Part 5 finally arrives.  Sorry for the delay but client’s have to take preference over the blog.  Plus I’ve recently switched to a Mac and much of my time has been spent migrating to the new computer.

In part 4, Expand Your Reach on LinkedIn we covered building through direct connections and groups.  Today we talk about Building Credibility on LinkedIn.

When I lived in New Orleans a good friend of mine had an uncle named Joe.  Everyone in the neighborhood knew him and everybody loved him.  I don’t know anybody who would trust him as far as doing what he said he would.  Great guy, just not dependable.

For a business you want to be known and liked, but before the cash register start ringing you have to establish trust.  Trust might be strong enough to over come someone not liking you, but with enough options, this combination is not likely to be viable.

On LinkedIn you start your account off with none of the three.  As you start to connect on LinkedIn you’ll pop up on people’s radar.  Your activity is displayed on people’s home page so with enough participation you’ll start to get known.

To take the next step the most effective way to do so is to share value.  In a small network you may be able to establish this outside of LinkedIn.  But for those people that only know you through LinkedIn, they’ll make their decision based on how they judge your interaction and the value of the information you share.

Trust only occurs as people positively evaluate your interactions and content over time.  Trust can take a long time to build and disappear overnight.  So how do you use LinkedIn to take the steps from Known to trusted?  Here are some ways. (more…)

The core of LinkedIn revolves around connecting to other business professionals, which is primarily networking.  Networking exclusively on LinkedIn, though, ignores the human element of face to face interaction.  Understanding, once again that LinkedIn is a tool, how do you use it to enhance your other networking?

I do a lot of networking in my local chamber.  When I first joined the chamber in the spring of 1996 I had not yet joined LinkedIn.  At meetings I would try to meet as many people as possible, but in a room full of 50 people and only 30 minutes of open networking it was hard to meet everyone.

At each meeting they would  photocopy all of the business cards and each attendee received a copy.   From that I could call those I had not met to try to set up a meeting.  Other than a name on a card, though, there was no connection.  I could also try again at the next meeting if they returned.

LinkedIn changed that.  I found that with LinkedIn, I could connect to those that I hadn’t had a chance to meet.  Then I could review their LinkedIn profiles to determine who were the most beneficial to meet.  I also found that if they were at the next chamber meeting, that the LinkedIn connection provided a great way to break the ice.

In the end it’s a two way street.  LinkedIn provides a level of connectivity until I can strengthen the networking relationship through a face to face meeting.  And the chamber meeting provides a fresh batch of potential LinkedIn connections.

Some of my best networking relationships have developed from simply being at the same networking event, connecting on LinkedIn, and then finally taking it offline and meeting in person.

So here’s what you should be doing.  After every networking event, send a LinkedIn connection invite to those you did not get a chance to meet.  (Here’s where you want to customize that LinkedIn invitation. )  Send the following invitation: (more…)

In Part 2 of the 10 Part Series “Can LinkedIn Work for You?” we start with a question…“Why are you on LinkedIn?” LinkedIn takes time and effort to produce results.  Without knowing the answer to this question how do you know what actions you should be taking?

Most people initially joined LinkedIn because either they stumbled across an article saying how great the site was or because someone told them they have to be on it.  There was probably some excitement about the possibilities that quickly faded once you realized you had no clue what to do now that you had an account.

By its navigation structure LinkedIn is telegraphing some of this potential:

All are great ways to use LinkedIn but what’s missing is the most important reason…to grow your business and make more money.

Almost one year ago I started a 10 part series on LinkedIn asking the question “Can LinkedIn work for you?”  LinkedIn has changed somewhat in the last year, so I think now is a good time to revisit the series.  Starting this week I’m going to take a look at each article and update them.   In some cases I’ll combine or delete those that are no longer relevant and add one or two new parts.

There are over 45 million people now on LinkedIn but only about 25% are active users.  I don’t really know why some people sign up but do no participate and others hit the ground running from day one.  What I do know is that once you find some success you’re likely to become a regular user.

For the first two years that I was on LinkedIn I was simply a member.  It wasn’t until I actually developed new clients from being on LinkedIn that I became a regular user.  At that point I decided if LinkedIn could help me grow my business than I better know as much as possible about it.

You can grow your business and make money by being an active participant.  I know this for a fact and can point to clients that I have that I would not have if it were not for LinkedIn.  I know that as I grow my network I find more opportunities.  I know that the more I learn and participate the more I encounter new opportunities.

One of the first things that I realized about LinkedIn was that it was simply a tool, much like my chamber of commerce, that could help me connect to others.  For some people membership in a chamber is economically beneficial.  For other it’s a waste of time and money.

It’s how you use the tool that determines the winners and losers. (more…)

I posted this video as one of the last Linked Intuition posts.  Unfortunately the URL was corrupted and left out the .com in the URL.  So Here we go again.  This is an interview in which I talk about the 5 Steps to Thrive on LinkedIn.





It’s been a fun two weeks but not necessarily a productive period in terms of the blog.  Two weeks ago I started moving the blog from the Linked Intuition site to the Social Media Sonar site.  Instead of writing new posts I was finding all of the little things that needed to be updated or corrected.  I think all is in place to kick off the new blog and move forward.

This week I’m preparing to speak at Norvax University in Orlando which is an educational road show event hosted by Norvax for health insurance agents.  There will be 300 brokers from 22 states so it’s a great opportunity to gain some personal and blog exposure.

In preparing for the show I’ve been writing my presentations and creating some new LinkedIn guides.  From this writing developed the 3 Basic Keys to Getting Started on LinkedIn.

1.  Optimize Your Profile

2.  Build Your Network

3.  Leverage LinkedIn

Optimize Your Profile
Optimizing your profile is the same as dressing appropriately for an event.  You want to dress to impress.  When you meet someone (someone looks at your profile) you want them to walk away with a positive impression.

It’s not only how you look though, it’s also what you say while engaged in the conversation.  In your profile that starts with your photo and your descriptive title.  If you don’t have a professional profile photo get one.  A professional photo is one that supports your brand.

Your Title description is an area that most people can improve upon.  I think you’re better of using the space to say something about how you can help someone.  In other words use a Tag line instead of a title.  A tag line says what you can do to help people; a title says what you are and is inward focused.  Compare a title verses a tagline for my insurance business.  Which ia better –  Title:  ”Insurance Broker“; or Tag Line:  ”Helping individuals and businesses in Atlanta save up to 60% on their health insurance“.

Another important area is your summary.  You can post a resume style summary that talks about you or you can get creative and talk about who you are, how you help people, and how they can help you.

A great way to start your summary is by using your elevator speech that includes key elements.  When I was focused primarily on my health insurance businesses my summary started with:

“Hi, my name is Sean Nelson and for the last eight years (how long) I have helped thousands (how many) of self employed individuals and small businesses (who) in Atlanta (where) save up to 60% (what) on their health insurance and employee benefits.”

Some other keys are to provide enough detailed information, sprinkle keywords through out your profile, and add applications.

Build Your Network
A great profile with 10 connections isn’t really that productive.  While some people will find you, you also want to be growing your Direct Network.  I used to think that if you had 250 connections that was enough.  Now I think you need to have at least 500 relevant connections.

Relevant means they have the potential to lead to business.  You won’t always know whether a connection will lead to business but some are more relevant than others.  A connection in the United Kingdom may know someone in Atlanta who needs help with insurance, but a self employed person in Atlanta is a more relevant connection to me.

The more people you are connected to the more opportunity you will likely find.  Some people will disagree but my experience has been that as I have grown my network I’ve found more success.

A great tool to use is the Import Contacts tool that allows you to add people you’ve communicated with via email in your webmail accounts or the people in your address book, such as Outlook.  When you import or add the contacts LinkedIn lets you know which ones already have a LinkedIn account.  You can then review your Imported Contacts to see who you would like to connect to.

The offline events you attend are also great sources of finding connections.  When I first started on LinkedIn the majority of connections I made were with people that attended the same events as me.  Even if I did not meet a person I sent them a connection invitation.  I assumed that since everyone is there to network, connecting would be just an extension of the offline networking.

Not everyone accepts the invitation but the majority do.  This allows me to grow my local network which is highly relevant.  The connections also provide a great ice breaker at the next event we both attended.

Leverage LinkedIn
You’ve got a great profile and you have a large network, what do you do with it?  You have to leverage the tools that LinkedIn provides.  You have to find ways to communicate your message to your network and generate profile visits.

Profile visits mean someone is interested in something about you.  This is a great opportunity to communicate your message whether it’s through your summary, applications on your profile, or a piece of information that you present.

One of the benefits of participating on LinkedIn is that every time you take an action your network is notified on their home page.  Add a connections and your network is notified.  Provide a recommendation, answer a question, or join a group and the activity is displayed on your Direct Connections home pages.  Over time this continuous activity resonates.

Another great way to communicate with your network is through the use of the Status function.  I use it to tell my net work about success stories…”Sean just helped a client optimize their LinkedIn profile”.  Or for my insurance business “Sean just saved a client $215 on their health insurance”.

Even if your activity doesn’t generate a profile visit it can still communicate a message.  In the “optimize your profile section” I talked about using a tag line instead of a title.  When you answer a question, post a news article, or provide a recommendation a mini profile is shown.  This includes your name, your photo, and your title/tag line.  Even if you don’t visit my profile you’ll see the message I want to convey:  “Sean Nelson:  Saving folks in Atlanta up to 60% on their health insurance”.

I estimate that this tag line seen over and over due to continuous activity has been a significant part of the success I’ve had in getting prospects to call me.

Wrap Up
There are so many other things that are important and can contribute to your success, but these three are a great place to start.  You can find many of these other ideas in other posts on this blog.  Or you can check out my two current books the “LinkedIn MBA” and “LinkedIn Marketing Secret Formula”.  The first is a great “How to” resource.  The second is the first book that lays out a strategic approach to using LinkedIn.  Both can help you shorten the learning curve.

What are some key parts of LinkedIn that you think are important?

I’ve talked about some big things you can do in the past to more effectively utilize LinkedIn. Today we discuss 5 little things you can do that can make a difference.

1.  Making URL’s Hyperlinked

When people respond to questions in answers or posts in a group discussion board they often include a URL.  Many of these are done wrong so that if someone wants to visit the link they have to copy it and post it in the browser address bar.  These URLs usually look like www.linkedintuition.com.  If you want it to be hyperlinked simply add the http:// so that the format is http://www.linkedintuition.com.

Get this right and your click thru rates will increase.

2.  Properly Size Photo’s

LinkedIn photo’s are 80 x 80 in size.  Before posting your picture make sure it is a square picture so that when it is resized by LinkedIn it retains the proper proportion.  Add a rectangle picture and you’ll look like someone is squeezing your head.

Use a graphics editor to crop your picture to a square and resize to 80×80 or 160×60, etc.  It doesn’t matter as long as its square.

3.  Change Your Group digests to Weekly (instead of daily)

Let’s say you took my advice in previous posts to join 50 groups.  When you join a group you can tell the group how often you are open to receiving activity alerts.  The default setting is daily.  During the week you’ll get 250 digest alerts…one from each group each day.  Change it to weekly and it will be more manageable.  If you have groups that you don’t want a digest from you can choose to not receive updates.

You can also choose to not receive group announcements which the manager can send once every seven days.  I would recommend allowing the periodic announcements.

Reclaim your message Inbox.

4.  Send a Personal Message When Connecting

When you accept an invitation request it takes you to a subsequent page that allows you to type a message.  This is a great opportunity to thank the person for the connection invitation and to communicate a message.  It won’t make a difference in every case but it can have an impact.  I customize each so that my response is relevant.

Does it help?  Not with everyone but it certainly doesn’t do any harm.  Stand out by taking the 20 seconds it takes to send a follow up message.

5.  When You Ask a Question Choose a “Best Answer” or Multiple “Good Answers”

This is a common courtesy.  You’ve asked a question and others have taken their time to answer it.  You should make it a habit to read all answers provided and provide feedback on the quality.  Often a single answer will stand out in which case you designate the answer as the “Best Answer” provided.  Sometime one answer will not stand out but several will provide value.  Simply choose several as “Good Answers”.

Return the favor by answering other’s questions and by recognizing answers to your question that provided value.

Wrap Up

Compared to some of the tricks and tips in some recent posts these seem relatively modest.  They are important and can make a difference.  They’re all simple and require little extra effort to do.  These and others are included in the LinkedIn MBA available for $4.97 at http://www.linkedintuition.com/book.html.

What are some other simple things you can do that make a difference?

SONARconnects is a full service advertising and marketing agency.  We help our clients by showing them how to develop strategies and tactics to build communities of people, communicate their message, and monetize their social networking/media presence.  Our clients include Lenny’s Sub Shop, Copeland’s New Orleans Style Restaurant (ATL), Action Business Coaching (ATL), Aussie Pet Mobile (ATL), The Frederick Group, and MyCustomDay.

If you’re struggling to understand how to use social networking/media to build brand awareness and drive new business call us for a Free consultation at (404) 663-3997 or visit our site:  http://www.sonarconnects.com.

90% of the users on LinkedIn are still trying to figure it out.  Many of these people won’t take the time required to develop a solid foundation.  My new eBook, “The LinkedIn MBA” is available based on the price you set.

This is the book I wrote to explain to friends the purpose and use of each page and link on LinkedIn.  I like to say its “Painstakingly Detailed”.  If you have laser focus, read it cover to cover.  If you’re like me, periodically focus challenged, you may be better of using it as a reference guide.

If you have a question about Answers, read the Answers chapter.  Need to know something about Account Settings, read the Account Settings chapter.  The book’s chapter structure is based on the navigational structure of LinkedIn.  No appendix needed.

It’s the guide that I wished I had in June of 2006, 2007, and 2008.  For those of you still trying to get up to speed this book is for you.

There is also a number of people who are on LinkedIn that have not been able to take that next step to making LinkedIn a productive tool.  How do you go from connecting to monetization?  It’s not a short step.

It takes a strategy which has been the missing link in just about every LinkedIn book.  There are some folks who have connected into opportunities, reconnected into opportunities, and found business, but it’s been hit or miss.

“The LinkedIn Marketing Secret Formula” seeks to change the dynamic by laying out a strategy that you can use on a daily basis to communicate your message to tens of thousands of LinkedIn members.  It shows you how to get under the sales radar.  You’ll learn how to conduct ongoing marketing activities to drive activity.

Some people will argue that there’s no place on LinkedIn for sales or marketing.  I agree and disagree.  There’s no place for up front direct sales pitches and SPAM.  There is a place for using the available LinkedIn tools to provide value and communicate your message indirectly.

Some stress that it’s a networking tool not a lead generation tool.  My response is that I like my connections but I love my new client’s.  It should be both.

While typing this post I received two calls from people needing help with their health insurance.  One was from a Chamber friend (offline networking is still important) passing on a referral; the other was from someone who I have never spoken to before.  Because of the strategies detailed in the “LinkedIn Marketing Secret Formula” I was top of mind when she had a health insurance need.

If you’re still trying to understand LinkedIn and the available features download a copy of “The LinkedIn MBA”.

If you’re ready to take the next step and learn how to strategically use LinkedIn to grow your business get a copy of the “LinkedIn Marketing Secret Formula“.  The book is regularly $39.95 but for the next seven days I am offering a 40% discount, so the end price is $23.97.  To get the discount use the following Discount code:  x40sbsbr

I also detail in the book how I used LinkedIn to drive traffic to my blog growing from 2,200 visits in March to over 20,000 in May.

For those of you who have read the Linked Intuition blog over the last 17 months, thank you.  It has been my pleasure to be part of your LinkedIn experience.

Your goal on LinkedIn is to first “be found”, and second “be found credible”.  With that in mind, you want to do everything possible to enhance your profile.  This includes the content you place on your profile page and the ways that people find your profile.

Here are 9 ways to create an effective profile moving from the top of the profile page to the bottom.  These simple changes can make a difference in the effectiveness of your profile.

1. Replace your Title with a Tag Line

At the top of the profile page just under the member name most people include their title…project manager, insurance agent, president.  While I guess your title says something about you it likely doesn’t say anything about how you can help others.

My job is to help people find the best health insurance plan for them in terms of coverage and price.  It’s what I do that provides value.  My title is Insurance Broker.  It’s what I am but doesn’t necessarily catch anyone’s attention.   Each time I answer a questions, post a discussion question, or add a news article in a group a mini profile is displayed including usually my name and title/tag line.

Let’s take a look at using a title verses using a tag line.  Which is more likely to be noticed:

Sean Nelson
Insurance Broker

Or

Sean Nelson
Helping individuals and small businesses in Atlanta save up to 60% on their health insurance and employee benefits

Using a tag line is a great way to communicate a quick message to anyone viewing your profile.

2. Personalize Your Web URL’s

If you look at many profiles you will see that many people add a link to their website to their profile.  Most often you see this listed as My Company, My Website,  or My Blog.  You want to make sure if you list your websites that you personalize the name

To personalize your web URL’s click on the [ Edit ] link next to your websites.  On the drop down box for type of link there is an option for “Other”.  Choose this option and you will be able to add a customized name for each link.

3. Personalize your LinkedIn profile URL

The first thing to do is to update your profile URL.  The default URL consists of random numbers and letters.  Change this so that it incorporates your name.  There are many people with the same name so you may find that your name is not available.  Use your middle initial or some other variation. (more…)

In November I wrote a post about the ways you can use LinkedIn.  From that post I followed up with a post on 9 areas of using LinkedIn.  Part 10 was released last week.  Even though all 10 post are on the blog I still tend to get a couple of requests for links to the other articles.

Here are all 10 parts of the series.  LinkedIn has changed since this series started, but most of the articles should still be very relevant.  Enjoy.

LinkedIn Part 1: Can LinkedIn Work For You? - November 29th, 2008

LinkedIn Part 2: Enhancing Your Networking - December 14th, 2008

LinkedIn Part 3: Establishing Credibility - January 15th, 2009

LinkedIn Part 5: I Highly Recommend Recommendations - February 17th, 2009

LinkedIn Part 4: Connecting Your Offline and Online Brand - February 2nd, 2009

LinkedIn Part 6: A Stage to Engage Your Audience - March 3rd, 2009

LinkedIn Part 7: Research Potential Partners and Alliances - March 8th, 2009

LinkedIn Part 8: Find a New Job - March 10th, 2009

LinkedIn Part 9: Be found - April 20th, 2009

LinkedIn Part 10: Providing Value to Your Network - April 27th, 2009