PR 2.0 Don’t Forget LinkedIn
I feel very connected to my social networking sites. First, there’s Twitter. I check Twitter in the early morning, I’m tweeting most of the day (unless I’m in meetings or it’s the weekend with family) and then I’m logged back in at night to tweet with friends. My second favorite social networking site is Facebook. There’s so much to do and many interesting ways to engage in conversation. And, even though I liked the old Facebook better, I’m still a big fan. I also enjoy sharing photos on Flickr and I’m finding more people to connect with on FriendFeed and Plaxo. But, there’s one social networking site that deserves recognition. What about LinkedIn? Well that’s a very good question.
I sent out a tweet today, which was answered by about 20 people. I asked the following question: Besides Twitter and other microblogging sites, what is your favorite social networking site? About half of my followers replied and others sent me DMs (I thank them all for their participation). Out of all the responses, only one person said LinkedIn. Here are some of the tweets (and quite frankly what I expected to see):
@dbreakenridge for me it would be Flickr
@dbreakenridge I’ve grown surprisingly fond of Facebook. Since that’s probably a boring answer, I’ll say that I also love storytlr.
@dbreakenridge LinkedIn is my professional face… Facebook is my home side.
@dbreakenridge Sl Second Life is my fav site before I got into twitter
Have you checked out LinkedIn lately? I’ve been more active recently than in the past because I think the network has come a long way. There’s more to LinkedIn than the usual activities such as making connections, answering questions and recommendations. I’m finding some great features that I never used before and I’m discovering that they are very useful. These features allow me to interact with new people and to expand my network.
Recently I’ve joined a few groups. However, two groups of note include Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Network and PR News Group. I try to engage when I can in both groups by commenting or answering questions, but even if I don’t get the opportunity to jump into the conversation, I find the discussions very interesting and often tweet about the topics giving a reference back to the groups. Prior to my group experience on LinkedIn, I never found the network to be dynamic.
LinkedIn also allows you to use an application that is connected to your WordPress blog. I now have my PR 2.0 strategies appearing on my profile every time I update with a new post and I can use an application that allows me to see blog posts from my network. LinkedIn has come a long way. It’s been around since 2002, so if you haven’t been active, you may want to check it out again.
What do you think about LinkedIn? Are you finding it useful?
I have to say… While in the process of fleshing out what sites my company that we should be engaging in conversation at, every time I look at the road map I do ask myself, what about LinkedIn? It’s been great for me personally. I’ve been contact on more than a few occasions by HR representatives looking for people in my field with experience but now I’m looking to use LinkedIn for the brand. Do I use it as a pseudo intranet to stimulate relevant industry conversation amongst employees via the groups feature? Do I create seperate group and bring together as many channel partners as I can find to push out info and keep everyone on the same page about company and pricing announcements? Do I keep it centralized or assign members of the sales team responsibilities to make connections that result in sales opportunities? Then there are advertising oppotunities since you can target in mails and ads based on specific company’s and job titles. Long story short, yes LinkedIn is a hotbed of professional social networking opportunity that should not be ignoredI really like the Company Buzz and the Slideshare application. For me, introducing the company Buzz App to a few people at my company exposed them to twitter when they otherwise might not have taken interest.
Adam…great information on LinkedIn. Thanks for sharing how you use it. I’m going to check out the Company Buzz and the Slideshare Application. Very cool. I agree that LinkedIn can be a hotbed of professional social networking opportunity. I think it depends on a person’s commitment and how you get others involved in your company. I think your comment will educate many!! Thanks
Hi Adam and Deirdre, I think it’s a great idea to use LinkedIn for the brand. I know some people may balk at this idea, especially the thought of introducing brands (hence, and unavoidably so, some elements of marketing) to social networking sites, but I think this is a progressive evolution as organizations come to terms with the power that social networking can offer. The slideshare application, in my opinion, would be a great platform for organizations to share their knowledge on pertinent issues and establish leadership for particular niches. My idea of a unified corporate social networking communication approach is to have a common presence on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (and whatever applications that may come in the future) to build market recognition and carve out a niche area. What do you think?
Hey Daniel & Adam,
I agree that Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter and other social networking sites allow brands to carve out a niche and build recognition as long as they go about it the right way. The intention should be to help people, share valuable information and to be a resource rather than a sales engine that pumps out messages no one wants to hear.
As for LinkedIn, it has a lot of great features and I think many professionals view it as a network of the past and are not up to speed with all of the new functionalities. Perhaps LinkedIn needs a campaign to refresh it’s brand and create awareness that it’s a viable player in this space!