Last week Linkedin announced that it “will be shutting off the Tweets application on January 31, 2012”.

Here is the announcement:

I found out about Tweets in May 2010 from this post on the Linkedin Blog and have blogged about Linkedin and Twitter integration on and off since. Integration has some downsides, in particular the tendency of inexperienced users to connect both accounts so everything they tweet is shared with their Linkedin connections. You can see my screencast about this here.

The fact that Linkedin is dropping direct connection of this type is good for Linkedin, but what about a feature of the integration that is really useful? This is the ability to find out which of your connections have twitter accounts and follow them. A healthy use of this would actually negate the need that some users have felt to broadcast their tweets to their connections on Linkedin, providing an alternative way to connect with some of their contacts.

The consensus appears to be that the reason Linkedin is abandoning Tweets is lack of use, but I’m not really surprised at that – Linkedin hides its applications very well from users and didn’t encourage its use much. The loss of the connections tab would be a huge shame however. I hope they keep it on.

I’ve been asked whether I might consider helping construction professionals learn how to use Linkedin properly so I’m planning a seminar. I’d like to choose a couple of venues in the UK to deliver it.

I’m currently researching venues and locations around the UK for this workshop. If you’d like me to deliver a workshop near you, and if you’d like to be informed of dates, times and prices, please fill out the form below (including an email address and post code) and I’ll see where the interest lies.

If you’re outside the UK and would be interested in a webinar please enter ‘webinar’ in the postcode field.
Want to know more about the webinar? Check out this post on my JustPractising site for details of what I’ll be covering.

One important aspect of your Linkedin Profile is the endorsements you get from people you know on Linkedin. Endorsements give your profile credibility by linking it back into ‘real life’.

So how to get the five endorsements Linkedin recommends you aim for?

We were discussing this on twitter tonight and the suggestion arose that getting five recommendations would require you to give out at least eight. The implication here might be, that if you scratch your colleagues backs, they will scratch yours.

The problem with this approach is that it looks all wrong. It looks as if you have bought your recommendation with one for the recommender. Even if you haven’t. What’s worse, these reciprocal endorsements both show up on your profile, often at or near the same time, just to reinforce the effect.

The answer of course, is to be genuine. This will give you credibility. Here’s my advice.

How to get great recommendations on Linkedin

Look at your network and find at least half a dozen people who you might recommend to a close friend as a potential employee, supplier or even customer. Draft the most important, most heartfelt of these endorsements up and recommend one of these people.

Aim to do one endorsement a month. Not too many, take your time and think about what you can say about the person that will reassure exactly the type of person they want to work with.

As for your own recommendations, be proactive. Think about your career development plan, your business development plan, your marketing strategy, your targets. Look at your network. Whom do you know who is well connected to your target audience, with whom you have worked? That is your ideal endorsement. Ask for it.

Don’t ask for more than one endorsement at a time. Make it the right one. And don’t do it cold, build it into your networking strategy. When did you last meet this person for a drink? When did you last talk about your plans and theirs? Before you ask for a testimonial, warm it up a bit. You want the person to naturally say yes, and follow through with a perfectly balanced endorsement, so invest in it.

As you can tell, I see linkedin as a very professional place, and your linkedin profile as a rather special place to let someone into. Linkedin is your credibility, so think about how to reinforce it.

Image: Chain by Matti Mattila (creative commons)

I recently noticed that someone had said they were ‘HR at’ my company on Linkedin, so I had to find out how to get them off. Here is how I did it.

If you say you work at a company, Linkedin tries to associate you with that company on their database, so people may accidentally be shown as employees of your company, just via a spelling mistake.

However, the person who said they worked at our company said they were ‘HR’, they were based in the US and there was a faint possibility that other people might contact them in the misunderstood impression that they were talking to an employee of the firm.

If you are connected to the person on your company page, you’ll see a little warning triangle next to their name. You can click this and it will allow you to tell Linkedin that they don’t work for the company now, or never have. This allows the person who administers the company page, to keep the employee list up to date if the employees don’t themselves.

However, if you aren’t connected to the person listed, there is no warning triangle, so a bit more digging is required.

After a little search on Linkedin’s Help Centre I came across the answer.

You need to contact linkedin and provide them with the following information:

1. The full name of the person – you can get this from viewing their profile via the company page, but you may only see the full name if the person is following the company.
2. A screenshot of your Company Page where that person appears – paste this into a word document and upload it.
3. An explanation of why they should be removed.

You send this information to Linkedin via their remove member form.

Note – you must have a confirmed company email address registered to your LinkedIn account.

This is the wording I used:

Dear Linkedin,
Someone has incorrectly associated themselves with our company, xxx.
They state that they are ‘Human Resources at xxx’. The person says they are based in Chicago and we have no association with them. I believe this association may be malicous. It could be construed by others that they run our human resources.
This person is called xxx xxx. (I then provided a link to their public profile)
Attached screenshots. Please let me know whether you can help remove this person.

The response I got was polite and helpful and confirmed that the person had been removed.

You can read Linkedin’s article about this on the Help Centre here.

Have you got a problem with phantom employees on your Linkedin Company pages? Perhaps give this method a try and let us know how you get on.

Over the last few years many of the social media platforms have been attempting to introduce successful aspects of their competitor’s sites, and today I heard about another example of this – Signal from Linkedin.

Signal lets you search the status updates of Linkedin users for key words. You can then filter these results using the same terms as other searches on linkedin – by industry, time, connection level with you. Watch the video below for examples:

What I like most about this system is the crossover with Linkedin. Of course you can search twitter already, and most sane business users use search more than browse. Twitter, being wide open to google and visible to all users, has its advantages over Linkedin. But what Linkedin has done is to bring search benefits to your linkedin network, and that is added value solely for Linkedin users.

For example, you can now find out who in your network is talking about a specific event and opportunity in real time using their status updates (whether they come from Twitter or not). The video gives several good examples of how this might be useful.

Now that Linkedin has integrated Twitter, has encouraged twitter users to post their status updates on Linkedin and has a search mechanism, is my advice not to update wholesale from Twitter to Linkedin changed?

Previously I advised that non Twitter using Linkedin users may switch off your status updates, and I still think this is a risk. But as Linkedin seeks to educate its users on how to take advantage of search, perhaps we are reaching a tipping point. What do you think?
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]]> http://www.justprofessionals.net/2011/02/search-linkedin-status-updates-new-feature/feed/ 4 http://www.justprofessionals.net/2010/09/using-linkedin-properly-chelmsford-womens-referral-network/ http://www.justprofessionals.net/2010/09/using-linkedin-properly-chelmsford-womens-referral-network/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:01:55 +0000 Su http://www.justprofessionals.net/?p=603

Tomorrow I’m giving a talk to the Chelmsford Women’s Referral Network, a group of professional women organised by Judy Day, a solicitor at Prettys, Kirsten Woodgate, previously of Lloyds Banking Group now KLW Business Evolution and, Joanna Hamblin director at Bird Luckin Chartered Accountants. The group aims to give professional women working in Chelmsford the opportunity to network with each other, and to make referrals easier between them. Linkedin is an obvious tool for this group to use, and they have set up a CWRN Linkedin Group.

Linkedin is however, a rather new tool for many in the group, and my presentation aims to get users who may not be using it proactively and with a strategy to think about that strategy and make some first steps towards making Linkedin work for them. You can see the slides below, or click through to view them on Slideshare where notes are also available. I’d be interested to know what you think of them.

I’m grateful to Sarah Arrow who runs a Linkedin group for Essex businesses, for alerting me to this problem, which I’m sure is of concern to many of you who use the Groups feature on Linkedin. Groups have become a very important feature of Linkedin with some real potential, but many are going astray.

Groups are New

A few years ago Linkedin didn’t have twitter integration, it didn’t have groups and it was purely focused on connections, which is what made it attractive to the rather conservative professional market. Now that Linkedin has introduced some of these features from other platforms it is important not to let the bad aspects of them damage what we have and put off the core, very special Linkedin audience.

Linkedin Groups are in essence a type of online community of interest. A group of people get together in a group to focus their networking in a common subject – in the case of Sarah’s group, “those that wish to network and do business with Essex Business people.” It is this common interest that should always be the focus of any postings to a Linkedin group.

Focus on Shared Interest

I defined Push and Pull marketing here when I said,

“Push marketing is when the customer doesn’t want your product or service. Pull marketing is when the customer does want your product or service.”

A special interest group can be a good thing for marketing because it narrows the field of people you network with to a smaller group with a shared interest, and if that shared interest is related to your business you’re in benefit.

For example if you run a guesthouse in Essex, people interested in getting a recommendation for a guest house in Essex might ask someone they know in Essex, and they might get that recommendation from someone in the Essex network, so it makes sense to join the network and get to know the people there. The important thing is that you are getting to know them because they may become your advocates, in the same way as they are getting to know you because you may become an advocate for them. Don’t sell to them – you are then a spammer.

Sales masquerading as shared interest

The problem with groups is that the opportunity exists (as it does with your status updates) to post marketing messages as if they were discussions. For example, I recently saw this on a property networking group on Linkedin:

“CHEAP LONDON BUILDERS
We are a building contracting company operating in London, having expanded vastly due to recommendations and clients satisfaction – We have grown in size, quality and ability
WE ARE ABLE TO DO ALL TYPES OF BUILDING WORK including: Extensions (Rear, Side, Single or Double…”

This is not a discussion, it is an advert.

The reason why these messages don’t work on Linkedin Groups is what happens next.

The Damage Sales Messages Do to Linkedin Groups

Linkedin Group discussions are not indexed by Google, so this plea for help isn’t shared with the world. Instead it is emailed directly, or in digest form, to everyone in that group who has chosen to receive updates.

Those people have volunteered to get involved in the activity of the group, and one thing they offer up gladly is their email address. It is clear that the majority of people who receive an ad like ‘CHEAP LONDON BUILDERS’ are going to be rather cheesed off if it arrives in their inbox masquerading as valuable contact from their Linkedin group. A less charitable person would say the ‘CHEAP LONDON BUILDERS’ are hijacking linkedin to do their direct mail campaigns.

Of course this type of behaviour is very bad for your brand image. But worse for all of us, it also damages the group – I have left numerous groups where this type of activity is unchecked, and turned off updates from others. Those groups don’t get much of my attention any more.

What you should do instead

So instead of spamming a Linkedin group with your content, what can you do to generate some genuine good value leads for your business? Here are some suggestions.

1. Get in the shoes of your audience

A linkedin group is relatively closed, so your audience is the people in the group. What do they care about? What issues have they identified? How can what you know and who you know help the situation?

2. Join a conversation

Look at what other people are discussing and see what useful contribution you can make. If you comment on other people’s discussions others may respond, and you may find they contact you privately as well to start building a relationship. This is how you get genuine advocates.

3. Demonstrate your expertise

Remember no-one has your specific knowledge and experience, so share information and opinion which shows you know your stuff.

4. Join the Community

When people start truly participating in a Linkedin group like this, things really take off. In fact, the group really stands out from the crowd and you’ll find more joining. And more people means more people reading your useful, interactive content, which is specifically targeted to them as members of a special interest group.

It is in your interest that a Linkedin group works – or why bother? So stop spamming people on Linkeding groups and join a conversation instead.

Image: Hackney the Old Hospital by L-Plate Big Cheese (creative commons>

Do you find twitter updates swamping your linkedin homepage? Here’s how to turn them off.

Also if you’re a discerning twitter user and want to be more discriminating in how you update your linkedin status, the screencast also shows you how to change your twitter settings on linkedin.

You can also view this video on YouTube.

Read more about Linkedin and Twitter integration in my post “Stop Tweeting on Linkedin”

I’ve got 49 pending Linkedin invitations in my inbox at the moment. I get a lot, partly because I have a lot of contacts on Linkedin (over 500). But I clearly don’t accept them all.

Matt Franklin (the architect in Shropshire who runs Ask The Architect) asked me tonight:

“@SuButcher Just been looking at Linkedin myself. What criteria do you use for your connections in terms of how you know them?”

So here’s my answer – the types of people I connect with on Linkedin.

1. Professional people I know well

These are the people I have met face to face and know well. Often these are people I’ve worked with or for. By connecting with them on Linkedin I can see what they are up to in their professional life and help them easily when they need it.

Some people only connect on Linkedin to these type of people. That’s ok by me, you do what feels right.

2. Friends and Family

Another category of people I know well, and for similar reasons. Whilst I accept that Linkedin is a professional network, my friends and family members who join linkedin do so too, so I can connect with them and expect them to behave professionally!

One of my friends, in fact the husband of a woman I shared an NCT group with when I had my son, helped me invaluably by connecting me to a relative of his. Just goes to show how useful people who trust you can be.

3. People I’ve met and don’t know well yet.

Linkedin is in fact a good way to get to know people, if you use it properly. If I meet people I hit it off with, I’ll often look them up on Linkedin and ask to connect. But note, I rarely invite non Linkedin users to connect with me there. Probably because I don’t have time to teach everyone 1-2-1 how to use it…

4. People I know well online but haven’t met.

I know many people I haven’t met yet. This is the legacy of online networking, which I took up because I couldn’t go out and meet people on a regular basis due to family commitments.

Some of my most useful contacts live in the USA and I may never get to meet them, but they are very close friends and consummate professionals. If I limited my Linkedin network to people I met I’d miss out on the support and advice of these invaluable people. Many of them I have met first and got to know on Twitter, and then connected on Linkedin when it became apparent that we should establish a more formal, visible professional connection.

5. People I’d like to meet but haven’t yet

If someone requests to connect with me on Linkedin I check out their profile, and if I think ‘here is someone I’d like to meet’ then I may agree to connect with them. I can use Linkedin to develop a relationship with them.

6. People I’ve connected with by chance or mistake

There are always a few of these, but very few. Sometimes people I connect with on Linkedin turn out not to be suitable connections for me and I disconnect. But this is rare.

So, hold on a minute Su, I hear you say – you’re connecting with people you haven’t met and don’t know very well?

Yes, I say, but as you can tell I don’t connect to just anyone. I couldn’t recommend everyone I’m connected with, but then I don’t endorse all my connections, I use recommendations sparingly and with discernment, when it seems to be appropriate, and probably not enough, come to think of it.

Who do you connect to, and who do you leave out?

Last time I defined Push and Pull Marketing in this way:

Push marketing is when the customer doesn’t want your product or service. Pull marketing is when the customer does want your product or service.

Now lets look at a couple of social tools. These tools put a greater number of people in touch with each other, and for this reason they can fall prey to Push marketeers. But good networkers ignore these people, opt out of their networks and built their own trusted communities who don’t push, but who help them pull instead.

Using Pull Marketing with Linkedin

Remember my example in the last post about face to face networking, when you seek out people who need help and help them out? Well you could do this on Linkedin. You could add connections, then look at their connections for people who look like they might need your services.

What do you do next?

How about if you send them an Inmail (Linkedin mail) offering your services?

What if you request an introduction to them from a mutual contact so you can offer your services?

Are these push or pull techniques?

The answer lies purely with the recipient of your advances. Do they need your services right now?

If they did and you were perfect, then you might be able to contact them. But how do you know? The answer is, you don’t know they need you, and the chances are they probably don’t. Not just now. Not when they’re rather busy with something else. Fact is, you’re just being another double glazing salesman.

So the way to using Pull marketing on Linkedin and get all the brownie points and none of the reputation damage, is to let someone contact you, when they need you.

Linkedin is perfect for helping people get in touch with you, find out about you first, check you out with trusted people they know who also know you. All these techniques are built into Linkedin, but they should be used to help people get in touch when they need something. Not when they are selling something.

Pull marketing on Linkedin is actually rather easy – the platform facilitates it. All you have to do is make sure your profile explains what you’re good at, and make sure your contacts know it too. Don’t push your skills at them, instead let them find them out as they get to know you better, and whilst you’re at it, find out the skills of the people you know. That way when one of them asks you if you know someone who… you’ll be able to put them in touch with just the right person.

If you do spot someone who would be the ideal client for you, don’t push yourself at them – remember how damaging that could be to your reputation. Instead, see whom you have in common. Build relationships with the people you do know, and you’ll find that when the need for your services does arise, they won’t have to look far to find you.

As you get to know people, your circle of trusted contacts will widen, and as you help people out who ask for help, so your reputation will improve. Connect on Linkedin to the people who trust you, so you can use your network more easily to help them, and they you.

Next time we’ll talk about push and pull on Twitter.

image: Runner in the Bay to Breakers race 16 May 2010 by smi23le

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