Lollipop Local

Jeff Weiner on the Linked In Blog was getting very excited this week as Linked In proudly unveiled a new infographic celebrating reaching a membership of 100 million professionals worldwide.

He also pointed out that the site was now attracting roughly one million new LinkedIn members every week – the equivalent of a professional joining the site at faster than one member per second – in over 200 countries worldwide. This allows professionals to connect and engage with like-minded individuals not just in their own towns but from all over the world, resulting in a number of global joint venture success stories.

Jeff specifically mentions Dutch tech consultant, Henk Van Ess, who used LinkedIn Groups to find partners and start a global business selling iPhone batteries and, Barbara Lemaire, who found major benefactors on Linked In for her non-profit organization which helps homeless women and children rebuild their lives.

Despite competition from Facebook’s Branched Out, Linked In seems to be going from strength to strength. However, I would issue one word of caution for the less worldly amongst us. The Groups facility can be an immensely useful function, but it is also a place for experienced marketers to sell their wares in a less obvious fashion. Their strategy is to ‘give value’ and ‘become trusted’ so that when a potential client decides they need to purchase a specific service, they will go to someone they are familiar with, who has provided free advice and information in the past. However, some individuals seem to start groups, answer a few questions with ‘authority and confidence’ and then jump straight in and offer information services that require a payment.

You have been warned.

If you would like to know more about how Linked In and other Social Media can help to promote your Business, call us on 01702 476517

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 28th, 2011 at 8:33 am and is filed under Social Media For Business, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.