With over 300 million members from over 200 countries, LinkedIn is the largest database of business professionals ever assembled. According to LinkedIn, there were over 5.7 billion searches done on the site last year. But what are they looking for, and, more importantly, what are they seeing if they find YOU?

You get a LinkedIn connection request from someone half a world away, and you wonder why on earth he or she would want to connect with an accountant from the heartland of the United States. This is probably where you throw up your hands and exclaim, I don’t know what I’m doing on LinkedIn!

In August 1997, Tom Peters (coauthor of the blockbuster book In Search of Excellence) first introduced the idea of personal branding in Fast Company Magazine with his article The Brand Called You. Check it out. It’s still a great read.

Whether I’m consulting with a corporate client or speaking at a national convention, the most frequent question I’m asked is How much time do I have to spend on LinkedIn to be effective?

Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Instagram. Google+. Pinterest. Snapchat. Foursquare. It seems like every time you turn around, people are talking about a new social media site.