In June 2016, we heard the news that Microsoft had acquired LinkedIn. We sat and waited to see what the tech giant would do with the professional social media platform. Now, the reports are starting to surface, revealing that LinkedIn is truly an important part of Microsoft’s strategy.

At their recent Microsoft Ignite tech conference, Microsoft announced Outlook integration with LinkedIn. From within your emails, you’ll be able to see someone’s LinkedIn profile and activities and even send them a connect request.

This will be released for the Outlook mobile apps too.

We’re also seeing a push for the LinkedIn Learning platform, with the recently launched Office 365 Training Center boasting some LinkedIn Learning branded product training videos.

Have you been on LinkedIn lately?

We’ve started to check the LinkedIn mobile app more frequently, and comment on or like posts and articles appearing in our newsfeed. This ‘signal boosts’ the information, as people in your network see in their feed that you’ve liked or commented. This easy approach is a great way to become known for the topics you are interested in. We’re also posting more regularly about the work we are doing and the tips from events we’ve attended.

As Microsoft lifts the covers on more LinkedIn news, it’s going to become a more important platform for showcasing your professional reputation.

If you’d like to get started on LinkedIn, check out the LinkedIn Small Business Marketing Playbook:   Click HERE