How to answer questions on Linked In

I’m working on a future post about how to optimize a video on YouTube and posted a question on Linked In Answers. I got half a dozen responses, and from looking through them, I had a few thoughts on how to better “answer” a question.

First, I think it’s important to at least look at the profile of the person asking the question, and familiarize yourself with his/her background, knowledge and experience. Remember – you never know where your answers may take you!

When replying, the subject line on your response is the same as the subject line of the question. Here’s a chance to stand out by customizing the response. My question was “How do you optimize a video for YouTube?” A response with a subject line like “5 ways to optimize YouTube videos” would have jumped out at me, and I probably would have awarded that person’s answer as best.

I also think it’s important to keep your answers short and to the point. During the past 5 years or so, we’ve gone from reading full length articles in newspapers and magazines to 140 character responses on Twitter. So don’t stuff your answer full of fluff or promotional URLs. Quality and brevity, although challenging to combine, are the key. Of course, if you have more to say, offer your phone number or open a one-way discussion via a Linked In message.

But, before you type up your response or think through a subject line, open up Word and draft it there. No need to prematurely send a response through the Linked In system. Using an offline tool gives you a chance to review, edit, and make sure reference links work.

Finally, if you know a person who’s capable of answering a question better than you can, forward it! Making connections and conversations more valuable is vital to professional networking, and this is a surefire way to get noticed.

Photo credit by cobrasoft.

Five Things You Didn’t Know About LinkedIn

As readers of this blog will confirm, I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn for selling and consulting. I wanted to share a few additional features many casual users of LinkedIn probably are not aware of:

LinkedIn has a store, where you can buy branded merchandise. Up for sale include mugs, shirts, luggage tags and even reusable grocery shopping bags. For me, I’ve got my eye on the lapel pin for in-person networking.

The LinkedIn blog is frequently updated with all the new and cool enhancements on the network. Writers use the content here for their own blog posts. And for those of you who like to comment on blog posts, the structure here publishes your profile URL, which is a unique twist, and may help you with optimization.

A fairly new feature is the ability to reorder the elements on your profile. Via simple drag and drop, you can move the pieces of your profile around to best highlight your skills, expertise or experiences and stand out from the crowd.

I launched my first DirectAds campaign earlier this week, and the results seem promising. The targeting is robust, but the $10/day minimum is pretty high when compared to Google and Facebook ($1/day or so). More to come on the results of my campaign.

LinkedIn also makes it very easy for you to promote your profile with badges. When logged in to your account, the badges are automatically updated to include your profile URL.

I hope you find these features useful to your networking goals on Linked In, and I welcome your comments, and connection requests.

Photo credit by ilco.

4 Mistakes People Make on LinkedIn

In a recent post, I shared how to maximize your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn Optimization, or LIO, is key to your networking success. Here are the top mistakes people make when building their network and profile on LinkedIn:

Mistake #1
Using no photo or an unprofessional photo. LinkedIn is clearly not Facebook, so spend a few bucks and have professional headshots taken by a real photographer. Make sure the photographer crops one of your pictures down to the recommended size used by LinkedIn, which is 80 x 80 pixels. The file size limit to upload is 4MB.

Mistake #2
Using your company email as either your contact email or, gasp, your login email. Unless you own the company, use a personal email address. What happens if you’re let go, or the company goes out of business? You may be locked out of your profile (and miss potential connections!).

Mistake #3
Incomplete work and educational history. Think about how you’d build connections – by places you’ve worked at and school’s you’ve attended. It’s natural to start our connections by the familiar, so include complete details about work and school.

Mistake #4
Expecting to close business on the first contact. Networking, whether in person or online, is an ongoing process. Your success comes from constantly making new connections, sharing great content and keeping in touch.

Since there are many ways to get noticed on LinkedIn, you’ll need to get comfortable with this form of self-promotion. Start with the right attitude about networking, which means giving more than asking, and you’ll build much better connections. And if you’re making these mistakes, correct them as soon as you can.

Photo credit by Cieleke.

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

With more than 60 million members, LinkedIn has become the best resource for developing your professional network. It’s a great place to meet, post and find jobs, answer questions and join groups. Once you’ve created a basic profile, here are some tips to get the most out of LinkedIn.

First, and without question, your profile should be 100% complete. School, work, past work and other relevant information assists others searching for contacts, and helps build your own network. Next, add a profile photo. Your picture triggers recognition and makes networkers feel like they are connecting to a real person. Then optimize your summary section with relevant keywords. Use Google’s Keyword Tool or Wordtracker for your research. This particular section of your profile is often indexed fully by major search engines.

Potential SEO Benefits?
Take a look at this screenshot, which is a portion of my public LinkedIn profile. There is speculation (and some confirmation) the items in this section helps with organic search engine optimization.

• Add your website, link to your blog and link to your company. Make sure you further “edit” each by giving it a name other than the defaults provided by LinkedIn. As you can see from my list, I’m hyperlinking phrases such as “Marketing Blog” and “Consulting Services”.
• If you’re on Twitter, be sure to add your Twitter profile, and connect the accounts together. Under your profile, click on Edit and look for your Twitter settings. You could also try this link when logged in to LinkedIn.
• Always choose a real name or variation on your name over the default format LinkedIn provides for you. This certainly feeds your organic name optimization and enhances your online reputation. As you can see, my profile link is my full name “brianjfarrell”.

Connecting with Twitter
This image below shows my Twitter settings — my account name (@findtheclient), my privacy settings, and the most important section, whether or not all or select Tweets should show on my profile. When I first set this up, I sent all Tweets to LinkedIn. Since I’m on Twitter often, this amounted to sometimes a dozen or more updates in a single day. When friends said they couldn’t keep up with me, I changed this to show only Tweets with the “#in” hashtag. Much better results, and I can leave up new blog posts or polls for a longer period of time.

Build Your Connections
Once you’ve done the above, it’s time to build your network. Start with people you know, such as co-workers, clients and colleagues. Also look for connections by company name, under the “Companies” tab. Once you’ve built up this initial base of connections, ask for and make recommendations. But before you do this, read as many as you can. You’ll quickly see what makes up a good (or bad) recommendation. It also helps to personalize your request for a recommendation rather then sending out the canned form letter provided by LinkedIn.

Finally, updated your status often, since it appears on LinkedIn as well as in network updates to your connections. Updates should be considered a professional status, not what you’re eating for lunch. And if you haven’t done so, let’s connect on LinkedIn!

Real World Networking Tips

Everyone’s a buzz with Internet networking on sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook. But let’s not forget the power of in-person networking. It’s much easier to form a bond with someone when you meet face to face. Online networking is somewhat anonymous, since we can hide behind our computer screens. See and be seen, take pictures, and record videos (so you have good fodder for your blog!).

First, find relevant events within your industry or geographic locations. Chambers of Commerce mixers, seminars and other local business networking events are found in nearly every community. Get over the initial inertia and just go introduce yourself to someone. Move past the small talk and ask open-ended questions with substance. People actually like being asked about their business, and what they do for a living, so ask questions such as:

• Why did you become a lawyer (doctor, salesperson, etc.)?
• How can I help you?
• How would I know if a prospect is right for referral to you?

What’s the biggest mistake you can make?
Don’t think of networking as a sales opportunity. Everyone at the event knows why you’re there, so think of it as a mission to learn something. Your sales and referrals will come later. And don’t be the one who holds up the wall and doesn’t talk to anyone. But the biggest mistake you can make is not following up with people you’ve met. Forget this, and you’ve wasted time, energy and money.

In person networking is a fun, change of pace from the frenzied world we live online (and real food tastes a whole lot better than virtual food!). Go in with a plan, have genuine conversations with the people you meet, and let networking flourish from there.

Photo credit by Murielle.