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Dear Moxie Maven:
I have been following your column for some time now and I wanted to know how LinkedIn fit into this social media puzzle. Could you please help me understand if LinkedIn is something that I need to be a part of?
— I'm In
Dear I'm In:
How many of these silly social media sites are you supposed to belong to? Whenever I am asked about social media and one particular site, it really does come down to a question of relevance.
Each business has unique needs, demographics, and objectives for using social media. Yet when it comes down to selecting which social media sites the business needs to be on all of those qualities disappear, in the end creating a monster.
This monster is a hodgepodge of many social media sites stitched together in an attempt to have a complete online representation.
I would much rather see a business have a complete plan for their social media usage that outlines the experience visitors should have. Think of it as a pipeline to your money spot, or the place where customers will actually make a purchase. You want to create a very streamlined pipe from where the customer first finds you to the buy now, call now or show up now message.
If you do not have clear intentions from the very beginning of what you are expecting a visitor to do in order to become a customer than the social media site in question might not be the right choice.
With that said, let me tell you a few ways that LinkedIn might be able to help you. If you are in a field where your expertise is really what sells your services, than LinkedIn provides the perfect platform to display your knowledge in the LinkedIn Answers functionality.
Often in service industries the way to a customer's trust is in assuring that customer that you know what you are talking about. LinkedIn Answers is an opportunity to display your knowledge and help someone in the process.
Not only will your answer directly affect the person that had the question, you will continue to make a difference in each of the individuals that read the question and all the answers in the future.
LinkedIn is also the perfect place to be if you are professional looking for work, or a recruiter looking for professionals. A LinkedIn profile is very much a living resume with built in references so it is the perfect place for recruiters to find potential candidates.
Finally, if you find that your region seems to gravitate toward a particular social media tool, than it is a good thing to have a presence. Each individual area of the world will have a distinct social media mix that everyone seems to be on. In this area, LinkedIn is one of those social media sites that everyone seems to be on.
As a business owner, a job seeker, or even an employee in a larger organization LinkedIn can provide you a solid online networking platform.
LinkedIn is designed to allow connections with people that you know, this is not a platform to make connections with strangers. You may ask to be introduced to people that you don't know through connections you already have, or you can send a message to someone describing why you would like to be connected.
However, if too many people say no to your attempts to network than LinkedIn will begin to limit how you can connect with people.
As you can see LinkedIn can be a valuable tool in your social media toolbox, just make sure you are using the right tool for the job.
Jennifer Kettlewell lives in Grand Junction and is known as the Moxie Maven. She is the creator of the Moxie Mafia system. As a mother of four she understands that time is precious, and when it comes to running a business there is no spare moments to do anything, let alone play online. The Moxie Mafia system is a social media training program designed to teach at your pace. Visit www.moxiemafia.com for more information.
Dear Moxie Maven:
I have been following your column for some time now and I wanted to know how LinkedIn fit into this social media puzzle. Could you please help me understand if LinkedIn is something that I need to be a part of?
— I'm In
Dear I'm In:
How many of these silly social media sites are you supposed to belong to? Whenever I am asked about social media and one particular site, it really does come down to a question of relevance.
Each business has unique needs, demographics, and objectives for using social media. Yet when it comes down to selecting which social media sites the business needs to be on all of those qualities disappear, in the end creating a monster.
This monster is a hodgepodge of many social media sites stitched together in an attempt to have a complete online representation.
I would much rather see a business have a complete plan for their social media usage that outlines the experience visitors should have. Think of it as a pipeline to your money spot, or the place where customers will actually make a purchase. You want to create a very streamlined pipe from where the customer first finds you to the buy now, call now or show up now message.
If you do not have clear intentions from the very beginning of what you are expecting a visitor to do in order to become a customer than the social media site in question might not be the right choice.
With that said, let me tell you a few ways that LinkedIn might be able to help you. If you are in a field where your expertise is really what sells your services, than LinkedIn provides the perfect platform to display your knowledge in the LinkedIn Answers functionality.
Often in service industries the way to a customer's trust is in assuring that customer that you know what you are talking about. LinkedIn Answers is an opportunity to display your knowledge and help someone in the process.
Not only will your answer directly affect the person that had the question, you will continue to make a difference in each of the individuals that read the question and all the answers in the future.
LinkedIn is also the perfect place to be if you are professional looking for work, or a recruiter looking for professionals. A LinkedIn profile is very much a living resume with built in references so it is the perfect place for recruiters to find potential candidates.
Finally, if you find that your region seems to gravitate toward a particular social media tool, than it is a good thing to have a presence. Each individual area of the world will have a distinct social media mix that everyone seems to be on. In this area, LinkedIn is one of those social media sites that everyone seems to be on.
As a business owner, a job seeker, or even an employee in a larger organization LinkedIn can provide you a solid online networking platform.
LinkedIn is designed to allow connections with people that you know, this is not a platform to make connections with strangers. You may ask to be introduced to people that you don't know through connections you already have, or you can send a message to someone describing why you would like to be connected.
However, if too many people say no to your attempts to network than LinkedIn will begin to limit how you can connect with people.
As you can see LinkedIn can be a valuable tool in your social media toolbox, just make sure you are using the right tool for the job.
Jennifer Kettlewell lives in Grand Junction and is known as the Moxie Maven. She is the creator of the Moxie Mafia system. As a mother of four she understands that time is precious, and when it comes to running a business there is no spare moments to do anything, let alone play online. The Moxie Mafia system is a social media training program designed to teach at your pace. Visit www.moxiemafia.com for more information.
