Tag Archive: LinkedIn Expert

Strategic Communications on LinkedIn

Categories:

LinkedIn Signal

May 15, 2012

by VivekaVonRosen

May 15, 2012

Getting Strategic with LinkedIn Signal

Using LinkedIn Signal

LinkedIn Signal is one of my absolute favorite tools for monitoring my brand, as well as finding, connecting to and building relationships with potential clients customers, vendors, employees or employers, or partners. According to LinkedIn, Signal casts professional lens on LinkedIn and Twitter updates by:

Letting you see what industries, companies, and geographic locations are saying about any topic.
Showing you a quick survey of links that are trending around any topic.
Narrow down your search to see only links shared by your immediate connections.

I like Signal because:

It allows you to communicate and build relationships with people who are not first level connections.

Here’s a sneak peak at the strategy I will be recommending in my book LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day!

Who or What to Monitor?

Create a list of the influencers in your industry you would like to create a relationship with
Create a list of executives in your company
Create a your list of clients
Create a list of potential clients
Create a list of the products and services you offer right now
Create a list of products or services you’ve offered in the past
Create a list of products or services that you are considering offering
Create a list of competitors
Create a list of your competitor’s products and services

Lists to Monitor

Critical List

Go through all of the above lists and create a master list of those companies, people, products, or services that are most important for you or your company to keep an eye on at this time.

Important List

Create another list of companies, people, products or services that are not crucial to your business, but that you still might want to keep an eye on.

Somewhat Relevant Maybe in the Future List

Create a third list of people, products, and services to keep handy just in case.

Monitoring your List

1. Go to www.LinkedIn.com/signal and do a search for every company, person product or service in the first list. And then save those searches. You will probably want to click on these saved searches weekly, if not daily.

2. Save the second list to your desktop. Put a reminder in your calendar to monthly, if not weekly, do a Signal search on these companies, people, products or services.

3. Finally, calendar a quarterly review of the third list. To see if there are any people products services or companies that need to be moved to list one or list two

Responding to Your Search

When you get a search results on an Influencer you’ve been wanting to connect with, go ahead and comment on their update. If you are using a CRM, (customer relationship management) make a note that you responded to their comment.

If you see a client or customer has commented, posted a status update, or has been mentioned in the status update, then comment or respond to that status update. Again, if it is an important client, make a note in your CRM.

If you see that a existing, or prospective client or customer has been mentioned in a status update in a positive way, perhaps send them in an email, give them a phone call, or send them a message through LinkedIn congratulating them.

If someone has complemented your product or service or company in a status update, then thank them by commenting on their status update, e-mailing them, phoning them, or sending them a message through LinkedIn. Of course if you thank them by responding to their comments on Signal, it will be visible to the public which is good publicity. But if you phone or email them, your communication will be more personal and will probably do more to build your relationship. You know the best way to respond to your customers or clients. Maybe do both!

If someone has complained about a competitor’s product or service, and you feel comfortable doing so, you might reach out to that individual and let them know about your product or service that will meet their needs.

If someone has complained about your product, service or company, whether justified or unjustified. handle it. Immediately. Thank them for their response, apologize for the breakdown or misunderstanding (or clarify the misunderstanding if they are wrong) and then, if necessary, do what you need to to make it right. And do this publicly if possible.

If someone has mentioned needing a product or service that you offer, by all means reach out to them through status updates, or if you can, through Twitter or a message through LinkedIn.

If you are diligent in searching and monitoring LinkedIn Signal, you have an amazing opportunity to find and connect with exactly the right people to build your business, and it only takes a little prep work. So let’s get started!

LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day

To find out more about LinkedIn Signal, you can pre-order my book: LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day

But to learn more RIGHT NOW, join our LinkedInChat tonight at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST/

kedIn Marketing an hour a Day by Viveka von Rosen

#LinkedInChat Questions

Q1: Do you have an over-reaching Goal for your social media presence? What is it?

Q2: Do you have campaign strategies when it comes to interacting on LinkedIn? What are they?

Q3: Do you schedule your LinkedIn communications? What do you use?

Q4: Do you use an editorial calendar? Why? Has it helped?

Q5: Are you strategic about who you communicate with?

Q6: If you are, what do you do?

Q7: Do you use LinkedIn Signal?

Q8: How do you use LinkedIn Signal?

Transcript for tonight’s chat will be found at: http://beta.hashtracking.com/ht-pro-rpt/cjeffers-linkedinchat-2012-05-15/ thanks to Charlie Jeffers @Hashtracking!

More information about our #LinkedInChat (and tweetchats in general):

When: Every Tuesday Night 8 EST, 7 CST, 6MST, 5 PST (Sorry- not sure what time it is in Australia or Hawaii!)

Where: Twitter

How: Tweetchat.com, tweetdeck.com (or any tweetchat app of choice)

Why: To learn and share knowledge on LinkedIn

Join our LinkedInChat group on LinkedIn to continue the information: http://linkd.in/LinkedInChatGroup

Also I just found this great group for women: Connect: Professional Women’s Network on LinkedIn. Sorry guys – its women only! But its one of the few groups other than my own I recommend.

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Tags: how to use LinkedIn, LinkedIn Communications, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Signal, LinkedIn Strategy

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/strategic-communications-on-linkedin/

5 Ways to Use LinkedIn for Conferences

Categories:

#LinkedInChat, LinkedIn and Conference

January 24, 2012

by VivekaVonRosen

January 24, 2012

Double the ROI of your Conference or Tradeshow

LinkedIn: Pre and Post Conference

Double the ROI of your Conferences

LinkedIn is an excellent tool for both preparing for conferences and as follow-up after a conference. Let’s talk about some of the ways you can use LinkedIn to have more success, more sales, and more engagement before, during and after your conference and tradeshow travels!

1. If at all possible, see if you can get an attendee list for your conference. This is easier to do if you are a presenter. As an attendee, you might have to pay for this list – or it might not be available at all. However, if the conference is also posted as an event in a meetup, Facebook or LinkedIn Event, you will be able to see the other people who have marked themselves as interested or attending. Its worth doing a quick even search in Facebook, LinkedIn and Meetup.com to see if your conference is listed there.

If you can get a list of conference attendees, it would be a great idea to look them up on LinkedIn and see if you are connected. You might want to use the advanced search in order to do this. The reason for that is you can check specifically by location and not spend a lot of time looking for people who might have the same name – but not be the same person – as the attendee you were looking for.

2. Once you have found an attendee that you want to connect with, send them an invitation. If you aren’t comfortable sending them an invitation, see if they are a member of the group and send a message through that group. If you have a paid account you can also send them an Inmail. But what a great thing to do! Set up a meeting before you ever meet.

3. If you don’t have an attendee list, you can always set up meetings for LinkedIn members in the city that you’re traveling to! There’s no better way to make connections than to meet face-to-face. For more information about how to use LinkedIn when you travel go to http://linkedintobusiness.com/10-ways-to-use-linkedin-when-you-travel/.

4. As you begin to meet people make sure you gather their business cards. When you get back to your hotel room in the evening, invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn. Do it as soon as possible. While they still remember who you are. Once you’ve added them as a connection, make sure you tag their profile. For more information on how to tag a connection go to http://linkedintobusiness.com/tagging-your-way-into-toma-with-linkedin/.

Tagging will allow you to more easily communicate and follow up with your connections. Tag your connections:

By the industry they work in
By the company they work for
By the name of the conference
By their area of expertise
Or all of the above….

…you can ===–in one fell swoop - reminding them who you are and what you do. Or even better, space use one of Bob Burg’s great referral techniques. Ask them what they do and who is their best client is so you can keep them as a referral partner.

It’s great to learn things at conferences and trade shows, but it’s even better to make connections whom you can do business with later on! That will vastly increased the ROI of the conference.

5. Use the CardMunch App if you have an iPhone or iPad (BB and Android app coming soon) LinkedIn recently bought CardMunch and it is one of my favorite new tools. It allows you to take a snapshot of the business card and upload that information directly into your database. You can then invite those people to connect with you on LinkedIn or just add them to whatever CRM system you are using.

The power of conferences is in the follow-up – so use these tools to follow up with the people that you meet!

Tonight’s #LinkedInChat is going to be all about how to use LinkedIn at conferences and trade shows here are the questions will be asking:

Do you attend conferences or tradeshows?
How do you prepare for conferences and trade shows?
What kind of research do you put into finding out who will attend or be speaking at the conference or tradeshow you’re attending?
Do you use LinkedIn when preparing for a conference?
How do you use LinkedIn when you are preparing for a conference?
How are you at following up after the conference?
Do you follow up after a conference or trade show?
How do you follow up after a trade show or conference?
Do you use CardMunch.com?

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Tags: #LinkedInChat, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Conference, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Tips, LinkedInExpert, Viveka von Rosen

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/5-ways-to-use-linkedin-for-conferences/

LinkedIn. It’s Not Just for Recruiters Anymore

Categories:

LinkedIn Tips, New on LinkedIn

January 22, 2012

by VivekaVonRosen

January 22, 2012

Some of LinkedIn’s “Newer” Offers

When you say “Social Media” people think of Facebook, Twitter and Google+. LinkedIn does not always spring to the top of mind. I suspect this is because LinkedIn, despite its numerous changes, is still considered to be a Rolodex on steroids for jobseekers and recruiters, rather than an active, vibrant social network and marketing tool.

If you haven’t visited LinkedIn lately, you might want to drop back in.

Editing your contact information

1. LinkedIn has improved its “Contacts” section. Unlike Facebook (that has a unintuitive “friends” section and complicated “List” and messaging system,) and Twitter (that is even less intuitive “List” app,) LinkedIn has a very intuitive system that allows you not only to “Tag” (sort) your contacts, but add notes, and then use that information to message your contacts either individually or in groups. You can also add additional contact information beyond what LinkedIn provides you, allowing you to use LinkedIn more as a CRM and business tool.

Tagging

2. LinkedIn added “Signal” allowing you to monitor LinkedIn’s Updates for any keywords or search terms you desire:

Your Name
Your Company Name
Your Twitter Handles
Your Competitors
Industry Search words
Your Products
Your Services
Potential Clients

Not only that, but you can save the searches which makes monitoring easy. I have found that Signal will pick up LinkedIn (and Twitter) updates that Google Alerts will miss. Information you can use to create new relationships, stem the flow of negative responses, refine your offers, keep up on what is happening in your industry, etc.

3. LinkedIn Today is like an intuitive, focused version of MSN.com for business professionals. LinkedIn News keeps you informed news websites, blogs, tweets and newsletters, and learns by your interaction with it (based on what your connections and industry peers are reading and sharing) what you are really interested in reading. That saves you time while delivering you the news you need (and can then share with your LinkedIn and Twitter tribes).

LinkedIn Today

4. “Skills” allows you to add your own unique skills to your LinkedIn profile. I use Skills to find keywords for my clients to optimize their profile (Related Skills) and to find Industry Influencers and thought leaders I can add to my network. Skills also shares relevant companies you might want to follow and groups you might want to join.

LinkedIn Skills

I haven’t even mentioned the “Old” tools LinkedIn still offers:

Groups
Polls
Events
Applications
Jobs
Inbox
Answers

Any one of which has incredible business potential.

Whether you are a B2B or B2C, LinkedIn has the networking, marketing and promotion tools you need. Use it to stay informed. Use it to connect and build relationships with strategic business partners (employees, clients, vendors, etc.) Use it to position yourself as an expert. Use it to promote your products and services. LinkedIn can do almost everything that Twitter and Facebook can do, but allows you to focus on your business audience. So take a look at LinkedIn again. It’s not the stolid conservative old boys network people think it is. It focused, dynamic, informative and quite frankly, might be invaluable to your business.

For more training on LinkedIn, Twitter, Video, Blogging and Facebook, join the Social Media Business School!

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Tags: LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn News, LinkedIn Signal, LinkedIn Skills, LinkedIn Tags, LinkedIn Tips, LinkedIn Today, New on LinkedIn

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/linkedin-its-not-just-for-recruiters-anymore/

Finding More Keywords for your Social Media Presence

Categories:

LinkedIn Skills, LinkedIn Strategies

November 21, 2011

by VivekaVonRosen

November 21, 2011

Three Ways to Find Keywords

Last week we talked about keywords. Did you do your homework?

For those of you who might have procrastinated, here is a guide to finding some more keywords you can then use in your Social Media Profile, Updates and Descriptions.

Three ways to find more keywords:

▪ Wordle.com (Thanks for the tip @GreigWells)

▪ LinkedIn Skills (Related Skills)

▪ Right click your Competition’s Website

Option One: Wordle.net

Thanks to my friend Grieg Wells for inspiring this tip! (www.befoundjobs.com) He recommends using the tool wordle.com to find keywords (Also – it just makes for really cool images):

1. Go to www.wordle.net

2. Click on “Create”

Choose a SME's Blog

3. Put in the URL of an Subject Matter Expert, or a company, or blog that has a strong influence in your industry. If you don’t follow any blogs, or no one comes to mind, you can search for blogs by keyword at www.technorati.com

Who influences you?

4. Look through the resulting cloud for keywords you might have missed.

5. Save the cloud for future blog posts or a sexy resume cover.

Option Two: Related Skills

1. Log into LinkedIn

2. Under the heading “More” Click on “Skills”

Type in your Skill

3.Type in one of your Skills (or choose from the dropdown options)

Add your skill (up to 50)

4. Feel free to add that skill to your profile

5. On the left hand side of the screen, you will see “Related Skills”

Related Skills might reveal keywords

6. Copy and paste the whole list into a word document (I choose text only option)

Copy and paste (Choose text only)

7. Delete any non-relevant skills

8. Go back into LinkedIn and drill a little deeper.

9. Rinse and repeat

Option Three: See what keywords the Thought Leaders in your industry are is using in their websites:

1. Go to the website of a competitor or an influencer in your industry. (Again, you can use Technorati or Google to find them)

2. Right click if you are a PC. Command click if you are a Mac

Type the URL in the Browser Bar

3. Click on “View Source”

4. Their keywords could be listed in the code.

You'll have to do some scrolling, but the will be listed in CSV

You might have to scroll down and search a bit to find them
This won’t work on every website, but it will work on many!

Now you should have plenty of keywords to put into your profile.

If you want directions on where to put them go to: http://linkedintobusiness.com/2011/11/clarity-and-branding-know-your-keywords/

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Tags: Keywords, Keywords for social media, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Strategies

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Clarity and Branding: Know Your Keywords

Categories:

LinkedIn Skills, LinkedIn Tips

November 15, 2011

by VivekaVonRosen

November 15, 2011

Branding and Keywords

What keywords are you found under?

Who are you? What do you have to offer? Why should I buy from you? What makes you different? How would I describe your services? Your brand? Your product?

The clearer you are on your brand, the better you represent yourself, the more business you will attract! YOU are your Brand. Inbound Marketing has changed the way we do business. Whether you are a B2C, B2B, Employee or Executive, your clients want to work with individuals, not some corporate entity. There needs to be a balance between the company, and the individual representing the company. Even employees are becoming representatives of company brands. For that matter, your clients and customers are becoming the unpaid sales evangelists for your brand. So your brand MUST be clear to you and to them. The less clarity, the greater the chance that you will be mis-represented.

Be clear on your Brand. Why You? Be clear on the benefit the client receives in hiring you. What specific area of Expertise, Industry, or Niche makes you distinct from your competitor? What specific benefits will your client receive by working with you? Why you individually? Why you as a company?

For other great tips on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogging – consider joining the SocialMediaBizSchool. For only $37 a month and get access to some of the most successful social media “teachers” in their fields.

What are your Keywords?

Create specific list of keywords by which you want to be found. They should describe:

You
Your company
Your product
Your service
Your industry
Your client’s industry

These keywords do not need to be sophisticated, but they do need to be clear. If someone were doing a keyword search for you on Google, what would they be typing in? Keep these keywords by your computer at all times, and use them often in your social media efforts.

Where should you use them?

Your LinkedIn Profiessional Headline (120 characters)
Your Facebook Bio (200 Characters)
Your Twitter Bio (160 Characters)
Your LinkedIn Titles Fields (100 Characters)
Your LinkedIn Summary: Professional Experience and Goals (2000 Characters), Specialties (500 Characters)
You Interests (750 Characters)
Your updates (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter)

Where can you find keywords?

Wordle.com (Thanks for the tip @GreigWells)
LinkedIn Skills (Related Skills)
Right clicking your competition’s website

The great thing about social media is that SEO in social media is like SEO on the web ten years ago. You just need to use your keywords more often to be found – and even get Google rankings…

Give it a try..

Test and see where you fall in a keyword search on your favorite website

And feel free to comment on any keyword tricks or strategies you have discovered.

We’ll go more in depth into keyword strategies next week on LinkedIntoBusiness.com

Social Media Business School’s Upcoming Schedule:

“How to Use your Fan Page to Bring in Leads” Monday October 31st 11 a.m. PT (noon MT, 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET) – Andrea Vahl
“Creating Your Editorial Calendar: How to be More Efficient and Save Time on Your Blog” Monday November 7th 11 a.m. PT (noon MT, 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET) – Denise Wakeman
“Let’s Get Engaged! The Dream Wedding of Online Video and Social Media.” Monday November 14th 11 a.m. PT (noon MT, 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET) – Lou Bortone
“Twitter Etiquette: The Do’s and Don’t’s of Tweeting” Monday November 21st 11 a.m. PT (noon MT, 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET) – Lori Gama
“How to Connect your Social Media Sites to Save you Time” Monday November 28th 11 a.m. PT (noon MT, 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET) – Andrea Vahl
“Getting Found and Getting Business on LinkedIn” Monday December 5th 11 a.m. PT (noon MT, 1 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. ET) – Viveka von Rosen

Remember, if you can’t attend the classes, they will be recorded and posted shortly after the class to watch at your convenience.

To sign up for the Social Media Business School just click here. Or go to: http://www.SocialMediaBizSchool.com/?ap_id=linkedinexpert

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Tags: Google and LinkedIn, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Keywords use, LinkedIn SEO, LinkedIn Tips

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Your Questions Answered…

Every Tuesday night we do a #LinkedInChat on twitter to answer those driving questions you have that have not been answered. Since some of you can’t make the chat, I decided to ask my Twitter following throughout the week what they wanted to know. Each and every one of the questions and suggestions below could demand a full hour of LinkedInChat (and maybe we’ll do just that.) In the meantime, here are the questions for Tuesday’s LinkedInChat – brought to us from our great followers on Twitter!

For those of you who like to prepare for your chats with helpful answers and valuable website links – here are the questions:

Questions:

@GetGravitas (Jay Lebo) suggests: “What are best practices for starting/running your own LI group.”
He also asks: “How about the truth about LinkedIn groups? (Is there really any value there?)”
Also: “What are some good lead generation best practices for LI?”
@AreMorch (Are Morch ) Would like more “Tips on Lead generation/conversion.”
@prforsmallbiz asks: “What is the best way contacting people without having to use InMail?
@MarcyK33 (Marcy Kremer) would like to know “more about status updates for company pages. Some have them, most don’t. Can’t find any info on them.”
@fundraisinisfun (Ephraim Gopin ) would like to know the “best way to find a job via LinkedIn”

Answers:

Groups:

I have covered (although not extensively – so please feel free to jump in!) how to use groups effectively on LinkedIn in a few blog posts and videos:

Using groups for more and better relationships: http://linkedintobusiness.com/2011/04/using-groups-for-better-relationships-and-more-business/

Groups: Your Rolodex on Steroids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXt2Ehlig7M

1. There are a few groups I find useful (LinkChat, LinkedStrategies) and some groups I join merely for their size and ability t make my network bigger and me more visible (LinkedHR, Jobs and Toplinked).

2. Groups are a great way to connect with warm leads. If a member is interacting in a group that happens to focus on what you do for a living, especially if they are asking questions you can answer, then you have a wonderful opportunity to engage with someone who could very well become your next client or customer!

3. This is even more powerful when you own the group because you can send these folks an announcement every week! (Just don’t make it a sales message!) Some great examples of how to do this well are LinkedStrategies (with Randy Schrumm and Nathan Keivman) and LinkedSignal (with Greig Wells)

4. If you create your own group: Describe it well in the title and description! Use your keywords and pop in a USP (unique selling proposition) What do they get for joining your group? What is the WIIFM?

5. Make sure to create group rules. (No spam or selling and whatever else your DO’s and DON’Ts are for the members of your group.)

6. Use and Manage Message Templates

Create, manage and automatically send custom messages to people interested in this group.
Create template Request-to-join Message  Create and automatically send a custom message to people who request to join this group.
Welcome Message Template: Create a custom welcome message to people when you approve them for membership in this group.
Create template Decline Message  Create and automatically send a custom message to people when you decline their requests to join this group.
Create template Decline-and-Block Message  Create and automatically send a custom message to people when you decline their requests to join this group and block any future requests.

7. MONITOR MONITOR MONITOR! Don’t let the spammers get control. You have control of your group. Make sure to monitor it daily and get rid of those spammers. Or let your group do it for you in the group settings section. If you lock down what people can post to your group, you might get better content and keep and engage the members you do have more effectively.

Lead Generation on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is still a social media site – meaning you still have to engage with valuable information! Some simple steps to find and engage others:

Use LinkedIn’s many tools to see who you can reconnect with - Its always easier to sell to existing clients. As my friend Adrienne Zoble of Zoble and Associates asks: Does everyone you know know everything you do? Use LinkedIn to find those folks and update them.
Send out engaging updates –but no more than once a day. With the onset of Signal, updates are now searchable. So share your knowledge with your tribe (and make sure your updates are visible to everyone.)
Tag your connections and send them a useful piece of information in a message (and your contact info at the bottom.) This is not a sales pitch that will just be ignored. Send them valuable content so they WANT to open the letter!
ENGAGE, ENGAGE, ENGAGE!

Connecting on LinkedIn:

Last week’s LinkedIn chat was all about engagement and connecting (without InMails)– read more about it here:

Job Seeking with LinkedIn:

This one deserves its own blog post and LinkedInChat – and so will waive any responses until then. Maybe we can get Greig Wells with www.BeFoundJobs.com to be our special guest?

Miscellaneous Answers:

Company Status Updates:

A company itself cannot do an update on LinkedIn – however, what you might be seeing is when a company feeds its own blog into the company page. Like so:

Again, please join our LinkedInChat. Every Tuesday night at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST – for your LinkedIn Questions Answered!

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Tags: #LinkedInChat, @SteveCassady, Client Engagement on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Groups, LinkedIn Questions, LinkedInExpert, Viveka von Rosen

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/more-of-your-linkedin-questions-answered-groups-engagement-and-job-seeking/

10 Ways to Use LinkedIn When You Travel

Categories:

LinkedIn Tips

July 25, 2011

by VivekaVonRosen

July 25, 2011

URL to IRL

I love social networking – but the truth is, most of my business comes when I meet someone face to face (F2F) or they see me speak. As I prep for a 4 city speaking tour, I thought I’d record for you some of the things I do in order to really connect with my network.

How to turn your URL LinkedIn experience into a IRL (in real life) F2F meeting:

Using Postal Code Field in your Advanced Search

Advanced Search – Postal Code Field

Use the location search to find people you know (but might have forgotten you knew) in the cities you are traveling to – and take them out to dinner.
Use the location search to find SME’s you want to know in the cities you are traveling to – see if you can buy them a drink.
Use the location search to find vendors who can help you in the city you are traveling to for better service, and sometimes better pricing.
Use the location search to find potential clients you know in the cities you are traveling to – and see if you can get that f2f meeting since “you made a special trip to their city.”

Groups, Answers and Company Search

Check out location specific groups on LinkedIn and see if you can connect with some locals that way.
If you have any questions regarding lodging, travel or vendors for an event in the city you are traveling to – use LinkedIn Answers to ask the locals.
Use LinkedIn company search to see if you can get some insider information or contacts at a local company – especially if they might become a client or employer.

LinkedIn Apps you can use for Travel

Trip It - The Forgotten App

Use the “My Travel” app (TripIt) – to let people in your network know where you are going to be so they can contact YOU for a meeting.
If they won’t or don’t respond to you on LinkedIn, send them an @message on Twitter using the Tweets application.
Use LinkedIn signal to start a conversation with a local.

Did I leave something out? Please let me know below.

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Tags: How to use LinkedIn when you travel, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Tips, LinkedInExpert, Travel, TripIt

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/10-ways-to-use-linkedin-when-you-travel/

Where in the World – Are You?

Categories:

LinkedIn Tips

July 19, 2011

by VivekaVonRosen

July 19, 2011

LinkedIn Location

Have you checked out your “Experience” section on LinkedIn lately?

They have a new field for “Location” and its completely user-generated. So while I recommend you put the locations you work: “Fort Collins, Front Range, Greater Denver Area” you can also put “In computers everywhere!”

I think for those of you who have Brick and Mortar businesses or work with a strong local audience, this section might help with your find-ability. Since LinkedIn only allows you to pop in one zip code in the Headline section, this will allow those of you who have a greater travel circumference to reach more people.

It will also be useful for people who work for companies that might be based in Boston, but you work locally. You can certainly let people know that as well.

So time to get back to you profile and update your locations! Its as easy as 1…2…3…

1. Edit profile

2. Scroll down to experience and click on edit

3. Add locations

There’s your tip of the day!

Let me know what happens for you.

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Tags: Help on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Expert, LinkedIn Locations, LinkedIn profile optimization, LinkedIn Tips, LinkedIn's Experience sections, LinkedInExpert

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/where-in-the-world-%e2%80%93-are-you/

Are you using LinkedIn Answers?

Categories:

LinkedIn Answers

May 30, 2011

by VivekaVonRosen

May 30, 2011

LinkedIn Answers:

An information and relationship-building goldmine!

Tuesday (June 1st) during the #LinkedInChat, we will be talking about LinkedIn Answers. Here’s some homework for you

LinkedInChat on LinkedInAnswers

Q1) Have you used LinkedIn Answer?

Q2) How have you used LinkedIn Answers?

Q3) Have you ever use LinkedIn Answers to develop or deepen a LinkedIn relationship?

Q4) Do you find LinkedIn Answers a useful tool?

Q5) Have you ever received a best answer?

Steve Cassady, a regular (and occasional co-moderator) of the LinkedInChat has this to say about answers:

I think Linkedin Answers is a great tool:

- - It helps build credibility when you get credit for expertise on Best Answers. One point I would like to make is to ask relevant questions. Sometimes I see a lot of “non-brand building” questions asked for the sake of asking questions.
  - Be selective in the questions you answer. You always want to be seen as adding value and not additional noise. I see some that answer 50 questions a day. You wonder if they should have better things to be doing.
  - Answers are also a chance to direct to your blog or website for additional information relevant to the question. Don’t post a blog link just to do it.

A few months ago I wrote about using LinkedIn for “Blog Fodder”: LinkedIn Answers and Writer’s Block: Got writer’s block when it comes to your blog postings?

Open LinkedIn
Under “More” click on “Answers”
Go to “Advanced Answer Search”
Type in a keyword of something you know something about (i.e. LinkedIn, OD, Project Management, IP, etc.)
Take a look at the questions being asked about your area of expertise
Open an interesting question
Answer it in your blog – OR – see if you’ve already answered it in a blog
Use the text from your blog to answer the question – and add the link (and because it will be so thoughtful and useful you might get the “expert” rating from the question poster!)

>>>> If you are a prolific blogger – you might just check for questions you’ve already answered and just post your answers with a link to your blog, driving traffic to your website and positioning yourself as a SME (Subject Matter Expert)

But LinkedIn Answers is also good to – well – get answers. Last week during out #LinkedInChat (Tuesday evenings at 5 PM PST) @RBeland (Rob) asked “If it was kosher to give away a free offer, giveaway/promo to build a group’s membership?” I had my own opinion, but since another chatter asked about public vs private questions and answers, I decided to show by example by posting a public question.

(This is how you post a public question:)

Go to “More”
“Answers”
“Ask Question”
“Add details”
“Categorize (choose the closest category - it won’t be perfect)
“Ask Question”
SKIP sending it to individuals

The responses were immediate and varied. It even sparked a private conversation with Dave Maskin, who is someone I often reference as a master of the LinkedIn Answer. So not only did we get some good answers for our folks on the LinkedInChat, but I was able to deepen a personal relationship with someone I consider to be a LinkedIn SME.

The other thing you’ll notice with Answers is, like Groups, you can interrelate with individuals you are not directly connected with – so if you are actively trying to build relationships, this might be an excellent place to source strategic partners and referral partners. Maybe even clients (but be very careful with this and let them come to you)

And just FYI, here were some of the answers to Ben’s question:

Do you think its kosher to give away a free offer, giveaway/promo to build a group’s membership?

Steve Cassady:

I think it is fine to offer a giveaway or promotion to build a group’s membership. To maximize the value, it should be consistent with the group’s brand or purpose and should reinforce the group. For example, I see a lot of IPAD give aways. I think it would be cool to bundle in related E-books consistent with groups purchase.

I would also want to make sure that you have seeded your group with some key contributors. You will want newcomers to see an active group with pertinent content. You don’t want to spend money on getting people to join a “shell of a group” just to get a prize. You want them to keep coming back, so have good content available when they arrive.

Dewoun Hayes MAED, CAP:

There are pros and cons to giving away something to build a membership. One pro is just that, you can increase the membership size, but the con is that the individual or individuals who receive the freebie will have a different sense of value of the group versus someone who joined the group because they wanted to or had a passion to participate. Which asks the question, how long will the individual remain in the group?   If you wish to have giveaways, give incentives to members already in the group who bring in new people. This motivates people to spread the word about the group and also gives them a reward for doing so. Then people who join based on the suggestion from a member will value the group and what it is about as opposed to joining because they received a cool gift.

Mark Secko:

Hi Viveka.   My answer would be why not? If you are not being deceitful in any way, sure. I would have some literature stating why someone should join your association. For example, do you have some big name clients in your association? If their competitor is part of your association, I would DEFINITELY name drop them. Everyone wants to know what their competitors are up to. Viveka, I hope this helps.

>>>>>>Notice Mark’s repeated use of my name – great relationship building technique J

Dave Maskin;

If someone is that desperate to build group membership… the group in question should be suspect…

Christine Hueber;

It depends on what kind of membership you want to build, Viveka.

Greg Poulos;

So long as you don’t mix your meats and dairy, I think so.

Bernard Gore;

Sure, it is a good and entirely acceptable idea. With the vast number of groups often competing or at least overlapping it is a good idea to do anything to distinguish yours, this benefits the group and all the potential members – clear win-win.

Mike McRitchie;

It all depends on if you make enough money on the back end products/services. If it doesn’t pay…why give something away?

Reno Lovison;

What group? Where” What are you giving? Maybe I’ll join.

Swallow, Alexander:

Great answer Greg Poulos! I was thinking something similar.

Cristina Falcão:

Why not, as long as you know what you want to attain with a larger membership?

Nancy Fulton:

Of course. Your job is to serve the group, right?