In the last of our LinkedIn tips series of blog posts, we’ll take a look at some of the more advanced features of the platform – including groups, content sharing and advertising.

Tip #1 – Find Groups & Learn to Participate

I recently completed a social media training course for mortgage professionals, and during this training several of the loan officers who were active on LinkedIn talked about the ways they connect with realtors, builders and borrowers online.  The ones having the most success were using local groups.

Now, there are many types of groups on LinkedIn.  In fact you should have no problem finding a group for just about anything you are interested in.  But professional groups can be scary for those who are new to LinkedIn; so I suggest starting with something easy and moving up to professional type groups.

For example, here in New Orleans one topic everyone loves is food – especially “po-boys.”  In one of the local groups I found a harmless question “What is your favorite po-boy?”  Now this is a great question to start with because really there is no wrong answer.

The idea is that by participating in group discussions that aren’t related to business, you can get a feel for how they work, and also learn to spot what not to do. Because in that same group, someone had posted “The best po-boys are at my shop (unnamed here) and you can get one for (xxx) price on whatever days of the week.”  The rest of the group slammed this person for advertising on the forum as that was not what the group was there for and this type of blatant selling on LinkedIn is considered spam by most.

Once you have a better feel for how it works, it’s time to venture into professional groups where you can really showcase your expertise.

Tip #2 – Create and Share Your Content

If you are taking the time to create a newsletter, blog post, newspaper article or other content, there is no better place to share it than LinkedIn.  Although Facebook has much larger numbers in terms of members and usage, I would argue that LinkedIn is the better place to share your professionally generated content as those who have connected with you have done so on a professional basis.

Sharing your content on LinkedIn will help build your online reputation as an authority in your area and is a great way to provide value to those in your network.  This is especially true if you take the time to create content that is focused on what your connections want.

And don’t forget about sharing your content in groups.  If you are active in a group and present your content in the form of sharing expertise, don’t overlook the fact that it could get in front of hundreds of potential clients with the click of a mouse!

Tip #3 – Apps, Apps, Apps

These days everyone has “apps” and LinkedIn is no different.  The trick is to find the apps that you can use quickly and easily to get more out of your LinkedIn experience.  A few we recommend are:

1. Mobile apps – this is a “must have” if you want to make posting updates a snap.  Most smartphones will allow you to download some version of a LinkedIn application that will allow you at least the basic functionality like posting status updates and responding to messages via your phone.
2. Browser Toolbar – Many web browsers have toolbars that you can download and use for quickly posting new content to your favorite social channels.  Shareaholic for Firefox is one that we like but there are many others out there depending on which is your favorite browser.
3. Aggregators – Tools like Ping.fm and Hootsuite are called “aggregators” as they allow you to manage multiple social sites in a single dashboard.  These tools are free and can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to either post to sites like LinkedIn or keep tabs on what’s happening on those sites.

You can view a full list of the LinkedIn Apps on their website and see which ones interest you.

In our continuing series of blog posts on LinkedIn, we will share the top things that we see people failing to do on LinkedIn and how you can fix the problems quickly and easily.

Mistake #1 – Failing to get recommendations

One of the things we like best about LinkedIn is the transparency.  Unlike other social sites where spam is prevalent, LinkedIn offers you the ability to read and see if the people you interact with are real and credible.  For instance, if you have a recommendation in your LinkedIn profile, anyone you are connected to can click through the recommending person’s profile.  This lends tremendous credibility when I can see what type of person is making the recommendation.

It therefore goes without saying that having testimonials are very helpful on your profile. They’re a great indication of the quality of your work and the relationships you maintain.

Ask and you shall receive…

The reality is that testimonials won’t just shot up in your profile without a little work.  You have to ASK for them.  Remember that everyone has a few hundred connections and if we all took the time to write recommendations about everyone we know, we’d never get to work.  So be sensitive that others are busy too, and send a note asking for a recommendation to someone you think can provide a good one.

Tip – the easiest way to GET a recommendation is to GIVE one first.  When you write a testimonial for someone else, LinkedIn asks the person to approve it, then suggests they write one about you.  It’s quick, easy and the fastest way to get testimonials showing up in your profile.

Mistake #2 – Waiting for people to come to you

This is one of the big mistakes, and unfortunately one we see all the time especially in our social media training courses.  Someone sets up a profile and then sits and waits, then complains that LinkedIn doesn’t work as they don’t have any connections coming in!

Just like any other form of networking, if you want this to work take the initiative to reach out and make connection requests yourself.

Here are some easy ways to promote your profile:

• Include your profile link and icon in your email
• Promote your profile on your website and traditional marketing materials
• Look for mentions of LinkedIn profiles on Facebook and Twitter
• Use all of the connection tools LinkedIn offers including Outlook Connector and Search
• Answer questions on the Q & A boards
• Look into mobile apps for your smartphone to make it easier to post updates
• Consider LinkedIn ads

Mistake #3 – Wasting new connections

After all this work, you finally get someone to connect with you.  Now what?  I suggest you type up a quick “Thanks for connecting” email and send that to new connections.  Think about what you are trying to get out of your LinkedIn participation and craft the message that way.

For example, if you were in real estate and were using LinkedIn to make new connections and maybe sell more houses you could try something like this:

“Hi New Connection,

Thanks for taking the time to connect with me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to keeping up with you on this great tool.  As you know I am in the real estate business, and if you would like to keep up with information about real estate in your area, take a moment and checkout our blog http://blog.example.com where we update the most important information buyers and sellers need to know.

Again thanks for connecting with me on LinkedIn!”

Remember, tell them why they should care that they connected with you and what they can get out of it.  Don’t sell hard, just remember to remind them of the value you bring to the table.

Continuing on our series of blogs about how to use LinkedIn, here are 3 easy to make mistakes that we often uncover during our social media training classes, and some tips you can use to avoid making them!

Mistake #1:  Having a Poor Profile

It’s easy to fall into the trap of making a nice, safe LinkedIn profile.  After all, the system prompts you to fill in the blanks and all you have to do is comply.

However, chances are you aren’t the only person who does what you do and is trying to find some new connections via LinkedIn.  So in order to make your profile stand out, I recommend you create a profile that grabs a potential prospects attention and stands out from the crowd.  We suggest that you introduce yourself as someone who solves problems or handles big issues and see what happens.

Mistake #2 – Failure to optimize your profile

“Optimize” is one of those words that makes people’s eyes glaze over.  But when we are talking about “optimizing” a LinkedIn profile it shouldn’t be that scary.  What we mean is to make sure your description includes lots of good keywords that people might be searching for.

Remember that one of the most important features on LinkedIn is “search” where users can search for people based on any keyword they want.  So if someone wanted to find a social media training course in New Orleans, I had better make sure those keywords or services are in my profile and chances are it will show up.

A secondary benefit is that these LinkedIn results DO show up in Google.  So when someone searches for what you offer in Google, there is a chance that your LinkedIn profile could show up for just the right keyword combination!

Mistake #3 – Failing to give recommendations

One of the most powerful tools LinkedIn offers are Recommendations.  Ideally you will eventually have your profile filled with glowing recommendations from real customers or people that may make the difference between someone reaching out to you or going to the next listing.

The easiest way to GET recommendations in your profile is to give them first.  When you give a recommendation on LinkedIn, the system sends it to the recipient for approval.  It then asks if they would like to recommend you as well, and suggests an introduction.  So by giving recommendations you can expect to get at least a few back in return.

You would think that by now people would be getting the hang of social media.  But as we conduct more and more of these social media training classes, I am becoming convinced that for every person who has embraced this technology with both hands, there are just as many people who are burying their head in the sand for as long as they can.  And I think I understand why they would do this, but sooner or later these people are slowly coming around to find out what they have been missing.

As such we are dedicating this series of blog posts on “Dumbest LinkedIn Mistakes” in hopes that we can help them learn the ropes, and maybe have a few chuckles along the way…

Top 3 Dumbest Things to Do On LinkedIn

Mistake #1 – Ignore Connection Requests

I am amazed at how many people that I hear from tell me that they don’t participate in LinkedIn for one reason or another.  I’ve heard the usual reasons ranging from “I’m too busy” to “that doesn’t work in my field.”

However, when the phone rings with a client or prospect they always manage to take the call…

So when you receive an email notification that someone wants to connect with you on LinkedIn, think of it as the digital equivalent of a phone call from a friend, client or prospect.  Don’t ignore it and don’t waste the opportunity.

Mistake #2 – Have a profile only a mother could love

The second item on our list is only a close 2nd.  After all, how many profiles have you seen where the person didn’t have a picture, or had so little information in their profile that you couldn’t tell if they were John Doe from New Orleans or New York?

It only takes a little bit of time to build out your LinkedIn profile – and your goal should be 100% completeness.  Upload a professional photo, fill in your experience and don’t forget to take advantage of new tools such as adding in your specific skills.

Some good features your profile simply must have:

• Current and past positions
• Your website url
• Your Twitter account
• Your blog
• Your summary
• A few recommendations
• Your certifications
• Your specialties
• Creative Portfolio Display
• Amazon Reading List
• Honors and awards

Mistake #3:  Sell, sell, sell

Like Jim Cramer banging on a poor performing stock, many people still get onto LinkedIn with the idea of “sell, sell, sell!”  LinkedIn is the digital equivalent of a high level business networking event, and while you should let people know what you do it’s important to let them know what value you bring to the table.

As in life, the Golden Rule should be followed in this case.  If you don’t want to get on a networking site and be bombarded with hard sales pitches, don’t do it yourself.  Try giving first and see what comes back…I think you’ll be glad you did.

This is just our first installment of “LinkedIn Dumbest…” series.  Look for more posts in the coming weeks, and if you have your own ideas and suggestions feel free to post them here.

Is Social media causing the world to “devolve”?

I sat through an interesting presentation this week given by Michael Fredrick of Point 2 Point Central.  Michael is a web developer who has grown up in the online world and has a different perspective on things than those of us who grew up “offline” so to speak.

The presentation was designed to educate business owners about how social media has grown into an 800 pound gorilla; and what they should be tuned in to if they want to keep from falling behind.  He also talked about the evolution of social media and where it’s headed in the coming years.

Some interesting facts from Point2Point about the growing world of social media

• 20% of American’s consume fast food daily and 50% use social networking sites daily
• Wikipedia has more than 14 million articles and 85,000 contributors

Facebook:

• Facebook has more than 500 million active users
• 50% of them are on Facebook every day
• Zynga, the creators of Farmville, is currently worth $5 billion!

Twitter:

• Twitter has more than 100 million users
• Twitter is adding 300k new users per day!
• Twitter gets 180 million unique visitors to the site every day
• Twitter is handling more than 55 million tweets per day

You Tube:

• People are watching 2 billion videos per day
• Every minute, 24 hours of video is being uploaded to You Tube

Word Press

• Over 25 million WordPress publishers
• Over 260 million people visit a WordPress site or blog every month

What does all this mean?

We know from previous studies that the #1 reason people go online is to “pass time.”  But what does the growth of the social websites mean?

For business owners, it means more new things to learn – because they can no longer ignore what’s happening in the online world.

For everyone else, does this mean the world is “devolving”?  Meaning that people are acting less like people and more like machines connecting through the digital world?  Only time will tell!

Why business should care about social media

I love the whole discussion about what this new generation of “social media” websites is doing to the world.  There’s no doubt about it that by now everyone knows that Facebook has become mainstream.  I’ve even heard some people say that Facebook is “so 2008.”

But still, even with so much “adoption” of social sites, what does a business person need to do about it?

Get involved before it’s too late

Social media sites drain a business owners most precious resource – TIME.  But like having a website, it’s no longer something you can ignore and hope it goes away.

Some food for thought:

1.  You had better protect your social media profiles before someone else creates one that looks like you!

2. You don’t need to participate on all of these sites regularly – but you had better have a nice looking profile there.

3.  The internet does not “fact check” so you should pay close attention to what people are saying about you online.

4.  Customer reviews (real or otherwise) are factored into the equation when people check out your business.

Learn More

Read our new article called Social Media Explained for People with Real Jobs to learn more about this subject.  Or if you would like help, don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions.

Once you have developed a smarter profile for your company and an individual profile for yourself on LinkedIn, you are ready to move to the next level: making LinkedIn work for you.

You can get value from your LinkedIn profile and affiliation by utilizing direct marketing, drawing upon the knowledge and experience of other members, researching potential employees or associates, and using LinkedIn to find the best service providers.

Tips for making LinkedIn work for you:

1.  Direct advertising. LinkedIn offers highly targeted advertising that is text-based and relatively inexpensive. You can get started for less than $50 and choose the audience for your ad based on a wide variety of factors including company size, seniority, and industry. For more information regarding direct advertising on LinkedIn, check out https://www.linkedin.com/directads/

2.  Use your knowledge base. You have connected with other professionals and joined groups with individuals who have knowledge and experiences that you do not. Ask them questions about anything that you are researching, from health insurance as an independent contractor to the best Smartphone for your industry. Save time by asking people who have already researched the problem and tried one or more of the potential solutions.

3.   Research people before you meet them. LinkedIn offers insights beyond simply performing a Google search with a person’s name because you can look at a specific profile rather than a broad and generic search. Check out their background, work experience, or find people that you both know so that you will be able to create common ground during a first meeting.

4.  Find service providers using the research available on LinkedIn. You can see recommendations by others in your area or your industry, and you can ask questions to determine which provider has the strongest reputation.

No such thing as free

The one thing each of these tips has in common is that they are something you can do for free.  Like many free online marketing websites and tools, LinkedIn doesn’t cost you anything to join.

But make no mistake about it – using LinkedIn woks best when YOU work IT.  Meaning it doesn’t cost anything to join – but it does require an investment of your time in order to be successful.

If you have decided that you want to get involved with LinkedIn so that you can make this valuable website a part of your professional toolbox, here are some quick steps to getting it done:

1. As with other social networking sites that require a profile, the first step for a business on LinkedIn is to create a corporate profile. Any messages from the company itself will come from this profile to reduce confusion and create a strong and consistent brand identity on this site and in general.
2. Individual members of the company can then create their own profiles. These profiles can be associated with the company’s corporate profile so that the individual profiles reflect the specific employees and what they bring to the company.
3. Make sure the profile is accurate and truly represents either the company or the individual. Keep both individual and corporate profiles current.
4. Individuals should be sure to include current positions, past positions, and education. This information will make it easier for them to develop their network on LinkedIn and to offer a comprehensive portrayal of themselves to others. Additionally, a professional photograph strengthens individual profiles.
5. Use your real world connections. To make the most of LinkedIn, use the tools that help you find the people you know in real life on the website as well. For example, webmail import will allow you to see all the people you email with who are on the site, allowing you to quickly connect with them. Similarly, you can upload a contact file that you use on any other program including Outlook or Mac Address. For companies, this means building a strong network of other professionals and companies with whom you have worked so that you will appear trustworthy and reputable to new contacts who view your LinkedIn profile.

Within the internet marketing realm there are lots of things you will pay for – but free tools like LinedIn can be very valuable sources of leads, customer engagement and brand reputation.  Give your company an edge by getting it on LinkedIn.

Unlike other popular social networking websites, LinkedIn only offers a few applications, or apps. As a primarily business-oriented website, these apps are more practical than those offered on a site like Twitter or Facebook, and as such it is easier to see how they can benefit the professionals who are members of this site.

Top LinkedIn Apps include:

1.  WordPress and BlogLink – these apps allow you to connect your blog to your LinkedIn profile, helping those in your network keep up with what you are doing and writing. This also allows you to expose a greater audience to your blogs, getting more value for the time and effort invested in its development.

2.  A Twitter app is also available on LinkedIn. For those who use Twitter, this offers the same advantages that linking a blog to your LinkedIn profile entails.

3.  Through the Google Presentation and SlideShare apps, you can embed PowerPoint presentation into your LinkedIn profile. If this type of presentation is part of your work or a good reflection of some aspect of what you offer, these apps make it easy to share your work without changing the format.

4.   If you travel extensively, the MyTravel application is a way to share your travel itinerary with your network. This can help them meet up with you when you cross paths in a specific town or present more opportunities for in-person meetings with potential customers.

Quality over quantity

There are additional applications available on LinkedIn that you may be able to leverage for your specific company and professional needs. While they may not be as great in number on this site when compared to others, it is still important to keep in mind that any app that you use should be done in a way that reflects your professionalism and qualifications so that you are presented in the best possible light to members of your LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn creates networks of individuals in a way that is intended to link people who know or have had contact with others in reality, not just online. However, due to the nature of social networking and online connections, your profile plays an important role in connecting with others. Making smart choices when you create your profile will help you send the right message to your network and potential social media connections on LinkedIn.

Tips for wisely managing your LinkedIn Profile

1.  Include a picture. It may not be your favorite part of your profile, but a faceless profile is that much easier to forget. When potential employers or customers are deciding between two options, the one with a picture can create a valuable connection that gives you an advantage over a potential competitor.

2.  Choose your picture wisely. It is important to have a picture on your profile, but it is even more important to choose the right type of picture for a professional profile intended for business-oriented networking. The picture should be professional, well lit, on a neutral background, and recent enough so that people are not surprised when they meet you in person. If you have the ability to do so, you may want to consider hiring a professional photographer.

3.   Personalize the URL for your profile with your name so that you are easier to find. It is much easier to type in words than it is to find, remember, and correctly type a series of numbers, so make it easier for people to find you by personalizing your URL.

4.  Don’t forget to include keywords. Consider what people search for when they are looking for someone like you and include those phrases and words to make it easier for them to find you.