I’m On LinkedIn – Now What???

Why is there an impostor in my company in LinkedIn?

I got an email from a friend in Washington state asking why there is someone in her LinkedIn Company page that she doesn’t know.  This is a very small company, she is an owner, and she would clearly know who she has hired and/or paid.

The way you end up in a Company in LinkedIn is simply to add the company to your current (or past) employers.  In your Profile just say whether you do or did work there.

It’s that simple.

Here’s the company page for Oneicity, the company in question:

When I click on the “marketing engineer’s” profile, I see this:

I have no idea why that person put that company in their profile, but just by doing it they show up on the company profile page.

I think LinkedIn needs to put some kind of QA in place so the Company admin can approve people, and/or take people out…  on the other hand, a company might keep it too scrubbed (which won’t be good, and will ultimately negate the integrity of the information showing).

The challenge is not trivial… what would you suggest LinkedIn incorporates?

Posted in LinkedIn Companies, LinkedIn Profiles | 16 Comments »

Do I need a website if I have a LinkedIn Group?

This seems like a no-brainer but I’ve done a soft 180 on it since I read the email.

The question comes from Jennifer Armitstead, who just started a Utah County (think: 40 miles south of Salt Lake City) job club.  This is one of two independent job clubs that I know of here and I’m really excited to see how it rolls out.

I asked her what the URL was for the job club so I could promote it and she responded with this:

I don’t have a website set up for this. I figured that I could just use a LinkedIn Group. I hadn’t even thought of doing a website. Do you think I need one?

Utah County Job Club LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=2086511

Understand I’m grossly biased because my professional background runs deep in website development, intranet, marketing sites, eCommerce sites, etc.  I could not imagine a LinkedIn Group replacing a website for an organization.  In general, I think a volunteer job club needs a website – it’s free (or cheap) and is googleable.

Having said that, here are my counterpoints.  I went to the LinkedIn Group to become a member.  There are already 140 members.  That isn’t a ton, but consider this is quite niche and new.  I was impressed (I guess I expected about 50).

• This Group allows others to network with one another online …. if you meet at the club and join the Group, you can message one another, regardless of your connection.  You don’t get that from just a website.
• Also, Jen can message all Group members, so she essentially has a free email distribution system (like Constant Contact or iContact – but at no charge).  This is really powerful.  You don’t get that from just a website.
• She also gets a bit of viral marketing when people join the Group, or contribute to Group Discussions, etc.  You don’t get that from just a website.

It probably took all of three minutes to set up.  Of course you can do some of this with a Ning site, but you know LinkedIn is going to be promoted quite a bit to this audience, and people will get accounts (if they don’t have them already).  Trying to get someone to sign up for, or USE, a site like Ning is a stretch (I think).

So, back to Jen’s question… do you need a website?

Need: no.

I still recommend one – have one of the job club people volunteer to set up a kewl design and put it on your server… have things like time of meetings, locations, etc. but definitely, definitely point people to the LinkedIn Group, because of the functionality you get there.

Note: many job clubs complement their on-site meetings with a Yahoo Group… something to think about (but realize it brings the task of administration with it).

In my LinkedIn DVD I talk about the value of Groups, how to optimize your time in Groups, Group Discussions, communicating with Group members, etc. Order the DVD here.

Posted in LinkedIn Groups, Using LinkedIn, social networking | 4 Comments »

LinkedIn Tech Support

I am asked regularly (weekly?) how to get in touch with LinkedIn tech support.

Scott social-media-is-my-middle-name Allen wrote How to Contact LinkedIn Technical Support. He says:

“…it’s ludicrous that this even merits a blog post, but LinkedIn has so obfuscated the process that it takes a lot of digging to find it.”

Scott found it, has a link to it, and even has a lot of images if you want to step-by-step to get there.

He also has some alternatives to try, in case you don’t get anywhere.

Here’s the link to his post.

Posted in Using LinkedIn | No Comments »

In Transition? Can I find you on LinkedIn?

I’m looking for some people with sales experience to sell some of my stuff to organizations (I have some B2B products).

This is commission only (I know, I know, but it’s a healthy commission and should be an easy sale) and I want to find the right people who aren’t afraid to pick up the phone.

I think my B2B products (specifically, a new one that is rolling out in the next 45 days) is really, really cool.  I’ve talked to dozens of prospects and they are all, without exception, excited about the offering.

They also think the pricing is reasonable.

I think it will be a relatively easy sale.  And the right people on board will help me take it to the level it should be at.

Today I went to LinkedIn and typed searched for “commission sales” and “outbound sales” and got some interesting profiles… but there was one simple change I made that took me to the people I want to talk to… look at this:

I want to talk to people who I don’t have to pry away from a current job… and there are plenty out there… just putting seeking OR looking in this field, and changing the drop down to just CURRENT, got me to a list of people I want to talk to.

In this situation this will help these people have meaningful discussions… is YOUR profile optimized so that people can find you?

If not, get my LinkedIn DVD.  Seriously…

Posted in LinkedIn DVD, LinkedIn Profiles, Using LinkedIn | No Comments »

LinkedIn Training (Options)

Preorder the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD here.

I regularly get emails from my network about other LinkedIn DVDs or LinkedIn training sessions.  I thought I’d lay out some of them so you can compare with my LinkedIn DVD.  While the title is LinkedIn for Job Seekers, it is appropriate for entrepreneurs, businesses, marketing departments, etc.  This is principle-based stuff, so much of the strategy/tactics in the DVD and training will transfer to various circumstances (ie. being a job seeker vs. promoting a business).

The key to success in LinkedIn, and any social environment, is that you have real relationships with real people, not just use the keyboard to promote and pitch.

LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD (second edition) – over 2 hours of webinar-like instruction where you see my screen as I navigate through LinkedIn’s features.  This is not me just standing on a stage… you see my screen, watch my mouse move and get my instruction and opinions on how to actually get value out of LinkedIn. The list price is currently $49.95.  Yeah, it really is underpriced! Special preorder pricing on the second edition here.

Increasing Sales with LinkedIn – a teleseminar ($79) and CD ($148 + the live teleseminar) of the teleseminar put on by Sales Pro Source. I don’t know them and haven’t heard of their trainer. More info.

LinkedIn Best Practices and DVD – DVD ($77) and booklet ($37) by David Noir – combo is $97.  Very nice packaging  More info.

2009 LinkedIn: Recruiting Companion – DVD by Jim Durbin, a big name in the social recruiting space. $89.  More info.

Integrated Alliances training options – mostly in-person consulting and presentations, as well as webinars. Not sure what they charge – I saw one conference at $299, and one webinar replay at $47ish. More info.

LinkedIn Training – various training mediums by Chip Lambert, who used to be with Integrated Alliances. Prices vary depending on what you want. More info.

Patrick O’Malley’s LinkedIn training – I have seen his website a number of times – seems like a very classy guy and a great presenter. I don’t know if he has any “products”… more info.

Scott Allen’s LinkedIn services – Scott is my exec editor for my LinkedIn book.  He’s a sharp guy.  He offers LinkedIn Profile Makeovers ($150), LinkedIn Strategy Coaching ($250/hour) and “30 Days to LinkedIn Success” for $700.  more info.

I have done a lot of this consulting and speaking – love it… there are others – if you offer LinkedIn services feel free to leave a comment.

Posted in Using LinkedIn | No Comments »

LinkedIn Group Announcements: Harness The Power

Preorder the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD here.

If you own a LinkedIn Group you have a quasi-opt-in newsletter available to you at no cost.

A LinkedIn Group own can go to the manage page and “send an announcement.”  This goes to all of the Group members except the ones who have opted out… I think most people don’t opt out.

Similar functionality from icontant or Constant Contact costs money each month…. there are differences, of course, between the two solutions, and one isn’t a replacement for the other, but LinkedIn Announcements is pretty powerful as a communication tool.

You can only send one message every 7 days (I think that’s the limit), but that’s enough… your Group members don’t want to hear from you every day, anyway.  If they do, start a blog.

Aside from sending out the Announcement via email, it can get posted as a Discussion, even a “featured discussion,” where Group members can leave comments.

Have you done this yet?  If you are behind a company, group or movement, I encourage you to start a LinkedIn Group and use this as a communication tool.

Posted in LinkedIn Groups, Using LinkedIn, social networking | No Comments »

Use LinkedIn To Network OFFLINE

Preorder the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD here.

I read a great post by Laurie Berenson that talks about how sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that just because we are on LinkedIn (and Facebook and Twitter) we think we are doing a lot of networking.

The post is titled Don’t get tricked by these 3 job search blunders, written especially for April Fools Day.  I’m talking about her 3rd point.

From a job search perspective, it’s easy to HIDE in your job search by applying to jobs on job boards.  It’s also easy to HIDE in your networking by staying online.  But there comes a time when you should take it to the next level and do something more, like a phone call or a face-to-face meeting.

Use LinkedIn as a networking tool, not your total networking strategy.

Posted in Using LinkedIn, social networking | No Comments »

LinkedIn Stats, LinkedIn Growth, EOY Predictions

Ever wonder how big LinkedIn is RIGHT NOW?  I just got an email (that I suspect might be slightly outdated) that said:

Over 63 million members. Our membership is growing. Target the 100,000 new professionals that join each week.

So they are 63M this week.

They grow at 100,000 each week.

There are 39 weeks left this year… that means 3,900,000 new signups through the rest of this year… which means LinkedIn should end the year with 66,900,000 signups.

I’m guessing that is low and will predict it’s over 75M.

(what do these numbers mean?  Read Fake Metrics for one perspective)

Posted in LinkedIn News, Using LinkedIn | No Comments »

LinkedIn, Recruiters, and LinkedIn

I read a great post with insightful comments about recruiters using LinkedIn. It is titled LinkedIn – Just How Good is it?, written by Keith Robinson. Some of the interest lines:

“when we use LinkedIn we find that at least 20% of LinkedIn profiles are essentially defunct…”

“at least 40% of their premium ‘inmail’ messages are not read by the intended recipients within a week of being sent.”

“[people] build their profile and wait to be found rather than use it as a networking tool.”

“whilst 45% of candidates say they regularly use LinkedIn, only 5% have actively responded to a job advert placed on social media sites like LinkedIn.”

“when we asked candidates to indicate how they would go about searching for their next jobs, hardly any said they would apply for jobs via social media sites.” I agree, since that is not the purpose or design of a social tool…

“so the lines seem to be clearly drawn, with social media being a means of researching firms and allowing oneself to be seen by headhunters… whilst job boards remain the places where candidates will actively head to seek out a new job.”  I DISAGREE.

Read the comments for insights from recruiters.

In the other corner we have an article by Jessi Hempel on CNN Money/Fortune titled How LinkedIn will fire up your career.  That is a long but insightful article about LinkedIn and using it as a career development tool.  It is interesting to read that Accenture plans to hire 50k jobs, apparently 40% of them coming from social media.  That is 20,000 people hired from social media… that’s amazing.  The head of global recruiting, John Campagnino, says “This is the future of recruiting for our company.”

I disagree how the article says “Facebook is for fun. Tweets have a short shelf life. If you’re serious about managing your career, the only social site that really matters is LinkedIn.”  Using just one site is a mistake, I think…. don’t discount other sites where you might encounter hiring managers, HR, recruiters, etc.

Go read the Fortune article… it provides a seemingly biased but optimistic picture of why and how LinkedIn SHOULD be a part of your career management strategy.  It’s interesting to contrast the two perspectives – what camp do you fall in?

Posted in LinkedIn for Job Seekers, Using LinkedIn, social networking | No Comments »

Update: LinkedIn DVD

Wednesday I finished recording the videos for the second edition of the LinkedIn DVD.  It’s now at the video editing shop. I hope to have my DVDs in hand when I go to to a conference at the end of April… and ship out all the pre-orders before I head out.

Here are the sections of the LinkedIn DVD:

• Introduction – including some concepts and terminology to help you get more out of the DVD and your LinkedIn strategy.
• Home Page – so easy to overlook but usually opportunity to get value. I show you how.
• Profile: Above the Fold – First impression? Are you findable?  Is your Profile turning people off?  This section is quite valuable.
• Profile: Summary – so many summaries are INSUFFICIENT or BORING.  I tell you how to fix that.
• Profile: Below the Fold – More opportunity to brand yourself and increase the chance of being found, but so many people miss the opportunities.
• Profile: Applications – More than the 2 I usually talk about – what Apps are important and why.
• Profile: Add a Video - Step-by-step visual of how to get a video on your Profile (like you can see on my profile, or on Walter Akana’s Profile – you have to be logged in and click on the FULL PROFILE to see the video).
• Companies – GOLD!  There’s GOLD in LinkedIn Companies.  Learn why.
• Groups – Groups are powerful but misleading… learn what the value is, what to do, and what NOT to do.
• Jobs - I wish there was more value here… nonetheless, LinkedIn Jobs still provides an opportunity you don’t get elsewhere.  Learn what’s important here.
• Advanced People Search – If you aren’t using the advanced people search you aren’t using LinkedIn.  Don’t just get an account, look for key contacts!
• Communicating with Others – once you find a key contact, how do you communicate with them?  Here are the mechanisms and my formula for what communications should include.
• Recommendations – How to get them, how to give them.  What makes Recommendations valuable.
• Answers: Asking Questions – DO THIS.  Regularly.  Learn how to do it the right way and not become NOISE to your network.
• Answers: Answering Questions – Less commitment but still valuable.  You should be expert in something – prove it.
• Manage Your Settings – There are a few settings and such in here that you should know about.
• Browse Connections – Have you used this feature to strategically find more key contacts?  If not, you need to.
• BONUS: Now, 10 Things to Do – now that you’ve watched the DVD here are 10 actionable things you can do TODAY.
• BONUS: 20 Questions – 20 frequently asked questions, in a speed-answering session.  This was fun to do
• BONUS: Export Contacts – You should export your contacts… read this if you don’t know why.
• BONUS: Cleaning the Export – once you export your contacts you should clean up the file because, well, it’s a mess.  Here’s what you do to clean it up.
• BONUS: Importing to JibberJobber – You are a job seeker – you should be on JibberJobber… here’s what you can do with the imported file.

Have you gotten yours yet? Get it here.

Posted in LinkedIn DVD, LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn for Job Seekers, Using LinkedIn | 1 Comment »