10 Good Reasons to Use LinkedIn Answers

Good evening, Social Rabbit here with your guide to the world of social media.

For those of you who haven’t yet used LinkedIn answers you should!  LinkedIn answers contains 22 different categories of questions that as a LinkedIn member you can ask and answer.  When you ask a question on LinkedIn any one of the 75 million people on LinkedIn can answer it!  Plus you can invite your connections to answer it.  I often meet people who just don’t understand the Answers, or who haven’t tried them – this post is for you!

If you want info on how to answer questions, then check out a previous post I did.  In this post I want to talk to you about why you should be ASKING questions, here are my top 10 reasons,

1. To find out information on your audience
   If you target audience is people in their mid 30s in professional roles, then look no further than LinkedIn.  Ask questions to find out what their thoughts are on certain topics, images or ideas, all while knowing that you will be reaching the right people.
2. To find out what your peers think
   Often it can be hard to get the opinions of people in the same industry as you, as some are reluctant to share information or ideas.  With LinkedIn you can build relationships and ask questions of people in the same industry but a different country or sector.  Off line this can be difficult to facilitate to the level of the number of responses you get with LinkedIn.
3. To research for presentations
   Many a time I have got stuck for information on a topic for a presentation, just because I haven’t found every article on that area, so by asking a question I am tapping into a larger database potentially with people who read different websites to me.  If you don’t want to ask a question for this you can just search the questions that have already been asked and see if someone has asked it before and the answers given.
4. To use as a source of blog post ideas
   I will often ask a question such as “What do you get stuck on with your Facebook page?” The responses I get I use as ideas for my blogs, it saves me having to think of topics, addresses the needs that people have and ultimately is a win-win for everyone!
5. To position yourself as a thought leader
   You don’t have to ask a question as such you can put out an opinion and invite people to comment with their thoughts on it.  By putting out the information you will be seen as a thought leader if the idea is slightly different.
6. To get noticed
   Every time  you ask a question those who you are connected to will be notified in their status updates that you have asked a question, hence, they will be reminded that you exist!
7. To stand out from the crowd
   Yes, there are a lot of questions on LinkedIn, however not everyone asks questions.  Use them as a way to stand out from the average LinkedIn user.  Having said this you need to ask a sensible question, remember this is your reputation on the line.
8. To get opinions outside of your usual network
   Far too often we ask the same friends/colleagues for their opinions or thoughts on ideas, this can mean that you don’t get any “earth shattering” ideas or feedback (depending on your friends etc).  By asking a broader and international network it is likely you will get a different range of ideas.
9. To get a quick response
   Whenever I have used LinkedIn answers I have got about 20-25 responses in 24 hours.  It is a great way to get quick information (particularly if you didn’t get your act together to do it early!).
10. To learn
    The answers you get to your questions can be very diverse, it opens your mind to other possibilities and ideas.

I hope that you can now see how useful this aspect of LinkedIn can be, even if you aren’t a hardcore LinkedIn user you can take advantage of these.  Do you have any other good reasons why we should use LinkedIn answers?  I’d love to hear in the comments below or on the Social Rabbit Facebook Page.