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a professional to gain an introduction, through a mutual, trusted LinkedIn can also be used for several marketing strategies
contact, to someone he or she wishes to know. LinkedIn’s such as creating special groups to promote interest in events,
administrators themselves are also members and have hundreds purchasing paid media space, and seeing what your competi-
of connections each (see Elad 2014 and linkedin.com). tors are doing (e.g., linkedin.com/about-us). Note that
The “gated-access approach,” where contact with any about 75% of LinkedIn members are located outside the
professional requires either a preexisting relationship or the United States. For example, many users are in Brazil, India,
intervention of a mutual contact, is intended to build trust the United Kingdom, and France. Over 1.5 million teachers
among the site’s users. are on LinkedIn and use the site for educational purposes.
The searchable LinkedIn groups feature allows users to As previously mentioned, LinkedIn is a public company.
establish new business relationships by joining alumni, It was an instant success, as the share price almost tripled the
industry, professional, or other relevant groups. first day of trading. In contrast, shares of Monster, a major
LinkedIn is especially useful in helping job seekers and online recruiting company, plunged more than 60% during
employers find one another. According to Ahmad (2014), 2011, mainly due to investors’ fear that LinkedIn would take
94% of all U.S. recruiters use LinkedIn to examine potential business away from Monster.
candidates. Job seekers can list their résumés, search for LinkedIn constantly adds capabilities to its site. For
open positions, check companies’ profiles, and even review example, in 2014, the company launched features that help
the profiles of the hiring managers. Applicants can also dis- increase local relevance.
cover connections with existing contacts (people) who can
introduce them to a specific hiring manager. They can even
see who has viewed their profiles. For details, see linkedin. Mobile Applications
com/company/linkedin/careers and linkedin.com/jobs.
For a LinkedIn guide for job searchers, see Boone (2015). A mobile version of LinkedIn, launched in February 2008,
Companies can use the site to post available jobs and find offers access to most features in the site by using mobile
and recruit employees, especially those who may not actively devices. The mobile service is supported in many languages,
be searching for a new position. including Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, and
Spanish (for mobile devices and supported languages, see
linkedin.com/help/linkedin/mobile-apps).
Smart Ways to Use Linkedin

LinkedIn is known mostly as a platform for recruitment, job Some Resources for Linkedin
searches, and making connections. However, there are many
opportunities in the network for marketing, advertising, The following are some useful resources on LinkedIn: blog.
sales, and more (e.g., see Cole 2015). Members can ask oth- linkedin.com, mylinkedinpowerforum.com, and linkedin.
ers to write recommendations (endorsements) for them. For com/search.
a list of opportunities, see linkedintelligence.com/smart- For LinkedIn success stories, see Elad (2014) and cbsnews.
ways-to-use-linkedin. com/news/linkedin-5-job-search-success-stories.
In lieu of LinkedIn Answers that was discontinued in 2013, Sources: Based upon Elad (2014), Ahmad (2014), Bernstein
a new service is available, per linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ (2015), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn, and press.linkedin.
mobile-apps. com/about-linkedin (both accessed March 2016).
In 2011, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn “Ads.” Ads, which
is their version of Google’s AdWords, is a self-service, text- Questions
based advertising product that allows advertisers to reach a 1. Enter linkedin.com and explore the site. Why do you
targeted professional audience of their choosing (see their think the site is so successful?
FAQ’s at linkedin.com/help/linkedin/mobile-apps). For a 2. What features are related to recruiting and job search?
comparison between Ads and AdWords, see shoutex.com/ 3. Conduct an investigation to find the company’s revenue
linkedin-directads-vs-google-adwords-2. sources. Prepare a list.
According to Ahmad (2014), LinkedIn has three times higher 4. Several companies have attempted to clone LinkedIn
“visitor-to-lead” conversion rate than Facebook and Twitter. with little success. Why do you think LinkedIn is domi-
As of 2014, LinkedIn can provide job matching to posi- nating?
tions available, by using a computer algorithm that deter- 5. Join the group called “eMarketing Association Network”
mines potential employee’s fitness to potential jobs. on LinkedIn (free; it is a private group so you must request