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JIMINY SELF-HELP HANDBOOK 15

Source: Photo by Smartworks Coworking on Unsplash

The fact that LinkedIn also functions as a network of contacts makes it a contact book unparalleled to
any traditional address book: once you connect with someone, you will have all their professional
information updated at all times without any effort on your part.

Moreover, LinkedIn incorporates the recommendations. A recommendation can be requested to your
contacts and they, if they are willing to do so (it would be very rare not to), can write a brief summary
of their professional opinion about you, which will appear in the recommendation section of your
profile. Another simple, practical and very useful formula for adding points to your students’ CV.

LinkedIn groups are a fantastic tool with endless possibilities: to keep up to date with the topics that
interest the user, to consult professional doubts with experts, to promote your personal brand and a
long list of other things. The dynamics of the groups is practically similar to that of a discussion forum:
any member of the group can open a discussion thread (debate) on any topic and if it captures the
interest of the group, a great conversation is generated between professionals.

Participating in the right groups will provide your students with a great way to demonstrate their
knowledge to others and is therefore a very good way to network. There is a lot of potential lying in
the fact that there are groups that reach tens of thousands of members, and whose members are
subscribed to by email when they receive news from the group (where new discussions appear, among
other things). The potential and scope of this and the possibilities for your student’s personal brand is
quite considerable.

Use of Social Media professionally
Millions of people use social networks every day, and not just to find out what our friends are doing;
your students probably also follow a few companies on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Professionals
and entrepreneurs nowadays need to be present on social networks, both to keep in touch with their
clients and to attract potential ones.

If someone wants his/her company to go far thanks to the networks, they have to take into account
the following concept: branding, the process by which a brand is built, providing it with values and
personality.

In a branding process it has to be taken into account, on the one hand, the "tangible" image of the
given brand: the logo, the name, the quality of a service or product... and, on the other hand, the values
that the brand transmits, its personality, what we want others to think of it. This can be achieved by
highlighting the best qualities of the company: innovative, big or small, traditional, family,
craftsmanship...

Social networks currently have more than 3 billion active users around the world, and Facebook is the
most popular of them all. Regardless of size, number of employees, or funding, all companies should
take advantage of the most popular social networks to support the fulfilment of their business
objectives. They can be seen as tools that change the way a company interacts with others, and the
way it looks for new potential customers. They facilitate the business-client relationship, i.e. they make
the employer more in tune with his customers. They are mainly used to share ideas, offers and get