social media

Maximizing Your LinkedIn Profile

Often described as the social networking site for professionals, LinkedIn is a great way to connect with others in your profession.

On Feb. 13 I wrote about how to get started on LinkedIn. Now that you have established your profile, what else can you do?

The first thing is to join groups related to topics of interest to you and to network with others in your field. NFPW has a group, and if you haven’t already connected to us, we encourage you to join.  Membership is only open to those who have paid their dues. We’ve had to limit it to avoid marketing pushes by those who aren’t members.

To find other groups, visit LinkedIn Groups Directory.

Participating in a group by asking questions or responding to a question also helps build your reputation and provides you with valuable information. Also, if you have a job opening, share it with relevant groups. You’ll reach your target audience. The best part is it’s free.

What else can you do on LinkedIn?

  • Reading List by Amazon. According to the site, you can, “extend your professional profile by sharing the books you’re reading with other LinkedIn members. Find out what you should be reading by following updates from your connections, people in your field, or other LinkedIn members of professional interest to you.

 

  • Company Buzz lets you know what people are saying about your company. It shows you the twitter activity associated with your company.

 

  • My Travel by Tripit is a great way to know when those in your LinkedIn network are traveling and when you will be in the same city as your colleagues. I’ve learned about colleagues being in a nearby city and have been able to connect for dinner and a bit of networking. Just be aware that it also lets others know when you aren’t at home. 

 

  • SlideShare Presentation allows you to upload and display your own presentations and check out presentations from your colleagues. Lynn Hazan, who presented at the NFPW conference in Chicago shared her presentation using SlideShare.

How are you maximizing your LinkedIn profile?

Getting Started on LinkedIn

According to the LinkedIn site, “Over 90 million professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities.”

Why should you use it? It’s a great online resume if you are job hunting. It lets you connect to business partners and current and former colleagues.  LinkedIn says you can find the people and knowledge that you need to achieve your goals. And you control your professional identity online.

Getting Started If you aren’t on it, it’s easy to get started — go to www.Linkedin.com. Enter your name and email address and create a password. Now you are on LinkedIn.

Complete Profile You’re going to want to create a profile that is 100 percent complete. LinkedIn makes that easy by informing you how you are progressing. Start by adding your current position. Then add at least your two past positions. Include details about your education. Write a summary of your background/experiences.

Profile Photo Add a professional photograph so that people can identify and connect with you. If you introduced yourself to a dozen people at a conference, your photo will help them remember the conversation.

Build Your Network Then begin building your network of relevant connections. You can grow your list of LinkedIn connections through webmail contacts (email contacts who are already on LinkedIn), colleagues and classmates, and through networking on LinkedIn groups.

Recommendations Recommendations are an important part of your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn suggests that users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches. To initiate a recommendation request, go to the Profile tab and select Recommendations. There you will find a list of your jobs and education and you can choose what you want to be recommended for, decide whom you’ll ask, create your customized message and send from within LinkedIn. Don’t hesitate to offer guidance on what you would like them to highlight in their recommendation. If possible, return the favor by recommending them.

Next time I’ll write about how to maximize your LinkedIn experience.

Mobile Device Usage Up Big in 2010

Opera’s November State of the Mobile Web report reflects on a year of growth for the mobile Internet, with users browsing an incredible 340 billion pages in the first 11 months of 2010. (Opera is a mobile web browser developer).

With more than 80 million users in November, the yearly trends reflect a user base spanning teenagers with smart phones in Western Europe to users of basic feature phones in developing countries.

And now NFPW is joining the trend. We have our own mobile website. In the next few weeks it will work so that if you type nfpw.org on your smart phone it will automatically know to go to the mobile site.

Why did we do this? Because those who are growing up with mobile are not going to take the time to go to a computer and then go to the NFPW website. This way we can keep our information visible to all members. Many companies have mobile sites, too. It’s still not clear how companies will be able to capitalize on mobile usage but they’ll have it figured out before long.

In the meantime, if you want to know more about mobile, here’s a link to the mobile trends for 2011.

Protecting Your Privacy on Social Media

Those of us on social media love catching up with each other. We share details of our lives, including vacation photos. But who’s viewing those details?

We all know how to set our privacy settings but that doesn’t mean your information won’t get taken.

MoneyWatch recently posted about things you should never post on Facebook, including your birth date. Of course, if you don’t include that, marketers can’t collect their needed demographics. So one suggestion I’ve heard from marketers is to change your date by a few years so that you are at least within your demographic. Why you’re at it, you can always make yourself younger.

It’s also not smart to post about when you’ll be on vacation or where you’re going. Thieves can find your empty house or they could find your hotel. Wait until you return to share those photos.

And be careful which photos you share. If you received a new car for Christmas, it’s probably not a good idea to show it in your driveway with the house number on the lamp post.

Most know the adage that you shouldn’t post anything you wouldn’t want your boss or you mother to see. It’s good advice. I read a series of comments where those posting said that an employer didn’t have any right to check social media posts. In this market, employers want the best, and they don’t want to have worry about employees who will come in hung over or have so much debt that they might take a little extra.

Social media is a great way to keep in touch. Prior generations didn’t share their personal issues outside of the family. It’s a good lesson in this generation.

Developing a Content Strategy

I recently wrote about how book authors have to do much of their own PR and that often involves social media. For many, it’s a challenge because they are already busy writing their books.

So what is an author to do, or for that matter anyone who is looking to use social media to promote their business? It comes down to having a content strategy.

To develop my strategy I needed to look at three areas – audience, location and measurement.

As with any PR effort, the first thing to do is to identify your audience.  My audience is members of NFPW and prospective members. I knew that I wanted to reach members of NFPW on a regular basis. I also knew that many members were like me – they already received too many emails. And I wanted to use a social media platform so that members would become more familiar and comfortable with social media.

Facebook was out because I couldn’t tell enough of a story, although I’ve found that it’s good to link my blog to my Facebook account. Twitter was no good because at 140 characters I would never finish a thought! And for many members, Twitter is simply too overwhelming. The ideal place was a blog. So I started Cynthia’s Communique.

I had the first two areas covered. Now I had to measure how I’m doing. Each month I review the stats that are available to me on WordPress. My goal is simple – I would like to average more than 300 hits a month. I’m not consistently there yet but I’m getting closer. I am encouraged by the number of comments. It’s nice to start a conversation. I’d like each post to have at least one comment.

My blog does not come easy. As with any writer, I suffer from writer’s block so I try to keep a running list of ideas. I also try to write some blogs in advance so I’m not always on deadline. This is especially helpful when I’m traveling; at least I don’t have to worry about finding a WIFI spot.

I’ve already made my calendar for the year, noting all the days that I will publish. I’ve gone through and marked when the NFPW conference will be held (Sept. 8-10), affiliate meetings that I will attend and other possible topics, such as National Letter Writing Week or Resume Month. I sketch out potential topics and fill those in, too. Before long, it doesn’t look so daunting.

Writing a blog is rewarding, but it’s also a commitment, and I have to treat it that way, which is why I have a content strategy.