LinkedIn for 2010

2010 has arrived and in line with tradition I have made several New Year’s resolutions. Along with running three times a week, drinking more water and buying a bonsai tree, I have decided one of my main resolutions is to clean out my social media life.

There are so many different social media community portals on the web that it can be a challenge to keep them all up-to-date. To make my life easier I have decided that this year I will focus only on the platforms that can actually help benefit my business.

The first step was to look at all the accounts I had signed up to over the last two years and determine which of these might be of actual benefit. My list of accounts is a little daunting:

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, iStats, HypeMachine, Twitter, Digg, Bebo, Flickr, Picasa, Tumblr, YouTube, Vimeo, UStream, Virb, StumbleUpon, Reddit, del.icio.us, Pownce (now closed) and GoWalla.

I have probably missed a few and the list is already long. Taking into account these websites don’t include any blogs or forums I contribute to, it is obvious there is just too much to handle.

The question now is which of these can actually benefit my business and what level of involvement is needed to achieve any sort of return on investment – in this case being time?

The first network I am going to focus on this year is LinkedIn, which according to their website, boasts over 55 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world.

After spending a little bit of time in the system updating my personal and business information it quickly becomes obvious just how powerful this tool can be for generating new business. It is the Old School Tie approach to digital networking, and although there is a wide range of features, I feel the power lies within the profiling system at the core of LinkedIn. The way LinkedIn gathers profile information allows it to serve three main roles.

1. Validation & trust
LinkedIn gives you street-cred as a business and professional. It allows peers to endorse your capabilities, fast-tracking new business leads and portraying confidence in your ability to produce results.

2. Hierarchy
It allows you to see exactly who you are approaching in terms of the structure of the company – is it the CEO, a senior representative or the mail boy? Talking to the right person from the first introduction will save you time and effort.

3. Connection
After only a small amount of time using the system my profile shows I have 109 direct connections. From this point LinkedIn allows me to make contact with over 363,200 business people using the in-built introduction system.

Now I’m connected how do I go about finding new business?

LinkedIn’s advanced search features make it simple to identify companies pertaining to size, location and industry based on your needs. From here we can drill down and see who are the relevant people to contact.

Example: I want to find a new business to approach regarding our digital media capabilities.

I might do a search on all industries – with either a first or second connection – located within a short range of Melbourne. I could further refine this search to show only people holding marketing-based positions. Instantly I am presented with a list of 275 contacts from which I can determine if any are worth making an introduction and sending through our credentials document.

As with any social media platform, to get the most out of LinkedIn it is imperative to keep your information fresh and up-to-date. I think there is definite potential to acquire valuable new leads and develop business relationships through the LinkedIn network and it is certainly one social media platform I will be focusing my attention on in 2010.

I would be very interested to know how others rank the importance of LinkedIn as part of their digital new business strategy for 2010. Please feel free to leave your comments below.

Benjamin Nicoll is a founding partner of GoDigital Media. You can view his LinkedIn profile here.