkedIn for All Users:
Other than the specific considerations meant for segmented users, all LinkedIn members need to keep a close watch on the regularly released functionality and design updates. A huge upsurge in the user base will mean that LinkedIn’s internal team will have to ramp up the platform design. This means the users will have to increasingly seek customer support services from LinkedIn, and most importantly will have to be patient.
Conclusion:
In the near future, LinkedIn is likely to emerge as the biggest B2B social networking site. It isn’t halting at the 200 Million mark. We can soon expect the figure to hike up to 300, 400 and further up in times to come. To become a party to this success of this professional networking site, it is essential to keep your ears and eyes open in the LinkedIn universe from now on.
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