Good Day:
I hope you are coming off a great week of building relationships using LinkedIn. I will tell you that I think we have gone over the “tipping point” as MOST people I am now meeting have accounts on LinkedIn, which makes it much easier for you to find them and be of help to them now that you are one of the local experts, having executed 25 weeks of tips---of course, you have! So, I know you are ready for Week 26 Tips. Here goes.
Profile Tips
Remember - your profile is to be “beefy” for the reasons of adding to your credibility and being able to be found with one more area to be searched by. One of the areas you will want to make sure is complete for these two reasons is your Education Section. Most people include their college education, but many fail to include high school or any specialized non-formal education they have taken. In both cases, they usually think they cannot add this since their school is not on the drag-down list on LinkedIn. All you have to do is go all the way to the bottom at hit “Other” and type in the dialogue box where it was and what type of education you received.
This is a way to show that you have been classroom educated on technical things, like software, computer programs, special industry specific certification classes and personal development programs. All of these add to your credibility and your searchability. It just might be the difference. You never know.
Connection Tips
I am still seeing way too many connection requests with the standard default LinkedIn request to connect. Do you realize how really weak this is? Come on. If you want someone to have the privilege to be part of your network, don’t you think you should tell the person why you would be worthy of being connected and how you might be able to help them with the goals they are trying to establish? Also, you should remind them just how you met them and know them, which will probably trigger their remembering what a neat person you are and why they should connect.
This will help you avoid getting one of the dreaded “I Don’t Know Them’s” (IDKT) that Linkedin is not so fond of, to the point that you will receive some restrictions on your account (haven’t heard just what this is yet?) if you get five IDKT’s in your lifetime on LinkedIn.
Wildcard Tip or Question
I found a good podcast that has good episodes not just on LinkedIn but on other networking topics like Plaxo, email marketing. Just go to iTunes store and search “The Connections Show” or Stan Relihan. Enjoy.
*******ATTENTION: IMPORTANT INFORMATION**********************************
Included below is an e-mail that I received from one of my subscribers. He received this from a spammer who is using some very realistic words and graphics to send a Trojan virus into your computer. When he received this email and clicked the link, it attempted to download the virus, but his antivirus software caught it in time.
We need you to confirm and validate your new profile.
To confirm your new LinkedIn profile, please click on the confirmation link provided. You may then review and validate your new primary profile.
Please use the link below to download and review your new profile:
http://www.linkedin.391325.com/secure/profiles/linkedin_profile.pif
We ask you to confirm your new profile before sending invitations or requesting new contacts at LinkedIn. You can have several profiles, but one will need to be confirmed at all times to use the system.
If you have more than one profile, you can choose one to be your primary profile.
Thank you for using LinkedIn!
--The LinkedIn Team
http://www.linkedin.com/
© 2010, LinkedIn Corporation
********************BE CAREFUL**************************************************
Miscellaneous News and Notes
Here is my upcoming schedule for teaching/speaking so you can share with friends, relatives and business associates. Follow link for additional details and registration information.
Fri Mar 12, 2010 Caffeine & Connections (Free coffee and LinkedIn help)
Gravity Connect, 702 S. 2nd Street, Milwaukee; 6:00am-8:30am
Mon Mar 15, 2010 Wayne's LinkedIn Power Formula Training for Beginners
Gravity Connect, 702 S. 2nd Street, Milwaukee; 5:00pm - 7:00pm
http://budurl.com/b7zz
Thurs Mar 18, 2010 Wayne's Intermediate LinkedIn Power Formula Training
M&M Office Interiors; 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
http://budurl.com/5fdy
Enjoy your 26th week using Linkedin in a productive and effective way…Get Connecting!
Wayne
Wayne C. Breitbarth
President
M&M Office Interiors, Inc.
W233 N2833 Roundy Circle West Suite 100
Pewaukee, WI 53072
office 262-781-2600
cell 414-313-7785
Wayne—Thank you for the heads up on the virus.
One common tip I would add regarding e-mail viruses in general is that most of them will start with a very generic greeting such as “Dear Customer” rather than a personalized greeting.
Another tip is that for any links, you can move your courser over the link, without clicking it, and at the bottom of the browser window the actual website the link goes to will be displayed, which is a useful tool in discerning bogus e-mails.
thanks for sharing this valuable information. I and the rest of the readers appreciate you taking the time.
Hi Wayne,
Thanks for the great information. I am in sales and want to know if upgrading my account would be beneficial? You can send more IN messages.
Just want an experts opinion.
Warm Regards,
Kevin Leurquin
Normally I would say that you don’t need to upgrade unless you are an HR professionaly or a recruiter, that being said the other time I tell people to consider is if they are running out of something that you are finding useful in your Linkedin efforts. Things like Inmails (you get only 5 of these in your entire “free” history on Linkedin) and Introductions (you get 5 outstanding at any one time on the free account) are the two things that come up from time to time for sales people.
You will know if you should consider this if you get the “you might want to upgrade screen” from Linkedin often.
Also let me know if you want to receive my weekly tips in email form delivered to your inbox each weekend.
Have a great Linkedin week, hope you make lots of connections.
My suggestion is that if you are running into the “upgrade your account” screen often then you may want to consider the upgrade. I think that for the most part the reason to upgrade if you are not a recruiter or an HR professional is to get more Inmails and to receive the 300 hits in a search that you do. Let me know if you would like a copy of my most recent 2010 Linkedin user survey. Hope this helps.