LinkedIn – Is it helpful for non-corporate professionals such as coaches, healers, and intuitives?
LinkedIn is by far the largest professional networking platform. It is an alternative to Facebook/Instagram for connecting to colleagues and potential clients.
Some people assume that it’s only for corporate employees and salespeople, not realizing that LinkedIn made a drastic shift in 2017 to begin competing with Facebook as a broadly social-networking and content-discovery platform.
Is LinkedIn useful for non-corporate professionals such as holistic healers and coaches?
I took a survey of my audience of non-corporate professionals:
Should healers / intuitives / non-corporate professionals be on LinkedIn?
Thanks to the 151 individuals who filled it out thus far!
Here are their responses…
Do you sometimes look up people on LinkedIn to check their background and credibility?
20% Often
46% Sometimes
34% Rarely or never
Summary: two-thirds of non-corporate professionals go to LinkedIn at least sometimes, to check out someone’s professional background.
Quote: “It is my go to for credibility.”
Besides LinkedIn, where else do you look up someone's professional credibility?
(Select all that apply…)
88% Look up someone’s website
72% Google them to see what info is available
53% Facebook
45% Instagram
34% Youtube
13% Yelp
5% Twitter
5% Medium.com
Since Google is the #1 place that people go to look up others, the next question matters…
When you google someone's name, do you see (and then click on) their LinkedIn profile?
27% Usually
53% Sometimes
20% Rarely or never
Summary: 80% of non-corporate professionals, after googling someone’s name, sometimes (or often) then visit their LinkedIn profile.
If you use LinkedIn, what do you find useful about it?
Some quotes from the responses…
“Connection in a drama-free environment…”
“Good way to screen professionals, and a good place to summarize one’s career background.”
“Looking up prospective clients.”
“Get in touch with colleagues and prospects. Follow interesting conversations. Discover relevant topics.”
“To see the background of a person and how they present themselves professionally.”
“I have had numerous people reach out to me via LinkedIn leading to clients and podcasts.”
“Its stodginess, simplicity and general feeling of reliability vs. Facebook which is flashier and feels less reliable, or any other social media, which feels even farther down the flashy/non-reliable end of things.”
“Updating my network on my professional developments (new trainings, cert., etc)”
“I enjoy learning more about the people I know from their professional angle. I think it could help me to assess their strengths when collaborating, as a potential client, etc.”
“Getting top of mind with my network, who then reaches out to me for other services and help.”
“Meeting other pros, cheering them on, growing a sense of network.”
“People find me there and offer me opportunities to speak and create content for their platforms. Also, I can let people know when I am delivering content.”
“A tool that showcases someone’s education and work skills. It tells me a lot about someone's credibility and their personality. I also think it speaks to their confidence and seriousness about their business. Establishes legitimacy.”
“Understanding people's background and what they are doing professionally now - helps me ‘place’ them in the world, and also get an idea of how we might help each other in our businesses or our roles.”
“Positive, spiritual, messages put on Linkedin raise the vibration of the platform, and help those who are opening up their curiosity about such things find out more – on a platform they are already used to using.”
“Less memes, more interesting thoughts :)”
“I like the way it holds more information than Instagram or Facebook.”
“It seems more ‘professional’ - if I were to choose (and mostly am at this point) one social media platform for business it is Linkedin. If I post my newsletter there, I seem to get more comments.”
Do you think healers, intuitives, and other non-corporate professionals should be on LinkedIn, sharing their content (their articles, videos, etc.)?
69% Yes.
31% Possibly.
Quotes:
“Business people need healing too.”
“I think a basic presence on LinkedIn is necessary for anyone, even if you don't engage there much. It’s essential for SEO for your name, if nothing else.”
“Healers/etc. need networking too!”
Conclusion
These results suggest that it is indeed useful for non-corporate professionals to at least have a basic LinkedIn presence. If one learns how to use LinkedIn effectively, it can become an ongoing source of potential clients and referral sources. The benefits to one’s business can be very worthwhile.
I wish everyone would update their LinkedIn profile, and curate their network thoughtfully. This way, we can all have more opportunities for each other.
I’ve been active on LinkedIn for 16 years, and have taught classes about how to use LinkedIn for more than a decade. I agree with many of the above comments for what LinkedIn is good for: being discovered by kindred spirits, researching potential clients and colleagues, and keeping top-of-mind professionally for those we’d love to stay in touch with.
If interested in learning Linkedin, I’ve just made a major update to my online course: LinkedIn for Solopreneurs.
