LinkedIn, the business social network where users connect with one though in mind - growth. Growth of their business or growth within their own career path. The connections are unlike those of Twitter and Facebook as since its inception it has been all about your career. In the beginning it was the job seekers job board as jobs were posted and users created a profile about their work experience. While this has changed a bit, the basics remain the same. It is about connecting for growth and the latest enhancements to the company profiles not only support this, it embellishes it by
LinkedIn Company Profiles
The company profiles on LinkedIn were a bit flat. They were a information based profile where there was not much else happening. Employees were linked to company page and that was pretty much all that they were there for. It was useful for a job seeker to view a company page to see if they were connected to anyone at that company but outside of that, their functionality was limited and the real purpose, especially for a small business, was pretty much another profile to set up. Back in April the company pages did get a bit of a boost with the company follow but with not much really going on other than who was working there and an overview of the company, to follow a company was showing no real benefits. The latest enhancements does provide some very indepth information and for job seekers as well as the smaller businesses to gain some insight into the company should they be seeking to be hired or to hire them.
LinkedIn Company Profile New Features
1. Redesigned Pages: The pages have been redesigned with relevant updates from the company that include blog posts, job postings as well as company news and corporate twitter feeds.
2. Employee Connections. The company pages now provide an in-depth view of the people that work for the company. You can see who are your first and second degree connections, how they compare to companies similar as it relates to education, experience and and job functions. If their position is something that you are interested in, there is opportunity to learn move about their position and how it would fit into your skill set.
3. Careers Tab. The Careers Tab is a job seekers delight! Job seekers face an uphill battle each day of looking for work in their field. Following companies and being alerted to their updates of new positions does ease the day after day search. This not only entices companies to post new positions but it also is encourages job seekers to connect with employees of a company that they are interested in as with these new enhancements showcases the employees to give the job seeker a better feel for the corporate environment and the overall company.
Is this LinkedIn's Response to BranchOut?
Last month, BranchOut was launched as an app on Facebook that exposes friends as well as friends of friends (should the app be downloaded by those friends) career information. A simple search for a company name and your FB friends will pop up as current or previous employees. If the app is installed by all of their friends, they are also exposed as current and previous employees which is an opportunity to seek an introduction. Very LinkedIn like. BranchOut has taken advantage of the popularity of Facebook and while Facebook is social, it cannot be ignored that we talk openly about our job woes Facebook.
Are the enhancements to the company profiles a response to BranchOut? Possibly, however, being the oldest social media platform, I am not sure that LinkedIn pays much attention to the latest and greatest. BranchOut does seem like a tool that can be used in conjunction with LinkedIn but I do think that LinkedIn has secured is place as a business growth network.
As a small company do you see these enhancements as a plus or are these for big business? Love to hear your thoughts as being a small business owner, I am seeing this as a tool for job seekers seeking positions in bigger companies due to the volume of employees and updates.
photo credits:
Photo 1: Mario Sundar
Photos 2& 4: LinkedIn Blog
Photo 3: My very own snipping tool