Over the past few weeks I’ve been collecting some more great ideas from the blogosphere to add to my collection of 100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn. Here are the recent additions:
Warm Calling via LinkedIn – Alex Iskold
As part of his excellent “Guide to Business Development 2.0″, Alex says that cold calling is dead:
LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for business introductions. [...] An introduction received via LinkedIn is much warmer than a cold call, because it comes with a bit of trust. You are no longer a stranger trying to upsell things that no one needs, instead you come with a recommendation, however light, from a person that the receiver is connected to. And even if you can’t find a path to connect to someone, sending a direct message via LinkedIn is better than sending a cold email. The reason is that LinkedIn implies business context, and so the person you’re trying to reach likely is not going to be as surprised or angry about the unsolicited ping.
Five Ways IT Managers Can Get More Out of LinkedIn – Shane Schick
This is a great post focused on how senior IT managers and executives can use LinkedIn to do their job more effectively (and not one of them has anything to do with recruiting/hiring). I particularly like #5, which is applicable to everyone — not just IT managers:
Treat the network like a network. IT infrastructure only functions as well as all the parts that comprise it. The same holds true for your LinkedIn network. As you establish contacts, monitor them for new people they’re meeting, new projects they’ve started on, and contribute whenever and however you’re able. In compute terms we call this kind of thing “load balancing.” That’s what LinkedIn, and social networking in general, is all about.
Five Ways Authors Can Profit from LinkedIn – Mahesh Grossman
LinkedIn has created unprecedented levels of access to agents, acquisition editors, authors and others in the publishing industry. It’s been an invaluable tool for me for all my book projects. Any author who’s not already a best-seller is nuts if they’re not using LinkedIn.
Secrets LinkedIn Can Tell You About Your Customers – Matt Asay
As Matt points out:
One of the frustrating things about an open-source business is you don’t generally know who is using your software. The paid customers you know, of course, but generally this represents a small fraction of the total user base.
He then goes on to explain how a search on LinkedIn for his company’s product turned up a wealth of information about people using it that he wouldn’t otherwise have known about. Note that this isn’t applicable just to open-source products, but any off-the-shelf software product.
Searching the Hidden Job Market for Opportunities – Debra Feldman
CIO Magazine says that the nature of recruiting is changing:
Employers are extremely cautious and selective, and recruiting proceeds at an unusually slow pace. Job hunting has literally become a contact sport. That is, you need contacts—lots of them—to expedite the process of landing your next job. In particular, you need connections inside the companies you’re targeting. Why? Because employee referrals are becoming a proportionately bigger source of new hires.
Market Your Company on LinkedIn – Gordon Choi
Gordon offers an in-depth look at LinkedIn’s new corporate profiles.
Scott, I noted your 1st “smart way” to use LinkedIn. Good point!
I’m using it in a slightly different way, not really coming from a corporate background myself.
As someone who focuses primarily on assisting online entrepreneurs rather than corporate people, I’ve recently seen the need to add LinkedIn to the social networks I use. After all, as more and more would-be entrepreneurs from the corp sector see the economic opportunities online, they still need to find someone like me on that kind of network to feel like it’s a “legitimate” connection. Somehow, the LinkedIn profile resonates better than my facebook and other profiles.
It’s amazing how these networks show the need for meeting and connecting with people “on their turf” rather than expecting everyone to show up on yours.