The Business Case for LinkedIn

By Sue Ellson

I believe there is a genuine business case for LinkedIn. Unfortunately, I have lost count of how many times people have told me that LinkedIn is only:

for professionals
for people looking to change jobs
Facebook for business
a place to brag about what you do at work
boring and irrelevant
a place where people connect with you and what to sell something
too public with all of your information

However, as an Independent LinkedIn Specialist, I see it differently.

I joined on 21 December 2003 because I had built a website, NewcomersNetwork.com as a resource for people who have moved and I wanted to be able to list online networks. Most of the online networks I joined back then no longer exist (Ryze, Ecademy, OpenBC (now Xing)).

I believe there is a genuine Business Case for LinkedIn – for both individuals and for enterprises (for profit and not for profit).

As an Independent LinkedIn Specialist, I have not been paid by or influenced by anyone to write this article and these words are all my own (no artificial intelligence AI used in its creation).

What I can unequivocally say is that LinkedIn has helped me and hundreds of my clients achieve their purpose. I have written two books on LinkedIn, ‘120 Ways To Achieve Your Purpose With LinkedIn‘ and ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business.’

Let’s start by understanding some of the basic concepts of the modern world that we live in now and how they relate to LinkedIn).

1. Databases – Size and Authority Matter

We live in a world that is virtually ruled by databases. Just think for a moment about how many databases you have been added to thanks to your credit or debit card purchases!

To achieve your career or enterprise purpose, you and your enterprise needs to be part of the largest reputable databases in the world (or your country) with the best algorithms. These algorithms allow registered users or the public to search the database and help them find what they are looking for, whether it’s a suitable job candidate, relevant information, a purchase or answers to their due diligence questions.

As I suggest in my third book ‘120 Ways To Market Your Business Hyper Locally,’ it is particularly important to be included in large databases and datasets including the Google and Bing Search Indexes as well as the datasets of Generative AI like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini!

Google gives you direct access to a significant amount of content on LinkedIn – especially if you type in someone’s name (Personal LinkedIn Profile) or enterprise name (Company LinkedIn Profile) into the Google Search Box.

If you write a particularly good Article on LinkedIn, this can appear in the number one position on page one of Google Search Results (try typing in ‘professional membership LinkedIn‘ into Google and you will see another one of my Articles here on LinkedIn at the top of Google Search Results – in the first two years it received over 20,000 views).

Another type of database to consider is the niche vertical market database. Whilst the size of this database may be smaller, the relevance may be much higher. For example, if there is a particularly well-known trade directory, online retailer or professional association related to your industry or profession, it pays to be a part of this database, even if there is a financial cost, particularly if it also has good quality traffic. You also need to ensure that the details you have entered on that database are current and accurate (and hopefully include a link to your website or LinkedIn Profile).

Creating a Google Friendly Website or online presence involves showcasing your connection to high authority and high-ranking websites. So, make sure you link to these websites whenever you have a chance to include the link.

On your Personal LinkedIn Profile, you can directly link to three websites in the Contact Info section. You can also link to websites in several other sections including Experience, Certifications, Publications etc. In fact, if you include a hyperlink as text in any section of your LinkedIn Personal or Company Profile (for example https://sueellson.com), it will appear as a clickable link if someone is viewing your LinkedIn information on an Android mobile phone. If they are using a laptop, desktop computer or an iPhone, they can simply copy and paste the link into their internet browser (Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc)

Within LinkedIn, there are several niche vertical markets. For example, when you list your Education and select your school or university from the available options, you are added to that institutions alumni database. I have worked with several schools and universities that have relied on their alumni database for reaching out to potential guest speakers, mentors, subject matter experts, research participants, alumni celebration attendees etc.

If you are part of a specific Group on LinkedIn, this is another niche vertical market location.

Casepoint 1: LinkedIn offers direct access to a huge database that is well indexed by Search and generative AI, and it has simultaneous access to a range of niche vertical markets.

2. Algorithms – Change Frequently

Algorithms are sophisticated computer programs that look for clues to give you exactly what you want in your search or prompt query results or user experience as determined by the provider of the algorithm, large language model or natural language processing model.

As one of the first 80,000 people in the world on LinkedIn (number 77,832 after joining on 21 December 2003), I have enjoyed some of the best results from earlier algorithm editions – both with LinkedIn and Google.

For example, within LinkedIn, you can search for people, companies, groups, universities, jobs, posts (articles) and your messages to find something specific. The words you type in are only part of the equation – the search results you receive will depend on a various factors including who you are connected to, the frequency of the search words in the most strategic locations on the LinkedIn Personal or Company Profile or content, the recency of any updates to the information you have on LinkedIn, the frequency of participation etc.

Likewise, your user experience on LinkedIn will also be determined by algorithms. Unfortunately, many people think that they can use LinkedIn for spamming others with information, products or services.

To prevent you from having a bad experience on LinkedIn, the technical team at LinkedIn creates algorithms to detect and stop this bad behaviour.

For example, if you invite too many people you don’t know to connect on LinkedIn or you send unsolicited sales messages to many members or you annoy particular individuals, the LinkedIn algorithms and member reporting techniques will alert LinkedIn and they will either suspend or delete your ability to use LinkedIn.

If you personally spam me, I will report you immediately. I do this to stop this kind of behaviour spreading and ruining the LinkedIn user experience for me and other members.

Did you know that although LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world, they have actually deleted almost the same number of LinkedIn Profiles that have not complied with the LinkedIn User Agreement and Professional Community Policies?

Another example I can share with you about algorithms is what happens in relation to your Notifications. When selected LinkedIn Members were originally able to publish Articles on LinkedIn (I published my first Article on 7 April 2014), every time an article was published, a Notification would be issued to all of your Connections announcing that you had just published an Article and Google appeared to willingly add these Articles to the Google Search Index.

Unfortunately, when the ability to publish an Article on LinkedIn was opened up to all LinkedIn members, some spamming type people discovered this and started prolifically publishing Articles, often daily and often with very little real value, overwhelming LinkedIn Members with too many Notifications and provided poor quality results in Google Search.

So LinkedIn had to adjust the algorithm and even though I personally take great care to produce quality Articles for LinkedIn, only a small percentage of my Connections are now notified when they are released. Worse still, the Update I write will only appear in some of my Connections’ LinkedIn Newsfeed and even if it does appear, if they don’t login regularly, they may miss the Article altogether.

Secondly, Google appear to have stopped automatically adding LinkedIn Articles that are published on LinkedIn to the Google Search Index. So for me to get the same type of reach from my quality content Articles, I have to do a lot more to try and make them appear in either LinkedIn or Google Search Results.

Just so you know, I add each Article I have published on LinkedIn to my list of LinkedIn Articles and Publications on my own website.

As you can imagine, both LinkedIn and Google are more likely to favour content that is viewed for longer, Liked more often, has Comments that are added and responded to promptly, has relevant links that are clicked on etc. They both like content that is Shared (so I encourage you to write amazing content so that it can go viral if it is Shared multiple times).

If you read something you like, take a moment to add a reaction (like), comment, save or share it!

Casepoint 2: To maintain its integrity as a worthwhile online platform, LinkedIn is constantly updating its algorithms to generate quality search results and a worthwhile user experience. It also has a close connection with the Google Search Index.

3. Signals – indicators of interest

There are a variety of ways that you can attract the right career or business through LinkedIn. I discuss the concept of signals in a lot of detail in my second book ‘120 Ways To Attract The Right Career Or Business.’

Every time you do something on LinkedIn, it is sending a signal to LinkedIn (and probably Google) algorithms that you are in some way interested in the content, person, company, industry, profession, educational facility etc.

Let’s look at some of the signals you can send. Firstly and probably most obviously, you can choose who you are connected to. I have met some people who will only connect to people that they have met in real life or are specifically related to the career or business opportunities they are seeking (I prefer to spread the net a bit wider and come up in more search results).

You can also send signals every time you click on a link from the Newsfeed, you Like, Comment or Share an Article or Update, you visit a LinkedIn Profile, Company, Group or University, you read specific information, you Join a Group or Follow a Company, Influencer or Publisher, you select a Company or University from the drop down list when completing your LinkedIn Profile, when you respond (or don’t respond) to Messages and Comments etc.

So if you want to change your User Experience, you need to change the Signals you are sending.

One of the biggest advantages for me personally is allowing LinkedIn to remind people in my network that I still exist.

This helps automatically maintain my relationship with these people. By participating in LinkedIn on a semi-regular basis, my Connections and Followers are automatically notified about what I am doing – who I am now connected to, what new job I have secured, what information I have just published, liked, commented on or shared etc. Provided I am not too active (and consequently appear as if I spend all day on LinkedIn instead of participating in the real world of my career and business), I am encouraging LinkedIn to do my online networking for me – on a scalable level worldwide.

As an enterprise, I can post on my LinkedIn Company Page and then invite employees and other people in my network to Like, Comment and Share my Updates. The LinkedIn Company Profile also provides a back catalogue of information for anyone who wishes to find out more about my enterprise or complete some due diligence ahead of any future business arrangements.

As so much business is conducted by word or mouth or referral, this enables the prospective client to check you out independently and either be impressed by your appearance (because you post reasonably regularly and respond promptly) or unimpressed by your appearance (all details not completed, no recent posts or comments).

Signals are also indicators that the algorithms will use to determine your relevance for other peoples’ search results and your personal user experience, both on LinkedIn and on Google. I remember some time ago when I started connecting to a range of engineers in the automotive industry and all of a sudden, my Newsfeed was filled with Updates on car batteries and new car model releases! It didn’t last very long because I didn’t spend all day clicking on these Updates.

Savvy individuals and enterprises understand the concept of signals and carefully select and plan the actions that they will take to generate the right signals on LinkedIn to increase their ability to appear in both LinkedIn and Google Search Results and to increase the quality of their experience on the LinkedIn Platform. They don’t do ‘everything’ on LinkedIn, they select the strategies that are most closely aligned to their personal or enterprise strategy.

Casepoint 3: Your actions on LinkedIn send signals that will determine your ability to appear in both LinkedIn and Google search results and the type of experience you will have on the LinkedIn Platform. Selecting the most effective signal strategies to implement on an ongoing basis will help you achieve your personal or enterprise purpose.

4. Behaviours – review and adjust over time

Whilst you can learn the concepts of databases, algorithms and signals, at some point you need to face reality and realise that some behaviours will work day in and day out and some behaviours may be very effective today and pretty much useless tomorrow.

Personally, I am not interested in techniques that try to game the system and manipulate the integrity of the LinkedIn Platform. I am also not interested in automated programs that spam LinkedIn Members (even if it is personalised) because that is also against the LinkedIn User Agreement.

LinkedIn has been designed professionally and I expect professional behaviour from all LinkedIn Members (regardless of their individual or enterprise background).

The LinkedIn User Agreement makes it very clear about what is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour. As a social media online platform, if you start to annoy people, it will either be detected by the algorithms or reported by other members. I do not have any sympathy for spammers because they can potentially decrease the quality of the platform and reduce its overall effectiveness.

I also do not have any sympathy for people who provide false, misleading or offensive content, publicly shame or disrespect others (regardless of the circumstances) or attempt to take from everyone without making a genuine attempt to give to others.

Whilst I have personally chosen a range of strategies and behaviours that work for my various career and enterprise purposes, as an Independent LinkedIn Specialist, I make every effort to keep on top of the latest developments and trends on LinkedIn so that I can continue to maximise the opportunities I attract and the experience I enjoy (I attend between one and four events every week to keep myself up to date).

I am committed to adding value to the network because it has given me value. I like to acknowledge positive endeavours and recognise achievements. I respond politely and respectfully at all times, even if I am disappointed or frustrated in some way.

Well educated individuals and enterprises have the ability to select the best actions for their purpose on LinkedIn. Time tested strategies that support both online and offline career and enterprise opportunities can be sourced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on an international basis through LinkedIn. I encourage you to dedicate some time and source the best expertise to help you select the most productive strategies for your individual or enterprise purpose (just remember to be clear on your purpose first).

This is not just about you either. LinkedIn is constantly improving its offerings by responding to the suggestions of members, by acquiring or adding new features and regularly updating the user experience. If you choose to purchase a LinkedIn Premium Product, if it is providing a return on your investment, celebrate the result rather than complain about the cost. At the same time, if your LinkedIn purchase is not providing a return on your investment, find out why and adjust your strategy accordingly or unsubscribe.

Casepoint 4: A strategic and well-informed selection of the best strategies for your individual or enterprise purpose will help you achieve your goals. However, you will also need to allocate time every so often to review what you are doing in light of current developments and trends and make sure that you are making an appropriate return on your investment for your time or money.

5. Understanding all of the value offerings

I would like to share with you some of the main value offerings you can secure from LinkedIn (in no particular order).

an international cloud based personal database – that allows you to have one source of truth for all of your Connections. LinkedIn Members automatically update their LinkedIn Profile so you don’t have to maintain a separate database and update it every time someone changes their contact information, job role or business information. No more re-writing your list of contacts in your paper diary each year, just look up the details online or on your phone
a way to secure Google Search and Generative AI Results – for your name (LinkedIn is so well optimised in the Google Search Index for peoples’ names, it took me six months to get my exact match domain name sueellson.com above my LinkedIn Profile URL in local Google Search Results), your enterprise name, your keywords (both with your LinkedIn Profile, Company Profile and Articles)
a way to generate lifetime published content that can also go viral – quality Articles can be added to your Personal LinkedIn Profile and be Liked, Commented on or Shared via Google and LinkedIn. Company Updates can add to your online presence and be shared via employees and Connections
a network maintenance system – I have heard of countless examples of people reconnecting with people they know by searching on LinkedIn or alternatively, securing ongoing referrals as a result of content publishing or updates and even building a huge network by adding new Connections to their network through offline and online techniques
an international research tool – if you are thinking about living, working or networking either at home or abroad, LinkedIn can give you direct access to leading experts worldwide. You can then reach out to them personally rather than try and find them independently and get past personal gate keepers
a personal branding tool – LinkedIn allows you to tell your own individual or enterprise story and even if you have only just created a LinkedIn presence, it will be indexed in Google Search Engine Results within one week! You have the ability to create a LinkedIn Profile that appears in search results for your individual or enterprise purpose and then deliver a user experience that encourages the reader to reach out to you directly. You can also add some bling – images, videos, links etc
an historical record – if you didn’t have a resume or curriculum vitae, would you permanently remember all of your past work experience? LinkedIn creates an online framework for documenting your career and enterprise life. I have found that by fully completing and updating a LinkedIn Profile, some individuals have been able to work out how they would like to change their life journey in the future and select the main areas to focus on as a result of reflecting on their past experience
a career and enterprise attraction tool – a professionally updated and/or reviewed LinkedIn presence can be aligned to the career or enterprise you are keen to attract and then deliver results. Constant adjustments have enabled me to eliminate time wasting correspondence and accelerate aligned business transactions. My LinkedIn presence has generated international invitations and opportunities aligned with my values. I have also enabled clients to change industries and professions and secure significant promotions and new business by adjusting their LinkedIn content and ongoing strategies for their purpose
a professional development resource – by selecting the right Influencers to read, Connections to add, Groups to join, Companies to follow, Signal actions etc, my Newsfeed and Notifications are constantly providing relevant information and inspiration for my own professional development. I can choose to Hide irrelevant Updates and I can unsubscribe from Groups or Companies if the information provided is no longer aligned to my purposes
a perceived reliable source of information for due diligence – as so many people are now familiar with the name ‘LinkedIn,’ when LinkedIn links appear in Google Search Results, decision makers regularly click the LinkedIn link, especially if they are already familiar with the LinkedIn Platform. Once they are on a Personal LinkedIn Profile, visitors can make an assessment based on the information supplied, shared connections, endorsements, recommendations, bling etc. They can then confirm or deny their perception by reaching out to shared Connections that they may already trust
a quick and easy contact tool – I personally provide my contact details in several sections of my LinkedIn Profile so that if anyone remembers me and wants to reach out directly, they can. However, I also make sure that my message is very clear so that if the person only wants free information, they can look at my existing online resources rather than speak to me directly (I am a bit too busy for general chit chat but I still like being able to help people worldwide)
a direct source of career and enterprise leads – as a result of optimising my LinkedIn Profile and Company Profiles, I have received direct leads and sales on a regular basis. This has involved very specific actions related to my ideal clients and has been refined over the years. I have also helped many individuals and businesses source the exact type of leads they have wanted, provided we have been able to determine the exact focus area first
a way for you to increase the size of your digital footprint – as a well-known and reputable platform, LinkedIn usually always provides a link on the first page of Google Search Engine Results (provided it has been optimised and you are not up against significant competition from a person or business with the same details). It also enables you to tell Google about the other online connections you have (via website links, keywords in your content etc)
a way for you to massage your message – you have probably heard that ‘everyone deserves a second chance.’ Whilst I do not endorse the publication of any false information, I do encourage people to share information in a productive manner. LinkedIn can also be used to build your online reputation and have the LinkedIn links appear in Search Engine Results before previous bad publicity links. This can require more detailed personal assistance to be done in an authentic way
a timely way for you to generate the user experience you want – if you find that LinkedIn is generating too many emails, enquiries or connection requests, you can simply modify your content, signals, settings and actions to generate the experience you want
build your enterprise presence online – through your employees, stakeholders, network connections, backlinks, articles and more. A platform that has such a significant database, constantly updated algorithms and the ability to implement your own strategic signals process is worth exploring

Casepoint 5: Consider all of the above value offerings and pick the options that are the most relevant for your purpose. For more ideas, consider purchasing ‘120 Ways To Achieve Your Purpose With LinkedIn‘ or ‘LinkedIn for me and my career or business.’

6. How to measure your Return on Investment

This will always depend on your purpose. What do you want to achieve?

more Connections
more Views
more Leads
more Sales
more Profile visits
more Online Presence
more Search Results
more Chat Results
more Content Publishing
more Engagement
more Enterprise Branding
more Recognition
more Endorsements
more Recommendations
more Enquiries
more Research
more Joint Ventures and Partnerships
more Strategic Alliances and Collaborations
more Job Searches
more Recruitment
more Promotion Opportunities
more LinkedIn Learning Courses completed
more Events (including your own and LinkedIn Lives)
more Newsletters
more Expert Opinion
more Reconnection with Past Colleagues
more people in a Cloud Based Network that auto updates

Match what you are seeking with the value offerings listed above.

There are many ways to measure your performance – number of views, connections, likes, comments, shares, enquiries, leads, sales, recommendations, endorsements, search engine rankings (and the same applies to all of the people associated with you if you are part of an enterprise). Then there are all of the intangibles that exist simply because LinkedIn is all online rather than reliant on personal memory and is a 24/7 searchable resource.

However, I would NEVER suggest that you rely on LinkedIn alone. It should be just one of your main strategies for achieving your purpose, regardless of whether it is for you as an individual or as an enterprise.

I can advise you how to use it for your purpose and make sure you get the return on investment you are seeking.

Casepoint 6: Be clear on your purpose and align your activity on LinkedIn accordingly.

Business Case Study

A small local business asked me if they ‘had to do’ LinkedIn on top of all of their other social media activity. They couldn’t see the ‘benefit’ of the platform for their business. Personally, I believe that content needs to be added to your website first (in a blog section) and then shared on the relevant social media platforms. I also recommend adding the links to these social media posts on the bottom of the website post so that search and chat robots can index your social media posts.

But why would you consider adding LinkedIn to the mix? Firstly, LinkedIn is a way to connect with all of your customers. That means that whenever they see your content in their newsfeed, they will remember their relationship with you. By being connected to them, if they ever need a similar service in the future, you are more likely to appear in their search results.

If they recommend someone they know to utilise your services, that person can do their own due diligence and check you out on LinkedIn. They can see your background, your Skill Endorsements, your Recommendations, your recent Posts and they can also see when you joined LinkedIn and how many Followers you have on your Personal Profile and your Company Page. They may also be able to confirm your reputation with mutual Connections.

Personally, this small business could create a monthly LinkedIn event and invite 1,000 Connections per week to the event (a great way to remind people that you exist).

If they start a LinkedIn Newsletter, every new Connection or Follower will be automatically invited to subscribe (and there is no cost to share the Newsletter as a Notification and it doesn’t send an annoying email to the subscribers). I would recommend that they re-use whatever goes out in their normal email newsletter and send it out to their LinkedIn subscribers as well.

Naturally, I would recommend that from now on, the owner of the business and any of their senior staff connect with everyone they meet in person or online on LinkedIn. This includes every email, phone call, direct message etc and they could then download their data from LinkedIn and later on, add this information to their in-house Customer Relationship Management System (if they wanted to).

Finally, if they decide to publish some articles under the Company Page, these can appear in online search results and if they optimise them, can be great static content that generates leads automatically.

Essentially, the only extra work I would recommend to this small business (the bare minimum):

connect with everyone
share their social media content on LinkedIn and add the link to the LinkedIn post to their website post
send out their monthly newsletter via email and LinkedIn

If you ask me, that is a very good return for not a lot of work!

Keywords

Business Case for LinkedIn, LinkedIn Personal Profile, LinkedIn Company Profile, LinkedIn Database, LinkedIn Algorithms, LinkedIn Signals

First Published: 10 December 2016

Last Update: 22 November 2024

Additional Information

This article was originally published on 10 December 2016 as a LinkedIn Article but has been updated to 22 November 2024
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-case-linkedin-sue-ellson

LinkedIn for CEOs and business owners
https://sueellson.com/blog/linkedin-for-ceos-and-business-owners

10 Ways to Improve your LinkedIn Business Results
https://sueellson.com/blog/10-ways-to-improve-your-linkedin-business-results

LinkedIn for Business Owners
https://sueellson.com/blog/linkedin-for-business-owners-for-business-referrers-boroondara

Other recommendations

I have plenty of other suggestions on how to use LinkedIn for your purpose and how you can optimise your LinkedIn strategy and tactics. Just contact me for more assistance.