The document is a presentation about how to use LinkedIn to advance a business. It discusses building an effective LinkedIn profile, connecting with contacts, using LinkedIn search features, joining groups, and following etiquette. The presentation provides tips on activities that yield the most value on LinkedIn like sharing content and showcasing expertise. It also notes that the biggest concerns users have are not knowing how to use LinkedIn and lacking time to learn.
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How to use linked in to advance your business
1. How to Use LinkedIn
to Advance your
Business
Friday December 20, 2013
Presented to:
SENG Networking Group, Lutherwood
Gordon Diver, Diverse
Achievements
@gdiver62
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
2. About Gordon
Principal at Diverse Achievements, focuses
on Micro and Solo Entrepreneurs. Helping
these organizations level the playing field with
overall business strategies, primarily in
Marketing, Social Media training, CRM
business processes.
What we‟re not - social media „gurus‟. I‟m an
experienced business strategist, having been
a worker bee, a manager and a solo
entrepreneur.
Digital Strategist at AptiSense (Kelly Craft,
Founder) focuses on primarily the SMB
markets. Helping these organizations build
effective strategies, then use proven tactics
and business processes to reach their goals as
“Social Business” leaders in their industries.
We focus on CRM, Social, Digital Marketing
and more.
We occupy the middle ground
We‟re tacticians as well.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
3. Evidence of LinkedIn Power
A survey by Ardath Albee and Jill
Konrath discovered:
•
LinkedIn contributes opportunities
(4.9% lots, 39.4% several)
•
61.4% of respondents were able to
initiate offline conversations
•
Most valuable activities, sharing
relevant content and showcasing
personal expertise
•
Biggest concerns; Not knowing how to
use it (58.0%) and not having time to
learn (41.2%).
Get full information here: http://bit.ly/Crack-LI-SalesCode
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
4. What we’ll cover
•
•
How to effectively use LinkedIn
to add to your personal and
professional networks.
•
gordon@diverseachievements.com
Deeper look at the Search
abilities within LinkedIn
•
Gordon Diver
Quick overview of Company
Pages
•
diverseachievements.com
Quick overview of LinkedIn
Profile
LinkedIn Etiquette
5. Your Profile
Build your profile, connect
with those you know
5
3
1
2
4
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
6. Your contact information
Know how you want your
connections to be able to
contact you. There are lots of
opportunities for them to reach
you. Choose wisely.
You can protect who sees want
on your profile in your settings.
If you‟re just starting out: Go here
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Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
You can connect up to 3 web
addresses, all can point to one
site. For ex, Blog, Services and
FAQ
7. Build you Network
Now that you‟ve built your profile, it‟s
time to make connections.
You‟ll note that folks have taken two
tactics for the most part being an
Open Networker (LION) or being a
Trusted Networker.
There is a third more valuable way,
choose the middle and be strategic
about who you connect with.
Your success will depend on how
much you give, as much as you get.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
8. How to Add Contacts
LinkedIn is a great way to stay in touch with professionals you
know. You may not work with them today, but might be able to help
them or they you in the near future – it‟s your virtual rolodex.
Add connections by uploading your email contacts into LinkedIn
and connect other social networks. In addition, LinkedIn will
provide you with suggestions of people you might know, based on
your connections. For example Randy, is in Calgary and we are
connected on G+ and have many mutual acquaintances.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
10. Getting started with your Page
To Create a LinkedIn Company Page you must meet these
requirements:
Be an employee of the company
Your position is listed in your Experience section
You have a company email address
Your company email domain is unique to your business
Your profile strength must be intermediate
You have several connections already in place.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
11. LinkedIn adding your Services
1. Go to main company
page and choose
“Products”
2. Click Edit Page and
then choose “add a
product or service”
3. After you fill it all out,
click publish and your
good to go.
It may seem daunting,
but it is really worth your
time and effort
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
Get more detailed instructions by clicking here.
12. LinkedIn Search
Basic LinkedIn Account
Premium LinkedIn Account
Full Profiles of 1st and 2nd degree
Full Profiles of 1st and 2nd degrees
Profile Summaries of Third degree
Full names of network and groups
A Maximum of 100 profiles
Summaries for out of network profiles
Basic Search Filters
Premium filters to refine
Extensive results – varies by category
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
13. LinkedIn is Networking Power
Quickly identify who
can help you connect.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
14. LinkedIn: Save your Search
On the Basic version, you can save three searches
for future reference.
One of the added advantages is that LinkedIn will
send you an alert when new names are added to
your saved search criteria, directly to your InBox.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
15. LinkedIn is Networking Power
Based on our search results, Scott
might be someone I‟d like to connect
with.
What should be the next step?
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
16. LinkedIn looking into his Company
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Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
17. See who we know in common
You‟ll see how you‟re connected and who is the
best person to make a “warm‟ introduction for
you.
What other way could I connect with Scott?
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
18. Create Tags for your Contacts
Add tags to your connections
based on role, industry, how you
know them, etc. to make it easier
to find relevant people when
needed
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
19. LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn allows you to be a member
of 50 different groups.
Best practices suggest joining
industry, alumni, association groups
of interest and groups where your
prospective customers might be in.
When you join a group – it‟s to be a
friendly and helpful contributor, by
starting and sharing in
conversations.
It‟s not about asking for business.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
20. LinkedIn Etiquette
Asking someone to connect – Please
write a personal message why
Recommendations and Endorsements –
only ask those who can honestly do so.
Avoid “Cat pictures” and overly
personalized posts – it‟s a professional
network; but your humanity should shine
through
Funny is ok – tasteless, not so good!
Use a good, clean professional photo
Share relevant and timely information,
that will be of interest to your
connections.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
21. LinkedIn Rich Media
In 2013, LinkedIn added the ability to add
rich media to your LinkedIn profile.
This is not only a great boon to those in
creative industries, but for the rest of us
as well. In fact, you can find the
SlideShare decks I‟ve created and
posted on my LinkedIn profile.
You can add, video, pictures, documents
and much more.
Here‟s a great deck from LinkedIn on
how to do so: Add Rich Media to your
Profile.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
22. How to Add Rich Media.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
23. LinkedIn: The Big Pet Peeve
It‟s about making it as
easy as possible for the
person you‟d like to
connect with to say yes.
To succeed, be
succinct, yet personal.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
24. An Example of Success
In LinkedIn Sales Secrets Revealed, Jill
Konrath provides some excellent examples.
Read how Robbie Johnson of SPS
Commerce landed a $500k contract, 9
months after being told to drop pursuing the
company he eventually worked with.
The secret to his success, effective
networking and the power of LinkedIn to
identify the right contacts. He was able to use
LinkedIn to determine who might be in a
position to help him get a “warm” introduction.
By connecting through groups, he built up a
relationship with the right – key person that
he could help.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
25. Thank You for your time
It‟s been a pleasure to meet with
you.
As a thank you for your attention, I‟d
be happy to do a review of your
LinkedIn profile and recommend
suggestions to you to get the most
from it.
Drop me an email or connect with
me on LinkedIn here.
diverseachievements.com
Gordon Diver
gordon@diverseachievements.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
Here’s a quick summary of the other survey respondents: • 55.5% have never generated an opportunity via LinkedIn. Many of these respondents still see LinkedIn primarily as a site for job hunters. They use LinkedIn sparingly for research. They’re connected to a small number of people. In some cases, due to what they sell, their prospects are not on LinkedIn (e.g. physicians, school administrators). They’re unaware of many of LinkedIn’s capabilities and, because they don’t get value from it, have invested minimal time learning what’s possible. • 39.4% attribute one or more opportunities to LinkedIn. These survey respondents are active on LinkedIn, but to a lesser degree than the top sellers. They have a moderate number of connections and participate in some groups. They leverage LinkedIn for research on a regular basis. But, as our study showed, they haven’t tapped into nearly as many of LinkedIn’s capabilities as the top sellers.
LinkedIn User DOs & DON’Ts“As a condition to access LinkedIn, you agree to this User Agreement and to strictly observe the following DOs and DON’Ts:Don’t – Invite people with whom you have no prior relationship to join your network.”By choosing I Don’t Know or Report as Spam, the recipient of your invite is citing you as an ABUSIVE LinkedIn user! If you get 5 invites marked as IDK (IDK stands for I don’t know), your LinkedIn account will be set to “restricted.” Once restricted, you must enter an E-Mail address each time you try adding new people to your network. This is a major inconvenience to say the least.So instead of aiming low and wide and inviting the world, YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE ONLY INVITING PEOPLE WHO WILL NOT CLICK IDK OR REPORT AS SPAM. By connecting with people who are LIONs, you can rest assured they will NOT report you as SPAM or click IDK. Usually. There are jerks in this world but more often than not, by connecting with LIONS, you are safe from the dreaded IDK/SPAM label.
Have quality connectionsQuality is a more important than quantity when it comes to measuring the strength of your LinkedIn network. I don’t recommend adding people you don’t know because if you can’t ask them for an introduction or introduce someone you trust to them, then there’s not much benefit. It looks good to have over 500 connections, but after 500, the value of additional contacts starts diminishing.Ask for introductionsGetting introductions is one of the most effective ways to make new professional contacts. I take time to figure out what demographics of people I need to connect with in order to improve my career and business. I then identify specific people within those demographics, find them on LinkedIn and see if I share any connections. I then send a brief e-mail to the shared connection asking to be introduced.
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Two additional ways – Scott and I share a group. I can monitor conversations there and interact with anything that he does in the space. In addition, we both have ties to the Cambridge Chamber of commerce and can connect thorough that venue. A well placed call to my Chamber staff connections to ensure that they introduce me to Scott the next time we are at a function together. Which brings us to etiquette.
Examples of interacting with content includes commenting on articles they share, endorsing their skills, and “liking” their updates. Engaging with your connections’ content accomplishes two important things. First, it keeps you on their radar. Many people have a lot of connections and are very busy so it can be easy for them to forget about you. You want to have some form of engagement people on a regular basis. Second, when you’re interact, you’re promoting them by sharing it with your network and making their content look engaging. Promotion is a great way to be helpful, and being helpful is a great way to network.Check the profiles of your most valuable LinkedIn connections and see what groups they have joined. Then choose those groups that align with your business focus.Use the “Search” function in LinkedIn to find groups in a specific industry, skill set or topic.Once you’ve joined a group, spend time determining if the group works for you. You’ll want to see how active the participants in the group are, as well as the types of posts and value of information being shared. If you see self-promotion and advertising, these are red flags.Another reason to join groups (especially those with a large number of potential prospects) is the ability to send a message to anyone in your group, even those people who aren’t first-level connections.