Tag Archive: LinkedIn Expert Tips

Using LinkedIn’s Introductions

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August 24, 2010

How do you BEST use your 5 introductions? Does it work well?

I am not a fan of Introductions. I think they are good in theory, but in the end you are relying on someone else to pass along your introduction in a timely manner (if at all). As well, with the free account, you only get five introductions at a time (fifteen with the paid account). That means if you ask five people in a company to introduce you to someone, and none of them pass along the introduction, you won’t have any more introductions to use again – indefinitely! You can withdraw introductions, but sometimes that takes weeks as well. Depending on if LinkedIn is having a good day or not.

Here are my recommendations:

Start the introduction process with the person you to whom you want to be Introduced. LinkedIn will give you a list of people to choose as the “Introducer”.
When you choose a person to pass an introduction along for you, choose someone:

You know

Who uses LinkedIn regularly (you can usually tell by how fully formed their profile is and how many connections they have)

Someone who likes you.

In that order.

Someone you don’t know might not pass along the Introduction.

Someone who knows and likes you but is never on LinkedIn might pass it along – eventually. But by that time it might be too late.

Be very clear to the person you want to be connected to AND to the person doing the Introduction WHY you want to connect. Give them details. Needless to say, a sales letter is going nowhere.
If your Introduction hasn’t been passed within a week’s time, withdraw it and try someone else.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t use all five introductions with five different people all at once to Introduce you to a single person. At the most ask three different people for introductions to your intended connection, and as soon as your introduction is passed through, withdraw the others.

On the other end, you might have a policy in place for passing along introductions. Here’s mine which I post in my Contact Settings section.

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Tags: Connecting on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Expert Tips, LinkedIn Introductions

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What are Best Practices for Connecting on LinkedIn?

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#LinkedInChat, Building your Network, Uncategorized

August 23, 2010

by VivekaVonRosen

August 23, 2010

In the recent webinar I did with MLTCreative on LinkedIn for B2B Marketing, there were several questions we were unable to get to during the presentation. I will be answering many of them in my blog posts over the next few weeks.

Sandra H. asked: How do you recommend that we connect with people who we don’t know on LinkedIn?

When inviting people to connect on LinkedIn, there are limited options to show your relationship:

Colleague
Classmate
We’ve done business together
Groups
Other
And I don’t know…

Obviously if any of the first three options apply, use them.

You can use the “friend” option without knowing the other person’s email address if you haven’t been “dinged” (reported) too many times as someone the person you are trying to connect to doesn’t know. If you can use the “friend” option, (or any of the other options) make sure you create a personalized message. Let people know why you are connecting with them. How you found them. What about their profile intrigued you. You have a much better chance of getting your invitation accepted (or at the least, not tagged as an IDK or spam) if you tell them why you want to connect.

Oops - I've been IDK'd one time too many

An option I will often use, if it is available, is the “group” option. As long as a LinkedIn member has joined a group, and has not turned off the ability to connect through a group, you can reach out to them this way.

Invitation using "groups" option

You may need to join a group they are a member of, wait to be accepted, and then when you are, send them a message asking them if they will accept an invitation. This is more time consuming, but will not cost you an “InMail” or an “Introduction”. If you ask them first to connect before you send the invitation, you will also be less likely to get spammed or IDK’d.

Your other option, of course, is to use one of your introductions. Take the time to fully explain why you want to connect, not only to the end party, but also to the person connecting you.

Introduction on LinkedIn

If you have a paid account, you can use an InMail.

Some people will put their contact information in the “Contact Setting” at the bottom of the LinkedIn profile – and you can either use that information to contact them directly, or to get access to them as a “friend” (Once again, be aware that you have a higher chance of getting IDK’d or reported as a spammer if you do.)

Use common sense. The Golden Rule applies to LinkedIn as well. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I am a LION and I will accept your invitation. Others might not. But usually, with the courtesy of a well crafted introduction letter, and a genuine desire to connect, most people will grasp your outstretched hand and connect.

Let us know how you like to connect on LinkedIn!

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Tags: Connecting on LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Expert Tips, LinkedIn Tips

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The LinkedIn Company Profile: Is your company properly represented on LinkedIn?

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LinkedIn Company Profiles, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Tips, Uncategorized

July 16, 2010

by VivekaVonRosen

July 16, 2010

By now you should have read that to get found on LinkedIn, you have to have a well optimized personal LinkedIn Profile. This will, of course, also get you found on Google as well as LinkedIn. If not, check out this article as well as other blog articles I have written.

But what about your company? Many business owners don’t even have a Company profile on LinkedIn. And even if they do, their Company is not being found by their potential and present clients.

Why? For the simple reason that their Company is not correctly named, nor is the description content optimized properly.

This is not your fault. When first setting up a Personal profile on LinkedIn, and adding a company name to the Experience section, LinkedIn prompts one to “create” a company profile. All that is needed is a Company name and an email address at that Company. You do not have to be the CEO or Founder or President to create your Company profile. Any employee with an email address at your Company can set up your Company’s profile on LinkedIn.

I doubt many employees do this maliciously, but as an executive / owner of your own business, it might behoove you to see if you have a Company profile on LinkedIn that you didn’t even know about! To do this, simply go to the Company Search Box and type in your company name:

You will also want to keep tabs on your Company because right now ANY person who currently works at your Company can edit the Company profile. Scary, right? Even scarier is the fact that no one seems to know this, and LinkedIn does little to control unsanctioned creation or editing of a Company profile! What you can see is the last person who edited the Company Profile – so you can either thank them, chastise them, or fire them!

What else can you do?

Do Your Have a Company Profile?

Make sure that as the Company Owner or Executive you have a personal profile on LinkedIn
Make sure that that your Company Name in your Experience section matches the name of the Company in the Company Profile.
Once you have access and can edit your Company Profile, rename the Company name to what it should be (In case there are spelling errors or other naming issues – Inc. instead of Corp., etc) You will have to ask LinkedIn to do this for you at customer_service@LinkedIn.com
Make sure that you have all your keywords in your Company Description – you have 2000 characters to describe your Company’s Product or Service, the benefits to your clients, some features you offer.
Do an audit of your company! LinkedIn automatically lists the employees of your company when they put your company name into their personal profiles.

So make sure that everyone you think should be in your company is there, and no one is there who shouldn’t be! If someone claims to be an employee of your company, you can report them at: abuse@LinkedIn.com

Who here doesn't belong?

If there is someone listed as current employee who is, in fact, a past employee, simply ask them to change the “current” setting in their experience section to “past” by unclicking the “current” tab.

So now you should be current, clean and clear! We often forget about Company Profiles on LinkedIn. But they can be a powerful channel for client engagement. So make sure your company is correctly titled, optimized, and reflective of your brand!

If you have any more suggestions, questions or comments, please let me know!

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Tags: LinkedIn Abuse, LinkedIn Client Retention, LinkedIn Company Profile, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Expert Tips, LinkedIn Optimization, LinkedIn Tips

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Advice to a New LinkedIn User (Lurking in Answers)

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LinkedIn Tips, Uncategorized

July 5, 2010

by VivekaVonRosen

July 5, 2010

Advice to new users (sourced from LinkedIn’s Answers section)

I was lurking around LinkedIn “Answers” today looking to be inspired for this blog post. The first question to pop up was, synchronistically, from my friend Michele Reynolds . She asked: “What sage advice would you give someone just starting out on LinkedIn?

All the advice shared was dot on. Some of the highlights were:

Nick Acott who said: “Be friendly, offer advice where you can regardless of how trivial you may think it is and try to put up some engaging questions/posts on discussion boards. And the occasional smiley face (You can find Nick at http://www.Fireflylondon.co.uk )

Sahar Adrade suggests (edited):

Be courteous,
Don’t push your services/ products,
Don’t self-advertise,
Don’t keep sending messages to all your connections and clutter their inbox
Be helpful as much as you can,
Pay it forward

Bryan Webb (LinkedIn Answers Master) says:

LinkedIn helps you build and maintain your network of professional relationships. You will get out of LinkedIn what you put into it, thus:

Complete your profile so others can know you better.
Use the Outlook Toolbar to LinkIn your existing contacts to grow your network.
Play around with “Settings” to see what is best for you.
ALWAYS personalize an invitation to reflect where/when/how you met or the common ground or reason you wish to connect. Make it easy for the person to remember you and accept your invitation.
Get active in Q&A so that folks understand you better. This may lead to actual business if your expertise shines through.
Join relevant groups and get involved with people that you can connect with and get to know.

I loved this from Dan Sobel: “Lurk before you leap”. Join a few groups and see what they are like. Watch answers, and decide what Linked-in means to you.

And Dave Maskin says: Participate… If you don’t show yourself here, nobody will know you exist…

I said: I think it’s crucial to remember that even thought this is a business network, it is also a social network!

Now I am a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) because it gives me more access to the strategic people I want to connect with on LinkedIn. It’s only a numbers game because (what LinkedIn doesn’t tell you is) you are only as visible as the size of your network. Once you establish a healthy network (let’s say 10 million) you need to establish strong connections.

I recommend reaching out to three people you know that you haven’t connected to in awhile, and then three people you don’t know - do it every day.