7 reasons why we use LinkedIn

"I'm always interested in purpose. In this article I want to share my thoughts on why I think we use LinkedIn, or in other words What is the real purpose why people are here?"

Like many people, I've had a LinkedIn account for many years. I wasn't an early adopter, but I've 'been on' the platform for well over a decade now. But it's only in the last two years or so that I'd say that I'm actually a "LinkedIn user", i.e. that I've actually been active here. So, that got me thinking about the different reasons why people are using this platform. Why some are active, and others are not? I really wanted to write this from the perspective of a LinkedIn user, not from being a LinkedIn professional or coach - since I'm certainly not either of those.

There are apparently, at the time of writing this article, around 760 million LinkedIn users, but only 1% are classed as 'Active', that is actually creating content and engaging. So, of those who are active, what are they doing here and, at the same time, what are the 99% 'Inactives' doing here too? (Spoiler alert: The Inactives aren't doing a lot at all).

1. Getting listed

I think the first thing people do when they first come across LinkedIn is to think of themselves as needing to simply be "on" it. In other words, to get listed or added. It's like a giant business directory, that's open to all. There is perhaps a sense of FOMO. It's almost a rite of passage. In other words people are saying:

"I'm actually a grown up, in a grown up world, and here on LinkedIn I'm able to tell everyone about it... I've got this job, I've got these qualifications, I've got a story to tell... and here it is!"

In previous times, there was maybe a sense that being an adult was about being on the electoral roll, or maybe being in the BT phone book (UK residents only obviously). LinkedIn is really a worldwide directory of people and, if you're any sort of professional, then perhaps the feeling is that you ought to be there. It's like saying simply: 'Look at me, I've arrived. Go see my LinkedIn profile.' So, it's a case of I've made it into the club.

Of course, this doesn't require any activity thereafter on the part of the person listed. Hence the huge numbers of people who are members, but thereafter log in maybe only once or twice a year. It's like being a member of a group, but one where you're effectively not actually a participant. You're there, but not really. A member, but in name only.

2. Keeping in touch

For others, being on LinkedIn is perhaps more about kudos. It's a place to share your achievements, your qualifications, and your latest promotion. Many would have signed up to LinkedIn at the same time as their work colleagues or co-workers. It's part of that Getting listed process, see above. But, as we lose touch with those co-workers, i.e. as we move from one job to another, LinkedIn is a perfect place to keep track of what happened to 'Tim from accounts' or 'Julie from HR'. A sort of online Rolodex (you might need to look that one up, but basically it was a mini desktop filing system especially for business cards). Nowadays, we don't expect our former workmates to tell us personally about their professional life, unless they are very close friends. But we can see what they're up to from their LinkedIn profiles, i.e. as that changes over time (provided of course that is, that they can remember how to log in and update their basic information with their new job or latest promotion).

Again, this type of use or purpose doesn't really require any activity on the part of the user, other than adding their latest job title to their LinkedIn profile.

(Note: They may not have completed their profiles to All Star status, and if they have a profile photo, it's more than likely to be several years old).

3. Career development

A third purpose is for career development and progression. LinkedIn can definitely be seen as a marketplace for those looking to fill roles, in effect it's another job site - this is being reinforced by the recent TV adverts here in the UK over the summer 2021. A place for recruiters and candidates alike to find each other. I suspect that many who signed up originally simply to Get listed (see above) pretty soon afterwards saw that LinkedIn was a place they could be spotted by recruiters or recruitment consultants... to be plucked from obscurity into that dream job. Without doubt I'm sure it happens, occasionally. But again, many who are inactive probably don't see the benefit, and therefore pretty soon they fall back into seeing LinkedIn as being purely a place to Keep in touch, again as before see above.

I suspect it's possible to be found by both employers or recruitment consultants, but again it's about being active and doing things here - i.e. producing content or at least engaging with the content of others. You probably have more chance of being struck by lightning than you have of getting a dream job via LinkedIn if you have an incomplete profile, and you neither post your own content nor comment or engage with others. You are one of more than 700 million here largely invisible, in essence, you actually have a dormant account. (So, don't expect to get much return from that).

4. Social networking

LinkedIn is however, also a social network. So, one purpose people might have is to use it as a professional social network. Of course, it is a place to get listed, and to keep tabs on co-workers, or even to get anew job (or advertise your vacancy) - as we noted above. But it's now moved on from that since its earliest days. Now, it's a bona fide online network, but once again, it only really works if you are active.

To some extent LinkedIn is as much about sharing thoughts, ideas, news, (and even banter) as anything else. Some people on LinkedIn do nothing more than share jokes. "What's that all about?" you might ask. Well, it's all part of socialising, in a network. You don't have to like every joke or even read them, but they are there, largely to break up your day - if you want that sort of thing.

But also along with the jokes there are ideas that are shared, either in posts or in longer form articles. Things to get you to think or react, or just to join in the conversation on any manner of topics. So, it's a place where opinions are sought, and questions are posed.

Warning: Now, it's also a case that if you are not careful you can get sucked into the vortex that is LinkedIn, and hours can pass you by. But that's the same really in any online network or community.

LinkedIn is also a support group where people open up about their feelings, they offer advice, and give help to others, but another warning... it can also be quite toxic too. There are some who are here simply to be offended, but we get that in all areas of society. And others who deliberately go out of their way just to start an argument.

5. Building your brand

Another reason to be using LinkedIn is as a place to create, establish and build your own brand. Be that your corporate brand, or your own personal brand. Actually, despite various features that help you promote your company brand, LinkedIn is very much a place for the individual. Therefore, it probably makes more sense to use it to build your personal brand. This can of course also help in your career development, or in your ability to market your products or services.

This is particularly so if you are adopting what is called a 'social selling' approach. But if this is your goal or your purpose, one thing you need to think about is how you will be active on LinkedIn. Since you are really quite unlikely to achieve anything in terms of building your reputation if you remain as one of the 99% who are not active!

One other word of warning. One approach to trying to build your corporate brand however is the Press release post. This is typical of corporate loyalists. They work in larger businesses and see LinkedIn as a way to share corporate announcements. Such as "Celebrate with us on our Seventh birthday", or "Our Qtr 3 Earnings are up 1.35%" or "Look out for our CEO's new podcast". These might all be brand building attempts, but unfortunately those posts typically get minimal engagement unless we are talking about someone already famous in their own right. But it won't stop another Press release-type post appearing in another 3 to 4 months all about how "Our Divisional Director opened our brand new offices and met the newly elected City mayor"... (They wonder why nobody liked or commented on their post and conclude that LinkedIn does not work for them).

6. Selling stuff

This is really the logical next step to marketing yourself or your brand. As in, Building your brand (see above), but it's going that little bit further. As LinkedIn may be increasingly seen as a market place, particularly for jobs, it makes sense that it's also possible to actually sell things on LinkedIn, not just people and roles. The sorts of things that can be sold include both products and services. However, it's also clear that some products and some services are easier to sell (or perhaps more natural and more suited to sell on LinkedIn) than others.

One of the classic services sold on LinkedIn of course is coaching... Basically helping others to sell stuff on LinkedIn. And what is the best service to sell on LinkedIn? Well, that would probably be LinkedIn coaching! So the 'perfect' service is to sell LinkedIn coaching to others who wish to sell LinkedIn coaching services to other people on LinkedIn. It's actually very obvious isn't it when you think about it.

I currently feel that whilst it is very possible to sell absolutely anything at all on LinkedIn some things are definitely a more natural fit than others. I tend to think where any one-to-one coaching is involved, and a single decision-maker is at the heart of the buying process, then it is more likely to be a good fit for this platform. Where we involve the decision-making unit (DMU), or where there are multiple stakeholders, that is where a successful sale may be less likely, simply because the process is so long and complex. As a result, those that are successful at selling tend to shout loudly at how good they are at selling, when in fact they have just found the sweet spot. The example being selling ice creams to a packed beach in the height of summer, in the school holidays, during a heatwave. i.e. that's more about being lucky with the weather than any core sales skills. But of course being able to sell ice creams all year round or in a snow storm may show real skill.

Things may change in the future, as bigger and more established brands see an opportunity to use LinkedIn as a sales channel. Those days are not quite with us yet, although they are rumoured to be on the way...

7. Buying stuff

One of the things that becomes clear is that amongst the 1% actives on LinkedIn, a large proportion of them are either small or micro-business owners selling either products or services. In short they are entrepreneurs, or consultants, or often they maybe coaches. Whilst they would all rather be selling their stuff to corporates, the fact is that a lot of the corporate loyalists i.e. those people who work in larger client companies are the very ones who are inactive, or at very least keep their heads down, and are termed 'lurkers'. So whilst selling might be the aim for many, the reality is that LinkedIn is actually better for many people to actually buy things. Or at least, for finding people who could supply things to them. If you are looking for any sort of marketing support, anything in the digital marketing space, or anything remotely associated with LinkedIn, then this is the best place, the most logical place to find those people, as we noted above in Selling stuff.

If you're in the market to buy (rather than sell), LinkedIn is actually a superb place to find professional providers of a host of products and services. Including market research and insight, obviously (Come on, I had to get that in!)

I myself have sourced a copywriter, a proofreader, a video editor, an SEO expert, as well as IT services. All via LinkedIn. Whilst I'd quite like to use LinkedIn as a sales channel I've actually found it far more beneficial for me as a place to buy different products and services. And certainly more effective than simply trying to google for these things.

Final thoughts

One important thing to think about LinkedIn however is this. It's really like a massive networking meeting. If you only hang around at the fringes of the meeting, and don't bother to talk to anyone it's likely that you'll get very little out of it. So imagine you keep going along to that monthly networking meeting, maybe for six months in a row. And you don't talk to anyone. Well then pretty soon you'll be disillusioned with it, and you'll probably not want to go back again!

In short you need to be 'talking', to be active, to be contributing somehow, in some way. Otherwise it's all really a bit pointless.

The other thing about that networking meeting is that just like many networking meetings everyone is looking for the 'big' buyer, the corporate client, the one with the money to spend and ideally to buy (your) stuff. If course, these corporate client types don't actually go to those sorts of meeting, since they know that they will just be sold to the whole time! What you effectively have at a meeting like that is lots of other small suppliers all trying to sell stuff to each other. Some will buy, but most won't. So pretty soon you realise it is better to see it as a social occasion, and a place to swap tales, jokes, stories, news, advice, and banter. You build up a rapport with your fellow networkers, and in time they start to see you for who you are. They then start to recommend each other to other people they know, often those are the people who aren't at the meeting (perhaps those big buyers who they already have a relationship with). The very people you want to get hold of. Well, that's the theory at least.

So, does LinkedIn work?

Well yes and no, but it's largely a matter of your purpose for being on the platform. Be active and you have a chance of seeing some sort of benefit. Remain inactive, and it's pretty unlikely you will ever see any return, and you'll just be another one of the 760 million. Just how long you might be prepared to remain active is another question entirely.

So, now you've read this, what's your purpose of being on LinkedIn?

About the Author

Paul Latimer is an experienced market researcher, having held a number of marketing roles in a wide variety of industries he moved over to focus on market research from the agency side in 2004, before setting up his own market research consultancy,?Latimer Appleby, in 2012. He is a graduate of the University of Birmingham, and holds several diplomas including those from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the Market Research Society (MRS) and the Institute of Data & Marketing. He is a Certified Member of the MRS, and a Fellow of the CIM.