If you have been following this sequence of posts about adding connections to your network, you have now invited all those who are already on Linkedin to join you. In your Outlook file and other email services files, you will have many more names that are not on Linkedin. What is going to be your strategy for inviting them to be part of your networking efforts?
Again, you want to use the your overall purpose for using Linkedin as the guiding principle to additional invitations. Continue to ask yourself, how will this person or these types of persons who emails addresses you have, help you achieve your goals for the program. Revisit your decisions such as quality networking verses quantity networking.
More than likely, you will have a number of people whose emails addresses that are not on Linkedin. Break this larger number down into chuck size pieces so that you can invite them your join your connection each day. A consistent effort of 5-10 invites a day from your existing lists of contact will produce an amazing result even over the course of 30 days.
Here’s an example of a script I used for people I know but who may be unfamiliar with the Linkedin program.
Script
“Hello, its been sometime since I have connected with you. I hope you are doing well. I am not sure if you are familiar with the new social networking programs people are using on the internet? I belong to the Linkedin program as a way of networking with a group of people who have similar interests as me. I would like to invite you to join my network. It’s very easy to get started. You can go to www.Linnkedin.com and sign up to be on the program. It’s free and I think you will enjoy it. I am currently working on an e-book of tips for people using the Linkedin program and would like to send it to you. Let’s try to connect on each others network. Check out www.linkedin.com and join so we can connect on a more regular basis” Thanks, Al
Change the words to suit your situation. With this script, I am making an invitation, telling them about Linkedin, showing them how easily they can get started and making a promise to share something with them. These ingredients make the script work.
Use this or a similar emails invitations to those on your list and do it on a consistent basis.
Manual Invitation
The last direct tool Linkedin offers for building your network is the Manual invitation. Go to the green Get Connected button and click on it. You will see a manual section where you can now type in six email names and addresses to invite with one stroke of the key board.
I found it helpful to take some time to research the names and email address I wanted to invite and then place them in a word document. I then copy six names on a daily basis from this list and send an invitation to all the people I wanted to invite.
Recycling Your Invitations
On a sixty to ninety day basis, you may wish to invite again those who have not responded. If you go to your Inbox on your Linkedin Home Page and click on “Send” you will see all the people to whom you have send invitations and the status of those invitations. From here you can choose to resend invitations to specific people.
If you have been following my posts on the Linkedin networking tools, you have loaded up your contact lists from Outlook and other email services like G-Mail or Hotmail, etc. The strategy I suggested was to find on those lists, people who are already on Linkedin and send them an invite to connect with you. They already are familiar with Linkedin and are more likely to accept your invitation.
When I did my first batch of Outlook Contacts (I have been using Outlook as a contact manager for about five years), I identified 37 people who were already on Linkedin. While I knew many of these people, I have not had contact with most of them in the past year.
I composed the semi-private invitation you saw in an earlier post. I sent invitations to 37 people in one click. I was very pleased that within the first hour, I had twelve responses accepting my invitation. Over the course of the next several days, that number grew to 18 people. A 50% response rate is good for less than 30 minutes of work. It helped give me more Linkedin connections in very quick fashion. You may get better response rates with from your uploaded contacts.
Colleagues, Company and Class Mates
Linkedin also provides you with tools to find connections from colleagues, companies where you have worked or people who attended school with you. Start again with the Green Button Add Connections on the left side of any Linkedin page. Click on Colleagues and Classmates. If you have listed specific companies in your profile or identified specific schools in your profile, Linkedin will search its data base to find matches for your companies and schools who are already on Linkedin. You will be given a list of names and you can decide whether they are people you want to invite as connections on your Linkedin program.
I continue to listen in on the debate regarding whether you should build your social network using a selected number of followers or whether the popular trends of collecting large number of followers is better. Michael Fortin in his blog: http://www.michelfortin.com/twitter-populated-drones-frauds/ has written a post that has people comment on both sides of the issue. Its a longer post. When you read it, substitute “social networking” for the word Twitter and see where you fall in this debate. Enjoy.
Your comments are welcomed…
Al Hanzal
Twitter Populated By Drones And Fakes?
Twitter is a fantastic marketing tool. I love it and I encourage everyone to get on it. But I do have a warning, because the way some people use it today is not only wrong, but it can also become potentially dangerous to its survival.
Twitter is micro-blogging, i.e., blogging in a shorter format. It limits the posts to 140 characters. The reason for the limit is, when Twitter was first introduced it was intended to be used for text-messaging (SMS) between mobile phones.
The SMS protocol, along with most phones, limit their messages to 140 characters. (Nowadays, some phones allow up to 160.) I love Twitter because, as a copywriter, it’s also a great tool to force you to be pithy, test headlines and subject lines, and create a persona around which you build your brand.
However, there’s one thing that seriously irks me and my wife, Sylvie Fortin, to no end. That one thing is in the process of destroying one of the best tools to come on the Internet since the invention of email. And that’s auto-following.
First, I don’t use Twitter for telling my followers every bit of minutia of my day. I think that’s ridiculous and absurd. If I were a celebrity, sure. Fans love to hear about the daily activities of their favorite stars. We live in a voyeuristic society. That’s why reality TV shows have exploded, and the whole concept of social media along with it.
Auto-following is where you automatically follow someone who follows you. There are many benefits to auto-following, such as giving your followers the ability to send you a private, direct message.
But to me, auto-following is, at its core, no different than posting your website URL willy-nilly to a bunch of free-for-all link farms, which was wildly popular at the early onset of the Internet. And we all know how that turned out to be as a marketing tactic.
In fact, FFA links only really benefited the owner of the link farm, because no one came to their website with the intent to read or click on those bazillion links. They only came to post their own link. And the FFA owner would therefore be able to build a list they can easily email to.
(Sounds familiar?)
I use Twitter for business—not for marketing or selling per se, but to share probably the most important aspect in marketing, social media, and the Internet in general (in fact, it’s the reason the Internet exists in the first place).
And that is (hold on tight, here it comes)…
… Information!
(Crazy, huh?)
Yes, I love to “tweet” about websites I’ve visited, which may be of interest to my followers. I love to post quick tips and links to articles I’ve stumbled across that I find fascinating or interesting. And I love to blog about products, software, and programs I’ve used or discovered, which I believe my followers would certainly appreciate knowing about.
And yes, I do insert from time to time an affiliate link or two. But I wouldn’t post it if I didn’t think it would be of benefit to my followers. My goal is not to make money with micro-blogging, or even blogging in general. It’s a byproduct.
But in terms of auto-following, I’ve always been against it. And yesterday, I felt vindicated, because I came across this remarkable short video from Seth Godin, who arguably is one of the leading experts on marketing.
In it, Seth addresses the entire “social media for business” in a simple statement. In fact, he did it in less than two minutes. Basically, he said that business is built on relationships, not on how many followers you have.
Seth calls it “fake networking” as opposed to real networking. What matters is real relationships, the relationships you create, cultivate, and care about. Not numbers on a Twitter account that only boast how popular you are or try to appear to be.
I believe most people use auto-follow in an attempt to inflate their numbers, either for pure egotistical reasons, or at most, for spamming their followers. Don’t believe me? Here’s a case in point.
Auto-follow is often enabled through various third-party software. But Twitter once had this feature — some users still have it to this day. Well, just yesterday Techcrunch reported a bit of news in which Twitter itself will abandon the whole auto-follow process. And personally, I think it’s about freakin’ time.
Twitter’s CEO said it beautifully: “We’re going to discontinue autofollow because this behavior sends the wrong message. Namely, it is unlikely that anyone can actually read tweets from thousands of accounts which makes this activity disingenuous.”
When I sent this link to my friend Armand Morin via a discussion we were having within our mastermind coaching group, his reply was nothing short of brilliant. He said…
I totally agree.
I think that is my biggest problem with Social Media Marketing.
People are fooling themselves thinking their numbers of followers or friends is an indication of their potential income generation.
Why would this work?
Most people are following or becoming friends with strangers for two reasons.
1.) They want to build their own “LIST”
2.) They are following these people with the false illusion that they are going to be their “friend” and get FREE marketing information. Which they don’t realize is the person they are following is only interested in OPTION #1 I listed above.
So are they really on your list wanting to be marketed to?
The answer is obviously no.
Now, I’ve disagreed with my friend Ed Dale in the past. But recently, Ed posted a video on the Twitter auto-follow nonsense, and this time I must wholeheartedly agree with him.
In fact, just a couple of months ago my wife and I were engaged in a fierce, controversial debate online about the nonsensical nature of the whole auto-follow process. I want to share with you some of the highlights from that debate here.
I cannot paste what others have said for copyright reasons. But let me paste some of my tweets below. Most are from Twitter, but some are from Facebook since my tweets are simultaneously posted to my Facebook “wall,” which often generate independent conversations and additional comments.
Understandably, some tweets are parts of conversations. So to help you understand the context, each group of tweets are preceded by a sidenote to explain the history behind it and give you some background information.
SIDENOTE: The tweet that started it all…
• Auto-follow? Not me. My philosophy is, I follow those who reply to @michelfortin as to engage me. It’s
like saying “Hi!”
• What’s your follosophy?* Auto-follow? Follow those who reply to you? Follow only follow-worthy?
Follow “x” followers?
*By the way, “follosophy” was coined by Harris Fellman, not me.
SIDENOTE: Some people said that NOT auto-following defeats the purpose of “social media.” Because a bad ratio of “following” vs. “followers” means your conversations are one-sided. One even said that non-followers who tweet “one way” (i.e., they don’t follow as many followers) are usually tweeting unhelpful, “spammy,” or “soapbox” tweets.
I disagree.
• “Helpful” could also be defined as appreciating other points of view to support or challenge your own.
Even soapbox tweets.
• I said this many times, would you auto-follow everyone who propositions you in a bar? (Rhetorical
question. Don’t answer, LOL!)
• Twitter is the Internet’s water cooler. At least you know the people you work with to talk with them at
the cooler.
• Lately there’s an onslaught of people who clearly use auto-follow so they can claim “I have a huge
list”. It’s B.S.
• Ultimately, it seems to me that auto-follow is one person pretending to listen, and it seems fake and
insincere.
• It’s like “I’ll show you mine *IF* you show me yours.” Paul Myers said it best, “Internet marketers are a
bunch of incestuous cannibals.”
• With social media, people have a distorted sense of what “friend” means. An acquaintance, a contact,
or a fan, doesn’t make them a “friend.”
• Same with Facebook. I add friends who add a message to their friend requests. They make an effort to
introduce themselves.
• I ignore simple friend requests, especially if they’re people I don’t know. Which is the point!
• Most people on Facebook, who add you as a friend without any introduction, are usually networkers
who want to pitch you their “opportunity”.
• Facebook caps their friends lists to 5,000 because it’s virtually impossible to have 5,000 “friends.”
Think about it.
• Once you’ve reached Facebook’s limit, they tell you to start a fan page instead so people can become
fans, not friends.
• Facebook’s policy is clear: you cannot use a personal profile for professional or promotional purposes.
I know, they’ve told me.
• If you want to enter a conversation, use hashtags or @ replies, not auto-follow.
• Twitter is a big cocktail party*. You don’t follow everyone in the room who merely looks at you.
*By the way, “cocktail party” was something my wife coined several months ago, way before Seth Godin mentioned it on that video I posted earlier. Back to the tweets…
• We need to distinguish conversational vs. social media. Being in a crowded bar doesn’t mean you’re
being social.
• Conversely, being in a crowded bar and talking to no one doesn’t mean you’re being anti-social,
either.
• Watching everyone in the bar interacting with one and other doesn’t mean you’re listening in on every
conversation, too.
SIDENOTE: Some have tweeted that “auto-follow” is a way to introduce yourself, like a “handshake.” They say you should auto-follow to be approachable. I disagree.
• Auto-follow is NOT an introduction. A discussion or conversation IS. It’s all about RELATIONSHIPS.
• Which is why I prefer to follow those who reply me, because they’re making an effort to introduce
themselves.
• I *am* approachable. That’s why I’ll respond to tweets with @ reply to me. I might even follow them.
• But I won’t automatically follow people who simply follow me without saying a word.
• Handshake? If a serial killer shakes your hand, would you befriend them? Not unless you get to know
them first.
• Yes, auto-follow is creepy. To me, anyway. I’m not against it, it’s just not my philosophy. I don’t like
it.
• Honestly when following thousands, the only way to have a conversation is via the @ reply!
• But not auto-following doesn’t mean it’s one-sided! Want to enter a conversation with me? Just @
reply to me. Simple.
• TV or radio are one-sided. Twitter is mutifaceted by its very nature — follow or not. Hashtags is a great
example of this.
• People who follow you (without an expectation of a return follow) are genuinely interested in what you
have to say.
• I’d rather have hundreds of real, serious fans who care, than thousands of curious onlookers who
don’t.
SIDENOTE: One said that auto-follow’s single benefit is the ability to direct message (DM) each other. I agree, which is precisely why I don’t auto-follow. Here’s what I mean…
• Bottom line, I follow those who make an effort to introduce themselves to me and whose tweets are
valuable.
• Return follows grant you access via DM. I don’t like that. I pay a support staff to handle stuff like that.
• If I followed thousands of people, I’ll get bombarded with DM’s and support requests.
• It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I don’t have time answering DMs, which takes my attention away
from serving my paying clients.
• If I don’t respond to DMs by saying “please contact support,” which is time-consuming, I’ll be accused
of not listening anyway.
• People who auto-follow and want to DM are looking for free advice. A free lunch. I don’t do free
lunches.
• Here’s a great article/video by @perrymarshall to explain why I, too, don’t do free lunches:
http://is.gd/go5P
• Would you subscribe to everyone’s blog who comments on yours? Of course not. Micro-blogging is no
different.
• I don’t subscribe to everyone’s blog who comments on mine. But I do reply to their comments. Twitter
is micro-blogging. But it’s still blogging.
• Again, I follow people because I want to FOLLOW them. Not because of an expectation of a return
follow.
• Social media is about interaction. Discussion. Conversation. Hence “social.” Not reciprocal STALKING.
• Final note, if I followed a gazillion people, I still won’t know you exist… unless you introduced
yourself to me with @ reply.
• Besides, I know you exist when you @ reply me (that’s what I mean by following after you approach
me). That’s what I do.
SIDENOTE: Some people said that if the “gurus” don’t auto-follow, you can’t access them. You bought their product, and therefore you have every right to access them. They say that, if they don’t follow back their customers, their delivering bad customer service. I’m not only disagreeing with this, I’m also disgusted.
• Just because you bought someone’s stuff doesn’t give you access. Do you expect Bill Gates to follow you if
you bought Microsoft Windows?
• Precisely. It’s about relationships. I mean, would you auto-follow everyone who propositions you in a bar?
• It’s like being in a crowded stadium, when everybody’s talking at once, and pretending that you’re listening
to what everyone is saying.
• Yes, friends have discussions. It’s like being on stage at a seminar vs. being at the back having a 1-on-1.
• Exactly. Look at it this way, would you respond to every piece of junk mail with a letter saying “thank you
for mailing me!”?
• Followers can either be a “fan” or a “friend.” That’s the point about “following” in the first place.
• I FOLLOW because I’m interested in WHAT that person has to say. I don’t follow simply because I want
that person to follow back!
• I’m THEIR fan. I follow with no expectation. That’s the point. There’s a difference between “fan” and
“friend.”
• Right. You follow? You’re a fan. I follow back? You’re a friend. I don’t want followers. I want fans.
SIDENOTE: Chris Brogan, who follows as many people who follow him (and that’s in the several tens of thousands), said to me that if you don’t autofollow, you appear as a snobby bastard, so there’s no winning. My answer…
• It’s all in the intent. There’s unconditional reciprocation. And then there’s extortion.
• I guess I’d rather be perceived as a snobby bastard who doesn’t care than a lying one who fakes that he
does.;)
What do you think?
Finally, I’ll leave you with one of the best posts on the subject of Twitter. Copywriter Randy Gage, who I’ve been following for many years, posted one of the best manifestos on the use, purpose, and benefits (and downsides) of Twitter I’ve ever read.
About the Author
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, consultant, and CEO of The Success Doctor, Inc. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.
I am interrupting my blog entries on Linkedin to share a few thoughts from my vacation. Our family left the cold confines of Minnesota and spent 8 days in the Ft. Lauderdale, Fl area where it was typically 75-80 degrees. Here are some vacation thoughts as they pertain to social marketing.
I love vacations for many reasons. There is the obvious reason of a warmer climate. It always gives me some space and time to step back from the daily grind of business and gain new perspectives. I always find time to do more writing on vacation. There is airplane time. There is beach time. It also gives me an opportunity to listen and see what is happening in other parts of the country that have yet to appear in Minnesota.
New Things I saw on Vacation
A couple of new things I noticed on my vacation. One local TV station offered with each new program comments from their Face Book and Twitter accounts. People now feel free to make comments about the news on the stations social networking accounts and the TV station shares the comments on the air.
Watching the Today show, when they had their Expert Help Segments, instead of just letting the experts tell their story, they have webcams where people actually asked questions of the experts directly from their home computers.
As I watching the last day of the golf tournament, several times during the tournament, the announcers read emails from viewers and answered their questions directly on the air.
Do you see a pattern developing? An interactive mode of programs and marketing now is replacing the traditional models of controlling the news and TV programming.
The Question for Small Business Owners
The question becomes how will this interactive mode affect your small business? How are the Social net tools going to change the way you do business?
Let me start by suggesting that the Social net will not eliminate other marketing tools to create awareness for your business. Physical networking groups can still meet and produce results. Some of you may still put an ad in the local newspaper or create a brochure to help advertise your business.
However, it becomes even more critical for you to ask the question, “What results are my current marketing tools producing for my business?” Don’t use any marketing tool because someone tells you to use it! Keep evaluating what you are doing. Keep what’s working; discard what’s not working.
Along with your traditional marketing efforts, you will need to develop an internet strategy on which tools you are going to use to help promote your business in this internet marketing medium. You need to go where your customers are going. They are going to the internet. As you do create a strategy for the Social net, I make two notes of caution.
Follow Basic Marketing Principles
First, if you are weak on the basics of small business marketing, you will fail on the Social net. By the basics I mean clearly knowing your customer niche, clearly knowing how your products benefit your customers, and showing proof that people can believe what you are telling them.
If you are missing these critical ingredients, you will quickly fail on the Social net. Why? There is too much competition from people who follow the basics. You don’t have the luxury of dealing face to face with people to overcome your marketing limitations with your charming personality or a face to face encounter.
Adopt a Different Marketing Mentality
My second warning, you must behave differently on the Social net. In traditional marketing, you talk directly at people telling them about your business and what you can do for them. On the Social net you must be willing to give up control and find ways to influence people rather than tell people.
Your primary skill in these social net programs is listening. You are invited as guest, to participate along with other guests. You can listen, you can add suggestions, you can ask questions, you can share your insights as an expert in your field. You can become a person of influence.
If you think you can go to a social networking group and blast your business in front of them, you will be shut out. Worse, people will simply ignore you. The key is to come as a person of influence. When you do this, you can have some success on the Social net.
I believe you cannot avoid the Social net if you want to really be successful in your small business. The world has already moved there. Each of us needs to develop a strategy on how we are going to make our business presence on the Social net.
To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…
Here’s the most exciting networking tool to help you build your Linkedin network. When you use this tool, you combine your Outlook program with your Linked in Program. You can have your Outlook program running behind your Linkedin program; or your Linkedin program can run behind your Outlook program. You can switch back and forth between programs. In a moment I will show you how to activate this Linkedin feature. First let me show how you can use it to build your Linkedin network quickly.
Emails You Receive in Outlook
For every email you receive from a person in Outlook, there will be a Linkedin symbol in the right hand corner of the email. When you click on this, it tells you if this person is a member of Linkedin, their headline and the number of their contacts—a good standard to measure the person’s active with Linkedin.
If they are on Linkedin, you can keep in contact with them or Invite them to join your network. If you click on the Invite, a screen appears with all the information and choices to send a personalized invitation to join your network. You decide on the words you want to use or create a template to use on an ongoing basis. Once you complete the form, you hit send and you are right back at your Outlook program.
The beauty of this tool is that you don’t have to leave Outlook to send an invitation. And it only takes a few minutes. It’s faster if you use your own template invitation to send the person an invitation.
If the person is not on Linkedin, it will also tell you. This tool will give you the opportunity to create a different invitation form for these people since they may be unfamiliar with Linkedin.
Another feature of this tool is that if the email you receive contains other names in any part of the address, the CC or Blind Copy, these names are shown in a separate box. You can click on them and find out if they are on Linkedin. One email I received had four additional names displayed when I clicked the Linkedin symbol. I sent out five invitations in the space of five minutes, one to each person.
The Power of the Outlook Tool
Stop for a moment and think about the power of this tool. First there is the speed and convenience of sending out invitations. Then, in any given day, I may receive a hundred emails from other professionals in my field. They are advertising materials to sell, newsletter, etc. I can click on any of these emails and invite the person to be on my network. When they receive the invite, it is very easy for them to click and say “Yes” to become a member of my network. And you can do all of this without every leaving your Outlook program. How cool is this?
Now I can invite the top people in my field as members of my network without all the work involved in personally contacting these people. When others see these experts as part of my network, now my credibility soars.
You have completed your profile—for now. You feel good about the Linkedin brand you have created. Now, it’s time to construct a strategy about connecting with others on Linkedin. As with other parts of Linkedin, your purposes and goals should guide how you do the networking. Your networking strategy and actions steps should support your goals and purposes.
There are a number of choices you will make before you actually start creating your network. Your first choice involves quality verses quantity networking.
At first blush, you want as many connections as possible on your Linkedin site. If a hundred connections is good; a thousand is better. Going for as many connections as possible is one strategy.
Choosing a large quantity of network connections is fashionable today. The money is in the list! Statistics show that at any one point in time, only 3% of any group is ready to buy, with another 7% considering a purchase.
With the quantity strategy you build as many contacts as possible. Many sales strategies are built on “the numbers game.” Go for as many numbers as possible and there will always be a certain number of people that are ready to buy what you are selling.
Another strategy is the qualitative approach to networking building. In this approach you seek a more limited number of connections. Using your own criteria, you carefully select who to connect with on Linkedin.
If you have a hundred connections on your network and 30% of them are strong connections, then that number equals 3% of 1000 weaker connections.
Different people use different strategies. Qualitative verses quantitative. You choose the strategy you believe and feel comfortable using in your business. You can start with a quantitative strategy and switch later to a qualitative strategy.
Linkedin Networking Strategy—Active Verses Passive
This is another strategic decision. You can take a very active approach to getting connections. I will share will you the tools that Linkedin provides for this purpose.
Or you can use a passive approach. You passively invite others to connect with you by adding a Linkedin Icon to your email signature or your website or your blog. Anywhere people can click and connect with you.
Some people will click and will invite you to connect with them. They take the action; you respond. That is why I call this passive network building.
Linkedin Networking Strategy Other Considerations
Many people make the mistake of waiting to build a network only when they need it. It takes time to build a Linkedin network. Start building now for the future rather than waiting until you need it.
Manage your network. You will need to sort your network, remove dead wood, repair emails, find missing people, etc. A strong network needs to be managed. This takes time.
Allow enough time and energy to create your network. It is work. It can be fun. Depending on your purposes and goals, you must allow the appropriate time each week to work on your network building.
So how do you create and bring this brand which is YOU to the market place? Let me just focus on one element–being different in today’s crowded market place.
Start by staking out your new position. Stop marketing to everyone. Pick out a narrow segment of the market place. The best way to identify this segment is to find a place where you can be different from your competitors. Your success depends on the ability to identify your difference and tell the world about it.
Here are three areas where you can look for business differences. Each business does have a difference to discover! Each business has a brand waiting to be developed.
Customer differences
Product differences
Customer buying differences
Customer Differences
You can make yourself different by choosing a specific group of customers or subset of customers to serve. Some mortgage businesses deal only with high end customer mortgages. Some businesses sell only to left-handed golfers.
Or maybe you choose a specific problem within a customer group. Some mortgage businesses cater to the re-financing of high-end mortgages. Some businesses only sell shoes to left-handed golfers. Is there one problem or set of conditions that you can solve with your business that separates you from your competitors?
Product Differences
Look at your product or services as a second place to find your differences. Here are a number of things you can promote about your products or services to make your business stand out in a crowded market place.
Make your product faster—we live in a time starved environment.
Customize your product—people want to be treated as special and unique.
Make your product larger–this can increase the value to the customer.
Improve the quality of the product—people will pay for quality.
Make your product safer—people are always concerned about safety.
Make your product greener—hot social trend in today’s world
Make your product more convenient—people are looking for ease of use.
Eliminate a common complaint or weakness about products in your industry.
Make it last longer—people want durability.
Make it more portable—take it to the people rather than people come to you.
Make it more available—people hate to wait for things.
Package your offerings so you are different from your competitors.
Combine several elements into one—less complexity for people.
Make your price the difference—be the lowest or the highest.
Make the product more innovative—some customers want the newest.
Customer Buying-Process Differences
If you’re not different with your customers or your product, you can be different in the customer buying process. Customers today put as much value on the buying experience as they do on the product or service.
Can you change the physical environment of your business so it stands out from competitors? A neat, attractive, well displayed showroom will clearly separate you from competitors.
Do you have employees who have more dedication, more knowledge, more “whatever” than your competitors? Just saying good things about your employees does not work because everyone claims they have the best and most knowledgeable employees. If the differences are real, and they affect the customer’s buying experience, use them.
Do you have more credibility than your competitors? Credibility is fostered by testimonials, credentials, guarantees and evidence of expertise. For example, if your guarantee was double the industry average, you could use this as a way of separating yourself from your competitors.
Do you have a better follow-up process with your customers? Follow up and customer support are critical for ongoing relationships with customers.
You can have internal business processes that make you different and better than your competitors. When the internal system can be translated into real customer benefits, you can use it.
You can also separate yourself by having a better marketing process. Marketing involves selecting the right customers, offering the right message and choosing the right means to get your message to the right group of customers.
Take these insights I have provided and review your Linkedin Profile. Does it fully expressing the brand that is YOU?
So far, with all the areas you have completed on the Linkedin Profile you’re customizing your Linkedin profile. You have been completing your profile with the aim achieving the goals you have set for your Linkedin involvement.
I will now show you two additional ways you can customize your Profile to make if more effective for your Linkedin purposes.
Your Website
On your profile page, you have a place to put in the address of your websites or blogs. When you click on this area, you will be given several options to identify the type of site you want to address. Your last option is “Other”. Let me show you how to use “Other” to get a higher search engine rating and more visibility for you.
When I choose the “Other” category, instead of adding my company name, Hanzal Enterprises, Inc., I added a key word phrase from my search engine key word search. I typed in “small business marketing”, then, I typed in the address of my website.
What does this accomplish? Linkedin has a very high page ranking on Google. By doing this I now have my web address and a key search word phrase linked on Linkedin. When someone types in the words “small business marketing” in Google it starts searching with higher rated pages like Linkedin. When it sees that on I have “small business marketing” on my Linkedin site and them my website address, it gives my website a higher ranking. I’m riding the coat tails of Linkedin higher rating to get a higher rating for my website. A simple change makes a big difference.
Your Public Profile
You can personalize your Linkedin Profile page by using your name in the Linkedin URL. When you first join, you are given a number as a Linkedin member. Who wants to be a number? You can insert your name in the Linkedin URL instead of a number. This will boost your online presence with someone is searching for you on Google or other search engines. Now you will have your own customized URL on Linkedin. See my example: www.linkedin.com/in/alhanzal .
Here’s how to do this.
Click on your current Public Profile URL link, you’ll see the edit box. You will see the original number address you were given at sign up. Click on Edit and it will take you to a new page and a box where you can change the address. Type in your full name–all in lower case letters as one word. Then click Set Address.
Your name changes from numbers to your name. Now you can put this on your signature file, websites, and other marketing pieces to let people know that you are on Linkedin. You now have given people another way to contact you.
Review your resume to help complete this section of your profile. Here’s a tip for you. Most resumes look backwards about what the person did in the past or their past experiences. Your connections are more concerned about what you can do for them now or in the future. Always show what you can do for your customers, the benefits they may achieve by being connected with you and your business. Like a good resume, time frames should be included if they add to your credibility. Make sure to write short 2-3 sentence paragraphs so that it can easily be read on the computer monitor.
Educational Experience
It’s been my experience that educational backgrounds have less credibility than in the past. The exception may be job that calls for educational credentials like “you need a PHD”. If your educational background is a strong suit, use it. I’m proud that I received a degree from Notre Dame University. Because of its national reputation and the fraternity of Notre Dame Alumni, several people have joined my Linkedin connections.
Your educational background may also be another contact for someone who went to the same school or a former classmate.
Specialties in Your Industry of Expertise
This is the place to share your skills and knowledge that can benefit others. If you have certifications, place them here. What will give you the most credibility with another person if they were standing before you? Don’t be too modest. If you don’t toot your horn, who is going to? You will have another opportunity in the Recommendations section of the profile to include statements from what other think about your business or work.
Your Interests
Here you can include some of your personal interests. What do you like to do when you are not doing business? What are some of your hobbies? Many times people will spark with “this part of you” as the reason for becoming a connection. Just as someone interviewing you for a job might ask, “What do you like to do when you are not working?” They are trying to get an idea about the whole person.
Groups and Associations
List here the groups or associations you belong to outside of any Linkedin groups. These could be clubs. This may also be a place to insert volunteer work if that is appropriate for you. These could be online groups in other social networking programs. When you join a specific Linkedin group, it is automatically added to your profile.
Honors and Awards
If you have received any honors or awards, list them here. How often have you been in offices or businesses where awards dot the walls? These awards are further evidence of your credibility. Do they help give a better picture of you? If they don’t, don’t use them.
Now you are ready to complete your Linkedin Profile. You will be completing the following items:
Your name
Your professional Headline
Your Location
Your Industry of expertise
Your Current position and past experiences
Your Educational background
Your Specialties
Your Connections
Recommendations that people write for you
Your websites and blogs locations
Your Contact setting—how you want to connect with others
Your privacy levels
Reviewing Your Input Materials
Here are the materials you to review:
Review the goals and purposes you identified for using Linkedin. As you complete the above elements in your Profile, you want all of these elements to be moving you forward in achieving your goals and purposes.
From the search engine list, pick the top 3-5 key words or phrases you want to include in the profile. These will be the most popular words and phrases people use to search on the internet. This makes your profile search engine ready.
You will want to write in a web format. By this I mean write in 2-3 sentences paragraphs with bolder heading for each paragraph. People read on the web by scanning. You want your Profile to read easily so others can determine quickly whether they want to be connected to you.
You don’t have to be perfect in this first profile effort. You can also edit. In fact you will do a makeover of your Profile after a week or ten days. All of your connections will then be automatically notified that you have redone your profile.
Your Name
Type in the name that people know you by. No nick names. For example, my legal name is Albert but people know me as Al, so I use Al Hanzal as my Linkedin name.
Your Professional Headline
This is an extremely important part of your profile. It’s what everyone sees under your photo. It should contain at least one key word or phrase that people use to search the internet for a business like your. This is your 3 second commercial and should tell the reader what benefit you provide to them. My current headline is “Helping small business owners successfully use internet tools.” In this headline I am telling people whom I work with and what benefits they may realize.
Your Industry Expertise
What is the industry or expertise generally associated with your business. Again, key words here will help internet searches find you. You are given a drop down list from which to choose.
Your Location
You can indicate the physical area where you do business.
