If you are interested in social media marketing and networking via the Internet, and you’re not registered with LinkedIn, you’re missing out on a great opportunity!

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site for career professionals and a wonderful and convenient place to look for a job in your field. Mainly used for professional networking, you use it as an online resume and upload your resume or CV details to it, creating a personable profile (including photo) that allows other professionals to peruse your credentials. It also allows your friends, co-workers and/or former colleagues to give you a public recommendation (and you can write one for them) in writing about the quality of your work and professional achievements. There are over 55 MILLION LinkedIn users at present!

From Wikipedia: “The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.

This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

• A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second-degree connections) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact.

• It can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one’s contact network

• Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates

• Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

The “gated-access approach” (where contact with any professional requires either a preexisting relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service’s users.

LinkedIn also allows users to research companies with which they may be interested in working. When typing the name of a given company in the search box, statistics about the company are provided. These may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company’s headquarters and offices, or a list of present, past, and former employees.”

I find that it’s a really useful networking and marketing tool, particularly if you get involved in group discussions on subjects you have an interest in. I joined a few groups concerning topics of interest and have made quite a few new author friends over on Facebook as a result. I did notice a bit of squabbling going on within the parameters of certain group topics, but for the most part, the people I’ve interacted with have been very pleasant, professional, and helpful and some group topics give you a forum for advertising about your business without spamming anyone.

Other things that you can do with LinkedIn include reconnecting with former colleagues and friends, keeping track of professional industry events, sharing your blog link and Amazon Reading list, SlideShare presentations, Polls, Travel, linking your Twitter account, checking out company profiles and more.

There is also a book available called How To Really Use LinkedIn by Jan Vermeiren that you can find on Amazon.ca and Jan’s blog is here on WordPress.

I do internet promotion for authors & musicians specifically, but I also help people to create cost-effective websites and blogs, learn how to create Facebook fan pages and MySpace profiles and how to use them effectively, and can explain Twitter to the unenlightened. If you have questions regarding internet promotion strategies for your business and need help to understand social media marketing and/or the most powerful social networking sites on the Internet today, just let me know. And don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn!

Link your social media together with Ping.fm

Just to quickly reiterate what Max shared with me: Ping.FM is a very simple, user-friendly program that allows you to link your social media accounts together so that when you create a status update, all you have to do is type it in once and then Ping it! It's a real timesaver and it doesn't cost a thing. So what are you waiting for? Get pinging and let everyone know what's on your mind! maxrichardson.com