No matter what business you are in whether it is merchant loans and merchant advances or freelance writing, you can gain much from some of LinkedIn’s newest features. LinkedIn has always been the social networking platform for business professionals, but it’s ability to share information was never very open, like Facebook or Twitter.

Now, LinkedIn is realizing that while it is good to set up enclosed business networks, businesses also want to get the word out about their companies to people who may not be in their network already. They want to reach outside the network and be able to promote and market more openly. That’s where some of the latest features come to help business professionals market themselves and their companies better. There are three major areas that LinkedIn has strengthened: skills, groups, and company pages.

1. Skills

LinkedIn will now allow you to post your skills and relevant experience to your profile in such a way that it is searchable by others outside your network. If your company specializes in offering services or you have a consulting company or even if you’re a solo entrepreneur, this is a valuable way to make sure people can find you when they search specific skills on LinkedIn. The feature also discusses the skill set and provides a list of related skills that are being searched if you put in a generic category that is very broad, like freelance writing. This can help you keep track of new skills people want in the marketplace and seek to have people in your company trained to offer the hottest skills out there.

2. Groups

Just like Facebook has discussion groups any user can set up, now LinkedIn offers the same. The difference is that the groups are for professional purposes, and not just entertainment. That means they can be a valuable resource to network with like-minded professionals to get guidance, market your expertise, or crowdsource an idea. The fact that most people on LinkedIn are business professionals is the key to using the groups to further your business objectives. Many marketers can use groups effectively to promote their businesses even if someone else creates the group. They can still provide solutions and take the role of expert to impress people into connecting to them and finding out more about their companies. However, building your own group, if it attracts a large number can be a great way to have a captive audience for anything you’d like to promote about your business.

3. Company Pages

It used to be that you could only put in people’s profiles, but now a representative of a company can set up a Company Page on LinkedIn. They can list their employees and the types of careers available in your company. People can follow your Company Page and keep connected to news and the new hires coming in. You can even set a link to go off LinkedIn to other areas of the Internet. Company pages are searchable in the search engines making it a good way to locate your business on LinkedIn.