Adding Board Affiliations to Experience

A friend asked me this question today and I'd like to share my response.

 

Q: Our 2013 board chair was trying to select the (organization name) as one of his affiliations on LinkedIn. The only (organization name) that appeared in the drop down menu was (organization name in a different state). Even though we have a group for our chamber, do I need to register the organization somewhere else to make this appear?

Please let me know.

 

A: Yes, you will need to add your organization name to the list of employers within your experience section. To do so, you (or somebody with your organization name in their email address, ex @ABCchamber.org) will need to add your organization as a new company on your profile in "Experience" in order for you or your board members to add your organization to their "Experience" section on your profiles.

 

Instructions: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1646

Note: follow the link "To add a position."

Also, if you have not already done so, be sure to add a "Company" listing for your organization on LinkedIn, too.

Instructions: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1594
My Company's Page (example): http://www.linkedin.com/company/walsh-college?trk=hb_tab_compy_id_20730

Was this blog helpful? Do you have a question? Share this blog and connect with me on LinkedIn.
www.linkedin.com/in/brendameller

 

Those Pesky Endorsements

A friend asked me this question today:

Q: How do I get my name to stop coming up for people to endorse on Linked In? They are endorsing me for things I don’t even do!

A: I did some poking around on LinkedIn, and here's what I've found as a workaround. It appears you CAN hide endorsements, either selectively (a lot of manual work to do this) or hide ALL endorsements (which is what I would suggest, if you're not a fan of the pesky endorsements on your profile).

1. Log into your LinkedIn Account.
2. Click to "Edit Profile."
3. Scroll down to "Skills & Expertise."
4. You can follow the link to "Manage Endorsements" if you want to take the selective approach, and review endorsements per skill area. Here you can deselect showing the endorsement from a specific connection, or delete the skill entirely, if you wish.
5. OR, you can hover over the drop-down area next to "Display your endorsements?" and select "No, do not show my endorsements."

Personally, I'm a fan of LinkedIn endorsements, since they help to showcase on my profile which skills and expertise my connections think I'm strong in. However, not everyone shares my feelings about endorsements though.

Hope that helped. Please share and encourage your network to read and comment on this blog. If it's useful, I'll add tips like these more often.

Review Your LinkedIn Company Page Lately? You Should

A reminder for anyone whose company has a page on LinkedIn. According to LinkedIn, you can list up to 25 products or services on your LinkedIn company page.

Keep in mind, though, that this might require periodic maintenance on your part. Perhaps there are specials that you're promoting that have expired. Or like me, perhaps you've promoted an event (in our case, a webinar) that occurs once per quarter.

Learn more during an upcoming MBA webinar.
Details at www.walshcollege.edu/Webinars 

Here are the step by step instructions from LinkedIn on updating your product / service pages on your LinkedIn Company Page: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4652

Hope this helps and serves as a good reminder.

LinkedIn Company Pages (who moved my cheese?)

While on LinkedIn today, I discovered yet another change, this time in the "Company" pages section.

During a visit LinkedIn tonight, I read a sponsored ad promoting tips on LinkedIn Company Pages.

I followed the link to a free download from Hubspot, which you can access here:

http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/53/Intro_LinkedIn_Company_Pages_Single_Page-Final-01.pdf

(Note: if that link doesn't work, you may have to try this, which requires you to fill out a short form for the nice folks at Hubspot: http://offers.hubspot.com/step-by-step-guide-to-linkedins-new-company-pages)

I'm going to be spending some time reading and updating my company's LinkedIn page, and encourage you to do the same.

Let's give each other's company pages a follow.
Here is my company's page on LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/company/walsh-college
Reply to this blog with your company page address on LinkedIn.

Skill Endorsements (aka, LinkedIn Meets Pinterest)

LinkedIn recently launched a few feature, giving you the ability to click to endorse your connections' skills and expertise. 


Instructions on how to endorse your connections' skills and expertise can be found here: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31888

I first discovered this after receiving notification from LinkedIn that I had a few skills endorsed by my connections. I have to admit that I've added some skills and expertise to my profile, but thought it existed primarily to help my own personal / professional SEO efforts only. LinkedIn finally figured out a way to make this section useful. 

My first time accessing the "Skills & Expertise" to endorse my connections was somewhat addicting. I did this on my iPad and simply clicked to "refresh" and selected connections along the way to endorse. One click to "refresh" then hovered over and clicked any that I wanted to endorse, and repeat. 

Let's Connect on LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/in/BrendaMeller

Twenty minutes and probably 50 endorsements later, I have to admit I was hooked. It reminded me of the same feeling I get when surfing through my friends pins and the "popular" set of pins on Pinterest. 

Nicely played, LinkedIn. 

You can only do this with first level connections, and it reminds me a bit of the "recommendations" on LinkedIn, but only a fraction of the effort is involved. I know that for me, I'm not going to endorse everyone. But I will be more willing to endorse vs. recommend since the latter is more time consuming. 

Was this blog helpful? Let's connect on LinkedIn, and please consider giving my "LinkedIn" skills an endorsement. 

10 LinkedIn Tips for Your Business

10 LinkedIn Tips for Your Business

You’re probably on LinkedIn and using it to gain new connections, but are you tapping into the power of LinkedIn to support your business? Here are 10 simple techniques that you can use on LinkedIn that will help.

1.           Modify your LinkedIn “Headline” to promote your business with a tagline or offer. This “headline” follows you around LinkedIn.

Modify your LinkedIn "Headline" to promote your business.

2.           Search your business name or product keywords using “SIGNAL” http://www.linkedin.com/signal/

Use LinkedIn Signal to search for keywords, company mentions, and more.

3.          Add Your Company Profile on LinkedIn (FREE!). Include video, contact person, product/services, recommendations from clients, and post company updates. People can “Follow” your company updates.

Add your Company Profile onto LinkedIn - free!

4.           Personalize EVERY invitation to connect. Include a frame of reference and explain why you wish to connect.

5.           Check out your competition: profiles, company pages, signal. Let them inspire you.

6.           In “ANSWERS,” answer questions and AIM LOW. Demonstrate your expertise.

7.           Add a professional photo (head and shoulders) to your profile. Be confident.

8.           Post Company Events (FREE). Reach business professionals on LinkedIn.

9.           Use all 3 Websites on Your Profile – but select “OTHER” and rename them with specific description.

Ex: Not “BLOG” but instead select “Other” and type: “Marketing Tips”

Ex: Not “Company Website” but instead select “Other” and type: “Walsh College”

10.       Be a Lifelong Learner: check out and follow connections’ reading lists for recommended books.

Presented on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at the Grosse Pointe Inforum Affinity Group

Brenda Meller is an Inforum member, co-leader of the Inforum Troy Networking Group, and Director of Marketing Manager for Walsh College. She frequently speaks on Social Media through the Walsh College webinar series. Join upcoming LinkedIn 101 and 201 for Business Professionals webinars (free) at www.walshcollege.edu/Webinars.

Let’s Connect! www.linkedin.com/in/brendameller

How and Why You Should Use LinkedIn Events

LinkedIn has a great free tool that allows any LinkedIn user to create and promote personal or business events to your networks. If you haven't used this yet and you or your company holds events such as these,

• Webinars
• Open Houses
• Networking Events
• Customer Appreciation Day
• Education Workshops
• Business Training

you need to start using this immediately.

It's simple to use - FREE - plus gives you the ability to amplify your event by promoting it through social media.

After you're logged into your LinkedIn account, click the "MORE" dropdown then select "EVENTS"

You're now on the Event Home Page. Click on "CREATE AN EVENT"

Follow the step-by-step instructions to enter your event information.  IMPORTANT: FILL IN ALL FIELDS. I use my personal photo if the event is featuring a speaker or presenter. Or use your company logo if it's a company event (Your marketing person will thank you).

Add in additional details describing your event. In this example, I'm creating an event page that I'll use to promote this blog. Select an Industry if it applies to the event. Otherwise, skip that field. IMPORTANT: use the "labels" field like you would meta data, and include keywords and phrases to describe your event and the content. Also include a website where people can learn more about the event, the organization/company, or you. In this example, I'm using my blog address. Use every field. It's free promotion for your event, your company, or you. 

This step is NOT optional, in my opinion. Share your event message with your networks!

I'll tweet it and add in hashtags to describe the event. In this example, my hashtags are #LinkedIn, #EventPromotion, and #EventPlanning. This will help my event to get picked up by fellow Twitter users searching for my keywords.

I also will post on my Facebook page for my friends to read. In this message, I'm giving a shout out to Dana who asked me how to post events on LinkedIn, who was the inspiration for this blog.

That's it! In a few days, Google will have picked up your event and people searching Google will be able to find your event too.

So in just a few minutes, you've created an event that can be promoted FREE across your networks on
LinkedIn (let's connect - www.linkedin.com/In/BrendaMeller
Facebook
Twitter (follow me www.twitter.com/BrendaMeller)
plus, it's publicly searchable on Google.

Happy Event Planning!