LinkedInNetworking Made Easy

Andy Brennan, Jacksonville Business Journal e: abrennan@bizjournals.com t: 904-265-2207li: http://linkedin.com/in/johnabrennan

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The Purpose of LinkedIn

Over 60 million professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities

• Stay informed about your contacts and industry

• Find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals • Control your professional online identity

• Create and promote new business opportunities

The Purpose of LinkedIn

• Connect and network with like minded business people on a local and national level

• Build your network of influence through this virtual handshake

• Create unique groups to generate targeted thought sharing

• Promote business services to your connections and group members

• Ask and answer questions to gain and offer industry knowledge

Who to connect with?

• Colleagues

• Clients

• Local business owners

• Get introduced through current connections and groups

• Anyone you’ve met, done or hope to do business with

• Trade shows / Networking events / Vendors / Board Members

How do I build my profile?

http://linkedin.com

Follow the easy steps to complete your profile…

There is no cost associated with a basic account

Adjust account settings to manage who has access to various levels of detail

How do I build my profile?Use your avatar as a representation of yourself

Update your status box - your contacts receive these updates

This is NOT Face Book or My Space - It’s what you’ve accomplished, what you represent and what you have to offer others

TinyURL’sUse them to redirect with minimal text characters

How do I build my profile?Promote intelligently

Use meta tags

Populate all fields and websites

Provide full contact info to your connections

Recommend contacts and be recommended

Request recommendations judiciously or let them come naturally

Customize your public profile URL

How do I build my network?

Many ways to find people

How do I build my network?

Many ways to find people

How do I build my network?

Your Connections

Their Connections

Your Network

Receiving network updates

See what your connections are up to

Update your status

Q&A

Answer questions of your entire network.

Get answers from those in the know.

Search answers.

Browse questions by category.

Become an industry expert.

Promote yourself as an industry thought leader.

Find Groups

Stay in touch with schools, organizations and companies with whom you are associated

Network with professionals who share similar interests and goals

Collaborate in a professional online community

Join a group

LinkedIn Groups can help you stay informed and keep in touch with people that share your interests.

Great way to promote your brand and build a following within your community.

Join a group

LinkedIn Group discussions are great places to promote upcoming events.

Group members are great sales prospects!

Keep discussions informative and relevant.

Think about smaller groups

My Groups Page

Once you have joined a group, it will appear on your left side navigation bar under My Groups

This page gives you a quick overview of all of your groups

Receiving group updatesStart discussions

Add to discussions

Ask or Answer questions

Reconnect with networks

Stay up to date

See what your connections and other group members are talking about

Company Profile

Company Profile

SEO - Be out there

Get found - Sell more

Self PromoteShamelessly

LinkedInNext Steps: Using Groups & Events

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Create a Group

Gain insider information on a specific industry or business segment

LinkedIn Groups can help you stay informed and keep in touch with people that share your interests.

Great way to promote your brand and build a following within your community.

Create a Group

Connect, Communicate & Collaborate

A group allows your brand to extend it’s reach and strengthen the TOMA with existing users

Use your group avatar as a representation of your brand

Create Brand Awareness

Make sure your logo is legible in a very small size – It’s your mini digital billboard

This is your opportunity to place your publication’s logo on hundreds of executive’s profiles

Make it a “badge of honor” with whom others want to be associated

Edit Group Info

Offer a description of your publication, your group and it’s purpose

Utilize welcome messages to auto-communicate to requestors and newly approved members

Make new members feel welcomed and encourage their participation

Manage Your Group

Pre-approve members via contact invites or email domain

Send invitations to join

Send announcements

Add managers and moderators

Block poachers

Manage RSS feeds

Discussions

Groups are a great place to communicate with group members or organizations

Discuss issues that are of interest and relevant to the entire group

You can also use the navigation links to sort discussions by most recent, popular topics or in those which you’ve participated

Discussions

Encourage intelligent opinion and thought sharing

Share information with other group members or contacts

Discussions

Promote your events on other group sites, redirect to bizjournals registration page or LI event listing

Add value to OTHER local groups by waiving admission fees

MembersYour group’s member page allows you to view all the members in your group

You can search by name, company, and other keywords such as specific areas of expertise

This is a great way to find experts to utilize talent from within your network

Members are great prospects - They already like you!

Discussions: Event Promo

Promote your publication’s events and charitable events with whom you may be associated

Remember to add value to your group by offering complimentary or discounted tickets

Discourage PoachersOnce you develop an active group, users will attempt to hard sell to your members

Keep an eye out for these posts and delete them quickly

If valid as such, refer them to advertising dept as prospect leads

Encourage Charity

Charitable events and nonprofitsget a bit more latitude when it comes to poaching

Think of it as a public service message that manages itself

A simple way to soft sell your company as a good corporate citizen

Promote & Find Events

You can and should promote your publication’s events on LinkedIn

Search via specific criteria

Promote & Find Events

Track attendees and potential attendees for follow-up opportunities

Redirect with your bizjournal registration URL

Utilize event URL in discussions to keep things “LinkedIn centric”

LinkedIn Conclusion• Promote your brand personal / product

• Meet new contacts and potential clients

• Stay informed and keep in touch

• Connect with groups and grow your network

• Share knowledge / Promote yourself as an expert in your industry

• Enhance brand awareness and create a following of prospects

• Create a group - Connect, Communicate and Collaborate

• Keep your members informed and engaged

LinkedIn Q&A

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