Tag Archive: LinkedIn

Can I Have More Than One Account on LinkedIn?

Categories:

LinkedIn Company Profiles, LinkedIn for JobSeekers, LinkedIn Skills, LinkedIn Tips

January 17, 2012

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January 17, 2012


7 Ways to Deal with Multiple Businesses on LinkedIn.

Do you wear many hats on LinkedIn?

Whether it be from business professionals, entrepreneurs or job seekers, one of the most Frequently Asked Questions I receive is:

Can (should) I create more than one account on LinkedIn?

The short answer is NO.  Mainly because it goes against the End User Agreement (EUA) and if anyone turns your profile in, LinkedIn will suspend both accounts and if they are feeling generous that day, allow you to pick one.

Which means all the time and effort you put into creating your second account – all the people you invited, all the recommendations you received, all the work you did on writing your profile, will evaporate like so much smoke.  I should know – I created a second account strictly for training purposes (LinkedIn should have known this because the headline said:  “This account is for training purposes only”) and it was closed down.  At the time that account had over 500 connections and 10 recommendations.  A lot of effort down the drain.

So it is not a stupid question.  Many people wear more than one hat:

  • You might be a C level exec at a company but also have a start up.
  • You might be working for a company and want to look for a job on LinkedIn without your boss knowing.
  • You might be an entrepreneur with three viable businesses and one start up.
  • You might be a Mompreneur with a successful job and a hobby that pays  – in a different industry
  • You might be a student with vastly different interests.
  • You might be a musician and a teacher.
  • You might be an artist and an attorney.
  • You might want a profile to reflect you as a person and a profile to reflect your company (A big “no no” in the EUA – they have company profiles for that)

 So what’s a LinkedIn Member to do?

You are not going to like this – but you have to choose.  You don’t have to completely exclude your other interests, but you do have to choose what you want to focus your LinkedIn Profile on.

But don’t despair – you will have plenty of opportunity in the following sections to tell people about all your interests, passions and businesses:

  • Experience
  • Summary
  • Specialties
  • Contact Me
  • Skills
  • Interests

That being said -  your profile should be focused on the particular  job, business or industry you really want to highlight at this time in your career.  (You can always change it later – LinkedIn is highly editable!)

Let’s take this step by step:

Headline

1.  First you will want to create a headline that focuses on your main interest.  You have 120 characters here, so make it dynamic.  Here’s one I love from Danusia Malina Derben:

Unleashing Leadership Genius Mentor Selfmade Thrillionaire Parallel Entrepreneur Creator of a SuperBrood Talent-Investor

If that is too enthusiastic for you, something like this from Andrea Vahl, social media and Facebook genius might work:

Social Media Consultant, Strategist, and Speaker – Specializing in Facebook Marketing – AndreaVahl.com

 If your two interests have some synergy, you might be able to blend them in this section:

5th grade teacher & musician looking for an opportunity with forward thinking school interested in multiple teaching styles

Experience

Moving your experience to reflect focus and not dates

2.  Use “Experience” to fully define all your current jobs, but then use the formatting option of ordering your current positions, putting the businesses you want to focus on first.  In “edit” mode, scroll down to the body of your profile and hover your mouse over the job, then drag it up or down on your screen.  It will also re-order how your jobs show up in the “Top of the fold” section of LinkedIn

 

Top of the Fold

 Summary Section

3.  Use the  “Summary Section” to explain how your passions make you better at your job.  You have 2000 characters.  Use them wisely.

For instance, if you were a CPA, and recently passed your law exam, you might tell people how your 15 years in accounting will make you a more knowledgeable tax attorney.

If you are a musician and also teach school, convince people that your artistic talents lend creativity, fun and increased learning to your class room.

If you were an Engineer and are now moving into marketing, explain how your ability to visualize not only the end product, but all the details that create the end result fit together, makes you the person to put together a marketing campaign – up close and 30,000 foot view.

If you spent the last 12 years raising your children, let people know how your ability to schedule, juggle, entertain, manage, problem solve etc far outweighs a MBA!

Tell the people reading your profile what’s in it for them – why do ALL your interest and passions make you the better choice?

Specialties

4.  Use the Specialties section to list all your specialties-  not only those related to your focus business.  You have 500 characters.  My

Specialties and Interests - Comma Separated Values

interest in old Porsches got me a social media job with a Porsche restoration company in CA.  If I hadn’t listed it in my specialties and interests they never would have found my profile.

Contact Me

5.  If you want to use the “Summary” section to strictly feature your focus business, then use the “Contact Me” section to add more details about your passion (or other businesses).  If you want, you can drag that section a little higher into your profile body.  This is also a good place to put your contact info as well.  You get 2000 characters.

2000 Characters of Additional Real Estate

Skills

6.  I love Skills – stay tuned for a post devoted strictly to Skills next week – but in the meantime, use this “new” app to list all your skills – up to 25 – in your profile.  You can find the Skills tab under “More”

Interests

7.  Interests are just that.  ALL your interests.  Up to 750 characters.  The nice thing about the Interests and Specialties section is that they are highly ranked in the LinkedIn search algorithm, so whatever you list in these sections has a better change of getting found – and getting your found by the people searching those terms.

So that is how you can “hold” multiple jobs, interests and passions in one LinkedIn profile.  If you have any other questions – just ask!  Its your questions that help to create these posts.

Tonight’s LinkedInChat will focus on these issues:

Questions:

Q1:  Are you a business professional?  Are you an executive?  Are you a job seeker or entrepreneur?

Q2:  Are you representing more than one business on LinkedIn?  Where / How are you doing it?

Q3:  Do you have more than one product or service you want to promote on LinkedIn?

Q4:  Are you considering switching businesses or industries?

Q5:  DO you have more than one account

Q6:  Do you have a company page?

Q7:  How are you using your business page(s)?

 

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/can-i-have-more-than-one-account-on-linkedin/

LinkedIn: Comply or Get Spanked!

Categories:

End User Agreement, EUA, What NOT to do on LinkedIn

January 6, 2012

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January 6, 2012


What NOT to do on LinkedIn…

Recently my LinkedIn account was suspended – again.  I had already written a whole series on “What NOT to do on LinkedIn” so I thought I was being compliant  - but apparently not.  So here are a few more things I recently discovered NOT to do on LinkedIn!

1.  Don’t put anything other than your name in the name field.  Put only your first name in the first name field and your last name in the last name field.  A few years ago someone mentioned that for better social SEO you should put your keywords or search terms in the last name field.  I immediately made my last name “von Rosen: LinkedIn Expert” and enjoyed a few great days of Google visibility.  Alas, what I didn’t do was read the End User Agreement that states:

“Do NOT Publish inaccurate information in the designated fields on the profile form (e.g., do not include a link or an email address in the name field). Please also protect sensitive personal information such as your email address, phone number, street address, or other information that is confidential in nature”

Also, you probably don’t want your last name to read something other than your last name for LinkedIn connection find-ability.  If someone is searching for you by name, LinkedIn will have a hard time finding you if your last name looks like this:  Smith, PhD. John A. (johnsmith@gmail.com) LION 941-555-1555

2.  You don’t want to create more than one account.  I have had two accounts for several years.  My real (paid) account that I used for business and a free account I used strictly for training purposes.  Even though I informed LinkedIn about the two accounts and why I was using two accounts, they suspended both and made me choose.  At least they gave me a choice.

I often have people in class ask if they can create two accounts because they have two distinctly different businesses.  The definitive answer is NO, because even through LinkedIn relies on other people turning you in, eventually someone will and you will be forced to choose between accounts – which also means you will lose whatever recommendations and connections you received.  As of this writing LinkedIn does not allow you to merge existing accounts:

LinkedIn may restrict, suspend or terminate the account of any User who abuses or misuses the Services. Misuse of the Services includes … creating multiple or false profiles;

 3.  Don’t do any free marketing for LinkedIn and whatever you do, don’t call yourself a LinkedIn trainer or expert!  Even though I make it very clear in my profile that:  ★★I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH LINKEDIN CORPORATE★★

LinkedIn most recently suspended my account for: “Using the Services commercially without LinkedIn’s authorization, infringing any intellectual property rights…”

They told me:

It is acceptable to state that you train or have expertise in social networking sites in general, but we ask that you do not use the word “LinkedIn” in any of your position titles as this implies affiliation with the company. It is also acceptable to use the word “LinkedIn” in any of your position descriptions, so long as it is also not implying that you are directly affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn in anyway.

Which kind of messes with my keyword find-ability, but… what’s a girl to do?

Maybe I can just refer to myself as a LinkEDExpert (according to my dad, this is what I do for a living.)  I like it – emphasis on “Ed”ucation!

4.  One rule I will be breaking is “Don’t invite people you do not know to join your network.”  I figure that since LinkedIn’s Recruiter membership (for 10K+ a year) allows you to connect with anyone you want to, then I can very strategically connect to the few people I don’t know.

I get why LinkedIn has this rule.  It started out as an “Old Boy’s Network” and wants to stay that way.  A strategic circle of trust.  Ideally LinkedIn could keep spammers from infiltrating it as badly as they have infiltrated Twitter.  Of course if you’ve been on LinkedIn lately you’ll know its not working.

Spammers are everywhere. Some things to look out for:

  • Pictures of their family instead of themselves (breaking the rule “Do not upload a profile image that is not your likeness or a head-shot photo.”)
  • They all seem to go to Harvard or Stamford
  • They all are C Level Execs
  • Their profile is exactly the same (except for the name) as the previous 10 people who invited you
  • Their profile is barely filled out
  • They don’t personalize their invitations

If you are going to invite someone you don’t know to connect with you on LinkedIn:

  • Spend a few minutes looking at his or her profile.
  • Personalize your invitation telling them why you want to connect.
  • Reach out to them in an inMail or through a group asking first if you can send an invitation.
  • Don’t use your invitation to ask them for their business.

 

Here’s some more Do’s and Don’t’s from LinkedIn:

  1. A.        Do undertake the following:
    1. Comply with all applicable laws, including, without limitation, privacy laws, intellectual property laws, export control laws, tax laws, and regulatory requirements;
    2. Provide accurate information to us and update it as necessary;
    3. Review and comply with our Privacy Policy;
    4. Review and comply with notices sent by LinkedIn concerning the Services; and
    5. Use the Services in a professional manner.
  2. B.        Don’t undertake the following:
    1. Act dishonestly or unprofessionally by engaging in unprofessional behavior by posting inappropriate, inaccurate, or objectionable content to LinkedIn;
    2. Publish inaccurate information in the designated fields on the profile form (e.g., do not include a link or an email address in the name field). Please also protect sensitive personal information such as your email address, phone number, street address, or other information that is confidential in nature;
    3. Create a user profile for anyone other than a natural person;
    4. Harass, abuse or harm another person, including sending unwelcomed communications to others using LinkedIn;
    5. Invite people you do not know to join your network;
    6. Upload a profile image that is not your likeness or a head-shot photo;
    7. Use or attempt to use another’s account without authorization from the Company, or create a false identity on LinkedIn;
    8. Upload, post, email, InMail, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that:
      1. Falsely states, impersonates or otherwise misrepresents your identity, including but not limited to the use of a pseudonym, or misrepresenting your current or previous positions and qualifications, or your affiliations with a person or entity, past or present;
      2. Is unlawful, libelous, abusive, obscene, discriminatory or otherwise objectionable;
      3. Adds to a content field content that is not intended for such field (i.e. submitting a telephone number in the “title” or any other field, or including telephone numbers, email addresses, street addresses or any personally identifiable information for which there is not a field provided by LinkedIn);
      4. Includes information that you do not have the right to disclose or make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as insider information, or proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
      5. Infringes upon patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights or other proprietary rights;
      6. Includes any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation. This prohibition includes but is not limited to (a) using LinkedIn invitations to send messages to people who don’t know you or who are unlikely to recognize you as a known contact; (b) using LinkedIn to connect to people who don’t know you and then sending unsolicited promotional messages to those direct connections without their permission; and (c) sending messages to distribution lists, newsgroup aliases, or group aliases;
      7. Contains software viruses, worms, or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment of LinkedIn or any User of LinkedIn;
      8. Forges headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any communication transmitted through the Services; and/or
    9. Participate, directly or indirectly, in the setting up or development of a network that seeks to implement practices that are similar to sales by network or the recruitment of independent home salespeople to the purposes of creating a pyramid scheme or other similar practices.
    10. Duplicate, license, sublicense, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display, sell, rebrand, or otherwise transfer information found on LinkedIn (excluding content posted by you) except as permitted in this Agreement, LinkedIn’s developer terms and policies, or as expressly authorized by LinkedIn;
    11. Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decipher or otherwise attempt to derive the source code for any underlying intellectual property used to provide the Services, or any part thereof
    12. Utilize or copy information, content or any data you view on and/or obtain from LinkedIn to provide any service that is competitive, in LinkedIn’s sole discretion, with LinkedIn;
    13. Imply or state, directly or indirectly, that you are affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn unless you have entered into a written agreement with LinkedIn (this includes, but is not limited to, representing yourself as an accredited LinkedIn trainer if you have not been certified by LinkedIn as such);
    14. Adapt, modify or create derivative works based on LinkedIn or technology underlying the Services, or other Users’ content, in whole or part, except as permitted under LinkedIn’s developer program;
    15. Rent, lease, loan, trade, sell/re-sell access to LinkedIn or any information therein, or the equivalent, in whole or part;
    16. Sell, sponsor, or otherwise monetize a LinkedIn Group or any other service or functionality of LinkedIn, without the express written permission of LinkedIn.
    17. Deep-link to the Site for any purpose, (i.e. including a link to a LinkedIn web page other than LinkedIn’s home page) unless expressly authorized in writing by LinkedIn or for the purpose of promoting your profile or a Group on LinkedIn as set forth in the Brand Guidelines;
    18. Remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices contained in or on LinkedIn, including those of both LinkedIn and any of its licensors;
    19. Remove, cover or otherwise obscure any form of advertisement included on LinkedIn;
    20. Collect, use, copy, or transfer any information, including, but not limited to, personally identifiable information obtained from LinkedIn except as expressly permitted in this Agreement or as the owner of such information may expressly permit;
    21. Share information of non-Users without their express consent;
    22. Infringe or use LinkedIn’s brand, logos and/or trademarks, including, without limitation, using the word “LinkedIn” in any business name, email, or URL or including LinkedIn’s trademarks and logos except as provided in the Brand Guidelines or as expressly permitted by LinkedIn;
    23. Use manual or automated software, devices, scripts robots, other means or processes to access, “scrape,” “crawl” or “spider” any web pages or other services contained in the site;
    24. Use bots or other automated methods to access LinkedIn, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages, or perform other activities through LinkedIn, unless explicitly permitted by LinkedIn;
    25. Access, via automated or manual means or processes, LinkedIn for purposes of monitoring LinkedIn’s availability, performance or functionality for any competitive purpose;
    26. Engage in “framing,” “mirroring,” or otherwise simulating the appearance or function of LinkedIn’s website;
    27. Attempt to or actually access LinkedIn by any means other than through the interfaces provided by LinkedIn such as its mobile application or by navigating to http://www.linkedin.com using a web browser. This prohibition includes accessing or attempting to access LinkedIn using any third-party service, including software-as-a-service platforms that aggregate access to multiple services, including LinkedIn;
    28. Attempt to or actually override any security component included in or underlying LinkedIn;
    29. Engage in any action that directly or indirectly interferes with the proper working of or places an unreasonable load on LinkedIn’s infrastructure, including, but not limited to, sending unsolicited communications to other Users or LinkedIn personnel, attempting to gain unauthorized access to LinkedIn, or transmitting or activating computer viruses through or on LinkedIn;

 

 

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Permanent link to this article: http://linkedintobusiness.com/linkedin-comply-or-get-spanked/

10 Ways to Use LinkedIn When You Travel

Categories:

LinkedIn Tips

July 25, 2011

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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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

  1. Check out location specific groups on LinkedIn and see if you can connect with some locals that way.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. 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.
  2. If they won’t or don’t respond to you on LinkedIn, send them an @message on Twitter using the Tweets application.
  3. Use LinkedIn signal to start a conversation with a local.

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

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

LinkedInChat and the Social Media Facebook Chat: YOU be the LinkedInExpert

Categories:

LinkedIn Expert, Social Media, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Speaker, Social Media Strategies, Social Media Strategists

July 4, 2011

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July 4, 2011


Social Media Examiner Chat:

On Friday July 1st, Andrea Vahl of the Social Media Examiner asked me to do a stint as their “LinkedIn Expert” on their now famous Facebook Chat.  (If you have not yet attended one of these – I highly recommend them!  They take place every Friday at 1 PM EST.)

Since not all my Twitter and LinkedIn friends are on Facebook, I thought I would bring the questions and answers to you!  And then – because I realized there are so many other LinkedIn Experts out there – I decided to bring the questions to the  #LinkedInChat so that YOU all could answer.

So on Tuesday July 5th , Tuesday July 12th and Tuesday July 19th – I will be posting the same questions for YOU to answer that  I answered on www.facebook.com/SMExaminer on Friday.  And for those reading this blog who don’t do Tweetchats and just want a transcript – I have the questions and answers posted below.

Tweetchat:

We hold out tweetchat every Tuesday night at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST.  I usually hang out at www.tweetchat.com/linkedinchat – but you can use whichever tweetchat tool you most enjoy!

Here are the questions for Tuesday nights (So you can do the homework and be well prepared!)

Questions for Tuesday July 5th:

Q1:  How do I to build connections with people I don’t know on LI without coming off as some kind of creep?

Q2. Do 
you know of any surveys that include information on LinkedIn use by 
nonprofits

Q2.b. Can you point me to any nonprofits who are using LinkedIn
 creatively?

Q3.  How do you recommend marketing your brand or service without seeming like spam?

Q4: How to utilize/build engagement with a LI profile?

Q4.b  Is there any way I can build interaction with my target market?

Q5:  How can LinkedIn be used for Non-Profits that need to recruit donors/sponsors and gain funding?

Questions for Tuesday July 12th:

Q6: How can you link your tweets to post directly in your group or company page, so all your members can see them?

Q7.  What are some ways businesses can use linked ads to target for B2B?

Q8.  I cannot seem to get my head wrapped around how to use LI to promote our business to a geographically targeted market.

Q8b:  Is it worth it to upgrade from free to fee?

Questions for Tuesday July 19th:

Q8c: What are the real benefits?

Q9.  How do you get through the noise to make LinkedIn more valuable

Q10.  My company is very ROI oriented.  What do you recommend in terms of metrics and analytics?

Q11.  What are some of the best new applications integrating social media with other tools?

Q12. Would you share of few links or reference lists for “making the most of LinkedIn”?

Q13.  How often do recommending posting/ updating content on your linked in page?

Q14.  What are the most important not to be missed sections that MUST be used in your personal LI page and also for a company page.

 

Social Media Examiner Questions and Answers:

Q1:  I am into Social Media Marketing and want to know how to build connections with likeminded people as well as SM experts on LinkedIn. But I am obviously unknown to them. So how can I build connections on LinkedIn without coming off as some kind of creep??

Great question – I know LinkedIn says you should only connect to people you know, but I have found most folks will either accept or ignore (but not report you as a spammer) if you personalize your invitation and tell them why you want to connect.  You can always wrote something like this:

Dear (Name)

I see from your profile that you… Can I connect to you as a thought leader in that field?  If you feel you have received this invitation in error or simply don’t want to connect, please just ignore this message.

The best way to connect to them is through a group – or sometimes people have their email addresses in their profiles.  Never choose “I don’t know” a person. (LinkedIn will ding you for it).  If you do reach out to someone as a colleague, classmate, etc – just make sure you acknowledge that you know you are not..

Q2.  It appears that most nonprofits engaged in social media efforts take
 advantage of Facebook and Twitter way more than they do LinkedIn. Do 
you know of any surveys that include information on LinkedIn use by 
nonprofits (how that compares to FB and TW and/or how they are using it in its own right)? Can you point me to any nonprofits who are using LinkedIn
 creatively?

Excellent question – and I’m afraid I don’t really have a great answer for you since that is not my focus market.

Q3.  How do you recommend marketing your brand or service without seeming like spam?

  • Keyword your personal and business profile so people can find you – then its inbound and not annoying
  • Make sure you update with useful info – and keyword brand your posts – same as above
  • Join groups where your ideal clients hang out – again just sharing useful info so they respond to you.
  • Post and Answer questions in your industry – but don’t create a salesy and obvious question just so you can answer it yourself
  • Re-purpose marketing content using some apps (Box.net, Slideshare, Google Docs)
  • Carefully reach out to ideal clients – but just to get the phone call – NOT to pitch your product
  • Create a company template so everything is saying the same thing about your company in their profiles – that should get you started J
  • More here: http://linkedintobusiness.com/2010/10/b2b-best-practices-for-getting-found-on-linkedin/

Q4: How to utilize build engagement with Linkedin profile? Is there any way I can build interaction with my target market?

  1. Use the advanced search to find ideal client
  2. See if you share a group – if not you might join one that they’re a member of
  3. Initiate communication with them through the group (something in common)
  4. Ask them for a phone call once you’ve had a little interaction
  5. Ask them to connect

Q5:  How can LinkedIn be used for Non-profits that need to recruit donors/sponsors and gain funding?

Again – this is not my area of expertise – But I think engaging within shared groups might be your best bet.  Once you are connected to some ideal donors you can “tag” those connections and send them valuable and useful information they will find useful – NOT a sales call.  More here: http://linkedintobusiness.com/2011/01/tagging-your-way-into-toma-with-linkedin/

Q6:  How can you link your tweets to post directly in your group or company page, so all your members can see them? Right now they only post to your profile.

I really DON’T recommend that at all!  It’s annoying enough in a personal profile.  If you own the group you can post feeds – so you could create a feed with your tweetstream and import it that way.  But again I REALLY DON’T RECOMMEND IT.  Twitter and LinkedIn are a completely different culture.

You might try some tools like ObjectiveMarketer – it might work.  Not sure.

Q7.  What are some ways businesses can use linked ads to target for B2B?

  • Before you invest in LinkedInAds (and “Google” for free trial – there are a bunch of $100 certificates floating around) First use the new targeted (and free) banner ads in Company profiles – lets you create and target specific audiences with your company profile
  • Also – connect with @MilesAustin on Twitter – he knows a lot about this
  • Finally – use the LinkedIn option to create and test different ads. really, what works for Facebook Ads or PPT will work with LinkedIn – just be very very clear on your target audience.
  • Word of warning:   The only people I’ve heard that find LinkedIn Ads really work ore the folks who invest A LOT in them.

Q8:  I’m new to LinkedIn and just can not seem to get my head wrapped around how to use this to promote our business to a geographically targeted market.

Q8. A: Is it worth it to upgrade from free to fee? What are the real benefits?

Great question – I didn’t use to think so – but my mind has changed a bit since LinkedIn is further limiting our ability to connect.  At the very least the paid accounts will save you time – best case – gets you in touch with a client / partner / employee that results in more business!  More here:  http://linkedintobusiness.com/2011/04/to-pay-or-not-to-pay-that-is-the-question…/

Q9: How do you get through the noise to make LinkedIn more valuable? It seems the groups etc. are just getting muddled.

Yes – I agree with you.

  • I have really restricted what comes into my email box on settings – and I really only “listen” to a few groups anymore.
  • I also use the advanced search whenever possible to weed out some noise – with signal, answers, etc
  • You can disconnect from the worst offenders

I REALLY wish LinkedIn would restrict the ability to post ALL tweets.  Sigh

Q10.  My company is very ROI oriented.  What do you recommend in terms of metrics and analytics?

  • Great questions – there’s not much ROI on LinkedIn itself – although LinekdIn does have impression analytics in company pages and with the basic paid account there are some account impression analytics on the home page. 

  • Also Kout and even EmpireAvenue give some analytics – but really you might have to go with a paid service like Objective Marketer (Use code OMLIBPROMO for one month free trial)

Q11.  What are some of the best new applications integrating social media with other tools?

  • The LinkedIn Share button is nifty. They also have an “Apply with LinkedIn” button for job seekers.
  • A fab tool I recommend is Objectivemarketer.com
  • For more on LinkedIn tools you can visitwww.linkedinlabs.com

Q12. Would you share of few links or reference lists for “making the most of LinkedIn”?

Q13.  How often do recommending posting/ updating content on your linked in page?

  • I recommend once a day TOPS – hate it when people just blast their tweetstream into LinkedIn.
  • I play a lot within LinkedIn.com/signal – see what people are doing there and emulate what you think is successful

Q14.  What are the most important not to be missed sections that MUST be used in your personal LI page and also for a company page.

Here’s a post on Best Practices on LinkedIn (including Profile) http://linkedintobusiness.com/linkedin-tips-tricks/

‎1. Treat your LinkedIn profile like a website:

Make sure it is formatted, clean, and free of spelling and grammatical errors. I strongly suggest creating your LinkedIn profile first in a word document – not only so you can “catch” errors, but also so you can get a better idea of what your profile will look like on the LinkedIn website. In some sections of LinkedIn you can also pull in bullets and special characters. Alas – still no bolding or italics other than what LinkedIn itself formats. Another bonus, if you’ve already created your profile in a Word document, sections of it can easily be copied into other social media platforms to keep your branding unified.

2. Know your keywords:

Like any website, LinkedIn’s internal search engines weigh your keywords heavily in its searches. Make sure you place your most important search or keywords strategically throughout your profile. Some places you might want to consider are your

  • Professional Headline
  • Title Fields
  • Specialties
  • Interests
  • Recommendations
  • Education (Activities and Societies)

3. Keep your name clean:

Put only your first name in the first name field and your last name in the last name field. If someone is searching for you by name, LinkedIn will have a hard time finding you if your last name looks like this: Smith, PhD. John A. (johnsmith@gmail.com) LION 941-555-1555

4. Keep your photo professional:

I recommend a close up and a smile. A full body shot of you and your family, you and your car, you and that fish you caught last week is unclear and unprofessional. I have seen some artists use artistic renderings of themselves – which is clever if your image is still clear. LinkedIn doesn’t like logos.

5. Don’t ignore the “post an update” function:

LinkedIn’s update function is much more robust than it used to be (taking some tips from Facebook and Twitter). People can now “like” and “comment” on your updates – which helps to build relationships within LinkedIn. And with the introduction of LinkedIn Signal, the update section can now be a functional part of your SME (Subject Matter Expertise) and content strategy. Make sure you take a little time each day to “like” and “comment” on the updates of network as well. (*Found on the home page.)

6. Personalize your public profile URL:

Make sure your public profile reflects your name, your business, or your area of expertise: http://linkedin.com/in/linkedinexpert
Nothing says, “I’m a LinkedIn neophyte” like a public profile that reads: http://linkedin.com/pub/firstname-lastname9890734-akjshfiho
7. Personalize your websites:

When you edit your website, the drop down menu gives you the option of “other”. When you click on that, a new field opens up that allows you to type in your business name, website name, call to action, or description of your website. So instead of “Company Website” or “Personal Website” this section can read “Social Media for Women” or “Click here: IP Legal Advice”

8. Juice up your “Experience” section:

“Experience” is not your resume. Make sure the jobs you choose to list support each other. Make sure you put all your keywords in the title section.

9. Utilize the “Experience” description area:

Use the 1000 characters in the description section to tell people why they should hire you or your company or buy your product. Tell a “save the day” story. Put in a testimonial. “Experience” is a great place to list “wins”, different companies you have helped, seminars or workshops you have presented, a mini-shot of your personal website. Use this section as the foundation for your Company Profile

10. List your “additional education”:

Make sure you list your certifications and licenses as well as traditional education. LinkedIn has now added new sections where you can list areas of expertise, publications, patents licenses and certifications.

11. Get Recommendations:

LinkedIn tells you your profile is complete at 3. I recommend at least ten recommendations. And when you are asking for recommendations, give a bulleted list of what you might want them to say so that your recommendation is more than: “She’s nice”. If you are comfortable doing so, you might write a recommendation that the recommender can use or base their recommendation from. You might want to add some of the better recommendations to your website. Ask for recommendations form thought leaders in your field, old employees, and well-known clients.

 

 

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LinkedIn’s Initial Public Offering – A Compendium of Blog Articles

Categories:

LinkedIn IPO, Uncategorized

May 19, 2011

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May 19, 2011


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The Latest news on LinkedIn’s IPO

Reuters Photo. Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner as Market Opens with new LNKD offering

 

 

 

 

From the Horse’e Mouth:  The LinkedIn Blog on IPO:  LNKD: Changing the way professionals do business by Nick Besbeas

Today marks an important milestone in LinkedIn’s history – we started trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – following our recent IPO filing. Our stock symbol is LNKD (as you may have guessed from this post) and we’ve announced our initial public offering of 7,840,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $45.00 per share.

Love this By Rex Crum, at MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Technology stocks headed for an active trading session Thursday, as investors reacted to the market debut of online professional-networking company LinkedIn Corp.

LinkedIn’s LNKD +96.96% shares climbed more than 83% to $82.37 after its initial public offering priced at $45 a share. Read more about LinkedIn’s IPO.

Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple Inc. AAPL +0.01% , Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO +0.56% , Oracle Corp. ORCL +1.05% and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +0.63%

Find the original story here:  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/linkedins-ipo-takes-tech-sector-spotlight-2011-05-19?reflink=MW_news_stmp

 

Benjamin Pimentel of MarketWatch goes into a little more detail here:

LinkedIn shares nearly doubled Thursday morning in a strong public trading debut highlighting investor interest in social-networking companies.

LinkedIn’s stock LNKD +99.36% soared about 90% to $85.36 in early trading, as the professional networking site began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Propelled by robust demand leading up to its initial public offering, LinkedIn’s IPO priced at $45 a share, at the top end of a recently raised range of $42 to $45 a share. Previously, the IPO pricing range had been $32 to $35.

The Mountain View, Calif.–based company is seen as the first in what could be a wave of social-networking IPOs, which could soon include Facebook and Groupon.

 

The Guardian is talking about it over in Europe too:

LinkedIn shares soar after flotation:  Business networking site’s value almost doubles to $8.5bn as investors’ appetite for technology companies continues.   LinkedIn, the first major US social network to go public, saw its valuation rocket to $8.5bn (£5.3bn) after its flotation on the New York stock exchange on Thursday – $5bn higher than anticipated.

Shares in LinkedIn traded hands at $90 each in the opening minutes of its market debut – almost double what the company expected to earn on Wednesday evening.

LinkedIn’s stellar NYSE debut is the clearest sign yet that stock markets are in the grip of a new technology and digital media bubble, fuelled by the ever-larger valuations of social media companies.

The business networking site, founded by the internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman in 2002, raised $353m with its initial public offering on Wednesday evening, which valued the firm at $4.3bn. The firm last week said it was looking to raise $175m with the IPO.

LinkedIn’s flotation makes it easily the highest valuation of a US internet firm since Google went public in 2004.

LinkedIn has about 100 million users and turned a profit of $15.4m on revenues of $243m in 2010. At $8.3bn, LinkedIn is valued at 35 times last year’s revenues.

Though other social networks are far larger, notably Facebook with about 700 million users worldwide, the business orientation of LinkedIn’s members make them potentially more valuable to advertisers. The company managed to grow through the recession and turned profitable last year, having made operating losses from 2007 until 2009.

LinkedIn offered 7.8m shares at $45 each – well above its previously expected price range of $32-$35. Hoffman, the co-founder and chairman, and the chief executive, Jeffrey Weiner, offered shares equating to less than 0.5% of the company.

Some of the firm’s backers – Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs and McGraw-Hill – offered 3m shares in the IPO. LinkedIn offered a further 4.8m shares.

Other major investors – Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, which together own about two-fifths of the company – did not participate in the offering.

LinkedIn’s flotation is expected to spark a social media goldrush, with some of the internet’s most exciting – if not profit-making – companies going public.

Groupon, the online discount business which spurned a $6bn offer from Google in December last year, is expected to float this year, as is Zynga, the maker of popular Facebook games, FarmVille and CityVille.

The multibillion dollar flotations will also stoke investor appetite in Facebook, the world’s largest social network, which is likely to dwarf the valuations of the internet firms that have recently gone public with its IPO, expected in the next 12 months. The company was valued at $50bn in January but its privately held shares have since traded at prices that suggest it could be worth more than $70bn.

 

Here’s what Mashable had to say:

LinkedIn IPO: Is It a Good Buy? by Adam Ostrow9

Business social networking site LinkedIn is set to go public on Thursday, marking one of the highest profile Internet IPOs since Google’s in 2004 and spurring talk of whether we’ve entered another tech bubble as valuations for startups continue to climb.

Earlier this week, LinkedIn raised the price of its offering by 30%, in turn valuing the company at north of $4 billion. As WSJ noted, the increase was the biggest pre-IPO bump since 2000, when the last tech bubble popped. (As a side note, 63.67% of our readers thought Microsoft paid too much when it bought Skype for $8.5 billion last week).

That said, LinkedIn does have significant revenue ($243 million last year), is still growing quite fast and is increasingly profitable, something that can’t be said for many of the dotcoms of yesteryear. Here’s how its likely price to revenue ratio stacks up to some other publicly traded Internet companies (data via Yahoo! Finance):

  • RenRen: 65.2
  • Baidu: 33.1
  • LinkedIn: 16.4
  • Salesforce.com: 10.4
  • Google: 5.5
  • Demand Media: 4.4

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LinkedIn Company Search Analytics Have Changed

Categories:

LinkedIn, LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn Company Profiles, LinkedIn Connection Tags, LinkedIn Tips

March 15, 2011

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March 15, 2011


Company Search Analytics

Things on LinkedIn that make me nervous!

My inbox has been flooded by people asking me why their companies no longer turn up in the Company Search – even under their own name.  And the short answer is – I don’t know why.  I’ve spoken with other experts and none of us has the answer.

When you query LinkedIn, the response goes something like this:  “Searches are usually done by geography and by (X number) of (industry specialists) in the US.  It makes SEO a huge business. My suggestion is to find and hire a consultant. Your account has no technical problems.”

But the fact is I probably have one of the best SEO’d personal and company profiles (its what I do for a living) and I have disappeared.  So have many of the other experts in my field.

  • I know its not SEO.
  • LinkedIn also suggests it’s the size of your network – but I have 20+ Million folks in my network so that’s not it.
  • I have a paid account, so that’s not it.
  • I’ve been on LinkedIn for 5 years, so that’s no it.

My guess is it might have something to do with the new Google Analytics – but I don’t know how that could possibly effect such a change WITHIN LinkedIn.

Company Home Search VS Search Company... Really????

What is interesting is that if you search under “Companies Home” as opposed to the  “Search Companies” field – you will get better results – even with keywords.  I always thought it was the same search, but apparently not!  As one of the LinkedIn Reps let me know:  “Really the one up top (search) is the shortened version of what is available on the full pages. The system is optimized for the type ahead functionality to select from a list. When you use the search box as you have it is searching anything about that company not just company name.”  No answer for why the change in results – but its something I suppose.  As I learn more I will let you know!

In the meantime, its now more important than ever to actually start connecting with your network.  Here are some tips:

  • Make sure you TAG your connections so you can more easily create and execute a communications campaign
  • Respond to every invitation with a quick “Thank you for reaching out to me how can I help you best” letter.
  • Reach out weekly to 3 people you haven’t talked to in a long time with a “I was just going through my LinkedIn connections and I saw your name.  How are you doing and what are you up to lately?” letter.
  • Reach out weekly to 3 people you don’t know with a “I was going through my connections and saw your profile.  I know we don’t know each other well, so I would love to know what you do.  Who is your best client?  How can I help you?  If I can ever refer anyone to you, please let me know” letter
  • Showcase your expertise in “Answers” to draw people to you (Check out Dave Maskin and Christine Hueber to see how to do it like an expert.)

"Answers" Experts!

  • Really engage with others in your groups – did you know there is a keyword search within the “members” section of your groups?

As the old AT&T Slogan goes – you gotta “reach out and touch someone”.

Stay tuned for more about the new search analytics turning LinkedIn users on their heads!

 

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Please Join Michele Price and Me on Women In Business Radio

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Uncategorized

February 27, 2011

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February 27, 2011


Women In Biz Radio w/ Michele Price

Woot!  I’m thrilled to be a guest on Michele Price‘s Women In Business Radio to discuss LinkedIn and how you can use it effectively in your B2B business.

Michele has had some amazing speakers on her Breakthrough Business Strategies Radio show.  Her popular weekly broadcast has featured famous business authors such as Neal Schaffer,  Tony Hsieh of Zappos, author of “Flip the Funnel” Joseph Jaffe, and author of “UnMarketing” Scott Stratten.  The broadcast gives listeners the chance to ask the experts questions in advance as well as tweet them out during the live broadcast.

Michele herself is no newbie to social media and is a peer who has amassed a lot of success in both speaking as well as consulting not only on social media but also on one’s personal or business online presence.

The theme of my show with Michele will be based around LinkedIn and my LinkedIn for B2B ebook, for which I will be giving away to our lucky listeners!  For full details, make sure to visit Michele’s BlogTalk radio page here.

 

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How Do I Delete a Connection on LinkedIn?

Categories:

Communications Strategies, Connections, LinkedIn Tips, Removing Connections on LinkedIn

January 6, 2011

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January 6, 2011


Deleting connections on LinkedIn can be a little tricky  – so I shot a really quick video to show you how to do it:

  1. Go to “Contacts”
  2. Click on “Remove Connections” (this is where it is tricky because it feels like you should click on the person and then remove connection)
  3. Choose the letter of the alphabet of your connection’s last name
  4. Find them and check them off (you can do up to 200 at a time)
  5. Click on Remove Connections
  6. Affirm that yes, you really do want to remove them

ONCE YOU REMOVE SOMEONE YOU CAN NEVER INVITE THEM TO CONNECT AGAIN, so make sure you really really really want to remove them

LinkedIn will not tell them you have removed them, they will just no longer have direct access to you.

Unfortunately, if you remain in their network (2nd, 3rd or share a group) they will still be able to see your profile.  To see if they are connected to you, go to their profile and see the number next to their name.

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LinkedIn Tip of the Day: Answers for Blog Fodder

Categories:

LinkedIn and your Blog, LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn Strategies, LinkedIn Tips, Uncategorized

December 26, 2010

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December 26, 2010


LinkedIn Answers and Writer’s Block

Got writer’s block when it comes to your blog postings?

Are you like me – brain shut down from too much eggnog and turkey?  Can’t formulate sentences, much less think of something to write a post about?  Well, let LinkedIn help you:

  1. Open LinkedIn
  2. Under “More” click on “Answers”
  3. Go to “Advanced Answer Search”
  4. Type in a keyword of something you know something about (i.e. LinkedIn, OD, Project Management, IP, etc.)
  5. Take a look at the questions being asked about your area of expertise
  6. Open an interesting question
  7. Answer it in your blog – OR – see if you’ve already answered it in a blog
  8. 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!)

So there you go!

LinkedIn Tip of the Day  – Bonus Round

>>>>   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)

Happy Holidays!

PS – if there is a question you have about LinkedIn, please feel free to email me and I might write a post for you with the answer.  So what questions about LinkedIn do you have?

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The Narcissism of Social Media

Categories:

Social Media, Social Media Strategies

September 3, 2010

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September 3, 2010


Social media can look a lot like this:

My story

I'm sorry - were you saying something?

My story,  my story, my story, my story, my story, mystory, my story, my story, my story, my story, mystory, my story, my story, my story, your story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, your story, my story, my story, my story, my story…

Did you catch that?

My story,  my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, your story, my story, my story, my story, my story, my story, your story, my story, my story, my story, my story…

And that’s the problem.  The narcissism on social media can run rampant.  And the thing is, the more you talk about yourself, the less people listen.

One of my favorite jokes goes like this:  “But enough about me, let’s talk about you.  What do you think of me?”

Facebook is terrible for this, of course.  Twitter has a few more Go-Givers, although in general the stream tends to be about the author, not the audience.

LinkedIn is a tricky number, because much of what you share on you profile is your expertise.  So it really is about you.  The thing to remember, when you are participating in conversations on LinkedIn (Groups, Answers and Updates) keep your ideal client Top Of Mind and formulate your communications as if you were answering their needs, their point of pain.

Updates:

Instead of:  “Read my latest blog: The Critical Manager http://wp.me/petQg-4y”

Do something like:  “Do have you trouble with your employees? Have you considered it might be you? http://wp.me/petQg-4y”

Group Discussions and Answers:

When responding to a group discussion, pay a wee bit of attention to the profile of the person who posted the discussion.  That will give you some clues as to if the discussion is based on a legitimate need of theirs (and if it is, might you be the answer to that need) or if the discussion is just another forum for them to discuss their expertise.  Listen!  Respond to their needs.

Tweetchats:

Tweetchats are an excellent place to showcase your knowledge.  I do it every Tuesday night at 6 PM, MST on my #LinkedInChat (Please join us).  And yes, I do post links to articles I have written.  And yes, I do regularly post tips on it as well.  But what really gets the conversation going is when I ask questions.  And then the participants start conversating amongst themselves.  And occasionally I can answer a question too.  Listening!  That’s what gets people communicating.

Facebook’s Wall

Do you spend more time posting to your wall, or commenting and “liking” other people’s posts.  Guess which one will build stronger relationships?  I automate my blog posts and foursquare updates to Facebook, and will occasionally ask a question I really need answered (Like who is a good local videographer, etc.) But when I started spending less time on posting, and more time on responding, that’s when the usefulness of Facebook increased for me.

Go-Giving

Finally, if you haven’t read it yet, please please please go and get Bob Burg and David Mann’s book “The Go-Giver” and “Go-Giver’s Sell More.”  It will change your life – or at least how you communicate.

I’d love to hear your suggestions as well!

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