One of my favorite people, Director Tom (aka, Tom Clifford), guest posted on the I’m on LinkedIn — Now What??? blog last night. What an excellent post!
You may remember seeing Director Tom‘s name on this blog before… I think a lot of him. I met him online last year, and then a few weeks later in person, and we’ve had multiple e-mails and phone calls since then. This is a man of high integrity and passion for his art/business.
I asked him to guest blog because I’ve seen how he uses the Answers section of LinkedIn, and think it’s awesome. You can read his thoughts and ideas on it here.
Answers is one of the best features of LinkedIn and gives you an excellent opportunity to reach out to network contacts you have in LinkedIn, as well as find new contacts (as they come across your question). When you answer a question you are reinforcing your personal brand online, could get some business (someone last year got busine$$ from answering one of my questions!), and are throwing your name out there to others that might be interested in contacting with you.
I recommend you check out Director Tom’s website, as well as his guest post (The Power of Questions: 5 Secrets to Strengthen Your Brand) from yesterday!
Without a doubt LinkedIn Answers is a fantastic way to reinforce your brand. As an active member of the LI Answers community for the past six months, I offer two tips when asking questions:
1. Send a “thank you” to every person who responds to your question. Personalize your response by finding common denominators in their profile and incorporating their answer.
2. Once the question is closed (after 7 days), take the time to highlight good answers and select the best answer. This is a quick, simple but effective way to return the favor. Personal branding for everyone involved is strengthened.
Following through when asking questions on LinkedIn Answers not only makes it easier to connect, but it invites others to contribute answers to your questions in the future.
There’s a certain entrepreneur and author I know who would benefit from these tips. 🙂
I like what you say about LinkedIn Answers.
I have found an interesting approach to LinkedIn Answers.
Every couple of weeks I ask a question about a specific technique in how people become successful. I call them Zale’s Success Stories. I a have asked over 40 questions. I get between 20 and 70 answers each time.
Questions have included Time Management, Positive Mental Attitude, Coaching, etc.
And of course one on how LinkedIn helps people succeed.
The stories can be found at
https://www.zaletabakman.ca/stories/
I also have a LinkedIn group where I update the people when a new question has been posted in LinkedIn Answers. At the same time I update them with stories that have been posted.
Take Care
Zale
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ZaleTabakman <- An invite to me adds 1,600,000 people to your linkedin network
http://www.ZaleTabakman.ca