Internet Marketing Tools

You have completed your profile and saved your changes.  There are five additional steps you will take in the next week to make your profile even more effective.

1.  Take a look at how others will see your profile.  Click on the Button that says, See Your Public Profile.   What you see on the screen is actually what others will see on Linkedin.  Note any changes or revisions you want to make and make them now.
2.  Make a copy of your profile and place it into a word document and then print it for you to use as a working copy of your profile.  Start making notes on this copy by asking yourself the question, “If I saw this profile, would it catch my attention?  How well does this profile push my agenda or goals for using Linkedin?”  Make any notes on this working copy.  You may also wish to view the PDF form of your profile that has been created by Linkedin.  You can send a copy of this to anyone.  (Upper right hand corner of your site page with the PDF symbol).
3. In the next week, use Linkedin to visit Profiles of others people you know or other people in your same industry.  What can you now learn from their profiles to use on your profile?  You will find some things you absolutely want to avoid and other things that you may wish to incorporate in your own profile.  Make notes on the working copy of your Profile.

4.  The following is a check list professionals use to review Linkedin Profiles:

• Add your voice.  Is your profile boring?
• Make sure you are writing recommendations for others
• Find ways to connect with your old colleagues
• Make sure you have personalized your Linkedin address
• Add substance to your Headline
• Make sure your specialties are attention grabbing
• Explain what you did at previous companies
• Add board or advisory positions you have held
• Get more recommendations about yourself
• Indicate your interests outside of work
• Customize why you want people to reach you

5. Wait a week, making notes on the working copy of your profile as you go.  Then go back to your profile and edit your original version with your new additions or subtractions.  The beauty of this effort–when you reedit your profile, everyone who is connected to you gets notified that you have made changes to your profile.  You now have created another opportunity to put yourself in front of others without looking like a sales person!

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Current position and Past Experiences

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.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Completing Your Linkedin Profile

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.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

You want Linkedin to serve your small business.  Not your small business to serve Linkedin.

Spending too much time on social network programs like Linkedin is a fear of many small business owners.   By putting your Linkedin efforts into an overall marketing plan for your business, you will eliminate this fear.

If you do not already have answers to these basic marketing questions, take time to answer them.  This will be a step forward for your business and for making Linkedin more effective for your business.

Basic Marketing Questions

What is the target market for your business? Who are these people?  What are their buying preferences?  How will you convert them from prospects to customers?   How many of these prospects and customers do you need in your business on a monthly basis?

What is your brand? Can you describe in one sentence what makes you attractive to your customers and different from your competition?

What are you offering to your customers? What is it?  How will the customer benefit from your product or service?  How much does it cost?  Why should they believe you?

What are your current marketing efforts? Identify each effort, the time and the dollars currently being spent on each effort.  On a scale of 1-10, what is the effectiveness of each marketing effort?  What are you using to measure the effectiveness of each effort?  Which of these efforts are you going to drop to put time and effort into Linkedin?

Applying Marketing Answers to Your Linkedin Efforts

These may seem like simple questions.  Studies show the businesses that have a written marketing plan are 30% more successful in their business.

Neither Linkedin nor any other social networking program can make up for a poor marketing plan.  Throwing a new marketing effort into a confusing mess will only make the mess bigger.

As we go through the various Linkedin tools, you will see how…

• Having a clear focus on your target market
• Knowing your business brand
• Having an offering beneficial to customers
• Measuring your marketing efforts

…will help you use Linkedin more effectively.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al

The Linkedin Mindset…

Let me share with you a story to illustrate the mindset that will make your Linked In experience more successful.

For five years I was associated with the business networking group, BNI.  I participated as a member, served in various officer positions, and even performed as a regional ambassador to other BNI business networking groups.

Over these five years, I learned the basic rules of effective business networking.  Here are the basic:

•    Networking is about building relationships
•    Find the right group suitable to your business goals
•    People need to know, like and trust you before they refer to you
•    You need to build your credibility within the group
•    You need to show up to the meetings
•    You need to participate and  assume responsible roles within the group
•    You need to give more than you get
•    Business networking is not a quick fix or magic bullet

Doing these basic will help you be an effective traditional business networker.

Even though, Linkedin is an internet based social networking group, the same networking rules apply to be successful.  Linkedin is a conduit for building relationships and communicating with others.  It is not a magic bullet.  It requires a commitment of time, and participation.  It requires that you build a trust level with others and give more than you get.  It makes you choose the right groups with whom you want to participate.

Follow the basic rules of business networking in your Linkedin program.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al

Here’s a short article on several ways you can use Linked In to help your small business.  Enjoy and as always, your comments are appreciated.

LinkedIn for influencers

by Barbara French on 02/14/2009 04:09   2 comments , 206 views
Categories: Marketing, Lead Generation, Sales

LinkedIn is one of several tools that can help influencers pursue their passion for gathering and sharing knowledge. Here’s some insight from my own experiments as well as conversations with influencers:

Starting with basics, treat LinkedIn as a directory for being found. Create a complete profile. Write every section of text for fast, easy reading — and with a eye for search engine matches. Many people will find your profile by searching the web.

Next, consider using at least 2 of the new profile widgets: displaying your blog feed, and a SlideShare or Google presentation. These make your profile stand out from other experts with similar credentials and networks.

Judicious participation in Q&A is another tactic for giving people a sense of you and your style. Likewise, consider giving and receiving recommendations to partners, clients and colleagues.

More and more influencers are joining LinkedIn Groups, and those able to devote the extra time are creating and promoting their own groups.

Up until now, the emphasis has been on sculpting an online profile that conveys something of you in human terms, on top of a standard cv-style profile. Some steps also take you into the shallow end of the pool as a participant in the LinkedIn community.

This brings us to the final point, and it is strictly personal: contact settings. This determines how LinkedIn members can contact you — through referrals, or directly through LinkedIn’s InMail.

Look forward to your thoughts and experiences. Please share!