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Networking on LinkedIn is one of the most effective ways to stay in touch with your entire contact list on a regular basis. Once you are fully setup, and consistently using the system, it will actually begin to network FOR YOU.
1. Why LinkedIn is Important To Your Business
- It’s FREE – enough said.
- You’ll be In with the In-Crowd – According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn and Anderson Analytics in September 2008, it was discovered that nearly 60% of LinkedIn users have high personal incomes and hold executive-level or consultant positions. The group defined as “Savvy Networkers”, 9 million or 30% of total users, and the most active on the site, have personal income averages of $94,500 and often have the word “consultant” in their job description.
- Networking – This is one of the most effective ways to stay in touch with your entire contact list on a regular basis. Once you are up and running on LinkedIn, and consistently using the system (see remaining steps on this list) the system will actually begin to network FOR YOU.
- Prospecting – Keep an eye on the competition, scout out new prospects, learn inside information on a company before approaching them with a sales pitch or for an interview, do a “background check” on a potential employee before hiring them, the list is endless.
- Hiring / Job Searching – Classifieds & Help Wanted ads are practically useless at this point, Monster.com and CareerBuilder have become expensive, and Craigslist can be great but also pulls in a significantly high proportion of unqualified or junk leads. Enter LinkedIn, where you can post a job to your network, your extended network, or the entire site. Chances are high that someone you know may know someone who is perfect for the job, or has an opportunity for you. And it comes with a personal recommendation.
- Research – companies, people, opportunities, industry. Ask a question, get an answer from a qualified expert or consultant. Answer a question, and you’ve just made yourself the expert.
- Virtual Resume – Keep your contacts updated with changes to your role, position, experience, etc. Maybe someone was waiting for you to gain more education or experience, and now that you’ve done that, they can immediately see it. Maybe one of your contacts has taken on a new role in a company you’ve been trying to pitch or network your way into.
2. If You’re Not Already On, Setup Your Profile Today at http://www.linkedin.com
- Unless you’re a recruiter, or have some other need to contact users without an introduction, there is no need to bother with the fee-based package – the free profile will give you everything you need to start working.
3. Complete Your Profile to 100%
- Upload a professional photo. No, the one of you on the beach with a margarita doesn’t make you look any more impressive or well-rounded to those sales prospects!
- Complete your entire profile, especially the resume. Include specific accomplishments, goals, performance results, etc.
- The system will tell you when you get to 100%. At this point, you will have higher visibility, increased opportunities for exposure, and more ways to promote yourself to the world.
4. Make Connections
- Import your contact database and invite/request connections from all contacts you want to stay in touch with.
- Use your judgment here, if you don’t want your competitors to know who is in your network, or what you’re up to, don’t invite the competitors. If you need to decline someone, politely do so. This is business; you don’t need to be “friends” with everyone that attempts to contact you.
- Review the “people you may know” application on your profile for new contacts you may not have thought of, and invite them if you know them.
- Rule of thumb when inviting contacts: if you were to call this person, would they know who you were? If yes, go ahead and send the invite. If no, I strongly recommend either reaching out to them in person first, or networking with them through an existing connection. For some reason when it comes to social networking, people have a tendency to forget their “social skills” – just because you don’t have to deliver the request personally doesn’t mean there isn’t a person on the other side of the request.
5. Make and Request Recommendations
- Consider this Good Karma, with a technological twist. When you recommend someone, your recommendation is delivered to them, publicized on their page and to both of your networks, and they are prompted to send you a reciprocal recommendation.
- When someone recommends you, that testimonial is published to their network and yours, and publicized on your profile. Potentially everyone that is connected to each of you has now been exposed to a recommendation shouting your praises. And you didn’t even have to tell them yourself. How is that for free publicity?
6. Search Your New Expanded Network for Opportunities
- First, take a look at the connections that exist between your direct contacts and their direct contacts. In a B2B setting, this provides a prime opportunity for you to request referrals or introductions from the people you already have a relationship with. In a B2C setting, or when searching for job opportunities, it’s a bit trickier, but the same concept applies. The easiest way to meet someone is through a mutual contact – the same way you would in virtually any other setting.
- Don’t bother with the “request an introduction” feature. If someone doesn’t know you, they will most likely either ignore the request or question the motive of the person who provided the introduction. It is much more effective to ask the person you know for an introduction to someone you are interested in meeting.
- Be honest. If you are looking to pitch them on a sale, job, or opportunity, tell the person who is making the connection for you. I was once “introduced” to someone who my contact said had an interest in learning about my company’s services and what we could offer; but when that person arrived for the meeting, he attempted to sell me an insurance package. This reflects poorly on both the sales person and the person who made the connection.
7. Ask Questions
- You are now exposed to a wide variety of experts who have something to gain by answering your questions – FREE! Use the opportunity.
- Need to learn more about an industry or service? Want to break into a new market? Conducting research for a client and don’t know where to start? You are in front of a ready, able, and willing network of consultants – use them.
8. Answer Questions
- In the point above, I mentioned that these experts have something to gain by answering your questions – you have something to gain as well. So check out the “answers” link at the top of your profile, check off the categories that apply best to your business and areas of expertise, and start answering questions.
- Why? For starters, if you are the expert that we know you are, your advice or response will be very valuable to someone with a need. This someone may be interested in speaking with you further about this need, potentially even hiring you directly.
- Second, your answer will be published to your network as well as the category in which it was asked. So not only will the person who asked the question be enlightened as to your “expert” status, everyone they are connected to will as well.
- Third, if you answer enough questions, and your answers are deemed valuable, you will start to funnel up to the top of the category list. You will be seen as an expert not only by the groups above, but by the LinkedIn community in general – and now you have an excellent opportunity of being hired/contracted/pursued for your expertise and knowledge in the field.
9. Maintain Communication With Your Contacts
- Now more than ever, your contacts are switching jobs, finding new opportunities, and moving around. As they continue to update their online resumes, profiles, status and connections, you will be kept in the loop. Recently, an old coworker that I haven’t talked to in a while took on a new position in senior management at a company I’ve been trying to get in front of. If it weren’t for LinkedIn, I would never have been able to make the connection, and wouldn’t have known her status.
- The more you are in front of people, even if “in front of” is technically “via online updates”, the more they will remember you. By maintaining communication with those you’ve met over the years, you are putting yourself in a position of being remembered when they eventually need you (and they will).
10. Utilize Your Network to Search For Jobs, Recruit Employees, Hire Talent
- Take a look at the strongest, most qualified people in your own company, chances are many of them came to you through a referral source, through your existing employee relationships, or with excellent references and a powerful resume. Generally speaking, the best ways to recruit talented employees that are a great fit for your business is through these channels. LinkedIn provides the advantage of speeding up this process for you, and expanded your reach to potential recommendations. All you need to do is leverage the relationships you already have.
- Similar to the statement above, you can probably look at your own resume and see tht the same holds true. Networking, in any form, can be the best source of developing the relationships that will land you the perfect job. And through LinkedIn, those relationships are never farther than a mouse-click away.
11. Join a Group – Get Involved in Discussions, Provide Input, Show Your Expertise
- There are many types of groups on LinkedIn, from those discussing ways to improve their professional lives, to individuals in the same industry sharing ideas, case studies, and questions, to those networking to develop new business opportunities outside of their existing circle. The easiest way to start is to search for online versions of the groups you already belong to, such as: Chambers of Commerce, professional networking organizations, your alma mater, or the company you work for.
- Once you’ve found a few groups that meet your needs, it’s time to start connecting with them. Share your ideas, answer questions, provide insight into the industry. Whatever you do, consider it a friendship, not a sale. If people believe you have something useful to offer, they will request to work with you, rest assured. But pitching your product, service, or website to the masses will get you kicked out faster than a used car salesman.
12. Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile to Increase Performance of Your Website
- When setting up the “my company” link in your profile, be sure to use a specified keyword phrase for the title of this link, rather than the name of your company. For instance, the titles for “my company” on my LinkedIn profile are: “Strategic Marketing Agency” and “Web Design and Development”. That is how they will show up in search listings, and on your public profile. I won’t get into the reasons here why this will help improve your overall search engine marketing strategy for your website, but will be happy to discuss that with you in person if you want to contact me. Trust me. It Helps. A lot.
- Be sure to personalize your LinkedIn URL with your full name. This will significantly increase the reach and visibility of your name and profile on the search engines. Want to test it out? Wait a few weeks, and then Google your own name. Chances are, your LI profile will be one of the first items on the page.
13. Utilize the RSS Feed Tool To Promote Your Blog – But first you need a blog!
- Blogs are much more important to the overall success of your website and search engine strategies than most people realize. Far beyond the celebrity gossip columns that made them famous, blogs can be an integral part of your strategy, allowing you to tie in multiple aspects of a campaign and broadcast them to your audience in the format that they have chosen. For more on this, give us a call, we’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
- As for using your blog on LinkedIn, well, that’s easy. Simply setup the feed on your profile to pick it up automatically. Every time you publish a new post, it will generate a feed on your profile for your entire network to see (with a direct link to the full blog site, of course), and the network update feature will alert those in your network via email. Your reach just multiplied, and you didn’t have to take a single extra step.
14. Update your network with the “what are you working on” application.
- Want your network to know about a new product, service or initiative you’re working on? Update your status with a quick message about it.
- Looking for a way to leverage a new or important relationship to gain more business, without actually advertising the message? Announce in your status update how excited you are to be working on the ABC project, or launching the new campaign for 123. By genuinely showing your enthusiasm, you’ve just announced your successes or new initiatves to your entire network. Consider it the same as announcing a new relationship to all of your exes, all of a sudden they may realize how wonderful you truly are.
For more information on how LinkedIn and Social Networking can improve your business, increase your market share and revenues, and reduce your advertising and marketing expenses, give us a call. We’d love to meet with you.
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