What is a LinkedIn Expert?
Yesterday I wrote my own definition concerning what a social media expert is, so today I wanted to look specifically at what I feel makes a LinkedIn expert. Recently I was named a LinkedIn expert on the site of the LinkedIn and Social Media Training Company Integrated Alliance’s blog post. And on that same post there was recently a comment by a reader that debated those guidelines on qualifying a LinkedIn expert. I appreciate that Integrated Alliances, for the first time that I know of, actually started discussing what the potential guidelines could be in qualifying a LinkedIn expert, and I would like to add on to what they have said while addressing the point made by that recent negative comment.
Now, as a disclaimer, I should point out that Integrated Alliances’s blog post was really on how to qualify a LinkedIn expert by looking at their profile and network. This really is the only way to qualify someone without knowing them, but I want to go a little farther and assume we have more information about them.
And, as I write this post, I realize that I am also providing guidance to those who think they already are experts or would like to become experts. Perhaps you want to try out a new feature on LinkedIn in order to realize whatever objective you might have. I do hope this blog post provides guidelines as to what I believe the absolute essentials are in really understanding and leveraging LinkedIn.
First of all, these are the 5 main profile characteristics that I have chosen from the Integrated Alliances blog post to comment on:
- Is their Profile Complete? –> This is a given that they are using whatever space and functionality provided by LinkedIn to completely enter their profile. However, you’d be surprised by how many people have still not completely filled out their LinkedIn profile.
- Is the Personal URL to their profile personalized? –> Once again this is another given that they have gone the extra step to personalize their URL and claim it. If you care about your LinkedIn profile appearing on Google searches, this is a must thing to do.
- Are Jobs and Education listed all the way back with real data included? –> In addition to the required detail, I would add that does their Jobs section go back 15+ years and does their Education section include High School. Look, if you are an expert on LinkedIn you appreciate the value in listing all of the companies and schools that you attended, and thus these are reasonable guidelines.
- Are they a member of any LinkedIn Groups? How many? More than 20? –> Once again, if you truly a LinkedIn expert, you would understand the value of LinkedIn Groups and would have maxxed out your membership to having something like close to 50 groups. I would expect that you would be a member of at least 25 groups.
- How BIG is their Network? True LinkedIn experts cannot have small networks. –> The Integrated Alliances set a number of a minimum of 2,000 connections here in order to be considered an expert. I would say that the number should be 6,000 connections. Why? Well, unless you have dealt with LinkedIn restrictions, you can’t say you are an expert. As everyone is granted only 3,000 invitations to send, those that have double that number have obviously not only found out how to deal with LinkedIn Customer Service but have also amassed significant expertise in networking with that many connections and dealing with the issues that a large and diverse network can throw at you.
In addition to the above 5 profile features, I would additionally add the following 5 things I would be looking for in the profile of a LinkedIn expert:
- Are they Receiving Recommendations? I would expect true LinkedIn experts to both understand the value of asking for recommendations and to have had enough professional experience so that they have received at least 10. Note that you need at least 3 to make sure that your profile is 100% complete anyway.
- Have they Started their own LinkedIn Group? How can you teach the value of Groups to others if you have not successfully started your own?
- Are they Asking and Answering Questions? Answers is one of the key functionalities that LinkedIn provides, and I would expect any LinkedIn expert to have been active at some point on the Answers boards. I would expect them to have at least 10 Expertise Stars, regardless of subject matter.
- Have they ever Created an Event? LinkedIn Events is an amazingly viral application that any LinkedIn Expert should have experienced firsthand. LinkedIn is a social networking application, and I expect anyone with LinkedIn expertise would of had a purpose to create an event.
- Have they ever Installed a LinkedIn Application? I don’t care which one it is, there are ten of them out there, and I am sure that every professional would find at least one of value.
Now, the negative commentary that came from the blog reader was that they felt you needed actual business experience in order to be considered a LinkedIn expert. And, I will say it today like I did in my post yesterday, expertise is absolutely unrelated to whether or not you want to monetize your expertise. To remind you of what I mentioned yesterday (which I will relate to LinkedIn expertise), LinkedIn (social media) experts are:
- Recognized as being a reliable source of information and accorded authority by the public. Do they have their own blog, book, webinar, or consulting company with regards to LinkedIn? Do others recognize them as an expert in one form or another?
- Provide something unique that is of value beyond knowing the “mechanics” of LinkedIn (social media). What unique contribution above knowing the workings of LinkedIn have they provided to the community?
- True LinkedIn (social media) experts are leaders and not followers. How have they showed their leadership in LinkedIn expertise?
The last three points are crucial, and while being slightly rhetorical, true LinkedIn experts are not those that have monetized their experience but are those that are true Thought Leaders on the subject.
What is your definition of a LinkedIn expert?
Neal Schaffer is recognized as a leader in helping businesses and professionals embrace and strategically leverage the potential of social media. An award-winning published author, frequent speaker at social media events, and an avid blogger, Neal is President of 
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… check, check, check.
i’m good!
and yes, VERY good points, Neal…
- Steven Burda
http://www.tinyurl.com/LinkedinPDF
A Social Media expert is one who has the capability of expanding another individuals presence or a company or organizations presence on the Internet through making them searchable, “sellable” and successful. It’s not about tweeting ad nauseam about trivial information such as concerts, having 6000 connections that you don’t know, or giving classes on building your connections on LinkedIn.
Hi Neal,
Great article/posting, I am intrigued by the list of information you call out that creates the classification for a “linkedin” expert. please note this is these are only questions are not criticisms. I appear to have all these characteristics within my link in profile. However, the only piece I do not have is the 2000+ network, in my first line. now I would have well over 500+, but I found some of those connections were only interested in making a connection when there was no apparent or perceived mutual value to be added. I would enjoy as you have time, and more personal discussion around this topic, I am working on a social/media networking architectural approach for both professional and personal usage. The personal usage would be distributed free professional, would be fee-based. I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Harold
haroldcheardjr@gmail.com
Neal,
I’m not sure if I qualify as an expert based on the information above. Not sure that it matters. As much as I’ve written on LinkedIn I’ve maintained that I’m simply a small business person sharing my experiences with others.
I agree with most of the first section. If you’re going to be an expert your profile should be complete, personalized and detailed. You should know the value of groups and be in at least 50 and have created a number of groups.
I disagree on the connections perspective, because I could be an expert on LinkedIn in regards to building valuable closed or tight networks. In this case I might only have a couple of hundred connections.
I might also not be an expert but have known enough to use opennetworker.com to generate significant connections. I also could have posted my email in my username (which violates LI’s user agreement).
The second set is reasonable, although should the recommendations be LinkedIn related? I constantly have posts that thank me for information on my blog yet never result in a recommendation. I don’t seek recommendations for my LinkedIn activities. I’m more interested in my insurance client’s providing recommendations.
The asking and answering of questions is another area that I’m not sure about. I used to answer more questions but with the increase in blog writing and group discussions, I answer fewer questions. It’s a matter of time allocation and where I feel I’m more effective and productive.
The third set is where I think the rubber hits the road.
Here’s what I think you need to do to be considered an expert:
1. You have to share your own original thoughts, opinions, perspectives etc. in a blog. You have to put your knowledge on the line to be examined, questioned, disagreed with, etc. You need to do it over time and with enough frequency that others have a body of work in which to judge your expertise.
2. You have to add to the body of knowledge. If all you do is regurgitate the thoughts of others you’re simple sharing available information. A college professor that teaches a class is not an expert. This goes along with your statement to be a leader not a follower. To be an expert you have to be an innovator.
3. Its not important that you call yourself an expert, but rather what do others say about you.
It’s interesting that if you include a LinkedIn blog as a requirement to be considered a LinkedIn expert, then there are less than 15 people that would be considered experts.
I personally know a few people that are considered experts who do not write a blog. They do teach other’s how to use LinkedIn. Are they experts…I don’t know. They do a good job though of helping others.
Am I an expert…maybe, maybe not. It depends on whether or not what I contribute provides value to you. If so then to you I might be considered an expert.
Great post Neal.
Hey Steven,
Thanks for checking in and your comment. You are definitely good
- Neal
Hi Harold,
Thanks for your comment and for your compliment. I am just throwing out questions and some semblance of a guideline as well. The connections one is a hard one, and I am only throwing out that number of 6,000 because there are restrictions that I think you should be experienced in. I should also point out that I strongly believe if you understand the full value of LinkedIn, you would want a larger rather than a smaller network. That being said, 500 connections IS a large network and it doesn’t make sense to connect with people that you don’t find value in. Once again, there is no clear-cut answer, but I enjoy the debate and commentary from all angles.
Cheers,
Neal
Sean,
You deserve an extra special award for taking the time in writing such a passionate comment and contributing to the debate. Thank you!
Yes, there are no strict guidelines on what an “expert” really is, and I was just adding on to the comments from Integrated Alliances on some potential ways of framing a more “experienced” LinkedIn user from a novice. You are not the first one to bring up the issue of connections, and, indeed, if you have 500+ you have certainly figured out how to invite and make connections.
I like your numbered comments and they are similar in thought process to what I have provided. I believe that we think very much alike here. Originality, add knowledge, and be respected by the community. You do not necessarily have to write a blog but somehow do something that is recognized by the public. Teaching others is a great example.
As for are you an me experts or not, this is totally irrelevant to the situation. If others think we are then we are. But it should not be influencing what we do anyway. After all, over time the expert status for LinkedIn will be a commodity like all of the other things out there… What is left is the value that you have provided others and those new and old friends that you have helped along the way.
- Neal
Neal,
Great blog post! Thanks for all the hard work & dedication you put into helping others. I have had the chance to meet Neal in person and I was very impressed with the insight he provided. I highly recommend his events.
Chris Kokalis
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Chris.
- Neal
a really insightful article, i have profiles on several social networking sites and this new knowledge will help me link better on social networking scene. Thanks again
Hi Implanting Ideas, I am glad that you found the article insightful. There are a lot of social networking sites out there, so good luck on all of it!
[...] What is a LinkedIn Expert? Yesterday I wrote my own definition concerning what a social… [...]
Good points on this Neal. I have seen way too many “new experts” out there and as I am one of the “old experts” (who doesn't sell herself as one on my profile) I am having a hard time with all the “expert buzz” going on.
I really appreciated you final 3 points as that is how I felt I got to the level I am at now. Here are the three I am talking about. I almost see no new experts doing anything more than just sellling their webinars.
Recognized as being a reliable source of information and accorded authority by the public. Do they have their own blog, book, webinar, or consulting company with regards to LinkedIn? Do others recognize them as an expert in one form or another?
Provide something unique that is of value beyond knowing the “mechanics” of LinkedIn (social media). What unique contribution above knowing the workings of LinkedIn have they provided to the community?
True LinkedIn (social media) experts are leaders and not followers. How have they showed their leadership in LinkedIn expertise?
As I said, good points. I am going to post this on my LinkedMinnesota board that I manage. We have just about 10,000 members and many will benefit from this reading.
Lisa Hendrickson
Manager/LinkedMinnesota
http://www.linkedin.com/in/callthatgirl
Hey Lisa,
Thanks for your comments and glad that you found value in my post. Thanks for also willing to share this post with your LinkedMinnesota Group! I hope you and your group will find more value from my LinkedIn book which I have been diligently proofreading and hope to release next month!
Cheers,
Neal
Good points on this Neal. I have seen way too many “new experts” out there and as I am one of the “old experts” (who doesn't sell herself as one on my profile) I am having a hard time with all the “expert buzz” going on.
I really appreciated you final 3 points as that is how I felt I got to the level I am at now. Here are the three I am talking about. I almost see no new experts doing anything more than just sellling their webinars.
Recognized as being a reliable source of information and accorded authority by the public. Do they have their own blog, book, webinar, or consulting company with regards to LinkedIn? Do others recognize them as an expert in one form or another?
Provide something unique that is of value beyond knowing the “mechanics” of LinkedIn (social media). What unique contribution above knowing the workings of LinkedIn have they provided to the community?
True LinkedIn (social media) experts are leaders and not followers. How have they showed their leadership in LinkedIn expertise?
As I said, good points. I am going to post this on my LinkedMinnesota board that I manage. We have just about 10,000 members and many will benefit from this reading.
Lisa Hendrickson
Manager/LinkedMinnesota
http://www.linkedin.com/in/callthatgirl
Hey Lisa,
Thanks for your comments and glad that you found value in my post. Thanks for also willing to share this post with your LinkedMinnesota Group! I hope you and your group will find more value from my LinkedIn book which I have been diligently proofreading and hope to release next month!
Cheers,
Neal
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