Becoming a social media maven not that difficult

Katy Piotrowski, M.Ed.

Eating lunch outside in Old Town recently, a man I didn't know approached my table. "You're the social media queen!" he said. I looked behind me, convinced he was talking to someone else. Social Media Queen isn't a label I'd attach to myself.

My confused look prompted him to explain. Turns out he's the business partner of a woman I know, and he and I had connected through her on LinkedIn (an online business networking site). Then I remembered that recently, I have been more consistent in posting updates on my LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Suddenly, a wave of joy swept over me. If this little bit of extra effort was building my reputation as an active social media maven, hooray!

People in my life would tell you that when it comes to jumping on technology advancement bandwagons, I'm usually hiding under them. But as much as I resisted the idea of social media, eventually I admitted that it offers some pretty cool pluses: direct connections to supporters and an effective, efficient way to differentiate myself.

So rather than fight it further, I've made social media part of my routine. Each Monday, I pick a theme, usually some universal topic such as passion, fear or courage. Then I study my calendar for the week, looking for ways to tie that theme into 140-character statements (the maximum length on Twitter) related to my activities.

For instance, this past week's theme was fishing (in honor of summer), and one day's post was, "True story: One job hunter sent a resume and intro letter to 20 co's that she liked, but who weren't advertising jobs. She landed a job offer!"

Once I've composed my five statements for the week (I reuse the same posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter), I schedule their delivery using a tool like Hootsuite.com. The entire process takes less than 30 minutes, yet voila! My messages are posted Monday through Friday, and people confuse me with being a social media guru.

Turns out it isn't painful and doesn't take much effort. So I still have plenty of time to enjoy lunch outside in Old Town.

Katy Piotrowski, M.Ed., is the author of "The Career Coward's Guides", and provides career and job search support with Career Solutions Group in Fort Collins. She can be reached at 224-4042, or send email to katy@careersolutionsgroup.net.


Original Article

Six Tips For Recruiters Surfing Job Board Aggregators

“Where should I post my job opening?”

I hear this question weekly from HR colleagues and clients.  Assuming the people asking this question are specifically targeting active candidates (pursuing the estimated 80% of talent who aren’t actively checking out new positions on job boards is a completely different type of discussion which I’m happy to have), I often direct them to a job board aggregator (sometimes referred to as vertical job search engines) to help them conduct a bit of research to answer their question.


My favorite job board aggregators for years have been Simplyhired.com and Indeed.com.  Recently, I discovered a new favorite, Linkup.com, thanks to a blog postby Laurie Ruettimann on Punk Rock HRbefore she signed off on that forum.  For a list of other job aggregators, including European and Asian sources, take a look at Eric Shannon’s post on the topic. 


Job aggregators are terrific tools to drive visibility for your job postings but did you know that they can also deliver HR and recruiting value in other, unexpected ways?  It’s sort of like what happened when surfers turned their long boards into stand up paddle (a.k.a. SUP) rides.  They took their tried and true tools to the another level.  Think beyond just posting jobs on these sites and you’ll be surprised by a new sourcing experience.
To me, the biggest difference between SimplyHired, Indeed, and Linkup are the sources for their job posting search results.  The first two cull postings from company career sites and other job boards while Linkup purely searches and reports from company career sites.
As you’d expect, most people using these aggregators are job seekers conducting job searches and setting up posting alerts.  As a recruiter, I like to tap into these sources regularly for different purposes.  Here are six tips to introduce recruiters, HR, and business leaders to the benefits that job board aggregators bring to the recruiting table…beyond just posting jobs to these sites. 


1)  Identify your talent competitors.  Say you are recruiting for a Microbiology Medical Technologist in Denver and you want to know who else is hiring for that type of position and has posted those jobs in the last 15 days.  Yesterday I typed those parameters into Indeed.com, and found five other labs in Denver hiring Microbiologist lab techs.  So, now you know against whom you are competing for talent and where you can presumably find employed diagnostic microbiology passive candidates. 


2)  Benchmark job descriptions.  It’s common for HR professionals to compare and contrast job descriptions when developing new positions or calibrating pay considerations for external market equity.  Aggregators are a great research source to find benchmark job descriptions by industry, credentials, or company size.  Simply search for comparable jobs posted to aggregators by your competitors or industry leaders.  Extract the descriptions that match your needs.  By sharing your research when requesting job description samples from colleagues, you’ll develop a reputation as someone who shares value when networking.


3)  Gather competitive intelligence.  Say you want to know to whom (e.g., CFO, Controller, VP Tax, etc.) the Tax Managers report at your competitors which have between $100 – $500m in revenue.  Go to SimplyHired.com’s advanced search function, type in “Tax Manager” in the [within job title] box, type in “reports to” or “reporting to” in the [with the exact phrase box], and use the revenue parameters in the [company revenue] special filter.  When I ran this search today, 119 results returned. 

Tips 4 - 6 And Original Talent Terrace Posting

21 Things Hiring Managers Wish You Knew

We actually want you to be honest.

I see too many job applicants who approach the interview as if their only goal is to win a job offer, losing sight of the fact that this can land them in the wrong job. Think of it like dating. This means being honest about your strengths and weaknesses and giving the hiring manager a glimpse of the real you, so he or she can make an informed decision about how well you’d do in the job.


Things 2 -21


Alison Green writes the popular Ask a Manager blog, where she dispenses advice on career, job search, and management issues. She's also the author of Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Leader's Guide to Getting Results.

10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers

As the world of dominant brands becomes more fragmented, established companies and startups are hiring community managers to cultivate an engaged community in a digital world where customers’ experiences with the product is amplified through social media, whether good or bad. And it’s not just the experience that users value; the relationships and connections they are able to make with companies and fellow consumers are just as important.
As a result, engaging users online and off has become evermore important for both companies big and small. That’s because social media has revolutionized the idea of word-of-mouth marketing, providing not only an opportunity for companies to expand their brands but also creating the risk of a customer service nightmare.
Community managers, who come in all shapes and sizes depending on the company and its mission, are often the online face of their companies, and more increasingly, offline as well. They’re the social strategist, community builder, storyteller, marketer, product manager, designer and evangelist rolled all into one. But most importantly, they’re responsible in projects and initiatives that strengthen the community of consumers, users and customers of the company.
Though there’s no silver bullet to being a successful community manager, for those aspiring to become one, we’ve gathered some tips from community builders on what it takes to land a job and be effective at cultivating community.

1. Be an Expert and Evangelist of Your Product or Company

Effective community managers are not only experts of the company or product they represent, but also are passionate about it. Chrysanthe Tenentes, Head of Community at Foursquare (
), said good community managers are ones that are genuine advocates and evangelists for their products and their users.
“The best community managers are superusers of their products and can understand the passion of the user base, whether someone is complaining or offering feedback,” Tenentes said.
This means doing your homework on the company and product. It’s important to research the relevant aspects of the company with a “fine tooth comb mentality,” said Seamus Condron, Community Manager at ReadWriteWeb. This will not only prepare you as you go into an interview for a community spot at a company. Aspiring community managers should do a thorough “social media audit” of the company they’re interviewing with, said Daniel Honigman, Social Media Manager at Sears/KMart Home Electronics. This also means knowing the competitive landscape.

2. Love The Product and Company, But Be the Users’ Advocate

Understanding the product will help you become better at engaging and understanding the customers and users as well. Mario Sundar, Senior Social Media Manager at LinkedIn (
), said you should love the product or company you represent, but you should also have an understanding of users’ pain points. He said a community manager should be empathetic, that will help them be better at responding to complaints (and, at times, rants).
This is particularly true of customer service teams, and companies like Zappos, he said, have set the bar high in building customer support by empathizing with consumers. “A community manager’s role is no different,” he said.

3. Work on Your Communication Skills

One of the characteristics a community manager should have is that of an engager. A good community manager can engage people in an effective dialogue, said Andres Glusman, Vice President of Strategy & Community at Meetup.com. They understand that their role is to help people and enable their community to connect with each other, he said. To do this, they have to be effective communicators and articulate themselves well.
To prepare yourself for a career as a community manager, having a background in either marketing or journalism helps, Tenentes said. Having a communications background and experience in writing will help you be an effective communicator.

Tips 4 - 10

Your LinkedIn Profile Is Done. Now What?

As Jason and I spend time coaching clients and prospects on LinkedIn, the first thing we do is educate them on the steps involved in creating a complete profile.
We often refer to this (and all social media infrastructure setup) as “the plumbing” because it’s a necessary step before you can effectively use any social media tool.
So once your LinkedIn profile is complete, what are some of the things you should do next?
Here are  7 LinkedIn Quick Tips to get you headed in the right direction…

LinkedIn Quick Tips

1. MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Ideally, you will spend some time on LinkedIn every week. A good way to remind yourself to do that is by setting up a recurring, weekly calendar appointment for a minimum of 15-30 minutes dedicated to LinkedIn. In fact, cut and paste these LinkedIn Quick Tips right into your calendar entry to remind you what you need to do each week!
2. CONNECT TO PEOPLE: Start connecting to people that you know, trust and respect. There are a few ways to do this and you can see them all by clicking “Contacts” at the top of the page and then  “Add Connections”. And when you send an invitation to someone, be sure to personalize it!
3. RECOMMENDATIONS: Provide recommendations to those “rock stars” you’ve worked with over the years. Be authentic in your recommendations and write them in a way that lets people know why the person is great to work with. For examples of recommendations, take a look at some that Jason and I have written and received on our LinkedIn profiles. (Note: You must be logged into your LinkedIn account to view these.) Mic’s LinkedIn Profile; Jason’s LinkedIn Profile 
4. SEE WHAT YOUR NETWORK IS UP TO: If you click on “Home” at the top of the page when logged into your LinkedIn account, you will see a list of updates from people in your network and groups that you belong to. See what they are saying…see who they are connecting to….see what updates they are making to their profile. You never know what opportunities might come up. If you aren’t paying attention to what people are doing, you’ll miss those opportunities!
5. JOIN, AND PARTICIPATE IN, GROUPS: If you click on “Groups” at the top of the page when logged into LinkedIn, and then click on “Groups Directory”, you will see that there are tons of groups that you can join and participate in. Do searches for groups in your industry or groups that interest you (I am a part of several Jayhawk/KU groups..shocking, I know!) This is another great way for you to connect with like-minded people and share your opinions and expertise.
6. TAKE A LOOK AT WHO’S HIRING: Many people don’t realize that there are jobs posted on LinkedIn. Click on “Jobs” at the top of the page when logged into LinkedIn and take a peek at who’s hiring. That might give you some insight into companies that are growing…or you might know someone that you can refer to a company. Again, if you don’t make a habit of looking, you miss out on those opportunities.
7. FOLLOW COMPANIES THAT ARE CLIENTS OR THAT INTEREST YOU: Using the search box in the upper right hand corner of LinkedIn, search for companies that are your clients, that you are interested in, that you used to work for, etc. Once you’ve found them, you can choose “Follow Company” on their LinkedIn Company Profile Page. For an example, and to follow Blue Gurus, click here:

Those are just a few helpful tips to get you in the habit of proactively using LinkedIn each week.
Have you put these tips into practice? What have you learned? Do you have other tips that have been helpful to you or your business?

Original Blue Gurus Posting

Take the Back to School LinkedIn Challenge

By: Claudine Meilink



Today I challenged 20 of my LinkedIn contacts – all students – to take the Back to School Linked In Challenge. Why? Because they had initially created a LinkedIn profile to expand their network and, while their initial intentions were good, they had made the grave error of forgetting about that half-finished LinkedIn profile and allowed it to become a poor representation of who they are.
In the virtual world of the internet, it is almost better to have no presence rather than a negative presence. A half-finished or poorly done LinkedIn profile equals a negative presence. As more and more recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates to fill positions, you will want to ensure you are representing yourself positively online.
Is your LinkedIn profile at least 85% complete? If not, take my Back to School LinkedIn Challenge now so you are ready for fall recruitment when employers arrive on campus in September.

Phase I (Week 1)

1. Upload a photo if you haven’t already. Your photo should be a headshot and not include half of someone else’s head chopped off, bar signs in the back ground, or a straw in your mouth.
2. Complete the “Education” section with your major/minor, GPA, student organizations, extracurricular activities, academic accolades, and other school-related accomplishments. This is your chance to present information that wouldn’t typically fit on your resume. Don’t forget study abroad experiences, independent studies,
3. Update your “Experience” to include all relevant work experiences such as internships, as well as past positions that demonstrated your transferable skills, volunteer experiences, and internships for academic credit. This is your opportunity to present your resume on steroids. Take it.
4. Link to your twitter page, your website, or your blog but only if it is a professional representation of yourself. If you use twitter to communicate with your friends about how hungover you are on Sunday morning or swear like a sailor, skip the link to twitter. However, if you use twitter to network like a pro and find resources in your field of study, show your stuff!
5. Last, but not least, write a meaningful summary that adequately describes your skills and abilities, your strengths and accomplishments, and future goals. Your summary should give an employer an idea of why they would want to hire you. This is your time to shine!

Congratulations! You’ve passed the first step of the Back-to-School Linked In Challenge. Feel free to connect with me on Linked In if you would like to officially enter my contest. Prizes will be awarded. Don’t forget to personalize your invitation by telling me why you would like to connect.
Phase II will be posted next Friday, August 6th, 2010.

Author

Claudine is a Career Services Consultant for the Center for Career Opportunities (CCO) at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.  Among other things, Claudine provides career and major counseling to students and alumni, assists employers with achieving their recruitment goals at Purdue, and dabbles in the use of social media to engage students. You can connect with Claudine on twitter or LinkedIn.
Related posts:

1. The Back to School LinkedIn Challenge (Phase II)
2. The Back to School LinkedIn Challenge Phase III
3. Weekend Challenge: Beef Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Original Student Branding Blog Post

5 Ways to be Found With Your Linkedin Profile

Your LinkedIn Profile is your presence on LinkedIn. You can’t do anything in LinkedIn until your Profile is up. It’s like your resume and your own personal Web page in addition to the web sites you may have.
People do searches in LinkedIn when they’re looking for products and services, for top talent to fill positions, for jobs, and for answers to questions they have. You’ll look for these same things when you search LinkedIn. And search engines search your Profile when it’s completed.
When someone looks at your Profile, they’ll decide whether to connect with you, hire you as an employee or for your services based on what they see there. Make it a good first impression, and make it compelling so that they contact you.
Here are some tips for creating your Profile so that you’re found on LinkedIn, and your Profile shows them that you’re the best person to connect with.
1. Before you go to LinkedIn to create your Profile, think about your Big Picture Vision of your career and life. Write down the answers to these key questions: 1) What is your expertise and what are you known for? 2) What do you want people to ask you for now? What do you want to be known as the Expert in? 3) When people think of Tiger Woods, they immediately think of “golf”. What do you want them to think of when they think of you?
2. Have your resume handy as you write your LinkedIn Profile. You want to be complete, especially about your responsibilities and results you’ve achieved. Be sure your resume is results-oriented, and update it to include your current position and work.
A big mistake people make with their LinkedIn Profile is making it exactly like their resume – backwards-oriented. That is, only showing what you’ve done in the past. With your LinkedIn Profile, be sure it also reflects what you’re doing now and what you want to do. For example, if you’re a start-up business looking for funding or investors, be sure everything that a potential investor looks for in a company is in your Profile. It’s the same if you’re looking for a new position. There are people in LinkedIn who can help you with anything you want to do.
3. Think of keywords that people might search on to find you. For example, if you’re looking for a job, some relevant key words might be: 1) Your current job title and the title of the position you’re looking for. For example, if you’re now a Director and you’re looking for a Vice President position. 2) Your functional responsibilities. This describes what you do and is more descriptive than your job title. When I sold an accurate database of executives that companies used for their marketing, the database could be searched by “Job Function” as well as title. For example, the job title was Vice President, and Job Functions were Financial, Sales, Marketing and Human Resources. 3) Or if you want to find more clients, some keywords you’d use to find the person you’re looking for would be their current job title or industry, or the services they’d be searching for such as “sales training”.
4. Be sure the photo you put up on LinkedIn is a good one, and shows you as the executive and professional that you are. If you don’t have a photo that’s a good representation of you as you are now, it’s worth to get a new one. Remember, your Profile is the first impression people will get of who you are. When you’re networking online, the face-to-face visual clues are not there, so your photo is even more important.
5. Add your personality to your LinkedIn Profile. When someone sees your LinkedIn Profile, make it stand out so you stand out from the crowd. Make your Profile a representation of you – not simply an electronic resume. Rather than simply listing your job responsibilities and short descriptions, describe in story form how you solved challenges and approached the corporate or client situation. Create a picture in the reader’s mind that shows who you are, how you approach situations, how you stand out from others who do similar things, and that you’re accessible and personable.

Original BizBuzz Weekly Article

Refusing to Hire the Unemployed

Wendy N. Powell

Author, Management Experience Acquired: Necessary Skills for Successfully Managing Any Employee

Joe was at the top of his game. He was a well-respected manager when his wife's job tanked, forcing the dual income couple to go into quick action. The wife found employment out of town and bid a fond farewell. "We'll only have to be a commuter family for awhile," they thought. After all, Joe can get a new job with his credentials.
You've heard the rest of this employment story before. Joe thought that he would get a quick response to his job search. He pushed out his résumé expecting results. As a suddenly unemployed professional, Joe applied for countless employment opportunities that seemed like perfect fits, but could not get a single interview. "What is going on?" he thought. "I have all of the qualifications, but it doesn't seem to matter."
Joe was coming face-to-face with a new and all-too-common HR trend -- refusal to hire the unemployed. According to the U.S. Department of Labor July 2010 unemployment report, 9.5% of Americans are currently unemployed. In that 9.5% sit amazingly qualified individuals who have lost their jobs due to factors that have nothing to do with their performance -- the economy, company mergers, hostile takeovers or a firm's realization that it can no longer afford the employee who earned tons of merit-based bonuses and promotions over the years. Now isn't that motivating for those of us who are high achievers and contributors?
Of course companies layoff employees who are not contributing to the bottom line, but too many people lose their jobs because of conditions that have nothing to do with their performance. What about that talented sea of people, the new version of the starving artist, who is overly qualified for the position? Many unemployed workers are Baby Boomers who made too much money. Are we planning on tossing away this sector of our society that solidly meets the posted selection criteria? Is this the American way? Are we going to be relegated to the freeway off ramp in a suit waving our resumes to the passersby? I've seen it and it sickens me.
What about the very talented students who are soon to be fresh out of college with no jobs? Are companies planning to discount that sector of society as well?
Now, if employees want to get ahead of the employment curve and look for job opportunities while they are still employed, let me tell you this: if the company gets wind of your job hunt, they will view you as disloyal and show you the door. Just this week it happened to a stunning former colleague who was trying to do just that, find a job while still employed. Yep, they found his resume on Career Builder, and he was fired. He has now joined this new category of discounted candidates. Another employment Catch-22? I think so.
Employers
Sure you have throngs of candidates that you must evaluate. Sure you need to make decisions based on solid relevant data. You need to follow your selection criteria, really? What a novel idea. Yes, this is the key. Employers write up solid and defensible selection criteria, post it, use available tools to find the qualified candidates and follow it. That is the way you will hire the right candidate.
If you don't want to spend time wading through cabinets full of résumés and cover letters, there are wonderful internet search tools out there that you can use on job posting sites to weed out unqualified candidates before they get to the point of serious consideration.
Perhaps the cream will rise to the top of the employment heap and the most qualified will become more evidently consistent with your criteria. Many employers claim that they can't afford the staff necessary to screen all of the qualified candidates. In the end, it's a much less expensive process than paying attorney fees to defend your hiring practices in a challenge.
Candidates
Job candidates, you need to be prepared to explain your qualifications and prove that the employer should and can afford to hire you. Put it out there, front and center!

• Tailor your résumé to the position. It's more important now than ever because of the competition.
• Be ready to explain exactly what you can do for the company. Make yourself indispensable.

Maybe more of these qualified and unemployed candidates can band together and call out those employers who flatly discount the unemployed workers in favor of unethical selection criteria. Perhaps the huddled masses will be able to prove that hiring practices are tied to the traditional statutory rights of age, race, sex, with virtually no assessment of real job qualifications.
New Legislation
Finally employers take note of the new HIRE Act, signed by President Obama on March 18, 2010. The bi-partisan "Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010" provides incentives and tax relief to private business and encourages the hiring of unemployed workers. The provisions of the HIRE Act include:

• Applies to employees hired between Feb 3, 2010 & Jan 1, 2011
• Exemption of the public sector employer's 6.2% share of the Social Security payroll tax for the employee (if unemployed for 60 days or more or worked fewer than 40 hours for another employer during that period) for the rest of 2010.
• If the new employee remains on the payroll for 52 weeks, there is additional eligibility for a tax credit of up to1,000 on the tax return for 2011. The employee must make at least 80% of the pay received in the first 26 weeks of employment.

Hire the most qualified candidate and not just the son of your cousin's best man or niece's sorority sister. You never know when the tables will turn and you will become the next unemployed candidate. And make sure to keep an eye out for Joe. He could be waiting in the wings to make you look great!

 

Original Huffington Post

• Unemployment
• Careers

Ten Tips for Optimizing Linkedin

With over 25 million members, LinkedIn has grown to become a very powerful business and career management tool. Many are using it, but few have really optimized its value. Here are ten tips for creating a strong online presence.

1. Take the time to create a robust profile. Write a summary section that clearly outlines your personal brand and value add and gets readers jazzed up about what you do. Build out the specialties section and make it keyword rich and industry relevant. Many profiles on LinkedIn are just a shell with a name and an abbreviated chronology. You would never submit a resume to a potential employer that only listed employment, so why would you use this tactic on-line when your information is available for millions of people to see?

2. Use the endorsements feature to request and offer endorsements. People are more likely to contact you if you can prove that others have been satisfied with your work, product, or services. Adding endorsements can expedite the decision making process.

3. Keep your profile up to date. People who use LinkedIn for a job search campaign often abandon the tool after they find new employment. By keeping your information up to date, you are more likely to keep your network strong and be able to reciprocate to others.

4. Educate your connections. If people join LinkedIn and don?t invite others, they won?t get as much out of the tool and will remain several degrees apart from the people they want to meet.

5. LinkedIn doesn?t replace traditional networking, it facilitates it. Always supplement your on-line efforts with face-to-face networking.

6. Use the questions and answers feature to start conversations, create community, and position yourself as a subject matter expert. By answering questions, you are simultaneously endorsing your candidacy and expertise.

7. Don?t add a connection that you would not feel comfortable introducing to someone already in your network. Having 500 connections doesn?t have much value if you can?t share the love.

8. Don?t use the invitation to connect templates. They lack authenticity and are inferior when compared to a personalized message from you.

9. Create a public profile. This is an easy way to start building an on-line presence for yourself, since LinkedIn ranks high in the search engines. Add a vanity URL for greater differentiation.

10. Take advantage of resources that can help you optimize your Linked In profile including: http://www.linkedintelligence.com/ http://blog.linkedin.com/ http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/linkedin_profil.html
http://www.happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php
http://www.happyabout.info/onlinenetworking.php

You can keep your LinkedIn presence healthy and strong by reviewing and updating the content frequently, sending and accepting new invitations, offering and requesting endorsements, and posing and answering questions. Try to spend at least 30 minutes per week managing your LinkedIn presence. Your persistence will pay off.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/ten-tips-for-optimizing-linkedin-538708.html#ixzz0w3rhP6p6
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Barbara Safani - About the Author:

Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers, (http://www.careersolvers.com ) has over 12 years of experience in career management, recruiting, and executive coaching. Ms. Safani partners with both Fortune 100 companies and individuals to deliver targeted programs focusing on resume development, job search strategies, networking, interviewing, salary negotiation skills, and online identity management.

LinkedIn Marketing - The Secret Behind Social Networking Success

LinkedIn is a professional, business and career oriented social networking site. It allows you to meet professional experts in a variety of industries across the globe.
There’s currently over 35 millions professionals on LinkedIn and these numbers are growing as we speak.
The LinkedIn community enables you to connect with like minded people which in returns allow you to grow your business contacts and network.
As a registered member, you get to create your own personal profile with information about you, your company, your products and services. You can also mention your professional accomplishments.
Once you’ve done this, you can begin to maintain a list of contacts which are known as connections and actively invite others to join your network and that whether they are existing LinkedIn users or not.
Now that you’re a little more familiar with the LinkedIn community, let’s go ahead and detail the numerous ways you can use LinkedIn to increase your business growth and get ahead of your competitors.
#1. Growing & Managing Your Contact List
Jeffrey Combs once said: “Your Networth Is Proportional To Your Network” and this statement is so true. In business, your contacts are everything. You don’t know need to know everyone, but make sure you know the people that know everyone!
That being said, the LinkedIn community is a great place to begin connecting with real professionals in order to begin growing your list of business contacts which could be done pretty easily.
Just like any social networking site, you should approach like minded people to initiate the first contact (make sure that you’re not spamming people with your ads) and regularly keep in touch with them so in the long run, they’ll know, like and trust you.
In addition to this, you can import almost any digital address book and web email contacts (Hotmail, Aol, Yahoo, etc. . . ) from your LinkedIn account hence growing your list of contacts.
#2. LinkedIn Answers
This tool is by far the most important tools jednýmz on LinkedIn. “LinkedIn Answers” allowing anyone to ask questions on any topic and any one may answer these questions.
The cool thing about this is that you can interact with lots of people that are not in your network. . . Hence, a great way to increase your connections.
So Here’s How It Works: When someone asks a question, everyone can give out answers or suggestions to that specific question.
A few days after the question has been posted and that you’ve received some answers, you’ll be asked to choose the right answers or the answers that helped you most.
And out of all these good answers, you’ll have to pick the “best” answer. Then the person that has been chosen for the “best” answer will be provided with an expertise point that will show up on his/her profile.
Answering questions is a great way to establish your expertise in a certain field. By answering more and more questions or inquiries from other LinkedIn users, you’ll be able to gain more expertise points which will allow you to become the expert people are looking for to do business with.
Remember that in business, people join you or buy your products or services because you’re an expert or a leader they know, like and trust.
With this little tool, you’ll be able to drive a great deal of traffic to your site. . . Increasing sales and sign-ups!
You can easily become THAT expert in a really short period of time (anyone can become an expert in anything with just a simple research. . . Please do not share this secret with anyone!), hence attracting potential leads and prospects to your marketing funnels.
Asking questions is also a good way to interact with other experts. Your questions will be read and answered by so many people and you can make use of their expertise to do joint ventures or share business ideas.
#3. LinkedIn Services
The “LinkedIn Services” tool is a complete directory of service providers that have been recommended by other users in your network.
Let’s say that you’re looking for a highly qualified graphic & web designer in your town or city and you really want to make sure they’re real experts. You can use the “LinkedIn Services” to see which graphic & web designers have been recommended by others.
This tool will help you save time researching for professionals you want to hire to get a certain job done.
That being said, I strongly suggest that you get your clients to recommend you as a professional so when people are searching for services or products you offer, then they’ll find you.
That alone is priceless since you’ll get tons of prospective clients at your fingertip without spending a penny on advertising.
#4. Search LinkedIn
The search tool simply allows you to find professionals that you know and even the ones you don’t know.
Then you can either try to get an introduction from someone in your network that knows that person or simply upgrade your LinkedIn account in order to be able to contact him/her directly.
#5. LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups allow you to join any group that you want. You’ll then be able to meet great people and keep in touch with prospective business partners and clients.
Make sure that you’re a contributing member of each group you join. Post great content regularly, keep in touch with the other group members, etc. . . This will literally help you brand your name, your products, services and even business opportunities because people will begin to relate to you.
#6. LinkedIn Jobs
LinkedIn is also a great place to post jobs or recruit employees to your company. Thousands of companies are hiring and recruiting on LinkedIn so if you’re a business owner looking for prospective employees, there you go!
If you’re looking for employment, there are so many great companies on LinkedIn offering great career opportunities.
#7. Search Engine Optimization Made Easy
SEO marketing is one the toughest things out there in cyberspace and takes a lot of effort and learning to become an expert.
Since LinkedIn is highly ranked in all top search engines, your LinkedIn page will easily show up in the top 10 in search engine results for certain keywords. That’s literally free organic traffic your page without all the SEO marketing hassle.
Give it a try: simply type my name “Souleymane Maiga” on Google. com and on the 1st page, you’ll see my LinkedIn profile.
#8. Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say that LinkedIn is a great social networking site. If used properly, it could increase your visibility and brand name.
It also adds more credibility to your image and brand (“LinkedIn Answers” easily allow you to become a known expert in your field of expertise).
Keep in mind that LinkedIn should not be used a mass marketing outlet like Facebook or MySpace or even Twitter (you should only target what you’re looking forward to accomplish).

Original Article

5 best practice tips: use social media to engage, not enrage followers

Everyone should understand a few “best practice” guidelines so that they can maximize their brand awareness and establish a positive online presence.With all the social media sites that are available now, and as a growing number of people discover and use them, the result may be the tendency to share too much information, too frequently, or annoy followers with excessive self-promotion.

What is effective communication via social media, and specifically, what is the right level to engage others without driving them away? How frequently should one send out updates, post new messages, or update their status / profile? For many, these answers may depend on what the goals are – growing a network for business building, sharing information / industry updates / late-breaking news, or building a wide network to help with a job search.

No matter what the intent for using a social media site, sharing something of value or "free" will serve one well and begin building a positive brand for an individual. Blasting out numerous updates too often, or trying to "sell" someone, may label you as a self-promoter who shares “anything and everything”, and even run the risk of being viewed as a “spammer”. 

You want to "engage", not "enrage" followers.There are many social media sites that could be reviewed, but LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook remain the most widely used, so I will focus on them. Given their huge following, and with users numbering in the millions, I coined the phrase social media "power trio" to refer to these popular sites in a previous article, 3 sites to help in your job search: the social media 'power trio'.

1. Use the social media “power trio” – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook wisely

Here are ways to help, not hurt your personal brand, with these sites.

LinkedIn

• Profile updates - keep this current, update it every time you update your resume. Also update when you add new files, SlideShare presentations, book recommendations, or a new website.
• Twitter - add your Twitter ID so connections can find & "follow" you on Twitter.
• Link or News - share items that have value; something your connections might want to share with others. Some examples of content that will add value / pique the interest others: recommendations to great articles, blogs from industry leaders, useful links, tools, tips, late-breaking news, and upcoming events, something funny, thought-provoking, or unusual.

Best practice tip -

Do NOT post status updates describing a laundry list of all your daily / weekly meetings. Focus on sharing content that has value for others, and don't post too many updates. A good rule of thumb is post status (Link or News) updates at least every week or two, and avoid excessive daily updates, remember - it's "quality", not "quantity" that matters.

Twitter

• What’s happening? - Twitter's status update window is probably best used for sharing and gathering valuable content - links, tools, tips, news, views, recommendations, quotes, interesting or humorous posts from others. This is really a great site to wisely use the 140 characters to recommend the work of others or share your own content with a brief headline and link to a blog, website, or recent article. (Think 80/20 rule - promote others 80% of the time; only 20% personal or The thirds rule - 1/3 = industry related; 1/3 = about your field/company; 1/3 = about YOU).
• #hash tags - add the # tag to categorize important posts, breaking news, etc. so that they are captured and can be retrieved by you and others later.
• Lists - adding the Twitter ID of others to lists you create is a great way to validate that their tweets are valuable and worth sharing. The number of times a person's ID appears in a similar list throughout
  the 'twitterverse' is a strong indicator of how well their posts mirror their brand. List examples: social-media-marketing, job-career-experts, personal-branding.
  • If your Twitter ID is not appearing in the lists that support your brand objective, it may be time to take a closer look at your tweets and the signals they are giving off. Maybe a change of content or tone to deliver the right message is in order.

Best practice tip -

Think BEFORE you send - ask yourself "so what?" "Thinking "so what" at the end of a message is a good test to pre-qualify whether the message may have value (for someone other than you). Are you tweeting something that your followers will want to share with their connections? 

A message that shares information about a great new social media tool, career networking event, or late-breaking news probably passes this test. What one had for breakfast or sharing boring, mundane, daily details, adds little value, and does NOT pass the test.

- From a previous article, Best practices tip: post high value messages to build your brand

Facebook

• Profile / Info - keep Work and Education, Contact Information current with career experience, accomplishments, current websites, or blogs.
• Groups - join groups in your industry, field of expertise, and those that match your likes and interests
• Profile / Info/ Likes and Interests / Pages - "Like" pages that support your business or career goals, hobbies, music interests, civic clubs / organizations, etc.
• Create your own page to promote a new business, website, or blog, and share something of value - information, links, industry news, articles, "free" downloads with friends and followers.
• Networked Blogs - follow blogs of industry leaders, friends, similar business interests; submit you own blog for others to follow 
• SlideShare - share your latest PowerPoint presentations
• My LinkedIn Profile - be sure to add your LinkedIn URL so that others can find & view your profile information on LinkedIn.
• Photos - share business-related, interesting, fun, or unusual photos here.
  • A word of CAUTION: To maintain your personal brand, and ensure your online presence is not compromised, DO NOT post risque, controversial, or wild-party weekend / vacation pictures here. REMOVE any pictures that may damage your brand. This is especially true for job seekers and
    those in career transition. Most employers these days are very aware of social media sites, and will check all of them to verify that a person is a good candidate for a position at their firm. Any
    non-professional photos that present one in a bad light can be a 'deal-breaker' and cost one a job opportunity.

2. Send out high value messages to build your brand

"Do your messages add value? Would others want to share them?

Facebook asks, "What's on your mind?"; Twitter asks, "What’s happening?"; LinkedIn has a "Share an idea, article, question or update" window. The problem is too many people take this literally and often post messages describing their day-to-day mundane activities. Most people don't really want or need to know about one's daily routine.

Think "what are you focused on?" What value message can you post that others may want to read and share with others?" - From Examiner article, Best practices tip: post high value messages to build your brand 

"Share really useful links, news related to your field, things that are really funny or inspirational, or inside information about your business or blog. The key is to make sure almost every message is something that people will want to share with their friends. 

Here’s something that many people who use social media don’t understand: if you send out too many messages, people might stop following you or might even block you, because you’re flooding their inbox." The secret is to try to make every message you send, or at least a high percentage of them, high-impact messages. Limit yourself to high-impact messages to reduce the time you spend communicating."

- From 'Focus on sending out high impact messages' article by Leo Babauta, May 14th, 2009

Protect your brand - send out messages that add value. Learn to be selective - “less” is “more” 

3. Resist the need to "follow" or "friend" everyone who sends you an invite.

Everyone using social media sites will surely get Facebook "friend" requests, LinkedIn "connection" requests, and will most likely get new "followers" on Twitter.Learn to be selective - "quality” is better than “quantity” when it comes to
connecting. If you get a request from someone you don't know, share nothing in common with them, and they were NOT suggested to you by a friend - why would you connect with them? In the case of Twitter, you do not need to "auto-follow" someone back.

Best practice tip -

Decide if there is any risk involved BEFORE you accept a "friend" request or "connect" with them. View their profile in advance and see if you have any common interests, business or otherwise, that might be mutually beneficial to both of you. On Twitter, check out the websites of any new "followers", and also view a sample of their tweets. If you like what
you see - follow them back, otherwise NOT following them poses no real threat; you can always "block" someone from following you later. Connecting with someone you are not familiar with could lead to receiving "spam" or "buy my stuff" type messages. 

4. Avoid any "negative" or "controversial" messages at all costs

Social media sites can prove very beneficial for optimizing online presence, personal branding, building relationships, and growing a wide network to promote a business or help with a job search. 

Reminder: anything negative you share on the Internet is "permanent" and never goes away. Be very cautious of the content and tone of messages you send out; you cannot assume the person you sent the message to will not share it with others.A really negative comment can come back to "bite you" and permanently hurt your brand. Likewise,
avoid any highly controversial subject matter, "sensitive" political issues, personal attacks, or inflammatory remarks in your messages or comments. 

Take the "high" road, keep it "professional", or you may lose friends / followers. Remember: people did not connect with you, only to have you message them with your political commentary, or inappropriate remarks. 

5. Learn, Listen, Engage, Share, Build, Grow

I originally shared the six points listed here in my online marketing article, 6 social media marketing tips for e-Commerce. The concepts seem applicable for any online marketing plan, and are worth repeating as "best practice" recommendations for effective brand building with social media.

• Learn - about social media, how to leverage it for information gathering, branding, and marketing.
• Listen - to what others are saying about your company / product / industry.
• Engage - your connections and customers frequently, recommend them, follow their conversations, offer your help and services, and be a “problem solver” for them.
• Share - something of value to your social community – discounts, giveaways, downloads, memberships, e-books, or other “free” offerings.
  * You have to give in order to get.
  * Build your brand as someone who shares valuable content.
  * Look for opportunities to share articles, sites, links, and breaking news.
  * Support industry leaders by recommending their work, and sharing links to their websites.

Best practice tip: don't just connect with someone in order to sell them something.

• Build - relationships and maintain them with frequent follow ups, updates, and phone calls. 

* Leverage social media as a catalyst to build “online” connections to get “offline” meetings.

• Grow - a strong, dynamic social media presence to expand your business network, and cast a wide net to reach more potential followers / customers.

Click here to view the Examiner article.

Top 25 LinkedIn Groups ALL Job Seekers MUST Join

One feature you job seekers may not know about or have fully explored is LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups are free to join, and you can choose to join up to 50 groups from a list of thousands of user-created groups for literally just about anything. Not only do these groups provide you access to connect with and contact fellow group members who could become future partners, employees, investors, customers etc., but the groups’ newly updated discussion board feature can provide more networking opportunities, answers to your questions and insightful advice, tips and support. You can also join the groups' subgroups and contribute answers, comments and your own expertise to the groups’ discussion boards to establish your own online personal brand on LinkedIn.

Last year, I published a list of the top 20 LinkedIn groups for job seekers which became a very popular resource on Career Rocketeer. It's been over a year since the list originally went out and some of the groups have changed and new groups have emerged. Therefore, I have updated the list and am pleased to present the Top 25 LinkedIn Groups ALL Job Seekers MUST Join to help you build your brands and launch your careers:

1. JobAngels - Non-profit job search network of professionals helping other professionals find job advice and opportunities.
2. Executive Suite - Community of over 100,000 US-based executive-level and recruiter members.
3. Star:Jobs Professional Career Center - Group working in tandem with Linked:HR, the largest Recruiters’ Group on LinkedIn, to help top candidates find jobs quickly and efficiently.
4. Career Rocketeer - Career Launch Network - Fastest-growing professional network for personal branding, career search and career management, bringing job seekers and employers, recruiters and career experts together for mutual success.
5. The Talent Buzz - Group for job seekers, recruiters and HR professionals interested in expanding their professional networks.
6. Helping Friends Career Network (LI2HF) - Business and career network where entrepreneurs, hiring managers, recruiters, and talented professionals worldwide can make meaningful win-win connections.
7. JobsDirectUSA - Official job search group on LinkedIn for JobsDirectUSA.com.
8. Career Change Central - Group linking job changers and professionals in career transition with recruiters, hiring managers and career coaches.
9. CareerLink Network - Community providing job seekers spiritual, physical, social, mental, economic and personal growth to meet their ever-evolving needs
10. Jobs Alert - Job search group for middle and senior-level managers worldwide.
11. A Job Needed - A Job Posted - Group is for all LinkedIn members searching for employment, posting employment or recruiters helping members find employment.
12. Looking for a Job? - Group designed to allow job seekers to share ideas, network, post jobs, advise on job market trends and ultimately help them find work.
13. MyCredentials - Career Presentation - Group helping members to network, expand their resumes and enhance their interview skills.
14. JibberJobber - Career Management - Network for executives, professionals, students and all those involved in the career services industry, including counselors, coaches and resume writers.
15. ResumeMaker Career Network - Forum connecting qualified job seekers with hiring managers and corporate recruiters as well as allowing candidates to discuss and share career opportunities.
16. Personal Branding Network - Consortium for all professionals looking to build powerful personal brands.
17. Indeed.com - Official job search group on LinkedIn for Indeed.com.
18. Project: Get Hired! - Motivational support group exclusively for job hunters to share creative strategies and stay motivated.
19. Job-Hunt Help - Discussion group for job seekers sharing advice and leads and networking to help one another.
20. IMPACT Hiring Solutions Job Search Network - Discussion and networking forum for executives seeking job opportunities.
21. Global Jobs Network - Network for all professionals who would like to be aware of requirements in their respective fields and for organizations & recruiters who are hiring.
22. Job Openings, Job Leads and Job Connections! - One of the largest groups for job seekers on LinkedIn.
23. JOBS 2.0 - Group helping job seekers find a job online using the latest in social and professional networks.
24. The Job Board - Networking group for professionals seeking jobs and recruiters seeking candidates.
25. Self-Recruiter® - Job Search & Career Management - Discussion and networking forum helping job seekers become their own specialist, their own career counselor, and their own recruiter.

*These 25 groups are not listed in any particular order.

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Author:

Chris Perry, MBA is a Gen Y brand and marketing "generator," a career search and personal branding expert and the founder of Career Rocketeer and Launchpad.

Original Article