A quick overview of how to get the most out of LinkedIn, and my FAST 50 free and fabulous websites.

1. The Power of Personal
Connections:
Using LinkedIn to Market Your
Business and Yourself
Presented by:
Mary Bahr
6/11/09

2. Social Media
• Conversation between
your brand and your
audience; one to one
• Almost 50% of online
adults participate in
CGM
Source: Forrester
• Where you choose to
participate should be
based on your mkting
objectives
• Harness it,
cannot control it
• “Groundswell,” (Bernoff/Li)
great intro to social media.
CGM is the fastest growing segment of the Web, with more than 1MM new
articles of content posted every 24 hours
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3. ©2009, Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Michael Stelzner
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4. ©2009, Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Michael Stelzner
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6. Some Background on LinkedIn
• Founded in 2003
• Over 40 million members; 1 new member per
second; 50% outside US
• All Fortune 500 represented; over 4 million
small businesses
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7. Why embrace LinkedIn?
• Increase your visibility, improve your Google page rank and
search engine results
• Increase your connectability: locate people from your past,
present and future
• Research companies and people (staff movement, hiring
turnover, job descriptions)
• Give and get—ask questions, answer questions, write
recommendations
• Promote yourself and your business with added apps,
and website, blog visibility
• Scope our the competition, potential customers and
employers
• Keep track of job movement of your network
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8. How to do it…
• Strive for 100% complete profile (click on the button that
shows how complete your profile is: it will help you
complete it!)
• Use the “professional headline” for more than your current
title: use it to describe yourself (in Basic Information
section)
• Use “current status” field to raise your professional profile:
e.g.: what are you working on, what are you reading, what
are you attending…
• Make your profile and work experience as complete as
possible: it will bring more potential connections to your
attention
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9. How to do it…
• Remember your LinkedIn profile should complement
your resume, not duplicate it
• If you’re a business owner, create a business page for
your business
• Change your public profile URL to your name; add
this URL as a hyperlink to your email signature
• Add your websites and blogs to website listings: you
can list up to three (could also list causes that you are
involved in)
• Summary: is NOT a resume: use it to explain who
you are and what you are passionate about
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10. How to do it…
• Applications add functionality and visibility to your profile:
select ones that you’ll use (I love Amazon Reading Lists,
SlideShare and Blog Link, but choose what works for you)
• Give and get recommendations strategically: do not give
recommendations that you would not give in “real life”
• Look for groups that will complement both your
professional and personal interests
• Ask questions when you are trying to solve a problem or
find a solution: particularly if you are looking for something
specific
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11. How to do it…
• Use LinkedIn proactively: research someone before you
meet them, if you are going on an interview or business
pitch, request to LinkIn BEFORE your meeting, so that they
can review your profile
• Events: promote professional events you are involved in,
invite your network
• Create your own special interest group: create additional
credibility for your expertise
• To learn more: Guy Kawasaki’s article on LinkedIn
(http://tinyurl.com/2fbver)
• Check out LinkedIn movie:(http://press.linkedin.com/about)
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12. The Fast Fifty
(or almost free websites)
you should know about!
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13. google.com/alerts
What are they saying
about you on the web?
Track it and your
competitors…
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14. google.com/adwords
What are the hot words
on the web?
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15. google.com/analytics
How does your
website rate?
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16. google.com/trends
How does your
website rate?
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17. google.com/reader
Keep all the blogs you
follow in one place
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18. dimdim.com
Free web-
conferencing and
audio bridge for up
to 20 people
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19. websitegrader.com
Free SEO tool: easy to
use and understand;
also has facebook
and twitter graders
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20. instapaper.com
Read later icon in
toolbar
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21. tinyurl.com
Create short URLs with one
click: indispensable for FB
and Twitter
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22. hetemeel.com
Personalize
pictures to send
or use in presentations:
fun but functional
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23. imagechef.com
Similar to
hetemeel
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24. “Getting Things Done”
Davidandco.com:
David Allen’s
process: GTD
The god of productivity
gurus
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25. 43folders.com
A David Allen disciple:
great productivity
tips and tricks
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26. thefourhourworkweek.com
For those of you
who love Tim
Ferriss, or really
hate him; either
way he’s
interesting
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27. Classes available for
download on any
itunesu.com subject from some of
the best universities in
the world
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28. Keep track of
what’s hot around
the world: great
Trendhunter.com free reports
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29. charlesandmarie.com
My favorite
shopping site:
their Soupe du
Jour: a product
offered for only
one day, is
fabulous
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30. Need I say more?
Can any woman
bagsnob.com have too many
handbags?
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31. Integrated
personal money
mint.com management site
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32. For those of us
who prefer snark
someecards.com to sincerity.
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33. A government site
that actually
trademarksearch.com works.
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34. Logos, logos and
more logos brandsoftheworld.com
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35. Save paper: print
only what you
Printwhatyoulike.com want from a web
page
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36. Productivity tools
and tricks:
lifehacker.com particularly
involving
technology
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37. Good advice for
those of us over-
zenhabits.com scheduled, over-
worked people
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38. Stay up to date on
what’s going on in
social media, and
mashable.com it changes daily
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39. Give yourself a gift
and listen to at
ted.com least one TED talk
a week. Share on
Facebook and LI
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40. presentationzen.com
Have to deal with
powerpoint? This
will help your
presentations not
suck quite so
badly
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41. findsounds.com
Free SFX. Can be
used in ppt!
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42. visualthesaurus.com
Note: trial is free,
website is not. If
you write, you’ll
love it
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43. thesaurus.com
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44. clichefinder.com
Sometimes that
cliché is right on
the tip of your
tongue…find it
here
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45. smartbriefentrepreneurship.com
Links to the best
articles for
entrepreneurs.
Many other smart
brief editions
available.
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46. See what other
people find
digg.com interesting on the
web and vote
yourself
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47. A huge
timewaster, but
stumbleupon.com loads of fun
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48. groupon.com
Great deals, if
enough folks sign
up
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49. tripadvisor.com
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50. Set up alerts based
on your own
iltrafficalert.com schedule and
route
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51. opentable.com
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52. A somewhat
dailybeast.com snarkier CNN.
Good columnists
that you won’t find
elsewhere
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53. An aggregator of
great information
alltop.com on almost any
topic. Try here
first rather than
wikipedia…
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54. Gossip, gossip,
pagesix.com gossip.
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55. Shameless plug:
facebook watch for the next
NWE seminar on
FB and twitter…
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56. Shameless plug:
our next series will
twitter be on why twitter
you want to tweet!
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