Archive for August, 2008

If you want to be notified the next time I write something, sign up for email alerts or subscribe to the RSS feed. Thanks for reading.

Openlink messages is a service that is available to premium account holders, but which they can opt-out of at any time.  It allows them to accept OpenLink messages from any level of LinkedIn user at zero cost to the sender of the message.

Recently, LinkedIn added some new features which will help to streamline your online experience:

1. The Build Network Wizard, formerly named the Build Contacts Wizard now allows you to invite your contacts at the end of the process.
2. You can now automatically turn logging off and on and you will also receive a prompt from the tool as to whether you want to send “crash logs” to LinkedIn.  It might be a good idea so they can get the fixes into the system as soon as possible.

Sometimes you invite people to your group, yet they never seem to appear in your Request to Join list.  There’s an easy way to solve this:

1. The invitee may have just joined LinkedIn and they haven’t yet confirmed their email address.  As soon as they activate their account, then they’ll show up for approval on your Request to Join list.
2. On occasion, you might mistakenly invite them to your personal network as opposed to your group – so they definitely wouldn’t appear on the “Join” list.
3. Finally, there could be an email deliverability problem.  The individual who just joined may have not received the email for confirming their original LinkedIn account.  Again, until they confirm that link, they won’t be able to do anything in LinkedIn, including joining your group.  In this case, you might suggest they use a different email account and see if they can confirm using the new email address.

With the proliferation of online social networks, both online and offline businesses have better potential for growth and networking. Most online social networking sites tend to be merely for friendship. But LinkedIn is more than that.

LinkedIn can help connect professionals and business people in the Internet. There are a number of industries that are represented in LinkedIn. If small business owners create their profiles and make it available through LinkedIn, then they can connect with individuals in the same industry and they can start trading information and business practices that might help them in the long run.

Another great feature of LinkedIn is the Question and Answer section, which can be a great means of exchanging experience and business savvy. If you have some LinkedIn members near your neighborhood or your city, you can also arrange a meet up so you can get to know each other better and be engaged in deeper level of networking and relationship.

Small businesses sometimes lack the network of support and community. With the coming of LinkedIn, small business owners can readily interact with others who have similar experience that they have. Who knows, business owners just might find angel investors willing to fund their ventures within the LinkedIn community!

Well over 26,000,000 million people and businesses are using Linkedin.  If Linkedin is a place to be “found” or find people”, wouldn’t it be interesting to know how some of them are using it?  Here is a quick list of 7.  There are many, many, more ways which we’ll cover in future posts, but let’s start with our first seven.

1. Find industry news or follow “thought leaders” – focus on your particular industry or for some general “gurus”
2. Increase your credibility – use it like reality tv – have people follow your significant business moves through the “what are you working on now function”
3. Increase your web traffic – use Linkedin to drive traffic to your blogs, web sites, etc
4. Idea Generator – use Linkedin Answers to get ideas for articles and posts to your own blog
5. Informal Advisory Board – use Linkedin Answers to get with a variety of expertise to answer your questions for free
6. Enhance your brand – it’s about giving more than you are getting
7. Competitive intelligence – follow your competition, learn what they and/or others in your market are focused on

We’ll be adding more, but in the interim, feel free to let us know how you are using it.

One of the beautiful things about Linkedin is the ability to note “what you are working on”.  If you take a look at various profiles, most people just ignore this function.  Through my limited research (of simply asking people why they do), it would appear the avoid it because a) they don’t understand the value of it, b) don’t know how to properly use it c) don’t really feel they have anything important to add and d) they really don’t spend anytime adjusting their profile at all. Thus a potentially major benefit is lost.

 

Let’s spend 30 seconds and get a better understanding of how this function could benefit us.  Whenever you update “what are you working on”, that update is passively broadcast to everyone in your network.  Thus it shows up on everyone’s Linkedin homepage without you having to send them an email, make a phone call or otherwise disturb them.  Since you want this function to remain a credible one for you, don’t abuse it.  If you note every time you go to the store to get a gallon of milk, your brand will suffer.  Therefore, update it for only for events of significance that add to your brand.  For instance, let people know about a new blog you set up or a new business deal you’ve landed or one you are pursuing.  Who knows, perhaps someone in your network can help you in pursuit of that deal.