It’s been a while since I wrote about LinkedIn, and the more I use the platform, the more I realize its powerful potential. But also, I get exposed to so many poor practices sometimes I LOL (only if no one is around… OK, I threw in the acronym to see if you were paying attention).
So I thought it was high time for another LinkedIn blog, this time on practices to avoid.
Incomplete information. Regardless of what kind of work you do or what type of career you have, LinkedIn is offering you a free search engine friendly web portal, a resume, a place to show the world what you do and what you’re capable of doing. So why not use it to its fullest capability? The fields that get the most attention are:
- Headline: fill it in as much as you can – the field is much longer than you’d expect.
- Summary and specialties: why do so many people have short summaries? Fill up the area as much as you can with an easily readable format (nobody wants to read a long paragraph – use spaces and bullets).
- Links: not just your company link, but also if you’ve been mentioned in an article, if you have written white papers, or if you have a profile on a company website. Make sure to name them properly by using the “other” option.
- Experience: highlight accomplishments as you would in a resume.
You can always check my profile for some guidelines, although I’d be the first to admit it’s not 100% perfect. And don’t forget about good formatting and especially keywords.
Hiding your profile. I don’t get why people do this. I guess if you’re the CEO of GM, you don’t want your info exposed, but if you’re the CEO of GM you’re probably not reading this blog, so for the rest of you, expose the profile as much as you can. If there’s info you don’t want exposed, just remove it from the profile.
Poor grammar & typos. This is so easy to fix and so many people still have problems with it. Drop all the content into a Microsoft Word to catch the spelling and grammar errors. If you're really bad at writing, there are now professional LinkedIn profile writers who can do this for a fee.
Impersonal connection requests. This is like walking into a bar and immediately asking for people’s phone numbers. If you’re interested in a connection, you should start it with a conversation, even a short one. There’s a “note” section in the connection request. Use it.
Recommendations. There are so many wrong ways to get recommendations it deserves its own blog, but I’ll make it short. Recommendations should come from people who know you or have worked with you AND have something nice to say. Not brain surgery, right? So why is it so many people get it wrong? Here is a list of the wrong ways to get them:
- Recommendations from strangers: this is not a joke, I recently saw a recommendation that said something like “I don’t know Mr. xxx but I’m sure he’d be good at whatever he does.” Oh, that’s really impressive.
- Recommendations from people who either don’t know you well or haven’t worked with you: I talk to a guy once, and the next thing you know I’m getting a recommendation request. Really? Needless to say I ignored it, but if this guy had waited a few weeks, he might have received a good recommendation from me.
- Not checking the recommendation for accuracy: LinkedIn allows you to ask for revisions before you accept the recommendation. Just about all of my recommendations either had typos, grammatical errors, or factual errors in them. Make sure it’s clean and crisp, otherwise it reflects negatively on you too.
Not building a network. Having a good profile is kind of useless on its own. The point is to build a network you can regularly tap into. I wish LinkedIn was around back 20 years ago – I’ve lost so many good college and business contacts along the way. Build the network and stay in touch.
Over-promotion. I cut people a lot of slack but some people overdo the self promotion, the service promotion, etc. Remember there’s a “hide” button on the feeds, and if people get sick of your promotions, they’ll hide all your actions from their feed, or worse yet, they’ll remove you from their connection list.
Unprofessional behavior. Does this need any explanations? With new LinkedIn features, even people beyond your network can see your comments on status updates, groups, etc. Keep it professional.
I can already think of 10-12 other things I can add to the list, but this should do it. Make sure to use all the features LinkedIn offers including the great applications and the groups.
If you have any funny (or not so funny) stories about mistakes people make on LinkedIn, I’d love to hear from you. Put them in the comment section.
Showing posts with label social networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social networking. Show all posts
July 13, 2010
April 13, 2010
Twitter bows to corporate advertisers, shuns average users: good bye social media, hello corporate advertising
Last summer Twitter made a lot of headline news for its explosive growth without a clear plan for a business model. I blogged about the company twice during that time, once to discuss their lack of revenue model, and another time when the company was being publicly dissed by VCs for… their lack of revenue model.
On Tuesday Twitter announced their long awaited revenue model.
The ad based program called “Promoted Tweets” allows companies to purchase “ads” for the search keywords so that their tweets show up higher in the list. Now businesses will be able to push their Tweets up higher in the feed, blocking out discussions by, say, dissatisfied customers, or during a major public relations fiasco. Toyota would have loved this feature during their recent recall.
In the next phase, Twitter will allow “ads” to randomly show up in the feeds for people it deems interested. So if I’ve Tweeted about my blog on Starbucks’ debranding, Twitter will decide I’m interested in Starbucks’ products and will randomly push the company’s promotional ads down my throat.
Good grief! This effectively wipes out the level playing field all accounts, whether individual or corporate accounts, had in the past. Good bye social networking, hello corporate advertising.
Since Twitter started in 2007, it’s shown phenomenal growth, with over 22 million unique visitors in March 2010, up from just over half a million a year ago. That’s an envious position for a startup, and of course there was a need for a solid revenue plan for the company. But this will change the face of Twitter as we know it, and I’m not sure for the better (I’m willing to be convinced otherwise).
The New York Times quoted Dick Costolo, Twitter’s COO as saying: “The ability of companies to engage with customers around this interest graph is more compelling than trying to wedge yourself into these social interactions.”
Really? “These social interactions” were what Twitter was supposed to be all about.
Before you know it, Twitter will be taken over by ads by corporate big-wigs essentially drowning out the collective voices of average users, and bloggers like me. Hey, maybe that’s what my beef is all about!
I’ve been quiet recently since I’m wrapping up major projects for two clients this month, and also tending to my mother who has been ill (we’re hoping she’ll be fine, thank you). But I’m already working on some interesting blogs coming up soon, so stay tuned and come back!
On Tuesday Twitter announced their long awaited revenue model.
The ad based program called “Promoted Tweets” allows companies to purchase “ads” for the search keywords so that their tweets show up higher in the list. Now businesses will be able to push their Tweets up higher in the feed, blocking out discussions by, say, dissatisfied customers, or during a major public relations fiasco. Toyota would have loved this feature during their recent recall.
In the next phase, Twitter will allow “ads” to randomly show up in the feeds for people it deems interested. So if I’ve Tweeted about my blog on Starbucks’ debranding, Twitter will decide I’m interested in Starbucks’ products and will randomly push the company’s promotional ads down my throat.
Good grief! This effectively wipes out the level playing field all accounts, whether individual or corporate accounts, had in the past. Good bye social networking, hello corporate advertising.
Since Twitter started in 2007, it’s shown phenomenal growth, with over 22 million unique visitors in March 2010, up from just over half a million a year ago. That’s an envious position for a startup, and of course there was a need for a solid revenue plan for the company. But this will change the face of Twitter as we know it, and I’m not sure for the better (I’m willing to be convinced otherwise).
The New York Times quoted Dick Costolo, Twitter’s COO as saying: “The ability of companies to engage with customers around this interest graph is more compelling than trying to wedge yourself into these social interactions.”
Really? “These social interactions” were what Twitter was supposed to be all about.
Before you know it, Twitter will be taken over by ads by corporate big-wigs essentially drowning out the collective voices of average users, and bloggers like me. Hey, maybe that’s what my beef is all about!
I’ve been quiet recently since I’m wrapping up major projects for two clients this month, and also tending to my mother who has been ill (we’re hoping she’ll be fine, thank you). But I’m already working on some interesting blogs coming up soon, so stay tuned and come back!
January 26, 2010
Poll results are in: how much information do you share on LinkedIn and Facebook social media sites?
Last week I wrote about the awkwardness of using social media, and I thought the comfort level had something to do with the amount of information people share on social media outlets. So I threw in a couple of polls at the end asking these questions:
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, how much information do you share on LinkedIn?
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, how much information do you share on Facebook?
Between 30 and 40 people responded to each question, which isn’t a huge pool, but big enough to give some indication of reality (feel free to go to the article to cast your vote – it’s still open).
OK, I was in for a few surprises.
Facebook results:
Although almost 30% of the respondents had no Facebook profiles, of the people who had Facebook profiles, over 80% said they share a moderate amount of information (responded with #2 or #3).
This was higher than I expected. Considering the blog is read by professionals, they seem to be surprisingly open on this personal networking site. My guess is many of them don’t “open network” on Facebook, but I didn’t ask that question.
LinkedIn results:
Everyone who responded had a LinkedIn profile, which surprised me a little, but I guess it shouldn’t since the blog is mostly read by professionals.
But here’s the catch. As the amount of shared information increased, the numbers dropped. This was a big surprise to me. If you have a LinkedIn profile, why wouldn’t you share your information there?
These are the scenarios I thought about:
- They don’t see the value of sharing information on their LinkedIn profile
- They don’t know how to use LinkedIn
- They only use LinkedIn as a repository of contacts
- They are very high level professionals and don’t feel they need to share info
- They have a misperception about LinkedIn (for example, they might think it’s only used by job hunters – I’ve heard this before)
I can’t think of anything else. My market research nerves are tickled by this and I’m tempted to start another poll but I’ll let the readers pitch in. Bring it on! What do you think? Let everyone know what you think of both the Facebook and the LinkedIn results.
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, how much information do you share on LinkedIn?
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, how much information do you share on Facebook?
Between 30 and 40 people responded to each question, which isn’t a huge pool, but big enough to give some indication of reality (feel free to go to the article to cast your vote – it’s still open).
OK, I was in for a few surprises.
Facebook results:
Although almost 30% of the respondents had no Facebook profiles, of the people who had Facebook profiles, over 80% said they share a moderate amount of information (responded with #2 or #3).
This was higher than I expected. Considering the blog is read by professionals, they seem to be surprisingly open on this personal networking site. My guess is many of them don’t “open network” on Facebook, but I didn’t ask that question.
LinkedIn results:
Everyone who responded had a LinkedIn profile, which surprised me a little, but I guess it shouldn’t since the blog is mostly read by professionals.
But here’s the catch. As the amount of shared information increased, the numbers dropped. This was a big surprise to me. If you have a LinkedIn profile, why wouldn’t you share your information there?
These are the scenarios I thought about:
- They don’t see the value of sharing information on their LinkedIn profile
- They don’t know how to use LinkedIn
- They only use LinkedIn as a repository of contacts
- They are very high level professionals and don’t feel they need to share info
- They have a misperception about LinkedIn (for example, they might think it’s only used by job hunters – I’ve heard this before)
I can’t think of anything else. My market research nerves are tickled by this and I’m tempted to start another poll but I’ll let the readers pitch in. Bring it on! What do you think? Let everyone know what you think of both the Facebook and the LinkedIn results.
January 19, 2010
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the social awkwardness around social networking
“8 pounds = 2 belt notches.“
That was my last Facebook update. Here’s another one before that:
“My mom told me last night her dream is to become a race car driver. She's 69. (go mom!)”
With these types of updates, and all the comments that ensue, who do I include into my Facebook circle? And then there are the family photos, the discussions, and the wall notes… you get the picture.
Whether you use social networking for work or personal use, awkward situations often come up that need some level of attention. I’m not talking about the horror stories, this isn’t about that. This is about developing a sense of normalcy for a new way to communicate. And the use of social networking has such high variance in subjectivity, that it sometimes causes social awkwardness instead of social networking.
Last week I had an email conversation with a total stranger that I’m not connected to on Facebook. After a few emails, instead of accepting his Facebook connection request, I sent him a LinkedIn connection request describing that I reserve Facebook for close friends and family (I’m a little more open on LinkedIn). This is where the intricacies show up about how individuals use social networking differently. His response: “I don't see the point in connecting here. I reserve this tool just for professional purposes and with people from my industry.”
Here’s someone who knows what he’s doing on LinkedIn, and his usage is clearly different from mine.
We all have similar stories. From those who make inappropriate comments on your status that hundreds of LinkedIn connections get to see, to the LinkedIn contacts who find you on Facebook and want to connect, to those who use your name in public forums that get picked up by Google search, awkwardness abounds with the use of social networking.
As more and more people join these networking sites, as a community, we’ll eventually develop a code of conduct that’s more universally acceptable. We’re just not there yet. But as an advocate of using social media sites, I don’t buy the idea of reducing their use, quite the contrary.
With that in mind, I thought I’d share some guidelines to keep in mind for use of social networking sites. Please share your own guidelines in the comment section! I, for one, can always learn more about this.
Know your boundaries. Know your boundaries on each site and how you intend to use them. The clearer you are about how you want to use these platforms, the easier it’ll be for you to stick to your own rules and communicate them to others.
It’s public – very public. In a lot of ways, social networking is just like regular networking… on crack! A casual nudge and a giggle at a face to face meeting becomes a full blown announcement at the podium on social sites. Whether on a professional or a social site, keep in mind that all your contacts and all the contacts of the person you’re “talking to” will see your public comments on their status updates, Q/As, and group discussions. All these sites, including Twitter, offer email access for more private discussions.
It’s subjective – very subjective. The way people use social networking sites vary as much as their personalities and their comfort level with these platforms. Accepting connections, communicating, and sharing information vary immensely based on the individual’s personality and preferences. Keeping that factor in mind clears up much of the confusion.
Twitter is on super crack. It’s much easier to establish connections on Twitter than any other site. And now that Google and other search engines are indexing tweets, exposing too much information or bashing others should be off the table – unless you’re a super celebrity, in which case you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog.
Cut everyone some slack. Despite the huge number of profiles on social networking sites, most people are not active users and may not know the little bit of the already established etiquette. Mistakes and faux pas are bound to happen, so let people know how you intend to use the sites, and let it slide.
Warm up before connecting. Just like face to face networking, it’s always nice to warm up to the other person before asking for a connection. Do you walk into a bar and immediately ask for someone’s phone number? Didn’t think so. (if you do, a clear distance from me is highly advised!)
Communicate. Unless you know the person well, a short introductory note with a connection request is basic etiquette. Also, if you’re the recipient of a connection request that you want to deny, it’ll be nice to explain why with a short note.
Writing this blog got me curious about how much information people generally share on social networking sites, so I created the polls below. I’d be very curious to find out the results, so please participate.
That was my last Facebook update. Here’s another one before that:
“My mom told me last night her dream is to become a race car driver. She's 69. (go mom!)”
With these types of updates, and all the comments that ensue, who do I include into my Facebook circle? And then there are the family photos, the discussions, and the wall notes… you get the picture.
Whether you use social networking for work or personal use, awkward situations often come up that need some level of attention. I’m not talking about the horror stories, this isn’t about that. This is about developing a sense of normalcy for a new way to communicate. And the use of social networking has such high variance in subjectivity, that it sometimes causes social awkwardness instead of social networking.
Last week I had an email conversation with a total stranger that I’m not connected to on Facebook. After a few emails, instead of accepting his Facebook connection request, I sent him a LinkedIn connection request describing that I reserve Facebook for close friends and family (I’m a little more open on LinkedIn). This is where the intricacies show up about how individuals use social networking differently. His response: “I don't see the point in connecting here. I reserve this tool just for professional purposes and with people from my industry.”
Here’s someone who knows what he’s doing on LinkedIn, and his usage is clearly different from mine.
We all have similar stories. From those who make inappropriate comments on your status that hundreds of LinkedIn connections get to see, to the LinkedIn contacts who find you on Facebook and want to connect, to those who use your name in public forums that get picked up by Google search, awkwardness abounds with the use of social networking.
As more and more people join these networking sites, as a community, we’ll eventually develop a code of conduct that’s more universally acceptable. We’re just not there yet. But as an advocate of using social media sites, I don’t buy the idea of reducing their use, quite the contrary.
With that in mind, I thought I’d share some guidelines to keep in mind for use of social networking sites. Please share your own guidelines in the comment section! I, for one, can always learn more about this.
Know your boundaries. Know your boundaries on each site and how you intend to use them. The clearer you are about how you want to use these platforms, the easier it’ll be for you to stick to your own rules and communicate them to others.
It’s public – very public. In a lot of ways, social networking is just like regular networking… on crack! A casual nudge and a giggle at a face to face meeting becomes a full blown announcement at the podium on social sites. Whether on a professional or a social site, keep in mind that all your contacts and all the contacts of the person you’re “talking to” will see your public comments on their status updates, Q/As, and group discussions. All these sites, including Twitter, offer email access for more private discussions.
It’s subjective – very subjective. The way people use social networking sites vary as much as their personalities and their comfort level with these platforms. Accepting connections, communicating, and sharing information vary immensely based on the individual’s personality and preferences. Keeping that factor in mind clears up much of the confusion.
Twitter is on super crack. It’s much easier to establish connections on Twitter than any other site. And now that Google and other search engines are indexing tweets, exposing too much information or bashing others should be off the table – unless you’re a super celebrity, in which case you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog.
Cut everyone some slack. Despite the huge number of profiles on social networking sites, most people are not active users and may not know the little bit of the already established etiquette. Mistakes and faux pas are bound to happen, so let people know how you intend to use the sites, and let it slide.
Warm up before connecting. Just like face to face networking, it’s always nice to warm up to the other person before asking for a connection. Do you walk into a bar and immediately ask for someone’s phone number? Didn’t think so. (if you do, a clear distance from me is highly advised!)
Communicate. Unless you know the person well, a short introductory note with a connection request is basic etiquette. Also, if you’re the recipient of a connection request that you want to deny, it’ll be nice to explain why with a short note.
Writing this blog got me curious about how much information people generally share on social networking sites, so I created the polls below. I’d be very curious to find out the results, so please participate.
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, how much information do you share on Facebook?
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, how much information do you share on LinkedIn?
December 15, 2009
Social media housekeeping during the holidays – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
As everyone gears up (or down) for the holidays, this might be a good time to take a step back and perform some housekeeping on your social media activities. Just like other aspects of your business, your social media gets outdated, collects garbage, and needs to get refreshed. I’ll be writing a lot more about social media in the future, so come back and visit.
Social media handbook
If your employees are using any form of social media, it may be a good time to develop a “social media guidelines” handbook for them (especially true for LinkedIn, where work related activity is more pronounced). You need to ensure your company is not misrepresented and your employees keep your image consistent with your goals, but check with an attorney to make sure you’re not stepping over the line.
LinkedIn
This is where most business social networking/media occurs, and it has become the de facto networking site to search for information on companies and individuals. Whether you’re cleaning up or catching up, set some time aside to take care of the following:
Company profile. Have you developed new products or technologies? Have you entered new verticals? Have you acquired other companies? Make sure your company profile is up to date.
Personal profile update. Check your personal profile and make sure it still reflects how you’d like to be presented. Did you perform new activities that haven’t been included in your profile? It’s the end of the year. You can review your 2009 activities and update anything that’s worth mentioning.
Contacts. I know so many people who haven’t connected to all their contacts yet. Someone I recently met told me he has so many contacts, he went through all the names up to the letter L, and never finished it (!). Make sure all your contacts are connected to you on LinkedIn. This is a good time to send a “happy holidays” note along with a connection request. Never send a blank request without a note.
Recommendations requests. If you performed a great job with a client, a partner, or a vendor, before they forget about it, make sure to ask for a recommendation. This is another one where a nice “happy holiday” or “nice working with you in 2009” note will come in handy. Once you receive this recommendation, you can also use it on your website, corporate presentations, etc.
Groups. There are new groups being created every day. Go through your groups list and see if you still benefit from all of them. If you don’t, leave the less interesting ones and join newer or more interesting groups.
Applications. LinkedIn occasionally adds new useful applications without announcing them. Check the apps section of LinkedIn and make sure to use the ones that pique your interest.
Q&A ratings. If you asked any questions, go back and rate the responses.
Twitter
Most companies are still confused about Twitter and how to use it, but if you are a user, make sure you have an informative “background” on your profile with marketing info, contacts, “links” (you can’t really link on them) and pleasing background colors. You can google “twitter background” and find a lot of free or cheap background pages on the web.
Facebook
If your company has a Facebook page, you can use it for a last push for product promotions during the holidays. But also with your “happy holidays” note, make sure to ask your followers to recommend you to their friends to increase followers.
As I mentioned, I’ll be writing a lot more in the future about specifics of social media. If there are any specific topics you’d like me to write about, feel free to let me know in the “comments” section of this blog.
Social media handbook
If your employees are using any form of social media, it may be a good time to develop a “social media guidelines” handbook for them (especially true for LinkedIn, where work related activity is more pronounced). You need to ensure your company is not misrepresented and your employees keep your image consistent with your goals, but check with an attorney to make sure you’re not stepping over the line.
This is where most business social networking/media occurs, and it has become the de facto networking site to search for information on companies and individuals. Whether you’re cleaning up or catching up, set some time aside to take care of the following:
Company profile. Have you developed new products or technologies? Have you entered new verticals? Have you acquired other companies? Make sure your company profile is up to date.
Personal profile update. Check your personal profile and make sure it still reflects how you’d like to be presented. Did you perform new activities that haven’t been included in your profile? It’s the end of the year. You can review your 2009 activities and update anything that’s worth mentioning.
Contacts. I know so many people who haven’t connected to all their contacts yet. Someone I recently met told me he has so many contacts, he went through all the names up to the letter L, and never finished it (!). Make sure all your contacts are connected to you on LinkedIn. This is a good time to send a “happy holidays” note along with a connection request. Never send a blank request without a note.
Recommendations requests. If you performed a great job with a client, a partner, or a vendor, before they forget about it, make sure to ask for a recommendation. This is another one where a nice “happy holiday” or “nice working with you in 2009” note will come in handy. Once you receive this recommendation, you can also use it on your website, corporate presentations, etc.
Groups. There are new groups being created every day. Go through your groups list and see if you still benefit from all of them. If you don’t, leave the less interesting ones and join newer or more interesting groups.
Applications. LinkedIn occasionally adds new useful applications without announcing them. Check the apps section of LinkedIn and make sure to use the ones that pique your interest.
Q&A ratings. If you asked any questions, go back and rate the responses.
Most companies are still confused about Twitter and how to use it, but if you are a user, make sure you have an informative “background” on your profile with marketing info, contacts, “links” (you can’t really link on them) and pleasing background colors. You can google “twitter background” and find a lot of free or cheap background pages on the web.
If your company has a Facebook page, you can use it for a last push for product promotions during the holidays. But also with your “happy holidays” note, make sure to ask your followers to recommend you to their friends to increase followers.
As I mentioned, I’ll be writing a lot more in the future about specifics of social media. If there are any specific topics you’d like me to write about, feel free to let me know in the “comments” section of this blog.
October 30, 2009
The collective power of LinkedIn for your company’s sales, marketing, and social media efforts
I’ve been a member of LinkedIn for years, and it’s become a basic part of my “doing business”, whether to tout my skills, or to check on the backgrounds of people I come in contact with, especially potential clients (yes, I do check).
It amazes me how many companies either don’t have a prominent presence on LinkedIn or simply don’t utilize it effectively. The compounded power of the network is mind boggling. For example, my network of almost 330 people gives me access to over 5.3 million users (the networks are set up to go 3 levels deep). Although not a direct sales tool, I think it’s a must in developing a presence, and for soft sales of services if done properly. It’s passive, non-intrusive, and very powerful.
The idea for individuals is pretty straight forward – a point of web presence and a network for providing services (or finding jobs). But for companies, the collective force of the networks of individuals can become even more powerful social media tool. Let’s say your company has 500 employees, and your marketing department is developing a webinar to discuss the changes in your market. Imagine if all your employees had a well developed network on LinkedIn, and each could bring 10 people to the webinar. Of course, a webinar with even 300 people is good enough for a company that size, so you get the idea. When each employee acts as a touch-point in a massive pool of professionals, the corporate image and messages can be exponentially magnified.
The problem becomes controlling that image. I know people who “tweak” their positions on LinkedIn for various reasons, or point blank lie. As a company, you have a little bit of control over your employees’ behavior on networking sites, but you have no way of changing their profile (unless LinkedIn changed their policies and forgot to announce it).
Given these drawbacks, I still think encouraging your employees to build a network on LinkedIn is a worthwhile effort. In fact, it’s best to proactively give them some guidelines to help them develop their image and their networks. Once they’re set up, make sure to use their collective networks in your social media. The results might surprise you.
Today I sent an email to a client’s sale/marketing teams and the executives with guidelines of how to develop their profiles and build up their LinkedIn networks. The idea is to roll it out to the rest of the company later. I’m repeating the guidelines here. The language is verbatim out of my email (except the company name and the markets it targets).
- Please develop a complete and professional profile on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile acts as a public online professional bio for everyone to view, and it’s the first place a Google search of your name will land your potential contacts/clients.
- Include the title that shows up on your business cards, your work history, any special skills you may have, and any other appropriate information you can think of.
- Do not push XXX or YYY in your profile. We are positioning the company as a provider of ZZZ. It’s OK to talk about XXX/YYY but not as a main topic.
- Feel free to use keywords that are related to [company]’s business. People use them often in searches on LinkedIn, and you want to show up if they’re looking for experts in the field.
- Do NOT display or discuss confidential information about [company] in your profile. This includes ANY financial information (including revenues/profits/projections, etc), number of employees, plans for expansion, plans for partnerships, layoffs, new hiring, or anything of material importance.
- Start developing your network. Go through all your contacts, old colleagues, people you know from college, professional organizations, neighbors, relatives and friends who work in professional settings. The point is you want access to their network, even if they, themselves, don’t necessarily fit into a client profile. If you know people who have large networks, definitely connect to them. This will take time. Start soon.
- Do not hide your profile to limited groups (this is a LinkedIn option). Leave it open for everyone to see (except personal info like email, etc). You want everyone to be able to contact you if they’d like.
- Sign up with as many groups as is appropriate (max 50 allowed). This gives you access to a lot of discussions and newsboards in various industries.
- Feel free to participate in Q&As and group discussions. Show that you are an expert in the field and know what you’re talking about. Much of the time, people connect to you once they feel they trust you and enjoy your “conversations”.
- Do not spam the newsboards or the Q&A. You will be flagged and dropped from groups. And it’s unprofessional.
- Feel free to post a professional photo. People respond better to people with photos.
- Remember whatever you say/do on LinkedIn is public, and will reflect on you and [company]. Please keep it professional.
I don’t know if I’ve covered all the bases, but this is pretty comprehensive. Feel free to add other ideas of how to get your employees to build up their network, and especially on how to use their networks once they're built. I’m really interested to find out more about how companies use this forum.
It amazes me how many companies either don’t have a prominent presence on LinkedIn or simply don’t utilize it effectively. The compounded power of the network is mind boggling. For example, my network of almost 330 people gives me access to over 5.3 million users (the networks are set up to go 3 levels deep). Although not a direct sales tool, I think it’s a must in developing a presence, and for soft sales of services if done properly. It’s passive, non-intrusive, and very powerful.
The idea for individuals is pretty straight forward – a point of web presence and a network for providing services (or finding jobs). But for companies, the collective force of the networks of individuals can become even more powerful social media tool. Let’s say your company has 500 employees, and your marketing department is developing a webinar to discuss the changes in your market. Imagine if all your employees had a well developed network on LinkedIn, and each could bring 10 people to the webinar. Of course, a webinar with even 300 people is good enough for a company that size, so you get the idea. When each employee acts as a touch-point in a massive pool of professionals, the corporate image and messages can be exponentially magnified.
The problem becomes controlling that image. I know people who “tweak” their positions on LinkedIn for various reasons, or point blank lie. As a company, you have a little bit of control over your employees’ behavior on networking sites, but you have no way of changing their profile (unless LinkedIn changed their policies and forgot to announce it).
Given these drawbacks, I still think encouraging your employees to build a network on LinkedIn is a worthwhile effort. In fact, it’s best to proactively give them some guidelines to help them develop their image and their networks. Once they’re set up, make sure to use their collective networks in your social media. The results might surprise you.
Today I sent an email to a client’s sale/marketing teams and the executives with guidelines of how to develop their profiles and build up their LinkedIn networks. The idea is to roll it out to the rest of the company later. I’m repeating the guidelines here. The language is verbatim out of my email (except the company name and the markets it targets).
- Please develop a complete and professional profile on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile acts as a public online professional bio for everyone to view, and it’s the first place a Google search of your name will land your potential contacts/clients.
- Include the title that shows up on your business cards, your work history, any special skills you may have, and any other appropriate information you can think of.
- Do not push XXX or YYY in your profile. We are positioning the company as a provider of ZZZ. It’s OK to talk about XXX/YYY but not as a main topic.
- Feel free to use keywords that are related to [company]’s business. People use them often in searches on LinkedIn, and you want to show up if they’re looking for experts in the field.
- Do NOT display or discuss confidential information about [company] in your profile. This includes ANY financial information (including revenues/profits/projections, etc), number of employees, plans for expansion, plans for partnerships, layoffs, new hiring, or anything of material importance.
- Start developing your network. Go through all your contacts, old colleagues, people you know from college, professional organizations, neighbors, relatives and friends who work in professional settings. The point is you want access to their network, even if they, themselves, don’t necessarily fit into a client profile. If you know people who have large networks, definitely connect to them. This will take time. Start soon.
- Do not hide your profile to limited groups (this is a LinkedIn option). Leave it open for everyone to see (except personal info like email, etc). You want everyone to be able to contact you if they’d like.
- Sign up with as many groups as is appropriate (max 50 allowed). This gives you access to a lot of discussions and newsboards in various industries.
- Feel free to participate in Q&As and group discussions. Show that you are an expert in the field and know what you’re talking about. Much of the time, people connect to you once they feel they trust you and enjoy your “conversations”.
- Do not spam the newsboards or the Q&A. You will be flagged and dropped from groups. And it’s unprofessional.
- Feel free to post a professional photo. People respond better to people with photos.
- Remember whatever you say/do on LinkedIn is public, and will reflect on you and [company]. Please keep it professional.
I don’t know if I’ve covered all the bases, but this is pretty comprehensive. Feel free to add other ideas of how to get your employees to build up their network, and especially on how to use their networks once they're built. I’m really interested to find out more about how companies use this forum.
July 9, 2009
Startup Funding Back to Basics?
A few weeks ago I blogged about Twitter and its prospects as an up-and-coming player vis-à-vis the media attention it received due to the events in Iran. The point I made was that the company needs to come up with a proper business / revenue model sooner than later.
Yesterday this made headline news as Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference got its kick start. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation Chief, warned against investing in Twitter until it figures out a way to make money. IAC chairman, Barry Diller, and Liberty Media chairman, John Malone were downright pessimistic about Twitter’s business, with Diller voicing doubts about Twitter’s prospects of making any money, and Malone mentioning that the advertising model will not work for them.
They all must have read my blog. (hah!)
Twitter’s CEO, Evan Williams, painfully sat through the discussions and left without comments. Ouch.
Twitter has promised its current investors to generate revenues by the end of ‘09 to early ’10, and it’s fair to give them a chance, although the heat is definitely on. Also, that little voice in my head (sometimes annoying, but keeps me on track) tells me… Murdoch… Diller… Malone… old farts? Maybe they just don’t get it?
But let’s get to the big picture. Twitter is ranked as the third most used social networking site, with the number of monthly visits at 55 million and increasing. Assuming these media moguls are not playing the game of downplaying the goods for a bargain (really not that different from shopping for rugs in Moroccan souks), does this mean large investors are serious about getting back to fundamentals of investing in viable businesses, and will no longer throw their money at any pet.com that comes along?
If this is the case, the risks of startups will move back to entrepreneurs and the game of startups and funding will have changed for many years to come. Twitter just might become the poster child of the switch in that mindset.
Note to entrepreneurs: buckle up and get back to basics!
Yesterday this made headline news as Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference got its kick start. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation Chief, warned against investing in Twitter until it figures out a way to make money. IAC chairman, Barry Diller, and Liberty Media chairman, John Malone were downright pessimistic about Twitter’s business, with Diller voicing doubts about Twitter’s prospects of making any money, and Malone mentioning that the advertising model will not work for them.
They all must have read my blog. (hah!)
Twitter’s CEO, Evan Williams, painfully sat through the discussions and left without comments. Ouch.
Twitter has promised its current investors to generate revenues by the end of ‘09 to early ’10, and it’s fair to give them a chance, although the heat is definitely on. Also, that little voice in my head (sometimes annoying, but keeps me on track) tells me… Murdoch… Diller… Malone… old farts? Maybe they just don’t get it?
But let’s get to the big picture. Twitter is ranked as the third most used social networking site, with the number of monthly visits at 55 million and increasing. Assuming these media moguls are not playing the game of downplaying the goods for a bargain (really not that different from shopping for rugs in Moroccan souks), does this mean large investors are serious about getting back to fundamentals of investing in viable businesses, and will no longer throw their money at any pet.com that comes along?
If this is the case, the risks of startups will move back to entrepreneurs and the game of startups and funding will have changed for many years to come. Twitter just might become the poster child of the switch in that mindset.
Note to entrepreneurs: buckle up and get back to basics!
June 18, 2009
Is Twitter Ready for Adult Supervision?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock over the past week, you’d know that something’s brewing in Iran. News of mass demonstrations against voter fraud there has finally hit mainstream media in US, but it all started on the blogosphere, video sharing sites, and social media sites like the Huffington Post, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. This created side discussions about increased legitimacy of social media sites, in particular Twitter, which is reportedly widely used by demonstrators in Iran. Whether or not the claims are accurate, Twitter was suddenly thrown into the limelight as a serious player. After all, even the State Department threw in their weight and asked Twitter not to perform their scheduled maintenance so that Iranians could continue to distribute information via the service.
This wave of publicity will force the company and its business model (or lack thereof) under the microscope. Twitter which was launched in 2006 has resisted the advertising revenue model. One of the co-founders, Biz Stone, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York, "There are a few reasons why we're not pursuing advertising. One is it's just not quite as interesting to us.”
Really? Ad revenues are not “interesting?” Are any revenues interesting?
The company has claimed that they will generate revenues from tools not from charging the users and businesses for the service, leaving the actual model that will generate actual revenues as a wild guessing game (who will pay for the tools if it’s not the users or businesses?).
Supporters of the company claim that this is all fine, and that Google didn’t make any money in its first four years either. That would hardly be any consolation to Twitter’s investors who for every Google, can name 30 pet.com’s that didn’t make it without a viable revenue model.
All this comes amidst news of 30% layoffs at myspace, the granddaddy of social networking sites which was acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s business conglomerate back in 2005. The layoffs were due to the fact that – big surprise – revenues at myspace declined. That’s what happens when grownups run a company.
Granted, Twitter’s CEO, Evan Williams, is a successful entrepreneur and sold his most famous company, blogger.com, to Google. Also, Twitter is really just beginning to find itself. It’s possible Williams has plans to prep Twitter for a successful acquisition even though he refused a deal with Facebook. The company has made promises of new features and a viable revenue model by the end of 2009 / early 2010 and his investors seem firmly behind his plans. But if he doesn’t take serious advantage of the Green Wave thrust upon him from Iran, they may have no choice but to look elsewhere for adult supervision.
This wave of publicity will force the company and its business model (or lack thereof) under the microscope. Twitter which was launched in 2006 has resisted the advertising revenue model. One of the co-founders, Biz Stone, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York, "There are a few reasons why we're not pursuing advertising. One is it's just not quite as interesting to us.”
Really? Ad revenues are not “interesting?” Are any revenues interesting?
The company has claimed that they will generate revenues from tools not from charging the users and businesses for the service, leaving the actual model that will generate actual revenues as a wild guessing game (who will pay for the tools if it’s not the users or businesses?).
Supporters of the company claim that this is all fine, and that Google didn’t make any money in its first four years either. That would hardly be any consolation to Twitter’s investors who for every Google, can name 30 pet.com’s that didn’t make it without a viable revenue model.
All this comes amidst news of 30% layoffs at myspace, the granddaddy of social networking sites which was acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s business conglomerate back in 2005. The layoffs were due to the fact that – big surprise – revenues at myspace declined. That’s what happens when grownups run a company.
Granted, Twitter’s CEO, Evan Williams, is a successful entrepreneur and sold his most famous company, blogger.com, to Google. Also, Twitter is really just beginning to find itself. It’s possible Williams has plans to prep Twitter for a successful acquisition even though he refused a deal with Facebook. The company has made promises of new features and a viable revenue model by the end of 2009 / early 2010 and his investors seem firmly behind his plans. But if he doesn’t take serious advantage of the Green Wave thrust upon him from Iran, they may have no choice but to look elsewhere for adult supervision.
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