Quality Over Quantity: How To Remove LinkedIn Connections

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t always follow my own advice. But today is a new day and any time is the right time for improvement.

When people ask me for LinkedIn advice, I always stress the importance of only connecting with people you actually know. However, after going through my list of contacts, I realized that I haven’t been following my own advice.

Okay, so I’ve never met Samuel Willoughby from Texas, but he’s kind of cute and he probably has a really awesome accent. Granted, I added him as a LinkedIn connection five or so years ago when I was merely beginning my college career. But now I’m older, wiser and married, and I have to stop adding cute boys on LinkedIn whenever they ask.

My point is, the whole purpose of social networking on LinkedIn is to build professional relationships with people you’ve already connected with IRL (that’s internet lingo for “in real life”).

So, take a look at your own contact list. Do you really know the 500+ connections you have? Or are you like me and are guilty of adding everyone and anyone who requests a connection? If so, it’s time to purge your LinkedIn contacts list so you can begin to focus on nurturing those true relationships. I mean, isn’t that what social netoworking is all about?

Below is a LinkedIn Map of my connections. Pretty neat, huh? Make your own LinkedIn Map here!

How to Remove a LinkedIn Connection

Step 1: Hover over the Network tab at the very top of your home page then click on Contacts.

Step 2: Click on Remove Connections at the top right-hand corner of the page.

Step 3: Go through your list of contacts and check each connection you want to remove. (Tip: If you have to think longer than 5 seconds about how you know this person, you probably don’t. Remove him/her!)

Step 4: Click the blue Remove Connections button. (LinkedIn will ask if you’re sure you want to remove the following connections. I know it’s hard, but if you love something, you have to let it go.)

Step 5: Click Yes, remove them

Step 6: Let the overwhelming sense of satisfaction in knowing that you’re on your way to being a better LinkedIn member wash over you.

Congrats! You did it. As John Lennon once said: “Being honest may not get you many LinkedIn connections, but it’ll always get you the right ones.”

How To Optimize Your LinkedIn Summary

Photo: A Name Like Shields Can Make You Defensive | Flickr.com

What’s above your fold? No, that wasn’t meant to be suggestive.

As a journalist, I’m trained to produce and consume information in the most efficient way possible. That includes saying what you want to in the shortest amount of words possible and including information above the “page fold.” Traditionally, that refers to everything above the crease on a newspaper, but in our digital world, that refers to everything on the page before you have to scroll down to see more.

Think of your LinkedIn profile as a breaking news story. Your name and title is the headline and byline, and your summary is the lead of the story; your story to be exact.

People want two things when they’re reading your summary: briefness and authenticity.

Yes, your LinkedIn summary will allow up to 2,000 characters, but that doesn’t mean you should use them all. Some people may tell you to utilize all the characters that you can to optimize your page, but I think that’s just silly. In this case, less is definitely more.

Think of your LinkedIn summary as an elevator pitch. At the last minute you squeeze through the elevator doors to catch the attention of your company’s CEO. She’s a busy woman and you have only a minute or two at most to tell her who you are and how you can benefit the company, deserve that promotion, etc. Make it count!

Second, be sincere. Use first person and your own voice to tell your story. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that when you write in third person you sound conceited and stuffy. Imagine that arrogant jock who speaks in the third person.  We all know someone like that and can all agree that those people are annoying.

Now that we’ve established a voice, here are some buzz words and phrases to avoid: creative, organizational, effective, motivated, extensive experience, track record, innovative, responsible, analytical, problem solving, blah, blah, blah. Anyone can say that he/she is creative or responsible. Who cares? What you want to do is show how you are creative or responsible.

List one to three accomplishments that you’re really proud of. LinkedIn is not the place to be modest. If you launched an advertising campaign that won tons of awards and received national notoriety, say so! If you’ve never missed a day of work in 10 years, brag about it! Some other highlights to include are any trade qualifications, certifications, or apprenticeships that you may have under your belt.

Lastly, include a call to action. Invite people to connect with you on LinkedIn. Encourage them to email you to learn more about what you do. Direct them to your company website. Whatever your end goal is, make sure you tell people what to do next.

Some other things to consider when writing your LinkedIn summary:

• Begin with the end in mind. Why are you on LinkedIn? Is it to expand your professional network, or find more leads?
• Who do you help and how?
• Include your specialties.
• If you’re a business owner, keep your personal identity separate from your business’ brand.
• Move your Skills & Expertise up on your profile page so it sits below your summary and before anything else. Reality is that people want to know what you’re good at before they learn about your job at McDonalds when you were 16 or where you graduated from college.
• Tell your story! You don’t have to begin with your birth day, just begin somewhere.

Still confused about how to use LinkedIn? Contact us for a training/informational session! Email Info@candeocreative.com

AMA Event on Events! Marketing and Promoting Events

This morning Zack and I attended our very first American Marketing Association event as newly inducted members of the Northeast Wisconsin chapter. Held at the Best Western Premier Waterfront Hotel and Convention Center, AMA’S June Event on Events featured three panelists: Jeff Potts, Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau; Tara Brzozowski, Fox Cities Performing Arts Center; and Brenda Krainik, Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau. The panel discussion was moderated by Jamie Ceman who is on the board of theAMA Northeast Wisconsin Chapter. The breakfast briefing focused on how to promote and market events. If you missed this event, you’re in luck! I’ve highlighted some key points below.

Promotion

• Offer early bird discounts on ticket prices or registration fees
• Offer last-minute deals such as bundles and extra experiences
• Offer incentives to attend the event such as free t-shirts, door prizes etc.

Tara of the PAC made an important note about discounts: Use them wisely! If you regularly offer last-minute savings on ticket sales, customers will catch on and wait until the last minute to purchase their tickets. Do not discount front-row tickets because the people who purchased them will feel cheated once the tickets go on sale, only discount tickets in the nosebleed section to fill seats.

Using social

• Social media is a great customer service tool. Monitor your channels closely for people asking for more info about your event.
• Focus on your audience. Your audience will determine the platform you use as well as your voice, so know your audience and be authentic. If you’re a B2B operation, you’ll most likely reach your audience on LinkedIn as opposed to Facebook or Twitter.
• Promote the event on social media during and after the event. Encourage attendees to share photos on their social media pages. If your event is a recurring one, people posting about their great time at your event will encourage new attendees in the future.

Jeff used a great analogy about promoting events on social media. You may be holding an event for boaters, but a speed boater is very different from a sail boater. You’ll want to speak to both audiences in very different manners.

Some more notes

• Know your budget, time, location and audience before you begin marketing and promoting your event
• Be consistent with your message
• Find advocates to promote your event such as chambers of commerce, downtown organizations, and convention & visitors bureaus
• Recurring events > one-time events
• Free and local events create a sense of community

8 Easy Tips To Being A “Pinner”

Showing the most growth year-over-year for social desktop, social web and social app usage, Pinterest is here to stay. Since popping up onto the social scene, Pinterest has shown more than a 2,000% increase in unique visitors. It is by far the fastest growing social networking site in history!

Time spent on Pinterest is divided among pinning pictures, liking other pins and commenting on pins. 80% of content shared on Pinterest are re-pins of pictures from other users. Lord knows I spend enough time on Pinterest. It is so addictive! (Seriously, I need help.)

Pinterest is easy enough for the average user to navigate. However, there is a right and wrong way of sharing photos on Pinterest.

Tips for being a good pinner:

1. Include links that work. Nothing is more annoying than clicking on a pin for more info only to run into a 404 error.

2. Include links to original sources that are helpful. If your pin is about a DIY project, make sure the link you provide directs users to an actual DIY guide.

3. Use a good quality photo. Make sure photos are large and high resolution. Never tamper with another photographer’s work. If you’re going to re-pin a photo, make sure it links to the original source.

4. Have a good description/comment for your pins. Pinterest automatically requires you to describe your pin before pinning anyway, so might as well make it count. Use key words that will make your pin easily searchable.

5. If you find a better original link, edit it onto your pin (for re-pins). Things get shared so many times on the internet that it’s hard to keep track of the original source, but if you do stumble upon it, make sure to include it on your pin.

6. Upload your own pins. If you’re into cooking or DIY, take photos of your work and upload it to Pinterest. If you’re a blogger, use Pinterest to highlight your posts. Who knows, maybe you’ll gain a massive following!

7. Share pins from other websites. More and more websites are integrating “Pin it” buttons on their pages. This makes sharing their photos on Pinterest super easy.

8. Create fun and descriptive boards. Not to toot my own horn, but check out my boards. Pinterest doesn’t have rules about naming your boards, so I try to have fun with it. I have a board called “Wolfgang & Patience” (my future babies). This is where I pin parenting tips, children’s crafts and kid fashion. But keep in mind that if you want your pins/boards to be easily searchable, they need to be categorized properly. This can be done under editing options.

Well, that’s all I got for now on how to be a better pinner. Read our previous blog posts, How Your Business Can Be “Pinning” and Are You A Pinterest Newbie?, if you want to learn more. If you’re interested in creating a Pinterest account for your business (there’s a difference between personal and business accounts), join us for our next Social Intelligence workshop on April 30. There are only 10 seats available so contact us to claim your spot! Visit our events page for the deets.

Why Your Business Should Be On YouTube

Written By Sheng Riechers

With new video sharing tools like Twitter’s Vine popping up, 2013 is already known as “the year of the video.” As the most consumed content format online, videos reach 85% of U.S. Internet users. Since 2006, the number of videos watched has increased by a whopping 800%.

As the #2 search engine in the world, YouTube boasts 153 million unique viewers, that’s 100 million more than Facebook. Here are 10 reasons why your business should be on YouTube.

1.YouTube videos can easily be accessed via mobile phones and devices.

2. Because YouTube is owned by Google, YouTube videos are one of the top items that show up in a Google search.

3. Videos create a semi face-to-face interaction that can help humanize your business versus written content.

4. YouTube is used to search for products and services more than any other social networking site.

5. Through video, it is easier to educate and communicate to potential/current customers about your product or service.

6. Videos are easier to consume compared to written content. We all know how short people’s attention spans can be.

7. Many of your competitors may be on Facebook and Twitter, but probably not on YouTube.

8. You can create quality video content with any budget. Nowadays, qualities videos can even be taken with smartphones.

9. YouTube videos are easy to distribute to other social networking sites and embed on websites and blogs.

10. Men and women are equally likely to watch online videos.