Is LinkedIn more than an online resume for you?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Seidle on November 20, 2009 at 10:01am

Pat, I use LinkedIn for everthing: recruiting, lead generation, finding vendors and getting things done. Asking questions has helped me discover new business partners and new services to offer clients. Amost daily, somoene contacts me to inquire about what my companies do - and that leads to lots of new business.

The real value in LinkedIn is groups, and I've used them to becom much better connected as well as help others find people they want to find. I started with LinkingIndiana (one of the largest Indiana groups on LinkedIn) - which is a group that is designed to make it easier for Hoosiers to be found and find others on LinkedIn in and other social networks. There's also the Hoosier Jobs Network and Indiana IT Pros.

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Permalink Reply by Douglas Karr on November 20, 2009 at 10:02am

Yes, it's definitely an online resume and address book for me. I simply like the ability to easily find other folks that I've connected with in the past there. Of course, I think the resume is dying, anyway. Does anyone submit those things anymore?

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Permalink Reply by Chris Tomlinson on November 20, 2009 at 10:29am

I wish I could say that I'm able to do more or feel like LinkedIn can offer me more of a connection, but I cannot. So why respond when Pat is asking for creative ideas on how to use it?

Well I think if those of us who have not found good value in LI should respond so that all of us can see how valuable it is (or isn't) and how we might leverage it better for our businesses.

Plus I'm just killing 30-minutes before a face-to-face networking event. Ironically enough it's a seminar on using social media for business.

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Permalink Reply by Katy Gunderson on January 1, 2010 at 6:09pm

Chris there is a great book called "I'm on LinkedIn Now What" by Jason Alba. It gives a lot of great ideas on how to more actively use LinkedIn. Also I have found a great benefit from answering the questions that people post.

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Permalink Reply by Damon Richards on November 20, 2009 at 10:54am

One of the best uses for me is as an auto-correcting address book. People in my network change their contact information so I can keep up with them.

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Permalink Reply by Michael J Dukehart, II on November 20, 2009 at 11:04am

That is how I have always viewed it but am excited to see how others are using it.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Finney on November 20, 2009 at 12:44pm

I personally use LinkedIn for a listing or resume as you describe. I haven't had a traditional resume since starting my web design business over 7 years ago. I was recently asked for a resume from a prospective client and I responded by giving them a link to my LinkedIn page in addition to the usual links to sites launched since my last portfolio update.

The other way I use it is to learn about someone before meeting them in person or soon after meeting them. One of my goals for 2009 was to stop being such a hermit and to go out into the community and meet other web and marketing professionals. If I am going to meet someone, at a Starbucks say, I first take a peek at their LinkedIn profile and see what companies they have worked for in the past. Often I find we share a connection point and I can say something like "oh, you worked for XYZ company in 1995, the ad agency I used to work for outsourced to them." If it is a potential client that I am meeting, I know more about their background and where they are coming from.

I also use it for learning more about potential vendors or employees. I had a person interested in doing sales for me. A quick LinkedIn search and I knew that the person did not have a LinkedIn account. Kind of a big strike against someone wanting to do website sales to not have a LinkedIn profile.

I have dabbled at promoting my blog posts to various LinkedIn groups. That seems to result in quite a lot of traffic, but not many actionable responses.

Making new connections solely with LinkedIn seems impossible. Where on Twitter or SmallerIndiana, people are happy to connect with new people, on LinkedIn you are encouraged to "report" people that make contact with you that do not know you.

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Permalink Reply by Teri Baskett on November 20, 2009 at 4:39pm

Well, I am one of those job hunting right now, but before that I used it to connect with others outside of my "home area" whom I would never meet. Now, however, it is my primary source for finding open positions. And, for others' comments about the resume, it is still expected when you apply for a position. I agree, however, it is a very outdated form, but still seems to be expected.
Teri

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Permalink Reply by john blue on November 23, 2009 at 10:01am

Here are some tactics I use today:
* There are several ag related groups I have joined where I regularly post news and updates (regularly = weekly).
** I aim to post 2 to 4 news articles and try not to repeat across groups.
* Research: Company level info is available. For example, Monsanto Company Profile http://bit.ly/56qa9T
** I use this to learn more about the person I am contacting; the company info adds to understanding.
** Interesting use of LinkedIn company data=> You can see former employees and new hires. Gives a sense of turnover, growth, etc.
* I belong to the National Agri-Marketers Association and they have a private LinkedIn group. For that group I will also participate in some discussions.
* There are some groups I feel are too large (Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators (http://bit.ly/70SJGx )is one: 72,000 + members...) These I feel have good info but requires finding sub-groups/connections to be of value. I am still working to figure out how to integrate...
* For several Truffle email sub-groups, using the email metrics, I pulled the email loyalists (those that clicked on something in the last 3 email campaigns), loaded them into Linkedin (Idea from Chris Penn Power Twitter eBook at http://tinyurl.com/TwitterPowerGuide , see page 12). This was one way to extend the connections I already have.

There is no magic: Like connecting in real space, one must have a reason to connect and build the relationship over time, in person and digitally. My goal is not grow number of connections/followers/etc. The goal is to find people who have same interests/goals and share ideas that may lead to a project or initiative that is valued for all involved.

Hope this helps,
--
John Blue
Truffle Media Networks
Ag Media You Can Use
jlblue@TruffleMedia.com
317-450-1958 (8:30am - 5pm EDT, Monday thru Friday) (mobile and main)

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Permalink Reply by Mike Magan on November 25, 2009 at 7:59am

Yes. My company targets upper management who manage Fortune 1000 firms' telecom and wireless mobility environments. Which is to say they manage the phones for firms with 5000+ people internationally with dozens or hundreds of locations.

One challenge we have is that these people are putting out fires so often they are not at their desk checking email, twitter or facebook. The are generally on smartphones, but burning up voice and top priority email and text and still not on twitter or facebook. LinkedIN is a way to reach these people who haven't embraced facebook or twitter as a PROFESSIONAL way to share information or network with their executive level peers.

AOTMP hosts TEM2010, an annual conference in Orlando, which is pretty well attended among our target audience. We are using LinkedIn as a pre-conference networking/information distribution tool for the first time as a sub group. Its is still not a great way to communicate, but results have been better than last year e-mail/phonecall method.

The limited success of LinkedIn has been far better than our lmost-0 response from email the last 2 years. Our Exact Target emails have failed and we are switching to MailChimp because no matter how brilliant our content or powerful ExactTarget is in getting the message there - we've only lead the horse to water and very few are drinking.

LinkedIn works because A: if they are on there, they will interact with us and B: they will open an email from LinkedIN before they open one from us.

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