The Most Common Ways Leaders Use LinkedIn

According to market-research firm Lab42, top-level executives use LinkedIn the most for industry networking, while middle management individuals use the social network mostly for keeping in touch.

The more experienced professionals, versus entry-level professionals, use LinkedIn for:

• Demonstrating thought leadership and expertise
• Promoting their businesses
• Conducting market research
• Winning new business

LinkedIn has more than 100 million members in more than 200 countries, on all seven continents.

A full recap of Lab42's findings (conducted in July 2011) are in the October issue of Entrepreneur magazine.

A few tips for leaders:

• Participate in LinkedIn groups that cater to your target market to engage in conversation.
• Seek out groups with lots of activity rather than lots of members.

Note that you can also now add your volunteer activities to your LinkedIn profile.  Here's how:

• Open up your LinkedIn account
• Click on Profile
• Click on Edit Profile
• Click on Add Sections
• Add the names of organizations you support and fill in the spaces to designate where you volunteer