Social Media Sonar

Why Are You On LinkedIn? (Part 2 of 10)

ahlwp — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:41:23 +0000

In Part 2 of the 10 Part Series “Can LinkedIn Work for You?” we start with a question…“Why are you on LinkedIn?” LinkedIn takes time and effort to produce results. Without knowing the answer to this question how do you know what actions you should be taking?

Most people initially joined LinkedIn because either they stumbled across an article saying how great the site was or because someone told them they have to be on it. There was probably some excitement about the possibilities that quickly faded once you realized you had no clue what to do now that you had an account.

By its navigation structure LinkedIn is telegraphing some of this potential:

People: Find people you know and build a trusted network.
Jobs: Find a new job or advance your career.
Answers: Share and discover information.
Companies: Be found by others and have a way to promote your company.

All are great ways to use LinkedIn but what’s missing is the most important reason…to grow your business and make more money.

When I conduct LinkedIn workshops I always poll the audience to see why they are on LinkedIn. Usually about 75% say they are on it to network, 20% say they are on it to find a job or advance their career, and 5% or less say they are on it to grow their business and make more money.

If you think about it, networking and advancing your career are part of the process of growing your business and making money.

It’s almost as if there is this underlying perspective that trying to use LinkedIn or social networking/media to make money is a bad thing. It’s not. Social networking is about making friends. Business networking is about making friends and developing new relationships that will lead to making money.

I didn’t join my local Chamber of Commerce because I thought the people were really nice (they are). I wanted to meet some great people and develop relationships that would lead to new business.

Step 1: Acknowledge Your Purpose
The first step is to acknowledge that you are on LinkedIn to make money. Because here’s the point; if you can’t monetize your LinkedIn activities, you time would be better spent conducting revenue producing activities.

LinkedIn currently has over 45 million members but only 24% are considered active users (spend at least 5 hours a week interacting on the site). That tells me that at least 76% of the members have not figured out how to use LinkedIn to grow their business or make money. Because once you figure that out, you’d be crazy to not be an active user. People tend to put their time and efforts to where they expect to find success.

Finally you need to develop some goals to track if your efforts are successful. These goals might be to build a minimum number of direct connections, communicate your message a specific number of times, build brand awareness, be seen as the local expert in your field, and much more.

Step Two: Identify Your Market
Once you know why you are on LinkedIn you probably have an idea of the types of people that will help you reach your goals. You need to make sure that your profile speaks to these people. You can do this by using the keywords that your prospects use to find services or products such as yours.

Your summary is a great place to tell people who you are, how you can help them, and how they can help you.

Your Title is a great place to substitute a marketing message. My title would show “Social Media Strategist”, instead I use a tagline to communicate a message “Showing businesses how to use social networking/media to build communities of people and monetize those relationships”. It’s the difference between telling people what you are verses telling people how you can help them.

You can also use the various applications to share information that is relevant to your target audience. The key is to make sure your profile speaks to the correct audience.

Step 3: Get to work
Once you know why you are on LinkedIn, have set some goals, and know who you are targeting you just need to figure out the appropriate steps to take. Most people get the social component of LinkedIn which is connecting to others. Where there is some work to do is figuring out how to go from connecting to collecting (as in new client’s or dollars). This requires some work, some consistency, and some time.

LinkedIn isn’t the most interactive platform but there are ways to make it work for you. You can use the people search to identify new contacts, potential alliance partners, and to prospect. You can use Answers to interact, share information, and demonstrate expertise.

You can use group discussion posts to interact with others and news articles to share information. Applications can be used to share information, communicate a message, and tell others about events.

You can use the Status function to tell people what you are doing. I use it to share success stories, alert my connections to new blog posts, and to publicize upcoming workshops.

You just need to determine which activities will impact the goals you have set. Then consistently use those activities to drive results. It won’t happen overnight but with time and effort you should start to see some positive results.

Wrap Up
Understanding your purpose, setting goals, and taking the appropriate actions are not new concepts. These are the same steps that millions of successful people have used to achieve results…long before social media/networking came into existence.

When I joined my chamber the purpose was to grow my business. My goal was to develop as many new relationships as possible. To do this I identified which chamber meetings would allow me to interact with my target prospects to achieve my goals and purpose.

LinkedIn and online social networking may be relatively new concepts, but the tactics and strategies are nothing new.

So going back to the beginning, “Why are you on LinkedIn?”

LinkedIn User Guide

ahlwp — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:36:59 +0000

are the day that I post my most significant blog post for the week. If you’re looking for Part 2 in the 10 Part LinkedIn series it will be released on Monday.

One of the statements I made in Part 1 was that I wasn’t sure why people chose to sign up for a LinkedIn account and then did nothing. Someone posted a comment to the blog stating that most people don’t know what to do once they sign up for an account.

I can understand that lack of knowledge would lead to lack of activity. The next question I have, though, is “why is anyone letting a lack of knowledge get in the way of a potential resource that can help you grow your network, develop relationships, and drive new business?”

With any new tool, technology, etc. you have the choice in how long it takes to go from a novice to an effective user.

You can choose to do nothing

You can choose to learn it on your own

You can choose to tap into the knowledge of others

You can choose to outsource the activity

When I started to learn how to use LinkedIn I chose #2 and #3. First I looked around the site to see if I could figure it out on my own. While I learned the basics I decided I would be better served tapping into the knowledge of others to speed up the learning curve.

I started reading any blog I could find that talked about LinkedIn. At the time there weren’t that many so I bought a LinkedIn ebook. This one ebook provided the framework I needed to build a foundation of knowledge. It also introduced me to some tips and strategies to put to work immediately.

The book I purchased was a high level overview of LinkedIn. When I decided to write my first LinkedIn ebook I decided I would take the opposite approach and write a very detailed book. I also decided to base the book chapters on the navigational structure of LinkedIn, making it a great reference tool. Have a question about Groups, go to the Groups chapter.

In June I released the revision of my first book re-titled as the “LinkedIn MBA”. I also wrote a workbook, the “LinkedIn MBA Workbook” to help people create a “killer” profile, begin building their credibility, and extend their reach. Combined the two form a perfect resource for someone who has a LinkedIn account but is not sure what they should be doing.

The book is over 150 pages with close to 100 screenshots and the workbook is around 21 pages. So you have a choice. You can continue to do nothing. You can invest the time to learn it from scratch. Or you can invest $9.97 (the cost for the book and workbook combined) and begin putting LinkedIn to work for you as soon as today.

The question to ask yourself it what is your time worth? The minimum wage is $7.25 so if it takes you 40 hours to learn what is in the book and work book your time in cost at a minimum would be $290. (the average hourly rate for a LinkedIn member is actually $52.40 making the time cost $2,096.15)

The information I share on this blog is free and you can learn a lot by reading through the posts. I just don’t have the space to provide information in as detailed a manner as in the book. Also the blog is written based on what I find interesting each week, whereas the book is organized more on a start to finish basis.

For more information on the LinkedIn MBA and the LinkedIn MBA Work book go to http://socialmediasonar.com/book.html

Stop by next Monday for Part 2, “Why are you on LinkedIn?”, of my LinkedIn series.

Mondays are the day that I post my most significant blog post for the week. If you’re looking for Part 2 in the 10 Part LinkedIn series it will be released on Monday.

With any new tool, technology, etc. you have the choice in how long it takes to go from a novice to an effective user.

You can choose to do nothing
You can choose to learn it on your own
You can choose to tap into the knowledge of others
You can choose to outsource the activity

I started reading any blog I could find that talked about LinkedIn. At the time there weren’t that many so I bought a LinkedIn ebook. This one ebook provided the framework I needed to build a foundation of knowledge about LinkedIn. It also introduced me to some tips and strategies to put to work immediately.

For more information on the LinkedIn MBA and the LinkedIn MBA Work book go tohttp://socialmediasonar.com/book.html

Stop by next Monday for Part 2, “Why are you on LinkedIn?”, of my LinkedIn series.

Can LinkedIn Work for You? (part 1 of 10)

ahlwp — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:35:17 +0000

Almost one year ago I started a 10 part series on LinkedIn asking the question “Can LinkedIn work for you?” LinkedIn has changed somewhat in the last year, so I think now is a good time to revisit the series. Starting this week I’m going to take a look at each article and update them. In some cases I’ll combine or delete those that are no longer relevant and add one or two new parts.

There are over 45 million people now on LinkedIn but only about 25% are active users. I don’t really know why some people sign up but do no participate and others hit the ground running from day one. What I do know is that once you find some success you’re likely to become a regular user.

For the first two years that I was on LinkedIn I was simply a member. It wasn’t until I actually developed new clients from being on LinkedIn that I became a regular user. At that point I decided if LinkedIn can help me grow my business than I better know as much as possible about it.

You can grow your business and make money by being an active participant. I know this for a fact and can point to clients that I have that I would not have if it were not for LinkedIn. I know that as I grow my network I find more opportunities. I know that the more I learn and participate the more I encounter new opportunities.

One of the first things that I realized about LinkedIn was that it was simply a tool, much like my chamber of commerce, that could help me connect to others. For some people membership in a chamber is economically beneficial. For other it’s a waste of time and money.

It’s how you use the tool that determines the winners and losers.

For the first two years that I was on LinkedIn I was simply a member. It wasn’t until I actually developed new clients from being on LinkedIn that I became a regular user. At that point I decided if LinkedIn could help me grow my business than I better know as much as possible about it.

It’s how you use the tool that determines the winners and losers.

Over the next 9 articles in this series I will try to lay out a foundation for using LinkedIn to generate business. This is simply a platform in which you will need to adapt to your business and yourself to find success. LinkedIn is personal in that what works for one person may not work for another.

Here are some of the topics we’ll cover:

Why are you on LinkedIn?
Create Your Online Brand
Enhance and Expand Your Current Networking
Extending Your Reach
Build Credibility…Know, Like, and Trust
New Opportunities/New Employees
Prospecting for People and Companies
Communicating Your Message
Growing Your Business
A Part of Your Social Media Strategy

Whether you are an active member or still waiting to figure it out, over the next nine articles you’ll learn some tips and strategies to put to use. Some of these you’ll be able to put to immediate use; others will require that you adapt them to your specific needs.

I’ll end today’s post with 4 Keys to Success:

The Right Perspective = The Right Activities
Expanding Your Reach = Expanding Your Opportunities
Providing Value to Others = Know, Like, & Trust
More Activity = More Success

This is the start of the conversation. It’s not meant to be one-sided so join the conversation by adding your insights. Whether you agree or disagree with the points that I make, the conversation becomes that much more powerful when you participate.

Sean Nelson is a Principal with SONARconnects. SONARconnects provides Social Media/Networking training (incl. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Business Blogging) and Ongoing Management of Social Media/Networking Strategies for their clients. For more information Call (404) 939-7186 or visit the SONARconnectssite.

Social Media Process in a Picture

ahlwp — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:34:30 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about 6 tools that we use at SONARconnects to create and implement social media/networking strategies for ourselves and our client’s. This got me to thinking about how to simplify things by laying out the process in a graphic. Below is the result of that exercise. I hope it helps you see the overall picture.

Does this help you see things more clearly?
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6 Social Media/Networking Tools for Businesses

ahlwp — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:00:28 +0000

Many people use the term “Social Media” to represent the vast array of social networking sites, social media sites, and tools available. What we’re really talking about is the Social Web. The Social Web is made up of Social Networking and Social Media.

Social Networking is about sharing the conversation. Social Media is about sharing content. Combined they form an effective toolbox to grow you business.

Sharing the Conversation
There are hundreds social networking sites available and you could spend unlimited time trying to determine how to use each. I’m looking to use social networking in as efficient manner as possible so I focus on two networking sites and one hybrid.

The two sites that I use are LinkedIn and Facebook. Both allow me to build communities of people, engage and interact with them, and communicate to on an ongoing basis. The results may include branding but the end goal is always monetization.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a natural fit from a membership perspective. The average household income per member is $109,000, close to 80% have attended college, and 49% are decision makers. The average LinkedIn member is a great prospect.

LinkedIn is a somewhat closed environment and it takes time and effort to build the right communities and typically most of our communications are indirect in nature. I want those in my networks to see the messages I deliver over time and to get to know, like, and trust me so that when they have a need for the services I provide, I’m top of mind.

It also doesn’t hurt that you have the ability to prospect and then see how you connect into each opportunity.

Facebook
Things are much looser on Facebook. Building communities of the right people still takes time and effort but you can reach out to others without some of the restrictions on LinkedIn. I still primarily communicate with indirect messages, but it just seems easier to do on Facebook.

Most of my prospects live in Atlanta and the Atlanta network on Facebook has over 1.8 million people. If I can engage the right ¼ of a percent, that’s 4,500 people to communicate my message to.

Twitter
The hybrid is Twitter. Twitter is a microblog which seems like it would be part of the social media side. But there is a community aspect in terms of those you follow and those that follow you. Relationships do develop and you can build a significant community of people.

Twitter to me represents a great communications tool. At any point I can tweet a message that will be seen by a percentage of my followers and a percentage of non-followers through the public timeline.

If I build a community of 10,000 followers then at any point that I tweet a message it has the potential to be viewed by a percentage of my followers who are online at the time. Not everyone will be online and see the message. But if I consistently tweet two times a day, every day for six months, then I should be able to place several messages in front of the majority of my followers during this time.

The goal is to communicate the right message that is viewed by a number of followers at the right time. It’s a numbers game and I trust that stars will align often enough to be an effective vehicle to drive traffic and eventually business.

Sharing the Content
The internet is nothing more than a super database of content that people search through to find relevant information. Your goal is to provide valuable content that can be found. If they find your content, they find you.

YouTube
On the Social Media side YouTube allows you to share video content. The site drives a tremendous amount of traffic and can be an extremely useful tool. The ability to tag your videos with keywords allows you to gain exposure to a targeted audience. You simply need to know the keywords your prospects use to find services such as yours.

Another benefit is that in video you can communicate your message in a more engaging format than with simple print. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a good video is worth a million. You can demonstrate expertise, convey an image, and create a mood. Do it creatively and you may find that not only do people want to view your “commercial”, but they share with those they know.

Flickr
Flickr is simply a photo sharing service. The key to Flickr is the ability to tag photos with keywords. Once again you simply need to know the keywords that your prospects use to search online for your services.

Flickr isn’t the most important part of the puzzle but it does play its part in creating your Digital Footprint…which we’ll discuss shortly.

Business Blogging
The final tool that I use to communicate with prospects is a business blog. Most people have websites and they should. A website establishes a presence. It allows you to list your products or services, it can provide educational or information content, and drive sales through ecommerce features.

Most websites “tell and sell” but don’t really do a good job of communicating. Blogs on the other hand are perfect for communicating to and engaging with your visitors. A business blog should convey what your business is about through what it talks about, the information it shares, and the interaction with those posting comments.

The SONARconnects website is designed to tell people who we are, the services we use to help our clients, and how to contact us. On the Social Media Sonar blog I’m more interested in providing valuable content to people, engaging in conversations, and building trust over time.

There’s a difference in the people who contact me through the website compared to those who contact me after reading the blog. The website prospects are contacting me because a service I provide interests them, where those from the blog are contacting me because through the blog they have come to know, like and trust me. They still have a need for a service I provide but the conversation starts from a position of trust.

Wrap Up
Back in the early 2000’s I used Pay-Per-Click campaigns to communicate my message to prospects at the right time…when they were searching for a need based on a keyword. For a while it was cost effective generating $5 for every $1 I spent. Over time the economics changed as more competition came online and competed for the keywords. As a small business I simply couldn’t compete dollar for dollar with the larger companies.

That’s when I turned to social networking. I can compete on cost because most of the sites are free. I only needed to out think and out hustle the larger companies. That’s much easier than competing based on dollars. (note: for some client’s we still conduct Pay-per-click campaigns where the ROI makes sense)

There’s also what I call your Digital Footprint. Most of the activity that you conduct on the various sites is googleble, meaning it gets picked up and indexed by Google. Over time with the right activity you have the ability to capture front page real estate on Google for specific keywords.

These are the six tools that I use on an ongoing basis. The key is to build your communities, engage in conversations, build trust, and communicate your message so that when the time is right you’re top of mind with the prospect..

What are some other social networking/media tools that are working for you?

If you need assistance we provide training for the six tools listed above and we provide ongoing management of social media strategies. Call me at (404) 939-7186 or visit the SONARconnects site for more information.

Sean Nelson

Social Networking Stats-Regular Users Vs. Total Members

ahlwp — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:58:22 +0000

A lot gets written up in press releases, blog posts, Tweets, and other communications about the number of members on the various sites. There’s a huge difference though between the number of users each site has and the number of users who are consistently interacting with others.

I recently came across some statistics that I’m going to share. These statistics were revealed in a study by Anderson Analytics and you can view the report by clicking on the company name. The study estimates that there are 110 million people who regularly use Social Networking Sites (SNS).

On average, users of SNS sites login to the sites 5 days a week, 4 times a day and spend about 1 hour on SNS each day. While not explicitly stated this is what I would assume that they consider a regular user. So here are the top sites with the number of users and the number of regular users in parentheses.

Facebook: 250 million (78 million) 31.2% regular users
MySpace: 150 million (67 million) 44.6% regular users
Twitter: 28 million (17 million) *estimated membership 60.7% regular users
LinkedIn: 45 million (11 million) 24.4% regular users

**membership numbers for MySpace and Twitter are best guess estimates…could not find an official listing and had to estimate from various web resources.

Based on the percentage of regular users it appears that Twitter is doing the best job of engaging their users. This is a little misleading though as its estimated that Twitter only retains about 40% of the people that sign up. There is also is the fact that Twitter users are more likely to have multiple accounts.

LinkedIn appears to have the lowest percentage of regular users. Compared to the other sites LinkedIn is more restrictive in how it allows its members to interact. This limited ability to communicate is both a positive and a negative.

On the positive side it makes it more difficult to spam others. On the negative side the limits restrict the social nature of the site. The other interesting thing about LinkedIn is that it’s regular users are made up of a high concentration of LIONS or open networkers…the very same people that LinkedIn has somewhat taken an adversarial position against.

Invitation limits, suspension of accounts with emails in the name, and connection limits are some of the steps LinkedIn has taken to restrict open networking. LinkedIn might find that its percentage of regular users increased if it focused more on encouraging its users to find new opportunities verses simply opportunities from people they know well.

Looking at the smaller numbers of regular users compared to the focus on total members you might think that they have been overrated as effective business tools. But having generated significant business from using these sites I would argue the point. As people learn how to better leverage these sites the number of regular users will increase. Plus new people are discovering these sites every day.

If you’re one of the regular users you have a head start on your competition. If you’re not a regular user you’re turning your back on opportunities and that’s a bad business decision. It’s not too late to get started.

What are your thoughts?

**If you have questions about how to use social media/networking to grow your business SONARconnects helps manage our client’s social media/networking strategies and conducts an in depth 6 hour training session covering Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and Business Blogging.

5 Top Ways to Leverage LinkedIn

ahlwp — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:55:14 +0000

This is the third part in a series on the 3 Basic Keys of LinkedIn. Part one covered “optimizing your profile” and part two looked at “building your networks”. If you followed the tips and strategies you should now have a pretty good profile and be on the way to expanding your reach on LinkedIn.

Leveraging LinkedIn simply means that you are making it work for you. You’re in control and taking the actions that support why you are on LinkedIn. I’m here to make money so everything that I do is geared to communicating a message to my networks.

Over the last two years I’ve learned how to use the various social media/networking sites to develop new business for my Individual Health and Employee Benefits companies. Last week alone I received 3 calls from prospects. What’s interesting about that is that I’ve updated my profile and activity to focus more on the social media consulting that I’m doing.

My prior and continued activity has allowed people to get to know, like and trust me. So, even though the focus isn’t 100% on health insurance it still drives results. And I’m starting to see results from the social media/networking side as well, having received a call from a technology company to discuss their social media/networking strategy. Four leads in a week with a potential of over $20,000 in revenue.

Social media/networking works if you leverage the tools available. With that in mind, here are 5 Top Ways to Leverage LinkedIn:

1. Communicate to Your Direct Network
On LinkedIn you can communicate directly or indirectly with you direct connections. Two ways to communicate directly is by sending a message to a connection or by using the status update function.

I typically will only send a message to my direct connections to notify them of local events that revolve around LinkedInor social media. I never send a sales message or mention how I can help them with their insurance or social media/networking. I don’t care to receive sales solicitations in my LinkedIn inbox so I don’t send them.

I use the status bar to share success stories, communicate about events, announce press releases, promote my groups, etc. I could announce that anyone needing help with their social media/networking strategy should contact me and it would be fine here.

The key is to share information that others will find interesting or that at a minimum communicates a message. You can include a web link just make sure to use the http:// format so people can directly click on it rather than having to copy and paste the URL.

Whenever you add a connection, update your profile, join a group, answer or ask a question, or give or receive a recommendation your direct network is notified on their home page. The more your name appears on your connections home page the more likely you are to receive profile visits. Through this indirect communication you can let your profile do the selling for you.

2. Interact with Your Groups
Discussion posts are a great way to engage your Group network. You can generate a discussion or simply take part in one that is already started. This can be a great way to share information and position yourself. Be careful of what you say and how you say it. Remember everything you say either adds to or subtracts from your brand.

If you’ve ever been on a sports message board most people are known by user names and there’s little to identify the person behind the posts. Here people tend to be quick to throw out a jab or be critical. You can’t do that on LinkedIn because everything you say is tied to directly to you.

Share good information, help others, and keep your posts on topic and you’ll begin to build your brand.

3. News Articles Allow You to Share Information
One of the ways I’ve built trust is by sharing information with others to help them more effectively utilize LinkedIn. I’ve been able to share this with the members if my Group network by posting the blog posts as news articles.

Groups represent collections of people based on usually a single factor…alumni, location, industry, etc. If you belong to the groups where your prospects hang out then you have an effective way to build up name recognition and trust.

You can share articles that you have written or simply ones that you think others in the groups would find value in. In discussions what you say builds your brand; in news articles the information you share does the same. I think you get more value from an article you write, but there is value in sharing the information others have put out there.

4. Demonstrate Expertise through Answers
Your Direct and Group networks are likely your most relevant networks, but it’s still effective to communicate with your third network…the entire LinkedIn membership. Answers allows you to do this at no cost and it’s a great way to build credibility.

You simply need to focus on answering questions where you can provide the most value and where you derive the most benefit. I tend to answer questions that are about LinkedIn or insurance. This allows me to share information or thoughts (provide value) and to demonstrate my expertise (build credibility).

In each category there is an RSS feed link. I have set up a RSS reader that allows me to monitor new questions in these two areas and to respond. Whenever I answer a question my direct network is notified, it’s attached to my profile, and its out there for the entire LinkedIn network to see.

I make sure that before posting an answer that I’ve taken the time to think about what I’m saying and how I’m saying it. I also will not answer a question if someone else has already done a good job in addressing the question. There’s no need to be redundant.

If you work in an industry that doesn’t have many questions asked you can take the initiative and ask questions. This can allow you to generate a discussion. Just be sure that your question doesn’t sound like an advertisement.

Finally, Answers can be a great place to tap into the knowledge of others or secure feedback on a topic. I’ve used it successfully to find other professionals to partner with or to find a resource for my clients.

5. Prospecting
Most people on LinkedIn think about using the site to network and its great for that. Its also a great place to prospect for new clients. The people search allows you to identify individuals based on a number of variables. Once you find them you can look to see how you are connected, see if you have any common groups, and determine the best way to be introduced.

You can also learn a lot by simply reading the person’s profile.

The second way to prospect on LinkedIn is by using the Companies search. Once again you have several variables to find your target prospects. In a recent search I was able to identify 150 prospects based on industry and company size. I was then able to see how I connected into each opportunity and to determine the best means of approaching the prospect.

If you use a prospecting source such as Sales Genie, Businesswise, Info USA, etc. you can generate a list of prospects then cross reference this with LinkedIn to build a better prospecting list. A list of 1,000 prospects it make take some time to cross reference but if you break it down to 20 or 30 per week it should be manageable.

Wrap Up
There is a tremendous amount of opportunity to use LinkedIn to grow your business. You simply need to determine which tools will help you support your purpose of being on LinkedIn. Start by developing your goals and then creating a strategy that will allow you to achieve them.

Then it’s simply a matter of taking the time to optimize your profile, expand your reach by building your networks, and then taking the right actions. It will work if you make it happen.

What are some ways that you are leveraging LinkedIn?

If you would like to learn more about how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Business Blogs to grow you business, SONARconnects offers two options:

Social Media Training that teaches you how to optimize your accounts, build communities of friends, followers, and connections, and how to monetize social networking and social media.

Social Networking/Media Management: We take on the responsibility for managing your social media accounts including creating and writing your business blog.

For more information contact me at (404) 939-7186 or visit http://www.sonarconnects.com. Have a great day!

7 Top Twitter Mistakes

ahlwp — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:53:33 +0000

The greatest tweet in the world is worthless if no one reads it. An OK tweet to a network of thousands is likely to produce more results than a great tweet to hundreds. Its a numbers game and you should be playing to win.

When new people to LinkedIn tell me they don’t know how LinkedIn will help them I tell them to “start building your network now so that when you do figure it out you’ll be ahead of the game”. The same goes for Twitter…if you don’t know why you Tweet, don’t worry. Start building your followers.

Here are seven mistakes to avoid if you want to grow a significant following:

Still Displaying the Brown Photo
For many this is an automatic “no follow” mistake. Its just assumed that if you have not taken the time to update your photo then you must not be serious or active on Twitter. If you’re not active, what’s the point of following you. Post a picture of your dog and you’ll have a better response to people following you.
Display a picture of your child
Your child may be cute but if that’s your Twitter profile I’m probably not going to follow you. I love children…have thre young ones now…but I don’t follow children on Twitter if I can help it. And I don’t take the time to click on the link to verify who and what you are.
Have a picture with your shirt off (guys…and girls I guess too)
I’m glad that you’re proud of the work you’ve put in at the gym but it doesn’t really come across well online. Buy a domain and post all of the skin photos you want.
Have offensive words in your posts
When I’m looking at who’s following me if I see some F-bombs, etc. I’m going to block you. Not that the words shock me or that I’ve never dropped one myself, but I don’t do it in what I consider a business setting. Along the same lines is use of other offensive or inappropriate words. Common sense is a good guide top follow.
Little or Infrequent Tweeting
If I notice that you’ve been on Twitter for 22 months and you have 12 posts I’m probably not going to follow you. What’s the point if I have to wait two months for the next words of wisdom. If you want more followers you need to be more active. Don’t go crazy and post 24 times a day, but at least try to post once every day or so.
Have a significantly larger number of people following you than you are following
If I look at your stats and see that 1,000 people are following you and you’re only following 100 I’m not going to follow you. You’re only in it for yourself so what’s the point. The exception is that if you information is so valuable that I don’t care about the discrepancy. If Mike the Tiger (LSU fans know what I’m talking about) doesn’t follow me back I don’t care.
Be following a significantly larger number of people than are following you
If I see that you’re following 1,000 people and only 100 are following you I’m going to think there is something wrong. Either you’re boring or offensive. Either way I’m taking a pass. Try to keep your following vs. followers in balance. Never let the discrepancy get to be more than a couple of hundred.

These seven mistakes were developed as I was going through hundred and hundreds of people to build my network. Avoid these seven mistakes and you should be able to start building your followers. Twitter is a great place to add as many people as possible to your network since the conversations tend to move extremely fast. Don’t stack the odds against yourself.

What are some that I missed?

Need help with social media/networking? SONARconnects helps our clients by conducting in depth training on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and business blogs. For more info call (404) 939-7186 or visit theSONARconnects site.

Gravity Free Radio Interview on LinkedIn

ahlwp — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:57:26 +0000

This past week Erik Wolf and Stephanie Frost, hosts of the Gravity Free Radioshow were desperate for a guest so they turned to Scott Dunn and myself. I’m always happy to be filler for Erik and Stephanie.

In addition to the show Erik and Stephanie run Zero-G Creative, a killer web design, graphic design, and web tools company that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique website and online presence.

The show covers LinkedIn bouncing from building your network, optimizing your profile, and leveraging LinkedIn. There’s a better explanation on the show at the Gravity Free Radio show

To listen to the show go to http://gravityfreeradio.com/archives/187

Your 2 Critical LinkedIn Networks

ahlwp — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:41:31 +0000

Last week I covered some tips to Optimize Your Profile which was the first part of the Three Basic Keys toLinkedIn. Today we cover the second Key…Building Your Network.

You can havethe best profile onLinkedInbut if your network is not significant enough it won’t matter. You haveto connect to others. If you’re more of an opennetworker, you’ll find it easier to build your network. If you’re morerestrictivein whom you connect to then you’re going to haveto get out and meet people.

Your Direct Network:

I’ve heard different number as far as how many direct connections you need to have…100, 250, 500, or more. What I do know is that 100 connections is probably better than 50 and 500 is probably better than 250. My thoughts are that if you get active in your community you should be able to build up at least 500 local connections.

I got lucky onLinkedIn. When I received my first referral from another member I only had 19 connections. That was enough to wake me up to the potential. The spigot didn’t start flowing immediately but as my network grew little by little so did the referrals.

Another benefit I noticed was that connecting onLinkedInadded another degree of depth to my relationships within my chamber. It gaveme a point of reference and an immediate ice breaker the next time I saw the connection.

During the next year I grew my network by sending connection invitations to everyone that attended the networking events I attended. In the invitation I simply said, “Our paths crossed today at the Chamber meeting. We didn’t havean opportunity to meet but I am usingLinkedInto enhance my networking. I’d like to extend an invitation to connect”.

If I actually met them then I added a note about our talk. Personalizing your invitations will increase the likelihood of it being accepted. Avoid using the cannedLinkedIninvitation, it doesn’t say much about you or why you want to connect. It makes a difference.

I currently have about 2,800 direct connections and about 800 of these are local. Some of these connections I know some are simply part of a network. I’ve heard the arguments that connecting to those you don’t know devalues your network. I simply disagree.

Last week I introduced a connection I didn’t know to another connection I didn’t know. I was simply the hub in the process but the introduction was made. The value of that introduction remains to be seen but an opportunity has been created.

How you choose to connect is a decision you have to make. For me open networking has been a good choice.

Your Group Network

Most people are aware of their group network but don’t realize that they havea Group network as well. The people that belong to the same groups as you are represent a network. I define a network onLinkedInbased on my ability to communicate a message. Groups allow you to do that.

If your primary reason for being onLinkedInto network then the only value in groups is their ability to help you find more people to connect to. If you’re onLinkedInto make money, and you should be, then you’ll realize that the value of groups is that they extend your reach.

I may have2,800 connections but the 50 groups I’m in now haveover 800,000 people. Locally the groups I’m in extend my reach from 800 local professionals to over 30,000. That’s a healthy extension of my reach onLinkedIn.

The beauty of groups is that they are formed around a uniting factor. It could be a location such as Linked Georgia (haveto be a resident of Georgia), a type of employment such as Self Employed Atlanta (be self employed andlivein the Atlanta Metro), and alumni group such as Georgia southern University (graduated from the University), or even based onLinkedInrecommendations such as Top Recommended People (have10 recommendations or more).

You simply need to identify the groups that your prospects belong to and join. Then begin interacting and communicating with them.

Your networks represent opportunity. Each person in your networks is a potential client, referral partner, business alliance, or simply a hub that could help you connect into an opportunity. You determine the size and scope.

Next week we’ll talk about how to start leveragingLinkedInto take advantage of your “killer” profile and the network you’re building.

Last week I covered some tips to Optimize Your Profile which was the first part of the Three Basic Keys to LinkedIn. Today we cover the second Key…Building Your Network.

You can have the best profile on LinkedIn but if your network is not significant enough it won’t matter. You have to connect to others. If you’re more of an opennetworker, you’ll find it easier to build your network. If you’re more restrictive in whom you connect to then you’re going to have to get out and meet people.

Your Direct Network:
I’ve heard different numbers as far as how many direct connections you need to have…100, 250, 500, or more. I’m not sure that there is a definitive number, but what I do know is that 100 connections is probably better than 50 and 500 is probably better than 250. My thoughts are that if you get active in your community you should be able to build up at least 500 local connections.

I got lucky on LinkedIn. When I received my first referral from another member I only had 19 connections. That was enough to wake me up to the potential. The spigot didn’t start flowing immediately but as my network grew little by little so did the referrals.

Another benefit I noticed was that connecting on LinkedIn added another degree of depth to my relationships within my chamber. It gave me a point of reference and an immediate ice breaker the next time I saw the connection.

During the next year I grew my network by sending connection invitations to everyone that attended the networking events I attended. In the invitation I simply said, “Our paths crossed today at the Chamber meeting. We didn’t have an opportunity to meet but I am using LinkedIn to enhance my networking. I’d like to extend an invitation to connect”.

If I actually met them then I added a note about our conversation. Personalizing your invitations will increase the likelihood of it being accepted. Avoid using the canned LinkedIn invitation, it doesn’t say much about you or why you want to connect. It makes a difference.

How you choose to connect is a decision you have to make. For me openly connecting has been a good decision.

Your Group Network
Most people are aware of their Direct network but don’t realize that they have a Group network as well. The people that belong to the same groups as you represent a network. I define a network on LinkedIn based on my ability to communicate a message. Groups allow you to do that.

If your primary reason for being on LinkedIn is to network then the only value in groups is their ability to help you find more people to connect to. If you’re on LinkedIn to make money, and you should be, then you’ll realize that the value of groups is that they extend your reach.

I may have 2,800 direct connections but the 50 groups I’m in now have over 800,000 people. Locally the groups I’m in extend my reach from 800 local professionals to over 30,000. That’s a healthy extension of my reach on LinkedIn.

The beauty of groups is that they are formed around a uniting factor. It could be a location such as Linked Georgia (have to be a resident of Georgia), a type of employment such as Self Employed Atlanta (be self employed and live in the Atlanta Metro), an alumni group such as Georgia southern University (graduated from the University), or even based on LinkedIn recommendations such as Top Recommended People (have 10 recommendations or more).

You simply need to identify the groups that your prospects belong to and join. Then begin interacting and communicating with them.

Wrap Up:
Your networks represent opportunity. Each person in your networks is a potential client, referral partner, business alliance, or simply a hub that could help you connect into an opportunity. They also provide a larger audience to provide value to. You determine the size and scope.

Next week we’ll talk about how to start leveraging LinkedIn to take advantage of your “killer” profile and the network you’re building. What’s your connection strategy?

**If you would like to learn more about how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Business Blogs to grow you business, SONAR Connects offers two options:

Social Media Training that teaches you how to optimize your accounts, build communities of friends, followers, and connections, and how to monetize social networking and social media.
Social Networking/Media Management: We take on the responsibility for managing your social media accounts including creating and writing your business blog.

For more information contact me at (404) 939-7186. Have a great day!

Sean Nelson