When you are a business owner and looking for new ways to promote yourself and the products or services you are representing, creating a LinkedIn account can be extremely beneficial. Using a LinkedIn account to help with boosting your business can be done by utilizing multiple features the online community has to offer.

Recommendations and Endorsements

LinkedIn now allows members of its communities to leave hand-written recommendations as well as quick endorsements for users’ connections to help with building credibility and boosting one’s reputation online. When you ask for a recommendation or an endorsement, this can help you to generate leads on new potential employment opportunities, sales with your company’s products and services while also creating buzz about your profile altogether, attracting more viewers. The more endorsements and recommendations you have, the more likely you are to receive genuinely interested visitors and potential business partners approach you to work together regardless of the industry you are working in and representing.

Find Potential Business Associates

Along with increasing your chances of being contacted by potential business associates, partners and investors, LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to message and connect with those who are relevant to the industry you are working in even if you are not an expert in a specific field. Connecting with individuals who may be an expert in another area relevant to your business is a way to establish new relationships, partnerships and opportunities that may not have been available to you prior to having a LinkedIn account.

Updating Consistently

LinkedIn has launched a new feature that allows you to share your most recent updates and news related to your business or brand directly within the community of all of your connections instantly. Updating consistently is not only a way for you to stay relevant as a company, but it also allows you to keep all of your potential business contacts “in the loop” with your own brand and what you have to offer, potentially peaking their own interests in your business and the products or services you provide.

Raise Funds

Another perk of having a LinkedIn account to help represent your business is the opportunity to raise funds and awareness about your brand and what it has to offer. When you start new advertising and marketing campaigns or if you are looking for a way to produce the items you want to sell, seeking help to raise funds can be done by having proper connections that are capable of showcasing your brand and helping you to appeal to potential investors. You also have the opportunity to reach out directly to those who work for investors or to those who are currently investors themselves. Speaking openly to all of your connections within your LinkedIn account is a way for you to make the most of the social networking community whether you want to build your image professionally or boost the exposure you receive as a business.

Get Answers You Need

Getting the answers you need with new business and marketing plans can also be achieved with the use of LinkedIn. You have the ability to ask questions and post within LinkedIn “Groups” that you can join to create new discussions, get feedback and genuinely honest opinions about which direction you should take if you are working to build your business and brand overall.

This article was submitted by Jean Collins, a blogger for InternetServiceProvidersByZipCode.com. He enjoys writing about marketing and entrepreneurship.

Source: LinkedIn: Blog: Ten Ways for Small Businesses to Use LinkedIn: http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/04/12/linkedin-small-business-tips/

When MySpace’s return was hailed last year it raised quite a few eyebrows. Once the ruling force in search MySpace has fallen on hard times and had remained for the most of it a simple PR venue for bands and music industry professionals. Yet concentrated effort has been made by the MySpace team, supported by Justin Timberlake who launched an exclusive song available for streaming and download to anybody who signs up.

The return of MySpace is a curious business. A year ago there were very few people who still gave the former giant any chance to make it back into the limelight. Then Justin Timberlake promised to ‘bring sexy back’ to MySpace and the company started seeking investment funding to re-launch itself with a whole new approach and a new user base. Indeed, users of old MySpace are still segregated from new MySpace and the company’s new business model seems to still not cater to any advertising firm or search engine optimization agency, who are amongst the groups who really take advantage of opportunities in the social media sphere. The new MySpace will be music-focused just like the old one ended up being in the long run. This is most evidenced by its Discover/Connect/Share motto that refers first and foremost to artists and by the ever-present integrated music player. The main competitors for the social network will be Spotify and Pandora, apparently so it is likely that MySpace will further spin itself into a musical entity.

But how will it manage to find its niche? The first incarnation of MySpace was from 2004 to 2008 when it virtually led the market in terms of Social Networking before being overtaken by Facebook. MySpace tried to turn itself into a music and media site at that point as well but its results were mixed and, although the site became the place to be for bands big and small trying to promote their music the site attendance collapsed at staggering rates and the company was forced to lay off a large part of the staff that hadn’t moved on already. Today its business model seems no sounder than back in 2009. While MySpace was busy reinventing itself, Facebook has integrated much of the fan outreach that MySpace once had as a clear advantage and although the lumbering giant that is Facebook can’t do everything perfectly it has a firm grasp of its revenue sources and trying to expand them. Facebook isn’t all about the music yet but it will likely stay as one of the principal promotion avenues whereas the New Myspace will become a secondary source for advanced users.

Whether or not the New MySpace will be a hit remains to be seen. So far its chances look decent but it all depends on the site finding mainstream acceptance, something quite difficult in a saturated social media market.