It’s time for another social media teleclass!

How to use LinkedIn to Bring in More Business / Connect with Potential Clients

Date: August 25
Time: 5:00pm PST / 8:00pm EST
Cost: $20 (register by August 18) or $30 (register August 19 or later)
Register here

If you’re not using LinkedIn yet, you’re missing out! I’ve been active on LinkedIn for quite a while and have made many great contacts – pet sitters as well as people in other businesses. Some have turned into clients, while others are people who I share a common interest with – and sometimes we’re able to help each other in one way or another.

LinkedIn is a place to find like-minded professionals, businesses, and opportunity. It’s a place where you can be found as well. Boasting more than 40 million users, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. It literally puts networking at your fingertips, so that you can connect with trusted colleagues throughout the world. And, because of the unique tools offered by LinkedIn you’re able to streamline your search process when looking for business leads, potential clients, or collaborators.

Here’s what I’ll be talking about:

• How you can use LinkedIn to grow your business
• Tips on how to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website
• Why you and your business need to be on LinkedIn
• How to establish yourself as an expert in your chosen area
• How to create a powerful LinkedIn bio that will attract attention
• What to include in your headline, summary, and job descriptions
• How to effectively use the advanced features of LinkedIn
• What recommendations are, how to ask for one, and who to recommend
• Why discussion groups are so important
• SPECIAL BONUS: LinkedIn Tips and Tools list to get you started after the class

Whether you’re interested in finding employees, getting the word out about your business, or simply enlarging your own personal network, LinkedIn is a powerful tool you can’t afford to ignore.

Kristin Morrison, from Six Figure Pet Sitting Academy is hosting the class. Learn more about the class and register here.

Whether you’re in the pet care business or some other business, you’re welcome to join in. This class is for anyone who wants to learn more about LinkedIn – regardless of your occupation.

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn teleclass, pet sitters, social media, social networking

Lately I’ve been getting a number of requests from people on LinkedIn wanting me to recommend them. I’m happy to do them for the people I know, but there are others that I simply don’t know well enough. From the little I know about these people, they’re all very nice people but I just haven’t interacted with them enough to give them a recommendation.

I’m pretty particular about doing recommendations for people on LinkedIn, and suggest to others they should be as well. Whenever you recommend someone on LinkedIn, it’s a statement from you that you think that person is a fine, upstanding individual to do business with. And, like anything else you put online, it’s out there for all to see, so it’s in your best interest to feel super comfortable giving someone a glowing recommendation.

Tips for asking for LinkedIn Recommendations

Ask people know you…

Ask for recommendations from people you know and who can make valid and honest comments about you. The simple fact that you’re connected on LinkedIn doesn’t always mean they know you or your work well enough to recommend you.

Personalize your request…

Sending the default “can you endorse me” message doesn’t show the person you really value their time or what they have to say. And, if you don’t have time to put together a well crafted, polite email asking for their recommendation why should they take the time to write one? Put some thought into your request and let the person know what it is you’d like them to focus on. Something like, “I’d love it if you could recommend my (fill in the blank) services since we’ve worked together and you’ve been pleased with the results,” will make it much easier for the person to write the recommendation.

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Not necessarily…

While giving a recommendation to someone may get you some positive juju in return, don’t make that your motivation for writing one. It may be that the way you interacted with that person was a bit one sided, leaving them without enough information about you to comment on. And, on the other hand, there may be times when people recommend you but you just don’t have enough knowledge to reciprocate.

The key is to ask for recommendations, and give them, when you know the result will be real, and not done simply out of a sense of obligation.

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn, recommendations, social networking

Imagine you’re hanging out with some friends and along comes this person you don’t know, who gets right in your face and blurts out . . .

“HEY YOU! My widgets are on sale today. When you buy two, you’ll get one free. Go to my website right now and buy some!”

If you’re like me, you’re probably going to say something like . . .

“Uhh, ok. I’ll keep that in mind. And if I need some Widgets I’ll call Widgets R Us, not you!”

Interacting with people online works much the same way. The fact that the word social is the first word in the phrase “social media” isn’t an accident. These days, if you want to be part of social media, one of the keys is to actually be social. Sure, old time advertising still works, but it’s important to know when to do that and when it’s not appropriate. Blurting out a sale on widgets is quite often considered spammy. If, on the other hand someone starts a discussion, and things lead to a point where it makes sense to mention a widget sale, that’s great. People are interacting and having a discussion, which is way different than sticking a widget in someone’s face and shouting “BUY MY WIDGETS!”

I have a group on LinkedIn for people who work in the pet industry, which I set it up so that I, and others, could network with like-minded professionals. I’ve been on many forums over the years, and have seen some very good ones go downhill fast once the “widgets for sale” folks took over. Because of that, I decided right from the get go to limit the amount of advertising that would be acceptable. So I wrote up a short list of guidelines for posting, including some info about advertising. Here’s the blurb about advertising . . .

Whether it’s on a personal or business level, the idea behind LinkedIn is to make connections that might be beneficial in a variety of ways. One of the many tools LinkedIn provides to do this is the discussion area. This area serves a way to interact with each other, talk about new ideas, get advice etc. With that in mind, I’d like to ask that everyone refrain from advertising in the discussion area. Feel free to introduce your company, product, etc. when you join the group and introduce yourself. Following that, include a signature line that includes your business name and a link to your website. Posts that are strictly advertising in nature will be removed.

If you have news about your business such as sales, press releases, special events, etc. please post it in the news area.

I think it’s pretty clear, to the point, and explains what the discussion area is all about. When people join the group, the advertising guidelines are brought to their attention, so it’s no secret. And, as the last sentence says, they can post some of their advertising stuff in the news area, which is set apart from the discussion area.

Thankfully, I haven’t had to delete very many advertising posts. Most people tend to understand why I don’t allow a lot of advertising and have emailed to thank me for keeping things on track. They aren’t interested in having widgets in their faces either, and appreciate having a place to network with each other without having to wade through advertisements.

There are plenty of websites where people can advertise for free – many are set up just for that purpose. Before posting advertising though it’s a good idea to find out if it fits in with the general theme of the website you want to post to. If it’s a discussion forum, like you’ll find on LinkedIn and other websites, going with the flow and trying to stick to the guidelines may get you farther than trying to set your own rules.

It’s not just advertising though. Regardless of what social media website you’re on, whether it’s a discussion forum, photo sharing site, video sharing, or other type of social media site it’s a good idea to get an feel for the written and unwritten rules.

Sure, there are places where it may be totally appropriate to shout “BUY MY WIDGETS,” but just be sure it makes sense!

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn, netiquette, online advertising, social media