LinkedIn for Metalworking

I like LinkedIn—the social networking site aimed at business people. I like it not just for what it offers, but also for what it doesn’t. Social media can give meaningful free exposure to a business, even an industrial business, but that exposure in only “free” in a certain sense. Doing social media well can take time—and a short-lead-time contract manufacturer might not have much of that to spare. But LinkedIn is not time-consuming. For that reason, I think the right social media formula for a metalworking business consists of LinkedIn, plus possibly Twitter for feeding fresh news to a LinkedIn profile. I talk more about social media for a machine shop here. For even more on using LinkedIn, see this post from Highlander Tool president Bernard Martin.

A bonus within LinkedIn is the industry discussion groups. I have found enough useful insight in some of these discussions that I do continue to check back. If you are a LinkedIn user already, you might want to join the recently formed group named “IMTS 2010.”