Everyone from entry-level employees to top-level executives is on LinkedIn. The professional online networking site is the place to see and be seen online.

Once joining, what do people really do on LinkedIn? A study conducted by Lab 42, a marketing research firm, explored how people use the site that has become a staple in the business world.

According to the study, 42 percent of users update their profile regularly, and 37 percent frequently update their profile picture. Ninety percent of LinkedIn users think the professional network is useful, primarily because it helps them meet potential clients, is more professional than Facebook and allows them to locate new hires they might not otherwise discover.

Here's a breakdown of how people LinkedIn the most:

• Top-level executives primarily use it for industry networking and promoting their business
• Middle management executives use it to keep in touch with people and network within the industry
• Entry-level executives use it to job search and network with co-workers

So, how do YOU use LinkedIn?

Article information retrieved from Ragan's PR Daily: Infographic: How people really used LinkedIn.

Capturing the ROI of Investor Relations 

Investor relations officers know very well their work is valuable. According to the National Investor Relations Institute, investor relations "enhances corporate value through effective communication." Unfortunately, this is not always obvious to outsiders.

Although IR teams cannot directly take credit for the stock price, the number of analysts following the stock, or even investors' purchase decisions of the stock, their work is central to transparent communication, relationship-building and trust among shareholders and analysts.

In an effort to capture just how important this work is, Ketchum and the Institute for Public Relations teamed up to capture the ROI of IR pertaining to four main areas: share price, trading volume, analyst coverage and relationship with the investment community. The results are summarized below. 

Measuring Investor Relations influence on:

Share price: Investor relations enhances investors' ability to understand and evaluate the company. The role of IR is not limited to simply providing information, but rather to proactively educate investors on what drives the company's value, therefore helping to establish a basis for evaluation. When executed successfully, IR contributes to making the stock price an accurate reflection of the company's business.

Trading volume: A good investor relations program may push the demand for stock up and thus stimulate positive changes in the share price, leading to more trading. Poor communications or consistently missing a company's own earnings forecasts may cause the liquidity to go up as well, with the share price going down due to trading on negative information.

Analyst coverage: While the experts agreed that IR's role is to increase the number of analysts that cover the company, they also believed very strongly in quality over quantity. It takes skill to find the right analysts who will provide accurate coverage, which once again can help the company's stock achieve its fair value.

Relationship with the investment community: Building connections between the company's management and the company's shareholders is a key aspect of IR, although difficult to measure. Aside from building relationships, IR teams must also help manage analysts' perception of their companies as accountable and transparent.

Article adapted from NIRI's November 2011 IR Update article, Capturing the ROI of Investor Relations by Alexander V. Laskin.