Posts Tagged ‘social’

Compelling Headline. I’ll get back to it at the end.

The PIMA 2012 Annual Meeting. On the surface, a big success. Solid numbers, lots of engagement, great feedback.

Some of my take-away’s:

Mary Jane Fortin, CEO of American General Life Companies:

Mary Jane Fortin - Challenges

Appreciate the Comments on Usability, Education, Consumer Experience, Plain Language, Japan as a model for consumer protection rates. Man do we have a LOT of work ahead of us if we want to take her challenge to heart. I know there are exceptions, but in general, as an industry, our Web sites are terrible, our communication with current and prospective policy holders is confusing, we don’t create nearly enough content, and so our penetration rates are extremely low by comparison.

Warren Hunter, Chairman of DMW:

Unintended but I heard someone put it, “raked several insurance brands over the coals” from a branding perspective. Heard a lot of people praise him for his content. Agreed on all fronts.

The Ignite sessions:

Lot of high praise from around the group. Great format, engaging content, good choices for speakers. Great work to Rick, Mark, Gerard, and Renee. <<See the pictures here>> Understand a video will be published soon. Especially liked Gerard and the importance of hygiene relative to lists. I’d be interested to know how many people have follow-up with him. Also liked Renee’s content around the ability to do contests and sweepstakes using Mobile – big opportunity for list building and cross-marketing. Again, interested to see how many people follow through and actually start doing something.

Kipp Bodnar:

So glad HubSpot came. Key points I liked..

Kipp Bodnar - Powerful Trends

Don’t rent your Web properties – OWN!
Blog’s are the cornerstone of your Social Strategy.
Microsites and landing pages are hubs.
Email marketing – still critically important, but will run its course eventually.
Sold Out the Limited Supply of B2B books – encouraging
Inbound Conference in August, possible Boston Social Tech Boot Camp in conjunction with that.

At the closing reception, I had a very interesting conversation with one of the executives about more collaboration within PIMA with an express goal of increasing the protection rates within the US. The comment was that association marketers are perfectly positioned if we will do a better job coordinating our efforts.

Those final words from one of my favorite people in the group spun in my head all day Sunday as I made my way home. So I made some notes on the plane:

Back to the headline

Are PIMA members working to solve industry problems, really, or are they being seduced by big money? Yes, with the utmost respect, they’ve been successful in the past and as a result, big dollars are flowing. But will the processes, tools, and strategies that “got them there” keep them there? Perhaps it’s more about Comfort Zones. But either way…

A few poignant questions, understanding there are exceptions, but from a macro view:

Is our Industry as a whole badly positioned for online reputation management, organizational voice, crowdsourcing, socially directed buying, and the protection and advancement of the industry which these leading business concepts will nurture?

1. Very few industry players seem to be communicating well online, both B2B and B2C. Products seem to be often designed, developed, deployed, and maintained with weak consumer insight. There seems to be very little strategic and thoughtful collaboration between manufacturers, distributors, and strategic marketing partners. Government regulators and internal legal and compliance teams seem to be hopelessly out of touch and uninformed about core societal trends and business issues. Understaffing, underpayment, and inexperience seem to be rampant. Perhaps as a result, but certainly at the same time, US consumer impressions and demand for protection are at record lows. Is our industry leadership woefully behind the times, both individually and corporately, and thus putting the industry at grave risk?

2. Going further, it seems that the majority of industry leaders are at kindergarten, grade school, or at best, high school levels of competency with respect to critically important technologies like mobile, tablet, laptop, and Web software such as browsers, analytics, cloud-based tools, not to mention Social Tech tools. And so their leadership is often whispered as “male, pale, and stale”. Their down-lines and corporate hierarchies seem to be prone to follow suit, ostensibly taking the path of least resistance, waiting for their turn at the top. All this seems to be resulting in paralyzed, deaf, and mute insurance organizations – culturally, operationally, and societally. Generally True or False?

3. Product development and maintenance seems to be silo’d and overrun with fiefdom’s, protectionism, and politics. Marketing machines seem to be entrenched with archaic strategies and tactics, led by executives whose inherent characteristics of creativity and risk-taking have been beaten out of them over time, and who are now without vibrant information streams that keep their fingers on the pulse of their environments. Compliance departments are over-the-top too influential and stunting, themselves not tapping new technologies to keep pace with critically important changes on the legal and regulatory front, certainly not writing, creating content, and seeking to influence and lead.

4. Lastly, our industry, seems to be in need of a deeper, more functional overhaul. Should the association extend its industry leadership, a stronger insurance industry voice with expanding influence, a content machine driving education, conversation and solutions?  Should the Web site, while continuing to be a hub for the logistics of the group meetings, etc., also grow to an insurance affinity network, media, and influence hub, possibly powerful enough to overcome any legal and regulatory threat, and helpful in growing the consumer demand for protection products?

IMHO, if we don’t urgently and immediately focus on these core issues in the next 18-24 months, we will look back and regret it. Yes, these are hard questions and strong statements, but I’d like to have these dialogs. But like the insurance exec alluded to, perhaps these are the questions that most urgently need attention so that we can grow our industry and see US protection rates like those of Japan, as an example.

A Helpful Step Towards a Solution?

Social Tech Boot Camp for Insurance Executives

I’ve put this together specifically to give insurance executives a small, private and safe place to grow their IQ with respect to Social. My understanding is fairly deep, both of Social and Insurance. The materials I have are spot-on Keynote slides. And my facilitation style in a small group is open, conversational, and yet passionate and instructional. See the comments and the video on the sub-page.

While not ALL the solution, certainly part of it. Crowdsourcing, Online Reputation Management, Organizational Voice, Rating Systems, Tools, Measurements, Compliance, Policies and Guidelines, Mobile, Information Streams, Consumer Intelligence, Game Dynamics, the Future – all items critically important to the future of insurance companies and agencies. What’s beyond Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. (although Day 2 will be a 1/2-day session called You Incorporated – because executives need to know how to leverage the tools themselves ala Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos).

Thoughts? Comment below.

PS. As Ed mentioned in his closing remarks, remember the Give Back Tour, October 2012.

<<Link to the PDF overview>>

..

I recently shared a breakfast at the home of a high-powered, very successful friend of mine. My good friend has a long track-record with a top accounting firm solving all kinds of financial-related business issues for a wide variety of Fortune 1000 companies. But my friend is an executive who is intentionally NOT engaging in any kind of Social Technologies.

Wise Road, Pompey, NY - Named after my Great-Great-Grandfather

Following the conversation on family and personal stuff, we turned to work. Knowing my pursuits, my friend shared thoughts about Social networking. After listening to his perspectives on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., I asked him, “I heard you refer to ‘Social’ in the midst of everything you were saying. Let me ask you a question. When you said ‘Social’, describe what you had in mind? What concepts did the word ‘Social’ bring to mind as you were talking about it?”

He said, “The noise, the clutter, non-important things… you know, Social.”

I clarified, “So water-cooler-type talk… weather, sports, family life, community – that kind of thing?”

“Yes, exactly. I just don’t have time for all that. Like I said, when I’m in work mode, I need to stay as focused as possible on work – no distractions. I see my wife and daughter spending a lot of time on Facebook, and frankly that concerns me. Now I know they might say I spend a lot of time watching TV or playing golf. But I can’t see myself spending my precious free time on Social networks. I hear people talking about Linkedin at work, but it doesn’t seem to be productive. I also know I’ll be asked to help people – not that I don’t want to help people, but if they want my help, all they have to do is call me. I see people using Social Networks to relive the past or trying to get the next new job. Since I don’t want to do either of those, I just don’t see a need to do Social networking.”

Does that sound familiar? The conversation went on from there. I explained that unfortunately, while understandable because of the traditional use of the term, thinking of ‘Social’ Technologies as ‘personal’ or ‘non-essential’, non-business related, etc. etc. is perhaps one of the biggest misnomers in the executive ranks.

[Curious: Do you agree? Are many executives under an incorrect assumption about ‘Social’ technologies as being more about personal, non-essential stuff? Especially in the insurance vertical?]

From a business perspective, Social is NOT ‘Social’. Think UGC – User-Generated Content and all the implications therein – “Crowd” solutions (e.g. Crowdsourcing, Crowdvertising, Crowdfunding), Ratings, Online Reputation Management, professional communities, Social CRM, Rivers of Information, Customer Intel, Revenue on Demand, e-Word-of-Mouth to name a few.

I made a case that in his position, at a bare minimum, he wants to consider what’s called Online Reputation Management. What do people find when they search for him?

Going further, he wants to be thinking about what’s next, what’s beyond the brand and title on his business card? No doubt about it – no matter how successful, both brand and title will inevitably change, won’t they? And when they do, perhaps quite suddenly, will he benefit from a steady effort to build a Social network? Will he correctly understand his Social relevancy in business? And will he be in a position for broader long-term business influence, again beyond his immediate circle with the current brand and its client base?

Lastly, like the MBA process he went through a few years back that lifted his IQ substantially in a short time-span, he wants to consider tapping into brilliant content creators, peers of his that are beyond the faceless Wall Street Journal writers, his preferred info-source. Sure, WSJ writers are no doubt great writers creating a steady stream of great stories. But what about peers of his who are sharing insights and creating dialogs via blogs and Social networks? Could these insights and conversations lift his IQ in a very meaningful and practical way – directly relating to his field?

What do you think? Are Social Technologies a ‘waste of time’? Do many executives in your experience feel that Social is purely Social?

Next up:

ICMG in Phoenix. #ICMG2012 (You heard it here first: I’m facilitating a 1.5 hour session on Linkedin on Wednesday morning before the Meeting starts. Yeah, I’d rather be playing golf as well, but I was asked, so what could I say.)

PIMA in Palm Coast, Florida. #PIMAAssn Rolling out the rebranding work Bill, Al, Shannon, Denise, Mona, Ed, me and a bunch of others have done in the past year…

Hope to see some of you there.

After a mind-blowing October and November, I’m finally getting back to the Series on how to leverage Linkedin from an enterprise perspective. However, technically-speaking, the last post for ICMG was really along the same conversation. A popular post in terms of views, that post amplified the specific activities for a typical professional to influence and impact their professional environment. Yes, Online Reputation Management (ORM) and Organizational Voice (OV) are both REALLY BIG deals.

Speaking on eWOM at World Usability Day - funny image!

You can look at this enterprise topic from multiple angles. Two angles for sure are:

1. How do we as Clients, Partners, and Fans engage WITH the Brands we do business with?
2. How do we as Brands earn, foster, and build engagement FROM our Clients, Partners, and Fans?

I’d like to shine the light on the latter. Restated, what specific activities can we as the enterprise do to earn engagement and interaction from our Clients, Partners, and Fans, specifically within the Linkedin environment. And how will these efforts payoff in measurable ROI.

A note to readers. If I may be quite direct, as I’ve been saying for the last three years, “Lurking is Lame”. I’ll go further than that now – it’s quite unacceptable to consume only, never Comment, never Share, never add value. Here’s the thing: If you’re going to take the time to absorb content, and if you find it helpful, don’t you see how just walking away without contributing is a bit off? It would be like attending in person a session that someone put effort in to develop, and that you paid for in either time or money, finding value in it, and then simply walking out without even taking the time to acknowledge, stop and thank the speaker, perhaps grab a business card for follow-up, or asking a question or making a comment during the session. So please consider some sort of action – do something with the content you consume. At a bare minimum, if you like the post, Share it. It only takes a few minutes to add value. Make a habit of it. (Btw, that adds to YOUR ORM and OV, right???)

First, what does it mean to “earn” engagement FROM our Clients, Partners, and Fans? I’ll use the analogy of the conference again. Suppose you are a new member of an association and you go to the first couple association meetings. At those meetings, you (and probably your boss) are so excited to be in the presence of all these new, targeted prospects, and driving so hard to justify the expense, that you go up to everyone you meet, introduce yourself, and immediately launch into a pitch about your products and services. So for two meetings in a row, you done nothing but “sell”. No listening to what others do, no volunteering to help the association in some way through your talents, no fostering conversations at the breakfast tables, instead “just sell baby”. Obviously an extreme example (though not really, I’ve seen this recently as I’m sure you have as well), but you get the point. If this were the case, would you reasonably expect anyone in the association to give you any positive props or mentions at any point at all? Probably not.

Now contrast that with the flip side. All you do is listen and volunteer and never mention exactly what you do. So everyone ‘Likes’ you but no one has any idea why you’re there or what you do. Also an extreme example on the other end of the spectrum. Also not appropriate.

Relative to the concept of ‘earned media’, the holy grail lies somewhere in between. That’s the goal, that’s the target. How do we do enough selling/marketing so that people know what we do and we stay top-of-mind for that function (and rank high in search along the way), but we also listen, help, and add value along the way? And what is that balance? I’ve heard it said that you can think of it in terms of a 10:1 ratio – 10 acts of added value for every 1 act of selling.

It’s critically important to understand this point. Earned media is/will be an essential element in the near future of sales and marketing.

What does “Earned Media” look like inside of Linkedin? Here are the spots to look for earned media and mentions. Once you understand the locations, and then combine that with the a for-mentioned concept of sales-versus-valueadd, you’ll quickly get the point. Again these are all Linkedin spots:

1. Company Page Recommendations
2. Company Page Status Updates
3. Individual Recommendations
4. Individual Status Updates
5. Group Mentions
6. Answers Mentions
7. Company Buzz Mentions
8. Twitter-integration Mentions
9. Of course, Employee Mentions
10. Employee Activities

These are a few of the hot spots. If you know any others, please Comment.

So what to you do with these and where does earned media come into play?

Company Page Recommendations:

Obvious caveat: The brand must do a great job in adding value and servicing its clients. “Astroturfing”, or getting your brother-in-law to say something nice about you in spite of poor service, inflated prices, etc., will be discovered and exposed, and will further exacerbate the original problems. Trust that.

Sample Linkedin Product Recommendation on a Company Page (click to enlarge)

Once you have the Company profile in place on Linkedin, be sure to add the tabs that allow you to feature your products and/or services. At that point, in these early days of Linkedin, it’s a simple matter of asking some of your Clients, Partners, and Fans to hit the page and make a Comment. Here’s a great example from HubSpot. Notice the inherent Linkedin functionality associated with the Recommendation and how it reinforces the relevance and influence of the Recommendation. Notice also that there is a Share button on the page. Did you know that brand advocates are 83% more likely to Share a page, all the more so when they’ve engaged with the content in some way, put their personal virtual fingerprints on the page? Do you see how these things work together to create earned media and viral marketing? (see more stories on this here)

Company Page Status Updates:

We all know that personal Status Updates (aka Shares on your Linkedin Homepage newsfeed) have the potential of being seen by your network. Going further, most know that if your network Likes or Comments on something YOU shared, THEIR network has the potential of seeing it and sharing it – and so on. (I saw one guy who posted a bet he made with his boss that his boss would give him $1 for every Like and Comment he got on a post about the utility of Linkedin. At that point, the guy had the usual couple hundred Connections. Well, his update went viral inside Linkedin. I’m not sure I remember exactly what I last saw or where it sits today, but after a few weeks the guy’s boss owed him SEVERAL THOUSAND bucks.)

As with personal, the same functionality applies to Company Status Updates. The Status Updates are obviously not earned media, but Likes, Comments, and Shares of those updates are. When the Status Updates appear in Followers Newsfeeds, if people are fans of the brand and appreciate the content of the item, there’s a good chance they will Likes, Comments, and/or Shares, especially if they’ve advanced in their Social maturity beyond the previously mentioned lurking stage. Those actions then become the earned media, the holy grail of Social Media Marketing. Nuf said.

Well, that’s all I have time for at this point. I’ll continue the dialog on the finer points of the other seven items next time.

Meantime, I’m greatly looking forward to ICMG first week of February, PIMA the next week, perhaps the ACT Conference, perhaps SWSX in March, and a VERY exclusive Enterprise Social Tech day-long Boot Camp for C-level insurance executives, also in March in Charlotte – a busy Q1.

Again, please Like, Comment, and Share. Let’s see if I can earn some media myself! Thanks in advance. Merry Christmas!!! Emmanuel.

ICMG, an insurance industry association I’ve been involved in since 2004 (thanks to John Kertis), asked me to write up a little something about Linkedin that might be helpful to the membership, and by extension, the organization. (These Comments also seem to be relevant to any industry association, Linkedin Group, and/or professional.)

Fall 2011 on Clairhaven

Frequently I’ve heard and seen the following Comments about Linkedin and Social Technologies….

“I don’t really know that much about it. I’m accepting connection requests, but that’s about it. Who has the time for all that anyway…”

“I’ve joined a couple industry groups, but to be candid, I’m not really participating. I’m barely keeping up with regular email, let alone social networking…”

“I’ve got a profile in there, but I can’t remember my password…”

“I really don’t get the whole Social Networking thing. When I need to speak with someone, I just pick up the phone and call them. If they’re interested, they’ll call me back…”

“I doubt people ever search for me online. Why would they do that, anyway?”

“Social networking is for people that sell to individuals, not businesses. Insurance AGENTS should be using that stuff, but not me. I sell to company executives and they don’t use Linkedin and all that…”

“It’s impossible to keep up with all that Social stuff. As soon as I’ve got something at least somewhat figured out, they go and change it on me…”

“My company blocks access to Social sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Linkedin is open, but people frown on it when you update your profile or status. People think you’re looking for a new job…”

“Look Mike, I can see why YOU want everyone to use all these Social things because you’re in that business. But… I’m a deal-maker… OR I run an insurance agency… OR I’m selling services to insurance marketing executives… OR I work in the Senior market… OR I recruit, train, and support 1000s of agents…. I don’t have time for Social Networking. Plus the people I work with aren’t using it or even asking about it. So it’s a waste of time for me. I’ve got a job to do and numbers to hit…”

On the surface, these are all legit Comments, no doubt about it. However, we all know the common euphemisms that apply to Comments such as these. I won’t take the time to restate the common and standard responses, such as “Well, if ‘everyone else’ is jumping off a cliff, does that make it right?” Instead, let me point out some statistics and other data-points that might lead the reader to decide to take a different path, more forward-looking and though-leader’ish.

A few data-points about Social Networks in general:

65% of Adult Americans that use the Internet use Social Networks
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites.aspx

93% of Americans believe that a company should have a presence on social media sites and 85 percent believe that these companies should use these services to interact with consumers.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_social_media_presence.php

The top age group, by volume, that uses Social, is 35-44; second is 45-54.
http://derekshowerman.com/2011/07/07/age-demographics-for-social-media-usage/

Retirees age 65 and older are the fastest-growing group of social networking site users.
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2011/08/30/retirees-fastest-growing-users-of-social-networks

Social network use among Internet users 50 years old and older has nearly doubled to 42% over the past year.
http://mashable.com/2011/04/06/baby-boomers-digital-media/

A few data-points about Linkedin in general:

In June 2011, LinkedIn had 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier. (1)
As of March 2011 the service had 44 million users in the US and 56 million outside. (1)
LinkedIn members are on pace to do more than four billion searches on LinkedIn in 2011. (2)
The average American has 634 ties in their overall network and technology users have bigger overall networks. (3)
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkedin
(2) http://blog.linkedin.com/
(3) http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks/Part-3/SNS-users.aspx

Lastly, a few data-points about the ICMG Group on Linkedin specifically:

Just like the Annual Meeting itself, it’s a big network and growing, but also includes non-members who are participants in the industry.

ICMG Linkedin Group has 450+ Members and growing daily.

Going further, many of the Group Members have over 500 Connections on Linkedin themselves. Most have at least 150+ Connections. If a study were done, it would not be surprising to find that the average ICMG’er on Linkedin is connected to over 100 insurance industry professionals and colleagues – and all these numbers are in growth mode right now.

The Group activity is meaningful.

Up significantly in 2011, Group Discussions have been used for announcements like new insurance products and distribution partners/channels, links to relevant articles on topics like health insurance and PPACA, and Q&A on different challenges and solutions native to our business and industry.

So as an industry participant, “What’s in it for me?” you may ask.

Think about it. If you post something in the ICMG Linkedin Group, 450 people in your industry have the chance of seeing it. If you post something INTERESTING in the ICMG Linkedin Group and 10 people make a Comment, add 10×100 or 1000 MORE potential industry views of your Announcement, Comment or Question. And what is the cost? Time.

What about research? Need a warm introduction to a potential strategic partner? Need to do some research on someone before starting a relationship? Looking for a service provider in your network? By connecting with industry colleagues and participating within industry discussions, can you see how both sides of this coin can be satisfied?

Others:

1. Never make a cold call again.
2. Never start a strategic relationship without great information about the prospect or the company.
3. Always go into meetings prepared with current information on the topic and the people.
4. Communicate with your target audience in a relevant manner for free.
5. Constantly increase your IQ on a variety of topics.
6. Shorten your sales cycles.
7. Draw your clients into your information stream, increase exit barriers and competitive advantage, and cross-sell new products and solutions.
8. Understand the inherent accountability to peak performance and trust that Social Networks build and reinforce.
9. The list goes on and on and on…

Are these helpful pieces of information that might change your mind about the environment? If so, you might then ask, “OK, Mike. I see what you’re saying here. What should I do to take advantage of all this opportunity?”

First, get in there and update your profile – completely. Manage your property. If you want to see a good example of all the parts and pieces, arrangement, keywords, applications, and so forth, feel free to browse my profile. I’ve done a LOT of research – every single element is done for a specific reason. Use me. Pay attention to the details – they each have a purpose. Above all, make sure your profile is connected to your professional email address. The general concept in play is “Online Reputation Management.” Nuf said.

Daily Activities
5 Minutes: Update your status with something useful. Reply to any Comments as quickly as possible.
10 Minutes: Scan your network’s status updates. (Here’s the thing: Build the Shares newsfeed section into a powerful part of your river of information.)
As you scan, by all means, Like and Comment on other Shares, as appropriate, remembering that your network will then see the updates that you Comment on and Like. Try not to read-only, instead add value with insights and promotion of content.
5-10 Minutes: Open and scan the Group email blasts as they come in. At least look at the subject and author.

No time to add 20-30 minutes a day to your schedule? Look for something to cut.

Weekly
5 minutes: Look at the network Recommendations on the Home page Network updates. Float your mouse over unfamiliar names that have recommended influential people in your network or vice-versa. Are these potential business partners?
10-30 minutes: Try to make a few Comments in a few Groups to add value and build influence.
If you haven’t already, look at the member list and send Connection requests to people you know. Send warm introduction requests to people you want to know.

No time to add 15-30 minutes, perhaps an hour a week to your schedule? Use down time in between things – JUST NOT WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING, PLEASE.

Monthly
10 Minutes: Update your profile with any material changes to your job, interests, awards, etc.
30-60 minutes: Make/Ask for 3-4 Recommendations for/from current clients wrt projects, etc.

No time to add a half-hour to an hour a month to your schedule? Make time – get up earlier or do it while eating breakfast. (Do you really need to watch one more game/show/movie with undivided attention?)

Two final comments:

All boat rise with the tide.
Don’t get left behind.

Good luck. Happy to help. Please Comment and Share. I wanna know. Thanks.

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…