Linkedin. How Does It Work? You Can Kinda Find Out Here

Let’s start with the name – LinkedIn. Presumptuous, no? LinkedIn to what? Is it me, or is LinkedIn just a place to pop your resume and awkwardly exploit tenuous  business contacts (at best) in the desperate hopes of landing that sale/job/recommendation? LinkedIn is the snooty, party-pooping, somber social network where OMGs are about as welcome as staples in a cover letter.

Alright, it’s not that bad. But, seriously, what is LinkedIn? And, more importantly, how does LinkedIn work?

Before we get to that, I just want to give a shout to the FTC – Yo, federal gov’t, good lookin’ out on keeping tabs on the seedy underbelly of review blogs. Let us all work to end the free-wheeling ways of an Internet left to the people (I wish they made a font called “sarcastic”). Just so we’re clear – I have in no way received any type of compensation for this review of LinkedIn. In fact, they might want to consider paying me to stop writing.

Just Stop Babbling and Tell Me, “What Is Linkedin?”

Like Facebook, Linkedin is a personal profile-based service where most of your social movement and action happens on that personal level, rather than with your company profile page. In other words, you can’t do much with a company profile page. It responds largely to the actions of its members (employees of the company).

Where Does Linkedin Get It’s Info?

The information on a LinkedIn.com business page is the product of whatever short bit of info the creator of the page enters, combined with peripheral info that LinkedIn.com mines from data that exists on employee’s LinkedInprofiles (company size, median employee age, male/female ratio, etc.). Basically, it’s a very slim profile of the company with links to individual employees – past and present.

Of Course, LinkedIn Offers a Paid Option, Which Leads to the Question, “How Does LinkedIn Work?

The answer is…it doesn’t. Or not yet, anyway.

LinkedIn.com does offer custom company profiles for a price. I would have known that price, but the LinkedIn rep called me right as I knocked my phone off the desk and I was on hands and knees collecting the parts. I told him I was in a meeting and to call back tomorrow. He never did.

So, the price doesn’t really matter at this point because these custom profiles suck. I don’t usually use such vulgarities, but I can’t contain it anymore (sarcastic font, where are you?) This crappiness spawns from the “custom” nature of the profile – basically, it’s an extra tab called “Careers” that acts almost exclusively as a recruitment tool. Here’s what it looks like:

Knock-knock. Who's there? LinkedIn. What the hell is LinkedIn? Way to ruin the joke, man...nevermind.

You could, of course, just create a custom profile and use it to put whatever content you want up there, but I’m not sure if the return would be worth it.

If people expect to see recruitment content on there and, instead, you throw something else up there, it could work against your brand. This lady seems to think that these custom profiles are just fantastically bees knees-ish. She might want to run her review past the FTC, though. It smells funny. (Ed. note – perhaps this bloggers blindingly bright review of LinkedIn custom biz profiles should be qualified with the fact that she has currently either gone crazy or joined the military.)

The best way to figure out what LinkedIn is good for is to hang tight and hope they parse through the bluster and BS

I think that the best you can do is continue to join and participate in LinkedIn groups; keep your profile updated; and keep on top of impending LinkedIn.com changes. Again, like other social networks, how your employees participate on LinkedIn.com determines how visible your brand is. In other words, the more they update their stats; post new updates; and keep things fresh, the more their connections will see them and exposure is gained all around.

I do think that LinkedIn.com will continue to offer more useful features as more people sign-up and wonder WTF they are supposed to do with a LinkedIn.com profile. I would recommend subscribing to LinkedIn’s blog and keep yourself and your company updated on any awesome stuff they do.

In the meantime, while I feverishly work to definitively answer the questions, “What is LinkedIn?” and “How does LinkedIn work?,” check out this link for ways to get the most out of your existing LinkedIn profile.

You may be at risk.  Have you or someone you know experienced any of the following symptoms…

• Have you developed an uncontrollable curiosity in things like blogs, Twitter and YouTube?
• Do you dread the question, what is your company’s online strategy in the Web 2.0 era?
• Have you asked your child casually about Facebook, then listened intently to his response hoping he would tell you in detail all its inner-workings?

If so, you may have what authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff refer to as “groundswell approach-avoidance syndrome” …but fear not, there is hope for you!  The book Groundswell takes the approach that the key to prevailing in this situation is to first understand the groundswell and then use its power to your advantage.

The groundswell is a “social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from traditional institutions like corporations.”

How has the groundswell become so powerful?

The groundswell comes from the collision of three forces – people, technology and economies, which are explained below:

1.      People have an innate desire to connect and to draw strength from each other

2.      New interactive technologies have made this easier, faster and cheaper.

3.      Online economies are driven by “Traffic equals Money”!

So when members of the groundswell decide to pull together for better or worse, they create an extremely strong movement because of the advanced collaboration tools now available.

What is the key to mastering the groundswell?

First, “Know your objective” and second, “Concentrate on relationships, not the technologies”.

Remember, the basis of the groundswell is person-to-person activity.  If your objective is to learn more about your consumers, a blog is an effective tool to be using.  If your goal is to stimulate conversation, consider posting a video.  If your objective is to energize your consumers, using technology such as ratings and reviews can help.  This also stimulates word-of-mouth marketing.

Word-of-mouth marketing is a force to be reckoned with.  Think of it this way.  What do you trust most? Recommendations from friends, Online reviews from strangers or Ads?  Oftentimes it’s a combination of all these that influence your decision, however when you can get your groundswell members talking to and supporting themselves, that’s when you’ve attained the Holy Grail!

So what’s the best way to help garner support?

The best way to encourage your customers to help each other, thereby thriving in the groundswell is, interestingly enough, by letting go of control.  The authors of groundswell offer the following suggestions:

• Listen to your customers and let them lead you
• Start with small steps
• Build in a reputation system
• Your most enthusiastic customers are out there already, so let’s find them!

“The moment you open your doors to your community, here’s what will happen…nothing.”

• Plan to drive traffic to your community/website through advertising or Search Engine Optimization.

Whether you have accepted it or not, the groundswell is upon us.  Knowing this, you have two options.  You can wait and see if this spells fortune or disaster for your company. Or, you can go out there and start listening to your customers, to other people in your company and to those creating the technology – that’s groundswell thinking.  You’ll have nothing to fear, because you’ll be prepared.

The other day I had my brain picked on Twitter and blogging for one of our PR associates who had to give a talk to tother PR folks.

One of the questions I was asked was, “What do you think are the best social media tools a business can use to promote themselves?”

And of course, I answered Twitter, and then I said Facebook, and then, I answered blogging.

Now aside from the pure SEO benefits of blogging: increasing the size of your website, being able to use weird, but relevant long tail keywords to bring in new traffic, and the ability to get a corporate message across over and over again in many various forms to reach the minions; we got onto the typical mistakes people make with corporate blogs:

A Corporate Blog should not be just about selling your brand or product.

If no matter what is written, every blog post ends with, or even worse, begins with: At XYZ Corp we sell the best dern widgets in the universe”, then really who is going to keep coming back??

• A blog is not an advertising platform.
• A blog is not a place to tell everyone how great your product is.
• A blog is not always the place to blow your own  horn.
• A blog is not the place to speak marketing speak, unless you are blogging about marketing!

A blog, corporate or not, is the place to expand your platform to areas that might only remotely touch onto what you might be selling. Yes, you want to write about areas that are relevant to your business, but, as I like to tell my kids: It’s not always all about you!

A corporate business blog, done well, will have much content and interests aside from what is to be sold.

It’s the place to build authority and expand one field of interest. Done well, a corporate blog will stretch the proverbeal customer net as far and wide as one can, using keywords and links to entice readers to follow that link and read. Done well, the content will be so engaging and rich, that a reader relaxes a bit, puts their feet up, and continues down the line of posts, soaking in the wit and wisdom. Done well, the reader is  so entertained; that he or she forgets why they came there to begin with and are just reading. Done well, and eventually they look up, wonder where they are and look around to find the rest of the website, very openly and clearly explaining who you are, what the company does and how to get the great products you are selling! And because of the well done blog, they are more apt to think that company XYZ sure does have the best dern widgets in the universe NOT becausee you told them , but because you have so much great knowledge about everything else in the world that might have something, however remotely, to do with those widgets.

The heart of blogging is about being real. Not a selling tool, but a real person with real feelings and a real, non corporate identity, sitting behind the computer really writing and sharing what they have to say. A real blog is about building the relationships with those people who also have similar interests even if they are NEVER GOING TO BUY YOUR PRODUCT!

And this is where a blog is like a party.

You go to a party to have fun. To kick back, to be with friends, and maybe, you might network, but it’s NOT a business mixer, it’s NOT a job fair, it’s a PARTY! Yeah, you never know who you might meet, but that’s not why you came. Who wants to be the bore of a party? The stereotypical insurance guy who won’t stop selling life insurance policies? Who wants to be the self centered jerk who always talks about himself and just wants an audience to stroke his ego? Who wants to be the shallow snob who is there to show off ?

You don’t want to be that blog either!! You want to laugh. You want to have a deep conversation. You want to keep in touch with friends and meet new ones. You want to hear a good joke, maybe share a few yourself. But you want to have fun and be entertained. So does everyone else who is there (besides the bore, the jerk and the snob).

After I went forth with my tirade, the next question was posed to me: What if no one is reading the blog?

And again, it’s back to the party. If you go to a party do you stand in a corner, alone, and talk to yourself, waiting until someone else comes over to listen to you? No! You move though the room, you MINGLE. You go to a group of people who look interesting, maybe you know one of two, and you join in the conversation. First you listen, you gather up what the topic of conversation is about, and then you wait, until it is your turn to interject and add something relevant to the conversation.

Same with Blogging.

If you have a corporate blog and no one seems like they are reading, get out of your own corner!

Go forth and mingle! Find other blogs that you are interested in, that are slightly relevant to what your field is about, that look interesting, that seem like they are fun and engaging. Then listen. Gather up what they are talking about. The easiest way to do this is to take some time and actually READ the blog and comments. And then join in the conversation!  Make a comment! 

Just make sure it’s NOT selling, not promotional and not sounding like it’s coming from the bore or jerk or snob! Use your best party line;  you know the one that makes everyone laugh or think you are oh so witty. And yes, make sure that you bother to sign in, add your own Blog URL to the login, so when the host of the party/blog wonders who that fun person was who added so much to the conversation is, they know where to find you! All they have to do then is click on your name and it’s just like returning the invitation; except this time the party ‘s at your house!

No matter what the ultimate purpose of your corporate blog, think of is like a party.

Find interesting relevant things to talk abut that will be fun and interesting and entertaining for the reader, homever they might be. And then mingle. If you want to throw a party, first you have to make some friends. And again, you never know who you might meet.

And if you just happen to sell some widgets from the deal, well, that’s a bonus.