Category Archives: LinkedIn
LinkedIn Launches New iPad App
by Sarah Mansouri on May 1, 2012 | no comments
in LinkedIn, Social Media
The world’s leading professional networking site, LinkedIn, has recently launched its first iPad application. With more than 150 million users in 200 countries, the site’s long awaited app creates an easy way to stay linked in with professional connections. For those of us who have only used the LinkedIn website, the new app is a pleasant surprise as it displays simple visuals and quick tools to check updates and messages. The redesign creates a sort of “social news” feel and aims for its users to check in throughout the work day.
The central home screen provides users with three simple options: Updates, Profile, and Inbox. The “Updates” portion of the app is comparative to Flipboard, a social networking aggregation which collects content of social media and other websites and presents it in magazine format allowing users to simply “flip” through their social-networking feeds. LinkedIn users are able to flip through their friends’ stories and updates and even check the local weather.
The “Profile” option on the app is where you can view your own profile, update your status and see who has recently viewed your profile. This section of the app also allows members to send invitations to connect with other LinkedIn users.
Finally, the “Inbox” is where you will find messages sent by connections, along with connection requests. The app’s tools allow for simple follow up messages and initiation of new conversations.
The app’s new calendar feature is also able to pull information from your existing Google Calendar or Exchange calendar and display profile information for the people you’re meeting with.
As mobile devices continue to become more and more prevalent, sites such as LinkedIn will flourish as users move to use apps as a quicker and easier way to check-in on social networking sites. What do you think of the new iPad app? Let us know in the comments section!
The Best Book Yet on LinkedIn and How to “Work It”
by Paula Lovell on September 1, 2011 | 3 comments
in LinkedIn, Networking, Social Media
I’ve read books on social media ‘til I’m blue in the face. Most of them are a waste of time and have a shelf life of about 15 minutes since everything Internet is moving so swiftly. Wayne Breitbarth’s book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success is different.
Many people in my age bracket and at my stage in their career (that’s all I’m going to say about that!) are scratching their heads about the real value of LinkedIn. I’ve heard more than a few of our PR firm’s clients say things like, “I’m on LinkedIn, but I don’t know what to do with it,” and I felt the same way. Little did I know.
Breitbarth’s book is chock full of really (and I mean really) useful tips and practical ways to manage your LinkedIn account so that it actually produces for you. Produces what, you ask? Business connections and business leads.
The book explains the value and impact of recommendations (think keyword searchable
and rankings) as well as how to politely acquire them. There’s a great chapter on “hyperlinks to hot leads,” and another on how to find your customers. One of my favorite tips is to simply think about the keywords your potential customers would have in their profiles and use the Advanced People Search function, including a geographic radius around your zip code, to find those individuals. Once you find them, Breitbarth tells you how to properly reach out and get connected through, of course, one of your first-level connections.
There are 20 chapters of worthwhile reading in this little book. It’s an eloquently simple guidebook for those of us who used to think LinkedIn would die on the vine. Are you maximizing the power of LinkedIn? Do you have any success stories you can share?
Hardware Store Bill Hears a Tweet
by Scott McIntosh on July 7, 2011 | no comments
in Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter
A friend of mine and I were discussing social media the other day over lunch at a local pub. My friend’s name is Bill and he isn’t a fan of any of the new media services. Bill runs a nearby hardware store that is trying to offer better customer service to beat the big name wholesalers. He asked me to join him to discuss some of his marketing options and, of course, I brought up social media.
Bill said, “Scott, I just don’t see the point of it and I don’t have the time or resources unless I can see what the return on investment will be.”
I responded with, “Bill, it’s not the return on investment you should be worried about but the return on ignorance. Your customers are online, they are talking, and if you want to provide the best customer service possible, you should be listening to what they are saying.”
Bill took a sip of his beer and sat back slowly in his chair with his arms crossed. He pondered what I said for a moment before shaking his head and saying, “Nope, I just don’t see the value.”
Just then, a married couple came in talking loudly and took a seat at the table next to us. They were a bit upset as they discussed what seemed to be a bad experience they had just had while searching a hardware store for the right part for a house project. Bill perked up and started listening intently. He smiled at me as he assumed they had gotten lost in one of the big name stores. Then the wife mentioned Bill’s store.
Bill looked stunned. He quickly turned around in his chair and introduced himself as the store’s owner. Bill asked about what happened and listened intently as they discussed their experience. Bill told the couple that if they revisited the store, he would personally help them locate the part and offer them a large discount. Their attitude changed and they immediately looked relieved. They thanked Bill and said they would be happy to return that afternoon.
Bill turned around to me and said, “Wow, lucky we were here or I would have never caught that.”
I said, “Caught what?”
Bill replied, “Caught that couple talking… Those are important customers, if I hadn’t heard what they were saying I wouldn’t have been able to fix their problem.”
I just sat back and smiled.
Bill looked at me puzzled for a moment until his expression changed like the light bulb turned on in his head. He replied, “Ok, so tell me about this Twitter thing.”
(This is a fictional story but hopefully a fun way to show some basic benefits of social media monitoring. If you’d like to learn how to monitor social media for your business, we’ll have an article going out this month in our email newsletter which you can receive by clicking here.)
New Law Pertaining to Photos Shared on Social Networks Worth Noting
by Dana Coleman on June 10, 2011 | 1 comment
in Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter
If you share photos on social networks, a new Tennessee law is worth noting; particularly by those who may occasionally have a thoughtless moment, or worse, a wicked mean streak! It amends an important section of state law that deals with harassment as a criminal offense in a manner that, as local columnist Brantley Hargrove notes, is troublingly broad and vague when examined closely.
The intent of this amendment to the law is undoubtedly to acknowledge the growing role of social media in our lives and to extend the protections against harassment that pertain to other types of communication to photographs and videos. It broadens Tennessee’s harassment law to include transmitting or displaying an image in a manner in which there is a reasonable expectation the image may be viewed by the “victim,” but here’s where it gets broad and vague. Among the acts that can legally constitute harassment is any communication, and now image, that causes the person to be emotionally distressed.
It would be hard to argue the victims of criminal harassment should not be protected from having their image transmitted or displayed by their harassers, but to Hargrove’s point, if someone posts an unflattering photo of me when they know it will cause me distress, and they post it where I’m likely to see it – on Facebook, for example – have they committed a crime? I suppose it depends on whether I attempt to press charges, but I’m sure you can see the issue here. A law that can be interpreted this broadly does give one pause and, as the Nashville Business Journal reports, some constitutional scholars are already crying foul because of the law’s First Amendment implications.
Following the possible ramifications of this new law to their furthest extremes leads to a simple conclusion and familiar refrain that can’t be repeated too often: Think before you post. Be thoughtful and respectful. Don’t use social media thoughtlessly and, certainly, never to strike out at others. It’s also a good civics lesson in the difference between “legislative intent” and the substance of our laws themselves as they often make it on the books.
A recent post by Lovell’s Robin Embry explores Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s desire to attract kids under the age of 13 as members. It’s certainly not hard to imagine adolescents using social networks irresponsibly, as evidenced by the known prevalence of cyber bullying. Obviously, the ongoing debate surrounding the use and evolution of social media is an incredibly important one, so please share your thoughts with us on these issues or other social media matters.
Getting the Real Power Out of LinkedIn
by Scott McIntosh on April 20, 2011 | 3 comments
in LinkedIn
Want to discover why LinkedIn is becoming one of the most powerful networking tools in business today?
This is part two in our series of posts on best practices for tapping into LinkedIn’s network of more than 100 million professionals.
Increase your connections and grow your network:
We all know that a large part of being successful in business is a product of who you know. So as you meet people throughout your networking activities in real life, be sure to reach out to them on LinkedIn as well. As you increase your connections on LinkedIn, you also increase your potential networking ability on LinkedIn. So if you are looking to connect with a potential customer or representative of a certain business, it will be easier to get through to them using LinkedIn if you have some connections in common. Plus, people are likely to have a higher comfort level and interest in working with you if they see you know the same people.
Let’s take a look at an example. Say that I know that the CEO of a large hospital company is looking to hire a PR and communications firm. I do a search for that CEO’s name and see the term 2nd next to her name in the LinkedIn search results. This means that the CEO I’m trying to connect with is friends with one of my connections. In other words, she is second in my network (as opposed to my actual connections who are first).
So I shoot over an email to my friend asking for an introduction to the CEO. Another option would be to contact my friend directly through LinkedIn’s messaging system. My friend says, “Sure thing, I just had lunch with her last week!” Now I’ve got a trusted introduction to a business connection all thanks to the power of LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, you can literally see and tap into all your connections’ connections!
Another added benefit of increasing your connections is that LinkedIn gives more value to a profile with large amounts of connections. This higher value results in a greater chance of popping up in the top of search results for your chosen keywords.
Remember though that LinkedIn is not a place to spam people. Many people think it is taboo to connect with someone you haven’t personally met. If you believe otherwise and want to connect with someone who you haven’t met, be sure to briefly introduce yourself in the connect message and include a short reason why you believe this connection will benefit you both.
Use Answers and Groups to bring awareness to your expertise and present yourself as a thought leader on specific subjects.
There is a huge conversation happening on LinkedIn inside the groups and answers section. If you want to be seen as an expert for your business and get discovered inside LinkedIn, you need to get in on those conversations.
One way is to sign-up for specific groups that relate to your business. If you are looking for new business, and most people are, you should sign up for groups where you believe your customers will be active. You can search groups using the search feature and remember that groups with larger memberships show up at the top of the list. You are limited to signing up to 50 groups (and you should sign up and take advantage of all 50).
When joining new groups, take some time to read through previous discussion and comments. You should always listen before speaking! You want to get a feel for what is appropriate before adding your opinions and information to the discussion. Once you are comfortable that it is the group for you, go ahead and begin adding your comments and expert discussion topics.
You can also browse through questions being posted on LinkedIn using the search field and selecting the Answers category. Answering questions is a great way to establish yourself as an expert on a certain subject.
You should use groups and answers to provide information that relates to your expertise and business. This may come from posting your informative (not sales) blog posts or providing an answer to a question based on your unique knowledge. As users read your content, they begin to see you as the authority and will remember you when they need your specific services.
So as LinkedIn continues to grow, using the techniques above will ensure your business grows with it. Have you had any success with LinkedIn? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Tips for Enhancing LinkedIn Value to Business
by Scott McIntosh on April 15, 2011 | 4 comments
in LinkedIn, Social Media
LinkedIn, the social network for the world’s professionals, recently announced it had hit a milestone. As of March 2011, it now has more than 100 million users and is growing at over a million users a week! That’s a lot of users! So what does this mean to you? It means more people and companies are using LinkedIn and if you want to do business with them, you should use it, too!
Here are some tips on how to maximize LinkedIn’s powerful network to increase your company’s awareness and gain more customers.
Optimize your profile page for better LinkedIn search results.
One of the most powerful tools in LinkedIn is the search feature. You can search everything on LinkedIn from people and companies to jobs and groups. So, just like you would optimize your website for discovery from search engines like Google, you need to optimize your LinkedIn profile for discovery inside LinkedIn.
Do this by first thinking about the types of words potential customers would search for when looking for whatever service or product it is that you provide. Then take those ‘keywords’ and use them as often as possible throughout your LinkedIn profile. For example, if I live in Nashville and am looking for an photographer for my wedding, I may search through people using the words “Nashville photographer.”
(Note: You can also refine your searches using the tools on the left side of the page. So instead of typing Nashville in the search field, you could refine your search by location.)
There are 708 results for “Nashville photographer” but I’m not going to look through them all. I’m going to click on the first couple of results, check out their profiles, and decide whether or not to pursue using them further.
So the photographers reaching the top have done a great job of including those keywords throughout their profile to ensure they appear first in the search results.
Don’t make it spammy though. Remember that those searching will hopefully click through to your actual profile and they’ll need to see some well written text that sells them on your potential.
Create a great company landing page that sells your business!
According to LinkedIn, “…Company Pages present an opportunity to reveal the human side of your company, provide a peek at the individuals behind your brand, and highlight how members use your products. Your Company Page offers tools to bring your brand to life.”
Your company page can be discovered through your personal profile or in the search results when people search companies (instead of people). So, just as you did your personal profile, be sure to optimize your company profile to ensure its discovery in the search results for your targeted keywords.
Once you’ve directed someone to your LinkedIn company page, you want to maximize customer conversions. So when creating your page, take the time to discuss all of your company’s abilities and utilize graphics where images are allowed.
Have you had any success with LinkedIn? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.
