LinkedIn

Growing up I never used any form of social media that my friends were not using. This meant that the only things I used were Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram. All four of these social media application are brilliant for many different reasons. You can use them for the latest news updates in today’s world, and also to communicate with others on the regular. When I got to ONU in 2014, I was introduced to a new form of social media called LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a business and employment oriented social networking service that operates through the use of mobile apps and websites. Creating a profile on this social media platform was a requirement for one of my classes and I like to think that it was one of the most beneficial assignments thus far in my college career.

Unlike all of the other social media applications, LinkedIn is focused on the business and networking side of social media. Many positive things come from creating a profile on this stage. Jason McDonald does a great job in his workbook covering the important things that LinkedIn has to offer. One very important thing to remember when creating an account is that there could be millions of people out there with the same name as you and that is why to need to add keywords to your profile that will separate you from the rest. Jason put in the book what he uses for keywords on his page and he uses, SEO, Social Media and AdWords. He uses those because he feels that he is able to help others on those platforms and companies like to see that. It is important to write a good headline because that is what people will be looking at when they go to your page. For example, currently on my LinkedIn my headline is, “Student at Ohio Northern University.” This headline is very basic yet affective for a student in college because it is allowing viewers to see that I go to ONU.

McDonald covers another great point in the workbook stating that content is king. This is something that should not be a surprise to anyone because it is obvious that what you post to your profiles, needs to be full of great content. For example, post things such as blog post summaries, quotes, surveys and industry items that are appealing to you.

With all of this being said, LinkedIn is a great social media platform when trying to find an internship or even a full-time job. Managers and owners of companies get on here and search keywords for the job they need to hire in for and it’s a wonderful opportunity for your name to pop-up. If you have some of the qualities they are looking for, they will usually send you a direct message and try to set up a meeting with you. Also, LinkedIn is great for employees to receive important news about the industry in which they work in. I highly recommend creating a LinkedIn profile because in life it is not always about what you know, rather it is about whom you know. Through LinkedIn you can network and communicate with many different business professionals and this will help you down the road when trying to find a job.