Posted by Matthew Croghan in LinkedIn Marketing Insights
It’s been nearly two years since Microsoft acquired LinkedIn, and we’ve all been waiting for additional integrations to streamline more of the products under that Microsoft umbrella and dominate the workplace. In one of the first of what’s hopefully a long line of many, LinkedIn has just announced an integration that could be big, especially for Outlook users.
The main idea is to make it easier to collaborate with colleagues, like LinkedIn says the plan is to “bring the power of LinkedIn’s network into your day-to-day Office 365.”
What to Expect
While it’s not available to all members just yet, and will continue to roll out in the coming weeks and months, here’s what you can expect…
Provides additional insights on people from your Outlook calendar.
The benefit here is that the ability to see insights about a person you’ve scheduled to meet with will give you a little background and context, making your meetings “more effective and personal.” These insights will come from that person’s LinkedIn profile, which you’ll be able to connect to directly from your Outlook calendar.
Eliminates the need for email addresses from first-degree LinkedIn contacts
The idea here is that you can more easily collaborate, email, or coauthor content via Word, Powerpoint, or Excel with your LinkedIn first-degree connections without needing their direct email address stored in your Outlook contacts. The aim is to make it easier to connect to experts for advice or help and “get your job done.”
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When it becomes available to you, you can take advantage of these new features when you connect your LinkedIn account to your Microsoft account. This will share basic info (like your profile, calendar and contacts) with the aim of improving workflow and collaboration within your network. And, of course, you’ll be able to check the privacy settings with regards to sharing personal information like your email address.
Also, note that the LinkedIn integration in the Office apps will occur over the next few months, starting with people who already use “the early version of the new Outlook on the web.” They do have plans to integrate the desktop platform, along with other Office products as well.
Our Thoughts
Being able to collaborate is a nice function, but the biggest benefit in our opinion, is having all the info on the calendar. It’s a nice touch for both salespeople and business owners, along with anyone else who speaks with their leads – whether or not those leads have been generated through LinkedIn or elsewhere. We think this could come in very handy in the future.
Finally, this update also aligns with our own philosophy on the power of relationships in lead generation; it will only further your ability to develop key relationships with the right people for your business by making it that much easier learn more about them before you speak with them.
With the right approach, LinkedIn is one of the most powerful platforms, and especially with these new integrations. To continue to learn more about how more than 1,300 of today’s most successful small businesses are using LinkedIn to generate high-quality leads and acquire clients, see below and access their secrets in the recent Client Acquisition Report.
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