An introduction to

What is social media all about?

• Collaboration• Conversation• Interaction• Reputation

What is social media not about?• Broadcasting• Selling• Driving traffic• Making money

But if you get social media right, all of those can follow...

Linkedin & social media

What is Linkedin?

• World’s largest online professional network with more than 135 million members in over 200 countries and territories

• Two new professionals join Linkedin every second• More than 2 million Linkedin company pages• More than 1 million Linkedin groups• 8m+ members in the UK as of December 6, 2011• Over 87 million visitors and 7.6 billion page views in Summer 2011*• Ranked as the 34th most visited website worldwide - up from 54th one

year ago**• Referrals to publisher sites have increased by more than 75%***

* according to comScore – July-September 2011 ** according to comScore – September 2011 figures*** between June 30, 2011 and September 30, 2011

How does Linkedin work?

1st 2nd 3rd

Profile

Contacts

Groups

Companies

Why should you be on Linkedin?

• Reputation and influence– Linkedin is THE professional (non)social network– This is where all the experts in your field hangout and share knowledge, tips

and information– If you contribute relevant comment, information and opinion and provide

answers to questions you will increase your influence with your peers– Makes you an integral part of the professional network

• How you do this – By building a searchable and verifiable profile showing your experience,

qualifications and expertise– Publicly links you with your company, brand and your professional community– Recommend others and get recommended yourself– Good use of the personal feed

Why should you be on Linkedin?

• Professional community– Build and manage a network of professional contacts – Allows you to see what your community finds relevant– Keeps you up to date with what your community is talking about– Find leads, contacts, interviews, sources, candidates, jobs– You can keep track of who is working where

• How you do this– Join and contribute to the discussion of relevant groups– Search for experts using profile keywords and

Why should my brand be on Linkedin?

• Promotion - a company/brand page can include – About us– Products and services– Careers/jobs

• Groups can create a community around your brand and can also position your brand as an expert in an area

• If my brand has a good reputation it reinforces my reputation• If my brand does not have an official page, it may end up with an unofficial

one which is less complimentary

Creating a profile

• Go to www.linkedin.com• Register with your name, email address and password

Linkedin profiles

• You need a personal profile to do everything on Linkedin – and it’s automatically created when you register to join

• Treat your profile like a CV - consider which parts of your past and current job to list – it doesn’t have to include everything

• Connect with colleagues – search by email addresses or look at who is already registered as part of that company

• Keep it professional – use a headshot not a social picture, don’t repost chain letters/status or jokes – those are for Facebook

• You can have 3 links and 3 Twitter feeds linked to your profile – one of each should be your publication’s website and Twitter account

• Don’t feel you have to include too much detail about past jobs – sometimes the company name, job title and dates worked is enough

• It doesn’t have to be 100% complete – get the basics in place, then build it up

A profile page – top view

Title is completely editable, can be your job title, your industry etc

This is not actually a very good photo for Linkedin – should be more professional

Headline info from past jobs – you can have more than one current job at a time

Recommendations

Mix of Redactive and freelance links

If you have a personal Twitter you want recruiters to find here’s where to include it

Engagement stats

Be careful when uploading a resume – remove contact info before posting

You can choose the type job role, but industry is defined by the company information

Number of connections

Now that Linkedin has added a keywords section this can be generic “about me” text

Past job info

Profile page – sections

Skills keywords – these are now searchable so be sure to complete them

Recommendations in full

Group membership

Education

Personal info – up to you how much you complete

What I’m open to being contacted about

I’ve got a profile, now what?

• Connect with contacts• Join and create groups

– Contribute to discussions– Create and vote on polls– Search and post job opportunities

• Follow companies that are of interest

Connecting with contacts

• You can find contacts by:– Email address – Searching for individuals by name– Via company pages– Looking at your contacts’ network– Linkedin suggestions

Join or create groups

• Join the conversation• Linkedin groups are effectively forums with some extra functionality• Group membership can be closed or open• A discussion is started and other group members comment on it to reply

or debate the issue at hand• Group members can “like” a discussion• Polls can be created, voted in and commented upon• Jobs can be posted• And that’s it...

Linkedin groups - membership

• A group is a specialist community• People choose to join, so you know they have an interest in the topic• Anyone can start a discussion – all you have to be is a member• But there’s a fine line between providing relevant information and straight

selling – you have to offer more than just a link to your product• Group membership lists are searchable – good way to see who else is

interested• Discussions are a good indication of topics of interest to the industry• But DON’T spam – group members are likely readers and we don’t want to

alienate them

Linkedin groups - ownership

• A group is a community for your readers• Use links to relevant content to start discussions and polls• Invite friendly contacts and contributors to join the group• Reply to or like other people’s discussions or polls• Use the group jobs tab to manually post links to top jobs on your jobs site• Promote popular group discussions in other media – as a link from your

website, newsletter or Twitter feed• Use the groups statistics to track your audience• Write group rules that encourage conversation about the magazine but

discourage spam/commercial posts. – Have a 3 strike clause in the group rules so you can expel spammers

• Send an announcement email to group members once a week to promote content, upcoming events etc

A Linkedin group

Managers choice – a promoted discussions

Latest updates – discussions, comments, likes, new members etc

Group title and logo

Most recently started or commented on discussions – 20 to a page

Discussion reactions -comments and likes

Where to start a discussion

Member info Search the group

Group administration section – approve users, change settings etc

Group Rules

Group statistics – who is in your group, where are they based, age, gender and job level info from profile information

Setting up a Linkedin group – practicalities

• Choose one team member to be group owner• Decide whether membership numbers or quality of content is more

important to you – first is an open group, second is a closed group– If you decide to have a closed group the group owner to monitor the Requests

to join page so new members don’t have to wait too long• Customise settings

– Owners can set it so they receive an email for any new discussions started so they can remove any that are spam or overly commercial. Owners can also choose if they want to restrict who can create polls, discussions or jobs

• Post one new discussion a day with links to your site - get different people to post the discussions so it looks more like a conversation

• Encourage staff to comment on and/or Like each other’s discussions• Set up a bit.ly link or redirectlink (mysite.com/linkedin) as an easy link for

use in print – don’t print the official group link as it looks horrible• Put the time in – don’t expect overnight success

Follow companies that are of interest

• You can choose to follow any brand via their company page– About us– Activity – including new hires, job roles and promotions– Products and services– Opportunities

Linkedin company page

Company name and logo

About us information

Contacts who work at the company

Stats

Services tab – there can also be tabs for career opportunities

Advertising on Linkedin

• Every few months group owners are offered a certain amount of free advertising space on Linkedin

• If you want to use this, you need to have something ready to go, because the free periods tend to be brief

• Linkedin adverts include:– Headline (up to 25 characters of text)– Description (up to 75 characters of text)– From: (your name or any company)– Image: (50x50 pixel image)– URL (website people visit once they click on your ad)

• Ads can be targeted to job title, company size, location etc• Liked Google Adwords it’s PPC and you can set a budget• Once the free period is over, payment kicks in automatically so you need

to watch it carefully

Linkedin on your mobile

• Linkedin currently has mobile applications for – iPhone– Blackberry– Android– Palm

• 11% of people access Linkedin via their mobile device

Dos and Don’ts

• DO add all relevant past employment information to your profile• DON’T add insane levels of detail about an irrelevant job from 10 years

ago

• DO like other people’s discussions and comments• DON’T insult or abuse anyone – remember everything is public

• DO use your personal status to promote interesting content• DON’T overpost – this isn’t Twitter and people don’t want to be inundated• DON’T set-up other social media accounts to autopost to your feed

• DO join other groups, vote on polls, engage in discussions• DON’T be a spammer - quality over quantity

Dos and Don’ts

• DO ask for recommendations from past colleagues• DON’T be upset if no one responds, sometimes people don’t

• DO add colleagues, professional contacts, clients etc to your connections• DON’T add your entire address book – be selective, professional only

• DO send connection requests to people you met at a conference or networking event

• DON’T start by adding people you don’t know as connections (this comes later, when you have a completed profile)

• DON’T upload a CV with contact information or references names on it – it could be a danger to your privacy

Any questions?