Everything is Bigger on LinkedIn

Here I am at a family camp on Western night having to wear the Biggest Hat. Kinda like people on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn seems to create big egos! There I said it and some of you know exactly what I mean while others haven’t been on LinkedIn long enough to understand this statement. Let me explain, I often run across LinkedIn profiles that make the individual look like Mother Teresa’s mentor.  It starts with a  long list of multiple job titles and a specialist in about 20 different areas you will discover as you read their profile, sound familiar?

You’re Story

I am all about sharing your accomplishments, experience, and expertise. Along with shining an effective well thought out spotlight, but not pulsating Vegas lights that we all know are not reality. Focus on your story and why you do what do. Share that and you WILL have something that grabs people’s attention.

Here is an example using my headline on LinkedIn.

I have to throw this in because it really is relevant, now the video is about 17 minutes and it will set you back the rest of the day, week, and maybe a few months on your own thoughts. However it is really relevant to communicating what, how, and why you do what you do.
(more to read below the video as well)

I told you the video was good!

What is Your Why?

So what do you think are profiles over inflated on LinkedIn? Do you know your why? Please share it.

The Year In Review Lab points out those of your connections that have started something new in the last year. At the top of the page it shows the specific number of people with the pictures below of those who have switched jobs, started a new endeavor, or educational experience. This makes it easy to see the faces of each person and then click on them to check out exactly what it is that they have done recently. Currently you can look at 2009, 2010, and 2011. This offers a great sum up of the last couple years since this application had not yet come out and there may have been some big changes some of your connections may have made.

This lab is extremely useful if you are not frequently checking everyone’s profiles to see what they are up to. This is the case for most people since it may be rather time consuming to constantly look at your large number of connections on LinkedIn. However in not doing this you probably have missed some of these new additions to many people’s profiles. This lab gives you a reminder of whose profile you may want to take a look at and give congratulations to.

There are also some benefits that you may be able to get out of taking a look at this application as well. For those people on a job hunt or looking to switch careers, this is a simple resource to check out. First of all, since this person started a new job then they obviously had to leave a previous position meaning that there is a possible position that he left for the taking. Contacting this person or the company he previously worked for could be a good first step in finding a job. Secondly, this connections new job could be currently trying to create a new team and you could be the perfect person for the job. Just by looking at that person’s profile you may be able to gain insight on how to change jobs and what kind of skills are transferrable to different industries you are interested in. Talking to this person may also be a further investigation into how they made the change in career and any tips they have for you.

Finally, this is a great way to get back in contact with people and to connect with those people who have switched to a job similar to what you do or in are in your industry. It is a great excuse to get in contact with someone by saying “I saw on LinkedIn’s Year In Review that you recently started…”. This application is a great way to highlight people to contact and offer to provide them with your assistance or see if there is any way their new line of business can help you. This lab can lead to a great relationship with someone and strengthen your network.

Overview

LinkedIn Labs are experimental, low-maintenance features that were created for use with LinkedIn. They are similar to applications on an Iphone and even look similar in their formatting of icons in boxes. All of the labs are focused on helping to manage and discover new things through a LinkedIn account. The many different projects are not yet shown on the main LinkedIn website but can be found at www.labs.linkedin.com. These labs were built by employees and feedback is greatly appreciated to see which ones are useful and well liked or to identify those that need to be tweaked or deleted. Every month the LinkedIn employees get together to research and produce new and improved functions which are then posted on the LinkedIn Labs page. The new labs are added very regularly but how long they stay varies. Since these projects are experimental, some labs may be deleted after a few weeks or may become part of the main LinkedIn website in the future based on their popularity. The problem with them not being on the main site is that they aren’t seen by enough people to get an adequate amount of reviewing.

The different labs vary on their usefulness but are all usually interesting and have at least some entertainment value. Some of them were just made for fun and others could be long lasting successful additions. They range from a lab that makes your connections into blocks and puts them into a Tetris game you can play to a search of your connections with immediate results. They are definitely worth checking out and seeing which of the features work for you.

SpeechIn

SpeechIn is an application that reads headlines from LinkedIn Today out loud in an automated voice. All the most recent news, based on your industry, can be read aloud from either your computer or mobile phone. The headlines are updated every hour so you are always getting the most up to date information. This is great if you have a commute to work or don’t have time to read through the headlines everyday and would rather have it read to you while you do other things. The voice telling you this information is automated and may not be the most pleasant thing to listen to but it definitely gets the job done.

Year In Review

The Year In Review Lab points out those of your connections that have started something new in the last year. At the top of the page it shows the specific number of people with the pictures below of those who have switched jobs, started a new endeavor, or educational experience. This lab is helpful if you may have missed some of these new additions to your connections profiles. This gives you a reminder of whose profile you may want to take a look at and give congratulations to or possibly contact to provide them with your assistance or see if there is any way their new line of business can help you.

Swarm

Swarm is a page showing a picturesque background with a constant flow of words or phrases cycling over the scene. All of the words are things that have recently been searched on LinkedIn. The title of the search function is shown at the top of the screen and changes often. People use the search engine on LinkedIn for many productive things such as finding a job, connecting with people in similar business as you, finding others who can help you and your business, marketing yourself and business, and many more uses. Therefore this application shows you the most up to date topics so you can see what is popular at the moment and what others are looking for through LinkedIn. This lab seems to have some worth but you must be a quick reader to see the fast scrolling words. You can slow it down by putting your arrow over words but then you also risk missing others while it is stopped. The usefulness depends on how much time you have to watch the words pass by and what you are looking to get out of it.

Instant Search

Instant Search is a perfect way to find both people within your connections and new possible connections on LinkedIn based any search terms you use. The page for this lab shows just a search bar but from the moment you start typing people start becoming listed below based on the words you use. The people shown are all either your first or second connections and each person that matches your search has their own box with their name, picture, tagline, and location written. You can use just one word or multiple words and phrases to either have a either a broad or narrowed search.  This application is extremely useful in finding certain people who you would like to contact or in finding new people to become connected with who are only your immediate connections are already linked with.

NewIn

The NewIn lab gives a visualization of new users all over the world joining LinkedIn. It is fascinating to see the vast amount of people joining every minute and even more appealing because it uses Google Earth to show the location of each additional member. It requires having the Google Earth Plug In which you are prompted to download immediately after clicking on the lab if you don’t already have it. This is great for those involved in marketing, however may not be accommodating for anyone else. While it is amusing for a short period of time, it can become dull after a while of staring continually at the Earth with random names being pinpointed. It is also almost impossible to read their entire tagline before moving to the next person.

Signal

Signal is a stream of your connections updates. It shows what they are saying and putting on LinkedIn including statuses from twitter of those who choose to stream those to their LinkedIn page. It is extremley helpful to see all of the most recent news your connections are sharing all in one place instead of going to everyone’s pages separately. There are some very functional components of this lab such as being able to filter people by region, company, industry, etc. Signal also allows you to find new people to become linked with based on who you are already connected with. You can even do searches and save searches within these second connections for specific phrases or terms that would find people you would want to connect with.

InMaps

InMaps examines all the connections on your LinkedIn profile and comes up with a map showing the extensive, intertwining links that have been created through your account. Each person is shown as a dot on the map and is linked with a line. They add some color to identify different networks, make it more organized, and visually appealing. There is also a function that enables people’s personalized labeling of networks. Zooming in and out of the different connections is both entertaining and informative in seeing how many people you are able to reach through one website.

Resume Builder

For those people who don’t already have a resume, or who have a resume that isn’t up to date or professional then this application is for you. This application takes all of the information you have already put onto your LinkedIn profile and makes it into a professional resume that you can use. There are many different template options that include classic, modern, business, executive, law, etc. so you can customize your resume for the style you want to portrait. After picking a template there is the opportunity to edit your information and pick which sections to include. Finally, you can put it into PDF form, have a custom link, or print it to share with anyone you choose. For those who want the simplified way to make a resume, this is extremely helpful.

Connection Timeline

LinkedIn Labs Connection Timeline allows you to see who you have become linked with and when. This lab pulls information from your profile and puts your education, organizations, and jobs on a timeline. When you press play, your profile picture scrolls across your timeline and shows the connections you made during your time on LinkedIn. While it is interesting to see, it may not be vital or extremely helpful.

If you are looking for 2011 LinkedIn Statistics for your business, here is the latest from LinkedIn. Be sure to share your thoughts on the stats.

Here are some reasons this stands out to me:

• LinkedIn proves to be a strong worldwide reach with a stronger presence outside the US.
• You can get to the decision maker! This is huge when you consider all the gatekeepers that sales reps deal with everyday.
• The market confidence of how people perceive you on LinkedIn is significant as well.  Telling me you should position your LinkedIn profile with care and consideration as it holds weight in your prospects opinion of you.

Be sure to take a look at this LinkedIn Lead Generation video we recently did, it is working so well for our clients we have coined it the “LinkedIn Lead Surge Formula” You can access this video on how to do highly filtered targeting of prospects by clicking here.

(you can click on the image or here to download
2011 LinkedIn Statistics report)

LinkedIn has enormous potential to increase both your personal reputation and that of your business. One great way is by smart us of the “Answers” feature.  LinkedIn allows users to both ask and answer questions of other users, as well as to become “experts”. If done effectively, both asking and answering questions can dramatically increase your authority and reputation.

Asking questions via LinkedIn can initiate discussions with your peers and may lead to gaining important contacts in your field or niche. People that you may never have met otherwise may answer your questions or become involved in the discussion of the answer. Many of these people will be members of your field or have connections to it. Some may become valuable contacts and resources in the future. The more contacts and resources that you have, the higher your reputation is likely to be.

In order to most effectively make contacts through asking questions, you must take care in crafting your questions. Many of the best questions are content-based. For example, “What are the best methods for using LinkedIn to find job opportunities?” The answers to this question will tend to be factual and on-topic.

It is also best to ask questions that have multiple possible answers. It makes it more likely that you will receive multiple answers from multiple responders, thus increasing the number of contacts. It is also more likely to lead to debate among responders, which increases familiarity and the likelihood of increased contact in the future.

If you want to increase your reputation, be put some forethought into the questions that you ask. While it has been said that there are no dumb questions, some questions are certainly smarter than others. If you regularly ask intriguing and thought-provoking questions, others are more likely to be interested in you and to hold you in high regard. On the other hand, if you ask questions that are likely to make people believe you know little of your field or are looking for others to do your homework for you, the opposite may occur.

Answering questions can improve your reputation or that of your company even more than asking them. Most who ask questions are in genuine need of assistance. Giving genuine answers to questions may lead to you being seen as a helpful and generous person. If you help others, they are more likely to return the favor in the future and are also likely to appreciate and respect you. Be careful, giving wrong or poor answers can actually cause more harm than no answer at all and may damage your reputation.

The type of answers which you give can impact how you or your business are perceived. If you give an answer that the user finds helpful, that person’s regard for you will almost certainly increase. If you give an answer on a discussion that many find either useful or thought-provoking, the same will occur on a greater scale. You would be surprised how much a discussion can benefit even those who are experts on a topic.

There are so many potential ideas that no one person can have them all. Make sure that your answers are well-thought out accurate. Also make sure that you use correct spelling and grammar.

Answering enough questions well can actually have you labeled an “expert.” LinkedIn rewards repeated high quality answers by allowing certain users to have a white and green star on their profile labeled “Expert.” This instantly allows those who view your profile to see that you are an expert on a topic. This will immediately grant you respect and approval. Others will be considerably more likely to seek out your help and services in the future if they consider you an expert.

LinkedIn is a valuable social and professional networking site that has already helped thousands of users to further their careers. However, as with everything in life, there are certain rules and guidelines which should be followed when using LinkedIn.

Do: Be honest and professional. Everything on your profile should be true and in no way misleading. Everything should make you appear to be a professional and desirable employee.

Don’t: Have any spelling or grammar mistakes on your profile. Few things are as big of a turnoff to an employer as to see that you were unwilling to take the time or the effort to ensure that your work is mistake-free.

Do: Include a picture with your profile. Although LinkedIn does not require users to use a picture, it is highly advisable to do so. A picture makes your profile more personable and genuine. Not having a picture can put doubt in the minds of potential employers.

Do: Wear professional attire in your picture. Also, place yourself in front of a neutral-colored, blank background. Make sure that you are in a professional pose.

Don’t: Include an old or fake picture. If you show up for an interview looking drastically different from your picture, a potential employer will be surprised, and possibly put-off or angry.

Do: Have an eye-catching and interesting headline. You headline is the first impression that you will make on potential contacts and employers. If you can catch their attention, they may want to find out more about you.

Don’t: Have a generic and/or overly long headline. Nobody will pay attention if they are bored or have seen the same line a thousand times before.

Do: Regularly update your What Are You Working On with new and different projects. This shows that you are a hard and diligent worker, who can handle a variety of tasks.

Don’t: Post What Are You Working On updates that may cause an employer to question your skills, dedication or work ethic. Saying that you are, “Doing things your own way,” will not inspire confidence.

Do: Include unique and specific job descriptions. For example, if you regularly traveled to a foreign country, say which country and what you did there. This will help distinguish you.

Don’t: Include false or misleading work experience. While it acceptable and expected that you will make yourself look as good as possible, do not carry this into the realm of falsehood.

Do: Personalize your web pages, URL’s, and web addresses. For example, instead of “My Webpage,” use “Jane Doe’s Salesmanship Webpage.” This will make you stand out from the thousands of other LinkedIn users.

Don’t: Include links to web pages, URL’s, and web addresses that contain content which may turn off potential employers. If your blog includes a post entitled, “The Top Ten Most Embarrassing Things I Did in College,” you should either not link to that blog, or remove that post.

Do: Make a good summary. Use the summary as an opportunity to make one final sell of yourself. Think of the summary as an opportunity to seal the deal. What would your closing argument in favor of hiring you be?

Don’t: Have an overly long summary. Potential employers and clients often look through hundreds or even thousands of profiles. If they see that your summary is too long, they may not even bother reading it. Even if they do start, and then become bored, they will stop and move on.

LinkedIn Etiquette, what do you practice?