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March 3, 2016 by Stan Robinson Leave a Comment

Do I Need A LinkedIn Premium Account?

LinkedIn Premium 7-26-2015

Does it make sense to invest in one of LinkedIn’s Premium products? As you might imagine, it depends on your situation and goals. If you are a sales professional or a recruiter LinkedIn’s Sales and Recruitment products are a great investment. Otherwise, I suggest getting the most out of LinkedIn’s free version before investing in the paid version.

Another consideration, of course, is your budget. If your company is paying for LinkedIn’s Premium service then by all means let them do it. When the investment comes directly out of your pocket, then you may want to think about the value you get from the Premium services in light of your goals.

There are different categories of Premium memberships (Basic, Job Seeker, Recruiter, Sales Professionals) with monthly and annual pricing options starting at $49.95 per month. LinkedIn changes pricing and packages from time to time so check LinkedIn Premium options for more information.

Here are some of the added benefits of using the Premium service.

Profile Enhancements

LinkedIn Premium provides you with a larger photo and profile header than the free version as well as a selection of images you can use for your custom background. Furthermore, Premium profiles are twice as prominent in LinkedIn search results as free profiles enabling you to display more information from your profile.

InMails

LinkedIn Premium allows you to send InMails (direct messages) to any LinkedIn member. The level of premium service you have determines how many InMails you can have outstanding at any one time. At the most basic Premium level, you get 3 InMails to start. When sending InMails, there are preset categories for why you are sending the InMail (e.g., expertise requests, business deals, consulting offers, job opportunities) and it is a good idea to see if the individual has specified what topics to contact them for.

Who’s Viewed Your Profile

The Premium service also allows you to see who has viewed your Profile going back 90 days. You are able to see their photo and professional headline. With the free version you can only see the last 5 people who have looked at your Profile within the past 90 days. The paid version provides analytics as to the industries viewers work in, their titles and their organizations.

View Full Profiles

LinkedIn’s paid services allow you to see full Profiles of individuals outside your 1st degree connections.

Search Filters

You can access more search filters in the Advanced Search area with the paid service. LinkedIn’s Advanced search for free members already offers filters such as keyword, title, company, location and industry. With the paid versions you are able to add filters like Groups, Seniority level, Function, Company size and others.

See More Search Results

When you search LinkedIn for people or jobs, you are able to see up to 300 records with the basic Premium service whereas you are limited to 100 records with the free version. In addition, LinkedIn free members get to save up to 3 searches when using the Advanced Search feature. Premium members can save 7 or more searches depending on the version of their premium service.

Open Profile

This Premium feature allows people who are outside of your network to message you at no cost to them, a great feature for networkers. Most people who may be interested in connecting with you will not want to pay for an InMail to contact you. When you choose to have an Open Profile they can send you a message for free.

Introductions

One of the most helpful features of LinkedIn is the ability to see who your 1st degree connections are connected to and ask for Introductions. You can do this by phone or email, but LinkedIn also gives you the ability to ask for an introduction through their platform. With a free account you can have 5 Introductions outstanding at any one time, with a paid account you can have up to 15 introductions awaiting a response at the same time.

If you have additional Premium features that you’ve found helpful, please let us know.

Get regular tips and updates on LinkedIn: http://eepurl.com/byi8KT

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: linkedin, LinkedIn Premium

February 1, 2016 by Stan Robinson, Jr. 4 Comments

7 Steps to Building Business Relationships

Global network dreamstime_17879071Many of us are networking by meeting people online and collecting business cards at live events. Ideally, we will follow-up with those we have met with a “Good meeting you” email, but then what?

Here are some tips for moving from a contact to a mutually beneficial business relationship.

1. Clearly understand who you want to meet. How would you describe the perfect client or customer for your business? This could be by title, function, industry, location, income, age, gender or any combination of attributes. It is also helpful to have a profile of your ideal partners, suppliers and anyone else who is important to your professional success. In addition to being clear in your own mind about who you want to connect with, defining the criteria that fit your ideal prospect helps you search for contacts with tools such as LinkedIn and other online databases. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: business networking, business relationships, linkedin

December 3, 2015 by Stan Robinson Leave a Comment

Your Dynamic LinkedIn Strategy

LinkedIn ProfileLinkedIn represents your professional identity so it should reflect your current professional situation and projects. You will get the most value from LinkedIn by regularly updating your profile so viewers understand the value you provide as a business person. In the same vein you will want to periodically review your strategy for connecting with others on LinkedIn based on your current business goals.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: LinkedIn Profile, personal branding, professional branding

September 1, 2015 by Stan Robinson Leave a Comment

Leveraging LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are one of the most overlooked benefits of this platform. They provide the opportunity for you to  learn from your peers and industry experts, get questions answered, expand your network, and position yourself as a valuable resource in your industry. You can also use Groups as part of your marketing toolkit, but this must be done correctly to avoid alienating other LinkedIn members.

There are two approaches you can take to using Groups which are not mutually exclusive. One is to join selected Groups and participate regularly in relevant discussions. The second approach is to start your own Group and use it as a platform to accomplish specific objectives. You can use both approaches, though it is a good idea to start by participating in existing Groups because it will help you understand what is involved in starting your own Group.

Choosing Groups to Join

How do you determine which Groups to join? This will depend on what your objectives are, but most marketers will join Groups frequented by their target audience as well as Groups related to their industry. You can start by searching the directory of Groups by topic or keyword to see what turns up. You can also look at the Profiles of leaders in your industry to see which Groups they belong to.

Group Search 8-25-2015

 

When prospecting for sales leads it is a good idea to visit the profiles of the decision makers at your best clients and see what Groups they belong to.

Group Profile Statistics

When you search for Groups by topic or keyword you can see the number of discussions and the number of Group members in the search results for each Group. In public Groups you can also look at the Discussions to get an idea about the quality of the comments. You can even search the discussions by keyword. In private Groups you can only see the numbers of discussions and members.

LinkedIn formerly made Group Profile Statistics easily available, but discontinued this for some reason. This functionality may return, in the meantime this post describes a hack that works as of this writing (no guarantees as to how long this functionality will be around).

Group Statistics will show you how many members there are and their demographics. You also want to see how active the Group is in terms of discussions and comments. Look for Groups with high levels of engagement – the higher the number of substantive comments, the better.

Participating in Groups

When you join a Group the first step is to follow discussions to get an idea of the personality of the group, then participate by answering questions, asking questions and contributing to discussions. You will only have time to consistently participate in 2-3 Groups at most, so monitor how these Groups are performing for you in terms of new connections and business opportunities for you. Keep in mind that this will take some time, don’t expect Groups to start generating business for you right away.

Group Discussions 8-25-2015

When do contribute to Groups, keep in mind that the way to use them most effectively is to provide value to the Group community. This can be in the form of insightful comments, linking to informative content and answering questions. What you want to avoid is blatant self promotion. This adds no value to a Group and most Groups will have rules against promotional posts in Group discussions. Groups do have a specific tab for Promotions, but most people don’t look at these so they rarely get shared.

In addition, LinkedIn has instituted a controversial policy called SWAM (Site Wide Automated Monitoring). It means that if one of your posts is flagged by a moderator in any Group, your posts in other Groups will have to be approved by Group moderators before they are posted. This strikes most of us as an extreme case of overkill by LinkedIn in an effort to reduce Spam in Groups, but given its impact on your ability to participate in Group discussions it is important to be aware of.

Raise Your Visibility & Expand Your Network

If you cannot promote your offering in Group discussions, then how do you benefit from participating in a Group? First, as you regularly contribute helpful comments and content to discussions, you will become more visible and other Group members will begin contacting you. Once this happens you can begin to engage with them privately and let them know what solutions you have to offer. If you have a product or service that directly addresses a question raised in a Group discussion, it is okay to link to information on your website (if Group rules allow this) or invite the person asking the question to contact you directly for more information.

Second, you can use Groups to expand your network. LinkedIn allows you to individually message up to 15 fellow Group members a month and you can use this to explain what you have in common and see if they are open to connecting. You are allowed to join up to 50 Groups on LinkedIn and you should take advantage of this if only to expand your network and maximize your opportunities to develop new connections.

Start Your Own Group

The more advanced use of LinkedIn Groups involves starting your own Group. This has a number of advantages, but takes a commitment in order for it to be worthwhile. Prior to starting a Group you will need a strategy for the Group’s purpose and direction. Is your purpose to position yourself as an industry expert, to provide a service to your business community or to market your business? The Group’s purpose as described in the Group Profile needs to be one that serves the needs of the audience you want to attract. This is why it is important to have a clear profile of the type of person you want as a Group member.

Your strategy for how you will use the Group to help grow your business also has to be clear. How will the positioning and relationships that you develop as a result of owning a Group fit into your overall marketing strategy? What types of cross-promotions will you do between your other marketing initiatives and your Group?

It is advisable to focus the Group around an industry or topic rather than your company or brand. Your potential members will be interested in joining a Group that provides relevant business information, whereas they will not be as interested in joining a Group they perceive as promoting your business.

Pros and Cons of Starting a Group

The advantages of becoming a Group owner are that you are in control of the direction of the Group, who joins it, what comments appear in discussions and other aspects of the Group’s operation. In addition, you can invite your 1st level connections to join your Group, contact any Group member individually and send announcements to the entire Group up to once a week. As a result, a Group can be a powerful marketing tool for you as it can position you as a resource for your industry.

The main downside to owning a Group is the work involved. You have to set-up the Group which is relatively simple once you have a description of what it will be about. The work comes in with promoting the Group, building its membership and moderating comments once it gains traction. You can start by promoting the Group to your network and encouraging them to share it with their networks. You can also promote the Group to your email list or direct mail list if you have one.

Moderating the Group takes a regular investment of time on a weekly basis as members begin engaging in discussions. The biggest complaint about LinkedIn Groups is that they are filled with Spam. As the owner of a Group you need to post a clear set of rules for your Group and monitor discussions to keep them clear of irrelevant comments. Discussions can occasionally turn heated, so trying to ensure that members play nice with each other even when they disagree is important as well.

If you own, moderate or use LinkedIn Groups, please let us know your thoughts about their effectiveness.

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: LinkedIn Groups

July 26, 2015 by Stan Robinson Leave a Comment

Why LinkedIn Premium?

LinkedIn Premium 7-26-2015

Does it make sense to invest in one of LinkedIn’s Premium products? As you might imagine, it depends on your situation and goals. If you are a sales professional or a recruiter LinkedIn’s Sales and Recruitment products are a great investment. Otherwise, I suggest getting the most out of LinkedIn’s free version before investing in the paid product.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: linkedin, LinkedIn Premium

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