I am amazed by how many small businesses do not utilize social media to the maximum.  Think about it: social media, like the internet two decades ago, allows any business to compete with larger, more established entities.  Come on, what are you waiting for?

What further amazes me is how few small businesses maximize their presence on LinkedIn and instead just follow the trend of Facebook and Twitter.  Why would a niche B2B company establish a Facebook Fan Page when their potential customers may not be social on Facebook yet are already used to networking on LinkedIn?  I’m confused.

That’s why, as a social media strategist, I took the approach of first blogging and thereafter writing my first book on LinkedIn, not the other popular sites.  In fact, as I said in my recent speech at Gravity Summit at UCLA, “LinkedIn is Your Hub for B2B Social Media Marketing.”  And I meant it.

Keeping that theme in mind, and combined with a recent experience I had looking for a vendor on LinkedIn, I wanted to share advice with you small business owners of why you’re not getting inbound leads from your presence on the social networking site.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is free consulting, so please heed my advice!

We all know that we are spending more and more time on social media, and thus we are now looking at social media as a huge resource of information.  Going beyond that, when we look for someone to do business with, we also tend to use social media as part of that process.  I personally use LinkedIn over Google whenever I am looking for a new vendor.  Why?  Because at least I know who I am doing business with!  But if you are not displaying yourself on LinkedIn with the utmost in authenticity as a trusted person to do business with, I definitely will NOT do business with you.

This should give you some good background into my thought process.  Let’s move on to the 12 reasons why your small business isn’t getting leads from LinkedIn: (note that this is only advice on your Profile…there is lots more advice that I can provide you if you are interested!)

1 – You’re Not on LinkedIn

How can you, as a small business owner, not even be on the biggest social networking site for professionals?  Even if you are a B2C company, don’t you have partner and vendor relationships with other companies?  Don’t you want to be creating alliances with other businesses? There are many reasons why every B2C company also have a B2B side to them, and this is the reason why there is no excuse for not being on LinkedIn.  You are simply missing out on the potential.

2 – Who are You?

If you don’t have a photo on your profile, you are invisible.  Who wants to do business with the Invisible Man?  Not me!  And not many of your potential customers!

3 – It’s All About LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION.

Let me give an example here.  I live in Orange County, California.  I look for service providers close to my zip code.  I only contact those that display “Orange County, California” on their profiles.  Let’s say you live in Los Angeles County but actually have your office in Orange County…which zip code are you using for your LinkedIn Profile?  If you are not using your BUSINESS zip code, you are misrepresenting yourself…and missing out on potential business.  Fix it.  Now.

4 – What Industry are You in?

If I am looking for a bookkeeper, I am searching in the “Accounting” industry.  Perhaps you are a bookkeeper and want to upsell consulting services and choose “Financial Services” or “Management Consultant” for your industry.  You are only going to get the leads that are aligned with your industry, so choose carefully!

5 – Did You Attend School?

It still amazes me how many people skip over this section of their LinkedIn Profile.  Education is another data point that proves that you are “real.”  Especially if you work in an industry where a college degree is important, being skimpy on this section means that potential leads are NOT going to contact you.

6 – What? No Recommendations?!?!?  Really?

Seriously.  You’ve been in business for several years.  You have happy clients that you refer potential customers to.  Yet you don’t have any LinkedIn Recommendations?  You do have clients that would be happy to write them for you, right?  I hope so!  By the way, unless you have 3 Recommendations your profile does not show up as being “100% complete,” so this is another reason why every small business owner should have at least 3 LinkedIn Recommendations!

7 – Why Aren’t You Connected?

I don’t care what your personal policy is: LinkedIn is a database that will help you get found if people are looking for you.  But guess what?  If you don’t have enough connections you aren’t going to be found nearly as often.  Also, as a professional who has a long list of people that you have gone to school with, personally know, done business with, or worked together with, can’t you get your LinkedIn Connections number up to at least 100?  It scares me when I see a small business owner on with only a few connections…are they for real?  Why don’t they have more connections?  It raises too many questions to have an over-limiting policy.  And if you signed up and forgot about it, you might as well delete your profile because an inactive profile is only working against you and is a form of negative advertisement.  Maximize or delete: There is no middle road in social media.  And don’t make me have to pay to contact you by sending you an InMail: You should be paying me for helping you get connected!  Done deal?

9 – It’s All About the Keywords

This is a no-brainer, but let me remind you just in case.  Just as you have a website filled with words to help potential clients find you, you need to do the same on your LinkedIn Profile.  I was shocked by how many small business owners put the absolute bare minimum in their Profile.  Talking about an opportunity loss…  If you don’t have a place for the keywords, your Summary as well as what I write about in 10) are appropriate.

10 – You ARE Experienced, Right?

LinkedIn is giving every small business owner major real estate by allowing you to 1) list the company and title where you currently and previously worked and 2) to write about your experiences with each company.  Why small business owners are not taking advantage of this space to write about their experiences in keyword-rich terms is beyond me.  I am a social media strategist, not a psychiatrist!  And, beyond that, if you say nothing about your experiences, how else do you show off your expertise in your Profile?  And if you don’t show off your expertise, why would I even call you in the first place?  See what I’m getting at?  I hope so…

11 – Don’t You See the Value of LinkedIn Groups?

There are many reasons why small business owners should be all over these Groups.  But even if you don’t participate in them, there are two huge reasons why you should be a member of many groups:

• You need to be where your potential customer is, so find the groups that your potential customer might be in, join them, and ideally actively participate.
• Groups allows potential customers an easy way to contact you: Even if you are not directly connected, the default setting for Group members is that you have the ability to directly message each other.

See my point now?  Even joining 1 of the largest groups as well as 1 of the largest regional groups may be enough to allow tens of thousands of people the opportunity to contact you.

12 – How Do I Contact You?

LinkedIn has a spot at the bottom of your profile for “Contact Settings.”  Most people leave it blank.  If you are a business, and you are listed in the telephone directory, would you only show your name and city?  Exactly!  Why not make it easy for potential clients to contact you?  If you don’t want to show your phone number, a business email address is sufficient.  But write something here, please!

As you can see, optimizing your LinkedIn Profile is not just for the jobseeker.  When you and/or your small business is ready to get serious about social media marketing, make sure you read my LinkedIn Book or contact me to learn more about my social media strategic consultancy services for solo entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Would love to hear your experiences with getting social media leads…have you had people contact you and say they found you on LinkedIn?  Do tell!  If not, how many of the above mistakes are you guilty of?

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Yesterday, I issued a press release talking about how my LinkedIn book, “Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn” won and Honorable Mention for Best Non-Fiction Book of 2009.  To say that I am happy about this is an understatement: as someone who risked all credibility with publishers by going the self-published route, it is extremely satisfying.  But social media is about you, not about me, so I want to share in the victory by offering you some free social media books.  What do you need to do?  Just participate!  Keep reading for details

Social media is all about participation.  If it weren’t for all of those that connected with me and participated in conversations with me, I obviously couldn’t have written the book that I did.  Participation in social media is where you gain expertise, how you find new friends, where businesses can develop relationships with their old customers and create new ones.  That’s why the theme of my giving away social media books is also about participation: not just your participation, but participation of authors themselves.

I wrote a blog post late last year on what I thought were the best social media books of 2009.  I was happy to provide my opinion to the world on the books that I thought were best, although there were many excellent books that didn’t make the list.  A lot of people tweeted the article.  You know what else happened?  A lot of the authors themselves came to my blog to comment and thank me.  Thank me?  I wanted to thank them for sharing so much knowledge with everyone!  But they were also participating in and continuing the conversation that I started.  And it is these authors’ books that I want to give away to YOU!

The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff by Clara Shih

Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

Facebook Me! A Guide to Having Fun with Your Friends and Promoting Your Projects on Facebook by Dave Awl

Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business by Erik Qualman

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success by Lon Safko and David Brake

A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization by Deltina Hay

As a bonus, I just saw Seth Godin speak last night for the first time.  To be honest with you, I had never read any of his books and wasn’t sure what to expect.  But after seeing the excellent video on Seth’s speech at the TED Conference this week in Long Beach, I realized that he was speaking to me: I wrote about the need for us to connect and embrace social media and the social networking potential that it implies, and that, in essence, was how I created the “Windmill Networking” concept.  Seth talks about the same need for us to connect, and for us to lead each other and form our own “Tribes” in this video.  I am in no way saying I am a leader or that you are part of my “Tribe”, but maybe Windmill Networking adds to the infrastructure to help YOU create your own Tribe.  Here’s the video in case you missed it:

And, finally, circling back to my book winning a prize, Seth last night spoke about how we all need to be a “Linchpin,” and in his speech he talked about how we all need to be artists…and that there is nothing holding us back.  Anyone can now become a radio broadcaster, podcaster, video producer, author…all because of the Internet and what it provides us.  I don’t know if I’m a Linchpin or not, but his speech was compelling enough that I want to recommend it to you as well.

So, if you made it this far into my blog post rambling, congratulations!   Here are the Contest Details:

How to Win a Free Social Media Book:

• Over the next 4 weeks I will be giving out 2 of the 8 above books and 2 of my own books each week.  That’s a total of 16 books to give away!
• In order to win, please join either of or both of my Windmill Networking LinkedIn Group and/or my Windmill Networking Facebook Fan Page.
• Finally, just joining either group is not enough: social media is about participation, right?  So winners will be chosen from those who participate!  How to participate?  These are just some examples to give you some ideas:

Ways to participate in a LinkedIn Group:

1. Start a Discussion.  Ask a question.  Just say “Hi!”  Go on, try it!
2. Is there a Discussion that interests you that you’d like to comment on?  Do it!
3. Share some News.  Tweeted or read something interesting that you think the group might be interested in?  Share it!
4. Do you blog?  If your blog is social media related, I would be more than happy to import your RSS Feed and automatically display it in the News Feed.  Just ask me!
5. Are you a recruiter or hiring manager?  Post a job!

Ways to participate on a Facebook Fan Page:

1. When you look at the Facebook Fan Page, there is a “Wall.”  I have tried to share articles that I think you might find interesting, most not from my other bloggers or free webinars that I find out about.  If there is an article that you read and find interesting, press the “Like” button or comment on it!  Just saying “Hi!” is OK as well!
2. Want to share an interesting article that other Windmill Networking Fans might be interested in?  Post it!
3. There is a “Discussions” tab at the top that you can navigate to.  Just like with LinkedIn, if you want to ask a question or start a discussion, go for it!
4. You can also share photos and videos of yourself as another way to Windmill Network with the other Fans!

Here is the schedule:

Participants from February 15 to February 21 (Announced February 22): 1 copy of The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff, 1 copy of Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, 2 copies of Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn

Participants from February 22 to February 28 (Announced March 1): 1 copy of Facebook Me! A Guide to Having Fun with Your Friends and Promoting Your Projects on Facebook, 1 copy of Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business, 2 copies of Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn

Participants from March 1 to March 7 (Announced March 8): 1 copy of The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success, 1 copy of A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization, 2 copies of Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn

Participants from March 8 to March 14 (Announced March 15): 1 copy of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, 1 copy of Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, 2 copies of Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn

That’s it!  Any questions?  Contact me!  Otherwise, looking forward to your participation!

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Today’s blog post has been contributed by Lisa Hendrickson, the owner of Call That Girl! (CTG) based out of Minneapolis, MN.  CTG does local and nationwide telephone supported computer repair/troubleshooting.

My personal experience with using LinkedIn Groups has been more than exciting and has also brought me to my first “eye-opening” attention grabbing numbers of making more than $10,000 from using LinkedIn. What was my investment? TIME. Period. I did not put one dime into LinkedIn and have yet to do so. I still am using the free account as well.

When LinkedIn started using discussion groups, I found that the biggest three groups in Minnesota had no management or organizing going on. At that time, I was organizing social hours for the underground discussion groups that were formed when groups were launched. I talked to the manager about what could be done with a group (at that time, October 2008 with 4,000 members) and he put me on as Manager from there, we moved ahead.

Being a manager of a large group has some responsibility. I moderate the forums and make sure people are posting in a business manner. I remove spam and people who are not posting appropriately. I also send out weekly announcements of our events and on-goings within the group. On occasion, I will send out messages from members that are sponsoring free events to help promote. I also do most of the “question/answer” for the group and as a local guru, I get asked to help people figure out their settings and problems they need help with. To close this, I also forward many introductions requests, recommendations and help people connect with others when they need a referral. Whew! That’s a lot of work…but it has paid off for me. I use LinkedIn as one of my main marketing tools now. With the exposure I get, I also get “free advertising” per se.

When I moved into managing, we were doing bi-weekly luncheons and as I found my business was picking up and could not attend all of them, I brought an event organizer, Suzy Feine to help out. Suzy turned our little luncheons of 15 people to attendance of 80-100 for each event. Our lunches have become very popular and usually only cost the price of lunch. We have since added on having hosts of the lunches. To call it a year, we are also have a Holiday Extravaganza that is expected to have over 400 people and 50 exhibit tables. LinkedMinnesota is now getting exposure as being on the “good networking groups” to join and it’s free!

How things can change in just over a year! We now have over 11,000 members and continually keep finding new ideas for the group to do on a very affordable level that has value for everyone.

Tips for you all? If you have the time, energy and the desire to get more involved, either start your own group or find a group that you enjoy being in and ask to be on the management team and step up and help. Many owners are doing nothing with the face to face events and using it only online. Turning a group to face to face really brings Linkedin to life, and that’s what makes it worth it. Seeing folks happy and enjoying utilizing this great online tool.

In addition to Call That Girl!, Lisa is also an avid user of LinkedIn with over 2,400 contacts, 110 recommendations, current manager of LinkedMinnesota (with 11,000 members) and founder of “Project Link It Forward” a pro-bono project helping LinkedIn members learn how to use LinkedIn to network to new opportunities. Her stewardship to help is one of the back end marketing techniques that has had a big pay off. Lisa is also uses the Big 7 for social media and is considered a trailblazer when it comes to using these tools. You may view her Word Press website/blog at http://www.callthatgirl.biz.  Invite her to connect at http://www.linkedin.com/in/callthatgirl.

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We need to start watching our manners on LinkedIn.  There are a lot of people who are clearly irritated by the actions of some of us LinkedIn users.  You may not be guilty of “poor etiquette,” but keep reading to make sure!

A few months ago I blogged about what my favorite LinkedIn pet peeves were.  The post received its fair share of comments, but more than that it created a series of conversations on the LinkedIn Group “Executive Suite”‘s Discussion Board that are still continuing to this day.  Not only did people touch upon lots of different pet peeves, but it also raises a general question as to what the proper etiquette should be for engaging with others on LinkedIn or any other social networking site.  I have blogged a lot about different types of LinkedIn etiquette (check out my post on Group etiquette as well as Answers etiquette) and have sprinkled more advice throughout my LinkedIn book, but I wanted to thank the people who provided me with their comments by organizing this blog post from the ideas generated by the community who responded to my question.  Although not intending to be a crowdsourcing experiment, they do offer a blueprint to reflect upon proper LinkedIn etiquette.

25 LinkedIn Etiquette Tips to Ponder

LINKEDIN RECOMMENDATIONS

1) Asking for a recommendation from someone that you do not personally know nor have never worked together with.

2) People getting from/giving recommendations to family members to boost up their numbers.

3) People who, after giving them a recommendation, won’t respond to your request for one.

4) Someone asking for a recommendation out of the blue despite being out of contact for several years.

LINKEDIN INVITATIONS

5) Receiving Invitations from strangers without a personalized text or reason to connect.

6) Cold-calling salespeople who send you Invitations.

LINKEDIN MESSAGES

7) Spam.  One person remarked, “The amount of SPAM I am receiving is drowning out the quality discussions and information others have taken the time to post here. I have stopped receiving most updates from groups and cancelled membership in others that are filled with it.”  Others brought up spam in messages such as “connect with me at Spammer@Spammer.inc,” “I am selling the absolute ground floor ponzi scheme opportunity,” “I need a job. Email me at lazy@desperate.org.”

Being added to a mailing list simply because you are connected.

9) People that don’t respond after contacting them.

LINKEDIN STATUS UPDATES

10) People who use their Status Update to “tweet.” (“There is Twitter for that!”)

LINKEDIN INTRODUCTIONS

11) Recruiters who WANT Introductions but don’t GIVE Introductions, joining a Social Network yet choosing not to be sociable.

LINKEDIN ANSWERS

12) “Banal questions that are more like ice breakers at a social event : How do you define success ? What do you love about LinkedIn ? What do you hate about LinkedIn ? Do you tweet ?”

13) People who post a question and then answer their own question with their advertising.

LINKEDIN GROUPS

14) LinkedIn Group Discussion Board Spam. “There should be more active moderation of ALL groups, such spam should be deleted, and users who abuse their membership should be blocked/banned.”

15) “Hardcore, unsophisticated sales pitches in the group discussion or status sections.”

16) “Rock fights in open forums. If you have an issue with somebody, take it outside then throw down.”

17) Job advertisements not posted on the LinkedIn Group Jobs boards.

18) Members of LinkedIn Groups who clearly don’t belong in the groups.

19) People “who join Groups solely to self promote, never exchanging ideas or contributing, but putting up messages that plug whatever crap they’re pimping.”

20) Posting a link on the Groups Discussions Boards in the headline instead of the text area.  Links put in the headline cannot be directly clicked and it forces the reader to cut and paste the URL into their browser.

21) People whose comments on Discussions or Questions have very little value.

22) People that post “Please hire me” on Group Discussion Boards.

23) Jobs or comments posted in Groups without indication of what city/country they are located in.

24) Group spam, despite the fact that settings were supposed to prevent that from happening.

25) Responses to posts that have no relation to the Group Discussion or Question.

The below Pet Peeves were not necessarily related to social networking etiquette and were more general complaints about LinkedIn:

• Suspension of your LinkedIn Account without contacting the member and inability to appeal, the basis of most suspensions being from emails that rubbed people the wrong way. (I am trying to get details on this to share this potentially significant information with everyone.)

• Lack of place to enter certifications in the Education part of your Profile

• Unorganized LinkedIn Groups Discussions Boards (this is a lack of functionality on the platform side)

I believe that this is a pretty exhaustive list, but did we miss any?  Please let us know!

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Image by Neal Schaffer

In my one of my first blog posts, I wrote about what a LinkedIn IDK is and why you should know.  You have the ability to block people on Twitter and Facebook, and LinkedIn gives you a similar ability to block someone by disconnecting with someone, although in the case of LinkedIn you have to connect with them before you can block them (yes, I know, it sounds strange).  But the policy on penalizing someone without either the sender or recipient knowing it, which is the case of replying to a LinkedIn Invitation with an “I Don’t Know” or IDK, is simply unfair to all parties because it is not a transparent rule for everyone to see and truly understand until after the fact.  The person who selects “I Don’t Know,” in fact, may never know how that may have affected the person on the sending end.

As a LinkedIn LION, I have followed the golden rule and have never responded to someone’s invitation with an “IDK.”  If I am not interested in connecting with someone, I simply archive the invitation.  I have contacted people who responded to my invitation with an IDK, and after hearing the consequences of their decision, they actually decided to connect with me to negate their original IDK selection.  I do believe that many people may not be so trigger-happy on the “IDK” response if they knew the consequences.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.

I received an email from LinkedIn Customer Service about my Windmill Networking LinkedIn Group being restricted.  That’s funny, I thought.  It was a new group with not too many followers and I wasn’t doing anything controversial with it.  But it was one line in my Group Profile, which said “We do not IDK” which caught the eye of LinkedIn.  And for that they restricted the Group.

Open networking LinkedIn Groups have been around for years, and many have group membership in the thousands if not tens of thousands.  Why pick on a group that was so small?  Well, it was that wording.  But it was more than that, something that I did not even think of that LinkedIn enlightened me on:

“Your group title and/or description currently have terminology that advises users to not use the functionality choices that we offer for our members to make the appropriate personal choice regarding the receipt of an invitation to connect. The clear instruction to not use the “I Don’t Know/IDK” option as a condition for acceptance of membership or maintenance of membership is in direct conflict with the spirit of LinkedIn.”

To be honest with you, I never thought of the flip side of the equation, that being able to utilize the IDK functionality is a right that those minority of people on LinkedIn have the right to use.  It’s almost like a Freedom of Speech debate, but you have to give the opposing side a right to voice their opinion.  So, while I still would never use the IDK, it is no longer a criteria for joining my Windmill Networking Group.  Of course, after reading my book and seeing the potential for connecting with someone on LinkedIn, I don’t think that anyone joining my group would ever use the IDK, but they do have the right to use it should they see fit.

I do understand and applaud what LinkedIn is trying to do, and as a supporter and advocate of LinkedIn, I feel it is my right to tell their side of the story as they told me.  But I would like to add some suggestions for you that are even better alternatives to avoid the IDK situation:

1. If you don’t want to receive LinkedIn Invitations in the first place, as I mentioned in my previous post on How to Keep a LinkedIn Profile Private, in your Account Settings you can filter your invitations to accept only those from people that either know your email address or those that you imported from your address book when you first sent out invitations.  If you choose this, you should know everyone that invites you and thus have no need to IDK someone.
2. If you want to be selective as to what LinkedIn Invitations you will accept, please update your Contact Settings appropriately so that you are not false advertising.  After all, if you are clear in your Contact Settings as to who you want to receive invitations from and that person totally ignores your request, the burden is on the sender to confirm this before sending out the invitation.
3. If you think you are truly being “spammed” by a fake LinkedIn profile, why not go one step further and select the “Report as Spam” text? Hopefully if we all did this we can help LinkedIn rid themselves of the real spammers.

LinkedIn is protecting your right to respond to an invite with an IDK, and I can accept that this is a fundamental functionality of LinkedIn that cannot and should not be ignored.  But before you select that “I Don’t Know” button, think of the alternatives that exist to prevent receiving such invitations in the future.  Thank you.

LinkedIn's Awesome Advanced Search Functionality

I attended a great local Tweetup last night in Orange County.  There were many people who I had communicated with on Twitter and finally had the chance to meet…the feeling was almost like seeing long lost friends!  I will save Tweetups for another blog post, because what interested me last night were how many people I met last night that were active on Twitter but not at all on LinkedIn.  Many saw LinkedIn as just being a site for “professionals” or really didn’t know what to do with it.  The good news is that my upcoming Windmill Networking book on LinkedIn will help both those just learning about LinkedIn embrace the platform as well as assist advanced users in finding value they didn’t even know existed on the platform through the lens of Windmill Networking.  In order to really explain LinkedIn to those that are new to it or do not fully understand it, I think it is best to ask what it is in the first place and elaborate some reasons why everyone (and I mean everyone from Gen Y and Millenial college students to Baby Boomers) should be utilizing it.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is really a huge database of professionals.  Twitter lacks profile depth, Facebook is all over the place demographically and is also hard to find people.  LinkedIn standardizes information entered by users into predefined “Profile Headline”, “Summary”, “Education”, “Company”, etc. categories.  In addition to this huge database of information, LinkedIn provides an awesome search tool to allow you to pinpoint the person you are looking for depending on a number of very specific factors.

On the other hand, the more LinkedIn connections you have, the more you will be found.

So What is LinkedIn?  LinkedIn is the place to find and be found.

Why Should You Join LinkedIn?

I actually wrote a guest blog post on this sometime ago on Trender Research, but I wanted to follow up with an updated recap of the 3 biggest reasons for those who are still not sure as to how much time they want to spend on LinkedIn.

1) Getting Back in Touch (Finding & Being Found) —> Yes, Classmates.com and Facebook also allow you to get back in touch.  But because of the search functionality that LinkedIn has, I am finding people on LinkedIn that I can’t find on the other social networking sites.  And because it is easier to be found on LinkedIn, many are finding me too!

2) Acquire & Share Expertise —> LinkedIn has over 300,000 LinkedIn Groups that you can join.  Each group has its own Discussions Board, News Board, and Jobs postings.  Furthermore, the LinkedIn Answers boards has more than 2,000,000 answers to a variety of questions for you to peruse.  The subject matter in both Groups and Answers covers a wide enough of topics that there is value for everyone to be participating.

3) Career Management —> I mentioned the following in my previous post on Social Networking Tips for the Unemployed: Social Networking is a Career Insurance that you can never have enough of. The advice is the same whether you are looking for a job or are happily employed: a network should be your insurance for your future career growth. Companies are organic entities whose needs change and do not and cannot promise you a guarantee that your job will be there 10 years from now, next year, or even next month. That is why you need to be on LinkedIn so that you can both find potential companies and recruiters as well as be found by them. Even if you are happy in your job, it can’t hurt to have a minimal profile on LinkedIn and receive contacts from recruiters in your industry or specialty who may be able to help you out in the future, can it? LinkedIn is free career insurance! BUY INTO IT!

You will notice that I didn’t even mention the reasons you should join LinkedIn if you are looking for business benefits from social networking.  Of course there is lots of business and other advantages to being on LinkedIn.  Wait for my book for all the details!

If you still don’t understand what LinkedIn is and why you should join and leverage it, I have not done my job as a blogger and LinkedIn advocate.  If you are still confused please comment and let me know how I can help you see the light!

Image by KitAy

I had one of those social networking moments where a stranger at Starbucks introduced himself to me after seeing the book on my table was Dan Schawbel‘s Me 2.0, the best-selling book on personal branding.  The fact that this gentlemen even knew the book and had read it was surprising.  The fact that he was teaching college students about social networking and LinkedIn was even more startling. I didn’t know such a class existed! Can you imagine how far ahead of the social networking game you would have been had not only LinkedIn been around when you were in college but you also started to utilize it and Windmill Network before you graduated?

So in respect to my new LinkedIn connection, Brian Reeves, I wanted to share my own thoughts on why I agree that college student networking should happen early and begin by utilizing LinkedIn.

1.) Network for Internships

Internships over summer or winter vacations give you a great chance to “try out” a career even before you have decided on your college major.  Up until now the preferred way of finding these internships was through your college Career Center or searching a host of websites like Internweb.  If you’re frustrated by this approach try this: search the 45+ million professional database on LinkedIn and find a job title and company that might interest you.  Then, go ahead and try to make contact with someone who’s job you’d love to do.  I’m sure many people would love to chat with you about what they like about their job, and perhaps you can then ask the question as to whether or not you could help them out and have them create an internship for you.  And if they can’t personally help you, maybe they could refer you to someone else in their company or in their network who can.  Traditionally, internships are created and found through networking.  If your own physical network can’t help you out, plug into the grid and start Windmill Networking on LinkedIn!

2.) Search for Mentors

Once you have or are close to deciding on your college major, you may be interested in getting advice from an alumni who graduated in the same major or maybe is doing a job that you are considering for your future career.  You can go back to your Career Center for help, but in some ways it may be easier to precisely find the mentor that you are looking for on LinkedIn using Advanced People Search.  You can also join your college’s LinkedIn Group for alumni and check out the discussions boards and news postings for interesting people to contact.  The ability to see a very multi-faceted profile of someone on LinkedIn will hopefully help guide you into connecting with the ideal mentor that you are looking for.  And because you are both from the same college, there is no need to be shy in reaching out and asking for help!

3.) Find a Job

Getting back to my story of meeting Brian this week, as he pointed out to me, it is actually easier for colleges students to network on LinkedIn because you are a college student.  A lot of people will go out of there way to help you because you are still in school.  And if you are earnest and passionate in what you are doing, you will find more than enough LinkedIn professionals willing to chat with you .  Your senior year will no doubt be filled with college visits by potential employers and more trips to the Career Center, but if you’ve been digging your well before you’re thirsty on LinkedIn, hopefully you will have already made many professional contacts before your senior year.  Just as experienced professionals rely on their social networking to find the “hidden jobs,” you will be ahead of the game if you start doing this with your own LinkedIn network before you graduate from college.  Try looking for some networking events to attend from the LinkedIn Events database.  Join LinkedIn Groups based on where you plan to work and in what profession you plan to work in and maximize your presence there by engaging others.

I always tell people that Windmill Networking transcends generations.  There is no reason why a college student can’t start networking early with working professionals on LinkedIn just as executives utilize the social networking site.  The objectives may be different, but the medium is the same.  I have already answered the question, “What do I put on my LinkedIn Profile if I am a college student?”  If you are still new on LinkedIn here are my 5 tips to getting started.  You’ll also want to build out your networks by inviting these 10 super connectors that I recommend to give you more network visbility and help you find and be found.  And here is further advice on how to find great people to meet and connect with on LinkedIn.  All that’s left for you to do is take the initiative and network.  After all, what do you have to lose, right?

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I am always amazed of the people I meet at networking events or social media conferences that are heavy on Twitter or Facebook but light on LinkedIn. Or others that are on LinkedIn but are not really on LinkedIn. In other words, after realizing the potential value of LinkedIn, what’s next?

I have become good friends with Bradley Will, the role model who is empowering young entrepreneurs, and we have a similar goal of helping others better utilize social media.  My blog post for today I actually wrote for his demographic, the Gen Y entrepreneurs who have been intimated by LinkedIn but now are opening up to it and seeing its value.  But the message is really applicable to anyone who has just gotten started on the social networking site.

Before I give you the link to the blog post, let me summarize my advice briefly here:

1. Brand Your LinkedIn Profile
2. You are NOT Your Company
3. Connect! Connect! Connect!
4. Join LinkedIn Groups & Participate
5. How to Network on LinkedIn

Please see the entire blog post here: Young Professionals Getting Started with LinkedIn

Today’s blog post is influenced by an article I read from the comments made by LinkedIn at the Social Recruiting Summit.  Let me further expand the argument for the case of LinkedIn.

Like many others who have learned to embrace LinkedIn, I did so when I was in transition.  I realized that I had not been digging my well before I was thirsty, and I vowed to not only build up a larger network, but also to both stay in better touch with that network as well as provide more value to those in my network.

As I mentioned in my very first blog post “15 Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Network”, you should always be filling out your profile for every company that you have worked for.  The reason being that not only will you find all of your past colleagues, but you will also be found by others looking for you, both people you used to work with as well as recruiters potentially looking for talent from a specific company.  The same goes for your past education.  And you obviously should have a crisp Summary at the top of your profile to introduce to the world who you are.

In terms of a resume, then, you should have the same Summary, Experience, and Education in a LinkedIn Profile that you would also have in that resume that you use when applying for a job.  What makes your LinkedIn Profile more accurate then?

1. Your Profile Reveals More About Your Personality & Passions. Your LinkedIn Profile goes well beyond a resume in terms of giving you the ability to list your interests, associations, as well as display those LinkedIn Groups that hopefully you’ve become a member of.  People interested in learning more about you can glean glimpses of you in these sections.  Furthermore, if you are utilizing the Answers section to answer questions or even taking part in LinkedIn Groups discussions boards, anything that you went out of your way to respond to or help someone on reveals a little something about what makes you tick.  Your Status Update is also revealing something about you depending on what you write, and that is why I urge you not to use it to merely tell people that you are unemployed.
2. Your LinkedIn Profile is More Socially Credible. Come on, anyone can pay someone to draft up a great resume.  But could you pay off all those executives and former managers who are putting their reputations on the line to write you a great Recommendation?  Probably not.  And to those who say you don’t want too many Recommendations, I say the more you have the more credibility you have, so long as your Recommendations are legit.
3. Your LinkedIn Profile is Public Domain. You have connections in your profile that can be researched.  You are advertising yourself to the world, or at least the 40+ million members on LinkedIn.  If you are lying, your trusted connections, co-workers, or friends won’t let you get away with it.  With a resume, no one is checking it except for people on the other end who know nothing about you.  And, believe me, they are checking your LinkedIn Profile to make sure it matches up with your resume!  That’s right: the accuracy of your resume is being confirmed by your LinkedIn Profile.  That in itself should tell you how accurate your LinkedIn Profile is thought of as representing the real you.

So what should all of this mean to you?  You should be utilizing LinkedIn to the fullest to show off your strengths.  If not, it may be working against you if your competitors are doing so and you are still not displaying much of anything.  After all, in this day and age, what professional isn’t on LinkedIn?  And, if you’re on, you need 3 Recommendations in order to get to 100% profile completeness, so why would you avoid getting recommended by your ex-bosses and colleagues?  And don’t you want to show the world that you are at least social media savvy by having a complete LinkedIn Profile?  I heard a true story today of someone who got a $10,000 signing bonus because they were competent in social media.  That’s right, the ability to understand and utilize social media is something that companies who don’t understand it will pay for.

Start thinking about your LinkedIn Profile more seriously.  Brand it with keywords you want to be associated with and show off your interests and passions.  It will all add to a more accurate representation of who you are, and that can only work for your benefit.

Image provided by Olivier Charvel / http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliviercharavel/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

There are many resources on the web for finding people to follow on Twitter.  Just do a search for any particular type of person you want to follow (student entrepreneurs? job seeker advice? etc.) and chances are you will find a list.  But why none for LinkedIn?  Well, just as I have been the first to write on other things LinkedIn-related, I think it is important to introduce people on LinkedIn that I think you should invite and/or connect up with.  These people are either LIONs or “Super Connectors”, people with lots of connections that are open to receiving new invites as well as helping people connect and pay it forward.

The importance of connecting with LIONs and Super Connectors on LinkedIn cannot be understated.

They help you build out the virtual network that you will need for successful Windmill Networking, and it also improves your visibility when searching for others as well as when they search for you.

Now, I do need to point out that LinkedIn caps the number of connections you can have at 30,000.  So those people below that have over 30,000 connections can receive your invite but cannot accept it.  I still think it is worth sending an invite with an introductory paragraph about yourself in the hopes that someday this limit will be lifted and they will be able to accept your invitation.  After all, the new LinkedIn Search now allows you to not only sort by connections but also to see the number of connections above 500 someone might have instead of that old “500+” text.  This is a very welcome modification and gives us all hope that the limitation on the number of connections will be lifted soon.

As a final disclaimer, I am personally connected to all of these people but have yet to meet any of them.  That being said, I have had various communications with each of the people I recommend either directly or indirectly.  When you send them your invite let them know that Neal Schaffer of Windmill Networking sent ‘ya

(guide: Name – Worldwide Ranking – # of Connections – Location)

Ron Bates – #1 – 41,000+ Connections (San Francisco)

Ron Bates is a retained executive search expert and is also the most connected person on LinkedIn.  Perhaps it is his proximity to LinkedIn headquarters in the Bay Area that helped him along the way, but Ron is a great person who I happened to hear speak on a free webinar for executive job seekers several months ago.  Intelligent and passionate, if your company is looking for a retained executive recruiter or if you are an executive looking for guidance, Ron is your man to connect with.

Steven Burda – #4 – 37,000+ Connections (Philadelphia)

Steven is currently employed at The Boeing Company in a financial analysis and management role.  But he is better known for being the “Mother Teresa of Networking.”  Some people love him, others hate him, but I can tell you from my personal experience that Steven is the ultimate pay-it-forward Windmill Networker.  He has been featured in the press of saying controversial things about LinkedIn’s practices and limitations, but like myself, I can not think of anyone else out there who evangelizes LinkedIn more than Steven does.  And, if you don’t believe me, look at the 2,000+ recommendations he has from real people that have been touched by him.  Please reach out to him and experience the warmth of his connection yourself.  If you think that Steven can ever help you, ask him, as I am sure that he will take the time out of his busy schedule to listen and lend a helping hand

Marc Freedman – #5 – 31,000+ Connections (Dallas)

I have never met Marc but I have heard the fascinating interview he had on Stan Relihan’s Connections Show.  Some of you who have been around on LinkedIn hopefully remember the original MyLink500.com database, which allowed us all to openly add our information to a huge database of LinkedIn users for the purpose of open networking (this has now been moved to http://mylinknetwork.com).  Marc is also the founder of the Dallas Blue LinkedIn Group, which has over 25,000 members and has traditionally been one of the largest LinkedIn Groups.  And if that wasn’t enough he also created the excellent MyLinkWiki which contains loads of documentation about LinkedIn.  The amazing thing is that this is someone who apparently had his 20,000+ connections LinkedIn account removed for “spamming” (he was trying to raise money for charity) and then rebuilt it from scratch to be the #5 most connected person on LinkedIn today!  Amazing!

Stacy Donovan Zapar – #9 – 29,000+ Connections (San Diego)

Stacy is located just an hour away from me in sunny San Diego and yet we have never had a chance to meet.  She is in the recruiting industry, but more importantly she brands herself as a “Pay It Forward Open Networker”, a fundamental characteristic of Windmill Networking.  I have recommended friends in San Diego who were in transition to contact her, and she has answered every one of their emails and phone calls.  Stacy, I hope to meet you some day!

Shally Steckerl – #13 – 28,000+ Connections (Atlanta)

Shally is a leading recruitment speaker and consultant, and he is also Chief Cyber Sleuth of what used to be called The Job Machine and is now called Arbita.  I subscribe to his newsletters because he truly is a pioneer in using the Internet to source for candidates.  If you are in transition, doesn’t it interest you to see how recruiters “source” or find you on the Internet?   Reading the annoucements of the webinars that he does for recruiters blows my mind.  Definitely on the leading edge of understanding social media for recruiting and a must person to connect with.

Christian Mayaud – #26 – 24,000+ Connections (New York City)

Christian is the founder of a Venture Capital firm.  But more importantly, he is the founder of the original Linkedin LION Group.  What else can I add?  He is the grandfather of the LinkedIn Open Networking movement.  Please pay him your respect.

Thomas Power – #27 – 23,000+ Connections (United Kingdom)

Thomas is the Chairman of Ecademy, one of the premier social networking sites for business people with 500,000+ members worldwide.  I have exchanged some tweets with Thomas on Twitter, but it is the power of Ecademy that makes his connection so valuable.  I once met an entrepreneur from New Zealand in Japan who was on a several week tour of Asia looking for partners.  He was able to attain all of his appointments and meet many people solely through networking on Ecademy!  Ecademy is a place where there is some serious Windmill Networking occurring, and Thomas is at the helm.  Please connect with him and check out Ecademy as well.

Barack Obama – #28 – 23,000+ Connections (Washington D.C.)

That’s right, President Obama, the first President of the Social Media era has a presence on LinkedIn.  He doesn’t seem to be very active on LinkedIn, but you have to admit he has a busy job.  Will he answer your messages?  Probably not.  But wouldn’t it be cool to have the President as your connection?  I thought so.  Heck, I even wrote a blog post last year regarding how to connect with Barack Obama.  Let me know if that address doesn’t work anymore, OK?

Stan Relihan – #30 – 22,000+ Connections (Sydney, Australia)

It was a sad day when I heard that Stan was no longer going to be doing his Connections Show podcast.  This is someone who I got to know through my ipod and his frequent podcast, and I truly have learned a lot about social networking, Web 2.0, and LinkedIn from him.  Stan, by the way, is a headhunter and is Asia-Pacific’s most connected person.  Whenever I meet someone from Sydney, I always ask if they have ever met Stan, and I always get the “Yes!” answer.  He is a great guy who completely understands the value of Windmill Networking…I do hope to have a chance to meet him someday!

Neal Schaffer – #60 – 16,000+ Connections (Orange County)

OK.  We are probably already connected, but just in case  And if you want to find out the latest on Windmill Networking and find other people that share value in open networking, building out large virtual networks and digging wells before they’re thirsty, please join my spanking new Windmill Networking LinkedIn Group.  Yeah, I know, not so many members yet, but once we all get plugged into the same grid I am confident it will grow and provide tremendous value to all of us!

The minute I post this, some of you are going to start recommending other LIONs & Super Connectors that did not make my list.  I welcome all suggestions!  If you want to be on this list, I do plan to post updates, so please, connect and communicate with me!  I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy Networking Everyone!