The Power of the 2nd Degree

It’s not who you know…… it’s who who you know knows!

Presentation for the Greater Cleveland PC Users GroupMarch 12, 2011

By member Susie Sharp

Link to Why Join LinkedIn? video on YouTube

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use the controls at the bottom of the player to see the entire video.

Why Join LinkedIn?

Amodiovalerio Verde - LinkedIn Demographics, Jan 2011

Launched in May 2003, LinkedIn Subscribers…

reached 1M by September 2004

80M in 2010

and 101M by the end of January 2011

isn’t going anywhere:

Amodiovalerio Verde - LinkedIn Demographics, Jan 2011

Of those 101 Million World Subscribers, 48% (48.48M) live in the U.S.

20.9% are 18-24

72.1% are 25-54

6.9% are 54+What’s wrong here?

80% of employers

use LinkedIn to scout for new hires

Will you be where they’re hunting?

Introducing Simpler Controls for LinkedIn Account Settings - Nick Posner

First, here’s a guide to the new Settings still being rolled out:

Settings

“When you make networking the focus of your LinkedIn activities, it becomes clear that you need to include a photo, because

we (all humans) bond more with a face than with the typed text.”

Photos On Resumes Or LinkedIn - Advice To The Job Seeker - by Peggy McKee

The Photo

A recruiter’s comment:

A recruiter’s comment, continued:

LinkedIn users expect to see a photo, and it looks a little odd if you don't...like you're trying to hide something.

A photo makes other users more comfortable connecting with you, which is one of your primary goals.” (emphasis added)

Photos On Resumes Or LinkedIn - Advice To The Job Seeker - by Peggy McKee

The Photo

“Not only is it expected, it's a valuable part of your

online credibility and networking success.”

Photos On Resumes Or LinkedIn - Advice To The Job Seeker - by Peggy McKee

The Photo

LinkedIn claims that you’re 40 times more likely to turn up in a search if your profile is complete.

Still debating about whether or not to use a picture on LinkedIn? Read that statistic again.

The Photo

Want another reason?

You can’t get to 100% unless you’ve complied with LinkedIn’s guidelines –

which includes a profile shot.

The Photo

The Photo

A personal story:

Betsy, who had always made organic soaps and lotions for friends and family, started making them for sale when theeconomy turned bad. Cleveland’s Mike Caldwell helped grow her business with his urban entrepreneur incubator, Business Greenhouse Ventures.

When I talked to Mike’s incubator people on LinkedIn, the room grew silent when I mentioned the importance of a picture. “They’ll see I’m old! Or fat! Or (Heavens to mergatroid!) black!

Betsy spoke up and said she’d put her picture on LinkedIn when she could have one taken where she’d be looked at as a businesswoman first, and a black woman second. I took the challenge. My first shot appears above. OK, but…

The Photo

… off we were to Nordstrom’s for a free Dior makeup session and accompanying professional photo shoot!

Mission accomplished!Betsy Gates

Just look confident, like you know something that we don’t, smile, and you’ll be fine.

Simply Betsy Company now sells online at http://simplybetsy.com/ as well as at the Cleveland Food Coop… with more good things in the works.

The Photo

The Don’ts of Profile Shots

No full bodies, no spouses!

No half bodies! And.. well.. UGH!

No old photos!

No kids!

Can you count the ways?

The Photo

I count at least 7 things here that folks might find off-putting in a profile shot .

How many can you count?

The Photo

LinkedIn Profile Shot I’d like to see:

And finally, the profile we’ll never see:

It works because it’s his BRAND …

and nobody rocks a mullet like the Dog!

The Photo

Now that the profile shot issue has hopefully been put to bed, open up your resume on your computer.

It’s a personal choice as to how much work history you choose to include. LinkedIn recommends 3 jobs. Some prefer limiting their work history to a (15) fifteen year period.

Experience

Whatever you do…

Make sure the history on your LinkedIn profile matches that on your resume.

Discrepancies will raise eyebrows – and questions.

Experience

Education

Besides your college, be sure to include in your high school if you live in one of those cities where that matters.

In Cleveland, Ohio, when someone asks where you went to school, they often mean HIGH SCHOOL, not college. In these types of towns, local alumni often have a powerful LinkedIn networking mechanism. Use it.

Link to LinkedIn Skills video on YouTube

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New – LinkedIn Skills

Executive Summary

You have 2,000 characters here to use. You don’t need to use all of them.

Write in FIRST PERSON ALWAYS. This is where you write your ‘sales brochure’. Do not – I repeat – do NOT regurgitate the stale summary paragraph off from your resume. Read what you’ve written aloud. If you trip over a word or it doesn’t seem natural, change it.

Hint: Write as you would if youweren’t trying to impress anyone.

Special Circumstances – Job Seekers

I recommend that job seekers insert a line with their email address at the top of the Executive Summary, skip a line, and then insert their summary text.

This makes it easier for recruiters and hiring authorities to reach out.

Executive Summary

Specialties

Put your important keywords here. You can comma separate or put in a list; it doesn’t matter. These are the words that Google uses to rank you in its search.

If you want, you can use the Google Keyword Tool to see which keywords work best. This, and many other tools, can be found at http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/

Your professional headline

These are the two lines people will see when they see a brief description of you.

LinkedIn provides one for you based on your most current job entry. Most of them tell people nothing about you.

Use your Professional Headline as a chance to stand out above the others and educate viewers. Title / company doesn’t do it unless you’re Steve Jobs.

Try working with this: You help [who?] with [what?]

Your professional headline

Here’s how to change it. Go to the Edit Page of your Profile:

Recommendations

Remember: In order to fulfill LinkedIn’s 100% complete rating, you’ll need to secure a minimum of (3) three professional recommendations. Most recruiters recommend a minimum of (4) four.

If a recommendation needs tweaking, it can be sent back to the writer for clarification before it’s published. And if you feel inspired, it’s considered good form to write recommendations for others – but they must be genuine.

Websites

Next to Websites you’ll find places to put your website, your blog, other social profiles or your company website. Remember to customize the text so it’s not LinkedIn’s generic text showing ( e.g. “My Website”).

Twitter

If you use Twitter, you’ll want to customize that as well.Click below for Instructions on Linking Twitter and LinkedIn:

YouTube: Connecting Linkedin to Twitter - Julie Alpaugh

Your Public Profile URL

Your default ‘Public Profile’ URL will be a combination of letters and numbers like http://www.linkedin.com/pub/brenda-abrams/9/b72/238

You’ll want to customize it right away. Then copy the customized URL and incorporate it into your email signature, resume and business card, along with a little LinkedIn logo.

You can also have some fun with your custom URL:

How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business - Jeff Korhan

Great primer on QR Codes!

Your Public Profile URL

Always test your QR code before distributing.

From my smartphone with free Barcode Scanner app

Your Public Profile URL

Status Updates

A relatively new addition to LinkedIn, Status Updates broadcast your words – and your links – putting your name and picture in front of all your connections each time they are posted.

Idea: Periodically post a link and a comment to an article addressing cutting edge technology in your industry. You can also integrate with your Twitter, but beware of being too ‘noisy’ in this space.

Status UpdatesExample:

ConnectionsInvitation Etiquette

LinkedIn lets you invite

colleagues, classmates, friends and business partners

without entering their email addresses.

Connections

When you ask someone to connect with you on LinkedIn:

They’ll have access to people you know

Others may ask you about them and vice versa

You’ll get updates on their activity

Connections

NO!

There are lots of ways to connect with people. I’ll share some of the ways I connect.

Connections

Connections

You’ll want to be careful here. If you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to send off generic LinkedIn invites to your entire email address list…. and a good portion of them will be deleted. LinkedIn will ‘know’ which one of your email addresses has a LinkedIn account, and there’s really no sense to sending off invitations to people who aren’t on LinkedIn. Watch the check boxes if you use this option.

Connections

LinkedIn will search for people you may currently work with, or have worked with in the past.

ConnectionsSelect an employer, past or present

YES!

YES!

ConnectionsConnecting with Classmates

ConnectionsConnecting with Classmates

ConnectionsConnecting with Classmates

Always include a personal note. You can use up to 200 characters.

No links allowed here.

ConnectionsPeople You May Know

ConnectionsPeople You May Know

Always add a personal note. It sets you apart.

Each LinkedIn account comes with 3,000 invitations. Don’t waste them.

Always replace the default text in an invitation with something personal. You’ve got 200 characters. PERSONALIZE

Connections

LION (LinkedIn Open Networker)

LION members accept invitations from anyone. They are know as Open Networkers. They will ask for you to send an invitation to them, as LinkedIn accounts only come with 3,000 invitations. It’s a personal choice.

ConnectionsInvitation Etiquette

Always personalize.

Don’t misuse the first four categories when sending an invitation.

Always write something brief and personal – in 200 characters or less.

ConnectionsInvitation Etiquette

Recipients can indicate that they don’t know you. If they do, you’ll be asked to enter an email address with each future invitation.

FYI, LinkedIn deals sternly with users who accumulate more than a handful of “I don’t know” or “Spam” responses.

ConnectionsInvitation Etiquette

Invitation Pet Peeves

1. Clicking “colleague,” “business partner,” “classmate” or “friend” when you aren’t or have never been.

2. Lack of a personalized invitation.

3. Typos.

ConnectionsInvitation Etiquette

Invitation text samples

LinkedIn Invitations - Making them Great - By Scott Allen, The Virtual Handshake

Connections

The Real Power of LinkedIn is in the Second Degree - Jan Vermeiren

The Power of the Second Degree

Click the hyperlink below to access the article and links to free eBook downloads and webinars.

Connections

The Real Power of LinkedIn is in the Second Degree - Jan Vermeiren

The Power of the Second Degree“Thinking that the power of the network is in the first degree is one of the largest barriers for people to really achieve their goals.

The real power of the network is not in who you know, but in who they know. The real power of the network is in the second degree. There are many more opportunities there.”

- Jan Vermeiren

ConnectionsPeople You May Know

You, and the people to whom you are connected are considered FIRST DEGREE CONTACTS.

LinkedIn will suggest people who are connected to your 1st Degree contacts. These are called SECOND DEGREE CONTACTS.

The Power of the Second Degree

ConnectionsReclaiming unaccepted invitations

You can delete accepted invitations.

But for unaccepted…

ConnectionsReclaiming unaccepted invitations

After a reasonable period of time has passed, you may want to hit ‘withdraw’ to reclaim for re-use. S/he won’t be notified.

Link to LinkedIn Group Conversations

video on YouTube

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use the controls at the bottom of the player to see the entire video.

Start a conversationwith LinkedIn Groups

Groups

Huge key to networking!

Go to LinkedIn Groups and look to see if any of your schools have LinkedIn alumni groups.

Join. Allow members to contact you.

Groups provide a very powerful way to network.

You can send an invitation to anyone in a Group without having to know their email address.

Groups

You may join a max of

50 Groups

Drupalcon DC 2009

Find out what Groups the smart people in your industry belong to, join, and click the ‘group’ radio button on your invitation form.

Groups

To connect with smart people, just use your noggin:

About me

Click to connect:

Susie Sharp

I reside in (sometimes) sunny Cleveland, Ohio where I manage a small commercial architectural firm. In my spare time I help executives, job seekers and graduating students understand the power of LinkedIn.

To learn more, please visit the LinkedIn Learning Center You’ll also find a wealth of instructional videos on their YouTube channels’ The Official LinkedIn Channel & The Official LinkedIn Marketing Channel .

Proud member of:

New! LinkedIn Today see the introductory video

Free weekly LinkedIn webinars: For beginners – Wednesdays at 1 PM CST For pros – Tuesdays at 1 PM CST

Job Seekers – 10 Tips for Integrating LinkedIn to Your Job Search in 2011 - Neil Schaffer

Using LinkedIn Questions and Answers – Leverage your brand via LinkedIn Answers - Heidi Cool

And now that we’ve scratched the surface . . .

More . . .