This DVD is currently on sale at 50% off (only $25). But it is still useful and, well, awesome.
I’ll ship the LinkedIn DVD in a week, when I announce the winner. The question is:
What value do you think you should get out of LinkedIn, or a social marketing strategy, that you aren’t? (and why?)
Answer in the BLOG comments, not on Facebook.
Jason – LinkedIn is the “new” online resume for job seekers (which will soon – if it hasn’t already- replace the traditional resume.) A complete profile gives so much more depth and texture to who you are to a prospective hiring manager.
It also gives you the ability to check out the prospective hiring manager and her company as well!
For those not currently in a search and taking a cue from Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone, it is also the best way to develop, enhance and nurture your network when you don’t need it.
LinkedIn provides a real opportunity for job seekers to showcase their resume in an environment that is (so far) free from ‘pokes’, ‘quizzes’, random comments left by your aunt and uncle on your profile page (yeah, that happens to me on my Facebook).
It has become the defacto professional networking site.
LinkedIn is a valuable tool for “extending your reach beyond your grasp”. In the privacy of your own home you can look up people you meet at a networking event and discover points of connection with no awkward moments, that “sardine can feeling” or excessive noise. For introverts, this alone is a platinum feature. You can look at companies and pretest your interest in them before you invest heavy research time. The only thing I wish I could do on LinkedIn is plug in a zip code or, “10 mile radius of… address” or “15 mile radius of…address” and find all the companies listed on LinkedIn in that area. I could immediately weed out companies that do not fall inside my commuting distance “circle” or fall within solid mass transit lines. I wish I could take that same location search and refine it to “companies that do…” or “companies in the …industry”. What time and nerves would be saved from trying to use a cobbled together combination of Hoover’s, mapquest and google!
Jason,
The value I think I should be getting from LinkedIn and my social marketing strategy is a focused message that has an impactful reach to enough people to make a difference. I define a difference here to mean being able to help others and to get help from others in an extremely efficient manner. It is this elusive effective manner that I am struggling with. My near term goals are all focused to produce a huge impact on my notion of “NETWORKING STRATEGY EFFICIENCY”. How will I know when I have it? When, I am able to rapidly respond to requests from my network and I am also able to receive rapid responses to any topic I present to my network. When people connected to me and I become a balanced resource for one another.
Cheers,
Bob