Posts Tagged ‘Linkedin’

First, let me just say that it’s very irritating that Linkedin has a policy on its Company Pages that you can only administer a company page if you use an email address that uses an extension of the company name – so no Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc. extensions, like me. Why? Not sure, but it’s pretty stupid considering how companies are starting to pursue different email strategies like corporate Gmail….

Promoting a company, brand or organization on Linkedin has three primary components:

I. Company activities
II. Employee Activities, especially leaders and stakeholders
III. Clients, Partners, and Fan Activities

I. The question becomes, “What are the specific things that can and should be done by the company to promote the company and recruit top talent?” No doubt, specific strategies will vary by company size, industry, business goals, etc.. A strategic assessment that connects the business objective with the Social Technology tool is a prudent next step. Let us therefore limit the discussion to the B2B context (assuming

Almost a perfect shot!

that B2C is more focused on Facebook marketing and not Linkedin), and further refine to mid-market companies. Let’s further say that the actual person running the company Linkedin page is in Marketing and is following a tightly organized Content Calendar, looking to drive sales and business development opportunities.

The Company activities on Linkedin focus around the Company Page. The Company Page has many outbound promotional opportunities, most of which are under-utilized by the vast majority of companies. So if you don’t know about this stuff, don’t feel bad. Circa the Fall of 2011, the following list will likely serve as a checklist of engagement points, the tactical elements, the allowable functions. HOW to use these tools – what to say, when to say it, what to ask, how to respond, etc., etc. – this is where the art of viral marketing, crowdsourcing, rating, and many of the Social Technologies concepts come into play. I’m begging you: DON’T WING IT. Think “driving a high-end Harley with little or no motorcycle training” – good chance you’ll wind up in the hospital – or worse, right?

The Top 10 Elements:

0.   Put up your Logo!

1. Follow us – gaining Followers on Linkedin is the door-opener to connectivity within the Linkedin ecosystem
2. Careers Tab – every time you add a new Job, you get picked up on several Linkedin feeds, most notably your Followers
3. Overview Tab – remember that you are serving multiple audiences here
4. Products and/or Services Tab – outstanding place to focus your efforts. Recommendations here can be a huge opportunity and significant marketing events. See HubSpot’s Linkedin Company Page, click the Products Tab, and note the Recommendations.
5. Share an Update – again, like Job postings, these will appear on Follower newsfeeds
6. In the News – great widget to add richness to the profile to further leverage media mentions
7. Recent Tweets – probably one of the most useful functions on the page, this can lead to follows on Twitter as well, potential retweets, click-throughs to your site, etc. Course you need to know how to leverage Twitter, as well.
8. Recent Blog Posts – Absolutely! HubSpot’s Linkedin Company Page is a good example of both Twitter and Blog integration. Scroll about half-way down. Multi-channel marketing.
9. Like and Comment on Status Updates- encourage employees and fans to engage in the company Updates (#5) so that the Updates have a chance to spread virally to the corresponding networks of Linkedin Connections and beyond.
10. Slideshare and Video – add video to both the Career and Products/Services Tabs

Some more activities the Company can do:

Employee recognition – run an employee of the quarter contest, preferably with as much employee ownership as possible so it’s a big deal, then announce in Status Updates, have the employee list that under employee awards, figure out a way to loop-in the related clients, etc. etc. etc. Always tie recognition to the clients served.

Relay current client Recommendations that are given to employees and the company. Client engagement is the whole point. So if there are major touch points like Recommendations of Products and Services and/or employees, broadcast those very generally, right? And should we return the favor? Absolutely. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

What do you think? What else have you seen? Please Comment below. Don’t just take – ya gotta give, too.

Next week: II. Employee Activities, especially leaders and stakeholders

Following week: III. Clients, Partners, and Fan Activities

Is this helpful? Need help with a strategy for the What, When, Where, How, Who? Please comment, share, and/or reach out to WebWisedom.

Thanks…

A few questions asked by my network… Appreciate the questions – all good. And a couple recent pictures to add color.

Golfing at The Johnny Cup, Cleveland

1. What are the best techniques to deploy to get your personal/business appearance in search results higher?
2. How to promote your business more on Linkedin.
3. How to use LinkedIn for job postings.
4. What should I be doing to stay engaged with the contacts I have on Linked In when there is no pressing business need to do so?
5. Ideas on how others are using LI to expand their network and more about what’s possible with forming and participating in various discussion groups.
6. What companies do you know of that have set the bar for making really great use of their corporate pages to attract potential employees and promote their business?
7. How often do people take time to update/tweak their profiles?
8. If you have updated your profile, is there something specific you can point to that immediately made a difference in how often your profile was returned in search results or how often you were contacted by recruiters?

Following is my best attempt to shed light and add value. But like with most things, the more POV’s we can get on the subject, the better. So perhaps add your and then ask your network to take a look and add their thoughts as well. There’s a lot too it, so I’ll tackle these questions one at a time.

#1 Appearance in Search Results

Now just to be clear, this question relates to the stats you see on your home page (or on this page http://www.linkedin.com/wvmx/profile). Appearance in search results is different than Views. Views include actual visits to your profile – so someone clicked on your name and hit your profile. “Appearance in search results” relates to how often your profile is returned in a Linkedin search made by someone else. But the real question relates to the all-important word “higher”. So if there’s a list of 421 people that fit the search criteria, how do you get on page one or two, just like Google search results, right?

To understand the question, you really have to understand Linkedin Advanced Search. Take a look at the Advanced Search form, from top to bottom. The Boolean (AND OR etc.) fields are at the top. Second, notice the search “filters” in the middle. Lastly, look at the “Sort by” choices at the bottom.

Finding Dad/Grandpa, Vietnam Memorial Wall, Akron

Now I will say that I searched high and low on the Linkedin site for information on search ranking. As is no surprise, there is NO mention of exactly how the Linkedin Search results page returns results. It seems a closely held piece of information – understandable; kind of the secret sauce.

So how would your profile show up higher in search results? To a certain extent, it seems out of your hands; dependent on the filters and sort-by choices a searcher makes. But to get on the list to begin with, it would seem important to do the following things. Consider this list as table-stakes – things to do to get invited to the dance and show up in someone’s search results:

• Keywords in Headlines and Titles
• Connections with as many people as possible (legit connections, unless they are LION’s)
• Keywords in other areas, especially Interests, Skills, and Groups & Associations
• Keyword matches the Industry selected in the individual job profiles
• Obviously, your profile has to fit the other Boolean criteria as well (location, etc.)
• Numbers of Recommendations
• Group involvement

Now to the question of Search Rank. Again, it depends on the searchers choices in the “Sort by” field. Since the default is “Relevance”, it would seem to make sense to pay particular attention to that concept. So how do they define relevance? Intuitively, one would think it would be based on the following:

1. keyword density across the Profile (relevance)
2. number of Connections (influence/importance)
3. number of Recommendations (positive influence, also to the keywords, though less-so)
4. number of mutual connections (relationship)
5. number and activity within keyword-related Groups (relevance, influence, relationship), especially shared Groups

With this in mind, what are some of the critical must-have’s/must-do’s with your profile relative to appearing in search results?

1. Add keywords everywhere, but especially in the high profile areas listed above.
2. Focus on Recommendations, especially from people you do business with (versus employees and associates)
3. Connect with as many people as you feel comfortable with. My recommendation? If you were to meet someone at a job, industry or social event and they have some relevance to your job, career, or interests, connect with them.
4. Join and be active with Groups that have relevance to your job, career, or interest. How active? Up to you – how fast you think and type, how visible you want to be, how much influence you want to develop. Time is scarce, but do something. Know that, depending on your activity broadcast settings at the time, Comments in Groups also show up in your activity list to your 1st level connections. So Group comments can also keep your profile fresh.
5. All this applies to Linkedin Answers as well, though I freely admit to not getting engaged in that element yet.
6. You might also consider paying the $25/month to become more of a player in the space as well. We’ll get to where the value is in that in future posts – and there IS value, depending of course on what you are are trying to accomplish.

That’s it for now. Please Comment. Thanks in advance.

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Top Sources:

http://www.slideshare.net/vferraro/increase-visibility-on-linked-in-presentation-updated-3-7-2010

http://www.youtube.com/LinkedIn

http://twitter.com/#!/linkedin

http://searchengineland.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-linkedin-today-how-to-optimize-your-presence-on-it

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Next: Company pages, Promotion, and Recruiting

What do YOU want to know? REALLY.

A bit of background: I remember when I first started using Linkedin in 2007. It was shortly before the PIMA meeting in Cancun, Feb. 2008. It sticks in my mind because I spoke to many people about Linkedin at the meeting. I remember that the predominant reaction around the industry and with my network at large was a natural sense of skepticism. Some companies were a little more intentional, blocking Linkedin on their servers as part of a broader approach to Social Technologies. Many people brushed Linkedin off as a waste of time for the gainfully employed, useful only for job seekers and recruiters. In fact, some of these attitudes still persist four years later. I heard this comment just this month at the PIMA conference at the Broadmoor by one of the speakers. “I don’t really use Linkedin – I’m not job-seeking…”

Fast forward to today and the prevailing sentiment seems to be, “I’m on it, get lots of invitations to connect, some from people I don’t really know, most I accept, but I don’t really know what to do with it. I’m in a few Groups but don’t really check-in very often. Should I upgrade to the Premium version???…”

In the meantime since 2008, I have migrated from an e-commerce sales guy to an independent Social Tech consultant, facilitator, and speaker, primarily focused on the insurance vertical, with secondary emphases on coaching sales organization on how to leverage Linkedin and Twitter. I also am building a line of business helping Cleveland-based companies, across industries, with Social Media Marketing strategies and tactics.

All that to say, as a part of my profession, I’m paid to know more about this stuff than the average professional. I also use it continuously for my own marketing and sales efforts.

Thus I thought it might be useful to share some of my learnings and help move our collective use of Linkedin to the next level. How? Let’s “crowdsource” both the questions and answers.

What’s in it for you to participate?

1. First and foremost, learning. The more you engage, think, and write on the topic, the more knowledge transfer happens.
2. Second, you can Share the discussion with your network – and thereby help them as well.

Part One: What do you want to know?

Think about your business objectives. What are you trying to accomplish professionally today? Really.

A suggestion: Before you look at the other questions in the Comments, think of your own top 1-3 questions. Then add your questions to the list, regardless of whether someone else already asked about your issues. That way we’ll get a great list, including redundancies indicating added importance to those topics.

Above all, please don’t LURK – add value.

Oh yeah, it may be tempting, but please perhaps check yourself from answering the questions in this round. I’d like to curate the questions and then open up the flood gates for answers in Part 2 – a little more organized approach from the left-brain side of things.

Thanks in advance for participating. Ask a question in the Comments below (and perhaps subscribe to the blog or the Comments), then copy the link, post it on Linkedin or Twitter, and ask your network to ask a question as well. Let’s crowdsource this. I know you’ll be pleased with the results.

Thanks again.

Hey, I just found another use for Blogging! It’s a productive use of time at 6am during a windstorm power failure when the only thing you have is battery power on the laptop – no internet, no lights, no coffee – can’t decide which is worse?!?!

So I read and shared this article this week. My guess is many of my colleagues in the insurance space will read it, gently cross their arms, lean back in their chairs, and think, “Yep, this is what I’ve been saying all along…and exactly why I haven’t gotten into all that Facebook, Blogs and Social Media stuff. It’s all a fad.”

Yes, we ARE in a bubble. But here’s the thing (and I’ll ask the crowd of readers to Comment their take below):

The article makes a sound analogy with e-Commerce during the ’98-2000 era. There certainly was a bubble and a burst. Dot-com’s were getting huge amounts of money with no revenue model, etc. etc. The crash hit, many of those companies faded out, etc. Don’t need to rehash all that.

But what came out of all that? Solid e-commerce platforms by solid companies. Not sure what the latest numbers are, but billions of dollars are running through the internet as companies put their products on Web sites and buyers buy them. Again, no need to justify and explain all that anymore – common sense and acceptable.

Why did e-commerce outlive the Bubble? I’ll argue the following. What do you think?

Individually – I’ll list three. Please add yours.

IMHO, it really boils down to Fundamental Human Behaviors

e-Commerce efficiencies with time and money – Didn’t people see pretty quickly that they could browse for books and music on Amazon.com faster than they could in the store? Didn’t Google make it incredibly easy to find pretty much anything you want and compare prices, vendors, choices, user ratings, etc.? [And now we have all of that on our smart-phones? And now we have things like Groupon, Web specials, discounts for Fans, check-in savings on FourSquare?]

Sharing – Didn’t people love to tell stories about what happened to them after they bought the products? Give advice to others in similar circumstances? Make recommendations? Comment from the peanut gallery? Be the arm-chair quarterback? Share uses? Rant about injustices? Solve problems? [Back then it was mass emails and Fwd Fwd Fwd, right? Now it’s Facebook and YouTube, etc.]

Helping – Didn’t e-Commerce make it easier for people to help each other? A fundamental behavior? Why do drivers flash their lights at cars approaching a speed trap?

Corporately – I’ll list five. Please add yours.

1. Industry leadership – Did the early adopters of e-Commerce realize long-term benefits as their systems matured through trial and error before the rest of the pack? When they figured out ways to do things better, faster, cheaper; to become known as an innovator in the industry; to develop ecosystems that snow-plowed the road for the industry, was there value in that?
2. Competitive advantage – Did companies with better e-Commerce platforms do better in the 2000s than the competition? And how are they positioned today in 2011? What were the difference makers? How about those that did things in-house versus outsourcing to specialists? Pro’s and con’s on that to be sure, but if we limit the thoughts to the legit, real-deal outsourcing companies…
3. Cost savings – Netnet, now that we’re 10 years down the road and e-Commerce platforms are in place, are cost structure differences yielding gains compared to the 80s and 90? Shopping? Distribution? Inventory management? etc?
4. Mass marketing – Did e-Commerce realize the potential for companies to immediately get new products out to wide bases of constituents? How about selling overstocks? What else? And now, what about this concept called “Revenue on Demand”?
5. Personalization – How about letting the consumer design their own product? Colors, features, accessories, timelines, etc.? Of course often for either a fee or for competitive advantage, right?

What are some other advantages of mature e-Commerce platforms?

Interesting side note: As I mentioned previously, I heard an insurance executive last summer say from a podium, “When will e-Commerce realize its potential?” I wanted to stand up and shout, “When you start doin’ it right, buddy.” Funny how that exec about 3 months later was canned. Oh, and 6 months later his Linkedin profile still lists him in the CEO role. Doh! I swear……. (I’ll save him the embarrassment of linking to it.)

So are we in a Social Media bubble? Absolutely. Will it burst? Yep. Then what? To answer the question in the original E-Consultancy blog…

“We’ll get back to reality and figuring out how to do Social Tech right like we shoulda’ been doing in the first place.”

My take? Social Tech is a specialization like anything else? It’s a discipline that must be mastered and kept up with? As to marketing? There’s a host of things that need to be done urgently today? If we don’t keep up, we WILL be left behind – just common sense. How costly will falling behind be? Again, my opinion, that seems to depend on customer switching costs and your competitors. Don’t underestimate the power of consumer ratings and recommendations, the viral nature of the social Web. Don’t be complacent. Change never stops.

What do you think? Good use of an hour to write this post? Any of this make sense? Please comment. Certainly link back to your site, your blog, or other writings. Please share with your network, ask them to comment, and see if we can get some of your thought-leader friends to pipe in.

Bubble or not, the critically important questions seem to be: Are there long-term utilities in Social Technologies? Does Social Tech align with core human behavior? And will early corporate adopters (caveat: who do it Social RIGHT) have long-term competitive advantage?

First, a few notable Crowdsourced sound-bites from Part 1, along with age and work demographics.

• “A LinkedIn profile that reflected the right kind of credentials and experience would be enough support for me with a personal reference from someone I trusted.” - Boomer, Sales and Management Expert
• “Expertise is judged more these days on how a person can be found within their industry on the Web.” - Boomer, Insurance executive
• “The proper use of the social media tools will surely help.” - Boomer, insurance direct marketing exec
• ” – it’s all about making it easy for folks to find out what you have that’s helpful for them!” - Boomer, Brand Anthropologist
• “Whether looking for a job, researching opportunities, or other general information gathering, Social is really vital to have in our tool kit.” - Boomer, insurance direct marketing exec
• “Chris will call Doug because she values Joe’s opinion and no matter what else her Google search shows up the referral is still more powerful.” - Boomer, Marketing & Innovation Expert
• “If a Google search turns up more (mentions on the company website, published articles, mentions in published articles), that can be a real plus. A really good blog is a plus…” - Boomer, insurance direct marketing exec
• “Doug gets a better profile and some credibility as described in the story. But he can now be recruited away by another firm. …The question is how do you find the best balance?” - Gen-X, insurance marketing expert
• “We’ve moved from monologue to dialogue, as low-engagement traditional marketing and sales is overtaken interactive social engagement.” – Boomer, insurance direct marketing exec
• “Social media can help solve work problems / answer questions by reaching out to larger audiences. Having a larger network can give you valuable insight into what others in the industry are thinking, keep trends top of mind and can assist in new project, service ideas.” - Gen-X, insurance marketing expert
• “Yet, the image we present online can have a big impact on how we’re preceived professionally.” - Boomer, marketing and management exec

And a nice capper…

• “The world as we know it is changing. No longer can F100 companies rely on the ole boys network to get things done. People aren’t that loyal anymore, nor do employees stick that long. A social media presence is required. Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs and even Facebook are necessary in today’s world – they should be current and monitored. 5 years from now the players may be different but the concept won’t be. Doug needs to get on board quick or his luck is going to run out.” - Gen-X, insurance agency exec

Interesting … very interesting. This would make for a great panel discussion at a conference.

Part 2

Contrast the Part 1 “Nowhere Man” story with the flip side. The dinner-conversation-referral-Google-search scenario immediately returns a full page of content about “Doug Smith” “E&Y”. Topping the list is Doug’s cutting-edge Blog – a powerful, well-designed and executed micro-site filled with compliant, keyword-rich content that dates back several years; a virtual fountain of information. Of course the content stops short of giving away any ‘secret sauce’, but it has links to a few of Doug’s recent video presentations at conferences, podcast case studies with other “supply chain financial management” veterans, several white papers he’s authored, recent Comments by readers on an interesting twist on “global supply chain financial management”, and direct links to his Twitter feed and mature Linkedin profile, both of which include reinforcing content. Google also shows that Doug is also featured on several other industry Web sites as an RE – joint vidcasts, guest blog posts, etc.

Let’s play out this scenario: Chris clicks through from Doug’s blog to Doug’s twitter feed (this link is actually a Twitter Search on my Profile to make it easy for those without a Twitter profile to get a sneak peak). Chris, again, the E&Y prospect, immediately Follows Doug and adds him to her “supply chain financial management” List. She scans a few of his recent posts, sees that he’s in Kenya on a project, follows a couple of the links to some powerful “supply chain financial management” content Doug found and shared today and yesterday, and then clicks through to Doug’s Linkedin profile (again, my public profile as an example for those unfamiliar).

“OK… Let’s see what we can see… 500+ Connections – solid. 15 Recommendations – hey, there’s Joe from dinner! OK… There’s those tweets again… and a couple headlines from his blog… Hmmm, before E&Y, he was with McKinsey. Wow, we have some people in common… and some shared Groups. Yep, looks like Doug is in Kenya right now. (Look forward to asking him about that.)

“No problem – my issue isn’t urgent. I’ll leave him a voice mail and let him know I see he’s in Kenya, but want to talk when he gets back…. ‘Doug Smith, this is Chris Mann from XYZ. I had dinner with Joe Jones from ABC Company tonight at the QRS Conference. Joe referred to you as the “supply chain financial management” guru. Got a challenge I’d like to run by you. I see you are in Kenya on a project. Please call me at your earliest opportunity. 212-515-1212 Or email Chris.Mann@XYZ.com and we’ll schedule a phone call. Thanks so much. Looking forward to meeting you. Joe spoke highly of you…’”

And this all took Chris about 10-15 minutes depending on how fast she scans and assimilates data.

Little different scenario this time around. Do you see the VERY tactical and practical utilities of that kind of mature online presence? Do you agree with that scenario as I’ve described it? Does that story help connect some dots for you? What would you add? Like it?

How else does a mature online presence as a Recognized Expert help?

Let’s consider a perhaps less-than-obvious situation. How does BRE help you achieve your career goals? What are the long-term implications? Let’s paint a picture of the future and how BRE may be a significant factor in how well you will prosper.

Career Goals

Let’s tweak the dinner conversation slightly. Let’s say Chris Mann is not an E&Y prospect but instead the conference organizer looking for someone to speak at the NEXT conference in six months. How would the same situation play out given the same two sides of the coin? On the one side, Chris the conference organizer finds tons of corroborating content to Joe’s suggestion that she consider Doug as a potential speaker. How strategic would a speaking gig at the next industry conference be, in front of a host of clients and prospects? And perhaps there might be some media outlets in the audience that want to interview Doug for a vidcast on the topic, perhaps an industry blog ‘ecosystem’ looking to add an author? Who knows where all that could lead, but one thing’s for sure: “It’s all good!” But on the other side, if there is no online reputation reinforcing the RE status, it all goes nowhere in a hurry.

Upper Management Change

Or how about this scenario. Consider that Doug’s boss at E&Y retires. Doug doesn’t really want to ‘move up’, and the new guy is a friend of someone on the Board, a young ex-prof from Wharton, someone with a lot of head-knowledge, looks good on paper, wrote a couple books on “supply chain financial management theory”, but in reality is thin on street savvy -  a good choice for the Wall Street reputation, but a poor choice from a client perspective. “But you can help him get up to speed. He’s a good guy, knows a lot of movers and shakers, and together, you’ll both kick butt…” the vice-chair says with a slap on the back.

Well, this could go at least two ways, right? WITHOUT a solid RE reputation, after a couple inevitable missteps by the new guy, Doug could say, “Screw it. I’m throwing my hat in the ring over at __competitor__.” WITHOUT the RE profile, won’t Doug will be a bit hamstrung and eventually either set the new guy up for failure or get chewed up himself, lose his fire, and ultimately derail and fade out? True?

Either way, the company loses a bright (albeit hidden) light, has potential reputation management issues, morale issues, client satisfaction issues, etc. etc. etc.  – not a good scenario for anyone – except the competition of course. But WITH a solid RE profile, the new guy will of necessity have to work with Doug, won’t he? You can’t argue with a guy that has a thought-leading blog, perhaps even a blog that’s its OWN industry ecosystem with tons of engaged readers, 1000+ Linkedin Connections, 25 Recommendations, 1000s of Twitter Followers, etc.. The vice-Chair will say to the NEW GUY, “Step aside, man, and just enable, help DOUG do his thing, bring more prospects to the table, bring ideas, that kind of thing.” Doesn’t everyone WIN in that scenario???

What are your thoughts? Does this make sense? Where are the holes? Is this an accurate depiction of why Becoming a Recognized Expert can be so useful not only in the short term but in the long-term, not only for the professional but for the company?

• Is retention important?
• Is thought-leadership important?
• Is online industry reputation important?
• Is content generation important?

If so, Part 3 will discuss the practical and tactical steps to facilitate going from “Nowhere Man” to Recognized Expert.

Please share your take. Please don’t lurk – engage. Thanks in advance.

The cat wants in to my office. Not gunna do it! Sorry.