Linkedin Archives - iRespectOnline

November 25, 2017 By Fiona Lucas

#LinkedInLocal – why I became involved

The value of LinkedIn

For me, one of the greatest attractions of LinkedIn is the authenticity that comes from making connections with the owners of a business. It gives me more insight into their values and operations, and can be a huge determinate when it comes to selecting products and services. It was these thoughts playing on my mind when I came across the #LinkedInLocal movement around September 2017.

I was immediately captivated by a movement that sought to network, not to sell and pitch, but to really connect. To let us meet the people behind the business in a relaxed environment, with no pressure to sell or spruik.

As a social media strategist I have often wondered why more local businesses were not leveraging LinkedIn. Was it because there is some disconnect between an electronic profile and the human behind it? Was it because some business owners couldn’t see how LinkedIn could benefit their business (and this is often the case where the focus is more on selling than making connections. It is harder to see the benefits when we are faced with the daily grind).

Perhaps it was because on other social media platforms we can get so hung up on numbers that we forget about the human side of actually connecting individually? I also wondered whether it was because for some business owners, they stay behind their business name and have not “unmasked” themselves on LinkedIn.

Time to get out of one comfort zone, and into a laid back networking zone via #LinkedInLocal (where you will still feel comfortable).

I contacted the inspiration behind the #LinkedInLocal movement, Anna McAfee. She started #LinkedInLocal in Coffs Harbour after exploring statistics and seeing that of the 23,000+ accounts in her region, under 900 were active. After posting a comment about it, one of her connections, who she had not physically met before, said “why don’t we meet then” and the rest is history. An incredible movement has started and is moving rapidly across the world.

(You can read Anna’s reflections here)

Why attend #LinkedInLocal?

There are many reasons why LinkedIn is really valuable to a business. In enables you to build quality business relationships, and interact with a group of like minded business owners and job seekers. #LinkedInLocal takes this to the next step, beyond the initial professional connection, to the human element. We must not forget the value of interaction with the incredible potential in our own area when we are looking to grow our business and teams.

Anna says “we are all here to do business, share experiences and grow our networks, and learning from those who have paved the way already is a truly valuable exercise. If you don’t have a LinkedIn aficionado in your area though my suggestion is organise one anyway, as we did. There is no need to host a workshop style event or have high local engagement on LinkedIn, as we have proven in Coffs Harbour. It simply about making a connection, getting to know one another, and working together towards better business relationships” .

Following my discussion with Anna, I decided it was time, as a local “LinkedIn aficionado” to put it out there to my wonderful home town of Geelong. I’m a third Generation Geelongite. I am loving the current buzz as our community helps to build Geelong into an incredible knowledge base, a hub of startups, ideas, new services, great products and innovative manufacturing as we move into a new era.

#LinkedInLocal exists as a non profit, no pitch, no sell form of networking. A refreshing change, where the focus is on the human, not the business (but of course you can talk business too).

Perth had a magnificent turn out. With the beautiful waterfront at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club beckoning, why not join us at our first #LinkedInLocal event in Geelong on 13 December? Share a drink, a laugh and a chat, maybe even win a prize!

You can find me on LinkedIn here, message me to let me know this post led you to connect!

Fiona.

April 2, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

Changes to Company Pages on Linkedin

Many of you should now be aware of changes which will soon occur for Linkedin Company pages. Rather than the product and services tabs (which incidentally I quite liked), there will be a move to Showcase pages and making company updates. What does this mean for you and your company page?

On 14 April the Products & Services Tab will be removed
If you have any recommendations against specific products, please contact Linkedin to request a download of these recommendations so that you can repost them later. (You should receive an email from Linkedin explaining changes and a link to customer support to request this information up to 30 May, 2014)
Right now you can edit tabs but not add any new ones.
You will be able to create “showcase” pages which are essentially like a landing page for prominent products and services but these are not intended for short-term events such as a conference, workshop or trade show. Showcase pages may also be followed individually.
You will need new images for the showcase pages. The “hero” image is 974 x 330 pixels. PNG, JPEG, or GIF. Max file size 2 M.
Square logo 50 x 50 pixels, Logo 100 x 60 pixels (both will resize to fit)
There is a limit of 10 Showcase pages per company page.

I have a small concern that the move to real-time might lead to more and posts via status updates, particularly for short-term services/products therefore Linkedin may start to seem more “spammy” with lots of posts trying to stay in the followers eye. There are positives of course, which are highlighted in Linkedin’s information on the changes.

Showcase pages will come with a URL but at this point these are not customisable which is a shame.

Here is an example of a showcase page.

Here are three reasons to use your company updates for your products and/or services content:

Updates appear on your Company Page and in your followers’ feeds on every device – plus, when followers interact with your updates, your content is shared with their connections, helping your message spread further, faster.
Company updates let you share compelling visual content, including videos that play directly in the feed, and direct members to customized landing pages rather than a one-size-fits-all destination.
The real-time nature of updates makes them perfect for sharing news about your offerings, so your content feels relevant and timely.

Having updates post on company page and in followers feeds is great. Also love the move towards more visual content, but please please, make it relevant and useful, not pictures of cats and thousands of quotes. Moving to this may let even more bots infiltrate the platform.

I also feel that by having to repost recommendations, some of the benefit of having them posted directly by clients is diminished. Does this create an opportunity for the unscrupulous to embellish recommendations thereby further eroding the transparency that having recommendations post by clients provides? It might be appropriate to approach those who have provided personal recommendations to make that recommendation on your profile.

This has been a very quick overview. I would love your thoughts and feedback.

Fiona

March 16, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

Spotting fake profiles on LinkedIn

LinkedIn lately seems to be getting “busier”. There seems to be more and more people over posting (not original content), sharing pictures (cats and dogs etc), games and other spammy material which don’t really add value to their connection.

The LinkedIn advantage is that it is a professional space, and it seems that in the panic for people to “get on LinkedIn” there is a typical lack of research put into place before creating a profile. Adding to this is the appearance of fake profiles which are created to mine your data and capture information. Some even steal identities. Unfortunately methods used by some to connect (such as Lion networks) I believe actually aid in this because these network growth strategies encourage the sharing of emails without any due diligence. If you just want big numbers and you connect to anyone, then you are not really going to care if a profile is fake or not.

LinkedIn have worked hard to try to prevent their platform being undermined by these scams. In particular one scheme involved hackers using Amazon Cloud to scrape data. (Read a business insider report here).

So what can we do to try to protect our data? It’s simple. Be selective with whom you connect with. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t connect with people you haven’t met or don’t know, but you should make sure that when you receive a connection it comes with a personalised message that lets you know why they want to connect. Take some time and check out their profile to see if it seems legitimate. If you are too “busy” to look at a profile and just click connect all the time, then really you are not using LinkedIn to your advantage.

These pointers may help you decide if a profile is legit:

1. Incomplete profile with no summary, or recommendations and very few details but may belong to many groups.

2. Dubious sounding job titles merely keywords or something like salesperson at salesperson

3. Using a stock photo for their profile. (You can check if an image is purchased by dragging it into the google image search box)

4. Stolen profile? You recognise the name and details, maybe someone famous, but its seems wrong. Bots steal information and create profiles from stolen identities. Do some research on the person and look for duplicate profiles.

5. No personalisation of request? If there is no personalised message with a connection request, ignore until they do, or write and ask a question or two. Someone operating a fake profile may respond but not well to a question of any substance. See further Letiquette tips here.

6.Asking for money If you are a job seeker and they ask for money, offer get rich quick programs or want more of your personal data then be wary!

LinkedIn is a brilliant professional platform, let’s work together to keep it that way.

by Fiona Lucas

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March 16, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

LION isnt the king on LINKEDIN

I have to admit that until recently, I hadn’t been too fussed about the posts I was seeing about LION networking. The reason is that I am fairly discerning with growing my network. I like to see what shared business interests, connections, goals, and values are there before I accept or request a connection. I generally prefer to either have met someone or engaged with them in some way (this could be reading articles that really resonate with me) before I bring them into my fold.

However suddenly I have seen more and more of them. Perhaps this is because as my own network increases I am more exposed to those who follow this particular “strategy” through shared contacts. I had read a few articles from Jo Saunders recently which peaked my interest, so I made a point of looking into it to see what I thought and add my own research into the mix.

I found some who love it, and many who don’t. I have also found some areas of disconnect within LinkedIn’s own terms and conditions (T&C’s). LION (L.I.O.N) is frowned upon because the T&C’s say that you should know someone or request an introduction to them; however the ability to mass email without personalising and the “people you may know” as well as bypassing a personal introduction when using the app seem to contradict this somewhat.

My approach is to look at it logically and for me, the LION strategy does not align with my personal values and principles. I am always open to meet people I don’t know, therefore I joined the openlink network, however I want the connections to be value to both of us. If you enjoy using the LION networks then that is absolutely your right, but please don’t send random invitations to those of us who haven’t joined.

I see no real value in growing massive numbers of connections just for the sake of it, in fact that creates more work down the track if you find yourself needing to “cull” connections. Then there is the real problem that this form of connection exposes us to bots and scrapers which mine our data. Many of these Bots send spam emails and inappropriate content, and I am sure, that like me, the last thing you need is more spam to deal with. Time is precious and we all want to use it to learn and grow our businesses, and connect with others in a collaborative way.

How can you tell? Well usually the words LION or L.I.O.N feature in their profile name or headline and they tend to share posts which ask you to add your email to them (or create groups for this purpose). Another big giveaway is a connection which comes with “because you are a trusted friend” – this is the default when a mass connection email is sent out and a good indication that the person isn’t really seeking you out based on merits!

I’m not LION to you when I say it just doesn’t do it for me. What is your experience of LION?

by Fiona Lucas

March 4, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

MYBIZCARD Begone -Letiquette lesson No 2

Are you totally over those random inmails on your Linkedin asking for a review?

You know the ones .. they look like this

From all my research into this app – there isn’t much good about it. If you have received one there are two things I ask you not to do:

1. DO NOT CLICK THE LINK

2. DO NOT CLICK UNSUBSCRIBE

WHY? Because clicking either link will find you being asked by MYBIZCARD to access your Linkedin Profile. This will give the app the ability to approach ALL your contacts. Even if you innocently chose just a few thinking you are helping out a friend you may find a bulk email goes out. Not only does this annoy your contacts, but the message will go out with their names clearly visible to each other. It’s never good etiquette to expose your contact names to others without their knowledge at the best of times, but you might just really upset a client if their details end up in the wrong hands. Unfortunately many of these app “mine” lists which we really don’t know in whose hands they might end up. It’s always worth a little research before using any app.

Further if you have a really big list, you can only apologise to 50 at a time so it is just not worth it.

From all indications this app tells you that you will get a “rating” but then you find that you have to pay to access the service anyway.

I have heard of negative ratings being given to people who complain to the company so that is really poor and possibly in breach of certain laws in some countries.

Follow the instructions in our infopic to see if you have the app installed and to remove it.

If you do receive one of these emails, delete it and then let the person know – and send them to this post so they can take action themselves.

If you don’t know the person who sent it to you, you can mark as spam, but if you do, marking as spam could see Linkedin suspending or closing their account down if everyone on their list does that.

If you want to build a great profile and reputation, then the best way is to ask real clients and colleague to give you genuine recommmendations, and keep your Linkedin profile up to date because profiles always score well in a google search!

If you found this post useful and would like to know more , please join our Linkedin business page here to stay up to date

With respect

Fiona Lucas – iRespectOnline