Tag Archives: Personal Branding

LinkedIn

10 Videos on How to do LinkedIn

4 Comments

LinkedIn Video Series by Butterscotch.com

LinkedIn definitely merits its place as one of the Top Three social media sites that business people — and those seeking to enter the workforce — ought to understand how to use and benefit from.

I imagine we all know lots of people who “think” they are on LinkedIn . . . but aren’t sure. Or is that you?

It did take me awhile to discover just how robust this social media platform is, expecially,  if you “work” it.

Preparing to teach a LinkedIn workshop on GROUPS, I found a set of wonderful video tutorials from Butterscotch.com, which go from the most basic steps like signing in to more advanced ones like adding applications to your profile.  Below  the listing of the ten topics are the videos themselves, which you can view by clicking on the appropriate screen. All the videos have been embedded from YouTube where you can learn how to do just about everything:

  1. How to Sign In to LinkedIn
  2. How to Make Connections on LinkedIn
  3. How to Fill out Profile
  4. How to Search for Connections on LinkedIn
  5. How to Join and Create Groups
  6. How to Get Introduced
  7. How to Add Applications
  8. Your Home Page
  9. Privacy Settings
  10. Paid upgraded account features

Video 1 – How to sign in to LinkedIn

Video 2 – How to make connections on LinkedIn

Video 3 – How to Fill out Profile

Video 4 – How to Search for Connections on LinkedIn

Video 5 – How to Join and Create Groups

Video 6 – How to get Introduced

Video 7 – How to Add Applications

Video 8 – Your Home Page

Video 9 – Privacy Settings

Video 10 – Paid upgraded account features

FURTHER READING:

How to improve your Linked ROI by tweaking your profile

728 FAQs, Who knew?

So you’ve joined a LinkedIn group . . . now what?

What you need to know about LinkedIn Q & A

Making your LinkedIn profile work for you

Guest Post, LinkedIn

Why re-invent the wheel? Maria Marsala wrote GREAT post on LinkedIn Q & A: THX, Maria, from me & my readers :-)

5 Comments

woman sculptureI was talking with my brother Chuck yesterday about how many features LinkedIn offered that so many people were still unaware of — AND one of the big ones was the ANSWERS [and Questions] section.

Chuck said I should write a post about it, and VOILA, one already written appeared in my mailbox. It would have been awhile before I was going to do it AND Maria Marsala invited readers to re-post it, so THX Maria . . . and here you all have it:

LinkedIn Answers: Proven Tactics To Get The Biggest Bang For Your Time

By Maria | October 2, 2009

If your ideal clients are on LinkedIn, then you want to be there, too. So create a keyword driven profile on LinkedIn for yourself. Complete every area possible, take a look at the apps (applications/programs) you might want to add, and you’re done… right?

Wrong.

One of the best ways to dip your feet into a community of new business owners and executives, like LinkedIn, is to ask or answer questions. ANSWERS is a community where other members ask or answer questions to learn and connect with others. When you answer a question, chances are good that people you “don’t yet know from a hole in the wall” will see your answer, go to your profile and want, in someway, to connect with you.

Being a very eclectic businessperson with a brain like a sponge I looked at LinkedIn Answers and was overwhelmed when I looked at all the questions I “could” answer.

How do you determine which questions to answer?

Many of us can answer several questions in a variety of business arenas. However, since time is money, I’m sure you’ll agree that doing so may take a few hours a day to do! What’s a business owner to do?

Prioritize. Use your Ideal Client Profile to determine which categories or sub-categories would best highlight your company and it’s services, (once someone learns about you). Example: If I looked at my company, the two main services that bring me the most amount of clients in the least amount of time are business planning and pricing. So I joined those two ANSWER areas first.
Then I joined a few others “just because” I’d like to learn more about those areas, or I have a few things on my mind I’d like to say about those things from time to time.

How do you answer questions, to connect with others who value what you’re saying WHILE not giving away your knowledge for free?

Carefully of course. You want to say enough to help the person, without giving away the bank. I use the Links area of the answers to post links to an article or resource on my website or the website of others that answers the question. I use affiliate links when I recommend a product for someone to use, too. BUT I never post affiliate links or any links “just because”. Make sure that the links are 100% meaningful to the answer or someone will FLAG you as a spammer.

With 21 main categories on LinkedIn, which questions do you answer?

Take a look at who your ideal clients are. Where would they be asking questions? What’s your expertise? Choose those categories or sub-categories.

I’ll answer questions whose answers are simple to answer, i.e. I can answer them in 1 sentence, some bullets or less than two paragraphs. Sometimes I write more than two paragraphs, but not often. HINT: If you’re continually answering similar questions because your company has answers to those questions, keep a MS Word file with your answers. Then cut/paste.

Sometimes when I view a question to answer, I’ll take the time to look at the requestors profile to see if I think they’re my ideal clients. I stay away from answering questions from students, or individuals in India, for example, because that’s NOT who my clients are. I move quickly to answer questions from women who own service businesses, independent service providers, etc. (my niche) And I will answer some questions that I feel I can contribute to when I have the time or the answer is a “quickie”.

How do you easily determine which questions to answer from the tons of questions asked each day?

First, I chose each category that I felt I could contribute my knowledge to; places of course where my ideal clients hang out.

Next I downloaded each of those categories or sub-category’s RSS feeds. To learn more about RSS feeds click this link . So the first two RSS feeds I downloaded were Business Plan and Pricing. Then I added 10 other categories or subcategories that I might be able to answer questions.

Also consider the RSS feeds for areas of business you want to do better. I’m learning so much by seeing the ideas and thoughts of others.

My RSS feeds download into OUTLOOK which keeps each of them very organized. But I can tell you that at first I was reading way too many subject lines in each category and wasted time. So much so that I just stopped answering questions.

I thought there had to be an easier way. And I found one that I use every day.

How to easily sort through tons of LinkedIn Answers each day
How to easily sort through hundreds of LinkedIn Answers each day
The directions I’m about to provide you uses a feature in MS Outlook. If you use another email program or search program, see if you can do something similar with what you use.
1. Set up the RSS feeds in all the categories or sub-categories you choose to answer to download to your email program. When you download your email, it will also download any new ANSWERS

2. Open MS Outlook. Under the RSS Feeds (small orange graphic under Outbox) you’ll find Send Items and then Search Folders

3. Right click and add a new search (we’re going to customize it) using the word LINKEDIN.

4. Listen to this training module and create a SEARCH that searches through all your LinkedIn RSS feeds for keywords you’ve deemed important to growing your business. To listen click here

5. When new ANSWERS come through the RSS feed that contain those keywords, they’ll show up in your new LINKEDIN Search.

6. Look through the LINKEDIN Search file for subject lines and if you want to answer the message, click on “view article”.

7. You’ll now be online and can answer the question.

8. AFTER you answer the question(s) you want, scan the original RSS feeds to see that you didn’t miss important keywords (and therefore questions to answer). If some were missed, go back to your LINKEDIN Search and add more keywords. If none, move to #10.

9. OR, if you end up with too many items showing up in the LINKEDIN Search, then remove or change some keywords.

10. Once you think or feel that your search is A-OK, and you’ve answered the questions you want to answer, you can delete all the questions that weren’t filtered to your LINKEDIN Search in confidence.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG, OR WEB SITE? If you want me to change anything before you print it, you must ask for permission. And you are welcome to use it anytime in its entirety, with the following author/copyright information:

©2009 Maria Marsala, Profitability Specialist at Elevating Your Business. We provide insightful input to high-achieving women business owners looking for powerful results. Specializing in boosting the productivity, profitability and performance of their company simpler, easier, and faster! Will you be next? Visit www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com today and take our free Business Checkup.

Blogging, Facebook, Sharisax Is Out There, Twitter

Managing MY Online Presence: A Road Map

17 Comments
If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there
If you don

Where do I WANT to go?

NOT

Where am I going?

I’m remembering the quote I often tell students: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Back on July 1, I started to think about “managing” my online presence, i.e., putting some routine in place primarily to help me select where I wanted to make my Web contributions. So I wrote “How do you manage your Online Social Media presence?”

In essence, I was thinking aloud. What I accomplished — and, unfortunately, all I accomplished with that post — was to ask myself to set aside time in the morning to Go Online.

But I didn’t give myself a road map. Hence, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Road Map — by the numbers.

1) Step one on the road must be taking time to clarify Objectives. So I thought I’d imagine the possibilities:

a) Casual: Whenever . . . of course that’s not me. It’s really OK if that label describes you, someone who spends as little or as much time as happens to be there: checking out your Facebook page, email, Twitter account, etc. I.E., WHENEVER . . . [been there, done that]

b) Experimenter: We’re ALL experimenting here, and that is a good thing. But there’s a danger — lost opportunity and value when you never really “move off the dime.” Get out there and BUILD, don’t just keep trying new things. [been there, done that]

c) Reader: One of the greatest benefits of Twitter for me personally are all of the website references with Great Stuff. I could read and read and read. How many of us bookmark and bookmark and bookmark . . . and don’t even get to read? [been there, done that]

d) Novice Participant: Read some blogs that strike a chord and add your voice once or twice a week. Join some groups and occasionally check to see what group members are asking and answering. [been there, done that]

e) Active Contributor & Engager: This is who I WANT to be. And we all know that Today is the First Day of the Rest of Our Lives.

So what does an ACE [Active Contributor & Engager] do?

Here’s my new plan . . . and a new Number One since the Objective has been taken care of:

1) Make a list of WEEKLY goals {I believe I can hold to that) and check off my accomplishments EVERY Sunday night.

2) Prioritize those goals to make certain that the ones on the top of the list are done for sure.

3) Because my original intention, way back when I first posted on April 23, was To Become an A-List Blogger — and that continues to be my Long Term Goal — Blogging will be my top priority. One of my students got around to reading my blog last week — and liked it. He asked how often I write. My immediate answer to myself was NOT ENOUGH. So Priority Number One for me is to make certain FROM NOW ON to have 3-4 posts (or more) Every Week!

4) Next, because I really believe that Twitter will become all that its creators are envisioning, my goal will be 3-5 Tweets Every Single Day! I will continue to follow my own advice on What to Tweet.

5) Facebook is a HUGE priority, especially since my partner Les Ross and I are building our Social Media/Internet Marketing consulting business Performance Social Media, which recently set up a Fan Page. We’ll be including the opportunity for small and large companies to find social media interns through us, so I’ll be monitoring and updating both my Facebook Profile and my Facebook Page EVERY Day. That means NEW content on the Facebook page at least four days a week.

6) I may be running out of time for Daily Tasks, but I thinking checking in and updating LinkedIn is essential. So besides that commitment, I plan to contribute to at least two LinkedIn Group Discussions every week.

7) Finally, my new Road Map will highly suggest that I check out at least one New social media tool, strategy or app every week; by checking out, I do mean more than reading about it.

Good luck . . . to me . . . and everyone else out there who may want to follow my Road Map.

Let me know what you think?

Do these suggestions help you?

Do you have any others to suggest?

In the meantime, I’ll see you all “Out There.”

And, Jay [my student who asked about my blog], how’s this for a new post?

Next post: What I read Saturday instead of watching cartoons

Guest Post, Twitter

The NEW Marketer at Work: A day in the life of Justin Fong

1 Comment

Justin Gets a PR gig

SFSU student Justin Fong puts his Social Media lessons to good use
SFSU student Justin Fong puts his Social Media lessons to good use

More than 100 marketing students in the College of Business at San Francisco State experienced All Things Social Media from classroom activities, influential guest speakers, and their own individual research.

Justin Fong was one of a half dozen students who had a double-dose, taking both my PR and my Advertising courses. After the semester ended, he began working for Scoreloop and here is a report on his internship activities:

Hey Shari,

How’s the summer going for you? My internship is really tough. Long hours and pretty much a non-stop day, but it’s a lot of fun. There is a lot going on at once.

The first thing I do in the morning is troll through the news for stories about our company and our competitors. I look through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and other social media sites to see if anything’s new. If something does comes up, I e-mail it to my team and we try to de-position our competitors.

I also take care of all of our social media profiles. I made our Facebook fan page, our Linkedin company profile, monitor our Twitter account, etc. There are so many different things I do.

One thing that I helped the company with was the idea of creating a wikipedia page, which we discussed in a phone conference.

We had a big press release yesterday. It was a hit and got picked up by a lot of big companies, Google, Yahoo, CNBC, MarketWatch, and so many more. We do both traditional PR and PR 2.0. I’ll update you when more things happen for the company. We’re getting ready for Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference so we’re really busy this week. Have a good rest of summer!

Best Regards,
Justin Fong

Hey guys, if any more of you are “out there” doing social media activities, please send me your reports and maybe we’ll have a host of guest hosts.

Next post: What to Tweet – Part Two

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also subscribe by email for more cool interviews and articles from Sharisax is Out There.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Blogging, Twitter

Personal Branding is Powerful Strategy in Social Media

8 Comments

One day ends and the world begins anew

The last class of the semester will not be the end of studies for many SFSU marketing students.

What a wild ride –

Jumping off the PR 1.0 trail and on to PR 2.0!

And I’m happy to report that many of my 90+ students will be continuing our trek down Revolutionary Road. Below is a sampling of their semester wrap-ups:

Consumers create the buzz:

“I learned that people are changing the way information is given and received. Today Social Media is influencing all of us in ways never thought possible 5, 10, 20 years ago. Websites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are evolving into powerful tools. And companies are seeing this as consumers are now the ones creating buzz about products and places.

Today we all have the opportunity to use the Web to tell stories, to educate, to entertain, and, most importantly, to engage in conversation. We are only beginning to explore the many ways to communicate.” — Alice Ng

Social Media is our future:

“It is not only a way for people to connect and maintain relationships, but the Future for marketing and business, as well. Most of the population has hit their limit with mass advertising. People have figured out that everything is a selling gimmick and they have become immune. Marketing has become Word of Mouth — and what better way to facilitate the discussions than through social media.

If I am interested in a new TV, I want to hear real-life reviews and opinions — and with just a few clicks I can find them with Twitter. Or, if I want to know more about a person or organization, I simply go to LinkedIn or Facebook. As more people are realizing that everything is available online, more companies and people are adding valuable content to be discovered.” — Natalie Leadbetter

What’s just a fad?

“The number of social media websites id mind-boggling. The question is which ones are here to stay, and which ones will be merely fads. It’s frustrating that more and more aspects of life are moving to the Web. Personally, I find that staring at a computer screen for longer than a couple of hours at a time can induce headaches. Also, social media is killing privacy, and I have always considered myself a private person. I haven’t felt comfortable putting myself on the Internet for anyone to Google.

One of our speakers told us, ‘If I Google your name and nothing comes up, then you can forget about a job1’ I still have a hard time getting myself to put my name out there and start the multiple social networking profiles that are required for this class — and what now seems, required for life in general. Is there another niche out there for me to avoid this whole Web 2.0 thing? I DOUBT IT. I guess it’s time for me to bite the bullet and join the massive conformity that we call Social Media.” — Emilio Siqueiros

Personal Branding 101:

“I’m personally appreciative to have been immersed in the New Rules of PR. Communication has been revolutionalized and one of the most important lessons for me has been about Personal Branding. From everything I post online to my contributions to others’ web conversations, being Proactive is the Key. I now understand the importance of contributing to other people’s blogs as well as creating and maintaining online profiles — to connect with others and to contribute to the Worldview of Knowledge.” –Alvin Lee

Be careful online:

“When I first began this PR class, I hadn’t known what to expect. All I’d ever heard about PR were statements about making a company Look Good. But now my understanding has changed to the view that PR is more of a process of having a company do the kinds of things that will make it look good and earn that good reputation. And I can see how the internet — and everything we post online — can affect our reputation for the bad as well as for the good. Before this class, I’d tried Twitter when it wasn’t all the rage. I thought it was interesting, but it would fade away.

Now, though, I’m surprised that I’m Tweeting on my final — social media has grown so powerful that wherever I look, someone is bombarding me with some sort of advertising cleverly disguised as Tweets. Every action we take, we have to know that a potential client or contact is watching, and what we write online can make or break us in the Business World.” — Victor Atilano

Share your experiences with us. How has your life changed? Most of us believe that ours has improved? How about you?

Next post: http: Twitter 101

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also subscribe by email for more cool interviews and articles from Sharisax is Out There.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner