[Heo Young-ju Column] LinkedIn: The Essential Social Media for Global Business

LinkedIn, the global business card
Playing the role of a trust-building platform
Sharing LinkedIn tips

Recently, I started using LinkedIn. The reason was that I was advised to prepare for LinkedIn when I participated in Select USA Summit, the largest investment event in the United States.

Actually, when I came to the United States, everyone exchanged paper business cards, but it was just a formality, and they all exchanged LinkedIn connections. Also, all prior communication and subsequent discussions were conducted through LinkedIn. In the global business world, LinkedIn was the ‘business card’ itself.

When you go to a conference, you meet countless people, so it's difficult to remember who was who with just paper business cards. However, by looking at LinkedIn, you can check their education, career, detailed updates on the company they operate, and who they are connected with, which made it easy to understand the person quickly.

In my experience, when I connected with someone on LinkedIn, I felt more trust if they had a lot of likes on their posts and many followers. It was a measure of their ‘active business activities.’

So, I started organizing what I had done on LinkedIn and hastily started to catch up. I started late, but I tried my best to make my profile not look embarrassing.

As I learned about the importance of LinkedIn, I thought, ‘I should have started LinkedIn earlier.’ In Korea, no one said, ‘Let's connect on LinkedIn.’ In the Korean business world, people mainly used Facebook for networking. However, in the global business world, it was definitely ‘LinkedIn.’ If you are a reader who dreams of global business, I hope you will start using LinkedIn today.

The reason why you should start using LinkedIn right now is clear. LinkedIn is not just a simple networking tool, but a platform for branding yourself and building ‘trust’ as a professional. By managing your LinkedIn profile well, you can effectively appeal to potential business partners or employers about your capabilities and experience. Also, LinkedIn is useful for keeping up with the latest industry trends and gaining insights through interaction with professionals in the same field.

I would also like to share a few LinkedIn tips. First, use professional and clear images for your profile and background photosThis is an important factor that determines your first impression.

Second, briefly describe your strengths and achievements in the profile summary sectionbut include keywords to make it easy to find through ‘search’.

Third, write your work experience focusing on specific achievements and projects, rather than simply listing your job duties.

Fourth, actively expand your network and participate in groups of interest to be active. This allows you to connect with more peopleand increase your presence.

One thing to be careful of is that if your target audience for networking is not Korea but ‘global,’ then post your content in ‘English.’ Although there is a translation function, the common language in the global business world is ‘English.’ Even if your English skills are poor, use English, even if it means using ‘Google Translate.’

LinkedIn is not just a simple social media platform, but a platform that plays an important role in the business world and my business ‘card.’ Start using LinkedIn right now and open up new global business opportunities.

※ The author of this article is the original author and an article contributed to Woman Economy Newspaper.