I’m On LinkedIn – Now What???

Is LinkedIn Broken… or is it just a TOOL?

I read this post a few days ago: My Problem with LinkedIn.

The author (Tom Nixon) presents the idea that it’s not really “the social network’s fault,” it’s really our fault because we are using it wrong.

Tom suggests there are various types of LinkedIn users, including (see Tom’s post for descriptions):

• The Ding-Dong Ditchers
• Those speaking in tongues
• The Toe-Dippers
• The Naysayers

I agree that these users (not really users) are kind of spoiling what LinkedIn could be… but isn’t that expected?

If you buy a TOOL, how do you use it?

A house-builder would use it for one reason, an unhandy homeowner might use it for another, a child for another and someone who makes crafts for another.

A tool is a tool … just because most of the world recognizes a hammer as a device for driving nails does that mean it’s the only way to use it?  It can also be used as:

• a decoration in a garage/office,
• a paperweight,
• a camping tool (drive stakes, pound stuff),
• a killing device,
• ______?

Who’s to say the exact way that we should use a hammer?

Who’s to say a steak knife can’t be used to tight/loosen a screw, or unlock a door?

Who’s to say that we should use LinkedIn only to __________________________________?

Posted in Using LinkedIn, social networking | No Comments »

What do recruiters think about LinkedIn?

I’m always intrigued to see how a specific group uses or thinks about a tool.

Job seekers think about LinkedIn a certain way, while wondering if their target audience (hiring managers, business owners, recruiters, HR) will find them and see their stuff in the right light.

Recruiting Tools has a nice collection of LinkedIn posts that are interesting to recruiters.

I have to say, I don’t agree with the concept of many of them… like “get 4 million free contacts on LinkedIn.”  That *might* help a recruiter (it might not), but I think most people will get zero value from indiscriminately growing their networks to the million+ range.

Another one talks about a mailing app which, if I understand correctly, violates the ToS of LinkedIn and has the potential to get you locked out of your LinkedIn account.

There are really interesting ideas/concepts in these posts but I’m not necessarily endorsing any of the ideas/strategies presented… I just thought you’d like to see what recruiters think about this crazy/amazing tool.

The article, with links, is here.

Posted in LinkedIn for Job Seekers, Using LinkedIn | 3 Comments »

QvQ: Quality vs. Quantity: The Great LinkedIn Debate

I just saw a blog post by VirtualJobCoach (the first competitor I had with JibberJobber, and some very good people ) titled “The Trouble with LinkedIn: Bigger is not better”

In the post they argue that if you get a bigger network you are playing the numbers game and NOT “really maximizing your network.”

They are arguing that the value of LinkedIn (and I infer other networks, including offline networking) is greater based on the QUALITY of the relationship you have with the people in your network and not in the QUANTITY of connections you have.

There is a lot of merit in that argument… I have seen this debate for the last 4+ years on forums I’m on and it gets close to a religious war.

My response?  It depends on your circumstances, goals, etc.

Some people will get more value out of a smaller, very close network with strong relationships.

Others will get immense value from having a large network, regardless of the strength of the relationship.

Try to tell either group that they are doing it wrong… see how they respond :p

Here’s an image I created to show what this concept might look like:

The assumption is that a conservative connection strategy is full of high quality relationships and an open connection strategy (connect with ANYONE) is full of people you don’t know (low-or-no quality relationships).

I invite you to share what YOUR strategy is and WHY.  Are there merits to having one strategy over another?

Note that a strategy can be anywhere along that line… not just at either end.

(I have a whole chapter dedicated to this in my LinkedIn book)

Posted in Using LinkedIn, social networking | 9 Comments »

LinkedIn Security on Login

I just got a note about this and had to check it out… when trying to log into LinkedIn, after you put your username and password in, you go to a security page (I’m guessing they’ll streamline that later so it’s all on one page):

My first thought was DANG, one more step to login!  This will slow me down!

And indeed it will.

However, this shows LinkedIn (the company) is serious about the spam, and potential for spam.  Putting this in place helps keep bots, or programs that can auto-login, from the system, which hopefully means less fake accounts, less spam, etc.

I guess it’s the price of fame in the social space.  We all want the crap users to go away, and this should keep it down quite a bit.

But it’s like adding TSA to the airport process…. more hoops for us to jump through.

Is this a big deal or a good move?

Posted in Using LinkedIn | 14 Comments »

Why your communications (might) suck

I’m reading through the post on the LinkedIn professional headline and Peter Osborne’s great feedback to those who have left comments (I’ll probably close the comments in a while).  One thing that jumps out is … how to put this… BORING.

Why is it boring… that’s the question I’m asking myself.  Perhaps it is boring because it reads like this:

Jargon cliche boring jargon boring cliche fancy-pantz just-like-everyone-else.

If you have it in your professional headline, or your summary, or your email message, or your ___________, it makes you sound:

• like everyone else
• boring
• cliche

Jargon is useful in certain places (perhaps where everyone speaks the jargon), but NOT in marketing yourself or your product.

Go through your profile, and the last few emails, and your email signature and see how much boring, cliche jargon you are spewing.

Then, change it

Posted in LinkedIn Introductions, LinkedIn Profiles, Using LinkedIn | 1 Comment »

How often do you change your LinkedIn Status?

Maria Elena Duron wrote the post: Being Consistent In Your Brand Doesn’t Mean Be Annoying… it is a good read. She is talking about the frequency of your updates on sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

How much is too much?  How much is too little?

She throws out the number 15, in one day (presumably on Twitter).  Wow, that is A LOT.  Unless you have someone dedicated to social media outreach I’d say that (a) you are going to alienate people and (b) you are wasting your time that should be spent elsewhere (like pursuing deeper relationships, instead of spewing your kewl ideas all day long).

Her post talks about some ideas on frequency for Facebook and Twitter, and on LinkedIn she says:

On LinkedIn, my personal thoughts are on once or twice a day on status updates and then a whole lot of answering and asking of questions along with participation in groups. I’ll defer to my esteemed colleague, Jason Alba, author of “I’m on LinkedIn – Now What?” as he knows that network well and more specifically provide greater direction there.

I would never recommend you have a strategy that ties you to once a day, or more than once a day.  I think it’s okay to do it once a day on LinkedIn, but I wouldn’t do it more unless there was some really important stuff to share.  Even then, can’t it wait until tomorrow?

If you want to be front-and-center on LinkedIn I think anywhere between once a day and once a week is FINE.  Don’t do it too often… if you want to do it more encourage your LI network to follow you on Twitter (which is what Twitter is made for).

She also suggestions “a whole lot of” questions and group participation.

Again, I think you can overdo this…

Check out this brilliant post by Scott Allen: It’s Time to Practice a Little Selfish Networking.

Some times you can have too much of a “good” thing… the danger is when you let this get in the way of what you should be doing…

Posted in LinkedIn Answers, LinkedIn Groups, Using LinkedIn | 6 Comments »

How to share a LinkedIn Group

Here’s a question I just got:

I am finding it hard to find the URL for the two groups that I manage so I can email this on to prospective members. The only URL I come across is when I click on send invitations and the URL is at the bottom of the left-hand column.

Is this the best that LinkedIn offers? Is there not just a general URL for each group’s home page rather than having to invite people to register?

This used to be easy, in a messed-up-sort-of-way.

Now it is even more messed up, but even easier (in other words, it’s easy to get the link, but it makes NO sense how they’ve done it, and why they removed the link from where it used to be).

Step 1: Click on Groups

Step 2: Mouse over the name of your group and copy/save the Group URL

Step 3: Paste the URL in something (notepad, and email, etc.) and chop off the last part (the part in blue below… anything after the “&” character after the Group number).

That’s your Group URL, afaik.  Test it with some friends (I did on Twitter and the response was that that was, indeed, my Group page).

Mine is this: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=59081

Now you can email that to people, or put it on a blog, newsletter, behind an image, etc.

Posted in LinkedIn Groups | 3 Comments »

“Know and Trust” vs. Networking

I have a beef with one of the perceived policies with LinkedIn.

Supposedly I’m only supposed to connect with people I “know and trust.”

Both of these words can mean different things to different people – not even going to go there.  Maybe Bill Clinton can weigh in on what “know” and “trust” mean.

Let’s just assume it means that I shouldn’t connect unless I have some kind of relationship, and the relationship has some mutual element to it (they “know and trust” me).

So here’s my beef: if I go to a networking event and meet someone for the very first time, I don’t quite know them yet, and I certainly don’t have any reason to trust (or not trust) them.

I’m not allowed to connect with them on LinkedIn?  WHY NOT?

How do we get to a point where we can say we know and trust them?

The relationship has to start somewhere (that initial meeting, usually).  The relationship nurturing continues with further ocmmunication…. lunch, phone calls, email, sending one another news clippings, etc.

At what point can I invite this person to connect in LinkedIn?

MY ANSWER IS: whenever I want.  Because I use LinkedIn to HELP me with the relationship nurturing.

I use it as a communication tool.

I think it’s naive to think that we wouldn’t use LinkedIn as…. this seems silly to even write…. as a NETWORKING TOOL.

Of course, this is just my opinion… what do you think?  Is it okay to use LinkedIn at an early stage in a relationship, or is it something that should be saved until later?

Posted in Using LinkedIn, social networking | 5 Comments »

LinkedIn Company Profile & Marketing Professionals

Recently I did a webcast recording for an awesome marketing company talking about LinkedIn Company Profiles.

The presentation was on how a company can/should market on LinkedIn, and many people gravitate towards what they think the most important thing is: setting up a “Company Profile.”

Right after I did the recording I found this post, The LinkedIn Company Profile: Is your company properly represented on LinkedIn? It is written by Viveka Von Rosen, who is a nice person, and does a lot of LinkedIn training.

She breaks down the Company Profile on LinkedIn, and presents some cons.  It’s an interesting read.

My position, though, is that most companies shouldn’t post their Company Profile on LinkedIn.

Before I go on, I need to reiterate that Company Profiles is a goldmine of information… but it’s more valuable to the person looking at the company than the company itself.

If a company wants to market on LinkedIn I WOULD NOT recommend they do it with a Company Profile. There are plenty of things a company could/should do on LinkedIn, but opening up an employee directory is, I think, not a good tactic.

The goldmine is for salespeople who want to sell in, vendors, competitors, recruiters, job seekers, etc.  It’s a great place to get awesome information to get into the company, not necessarily brand the company, sell more stuff, etc. Here are some snippets from her post, with my comments:

>> “…it might behoove you to see if you have a Company profile on LinkedIn that you didn’t even know about!” [YES, I totally agree... go see if your company has a Company Profile.]

>> “…LinkedIn does little to control unsanctioned creation or editing of a Company profile!” This is a major security and branding issue that needs to be fixed… for now, it’s a loophole.

>> “Do an audit of your company!  LinkedIn automatically lists the employees of your company when they put your company name into their personal profiles.” [how bad is this problem?  LinkedIn, the company, can't even control it - many people say they work at LinkedIn and show up with LI as their employer... oops!]

>> “[Company Profiles]…can be a powerful channel for client engagement.” [I don't see how this can be... a powerful channel for client engagement?  If there is any engagement it is likely with the wrong people.... of course prospects can find the right person, and maybe it happens, but I'd weigh that against others who you don't want networking into your company... :s]

My recommendation for companies to market on LinkedIn?  More on that later

Posted in LinkedIn Companies | No Comments »

LinkedIn Professional Headline Critiques: Awesome!

Yesterday I wrote about LinkedIn Professional Headlines as a marketing opportunity and said you could put yours in the comments and “I (we?) might critique it.”

Then, I buckled down and went to work on some big deadlines.

THEN, people started putting their headlines in…. I critiqued three but had to get back to work.

That’s when Peter Osborne, creator of Consultant Launch Pad, jumped in.  Peter has executive experience and has written some very smart responses to people’s professional headlines… I still plan on going over and weighing in, but I have to get some other work out of the way.

For now, if you want yours looked at, you might still have a chance – leave a comment on THAT post

Posted in LinkedIn Profiles, Using LinkedIn | No Comments »