Posts tagged ‘LinkedIn’

Dec 6

The Social Business Imperative (ITA Fall Collaborative Session)

Mark Yohai from Avectra led the discussion by starting off with the premise that the first social network was a chamber of commerce created in 1768. It’s the social collaboration that is important – not necessarily the specific tools.

Things to cover in session:

What is social business and why customers need it?
What are key requirements for social business software?
Vertical opportunities: associations and non-profits

Mark shared a quote from Gartner Group:

“There is one absolute about social CRM: it will be mandatory – not optional – for the majority of organizations”

He underlined this point with a slide showing the projected growth of Social for the next few years. As you might imagine, it was a set of bars growing from small to very large with a swooping arrow above the bars showing crazy fast growth.

The key to social business: people are talking. Are you listening? Engaging? Acting on these discussions?

McKinsey research has shown companies using social business solutions gain greater market share and higher margins. I believe the article in question can be found here if you are so inclined.

Mark shared some specific examples of adoption. The businesses that he spoke about were so large that, to me, they didn’t really apply to my customer base or my situation. I’m sure the IBM’s of the world are effectively doing these things but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is going to be great for me or my clients.

In the audience, Kevin Cumley from Forepoint spoke up and made this point and tried to get clarification on how it applied to the typical firm in the room. Answered: clarification will come later.

Mark discussed common complaint: my prospects don’t use social networks. He countered this with a slide that discussed how strong and prevalent social networking is. I’m not sure that addressed the point but it’s a given that social networks are growing.

He continued on discussing public vs private networks. For public networks, he made the case:

Purpose – they make money
Branding – their brand
Content – they own
Network – they own data
User Experience – they control

And for private networks, you own and control all of the above.

So – do you go with only the private network? He stressed that you use both to ensure maximum value for customers and your organization.

Moving the conversation along, he asked what do we do with this social data? He discussed monitoring, tracking and even grading the particular customer or individual’s interactions with your organization. When the activity falls below a certain threshold, give them a call. When the activity is above a certain level – showing that they are extremely engaged, give them acknowledgement (a plaque, thanks, a gift card, whatever).

At this point, I’m pretty much checking out of this conversation. Mark did a great job presenting the information so it’s no fault of his. He seems to really know his stuff and makes a convincing argument for it.

For me, it just seems so far away from the practical needs of my company and my customers and I can’t see how to apply it.

I agree that this is important stuff for the near-term future and even right now for a small constituency. Your mileage may vary.

(BTW – I think I’m checking out at the right time as he is starting to go into particulars that apply closely to Avectra and their target industries.)

Nov 18

1 Comment

Does anyone really think Facebook gives a damn about their privacy?

Dislike!

I read this latest article on yet another example that Facebook is going to do whatever it wants, however it wants to do it. And as the big boy on the block, they are going to keep doing it and doing it and doing it because … hold on to your hats for this shocking revelation, folks … Facebook doesn’t care about anybody’s rights.

They have provided a shared virtual space from which they can re-use and re-purpose anything you do, post or share.

Oh, yes - it’s subject to your privacy and application settings so you might feel somewhat safe (assuming you set these properly which most people don’t). And of course, they have changed these privacy and application settings more times than Katy Perry changes outfits during a concert so ultimately they decide what “privacy” is.

There is a nice little clause in there that the rights transfer back to you if you delete the content or your account. Remember people: while our memories may fade, our lives on the Internet go on forever. The law offices of Craig Deslack had this to say about it.

That’s just one voice but Google the issue and you will see that it’s not a solitary voice.

And it’s not enough that they want to own and track you while you are on Facebook or logged in to your Facebook account. The point of the article linked in the first sentence is that they are tracking you even when you aren’t logged in to Facebook. The little computer elves are quietly and silently watching and tracking your every movement.

Maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill. I don’t know. I do know I’m not the only one who feels this way. And I also know that it’s not just Facebook. It’s all of the social networking giants. I’m singling out Facebook because they seem to be the worst and biggest repeat offender and display the biggest lack of concern over their customer rights.

But let’s not kid ourselves – it’s all of them. They are all looking for ways to slice and dice our lives up for better targetted messaging and advertising.

Here’s the very real, very near future, friends. One in which personalized messages target our every waking moment.

The real question is: what are our choices? De-friend Facebook? Un-link LinkedIn? Silence the tweeting? I’m open to ideas.

Nov 17

5 Comments

What exactly is Hoot Suite?

HootSuite is a tool designed to help you manage your various social network feeds and postings. This includes everything from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn among others.

It allows you to organize your various feeds in a few different ways. First you can create custom named tabs as a top-level of organization and then you can create multiple streams within each tab.

As an example, you can create a tab called “Twitter” and then within that tab, you can add a stream for your main Twitter feed, any mentions (where people tweet using your twitter handle), direct messages (Twitter’s version of email), saved searches, etc.

It’s pretty useful to coordinate things this way and it doesn’t end there. You can also bring in your Facebook and LinkedIn feeds – either in the same tab or create new tabs. Pretty handy.

HootSuite isn’t just for organization though. It also allows you to post to any of your different social networks either immediately or via a scheduled post. I haven’t used the scheduling aspect of HootSuite yet personally but I definitely see the value as it helps offset one of the biggest problems with Twitter: the fact that your tweets can quickly disappear from people’s streams as newer tweets drive older tweets out.

(For more on this and other aspects of Twitter and some reasons why you should consider using Twitter, check out this article.)

Most of the Twitterati seem to schedule their Tweets to fire around the clock to maximize their chance to be seen and heard by their followers. I’m going to start experimenting with it over the next few weeks.

HootSuite provides a mobile client to access most of the features via your mobile device. This is a nice, streamlined way to access your feeds from a central source. Most people probably use their specific mobile Facebook and Twitter apps so your mileage may vary.

One final feature that I would like to call attention to is the ability to manage multiple accounts from a single HootSuite account. This is great for businesses that would like to announce their posts across different employee’s accounts. People can save their passwords in the HootSuite account for a central administrator to manage and schedule messages – again, this is to maximize the chance of getting their message heard by their intended audiences.

It probably is already apparent but just to underscore it: I’m a pretty big fan of HootSuite. It’s not perfect though.

The LinkedIn integration is flaky at best and there is no easy way to post to multiple LinkedIn groups at once yet. I’m not sure if this is a condemnation of the HootSuite development team or the LinkedIn APIs though. It seems like a lot of social network add-ons have a problem with LinkedIn integration. (If anyone reading this has more information, please comment below.)

All in all, HootSuite is a great investment. It will take you probably 30 minutes to learn it and the free version delivers most of the features tha the average person needs. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Nov 10

5 Comments

What exactly is Klout?

A lot of people apparently look to me for Academy Awards info

You may be seeing people talking about “Klout” more and more these days. Lately it might be in a negative context as the people behind Klout have apparently adjusted their ranking system recently which caused quite a few people to have a horrible dip in their Klout.

(Kind of reminds me of back in the early Google days when page ranks would swing wildly after a new algorithm but read on … there is no real comparison between Klout and Google in terms of significance.)

What exactly is “Klout” and why should you care?

First things first … Klout is a company that bills itself as “The Standard for Influence”. They provide a “Klout Score” from 1 to 100 to each person by using a super-duper top-secret formula (they use the 10 cent word “algorithm”) that monitors the individual’s social network traffic (tweets, updates, postings, etc.) and how others respond to that individual across those social networks.

By feeding your tweet machine, your Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media platforms and building your networks and engaging in dialogue and generally being active on social media, you can see watch your Klout go up, up, up! How exciting.

Let me repeat: how exciting.

To make it even more exciting, the powers that be at Klout provide badges for achievement levels reached so you can brag to your friends when you’ve hit a Klout score of 20, 30, 40, etc or are rolling in +K (don’t ask … really … please don’t ask). It kind of reminds me of computer games that give rewards for hitting certain acheivements. And that’s exactly what they are going for.

They want to create an addicting experience that keeps you coming back for more to feed the beast and “get to the next level”. In my opinion, they do a mediocre job of this and they really need to study Kongregate to learn from the masters. (Do yourself a favor and don’t click the link back there if you have even a semi-addictive personality.)

You might be asking at this point: what is the purpose of Klout? Well, my friend, *that* is the essence of the matter and sadly the answer is ambiguous at best.

According to the Klout FAQ page, Klout “measures influence online” and can be used as follows:

Klout helps you understand your influence and how to leverage it.
Benchmark your success, understand who you influence, and discover who to trust in the topics you care about.
Earn Klout Perks: exclusive access to products and experiences from top brands.
Put your Klout Score on your resume to land a sweet job or use it to get better customer service.

(don’t mind the fact the bullet points don’t use consistent style … I guess it’s part of the exciting Klout mystique)

After reading those four fluff-laden bullet points, you might STILL be asking yourself: what is the purpose of Klout?

Are you jelly?

My opinion is that it is primarily a game for professionals to use to brag about how influential they are to other professionals. I don’t know a single person who uses it for anything other than to state the equivalent of “my Klout is bigger than your Klout”.

It’s a silly – and, for some, addicting – game.

For now anyway. It might change as they continue to evolve. I would certainly expect that if the people behind Klout want to make money with it in the long run, they will need to find it a true, value-add purpose fairly soon.

Maybe you disagree and have some examples of how Klout can be used for something valuable? Please post a comment and let me know – I’m sure a lot of folks would love to hear it.

In the meantime, I’m going to go back to interacting with folks on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn that post and tweet interesting things – irrespective of their Klout score.

PS. For anyone applying to a job at my company, putting a Klout score on your resume will get it tossed in the circular file immediately. Consider that a friendly heads up.

Nov 8

12 Comments

6 degrees of separation? Don’t make me laugh

I received a call from a real world friend the other day (hence forth “Friend”) and the conversation went as follows (cutting out the general chit-chat to save you all from falling asleep at your desks or driving your cars – which, by the way, you really shouldn’t be reading this while driving, but I know how it goes).

Friend: So I have this new prospect, ABC Corporation, and I’m up against some tough competition.

Peter: I feel for you. There’s a lot of that going around these days.

Friend: Yeah [nervous laugh] but you can help here.

Peter: Sure, I would love to help. What do you need?

Friend: I’m wondering if you could provide an introduction for me.

Peter: Uhhh… what now? You want me to introduce you to your own prospect?

Friend: [more nervous laughter] Oh yeah – I was checking them out on LinkedIn and you know their VP of Finance, Anne Accountant.

Peter: [pulling up LinkedIn] You’re out of your mind, I don’t know anyone named … son of a … yeah … I guess I do know her.

Friend: Cool! Can you provide an introduction? We could use the help to seal the deal.

[awkward pause as I'm clicking around furiously]

Peter: Oh man… I know Anne probably as well as you do. She connected with me a while back as a friend of a friend of a friend situation. I can start reaching out but it’s going to take a while. Let me see what I can do.

This exchange got me thinking about the role of social networks in our lives. Each and every week, most of us are acquiring additional connections on Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter and it bears asking “where does it end”?

A typical situation: your world collides with John Doe on one of the networks – maybe an interesting post or exchange or a comment on a mutual friend’s photo, whatever – and you connect. John and you may never speak again. Sure, you see each other’s posts on occasion but there is no real interaction, no real connection.

Are you and John friends? No, not really “friends” friends … although you may be “Friends” with the capital “F” on the network. And if I ask you how you know John, *you* will most likely be the one nervously laughing and come back with a “no idea”. In the meantime, your real friends, the one with the small “f”, will be buried in your Facebook timelines, Twitter streams, LinkedIn streams, etc.

So what’s the answer here? Where does it end? I don’t have the answer but while we’re thinking about it, please feel free to connect with me at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/peter.a.wolf
Twitter: www.twitter.com/azambainc
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/azambainc

And some day … down the road … when we are talking, I might ask you how we connected and you can refer me back to this post.

Jul 15

2 Comments

Seven (I Mean Nine) Deadly Sins of Linkedin

For any who don’t know, Bill Kizer is the founder and creator of the Sage Employees, Alumni, and Partners Linkedin group.

Bill was the presenter with Wayne Schulz and Peter Wolf contributing as the panel. Peter also had a separate presentation of his own. The topic was Seven Deadly Sins of Linkedin, but I think most of these really apply to any social media platform.

Mistake #1: Don’t fill out your profile.

If you don’t keep your profile updated, no one will know where you are or what’s going on with you. If you win an award, add it to your profile. If you join an organization add it to your profile. The more often you update your profile, the more often your profile shows up in your contacts Linkedin. Also updating your status regularly keeps your profile coming back up to the top.

Mistake #2: Don’t include Profile Photographs.

If you do have a profile picture, it needs to be as professional as it can be. You probably shouldn’t have a picture of your dog or kids or your favorite trip to Disney World as your profile picture. What you want to present on Linkedin is an image that is as close to what you would present in job interview as you can. So no pictures of you passed out drunk…even on Facebook.

You also shouldn’t use your company logo as your profile picture. If you’re a sole proprietor or a team, people do business with people, not logos or brands.

I always use a picture of myself for my profile on various social media sites…well, almost always. The exception is Twitter. I can’t exactly explain why this is the exception and why I think it works for me. If you do click through to my Twitter profile, I do have a picture of myself on the custom wallpaper I created for my Twitter profile.

Mistake #3: Don’t contribute to discussions conversations.

If you don’t put your two cents in, I guarantee two things will happen: no one will find out if they find what you say useful and no one will know what ideas you have.

Mistake #4: Don’t become an expert in any industry.

I think another way is “Don’t share anything”. One of the conversations that Wayne, Peter and I had when organizing Summit Diary was about whether or not what we had to say had value to anyone else. If you keep everything to yourself, you will never find out if it has value to someone else or not.

Wayne recommends using Shareaholic to share links to stuff written by other people. Shareaholic is a plugin for various browsers that works with multiple services, like Linkedin, Facebook, Yammer, Google Buzz, Delicious, Posterous, Tumblr, etc.

Mistake #5: Don’t Invite Others To Your Network

Or “Don’t reach out to others”. I’m going to share a bit about how I got into social media. I frequently make comments about being Wayne Schulz’s #1 cyber stalker (and interestingly, I’m not the only one. You know who you are @GLComputing.) but the reality is I’ve been following Wayne online since I first discovered his website and newsletter in 2003, I think it was.

While it’s not OK to spam people, it is OK to reach out to others.

Mistake #6: Don’t give or ask for recommendations.

Honestly, this is one of those double edged things. I say feel free to give recommendations to anyone you think deserves it, but don’t require or expect a quid pro quo or it may (or may not) look like exactly that. I think recommending someone who recommends you looks bad even if you think they deserve it. It’s almost like an organized link exchange. If you do ask for a recommendation, don’t require or expect the other party to give you one. Recommendations are a personal choice.

Mistake #7: Don’t Include Any Contact Information.

This is a big one. If I want to contact you so I can hire you or provide you work and I can’t find your email or phone number, you might never hear from me. I use Google Apps for my email and it eliminates a lot of the spam and I use a Google Voice phone number for my public telephone number. The beauty of the Google Voice number is that it allows you to screen your calls. Even if you don’t screen your calls, if you let them go to voice mail, you’ll get an email with the contents (sort of) of the message any callers may leave. Yes, you can be contacted through Linkedin but why make someone work that hard to get to you?

Mistake #8 (Added by Wayne Schulz): Don’t include a personal email address.

Use a personal email address as your primary address. You can still include your business email address. If you only use your work email address, you might lose access to your account.

This has happened to a few people in recent years with people changing jobs as frequently as they have in recent years. It would be terrible to be in the situation of looking for a job and not being able to access your network.

Mistake #9 (I just added this one): Wait until you are looking for a job to create your Linkedin profile.

When is the best time to setup a Linkedin account? If you don’t have one already, now is the best time.

A few additional Linkedin tips:

You can send email newsletters to the members of your group.

Use the search and filters in Linkedin to find a job or find an employee.

You could also potentially use filters to find a prospect, but be careful how you do this. Primarily, I would say use this to find people to connect to and make friends.

The biggest benefit of getting the paid Linkedin account is access to more information and the ability to more advanced searching features.

Ultimately, I think Ed Kless’s social media policy says it best, “Be professional”. I would add, “Be human”. So “Be professional and be human” would be the ultimate Linkedin rule.

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