Why Corporate
Nigeria SHOULD Join LinkedIn!!!
I am always amused whenever i come across professionals, executives,
business owners, government officials, recruiters, consultants, head hunters, and
even job seekers on LinkedIn.com, with 2 or 10 connections. That immediately
tells me how much they know about Social Media and the power of networking.
Maybe they’re too busy to reap the immense benefits of “being Linked”, or got
the invite and simply just signed-on and went into what i call “LinkedIn Coma”,
or worse still, they joined but want to keep their privacy?!
(Helloo, why exactly did you join LinkedIn?).
To my mind, every professional and business person in Nigeria should be
on LinkedIn. If you represent a business or brand, if you have something to say/sell
to the world (about a product, service, an idea or a cause), if you’re employed,
unemployed, or under employed If you’re a consultant, trainer, public speaker,
blogger, entertainer, politician, an event manager, or you’re seeking to
recruit staffers for your company etc.; In my estimate LinkedIn is your best
bet. According to www.inc.com: “Today,
LinkedIn is the No. 1 social media platform for professionals. Estimates of
professional participation in LinkedIn are as high as 83%”.
My LinkedIn
Story
I have been a member of LinkedIn since: October 7, 2008. I can’t remember exactly who invited me or
how i stumbled in. I can imagine that the invite came into my email inbox saying
“Leke, I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn”. I must have
clicked on the “Accept” button because the message came from a trusted
associate. And afterwards, i went into “LinkedIn Coma”, like many people i see
online today. Unknown to me, i had just joined one of the most powerful
business resource platform of the 21st century! For most people who
“accidentally” joined LinkedIn like i did, they usually ask “Now, i’m on
LinkedIn, Now what?”
This was my question too until i attended a Booth Camp (for HR-professionals)
in Lagos 2010, where a young man briefly discussed Social media/LinkedIn. Then,
i had my “Aha!” experience and an understanding of the power of LinkedIn.
And since then i have: studied LinkedIn, trained many individuals,
spoken at seminars and conferences about this amazing platform. Using LinkedIn
i have: recruited local and expatriate employees, helped a number of people
find jobs, developed power relationships across the globe, collaborated with
very experienced professionals on various projects, recruited board members,
have been recruited as a board member for an international NGO, have obtained
professional help/answers to difficult business questions, joined and
participated in very interesting group discussions, created and managed a
vibrant professional LinkedIn group, mentored some young professionals,
connected with some great mentors and have exponentially increased my “social
capital”. etc
You too can succeed professionally or in your business using LinkedIn by
making connections and capturing great opportunities on the Web’s #1 Business
Networking Site.
While most
folks are still wondering if Social media is a fad or a revolution, LinkedIn has
suddenly become an essential business networking tool for professionals across
all demographics. Today, there are over 161 million members on the site. Some
have fondly referred to LinkedIn as the “Facebook of business”. To my mind,
this professional networking site can be a valuable resource to Corporate
Nigeria. LinkedIn is not a play ground like Facebook seems. It’s got that
“office ambience”. Rather than connecting users to one another just for
socializing sakes, LinkedIn connects users to the business world of “serious business
minded people” providing them with a virtual platform to display professional
work experience, connections, and groups. And like I said before, if you want to
market yourself for job opportunities, business endeavors, or networking
opportunities, LinkedIn is the place for you.
About
LinkedIn
"LinkedIn is the office, Facebook
is the barbecue in the backyard, and MySpace
is the bar," referring to the three major social-networking sites. ~Reid
Hoffman CEO of LinkedIn.
§ Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003.
§ A Public quoted company, revenue for the first quarter (2012)
was $188.5 million, an increase of 101% compared to $93.9 million in the first
quarter of 2011.
§
In October 2010 Silicon Valley
Insider ranked the company No. 10 on its Top 100 List of most valuable start
ups.
§ As
of December 2010, the company was valued at $1.575 billion in private
markets.
§ It
was reported that LinkedIn earned $154.6 million dollars in advertising revenue
alone in 2011. This number was actually higher than that of Twitter who earned
$139.5 million dollars respectively.
§ Has more than 14 million Business Owners.
§ LinkedIn is still young and still growing with over 4million
new sign-on per month!
§ All 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are
represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level
and above employees!
§ It’s Facebook for serious minded business people.
§ Houses world corporations and business leaders (Of
Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, NGO etc)
§ Free consultancy platform.
§ You can reach the world and be reached.
§ Has more than 14 million Business Owners.
§ It’s the most untapped Business resource of all
social networks.
What Can Corporate Nigeria Do with LinkedIn?
What Can Corporate Nigeria Do with LinkedIn?
The following are some of what you can accomplish with LinkedIn:
1.
Go beyond
borders: Network with resource people locally
and internationally.
Share information, Ideas and opportunities with 161,000,000 professionals! World’s largest professional network on the Internet with 161
million members worldwide (As at February, 2012), and still growing rapidly
(That’s equivalent of the entire population of Africa’s most populous country,
Nigeria!)
2.
Increase your
visibility: let the world know what you
do.
3.
Meet
professionals in your field to share and collaborate on projects and business
opportunities.
4.
Increase your
chances of employment: LinkedIn is 21st
century’s resume. Call it resume 2.0
5.
21st
century recruiting platform for employers and head-hunters. Find great
professionals (local or expatriate) to recruit into your business: 80% of recruiters now use LinkedIn for
head-hunting!
6.
21st
century Job finder’s platform for the under-employed/Unemployed.
7.
Reduce your
recruitment cost and increase your chances of short-listing a great staff.
8.
Publish your articles,
positive ideas and business concepts to business people: Publish or perish. (NB: Be weary of sending unsolicited marketing messages to other users on
LinkedIn)
9.
Raise great Board
members for your local brand: Or be invited to the board of great businesses.
10. Find yourself a great mentor or become someone’s
great mentor.
11. Make your local business go “Glocal”: Think Big, Start small, and Scale up fast!
12. Promote your Brand: Use LinkedIn as your branding focal point.
13. Drive traffic to your existing business website.
14. Ask important questions, and help some find
great answers on the platform.
15. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you
exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of
professionals.
Why i really
want Corporate Nigeria on LinkedIn?
§ As at today (June 2012), Nigeria (Africa’s most populous
country with 165million people) is grossly underrepresented on LinkedIn with
regard to Internet averages.
§ Total number of LinkedIn visitors from Nigeria
is lesser than 400,000! (According to the report above)
§ There’s need for the global community to interact with
corporate Nigeria: we need to forge better strategic alliances, and cross
pollinate our business thoughts and ideas with advanced business communities.
This can take place, real-time, on a daily bases. And there’s no better
platform to achieve all this other than LinkedIn.
§ Corporate Nigeria can equally use this platform
to disabuse the mind of the world about Nigeria and Nigerians, as we project
our positive/Professional side.
§ I predict that someday, most Nigerian recruiters
will use this platform for 90% of their recruitment drive, because it’s
cheaper, easier, faster and better. (The
general implications of this will be discussed in another article).
§ Summing it all up, it is my belief that
increased presence of corporate Nigeria on LinkedIn will ultimately bring us
prosperity as a country. (If we stay on the positive track in the usage of this
great platform).
§ My dream is to see 5,000,000+ Nigerian professionals on
LinkedIn by June 2015!
LinkedIn Visitors by Country
How Do i get Started (11 Baby Steps)?
2.
Upload your
picture-Your privacy is not an issue on
LinkedIn!
3.
Invite your
existing contacts to join you. It’s a game of numbers! (Upload your Yahoo, Gmail,
Ms-Outlook contacts)
4.
Sell your
expertise and experience!-Describe your achievements and goals.
5.
Write your
summary-Stating WHY you joined LinkedIn (attracts
like-minded people)
6.
Join groups- You
can join up to 50 groups of your choice.
7.
Participate in
group discussions- 15mins per day is enough. Discuss. Share. Collaborate.
8.
Ask for recommendations
– be recommended!
9.
Promote and
attend events.
10.
Tip and trick –
customise your public profile URL, make it your name!
11.
Use the right
keywords on LinkedIn! (watch out for my
next article on “How to increase your connection on LinkedIn”)
Testimonials and Co
How I Found My Dream Job Using LinkedIn, Forbes
"I conducted a LinkedIn search for the company and discovered that
one of my former co-workers, a direct connection, was connected to someone
there through previous work experience..."
"...As you can guess, since I wrote this article, the former
co-worker graciously introduced me and even praised me (hallelujah!) to the
person at my first-choice company. Two days later, I received a phone call
inviting me to schedule an interview. A week and a half later, I was
hired." ~Avril David, an energy and environment analyst for Project
Performance Corporation (In Forbes)
"You
may not be surprised to learn that companies such as technology powerhouse
Salesforce.com use social networking sites to search for job candidates, but
even buttoned-down firms such as Allstate have gotten with the program. In
fact, 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies use LinkedIn specifically for
that purpose. That’s why it’s critical to have a profile on LinkedIn..."
~CBS MoneyWatch
See you at the top.
By Leke
Oshiyemi
HR-Expert| Recruiter | Conference Speaker: on Human Resources Mgt, Personal
effectiveness and Social Media/LinkedIn.
Let’s
connect!
www.linkedin.com/in/lekeoshiyemi
www.facebook.com/lekeoshiyemi
lekeoshiyemi@gmail.com
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