Today our society relies greatly on many social networking tools from Facebook to MySpace, Twitter to Caf? Mom and everything in between. There are networking sites for car lovers, stay-at-home moms, pet owners or college students. But is there a great site for use of professionals? Can a social networking site actually help you and your online business? LinkedIn is a site built with such people in mind.

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LinkedIn is not simply a business community. The benefits of this social network consisting of over 50 million members in more than 200 countries world wide along with executives from all Fortune 500 companies are tremendous. This is a location where you can conduct market research, market your products and online store, demonstrate your expertise to others and build your own network.

As a member of this site, you can set up a profile for your company, putting a face to your online store. Others can view an online resume and see your experience and expertise. Any chance to advertise your store on a social network is an amazing opportunity! LinkedIn also provides a chance to show recommendations from previous customers or colleagues. This can be accomplished by reciprocating comments with others, but the site also provides a method for you to request such from anyone with whom you have done business.

As with any social networking, the connections made with other members are invaluable. LinkedIn connections are made with others where you mutually agree on the relationship, allowing you to specify the type of relationship (for example, colleague, co-worker, friend). In order to make such connections, searching functions are available using name or email address.

Once you have set up your personal network in LinkedIn, you can easily start discussions within the network, promote events, even share information directly with customers, suppliers or colleagues. The key to building a strong community lies in balancing promotional content with content the viewers will find informational and useful. To begin, try to add only one promotional item for each four items of relevant content.

Another great method of expanding your community is to search for other groups, organizations and merchants in your industry. These are wonderful ways to make new connections, spread your business name and keep on top of new events in your area of interest.

Conducting research in your chosen industry may seem a daunting task, however, LinkedIn provides a perfect forum for such needs. The Answers section is the perfect place to conduct any type of research imaginable. Simply post your questions or search previous answers to posted questions in order to research ecommerce strategies or ideas.

Within your own area of expertise, you can search for questions being asked and provide well-worded, thoughtful answers. If chosen for the best answer provided, this will be noted on your online profile, thus enhancing your reputation.

As with other popular social networking sites, LinkedIn provides a status update option ? a great place to share with others in your community any news, special promotions or product information you may wish to share. This type of promotion needs to be done tastefully and sparingly, mixed with a large dose of helpful information regarding your products and news concerning your business. Widgets and applications are also available to provide an RSS feed from your store site or blog.

When used correctly, LinkedIn can be an amazing tool for promoting your online store. Business communities, online resumes, networking, research and free promotional opportunities abound in this professional networking forum.

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