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Your profile should communicate your professional brand, including
your strengths, knowledge, and experience, if it is relevant to the role
or services people are looking for (or, for the brand that you are building).
Here are some things to consider about your profile:
1. How will old friends and people who knew you from your past
find you? Make sure you put names of schools, companies, and
clubs in your profile. You never know when that friend from five
companies ago might search for you.
2. How will recruiters, hiring managers, or potential business
partners find you? What will they look for? Usually they aren't
searching for your name. They might search for the names of
schools you attended, companies (even companies that went
away through a merger/acquisition), and clubs or associations.
Recruiters look for candidates with specific experience, affiliations,
or work history. Include keywords and jargon you would include
on a resume so a recruiter looking for a "PHP programmer
with CSS and Adobe skills" or a "project manager with a PMP"
can be found. Many recruiters have had training on how to search
on LinkedIn and use various search techniques to find exactly
what they are looking for, based on keywords, companies, etc.
3. What first impression does your profile give? You should
spend at least as much time on your LinkedIn profile as you would
on your resume. Whether you are looking for a job or not, you
never know who is looking for you. Ensure you leave a sharp first
impression by having proper grammar and spelling in your profile.
Does your profile tell your story enough to engage me when I read
it? Is it interesting, and do I walk away thinking, "This is the right
person! My search is over!"
People may look for you based on things you have in common, like
where you went to school. For example, let's say you went to college
at UCLA. You might have a classmate who has been looking for you
but can't remember your name. When he looks for other UCLA alumni,
he might recognize your name or picture.
At the bottom of the homepage is a "Just joined LinkedIn" section
which has my previous companies and universities (from my profile).
Once, I clicked on a company I worked at many years earlier. One of
my key contacts from that company had gone on to a different
company, but because he had put the company name in his profile, I
was able to find him, and we've since reconnected!
Unlike a resume, which is limited in the number of pages (usually two),
a LinkedIn profile can be very, very long?and that is OKAY! Just make
sure the length doesn't take away from the marketing message. This
might seem at odds, but consider this: your marketing message should
come across very clear, and even concise. How can you do that with a
long profile? You would only work towards a long profile if you are
trying to get more keywords, companies, etc. on your profile. Think
about what your target contact would search for when looking for
someone of your talent and make sure those keywords and phrases
are peppered throughout your profile.
Many people think a LinkedIn profile is their new resume. I do not
agree, as I don't think anything is going to replace the traditional
resume any time soon. The beauty of a LinkedIn profile is that it can be
a resume whether you are in a job search or not. In other words, even
if you aren't in an active transition you can still let others know about
you and what you have to offer. Many professionals who are not in
transition have LinkedIn profiles.
A resume has various information, including your job history, education,
and skills. LinkedIn has sections for this information and more.
Here are some differences between a LinkedIn profile and a traditional
resume:
1. Currently LinkedIn doesn't allow bulleted formatting. You can get
around this with a trick, but it still isn't the regular bullet formatting
that we're used to. Because a profile doesn't have bullets, people
tend to write in a paragraph narrative format, without the typical
"quantification" you see on a resume. But if you are good, you'll
include proof showing how valuable you were to a particular company.
For example, on your resume you might put statements, on
each bullet point, like "increased department revenues by 150
percent and profits by 250 percent in 18 months." You can include
that in a LinkedIn profile, but it seems most people don't.
2. LinkedIn has a section at the bottom of each profile where you
can state your "interests," with predefined interests such as career
opportunities, consulting offers, new ventures, job inquiries, and a
few others. This helps people who view your profile know
whether you are approachable for certain things or not. Some
people will respect your list of interests while others may still attempt
to contact you for something, even though you do not list it.
(Not everyone who is interested in career opportunities is going
to put it on the list, especially if their current employer doesn't
know they are open to other opportunities!)
3. If you are a member of any LinkedIn groups, the groups will show
up on your profile (you can choose to not show any groups, but
by default they will show). You can learn more about this in the
"LinkedIn Groups" chapter.
One of the most important considerations while creating your profile is
this: how will people, using the LinkedIn search box, find (or miss!) your
profile? Also, the Public Profile is indexed by search engines such as
Yahoo! and Google. The way you optimize your profile for the LinkedIn
search function also applies to other search engines.
There is a common phrase amongst Internet marketers called "search
engine optimization" (SEO). The idea behind SEO is that you are trying
to optimize a web page (or profile), so search engines bring it up first
(or, in the first page of results). Optimize your LinkedIn profile with SEO
in mind. Here are some tricks you can incorporate as you develop your
profile:
1. School names?Include the full name (University of Virginia) as
well as the common abbreviation (UVA).
2. Company names?Just as you did with the school names, make
sure you put the official and common names of the companies
where you worked. If your company is a subsidiary of a larger
company, put the name of the larger company also. That way if a
recruiter is looking for someone from either the main company or
the subsidiary, they are more likely to come across your profile.
3. Technical skills?Just as a recruiter looks for "project
managers" or someone who is a "project manager professional,"
they might search for "PMP" or someone who is a member of the
"PMI" (Project Management Institute).
4. Keywords?Include keywords used to describe your skills, abilities, or professional passions. I've found that putting the keyword as your current title increases your SEO, and I've heard increasing the number of occurrences of a keyword (or key phrase) increases your SEO. Aside from writing your profile so the search engine finds you, consider writing it so the person reading your profile is impressed by the value you bring to a relationship. Deb Dib, The CEO Coach, wrote a powerful article for CEOs titled "LinkedIn?What It Is and Why You Need to Be On It."7 Check out the eight profiles she links to, which are all examples of excellent LinkedIn profiles, whether you are a CEO or not! TIP: Lonny Gulden, a recruiter in Minnesota, suggests including company names from any company you worked with but has since changed its name (merger, acquisition, etc.). Recruiters might look for ex-employees of those defunct companies. Perhaps one of the best resources for optimizing your profile so it appeals to people and LinkedIn's search algorithm is Guy Kawasaki's famous "LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover" (you can find it by typing "Kawasaki & LinkedIn" into a search engine, or by going to http://tinyurl.com/KawasakiMakeover(blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/linkedin_profil.html). Guy probably has one of the most viewed profiles on LinkedIn. The tips in the makeover come directly from LinkedIn. LinkedIn advises us to flesh out each section of our profile and put in more details (which gives us a chance to include more keywords). Some of their recommendations include: ? "Write recommendations"?This is a way to get YOUR NAME, with a link back to your LinkedIn profile, on someone else's profile. It's like getting a little bumper sticker on their profile linking right back to your profile. ? "Ask a question, answer questions"?Again, this is a way to get a link to your profile on a totally different section of LinkedIn. It is also a chance to get your brand and knowledge in front of people outside of your network. ? "Get a Vanity URL"?This is quick and easy and something you should do right now (seriously, right now). Click on "Profile" from the main menu, then click on the "Edit" link by your Public Profile, and then click on "Edit" next to your Public Profile URL. You should modify the URL from something like http://linkedin.com/pub/1/234/1344to http://linkedin.com/in/jasonalba, which looks more "on purpose." ? In the Summary section, "LinkedIn said to add substance...this is your elevator pitch." I encourage my clients to fill in as much of their summary as they can. You get two thousand characters; I say use as many as you can! And on and on. Make sure you read the original post to see what LinkedIn recommended. When I critique a profile, I typically look at many things, including: 1. Name: Is it just your name or does it include superfluous information like a phone number, email address, or credentials and acronyms? In general, with few exceptions, it should just be your name. 2. Picture: Use a close-up of a headshot that looks professional. The picture makes your profile more personable. 3. Professional headline: This is YOUR CHANCE to share your value proposition. Don't just put title/company, like so many people do. Tell me what value you bring to me (or, to your client or prospect). 4. Current title: As mentioned above, this is where you put key phrases that people might search for. 5. Websites: You should have three websites listed and the descriptive text for each one so even if I don't click on the links I still get your brand messaging. 6. Vanity URL: As mentioned above, edit your Public Profile URL so it has your name, or something more deliberate. 7. Summary: Use as many of the two thousand characters as possible, and write something engaging! You can use Problem, Action, Results (PAR) statements, or something clever. Spend time on the Summary and get it right! 8. Experience and education: This is another opportunity to include keywords for SEO as well as stories and supportive brand messaging. 9. Interests: Below Recommendations is the Interests section?yet another area to freehand more information, branding, and SEO words. 10. Groups and associations: ONLY show groups that are supportive of your brand. You don't need to show all groups you are a member of?only show those that support your brand. 11. Contact settings: This is an excellent place to put something like, "The best way to contact me is via email at Jason@JibberJobber.com," or something like that. This helps people contact you even if they aren't connected to you. Once you get a strong profile, you don't have to revisit it to keep it up to date. Of course, you should keep it updated with relevant changes, but most people can easily go a year or two (or more) without updating their profile. Scott Allen, a social marketing expert, shared a story on his blog8 about a timely profile update that resulted in $5,000 of additional revenue. Your Public Profile is what people see if they are not logged into LinkedIn. It's important to think about what is visible and what is hidden. Click on "Settings" and then "Public Profile" on the Settings page to choose what you show and hide, managed from this screen: diagram of
Figure 1: Public Profile Preview
This screen allows you to choose what information people can see if
they are not logged in to LinkedIn. In other words, it allows you to
choose the degree of privacy. I have two thoughts on this:
First, you should provide as much information as possible so
visitors who find your profile can get the gist of who you are, and
what you have to offer, without having to login (or worse, create a
new account and then login).
Second, consider your personal comfort level regarding privacy. If
you are comfortable putting up certain information on your regular,
non-public profile, which is available to over eighty million people,
why not let non-LinkedIn people see it? It doesn't make sense to
hide anything from people who are not logged into LinkedIn, especially
considering you shouldn't put stuff up that is not on-brand.
I regularly hear concerns about privacy with a LinkedIn profile. The
purpose of a profile is not to record private data?it is to showcase who
you are in a professional setting. It's great to be concerned about
privacy, but with the technology available today, there are dozens of
places someone can go to find your personal information, including
your contact information, professional/work history, home address and
telephone number, even your social security number! My recommendation
is to click every box in the image below and let everyone see
what you put on your LinkedIn profile.
Having a strong and well-crafted profile gives you the opportunity to
communicate your brand, abilities, and professional goals. The alternative
is to let search engines determine that for you (you want more
control over your brand and messaging, don't you?) by listing whatever
pages they have for your name. Your profile, and the ability to be found
by people who are looking for you, is central to your success with
LinkedIn, so make sure you spend enough time and effort to get it right.
Chapter Summary
? Set up your profile as completely as possible so that others have a
better chance to find you. Don't worry about the profile completeness
percentage on your profile page, as this has a tendency to
change when LinkedIn introduces new features.
? Make sure you check spelling, grammar, and overall readability of
your profile?it's not just for the search engine but for the human
who reads your profile.
? Take advantage of things such as the Vanity URL and recommendations
to make your profile look stronger and more professional.
? Allow others to see all of the information on your Public Profile. "I'm starting to think LinkedIn may be Resume 2.0, but I'm not 100 percent convinced yet. When I beefed up my profile, I actually copied and pasted bullet points from my latest conventional resume, and now that thing is searchable for all the world to see. That's a lot different than posting it in some random place on a few job sites. It's in a neutral place where you expect pressure-reduced interactions with others." Pete Johnson, Chief Architect, Hewlett-Packard, http://www.hp.com"You only get three links, so use them wisely?I would encourage you to use the links for your blog, a full page of other endorsements about you, and your portfolio or book or something else that shows your expertise." Phil Gerbyshak, Author, 10 Ways to Make It Great!; Owner, The Make It Great Guy, http://www.makeitgreatguy.com"When you set up your profile, make sure it's a snapshot?no one wants to read a detailed autobiography. And don't forget to proofread!" Christine Dennison, Job Search Expert, Dennison Career Services, http://www.thejobsearchcoach.com"Your LinkedIn profile is a critical part of your online identity. Make sure to complete it with information that conveys what you do, the value you deliver, and the audience you serve; in other words, have it reflect your personal brand." Walter Akana, Life Strategist, Threshold Consulting, http://www.threshold-consulting.com"I think the status update feature is one of the coolest things on the LinkedIn profile! Used strategically and well, the status update line can be used to promote your business, products, and personal brand to your network. I use it to promote my blog posts, speaking engagements, and networking events or conferences I'm attending to facilitate the possibility of connecting in person or on the Web with those in my network. As a recruiter, I also use the status update to make my network aware of opportunities that I'm recruiting for. I have a fairly large network?over 1,500 connections?so that's 1,500+ opportunities to reach candidates or get referrals?and it works! I also encourage job seekers to use the status update feature to make sure their network knows that they are currently searching for a new opportunity. Regularly updating your status keeps you on 'top of mind' and on the homepage of those in your network." Jennifer McClure, Executive Recruiter/Executive Coach; and President, Unbridled Talent, LLC, http://unbridledtalent.com Account & Settings
There is a "Settings" link under the dropdown at
the top right of every page (just click your name
to see the Settings link). Figure 2: Account Settings The Account & Settings page takes you to one of
the most important menus in LinkedIn since this
is where you can determine what messages you
get via email. The Account section shows you
what you get at your current account level and
allows you to see what you could get if you
upgrade. On my page, it shows I have four of five
Introductions left and no InMails.
Currently there are four different types of
accounts: Basic (free), Business, Business Plus,
and Executive. You can see a comparison chart
showing features such as the number of InMails you can send as well as what and how many profiles you can see on
searches. Refer to the chart to see the most current benefits of upgrading.
Figure 3: Account Types
Unless you have a very specific reason to use LinkedIn as a prospecting
database, which means you need the best possible results on your
searches, and quick access to message people you aren't connected
to, a free Basic Account should be just fine. Who would use LinkedIn
as a prospecting database? Recruiter and sales professionals and
maybe job seekers who are looking for higher-level positions are
examples of people who would find value in upgrading. If you are not
spending much time on LinkedIn, not searching a lot, or not trying to
communicate with people you don't find in search results, you should
be fine with a free account. Settings is one of the most important places to visit if you feel like you
get too much or too little correspondence (emails) from LinkedIn. There
are different functions in LinkedIn that can send communications to
you. For example, if someone wants to get in touch with you, you get
an email from LinkedIn. If someone asks a question in Answers, and
you are in their network, LinkedIn might send you an email (see the
chapter on Answers for more on this powerful feature).
The default settings did not meet my needs and might not meet yours.
I was getting more emails than I wanted from LinkedIn (which didn't
help my efforts to manage my increasing "information overload" I was
getting from email, Facebook, Yahoo! Groups and other sources).
Frustrated by too many notifications, I finally went to the Settings
section and changed the default settings so now I only get what I want
in my email inbox (the rest are still available, if I want to see them, in
my LinkedIn Inbox). I'm not limiting my ability to get messages; I'm
simply choosing whether I get them via email or in my LinkedIn Inbox.
Figure 4: Message Settings
Here's how I have my settings:
? Introductions and InMails?I get these via email, so if someone
tries to get in touch with me I won't miss their message. The
LinkedIn landing page is too cluttered for me to read every single
message I get, and I don't want these types of messages to get
lost. I also don't use LinkedIn's Inbox to manage any of my
messages and don't want to have to go there to find these
messages. ? Invitations?I also want invitations sent to my email inbox. An invitation
comes from someone who wants to join my network and
could be an important new relationship (or an important offline relationship
that is ready to connect online). ? Profile Updates?At the time of this writing, this is no longer
available via email. Perhaps it was being abused, or LinkedIn got
too many complaints. Nonetheless, you will only be able to see
updates on your first-degree contacts if you go into LinkedIn, and
you won't be able to push notifications out just by changing or
updating your profile.
Job Notifications?These are job openings that come from
people in my network. I thought it would be useful to get these notifications
and pass leads to friends who are in transition. Unfortunately,
I got so many irrelevant job notifications sent to me it was
overwhelming. This was the main communication I got that
prompted me to check out this place, and I quickly changed it from
"Individual Email" to "No Email."
? Questions from your Connections?My network has grown to a
size that produces some negative side effects, one of which is that
I would get way too many emails of new questions from LinkedIn
Answers from my first-degree contacts. I simply go to the LinkedIn
Answers page and look for relevant questions I can respond to
from there, rather than have my Inbox clogged up. Since the last edition of this book, there are some email/web settings
that are new and others that have dropped off. If you find yourself
getting too many emails from LinkedIn, simply go to the Receiving
Messages section to see if there is a new setting you need to change.
Also under Settings is the "Connections Browse" option, under Privacy
Settings. This has become a controversial option. You can choose to
show your connection list or to hide your connection list from your
first-degree contacts. Hiding your connections list seems to be contradictory to what LinkedIn
is about: the ability to see who is in my contact's network! However, the
option is a privacy setting and I've heard from people who have needed
that level of "supposed privacy." Why do I say "supposed privacy?"
Even if you choose to hide your connections list, your first-degree
contacts can still see who you are connected to! The default setting shows your connections list, which is a page
formatted to show all of your first-degree contacts in an easy-to-digest
view. If you change the default to hide the connection list, your contacts
can still see other first-degree contacts through a simple search.
For example, let's say you have a first-degree contact who is a project
manager in Seattle. When I search for "project manager" or "Seattle" I
will see everyone in my first three degrees (including your first- and
second-degree contacts), even if you have said I can't browse your network. Notice the difference between "browse" and "see." Browsing
shows me a nicely formatted page with your first-degree contacts.
Seeing is just the ability to find read a profile. You cannot block me from
seeing people in your network. Another critical setting has to do with your email address(es). I
encourage you to ensure you have the right email addresses associated
with your account. I have two email addresses I use: one for the
business I own and another through Gmail. I send a lot of emails each
day, some from my business account and others from my Gmail
account. Because of this, I make sure people who want to invite me can
use either address. Why? Some of my contacts only know me from the
Gmail account while others know me from my business account. Fortunately,
LinkedIn allows potential contacts to send an invitation to
either address. Figure 5: Email Accounts
It is essential you use an email address you own, and have complete
control over, as the primary email address. I saw an email thread
where the discussion was based around a person developing a
LinkedIn network while working at their job and the employer claiming
the network belonged to the company. This is an interesting claim. I
can see the employer claiming the LinkedIn account and network (and
network connections).
To avoid this potential conflict, make sure you control the email
addresses on your account. You can get free email accounts from
Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail and a host of other services. Also, make sure
your primary address is one of YOUR email addresses, not a company
address, even if you own the company. Here's a summary of my settings: Chapter Summary ? Dive into the Account & Settings pages to set up your preferences
?this will determine when you receive emails and when you don't!
? If you have multiple email addresses make sure you put them in
your account?that way others can connect with you by sending an
invitation to either email account. Never use an
employer-sponsored email as your primary email on record.
? Turning off the Network Browse can prevent your first-degree
contacts from seeing the complete list of all of your first-degree
contacts, but does not block those contacts from showing up in
search results.
Quote
"Learn the site. There is a lot of useful help listed under Help & FAQ. If you take the time to review your Account & Settings and set your account up properly, your time on LinkedIn will be much easier." Sheilah Etheridge, Owner, SME Management, http://www.linkedin.com/in/smemanagement
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Connecting with Others
Central to your LinkedIn experience, and your
success on LinkedIn, is how and when to
connect with other people. Consider a spectrum
where one end represents people who are open
networkers?they accept any invitation they get
and freely extend invitations to anyone they can.
On the other end of the spectrum are people who
are more conservative about whom they connect
with?the closed networker.
I can't tell you what kind of networker you should
be?it's different for everyone. Depending on
your circumstances, you might choose to change
your connection strategy over time. In this
chapter, we'll talk about considerations regarding
the open/closed spectrum concept. I'll explain
characteristics of both ends of the spectrum and
give you enough information to decide what your
own connection policy should be.
Open Networking
At the extreme of open networking are those who
connect with anyone, no matter what. You may
have heard of the LION, which is an acronym that
stands for "LinkedIn Open Networker." I wrote a blog post titled "I'm a
LION?Hear Me ROAR"9 that got a number of interesting
comments. LinkedIn LION refers to a person interested in
having as many connections as they can get and indicates a supposed
willingness to accept an invitation from anyone.
Not every LION is really an open networker, and not every open
networker is a LION. Open networkers tend to subscribe to the theory
that having more connections means you have more channels to reach
a key person. This might be true (I'll share my personal connection philosophy
at the end of this chapter), but I'm not convinced spending a
lot of time haphazardly growing your network is a good use of time.
Why would you want to be an open networker? Perhaps having a large
number of first-degree contacts gives me richer search results and
allows me to communicate with more people.
For example, a recruiter wants to have access to "passive candidates"
(people who are not active job seekers). If he has one hundred
first-degree contacts in LinkedIn, he might find the right candidate for
a job he's trying to fill. Imagine he has four thousand first-degree
connections. Don't you think it's more likely he finds the right
candidates when he searches through his network? A network search
returns first-, second-, and third-degree contacts. This means every
first-degree contact brings their network to you. This is why many
recruiters on LinkedIn are "open networkers."
I used a recruiter for that example but there are other professions that
find open networking beneficial. If you are in a roles where you actively
look for people, or try to reach out to people, you would likely benefit
from an open networking strategy. Some professions who would
benefit from such a strategy include salespeople, business development
people, entrepreneurs, or other power connectors (a phrase I
was introduced to when I read Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone. He
uses it to describe people who are in a profession where networking is
a natural part of the job).
Open networkers can quickly and easily grow their personal LinkedIn
networks by downloading the Outlook toolbar and inviting all of their
Outlook connections to join LinkedIn. In addition you can import your
contact lists from online email accounts, such as Yahoo!, AOL,
Hotmail, and Gmail.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND EITHER OF THOSE OPTIONS, even if you
are a LION.
I recommend you prepare your contacts to connect with you, outside
of LinkedIn, before you invite them through LinkedIn. In other words,
ask them if they'd accept an invitation to connect in an email, over the
phone, face-to-face, or whatever before you send an invitation to
connect.
Historically, each user has had a limit of invitations they can send out
(the limit has been three thousand). I've never reached this limit, but
I'm regularly asked about it. If you use your three thousand invitations,
you have, in the past, been able to request more from LinkedIn
customer service. Additional invitations have been granted in blocks of
one hundred.
There has been justified confusion amongst LinkedIn users about
whether LinkedIn encourages you to be an open networker (based on
the tools they provide and the ease of inviting a lot of people) or to be
a closed networker. In the past, someone you invited could have
clicked a button that said, "I don't know" you. If five people clicked that
your account would have been penalized. This button is not there
anymore, but many people are still gun-shy about whom they invite.
Closed Networking
On the other end of the open/closed networker spectrum are the closed networkers. Closed networkers are those who only connect with those they "know and trust," which is what LinkedIn recommends ( http://tinyurl.com/ClosedNetwork10). Instead of accepting every single connection request, they will evaluate the relationship with the person requesting the connection and only connect when they feel comfortable connecting.
Is it bad to be a closed networker? Not necessarily. There is value in
knowing the people you are connected with. You can give more of your
connections a recommendation than an open networker can. You are
more likely to get real recommendations. You can feel comfortable
passing introductions on because you know all of the parties in the Introduction
(the person asking for the introduction and the person to be
introduced to). Closed networkers value the individual relationship with
each connection they have and treat LinkedIn as less of a database
than open networkers do.
Many people who are closed networkers on LinkedIn are open networkers
in a more general sense. Many will have more relaxed
standards in other social networking sites or face-to-face networking.
Somehow they think they really only should connect with people they
know and trust. Many closed networkers use LinkedIn the way it was
designed to be used, but might not get as much value out of their
extended network (or the database) as an open networker could.
The Canned Invitation
Another LinkedIn topic that gets a lot of attention is how you ask
someone to connect with you. Is there a cheesier way to invite
someone to LinkedIn than using the default invitation that LinkedIn
provides? When you invite someone to LinkedIn there is a default invitation
you can change, but you have to remember to change it?and
it's easy to miss! For many years the default invitation has been:
I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
Every blog post I've read regarding the default invitation is negative.
Every LinkedIn consultant recommends you make the invitation
personal. I totally agree! Leaving the invitation text as the canned text
is like saying, "I don't care about you?you are just a number to me."
When I invite someone to connect in LinkedIn, I change the default
invitation so the recipient knows (or remembers) who I am, and they
get the feeling that I am serious about a professional relationship.
Incorporate your style in the invitations you send through
LinkedIn?whether that is more casual or more business, your
personality has a place in your communications.
Scott Allen, the social media expert, has a tongue-in-cheek blog post11
sharing various types of creative invitations that are quite fun. The best
invitations I receive are concise and include the following information
(in any order):
? Here's who I am. This is not a time to brag or list all of your
wonderful skills and experiences. Instead, let me know something
about you without making me go look at your profile. Give our
potential relationship context.
? Here's how I came across your profile. Did you find me in a
LinkedIn search? Did you meet me at a networking event or find
me on a Yahoo! Group? Let me know how you found me so I don't
have to wonder if I'm just a number to you.
? Here's why I'd like to connect. You don't HAVE TO have a
reason to connect, other than just wanting to connect and get to
know one another better. However, if you tell me why you want to
connect, I'll be able to determine what next steps might be. Every
relationship starts somewhere. If you have a specific reason to
connect, let me know what it is, and let me know how we can move
towards that.
Earlier I asked if there was a cheesier way to invite someone to
LinkedIn rather than using the default invitation that LinkedIn provides.
Indeed, there is, and I see it regularly. Some people make equally
ambiguous invitation messages and use them as their canned
copy-and-paste messages, time and again. They don't customize it to
include anything specific for OUR relationship. They replace one
canned invitation with another canned invitation.
YOUR Connection Strategy
The open/closed spectrum is just that: a spectrum. You might not be
on either extreme, as defined above. Most people tend to sit
somewhere in the middle. I won't say you are right or wrong?that is
your decision.
In The Virtual Handshake, the authors talk about ensuring you have
diversity in your network. Think about what that means?if you are an
accountant, connected only with other accountants, you don't have diversity.
What kind of professionals do accountants work with? CFOs,
CEOs, accounting vendors, tax professionals, HR professionals, IT
professionals, and more. See the diversity that accountants could have
in their networks? What types of professionals should you include in
your network?
In addition to adding diversity to your network with other types of professions,
think about adding diversity with other industries. What
contacts could you connect with from complementary industries? Think
about your industry and who serves you?who are your vendors and
service providers? Think about whom they work with?perhaps clients
in other industries.
Also, who are your clients? Perhaps they could be categorized in other
industries. As you include these people in your LinkedIn network, your
diversity will grow in your first-degree network, and you should see a
remarkable difference in your second and third degrees.
Finally, think about where your connections are. Do you do business
locally? You should have a significant amount of local contacts. Do you
do a lot of business in Seattle or Florida? Grow your networks where
your clients and prospects are, even if the new contacts are not in your
industry or profession.
Final Thoughts Regarding Connections
Issues surrounding invitations and connections are well debated.
Some people are offended by those who don't share their views on how
to use LinkedIn to network, and others pass judgment on those who
have a different style (even though their objectives may be different).
Awareness of how others use LinkedIn and where they lie on the
open/closed spectrum will help you understand why they may accept
or reject a connection invitation, or even how they react to your request
for an introduction. One of the most frequent questions I get is, "If I disconnect
from someone, will they get a notice?" No one gets a notice
when you disconnect from them?so feel free to clean up your network
as often as you wish.
Chapter Summary
? There are pros and cons to open and closed networking strategies
?you need to determine what's best for you.
? When you invite someone to connect, be sensitive to the invitation
message and customize it when appropriate.
? Change your connection strategy as needed, and respect the strategies
that others have chosen.
Quotes
"LinkedIn works best when you use it with focused outcomes in
mind. I am always open to invitations, but take a look at my profile
first and tell me why you are interested in connecting with me. A
little 'wooing' goes a long way!" Garland Coulson, The EBusiness Tutor; and Founder, Free
Traffic Bar, http://www.freetrafficbar.com "I asked people to join my network due to their 'status'...what a
mistake. Invite only people you trust, regardless of their position or
status." David Armstrong, Founder, Bounce Base,
http://davidarmstrong.me "Most of my LinkedIn contacts come through an electronic newsletter
I edit that's focused on the transportation industry. I sent an invitation
to the subscribers who were already part of LinkedIn to
connect with me. I see it as one more way readers of the newsletter
might gain value from being subscribers. Since the subscriber list is
private, those who are part of my LinkedIn network can see others
who are part of my network and make a connection, either directly
or through me." Bernie Wagenblast, Editor, Transportation Communications
Newsletter, http://transport-communications.blogspot.com/
"I wasted several InMails and Introductions when I could have
simply hit the 'Add [contact name] to your Network' button because
I thought I had to know their current emails to use that. I think this
is very common."
Ingo Dean, Senior Manager of Global IT, Virage Logic,
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ingodean "Be open to a diverse network. You never know whom you can help
or who can help you. It's OK if you only want known people in your
network, or only people from one industry, etc. But the more diverse
your network is, the more rewarding it can be. This is especially true
if you want to gain business from the site. People in your industry
most likely won't need your services, but those in other industries
may." Sheilah Etheridge, Owner, SME Management,
http://www.linkedin.com/in/smemanagement
"Links to people can be broken?if you connected to a person that
is suddenly sending you a boatload of spam just because you're
'LinkedIn buddies,' you can (and should) break the link."
Phil Gerbyshak, Author, 10 Ways to Make It Great!; Owner, The
Make It Great Guy, http://www.makeitgreatguy.com "I hate receiving a LinkedIn 'invitation to connect' template. They lack authenticity and make me feel the person does not value the relationship enough to compose a personalized message. Take the time to create a touch point with your contact it is well worth the extra effort." Part II
Making It Work for You
Now that you have your profile and account
settings set up, let's get into the proactive part of
LinkedIn. In Part II, we'll talk about what it means
to connect with other LinkedIn users, how to find
relevant contacts, what "degrees of separation" is,
how to give and accept recommendations, how to
use the Jobs and Services section (even if you
aren't in a job search), how LinkedIn Groups could
benefit you, and what you should be doing with
LinkedIn Answers.
Finding Contacts
Searching for contacts on LinkedIn was my first
great frustration. I had fewer than five people in
my network when I searched for management
jobs in Utah. I was totally surprised to see no
results on this simple and general search! This
chapter talks about having a better search experience
than I had, as well as how to find relevant
contacts outside of the search function.
Here's what I've learned since those early days
when I had only five connections:
Increase the size of your network. If you are
interested in people and opportunities in your
city, look for more local connections. If you are
interested in people and opportunities in your
industry or profession, expand your LinkedIn
network with industry and professional contacts.
As your network grows with relevant
connections, you are more likely to get relevant
search results. Your search results are based on
your connections.
Connect with a few super-connectors.
Super-connectors are LinkedIn users who have
a lot of connections?hundreds or thousands of
connections. Connecting with super-connectors
significantly increases your visibility in the system. They enhance your ability to find and to be found. You don't
have to connect with very many super-connectors. Some of them are
general connectors while others might be highly relevant to you (based
on location, profession, or industry). Connecting with even two or three
super-connectors could give you a significant boost in visibility. As you
connect with super-connectors, try to get to know them. Learn how you
can add value to them, and become more than just another connection.
Use the basic search forms. It is easy to overlook this function in
LinkedIn, but it's a significant part of your experience. The search form
allows you to search people, jobs, answers, your inbox, and groups,
using whatever keywords you want. You should list keywords, perhaps
words that have to do with your profession or industry, and see what
comes up. You'll likely find some new potential contacts to reach out to:
Figure 6: LinkedIn Basic Search
Understand advanced search options. Usually the quick search
allows you to find what you're looking for. However, there is significant
power in the advanced search page. For example, Scott Allen has
talked about using LinkedIn to fill your spare time on a business trip by
meeting new contacts you find on LinkedIn. Scott suggests you search
for people in the city you will be in, like this:
Figure 7: LinkedIn Location Search
You can choose the country and zip code filter if you are in certain
countries (including the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom).
If you are an international traveler, you won't always be able to do this,
but you might be able to get around the zip code search by using the
country name in the keyword area.
Here are some of the useful features in the advanced search form:
Keywords?This could be a company name, a technology, the name
of a certification, a club or school, or a first or last name. Hint: If you
want to get results based on a company name, you should put that
name in the Company field.
Title?I love this box. You know whom you want to network with,
right?maybe not their name, but their title? When I was in my job
search I wanted to network with "CEOs," "managers" and "project managers."
Now that I'm in a sales role with my company, I'm looking for
"career center directors." I leave all other fields blank and then fill in the
Title box, and choose to limit the search to current titles only (in the
drop-down menu).
Company?Do company research as you prepare to network into a
company or research competitors. Try various versions of a company
name (e.g., GE and General Electric) as well as names of subsidiaries,
competitors, etc. You can limit the results to current companies only,
or search for current and past companies, the same way you can with
titles.
Location?Choose the country (and zip code for certain countries). I
would complement a local search with other search criteria, such as
"project manager" in Seattle (you'll need the zip code). This is a
powerful way to find contacts that are local to you, or those who are in
the same city you're traveling to.
Industry?Another favorite search of mine, leave all fields blank and
select the industry you are interested in networking into. I don't know
where the Industry list came from, but it doesn't seem to have changed
in the last five years (some industries on the list are Research, Wine
and Spirits, Machinery and Alternative Dispute Resolution). Results
come from self-selection, which means people categorize themselves
in an industry from their profile (on the page where you edit your name,
professional headline, location, etc.). Because this list is not
all-inclusive, I recommend you put industry information in your
summary, which can increase your chances of being found.
School?This is a new field since the last edition of this book. I did a
search on one of my alma maters and got different results when I used
the school acronym (BYU: 1,454 results) than I did when I used the full
name (Brigham Young University: 81,690 results). There are two
lessons here. First, when you are searching for people by school, try it
both ways. Second, make sure you have both versions in your profile.
Interested In?This is now a premium feature, unfortunately. This is
pretty self-explanatory, but I don't put much value in it because I think
people don't keep this section updated well.
Sort By?This drop down menu allows you to order the results, with
options such as "Relationship," "Relationship + Recommendations"
and the number of "Connections." This helps you find something
relevant to you without sifting through hundreds of irrelevant results.
The bigger your network, and the better connected they are (do they
each have five connections, or do they each have fifty connections?),
the richer results you should get.
Another LinkedIn search tip is to try Boolean searches (using AND,
OR, and NOT), use quotes, inclusions, and exclusions. For example,
try any of the following searches in the Advanced Search page (you
can put these in the Keywords or Company or Title fields):
? Google NOT Microsoft (I got 37,661 results)
? Microsoft NOT Google (I got 164,131 results)
? Google AND Microsoft (I got 816 results)
? php -programmer -linux -javascript -css +html -mysql (a "+" means
it has to include the phrase, "-" means the profile cannot include
the phrase)
? "project management institute" (use quotes for an exact match of the term) ? "project management institute" AND (Microsoft OR SUN); (combine term in quotes, parenthesis, and AND/OR operators for very specific results) This will be enough for most people on LinkedIn. For more in-depth information on really advanced searching, steal some tricks from Google's search tips page,12 or check out http://www.booleanblackbelt.com. In addition to using the search function, you should be able to find relevant contacts by your participation in LinkedIn Groups Discussions, as well as browsing through the group members. Look for people with whom you share common interests and reach out to them. You can also find relevant contacts in LinkedIn Answers, by asking questions relevant to them or by answer questions that others have posted. Finally, don't overlook the Jobs section as a place to find decision makers at various companies.
Chapter Summary
? Finding people is a major reason most people are on LinkedIn. Don't expect everyone to find you?take the initiative to look for them through various channels. ? The profiles you see in search results has been tied to the size of your network. ? The advanced search form allows you to really narrow down your search, based on industry, job title, company, location, and more. ? Use Boolean and advanced search techniques to narrow down the search results. ? Look for new contacts in other areas, such as Answers, Groups, and Jobs. 12. http://tinyurl.com/SearchBasicsgoogle.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py? hl=en&answer=134479&rd=1 "Take the time to look through the networks of your direct connects. This is where you can easily find people you'd like to connect with, and you'll know you can ask your contact to help with the connection." Scott Ingram, CEO and Founder, Network In Austin, http://www.networkinaustin.com
"Be sure to search on the actual leadership competencies that
matter instead of keywords like job title and company name. Some
of the best and most interesting thought leaders of the future I've
met on LinkedIn are the ones who haven't worked at cookie-cutter
company X doing cookie-cutter job Y. The team you assemble won't
be filled with the limiting beliefs of your competitors from several
years ago, which is a major plus."
|
Understanding Degrees of Separation The basic idea behind "degrees of separation" is that you are only so many degrees away from anyone (usually six). I've read that with technology (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) we are only three or four degrees away from anyone we want to network with. For example, if I wanted to meet the prime minister of some obscure country, I should be able to network into him or her and only have to go to my fifth-degree connection before I get an introduction. That is, I talk to Mike (first degree) who says I should talk to Meagan (second degree) who says her friend Kim (third degree) knows someone; so she introduces me to Chuck (fourth degree) who introduces me to John (fifth degree) who happens to have a personal relationship with the prime minister (who is a sixth-degree contact). A few years ago there was a "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"13 experiment, and network television has done similar experiments (without the celebrity). It seems crazy, but you are probably 13. http://tinyurl.com/VI-Degreesen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Degrees_of_ Kevin_Bacon
just a few introductions away from talking to the person you've been
trying to network into! The degrees-of-separation measurement that
LinkedIn uses gives you an interesting perspective on your network
(although it can be misleading).
When you look at the number of your first-degree contacts in your
network, you can get a sense of the breadth (how wide) and depth
(how deep) of your network. In other words, the width of your network
is depicted by how many first-degree contacts you have, and the depth
of your network is illustrated by anything below the first-degree.
On your landing page, you can see how many people are in the first
three degrees of your network, like this:
Figure 8: First Three Degrees of Connections
Figure 8 shows my network when I had 4,009 first-degree connections.
These are people who have asked to connect with me or agreed to an
invitation I've sent them. We have a mutual relationship because we
are both first-degree contacts with one another.
Through those 4,009 contacts, I have a reach to 1.4 million people,
who are my second-degree contacts. On average, each of my first-degree
contacts has about 360 first-degree contacts, which are all second-
degree contacts to me. I have a reach of fourteen million
third-degree contacts (each of my second-degree contacts has, on
average, ten first-degree contacts).
You have certain privileges with your first-degree contacts that you
don't have with other contacts. For example, I can see a third-degree
contact's profile, but I cannot see their email address. If I want to
contact them, I have to use an Introduction request (or some other
LinkedIn communication tool). Let's say I want to contact John Smith,
who happens to be a third-degree contact.
You can see I'm connected to "John Smith" through someone else (I
took the name out for privacy). Instead of showing me John Smith's
contact information (which I could see if we were first-degree contacts),
it shows me who I know who knows him. I would contact the person I'm
connected with through LinkedIn with a note that explains why I want
to contact John, and an introduction note for John. My contact could
then pass this on to his contact (my second-degree contact), and I am
hopeful that my request is sent to John.
If each person in this chain is comfortable with our relationship, they
will likely pass the requests on (this is where that "know and trust"
comes in handy!). My note to John would carry some weight since it is
coming through a trusted contact. Conceptually, this is a great idea, but
there are two issues:
First, there is no guarantee I have strong relationships with my connections.
I personally haven't met many of my first-degree contacts
and might have some who would not send on an Introduction
request.
Second, since the request travels through email, someone in the
chain might not receive it in a timely manner. If it takes two days for
each person to receive the email and forward it on, it might be six
days before an Introduction request is even received by John! If
you are in a hurry, it might be best to just pick up the phone
(old-fashioned yet effective).
I encourage you to look at your first-degree contacts' connections to
see if there are people you should have a first-degree relationship with.
You could invite them to become a first-degree connection to you. I
mentioned that the degrees of separation could me misleading, and
here's why?if I ask John to join my network, we lose the history of how
we knew one another (or, who was between him and me).
The degrees-of-separation measurement is helpful, but it's just one
metric (which is somewhat faulty). I've seen people confuse the size,
width, or depth of their network with the strength of their network. In
addition to the size, they should think about (and measure) the strength
of the relationship with each person in their network (which is not
measured in LinkedIn right now).
Chapter Summary
? The "degrees of separation" concept gives you the ability to see
how big your first-, second-, and third-degree networks are.
? When searching for new contacts, you can easily see the path
between you and them.
Recommendations
LinkedIn Recommendations are third-party professional
endorsements. Recommendations
carry weight because you cannot give one to
yourself. When you get a recommendation, you
can choose to put it on your profile or not, but you
can't edit it. Only the person who wrote the recommendation
can edit it. This gives credibility to
the recommendation.
Here's how recommendations work: find a
contact you can recommend and go to their
profile page. Click on the link that says, "Recommend
this person." You have to say whether you
are a colleague, service provider, business
partner (which means neither of the other two),
or had a student relationship (you were at the
same school at the same time). I usually choose
business partner since this is the closest description
for most of my contacts.
Figure 10: Recommend Contact
The next page asks me to clarify the relationship, where I choose my
title and his title when we knew each other (or worked with one
another). This is one of the clumsiest parts of the process for me
because I've met lots of my contacts through networking events or
through volunteering. I choose the closest "right answer" so I can get
to the actual recommendation.
Figure 11: Clarify Relationship
The next box is where you write your recommendation. These are not
long narratives. A recommendation is usually the length of a paragraph.
Here's a recommendation I created for, Marc, one of my
contacts (I leave a blank line after the first sentence, but LinkedIn strips
that out): Figure 12: Written Recommendation
After you write the recommendation and hit "Send," your contact will
get an email with a link to "Display" the recommendation. This will allow
them to show it on their profile, like this one that I received from Janet:
Figure 13: Display Recommendation
When you click on the link, you are taken to LinkedIn where you can
choose to show or hide the recommendation. I am commonly asked for
a replacement from people who are working on their brand, and they
ask me to rewrite it to emphasize certain characteristics. This is similar
to getting a letter of recommendation that isn't quite "right" and asking
the person to rewrite it.
Figure 14: Show/Hide Recommendation
One of the best ways to get a recommendation is to recommend
someone. Since recommendations can be valuable endorsements
used for business purposes, make sure you give the right message
when you write them. Include specific details in the recommendations
you give. The value of recommendations diminishes when they lack
specific points.
TIP: If you want a recommendation, give a recommendation! You are
more likely to get a good recommendation if you give one first.
It is okay to ask for specific wording in a LinkedIn Recommendation.
When Janet was preparing my recommendation, she asked me if there
was anything specific she should mention. This is an excellent time to
communicate your brand to your contact, who might not understand
the full scope of your current brand/offering. Take the opportunity to
educate your contacts. This will make your recommendation more
relevant to your current needs.
As you work on getting the right recommendations for your own profile,
consider these two points:
First, some people think you can have too many recommendations.
But I would never discourage someone from writing a recommendation
for me. What's the right percentage of
recommendations, based on the number of first-degree connections?
I don't have an answer for that. However, I think you should
have at least four to eight recommendations.
Second, I have seen profiles of people who were in a job search
and had a high percentage of recommendations from their
previous company. In these instances, I knew the people had been
recently laid off from the company, and the recommendations from
their previous colleagues and executives seemed fake.
Recommendations can be a powerful way to reach out to a contact and
strengthen your relationship. I don't think you can really do this wrong,
as long as you remember this is more of a professional network than a
casual, social network. Keep the tone of recommendations similar to
what you would see in a letter of recommendation; you will give a real
gift to your contacts.
For an excellent primer on how to write effective recommendations,
visit Naina Redhu's blog post.14 In her post, she also describes how to
write a mediocre and a least effective recommendation.
Here are my five top, um, recommendations regarding
recommendations:
1. Only ask for recommendations from someone who can give you
a real recommendation.
2. Only give recommendations when you have something you can
honestly say about the person.
3. Give recommendations without demanding a reciprocal recommendation.
4. If you feel forced to give a recommendation, don't do it.
5. Give recommendations that are specific, speaking to professional
competencies, skills, attributes, and characteristics.
Chapter Summary
? Adding recommendations to your profile is a great way to substantiate
your strengths.
? Giving recommendations is an excellent way to reach out to your
contacts and strengthen individual relationships.
? It is okay to ask for recommendations, just as you might ask for a
letter of recommendation from a boss.
? It is okay to ask for revisions of a recommendation, especially if the
recommendation isn't in sync with your branding strategy.
? Write recommendations that are specific and professionally endorsing,
not vague or general.
"It's what you do and how you leverage your LinkedIn profile that
makes you who you are to your network, and be memorable for time
to come."
"Meaningful endorsements from people you have worked with in a
team or done projects for are the primary validation currency of
positive attitude and achievements. It is the most important cutting
edge tool for identification of these positive leadership traits. When
hiring managers look at resumes, reading LinkedIn endorsements
should always be the next tool used to narrow the pile."
Jobs The Jobs section is LinkedIn's version of a job
board. A major benefit of LinkedIn's job board is
that you can see your relationship with the
people who post the jobs. You can see how
many degrees they are from you, how many recommendations
they have, and what their title is.
I love seeing postings by a hiring manager, since
that is exactly who I want to network into as a job
seeker. If I'm doing competitive intelligence
research, even as a salesperson, I just learned
the name, title, and role of someone who is in a
position of power.
CALLOUT TIP: Whether you are in a job search
or not, use job boards to gather intelligence
about your target companies.
Showing who posted the job sets LinkedIn apart
from other job boards and is the most powerful
feature of LinkedIn's job board. Can you imagine
if every job board gave you information helping
you network into the company? That's what
LinkedIn is doing, and it is awesome!
Some people get excited at the idea that many jobs posted on LinkedIn
are exclusive to LinkedIn users.
In 2007, I did a search for jobs in New York City and got 415 results
(job postings). In 2008, I did the same search and found 715 results. In
late 2010, I did the same search and found 1,226 results. These results
were based on a keyword search (in other words, I put "New York City"
in the search box). A zip code search, using a New York City zip code
(and a fifty mile radius) returned 2,662 results.
A similar search on Indeed.com (New York) produced over two
hundred thousand jobs. A search on Linkup.com produced over twenty
thousand hits. I definitely wouldn't recommend LinkedIn as your main
job board, but there are two reasons I would encourage you to keep it
as a tool:
First, as mentioned, LinkedIn makes it easy to network into the job
opening or company. Second, some opportunities are only posted on
LinkedIn.
When I click on a job posting, I can see how to network into the
company. In addition to seeing who posted the job, I can see who can
give me an introduction to that person. I can also see how many people
in my network are at that company, which helps me figure out other
ways to network into the company.
Figure 15: Job Posting Inside Connections
With tens of thousands of job boards (including corporate job boards),
it is confusing to know which boards and tools you should be using. I
suggest the LinkedIn job section is one of the job boards you use
because of the networking information LinkedIn Jobs provides. If you
"Save" the job, you can have an email alert sent to you daily, weekly,
etc.
In the last edition of this book, I asked LinkedIn for some improvements.
Here's a report of the requests I made:
1. Include salary as a search criterion. This is not in the system.
It has become commonplace to not list a salary, allowing the poster
to say "DOE," or "depending on experience," so I don't now if
allowing you to do a salary search will ever be possible. But it
would be a great enhancement for the job seeker.
2. Allow me to save my searches. Yes! I can now do this and have
my saved searches come to my email, like most job boards.
Thank you, LinkedIn!
3. Send me email alerts of jobs based on my criteria. Yes, as I
mentioned in #2 above.
4. Get more job postings. They are making nominal progress, but
the growth of the job postings is still slower than the growth of
their overall sign-ups.
Let me share some general job board thoughts, which apply to you
whether you are looking for a job or not. Job boards are an excellent
place to do research on a company. If your business has competitors
or wants to do research on a target company's competitors, use job
boards to see what's going on.
For example, let's say you are trying to figure out what direction a hiring
company, or competitive company, is going. You search for them on a
job board and find they have openings for two key roles in their
customer service department. This might mean they really are having
customer issues (something you might have heard while interviewing
others). Or, it might mean they are expanding their customer base. If
the same company is hiring ten sales executives in New England, you
know they are expanding in New England (where they might not have
had offices before).
Job boards may not have the best record for landing a job (most stats
I read say only 5 percent to 14 percent of jobs are filled because of job
boards), but they are rich with competitive intelligence information! Use
job boards, including the LinkedIn job board, to gather information
about your target companies and figure out how to network into the
right decision maker!
Chapter Summary
? LinkedIn Jobs shows you the people in your network that have
some tie to any particular job, which can help you network your way
into a company.
? Use LinkedIn Jobs to do competitive intelligence research, whether
you are looking for a job, looking for a customer, or just checking
out your competition.
Companies
When I wrote the first edition of this book, researching
companies was limited to whatever
you could find when doing a People Search. A
year later, by the time I wrote the second edition,
LinkedIn made significant enhancements and
added a "Companies" section.
The addition of companies was significant.
LinkedIn has a rich database of company information
that is enhanced each time a user adds
information on their profile. LinkedIn shows some
of this information to users. For example, I can
see where employees of my target company
worked before they came to my target company,
and then where they tend to go after leaving the
target company.
This is great information as I gather intelligence
on my target company! I might not have known,
or thought of, these tangential companies, and it
expands my research. There are other types of
information like this that are valuable in doing
company research.
Let's explore a few ways to get value out of Companies.
First, you need to get to a company
page.
When you click the "Companies" link on the main menu, you are taken
to the Company Search page where you can search by industry,
country, zip code (postal code), or by company name.
CALLOUT TIP: You should be able to list, right now, three target
companies. What are they? Write them on this page!
Another way to find a company page is from a user profile. If the
company name is a hyperlink, you can click on it to see the company
page. For example, search on profiles for IBM. On most results, the
IBM will be a hyperlink that you can click on to get to the company
page.
If you aren't sure what company you want to look at, or network into,
think about the type of person you want to network with, based on titles,
roles, where they are located, and then look at the companies listed on
their profiles.
LinkedIn users can add companies into the Companies database. You
can add the company easily by clicking the "Add a Company" link, but
only if you have a corporate email address (in other words, you have
to have an @companyname.com address).
On the company page, you'll see a company summary at the top of the
screen. This summary gives general information that you can find on
Google or Yahoo! Finance. There is more information LinkedIn shares
that is really rich, such as
? where company employees worked before they joined that
company,
? what companies ex-employees go to after they leave the company,
? who in your network works at the company,
? new hires, promotions, or job changes,
? key company statistics,
? and more.
In addition to getting this information for your target company, you can
also figure out how to network into the company! If you are in sales,
looking for partners, or are a job seeker and you have relevant
contacts, you should see more ways to network into the company than
if you didn't have any relevant contacts. This is another compelling
reason to increase your network with relevant contacts.
LinkedIn is beta testing a "Company Group" feature, which is open only
to those currently employed by certain companies. I don't have much
information about this but hope LinkedIn enhances it, as it could
provide a great networking opportunity for company employees. There
are many groups for company alumni. Click on "Groups" and search for
companies you used to work at to see if they have an alumni group.
One of the more recent enhancements to Companies is the ability to
"follow" a company. Once I follow a company, I can see from the
Settings page new information about the company, either via Network
Updates or email. You can choose to get updates when employees
leave or join the company or when they are promoted. You can get new
job postings sent to you as well as any Company Profile updates. It's a
great way to keep news about the company in front of you.
Chapter Summary
? Companies have data from various sources to provide you a rich
tool for research.
? Use Company Pages to do competitive intelligence research on
target companies, or competitors of target companies.
? Find target companies by using the Company Search page or by
finding companies whose names are hyperlinked from profiles.
? Learn about your target company and determine how you could
network your way into the company or strengthen your contacts in
that company, based on who is already in your network.
"The Company Profile pages on LinkedIn are GOLD for
anyone using LinkedIn to research companies, individuals or
positions within a company?and for recruiters searching for
candidates! The Company Profile page contains a wealth of
information on the company via Business Week and
employment data compiled from the information current and
former employees have entered in LinkedIn. This market
intelligence is fantastic, allowing you to see hiring and
promotional activity within the company, as well as quick links
to additional information to research competitors, similar
companies, etc. As a recruiter and avid networker, this is one
of my favorite features within LinkedIn, and it can be used for
business development and job search purposes in the same
way."
LinkedIn Groups
The value of LinkedIn Groups has really increased,
even since the last edition of this book.
If you only choose to do a few proactive things on
LinkedIn, Groups needs your attention.
At the time of this writing, there were over
747,000 LinkedIn Groups. That equals 650,000
more groups than there were just two years
earlier. That means almost one thousand new
groups are created each day! Don't worry, you
don't need to know about most of them?but
there are a few you should know about!
There are many kinds of groups, including
groups for alumni associations, professional affiliations,
industry interests, special interests,
company alumni groups, and generational
groups (GenY, Baby Boomers, etc.).
To join a group, simply click the "Join Group"
button on the Group Page. Some groups let you
in automatically, while others have an approval
process. For example, you can't join the Yale
University Alumni group until they verify that you
are an alumnus of Yale. If you are not automatically
approved, you can send a message to the
group administrator asking for approval to join
the group. I regularly get this type of "please let me join your group"
email for my JibberJobber Career Management group (search "Jibber-
Jobber" in the Groups Directory.
Once you become a group member, you have access to browse
through a list of members as well as search by keywords. If you have
time, look for key prospects you want to network into.
One of the biggest benefits of joining a group is that you can message
other group members, whether they are connected to you or not. This
could be the most important thing for you, even if you don't do anything
with Groups. The ability to message members is so powerful, I cannot
overstate it. Imagine you only have five first-degree connections. You
find a group relevant to you with one thousand members. You now
have direct reach to all one thousand of the members of that group.
Multiple that by the fifty groups you can join?and imagine the massive
reach to relevant contacts you can have just by joining relevant groups!
In my business, I've been prospecting university career centers, since
I developed a very cool product for them. I found five groups that career
center professionals join, and I now have reach to thousands of career
center professionals, without even connecting to them. When I find a
profile of a career center professional I usually can communicate with
them because they are usual a member of one of the groups. The alternatives
include upgrading or asking for an Introduction, both of
which I don't want to do.
Another significant feature in Groups is "Discussions." Discussions
gives you the ability to post a question or thought to group members,
or respond to their posted questions or thoughts. This presents a significant
opportunity to brand yourself as a thought leader or subject
matter expert, if you do it right. There is a lot of spam and inappropriate
content in group discussions. I encourage you to keep your conversation
highly value-added. You don't want to be known as a spammer.
The ability to create discussions is almost like having a blog with a
built-in audience. Don't disrespect the audience by posting too much or
stuff that is irrelevant. Also, make sure anything you put up (a new discussion,
or a comment on a discussion) is on-brand for you.
When you join a group there are group settings you can adjust. One
setting is the option to show the group logo on your profile. I can show
my support for, and affinity to, certain causes, associations, clubs,
companies, and schools just by showing the logo on my profile.
You don't have to show all of your groups on your profile. Show only
the groups that support the brand message you've defined. Only show
enough groups that get the point across. You can still have full membership
in a group without showing the logo on your profile. You don't
want to add more noise on your profile by adding showing too many
groups.
Look for all of the relevant groups you can find and join them! Whether
you have a proactive strategy and participate in group discussions, or
you have a passive strategy and just join to be in the group, you can't
go wrong.
Owning Your Own Group
There are a lot of groups?maybe even one million groups by the time
you are reading this! Why should you start your own group? There are
a few really good reasons.
I started a group just so I could test out the features and see what it
was like to be an owner. As a group owner I can:
? approve new members, or remove people who spam the group, or
abuse their membership;
? moderate all discussions (not that I have to, but I can), and essentially
have the last word; and
? send an "Announcement," which is like a newsletter, to all group
members.
Let's talk about starting your own group. Click on "Groups" to get to
your "My Groups" page, and then click on the "Create a Group" tab.
You'll need to have a name and description for your new group and, optionally,
a logo.
Once your group is created, your job is to let people know about the
group! There is no easy "tell everyone about my group" button. Let all
of your network contacts, clients, and prospects know about the group
through traditional methods, including your email signature, your
website or blog, in newsletters, in comments you leave on other blogs,
in group discussions, etc. Also use non-LinkedIn communication tools
to let others know about your group.
CAUTION: Be careful how you do this on a seemingly competitive
group. No one (especially the owner of the other group) wants to read
spam messages.
When you group up, make sure you have the right keywords in the description
and summary so people can find it when they search for what
your group is about. What are the keywords that best describe your
group? What are keywords your target audience would use to search
for your group? List them out and then incorporate them into the group.
Also, visit competitive groups to see what keywords they use to get
other ideas.
One benefit of owning a group is the viral marketing your brand/company/
expertise get. When group members put your logo on their
profiles, they are advertising you. Many of my JibberJobber Career
Management members have the JibberJobber logo on their profile,
which helps my branding.
Another way your group spreads virally is when someone joins the
group, or contributes to a discussion. Their connections can see, on
the homepage, their group's activity. The viewer will see the title of the
Group Discussion and can click a link to learn more.
As the group administrator, don't be shy to develop your own rules and
boundaries. When someone is abusing the group to send promotional
messages, kick them out. Jump into the discussions when you have
time and keep it alive. Also, take advantage of the Announcements
section where you can send an email message to each member's
email box. This essentially turns your group into an opt-in newsletter.
Just don't abuse it.
Let's wrap this up. As a user of LinkedIn, I encourage you to
:
? Seek out and join groups where your peers and target audience
are. You can join up to fifty groups, but don't show all fifty group
logos on your profile, as it will just clutter your profile. Join as many
groups as you can.
? Go into your groups and browse the list of members. Perform from
inside the group to find target prospects.
? Reach out to group members by sending individual messages.
Make sure you have a purpose to reach out to them and clearly
communicate your purpose.
? Find discussions you can join or start. Pay attention to what you
say, and how you say it, and avoid any netiquette missteps.
If you are interested in owning a group, I encourage you to:
? Go to Groups, click on the "Create a Group" tab, and get started on
your own group!
? Market your group in as many places as you can. This includes
your email signature, on blogs and websites, in comments you
leave on other blogs, and in newsletters.
? Figure out how open your group is. If it's an alumni group, you'll
want to limit access to alumni of the school or company. If it's a
special interest group, you may be more open. Determine how
open you'll be based on how much administration you can do (do
you want to have to check out each applicant before you approve
them?).
? Spend time in your Groups Discussions to keep out spam and
weird messaging. Encourage good conversations.
? Communicate to group members by initiating discussions and
sending out announcements.
Participating in groups has added value to my LinkedIn experience. My
group has over two thousand members. Other groups have hundreds
of thousands of members. Don't discount smaller groups, as your voice
will still be heard by others and not get lost in the noise of a larger
group.
Can you see how groups could be an essential part of your LinkedIn
strategy?
Chapter Summary
? Join groups where your peers or target audience are. Consider
adding certain group logos to your profile.
? Communicate with other group members using Groups Discussions,
but always keep it on-brand.
? Look for group members to see who should be in your network, or
who you should initiate a conversation with.
? Consider starting your own group for your company, profession,
industry, passion, and local geographic area.
"Administering a LinkedIn group is a terrific way to subtly raise awareness of yourself. It's a fairly simple process to start a group. Perhaps the most difficult part is designing your group's logo. I started and manage three groups, one for my high school and two for my geographic area, and I can see that most people who join them review my LinkedIn profile. That puts me in front of many people who may never have been aware of me otherwise. It also gives me the opportunity to welcome them and reach out to them as potential connections. It can work for you too, so consider what need is unfulfilled and start your own LinkedIn group." Christine Pilch, Co-owner, Grow My Company; and Coauthor of Understanding Brand Strategies: The Professional Service Firm's Guide to Growth, http://www.growmyco.com"Everyone knows that it's a good thing to network, but most people don't do it unless they need something. Building a LinkedIn network is a little like that. You really won't appreciate just how valuable your network has become until you need it. My advice is to start now! Take Jason's recommendations to heart and get going. When the time comes, you will be glad that you did." Simon Meth, Corporate Recruiter & Career Counselor, Kettlehut and Meth, http://www.martinandsimon.com; and Blogger, http://community.ere.net/blogs/sittingxlegged/ LinkedIn Answers
LinkedIn Answers is one of my favorite features
on LinkedIn. Why? I use LinkedIn (and other
social tools) for three things:
? to reinforce and share my brand,
? to grow my network with relevant contacts,
and
? to nurture individual relationships.
LinkedIn Answers lets me do all three of these
things. Let's explore how. There are two aspects
of LinkedIn Answers: asking questions and
answering questions.
When you ask a question in Answers, you simply
post a question that is viewable by anyone on
LinkedIn. You can also send the question, via
email, to up to two hundred of your first-degree
contacts. Questions posted are extremely
diverse, ranging from knowledge-based issues
("I have a technical question ") to help in finding
a job ("How do I network into that company?") or
resources ("Do you know where I can find the
most updated list of ?"). In general, it is inappropriate
to ask the type of social questions you
might find on Facebook or Twitter.
You are limited in the number of questions you can ask on LinkedIn
Answers. Historically, the limit has been ten questions per calendar
month.
I encourage you to ask questions based on how many contacts you
have. Remember, you can have LinkedIn email the question to up to
two hundred of your first-degree contacts.
If you have less than two hundred contacts, submit a question about
once a month. You don't want your contacts to feel like you are
spamming them.
If you have less than four hundred clients, ask a question every other
week. Send the first question to the first half of your network and the
second question to the other half of your network.
You do this by last name, grouped alphabetically. So, the first question
would go to all of the A-Ms in your network and the second question
would go to the N-Zs in your network.
If you have eight hundred or more first-degree contacts, ask a question
once a week. Each week, choose a different block of two hundred
contacts to get the question via email.
Here's the key: I assume no one will see my question on LinkedIn. Why
ask the question, then? Because I want to use LinkedIn to get my
question (and my brand and my messaging) in the email inbox of my
contacts.
This is really powerful. LinkedIn gives you a tool to get your message
in the inbox of hundreds of people, at no cost to you. Ask questions in
LinkedIn Answers to
1. share your brand,
2. grow your network, and
3. nurture relationships!
TIP: Ask a question at least once a month. This helps you intelligently
probe your contacts in a creative way. If you don't invite up to two hundred people from your first-degree
network to get the question via email, you have missed the point of
LinkedIn Answers. Based on my experience, you are more likely to get
more responses if you choose two hundred contacts than if you just let
each person randomly find your question on LinkedIn (which is not as
easy as it sounds).
Even if no one responds to my question on LinkedIn, I still want my
brand and message to get in front of my network.
Each question is open for a certain period of time, currently eight days.
During that time, anyone on LinkedIn can answer the question. At the
end of the eighth day, the question closes and no one can answer it.
The question and all answers are always available for anyone to see.
If you have a good question that received good answers, consider
opening the question again. Simply go to the question page and
"Reopen" the question. I asked a question, got great answers, and then
reopened it for another period. When I did this, I chose one hundred
different first-degree contacts to get the question emailed to them.
During the eight days your question is open you can clarify or close
your question. If you need to clarify the question, append your clarification
at the end of the original question instead of changing the entire
question. If you change the original question, some of the answers
might not make sense (since they answered the previous question).
I've also seen people use the "Clarify" link to follow up and respond to
answers, express appreciation, etc.
What a terrific source of knowledge LinkedIn Answers is! When
someone answers a question, you learn more about them, their
passion for the topic, perhaps the depth of their expertise. With one
click you are led to their profile where you can see if they might be a
relevant contact.
Once the question is closed, you should choose the "good" and "best"
answers. You don't have to, but if you do you can further the relationship
with each person. You get a chance to put your brand in front of
them again.
When you assign a "best" on someone's response you build the credibility
of the person who answered. When they answer other questions
it shows how many best answers they have gotten.
If you ask a question that others consider inappropriate (like asking a
question that is a job posting, or pitching your product or company) it
may get flagged. This is a peer monitoring mechanism to help eliminate
spam in Answers. Be careful how you word questions (and answers to
other people's questions)! You don't want to brand yourself as a
spammer in Answers.
Some LinkedIn users regularly answer over 150 questions each week.
You can see these people on the Answers page, below the main questions.
They are called "This Week's Top Experts," even though
answering a lot of questions doesn't necessarily make you an "expert."
At the time of this writing, the person with the most answers this week
had answered 463 questions.
If you use an RSS reader, you can get new questions in certain categories
that others post on LinkedIn Answers. Simply go to the Answers
page and scroll down to see the list of categories (under "Browse").
When you click on a category you'll see an RSS icon that lets you
follow all new questions. This helps you see new questions without
logging in to LinkedIn and browsing through the Answers page.
You should have a LinkedIn Answers strategy. Do not let a month go
by without asking a question on LinkedIn Answers! Your questions
should respect your network and reinforce your brand. Each question
is an opportunity for you to put your messaging in front of your contacts
(and people outside of your network). Here are two example questions:
? What are the top project management failures this year? (This
question reinforces your interest, or expertise, in project management.)
? What are the top three challenges for supply chain professionals
for the next year? (Doesn't this help me understand your interest
or thought leadership in the supply chain space?)
You respect your network when you ask real questions that allow them
to share their expertise. You reinforce your brand by the type and topic
of each question. Don't miss the opportunity to use Answers as a
powerful networking tool! Avoid pitching your offerings, or coming
across as too self-promotional.
Some people disagree, but I think it's appropriate to leave links in your
questions or answers. Exercise discretion and only leave links that add
value to your point(s). You can link to a blog post you wrote, to a news
article, or to someone else's blog post. The objective is to be a value-
added contributor. Share as much pertinent knowledge as you can
to be seen as the subject matter expert that you are.
TIP: Try to answer a question at least once a month, which will
enhance your visibility in LinkedIn.
Chapter Summary
? Participating in Answers is an excellent way to make new contacts
as well as reinforce your personal brand.
? Make sure you participate and add value to questions and
answers.
? Your Answers strategy can include just asking questions, just
answering questions, or a combination.
"When you ask a question on the Answers forum, take the time to thank each person who tried to help. Then remember to close and rate the question. People have taken the time to help you; it is simple common courtesy to thank them." Sheilah Etheridge, Owner, SME Management, http://www.linkedin.com/in/smemanagement"Use the questions and Answers features to start conversations, create community, and position yourself as a subject matter expert. By answering questions, you are simultaneously endorsing your candidacy and expertise." Barbara Safani, Owner, Career Solvers, http://www.careersolvers.com
|
Part III Wrapping It Up
There's more to getting value out of LinkedIn than
the tools and the interface on their website. Part III
discusses concepts for using LinkedIn in a
personal branding strategy, warns you about
shady practices that you might encounter,
discusses netiquette, talks about complementary
resources, and leaves you with some final
thoughts.
LinkedIn for Personal Branding
I'm frequently asked how a company can make
money with LinkedIn. Indeed, a company can,
and should, use LinkedIn for various reasons,
including corporate branding and increased
sales.
In general, though, LinkedIn is a personal tool.
The user profile is for one individual (not a
company, for that you would use a Company
Profile) and usually shows the individual's work
history. I think your account is yours, not your
employer's; however, that is being debated in the
courtroom as recruiting firms and other
companies claim the network (connecting) was
done at work and it is owned by the employer.
Your LinkedIn profile is not a corporate advertising
channel, although you can put language on
your profile that explains what your company
does in a way to attract new customers. Developing and sharing your personal brand is
not as easy as throwing up a profile. Understand
what your personal brand currently is (everyone
has a brand, whether they know it or not) and
define what you think it should be. Figure out
how you can strengthen it, online and offline. Since this is not a book on personal branding, I won't cover all the ins and outs of who you are or who you should be and explain all the ways to share and reinforce your brand. I will share some ideas on personal branding specific to LinkedIn. If you are interested in personal branding, I highly suggest the book Career Distinction by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. Another popular personal branding book is Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel. Two excellent, no-cost personal branding resources are Dan Shawbel's popular Personal Branding Blog, http://www.personalbrandingblog.com, and the site A Brand You World, http://www.personalbrandingevent.com, which has hours of recordings from its 2007 Global Telesummit.
Here are my recommendations for you, as you work on your personal
brand using LinkedIn:
First, make sure you are showing the right information on your Public
Profile. LinkedIn allows you to view your profile as others would see it.
You should log out and see what your profile looks to people who are
not logged in (people who find your profile from a Google search, or
who get a link to your profile).
Is your profile showing enough information? Is it showing too much information
(and muddying up your brand message)? Too many profiles
show too little information, which makes me spend time poking around
the Internet for more information on you. Unfortunately, I don't have the
time (neither does your target prospect), and I move on to someone
who has presented me with enough information to make a decision.
Make it easy for people to learn about you without going somewhere
else!
Second, make your profile look intentional and take advantage of
subtle branding opportunities. Change your Public Profile URL from the
default assigned value (which looks like gibberish) to something more
descriptive of who you are. For example, you can see that my Public
Profile ends in "jasonalba" instead of something like "/1/234/698." If
you see a link to my profile, you know exactly where you are going:
Figure 16: Edit Profile
To change yours go to the Profile page and click the "Edit" link. Don't
put something regretful, like "hairy legs."
Third, share the link to your LinkedIn profile. The easiest, most
effective and most viral way of sharing this is to put it in your email signature.
Every time someone reads your email signature, they'll know
how to learn more about you. Each time your emails get forwarded,
more people will see your profile URL. Another way to share your
profile is to put the "View My LinkedIn Profile" image on your personal
website or blog.
NOTE: I DO NOT DO THIS. Why not? I consider my LinkedIn profile a
channel, to get you to my other sites, which are the destinations. If you
don't have a website or blog or other destination, use your LinkedIn
profile. But think about where you want people to end up and send
them straight there.
I attended a presentation for job seekers about "regaining your identity."
The speaker talked about using resumes in networking events. He
said that employed professionals don't pass out resumes, they trade
business cards. If you get a resume from someone, you have a preconceived
idea about what they want (a job). However, if they give you a
business card, you are just two peers, two professionals, exchanging
contact information.
This concept applies to your LinkedIn profile. If you send a link with
your resume with every email you send you'll likely get into trouble with
your employer, or your send a message that you are needy. Sending a
resume says, "I'm looking; if you can help, then let me know." However,
sending a link to your LinkedIn profile says "Here's my professional
profile, check it out."
Of course, your LinkedIn profile can have the same information I'll find
on your resume, with the same quantifying statements. But just
pointing someone to your online profile sends a different message.
Finally, if you leave a comment on a blog, online newspaper, forum or
some other website, you have two opportunities to leave a link to your
website. If you don't have your own website or blog, put in the link to
your LinkedIn profile URL. The first place to put a URL is in the
"website" box. Usually, when you leave a comment on a blog post they
ask for your name, email address, and website.
The second place to leave the URL is at the end of your comment,
much like an email signature. Make it easy for the reader to click a link
to learn more about you!
Chapter Summary
? Use LinkedIn to strengthen your personal brand and take
advantage of LinkedIn's search engine optimization.
? Your LinkedIn profile is kind of like a resume, without many of the
limitations (length) and negative connotations ("I'm a job seeker,
help me!") that a resume might have.
? Use your Public Profile URL as your "website" address when you
comment on blogs, unless you have a blog or other website you
want people to go to.
Shady Practices
With as many users as LinkedIn has, you are
almost guaranteed to run into people who don't
abide by common netiquette or the LinkedIn
User Agreement (there is a link at the bottom of
each page to the User Agreement).
Here are some actual practices I've seen that are
considered to be "shady":
Email in name field. This is a very simple,
almost nonoffensive deed, but I mention it
because it is against the terms set forth in the
LinkedIn User "Dos" and Don'ts" section of the
User Agreement:15 in which the user agrees not
to post "to a content field content that is not
intended for such field." Example: putting an
address in a name or title field. This may be the
most common offense, to the point where it looks
like "everyone is doing it." Maybe everyone is
doing it, but it is still against the rules.
Tollboothing. This is when people charge you to
have access to their LinkedIn connections. You
can do a search on their network, but if you want
an introduction or some other kind of endorsed
communication to one of their contacts, they charge you. The logic
behind this is, "I put a lot of time and effort into building my network,
and this is my livelihood, so you should expect to have to pay for my
services." I don't agree with this behavior. While there are people who
agree with it, they are in a small minority. Doing something like this
might hinder your networking and LinkedIn strategy.
Lying. One of the best ways to be found by companies that hire Yale
graduates is to graduate from Yale, right? What if you could just put
Yale as one of your schools that you went to? Well, you can. You can
lie about places that you worked and where you went to school. You
can actually lie about anything on your profile. This is one reason why
recommendations carry weight, because you can't edit what someone
else writes about you. Some people put false information on their
LinkedIn profile to increase their chances of being found by recruiters
or hiring managers.
Vincent Wright, networking enthusiast and Chief Branding Officer of
Brandergy, found a profile where the person had supposedly worked
for fifteen years in one hundred different companies. Vincent called
him the 1,500-year-old man (100 companies x 15 years at each one =
1,500 years of work experience!). Vincent is a professional recruiter?
and professional recruiters can see this type of deception from a
mile away. Make sure your profile is clean and verifiable?just as your
resume should be.
What should you do if someone contacts you because of a commonality
with a school or company listed on your account? On an email
listserv, Scott Allen recommended the following:
If someone sends you an invitation saying they're a former
colleague or classmate, at least take a look at the dates and other
entries on their profile and make sure they jibe. If they don't have
a full position and description listed, that's a yellow flag.
It's up to you to make sure the person you connect with, or respond to,
is who he says he is. I don't expect LinkedIn to verify the information.
When I get a communication from someone on LinkedIn that is fraudulent,
I forward the message to the customer support email address
with hopes their account gets deleted.
Using LinkedIn Answers to cloak inappropriate questions. The
LinkedIn community has been clear they don't want Answers to turn
into a spam-laden area, generating useless requests for information
and sending out numerous emails. Try a few questions that are borderline
and you'll probably have some people respond that it was inappropriate.
Answers has a purpose. Abusing it not only clutters and
diminishes the value of the system but also shows you don't respect
others.
Fishing for fake recommendations. You can't make up recommendations
for your profile, and creating fake profiles to endorse your main
profile is too much work. Some people ask for recommendations
without knowing you. The shady part is when someone you don't really
know asks for a recommendation. It usually comes in the form of "If you
recommend me, I'll recommend you." I used to respond with something
like this: "I don't really feel like I know you well enough to give you a
recommendation?sorry. I'd like to get to know you better before I do
that." I never got a response back, and now I don't even bother sending
that message. I think some people send requests for recommendations
to their entire network, so I just ignore them if I don't know them well
enough.
Light-linking. This refers to linking with anyone who asks for a connection
(this is something a LION would do). I said I'm not going to tell
you what your connection philosophy should be, but if all we have on
LinkedIn is connections without relationships, we do minimize the
value LinkedIn could bring us.
The value of LinkedIn is diminished when connections are made with
people you don't know well enough to endorse, recommend, or pass
along to another network contact. You can argue that light-linking is
okay since it
a. expands your network and reach, and
b. increases the chances that you'll be found because your
network gets bigger and more diverse.
Fishing for email addresses. Because so many people violate the
rule about putting email addresses in the name field, it's easy to find
email addresses to put into a list. I'm not suggesting that you do anything
shady, but here's how easy it is. Just search on ".com" in the
search box and you'll find plenty of email addresses to add to your list.
It's that easy to find email addresses to spam!
These are not all of the shady practices?the key is to be cautious with
the information you get and be careful with the messages you send.
Chapter Summary
? People will do things wrong, sometimes unknowingly. Beware of
whom you interact with, and how you interact with them.
? If you violate LinkedIn policy, you risk having your account suspended,
or being seen as someone that does not respect "the
rules."
On Netiquette
With all the new social interfaces on LinkedIn,
there are plenty of opportunities to make
etiquette mistakes with your contacts. Netiquette
refers to etiquette, or acceptable social behavior,
online (hence, the "net").
It's critical to understand some basic rules of
Internet etiquette. Not understanding can have
consequences as simple as people ignoring you
and as complex as getting kicked out of various
forums and websites. In addition to having an
online presence and developing your personal
brand, you should stay within the boundaries of
your professional brand. I assume some
component of your brand is awareness, professional
consideration, and respect. Even if you
are "aggressive," you should still have respect
for the rules of interaction. Here are some basics
rules to consider:
1. Be nice. Be concise. Always! Aren't we in
the habit of skimming more than reading?
We're faced with massive amount of
information from all sides: email, social
websites, Internet searches, blogs, news
sites the list doesn't seem to end! Have a
concise message with a nice tone and I bet you'll have your
message read more often. Write a long message and I'll save it
for later, when I'm not busy. Know when that is? Never.
2. Avoid sarcasm in your online communications. Maybe it's because
we're more inclined to skim messages, but it's often said
we should be very careful with funny jokes and sarcasm in the
written word. I frequently hit the backspace button when writing
many of my emails because something that sounded good while
I wrote it could be interpreted too many ways. Furthermore, jokes
or sarcasm could be a distraction from my real message and just
add noise, which is an unintended result.
3. Assume good intentions when you are reading someone
else's communication. Scott Allen advises people to "presume
good intent" when reading an email that might come across as
negative, harsh, or inappropriate. Scott is right! You know you
should be careful when sending messages, but some of your contact
might not have gotten the memo on netiquette. Give them the
benefit of the doubt!
4. Don't chastise or preach. I've seen too many online discussions
go from bad to worse when one person chastises or preaches,
advocating the "right" way to do something or think about
something. What starts off as a general admonition or
knowledge-sharing email easily turns into personal jabs and
accusations. I've found it's much more effective to just bow out of
the discussion and move on to something else. Everyone
involved will appreciate the thread dying down, and you'll look
more mature, wiser, or just smarter for not pursuing an online
fistfight.
5. Consider cultural differences when reading or writing anything.
Every list I'm on has a good representation of people from
all walks of life, and from different countries. There are people
whose native tongue is not the same as everyone else on the list.
There are people who are right out of school (or still students) and
others who are at the end of their career. There are entrepreneurs,
executives, artists, rich people, and poor folks. These differences
affect the messages and the culture of the online forum
and can lead to misunderstandings. 6. Know when to take it off-list. Lots of topics discussed online are
interesting and appropriate. Sometimes they are only interesting
and appropriate to the two people participating in the discussion.
If this is the case, take the discussion off-list, which means to do
it outside for the general group. If the discussion starts off slightly
off-topic and it gets deeper and more technical, take it off-list. If
the discussion is between you and one other person, and adds no
value to anyone else, take it off-list. If the discussion is completely
off-topic, or personal, take it off-list. If you are just saying "thank
you," or "happy birthday" or something like that, take it off-list.
There are always exceptions to the rules (it seems many people don't
know the rules or the exceptions). Remember this: everything you
write, whether it's a comment, an email, an instant message, or
anything, may come back to haunt you. I like the rule of thumb to write
everything as if it will be printed on the front page of a major newspaper,
with full credit back to me!
Chapter Summary
? Learning the rules of netiquette will help you maintain the proper
relationships as you communicate with people online.
? Understanding netiquette mistakes may help you be more understanding
or patient with people who don't understand them.
Complementary Tools and Resources
I have grown to love and appreciate real networking.
I've found LinkedIn to be an important,
valuable, part of my networking strategy. There
are other network tools I recommend that complement
LinkedIn. This chapter lists those tools.
Many people use LinkedIn to develop an online
personal branding strategy. This means they
develop a profile much like they would develop a
resume, trying to optimize it so people will
a. find it when searching for keywords
(such as "project manager"), and/or
b. be interested in working with, hiring, or
finding out more about the person.
If you are interested in developing an online
presence there are other ways to do it. A Public
Profile on LinkedIn should be one part of a multifaceted
strategy, not your entire strategy. Here's
a quick list of excellent (and free) ways to
enhance your online presence, and even get
your name on the front page of search engine
results:
Find other sites that allow you to have a public profile, such as
Jobster.com, Emurse.com, JobSpice.com, VisualCV.com, and
ZoomInfo.com. There are hundreds of sites that allow you to have
a profile that search engines can access.
? Set up a blog that allows you to brand yourself and quantify your
professional breadth and depth in a very powerful way. If you are
open to this idea, consider Twitter, which is frequently called a
"microblog."
? Comment on other blogs to establish your online presence and
footprint, pointing back to a central place (either your blog or one
of your online profiles (like your LinkedIn Public Profile).
? Develop a Squidoo lens where you can list things such as your
online profiles, favorite books, and blog feeds. The goal is to help
people understand your professional interests and abilities and to
be found when people search for certain keywords.
? Write articles and post them for free online, or volunteer to write a
column for a magazine or newspaper.
All of these tools can complement one another. On your LinkedIn
profile, you can list your other websites and profiles. On your blog, you
can list your LinkedIn profile and link to your articles and other online
tools. This allows someone who finds one of your profiles to visit other
pages where they might learn more about you because of what you
have there or how it is presented.
Having a presence and strategy in various environments might help
you connect with others in a place where they feel comfortable. For
example, your target audience might be on Twitter or on Facebook but
not on other sites. Or maybe they aren't on any of these social sites,
and you are most likely to be found when they use a search engine.
Having multiple sites can help search engines find you. Enter "SEO" in
your favorite search engine to learn more.
Let's talk about relationship management. There are hundreds of relationship
management tools available to help manage your relationships.
Recruiters use a relationship tool to track their job candidates
(they call it an applicant tracking system). They make notes on candidates
and create log entries and action items to help them as they try
to fill events. Salespeople have a customer relationship management
tool, which is similar. They use their relationship tool to help manage
information about prospects and clients. Why shouldn't you have
something as helpful to manage your relationships?
I'm a strong advocate of using a relationship management tool
because that's where I've concentrated my efforts since 2006, shortly
after I got laid off. I designed a system for the average "nonsales"
person. Initially it was designed for the job seeker, but now I want a tool
for people who aren't in transition, too. So JibberJobber.com has
become my relationship management tool. LinkedIn is not a relationship
management tool, but it is a great complement to a relationship
management tool.
The relationship management tool you use could be as rudimentary as
an Excel spreadsheet (good luck with that), as complex as a salesperson's
contact relationship management suite (which might require a
week of training to use), or as simple and common as Microsoft
Outlook's Contacts section (which can be good enough but lacks some
valuable features).
Industrial-level tools, such as the salesperson's ACT!, GoldMine®, or
Salesforce.com are quite common. JibberJobber.com was designed to
manage your personal relationships in a career management context.
Anyone interested in "climbing the ladder," creating "job security," or
developing and nurturing a professional network would find JibberJobber.
com to be useful. No matter what you use, you should use
something in addition to LinkedIn.
Other social networking sites have made considerable progress
offering professional networking opportunities. Currently, Twitter and
Facebook are regarded as tools with which a professional can network,
in addition to LinkedIn. Facebook lacks the degrees of separation
power, as well as a strong search interface. If they were to enhance
those two features, they would present a considerable threat to what
LinkedIn offers, since they have more than 600 percent the number of
sign-ups. Twitter is powerful, but it has a very focused, simple feature
set and lacks a lot of features that LinkedIn offers. It is definitely a
powerful tool, though.
I don't advocate the use of one over the other since many might be
perfect complements. When I consider a networking tool, I ask a few
questions. Will this tool help me:
? Expand my network within my country?
? Expand my network internationally? There are other sites that I
might need to look at.
? Voice my opinion and develop my personal brand with a targeted
audience? Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups provide a great
forum for this.
? Learn from other like-minded professionals? Again, Yahoo!
Groups and Google Groups might provide a great environment to
do this. One of my favorite examples can be found at Young-
PRPros.com.
There are a lot of resources to keep up with what's going on at
LinkedIn. LinkedIn's own blog and learning center have matured quite
a bit and can provide you with information on new features. Here are
some other resources:
? The ImOnLinkedInNowWhat.com blog?I started this blog to
serve as a supplement to this book. It has become a great resource
where I can flesh out ideas from the book, talk about current
issues, and respond to readers' questions. You can sign up to get
the posts by email or RSS, or just visit and search for topics of
interest.
? The Linked Intelligence blog16?Scott Allen's blog which has
some great posts explaining techniques and strategies to help us
understand how we can get more value out of LinkedIn.
Guy Kawasaki's "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn" blog post17?This
is an old but relevant list of eleven, actually, ways to use LinkedIn.
Reading these ideas helps you know what LinkedIn thinks is
important with LinkedIn. Make sure to read the comments for great
ideas from LinkedIn users.
? Guy Kawasaki's "LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover" blog
post18?Guy received preferred treatment from LinkedIn as they
guided him through improving his own profile (which he had been
neglecting). This post points out the specific changes that LinkedIn
recommends to his old profile. Again, the comments have valuable
insights.
? The LinkedIn User Agreement page19?If you are serious about
using LinkedIn, you should read this at least once (don't worry, it is
short and fairly easy to read). There are a number of violations that
might cause LinkedIn to freeze your account. Get familiar with the
rules and philosophies behind the rules and you should be okay.
? The official LinkedIn Blog20?This blog has really matured since it
first started, and has excellent information and news for LinkedIn
users and fans. There are many authors of this blog, so you get a
good mix of information, including recent releases, LinkedIn best
practices, etc.
? The LinkedIn Users Manual blog21?Peter Nguyen has good
ideas on making money with LinkedIn, selling knowledge, etc. I
don't subscribe to any "get rich quick" methodology and haven't
followed his stuff a lot, but he's a proficient blogger and might have
some great ideas.
Deb Dib's article, "LinkedIn?What It Is and Why You Need to Be On It"22?this is an excellent article written for executives in career transition. There are eight links to very compelling LinkedIn profiles that you must check out as you optimize your own profile. ? The LinkedIn Personal Trainer is a book by Steve Tylock. I wish I could say I wrote the first book on LinkedIn, but Steve got his book out shortly before mine came out. Steve's has a bunch of worksheets you can use as you get your LinkedIn strategy up and running. You can find more information at http://www.linkedInpersonaltrainer.com. There are now a lot of books on LinkedIn available. Simply go to Amazon.com and search for LinkedIn. ? GetSatisfaction.com is where you can see current issues and make complaints about LinkedIn (and other companies). Frequently I'm asked how to resolve something, make recommendations to LinkedIn, etc. I have had very poor results trying to get replies from LinkedIn employees. But I've seen them monitor the discussions and complaints at Get Satisfaction. If you have something that isn't getting any attention from customer service, you could try posting it at http://www.getsatisfaction.com/linkedin. In addition to these resources, do not underestimate a solid networking book to learn some networking basics. Online networking and offline networking have one key thing in common?it's all about relationships. Here are some great networking books I recommend: ? Never Eat Alone23 by Keith Ferrazzi?I read this book when I thought networking was all about desperate people schmoozing and passing business cards for self-gain. It really changed my perspective on what networking is and how to do it, and I strongly, strongly recommend it to anyone who asks about networking. ? Some Assembly Required and The ABC's of Networking by Thom Singer24?Thom's books are great resources with hundreds of practical, right-now relationship building tips. I've found his 22. http://tinyurl.com/ExecLinkedInjob-hunt.org/executive-job-search/linkedin-for-executives.shtml 23. http://www.keithferrazzi.com24. http://thomsinger.com/writings to be especially applicable in the corporate environment with a lot of examples on how he enriches customer and prospect relationships. Thom's newer books include Some Assembly Required for Women and Some Assembly Required: LinkedIn ("how to make, grow, and keep business relationships using online services such as LinkedIn and others"). ? Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty25 by Harvey Mackay?This has been a staple of networking books for a long time. Harvey Mackay has written a number of best-seller books on networking and career management and is an authority in this space. ? Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets For Networking Your Way to RICH Relationships26?I got this book as a gift from the guy who came up with the name JibberJobber, and it's a gift I cherish. I've been asked by multiple people to include this book as a recommendation. Use Google Blogs search, http://blogsearch.google.com/, to see what the current blog buzz is about LinkedIn. I've listed some of my favorite resources but I'm sure there are other gems out there I haven't come across yet. Chapter Summary ? Tools to complement LinkedIn include CRM software (mine is JibberJobber. com), discussion forums and other online profile/networking/ social websites. ? Resources to complement this book include blogs, websites, and other books. ? LinkedIn should be only one facet of your online social strategy. ? Subscribe to ImOnLinkedInNowWhat.com to keep current on LinkedIn issues, news, thoughts, and techniques. 25. http://tinyurl.com/ThirstyMackaystore.harveymackay.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1 26. http://tinyurl.com/RICHGitomergitomer.com/Jeffrey-Gitomer-Little-Black-Book-of-Connections-pluLBBC. html Conclusion
Hopefully you now have a good grasp on how to
get the most out of LinkedIn, from a "how to"
angle as well as a "why should this matter to me"
angle.
Here are some parting thoughts:
? Know what you want to get out of LinkedIn
(and related technology) and make a
strategic plan to accomplish that.
? LinkedIn continually improves the product,
and your experience. When I wrote this book
Signals was the newest, most exciting thing,
but it was still too new to write about. Focus
on the goals and objectives, and use the
tools, but realize what you like now might
change tomorrow, and there might be some
great new stuff on the horizon.
? Use LinkedIn as the tool that it is and find
complementary tools to fill the gaps.
? Explore the premium upgrade options,
toolbar plug-ins, and other things from
LinkedIn to enhance your LinkedIn
experience. Create a strategy to enhance your personal brand and make sure the tools and approach you use will help you execute that strategy. ? Think about career management, whether you are employed or not, happy or unhappy, a business owner or an executive. And think about how all of these tools can help you execute your career management strategy. ? Realize your entire network is not in LinkedIn. Don't neglect the rich networking opportunities outside of LinkedIn. Do you have thoughts or ideas for the next edition of this book? Please email me: Jason@JibberJobber.com. ? Sign up to follow new and current topics at ImOnLinkedInNowWhat.com. ? If you found this book valuable, consider leaving a review on Amazon.com (hey, if Andy Sernovitz can ask, why can't I??). LinkedIn is a great tool?but just like the power tool in your garage, it's useless until you learn how it works, and then actually put it to use! Good luck! "Take your connections offline. LinkedIn is a great tool, but don't forget that other tools still exist. Your phone still works, and there's nothing better than a face-to-face connection." Scott Ingram, CEO and Founder, Network In Austin, http://www.networkinaustin.com"LinkedIn doesn't replace traditional networking; it facilitates it. Always supplement your online efforts with face-to-face networking." Barbara Safani, Owner, Career Solvers, http://www.careersolvers.com"LinkedIn is a great tool, but you need to learn to use it and you have to maintain it to keep it sharp! Take the time to investigate all the features, encourage colleagues and friends to not only join your network but build their own so you can leverage each other's contacts, and schedule LinkedIn activities with yourself?like updating your profile once a month, answering questions daily or weekly, etc." Deb Dib, The CEO Coach, http://www.executivepowerbrand.com/
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