5 Starter Moves - Facebook LinkedIN and Twitter
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This is the last of the Five Starter Moves series. If you would like a copy of all five posts together in a single downloadable PDF file, please comment on this post, leaving a valid email address. I’ll send you one shortly thereafter.
Companies are wondering about how social networks will work for them, and whether they should engage on those fronts. They’ve been told they should be doing it. They just aren’t sure why or how. On one hand, some companies are thinking of these social networks are different channels for the same methods they have been trying in traditional marketing. On another, some are just wondering how to get involved, which platforms will do what for them, and where to start. Here are some thoughts.
LinkedIN is a pretty safe place to start for a business. It’s targeted towards business professionals, and is built mostly to be an online profile repository and a reputation management system. But it can be used for more.
LinkedIN is a great way to recruit into your business, in so far as how your people write about themselves in their profiles. If your organization is on there, and people’s profiles all seem to say good things about the organization, that’s another way that folks can get an impression and interact with your company.
It’s also a way to share knowledge and give an impression of your abilities. You can answer questions on LinkedIN. Sometimes, this becomes an exercise in branding that can bode nicely for your company.
I personally have mixed feelings about Facebook. At the least, it’s a place where you as an individual can build a profile and have another touchpoint to the web, and to the potential of meeting new people with similar interests. Putting together a decent profile isn’t especially difficult, but there are a few things I’d recommend:
- Use a more candid picture than a posed one.
- Consider which applications you add to your profile. They tell people a lot about you. Sure, you’re going along with the crowd, but why?
- Join groups before you consider starting any. Participate.
- Evaluate the value of your efforts. Don’t just stay there because people told you to be there.
What do you think? Are you using Facebook in a business way? Do you like it? Are you getting value?
Ah, how do I describe Twitter. I have too many times to do so again in this article. But my business point about Twitter is this. Provided you are using Twitter conversationally, and mixing and matching between sharing things about other people and maybe a slight mix in of what you’re doing, then it’s a somewhat useful tool for getting the message out.
I use Twitter a lot to ask questions. Some of my questions are just to promote conversation. Other times, I use it to direct attention to things that are useful or matter, like social causes. Sometimes, I point Twitter towards my own stuff.
Social Networks In General
In general, social networks are useful for bringing about awareness, about meeting people outside the organization, and as Rachel Happe from IDC often says, about capturing unstructured information (like status messages). Tread gently into using social networks, as the return on their use can be questionable. It’s all a matter of engagement. How one engages is one thing. Why one engages is another. What you get out of the engagement is obviously the most important.
Ending The Five Starter Move Series
Inside of my Social Media 100, this has been the Five Starter Moves series. If you didn’t get your questions answered, let me know. I can cover any questions in a subsequent post, and share my response to your thoughts both in the comments and in subsequent works. I hope it worked out for you.
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Comments
Great advice - especially the social networks in general paragraph.
I’ve had several friends try some of the sites - and quickly quit in frustration because they didn’t get any immediate measurable return or sales related to being there.
I use Facebook to raise awareness of my business and to make connections. And to have fun!
Good stuff, Brogan.
I did a similar broad review (sans Twitter) in the December issue of Home Business Magazine focused on the same thing I always focus on - increasing revenue with a slant toward demystifying SOCNETS for the uninitiated. The following excerpt speaks to Nancy Boyd’s query:
LinkedIn and Ryze are two of the more popular online networks that facilitate business-oriented connections.
Presenting a cleaner, more business-like appearance and providing more layers of security, these sites provide good old-fashioned networking with some high tech twists, allowing the user to see the networks of all his contacts, request introductions and provide endorsements for co-workers and employees.
Encover Chief Executive Officer Chip Overstreet was on the hunt for a new VP of sales. He had narrowed the search down to one promising candidate. But since nobody volunteers unflattering references, Overstreet tossed the ones in his candidate’s resume’ and turned to LinkedIn and its more than six million registered users. “I did eleven back-door checks on this guy and found people he had worked with at five of his last six companies,” says Overstreet, whose firm sells and manages service contracts. “It was incredibly powerful.”
Microsoft recruiters use business networking sites such as LinkedIn to develop relationships and search for job candidates. Shally Steckerl manages the research arm of Microsoft’s global central sourcing team. He has directly connected to about 7,800 people on LinkedIn, according to TopLinked.com, a Web site that keeps tabs on the mostly widely connected people on LinkedIn.
Whether you’re searching for your next job or your next hire, these sites are a must for every business owner, executive or recruiter. If you’re hoping to score a new job or simply want to build new relationships on a business networking site, pick what you want to be known for and communicate that clearly. Some recruiters use business networking sites as if they were a giant rolodex. You’ll get better job leads if your profile is clear and up to date.
Nancy-
In general, LinkedIN is a good way to seek out colleagues in similar businesses, find prospects or customers for complementary businesses, and/or get the pulse of a space by asking questions.
A good resource you might check out is Jason Alba’s I’m on LinkedIN, Now What?. He sent me a copy to review. It’s got some good info in there.
FaceBook is good for somewhat less formal profile building, for group functionality (provided you participate in groups there), to learn a bit more about some of your potential colleagues, customers, and prospects (through deeper reading of their profile, through seeing what apps they’ve chosen, etc). Jason Alba and Jesse Stay have a book coming about Facebook just like the LinkedIN book, but it’s not published yet.
Does this help?
Hi Chris, good post. I’ve certainly found more value from LinkedIn than Facebook, but you get out what you put in, and I haven’t put much into the Facebook community.
Note to Nancy: I haven’t really used LinkedIn to make new contacts — it’s a way for me to stay in touch with my existing contacts. Who’s changing companies / jobs / etc.
Chris, for all your writing about Twitter I admit I still don’t see enough value (to me or from me) to warrant me sinking more time into it. The value still seems to be far less than the time sucked out of my life.
But reading your stuff doesn’t suck time out. I think it’s time-neutral, like yoga or tai-chi. So I’ll take you up on the PDF offer if you’re able…Mark
Chris,
I’ve really enjoyed this series. When you have a chance, would love a PDF of all the posts.
Thanks,
Herb
Thanks for the series - good mix of tidbits for the “more experienced” crowd & down-to-earth advice for the uninitiated.
Some thoughts:
1) Facebook: went from “I love it” sometime last year it to “Ughhh, another funwall to uninstall” today
2) Twitter: went from “I hate it” to “I’m definitely addicted” a few months later. Any thoughts, Mr. Mayor :-)?
3) LinkedIn: Thanks for highlighting Answers section. Finally recommendations that go beyond “send out feelers for new work opps” or “use for competitive intelligence.” Hoping LinkedIn will come up with another way to facilitate interaction and collaboration beyond the purely professional space- maybe even set up spaces for “virtual commitees” or enabling signing cross-disciplines volunteers for good causes?
(and yes, please send me PDF of the 5 posts)
One more comment about using LinkedIn as a proactive sales tool.
LinkedIn’s database of registered users is searchable by any word in a user’s profile.
Consequently, if you’re a salesperson trying to get past an automated attendant or a live gatekeeper, LinkedIn gives you the ability to “see through” the walls of a company to anyone within that company who has a LinkedIn profile.
Once you have a person’s name and position, you can at least get to that person and unleash your sales skills on them to get to the RIGHT person. LinkedIn won’t always help you find the right point of contact, but if you possess good cold calling skills, it’ll get you some warm bodies to start with.
Chris,
Thank you for this series. I like your pragmatic, humble style.
I manage a team of developers and I wish I could see something more alive than Wiki to communicate, share and brain storm with.
I need it to be behind the firewall.
I know that your posts target audience that work to build a brand name but I see a use for SN inside a company running cross functional initiatives.
One simple gain is the reduction in the email storage size replacing links with attachments copies (how I wish I could move my father to Facbook:)).
Feedback: what that I’m looking forward in your posts are the tips about the small tools that you are successfully using. Please share with us more about it.
Keren
Hi Keren- I do my best to tailor my posts to the most folks possible. I come from an enterprise background, and I quite understand the need for systems inside the firewall. The way we got around it in my company was we installed a few virtual machines that were running LAMP stacks. On those, we built wikis, blogs, and some rudimentary podcast tools.
The IT department only saw VMWare running, but couldn’t tell what we were doing with the instance. As it was 100% inside the firewall with no external touchpoints, no one was hurt during the making of the platform. : )
The only app we needed permission for was VMWare, which was part of doing the day job.
There are some other ideas, and I can come across those.
Small tools I’m using? Are you reading my mind. I’m starting on a series of tools posts over the next several days. Was even contemplating screencasting it. : )
@Don- I use LinkedIN like that all the time. Not for sales, but just connecting with people who matter to me. Fascinating how it bypasses a lot of annoyance quickly, and I’ve never (well, once in several hundred) received a grumbler that I shouldn’t try connecting to a guy I hadn’t met.
Hello there Chris,
Really like your series on this topic.
Please send a file when you have time and possiblity.
Cheers, Daniel
Chris
Love the post. I need to get a copy of the PDF and send it to some folk around my company….. lots of old school marketers who don’t really get social media….
Hi Chris,
I have mixed feelings about Facebook too…I love it because at least the messages that I receive from my contacts are spam-free, but if I look at groups it would be nice to have more features…
BTW love The Social Media 100
Andrea
Backtalk Tips (and Other PR Blog Jots)…
The argument over whether comments are required for a blog to “really” be a blog has been going on for a while, but what if you really want comments but aren’t getting any? Copyblogger has the answer. Also: Brand idiocy and social media starter kit….
I’m reading Seth Godin’s latest masterpiece “Meatball Sundae” - I think it’s all too easy to get swept away in the latest buzz and trends without stopping to seriously consider the implications and whether these online utilities are the right tool for business.
For me, I’m a huge fan of Facebook… and I deliberately limit my activities to strategic relationship-building ones without engaging in the fluff or noise, as I call it. I’d say I’m using Facebook more like LinkedIN is designed to be used - for professional networking.
Used correctly, Facebook provides a real opportunity to increase visibility, establish a brand, and connect with key contacts… including customers. But you have to have a strategy going in. I’ve attracted over 400 students into my online class “Facebook Fortunes” that I teach on a FB app, Podclass. People are hungry to know how to use this platform effectively!
Great article Chris - as are all in the series. I’ll be pointing my blog readers to this resource shortly, and look forward to the ‘tools’ blogs.
One suggestion - could you place these articles into a tagged category or directory - and perhaps do something similar with the ‘Social Media 100′ to make them easy to point to as a discreet entity online?
In addition Chris, there is one other social network I’d strongly advocate as a start move: Ecademy.com
Ecademy is, like LinkedIn, a business focused network, where you post a profile and can connect to other business people and colleagues, but it also allows one to advertise and blog (and comment on blogs), as well as run or join public or private clubs / interest groups, and is a VERY effective tool for Search Marketing.
The search marketing effect is really the secret weapon - I know one guy who used to spend $800 a month on Adwords and he now spends 10% of that figure! I’ve had blogs indexed by Google in six minutes when adding them to Ecademy, and have a web site on Page 1 at Google with a search term that yields 36,800,000 results.
Ecademy has a free subscription level, but the SEO/SEM is most cost effective at the ‘PowerNetworker’ level which costs $14.95 a month. They also currently have a $5/month for two months offer.
Disclosure: I am biased, as I’ve long been a member of Ecademy, but it is a more effective business generation tool for me than LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter combined, all of which I use. The SEO/SEM effect is quite amazing.
You can try out Ecademy at PowerNetworker level FREE for a month using this link: http://httv.biz/tryecademy - and do connect with me - it’d be great to hear how your search results improve, and I’m always happy to share my experience and expertise.
Duh!
The link in that last comment from me to try out Ecademy free should be http://httv.biz/tryecademy/
The trailing slash was missing. ;-)
Chris, thanks for this. There’s something in here for everybody, even for people who’ve been on these platforms for a while. Truth is, I know way too many people that are in the same boat as Nancy (on all these platforms) and this just makes it easier for me to educate them and help both me and them get more out of it all.
I’d sure like the PDF of all 5 posts. It’d make great reference material.
Could you explain more about why a company might use each of the social media options? Which ones are best for which reasons? Now THAT would be very useful information!
The reason I ask this is, personally I don’t find LinkedIn that useful for networking because its purpose is so unclear. Any of the times I have tried to network with a person or company has been. . . challenging, at best. Some of the other media are much faster and easier. Maybe if I knew more about WHY to use LinkedIn I could start using it the way it was designed, and have better results.
After all you can’t expect an orange to taste like an apple! I think that’s what I’ve been doing, as if they are all the same. And even though I “get” that they aren’t, still I am approaching them as if they are. Frustrating.
Would also like the pdf.
Thanks Chris!