Backing Up Your LinkedIn Connections Part II

After writing my first blog post on backing up connections Have You Backed Up Your LinkedIn Connections Lately I have since learned there are problems when you have large lists; problems to the point LinkedIn will tell you the process may not work if you have over 10,000 connections.

Recent LinkedIn Posts
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LinkedIn Personalized URL
LinkedIn Summary Section
LinkedIn Experience Section
Making Small Talk Using LinkedIn Interests

Not My Problem Currently

Currently I do not have the problem because I’m still relatively small from a connections perspective (about 1500). However, I find this disturbing; how does LinkedIn get away with creating a product with a defect this severe? The fact LinkedIn is free should have no bearing on whether the basic functionality of being able to protect your work through a backup process exists or does not exist.

LinkedIn Users Unite

Not to be a troublemaker, but this is unacceptable and we need to let LinkedIn know. I understand the issue of a long export process and how the process could tax the system, but what if we were able to export using the LinkedIn “tag” function? We tag or classify our connections and then have the ability to export based upon those tags. Wait, you’re not familiar with tags; watch for a future post describing why and how you use the tagging feature of LinkedIn.

Export Problem Recommendations from LinkedIn

LinkedIn says, “if you are experiencing difficulty with the export try again and maybe even try at a different time. You are on a shared server, your bandwidth is shared, and who knows what else; any one or a combination of these factors may be contributing to your problems. Try different times, networks, browsers, hard wired versus wireless and even different computers to see if you have better success.

Every process has a bottleneck which may slow the process down or stop it altogether. The challenge we face is determining whether we can resolve the bottleneck or if it is a bottleneck which must be resolved by someone else; in this case LinkedIn.

LinkedIn also says if you have more than 10,000 connections; the export may never work.

I have submitted a ticket with LinkedIn to see if I can learn more. I will keep you posted! In the meantime if you hear or experience anything; I would appreciate hearing from you.

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Does 20 Years’ Experience Tell Your Audience Anything

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My name is Tom Staskiewicz and my goal is to help everyone do a little better, get a little further and reach the success they are destined to achieve! Whatever I can do to help you or anyone to move forward in reaching your goals; I’m all for it. Connect with me on LinkedIn, Like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Check out our career site at http://toyourcareersuccess.com and sign up for our newsletter of career tips and ideas for job seekers, small and medium business owners, self-employed individuals, contractors, consultants or whatever; anyone wanting to move their career forward!

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What Frustrates You the Most with LinkedIn?

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Social Media Does Not Provide Instantaneous Results

Going Viral Takes Time

I was talking with one of my clients recently about their Social Media efforts. The owners had been questioning whether the Social Media effort, which they had started about 5 months ago, was producing anything tangible. She told them that it was and was able to give one or two examples. That provided a little bit of satisfaction, but not too much.

Ironically I had been thinking about that same thing with this client and had done a couple of Google searches to see how we were doing. I was pleasantly surprised at the results. This client had two pages of Google results and upon review I saw that some of the results were from reposts of our Blog articles.

I forwarded the search criteria so they could perform the same search and see for themselves what was happening. No, it is not bringing droves of people into their office thus far, but it is starting to take effect.

You Must Have Patience

The reality is that there are billions of businesses, articles, blogs, and everything else on the Internet and taking or making your place in that thriving world takes time and patience. Even when you are attempting to make a dent in a small segment of the Internet it still does not happen overnight.

You Must Create Your Own Following

To be successful you must be able to create a following and you do that by having interesting and informational posts. The fact that you post something is of little consequence; the fact that you post something that interests and attracts an audience makes all the difference.

Identify Your Target and Then Focus Your Efforts

Creating a following takes time and effort. Here are some key questions that you need to answer before you proceed:

1. What is your target market?
2. Is your target market…
1. Local?
2. Regional?
3. National?
4. Worldwide?
3. Who is in your target market?
1. Male?
2. Female?
3. Young?
4. Old?
5. Metropolitan?
6. Suburban?
7. Rural?

Obviously there is much more to the process than these few questions, but the ability to answer these questions will make your process much more successful and targeted. There are many people pushing the idea of building your list by the thousands every day, the question is whether you are adding valuable names or simply adding names. Be focused in your efforts so you create an audience that is interested in your message.

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Tom Staskiewicz consults with individuals and businesses on the use of Social Media to help you build your brand and your business. Don’t waste time where there is no value. You must have a strategy so you don’t throw your money away on wasted efforts.

Should I Add People to My Network That I Do Not Know?

I Think People That Limit Their Networks to Only Those They Know Are Making a Huge Mistake

Did you know that statistics show that out of every 100 connections; only 2 or 3 will ever play an important role for you? The question is which 2 or 3 per 100 are the important connections and are you willing to take the chance?

So Why Would You Only Network with Those You Know?

There are many so called networkers that will only connect with people they know. If someone wants to network with one of these people and it is someone that they do not know, the offer to become a Facebook Friend or LinkedIn Connection is rejected. There is no real reason, other than the individual is an unknown.

Interestingly, virtually everyone we know was an “unknown” at one time or another. The exceptions are family members and if we go back far enough, even they were an unknown.

Surprisingly Even LinkedIn Subscribes To This Philosophy

Even LinkedIn encourages this behavior with the “I Don’t Know” or IDK option as it is commonly known. Why would LinkedIn do this? Although I do not know for sure, I do have a hypothesis.

From a LinkedIn perspective, I believe, it is simply to get you to spend money with them. My reasoning here is that if you spend money with a premium membership you have access to In-Mails, which are used to connect with someone that you do not know; only you now have LinkedIn’s blessing in exchange for your money.

According to Webster’s Dictionary networking is: 1 : the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically : the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

As I read Webster’s definition I do not see anything that limits your network simply to those you know. In fact it says the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

Why Should I Network with People that I Do Not Know?

My answer to this question is an unequivocal YES! I believe in adding anyone until they give you valid reasons for rejecting them. I do not consider the fact that I do not know them to be a valid reason.

Adding people that you do not know to your network expands your sphere of influence and increases your power to develop better answers and solutions to your questions.

Do All Your Opportunities Exist Within Your Current Communities?

If you are in business the question is: Do all of your future customers exist within your current communities or among the people you currently know? Obviously the answer is no. So the next question is if you are not willing to add people that you do not know to your network; how will you reach your new customers? How are you going to make the necessary connections?

Another question is how do you convert a non-customer to being a customer? Most businesses do it through communications. If that is the case, doesn’t it make sense to have these prospects in your network to make the communication process easier?

Social Media – Can We Learn from Restaurants

We Can Learn from Restaurants

I believe there are social media lessons to be learned from restaurants. The other day, after finishing a meal at the Olive Garden, I started thinking about what does my business and the businesses of my customers have in common with a restaurant. What can we learn?

I started thinking about the entire sequence of a meal and how that affects the customer.

The first thing that the restaurant owners decide is what type of restaurant do they want. Will they be fast food or full service? Will they be inexpensive, moderate priced, or expensive? What type of food will they offer: a wide variety of foods, a particular specialty, or a specific ethnicity.

Where will they locate the restaurant? Who will be their target market or customer?

Once you move beyond fast food, most restaurants understand that they need to get the food moving to the patron. There is nothing worse, than a table full of people just sitting and waiting. Restaurant owners have learned that you need to get the customer or patron involved immediately.

In the past they would immediately serve you water, but today they start by taking your drink order. Why? Because it is quick and easy. People decide quickly on what they will have to drink. The next question is whether you want an appetizer; again these are food choices that are quick to assemble and get to the table. After the appetizers are ordered and before they are served your main course order is taken. This takes longer to prepare, but you have your drinks and your appetizers to keep you occupied.

So What Does This Have To Do With Social Media?

How are you doing at deciding the questions to be asked for your business? What are the parameters for your choices and decisions? Why are you doing what you are doing? What are your goals and objectives?

10 -15 years ago businesses began creating web sites. The question I ask is why? The answer for many was that they were told if they did not have a web site; then they were not serious about their business. A few years later the question was whether they were using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and keywords; because, if they were not, then they were not serious about their business. Today the question is whether the business is using Social Media; because if they are not then they are not serious about their business.

The problem I see with all of these options is that the reasons were often incorrect. Instead of doing the methodical process that a restaurant or any business, for that matter, follows; businesses rushed into web sites, SEO, and now they are rushing into Social Media.

Choosing to Participate in Social Media

A business’s participation in Social Media should be thought out.

• What is the goal?
• What is the expectation?
• What is the expected benefit?
• What is expected of the visitor?
• Who is the expected visitor?
• How do you want the visitor to respond?
• Are you going to capture visitor information?
• What information do you want to capture?
• How are you going to capture the information?
• What do you have to offer in exchange for this information?

If you are not asking and answering these questions; it will be like driving without a destination. You will not:

1. Know where you are going.
2. You will not know whether you are heading in the correct direction.
3. You will not know when you get there or if you get there.
4. You will never be able to correct your course.

Social Media is not something you put on auto-pilot and then leave it alone. The great thing is that it is easy to change course, but only if you know the course you are taking.

The Power of Facebook – Part II – Content Is King

Tapping the Power of Facebook

Just as important as those that “Like” your Fan Page are your Friends.

1. Build your fan base.
2. Build your friends list.
3. Create great content.
4. Get your fans to click that they “Like” your content.
5. Get your fans to comment on your posts.
6. Investigate and adopt new Facebook functionality as appropriate for your goals.

In my previous post on this topic I discussed items 1 and 2. In this post I will talk about items 3 through 5.

Facebook Success Requires Great Content

Great content is key to getting your message to spread or get legs of its own. When people see great comment they are more likely to comment and spread the word. If they do not like what you said it will die with them.

Content is not a given, it is something your must work on; if you are to perfect the process. Be persistent and when you get your formula working stick with it. There is nothing worse than getting a following started and then punking out on it.

One thing is that if you write something and it does not get legs of its own; you do not, necessarily, have to give up on the topic; maybe it was the format or the way it was said. The great thing is that because the topic did not grow legs, you can come back to it six months, three months, a month, or even a week later and try it again with a little different spin.

If You Friends and Fans Do Not “Like” Your Content; Your Content Will Die With Them

Anything that you write should be written with the idea that it will elicit responses. Responses are key to the accelerated spread of your identity and brand. Your goal is to expand your sphere of influence and the comments of your connections will cause that to happen.

Ergo, the more connections you have the greater the chance that your message will have a life of its own. If your content is not eliciting a response, then you MUST change your content. This is a trial and error process as you attempt to get it right. You must write and write and write; then you must monitor and monitor and monitor. Find out what works and what does not work. Build on what works and assess what does not work to see if it can be changed.

If Your fans Comment, Their Friends Will Care About What THEY Said

Social Networking is about spreading your sphere of influence. As such there is a lot of talk about getting a following, a bunch of fans, or lots of connections. While these are all important; it is even more important to get people talking.

You need to have the recipients of your initial message make comments to you or to others. Regardless of the direction of the content all of their Fans will receive the entire discussion thread, but if you pay attention to the thread only the most recent four or five comments are displayed. Have you ever wondered about that?

Here is the reason; the most recent comment will be from someone that you know; because that is YOUR primary point of interest. If you like what they said you may look at the original post and even look at other posts. The important thing is to know that the Social Networks want you to see things from your connections in the hope that you will comment on your connection’s comment and keep the thread alive.

Are You Tapping the Power of Facebook?

Facebook Fan Pages Can Expand Your Sphere of Influence

Facebook has over 450,000,000 members; how many are you reaching? Obviously you will never reach the full 450 million, but as Zig Ziglar says: “Your goal is just to reach the next one, and then the one after that, and the one after that.”

How do you do that? How can you take advantage of the viral nature of Facebook?

Here Are Some Key Tactics

Just as important as those that “Like” your Fan Page are your Friends.

• Build your fan base.
• Build your friends list.
• Create great content.
• Get your fans to click that they “Like” your content.
• Get your fans to comment on your posts.
• Investigate and adopt new Facebook functionality as appropriate for your goals.

Build Your Fan Base

Having a successful Fan Page requires that you have a strong and supportive Fan Base. Just a couple of months ago you became a Fan of a Page, now the terminology is that you “Like” a page. A subtle, yet important difference. Encouraging someone to say that they like something is much easier than encouraging them to become a fan. You need lots of people to “Like” your page.

Why Is a Strong Fan Base Important

Your Fan base is where your messages start. Every post you make will immediately go to your Fan Base and then stop; unless you have a strong Fan Base that is supportive of what you have to say. A strong Fan Base does not let your message die with them; they will look at your message, recognize it for what it is, and click the “Like” button or comment. These actions enable your message to live on and reach others, which must be your goal.

We can be experts or demonstrate our expertise within our small circle of friends, but if our message never goes beyond this circle of friends; what is the value? Hopefully your goal is to reach an increasingly large audience and Social Networking provides us that opportunity.

We are within the reach of millions of people if we do it right. Most small businesses, professionals, consultants, etc. have never had that opportunity in the past, but today all that has changed and we must adapt.

Build Your Friends’ List

The next piece that is critical to your expanding your sphere of influence is to build your friends’ list. People underestimate the value of their family and friends when it comes to spreading the word to build their business. The reality is that if you cannot count on your family and friends to help you; who can you count on?

I am truly amazed at the number of business people, professionals, consultants, etc that are reluctant to have their business tied to them. Are they afraid of the connection? Is there something in the way they act outside of business that does not mesh with the way they run their business or vice versa?

The reality is that many small businesses fail because there is a disconnect for friends to relate the individual to the business. People that would potentially be supportive; but have no knowledge may not patronize or promote for you. I am advocate of the philosophy that it is not who you know, it is not how many you know, rather it is Who Knows You That Counts!

In my next post I will talk about the other Powers, mentioned above, of Facebook that you should be tapping.

Are You Managing Your Career or Letting Someone Do It For You?

You Are Responsible for Your Career

Managing your career is one of your most important activities; so what are you doing about it? Are you proactive and looking for opportunities to enhance your skills, abilities, and your value to your organization? If you are not; I contend that you are allowing yourself to become obsolete and that your managers and supervisors are losing site of you.

If you are interested in taking control of your career; here is your UP^PROACH.

Do You Look and Volunteer for Opportunities to Build Your Skills

Change is happening all the time within your organization and with change there are opportunities. Are you looking for these changes and therefore opportunities? If you are not, the you are not managing your career! You must be proactive and seeking opportunities to learn, grow, and raise your visibility within the organization.

Being involved with change and becoming an agent for change is one good way to accomplish that. Change needs leaders and advocates. Change will give you the opportunity to learn, grow, and develop new skills that will appeal to your current or future employer.

Do You Take Time to Read and Learn About Your Career

Most of your peers are adverse to taking it upon themselves to learn new things and develop new skills. This means that there is tremendous opportunity for you. You can fill that gap by taking it upon yourself to develop your skills and abilities.

The simple task of reading for an hour a day will set you apart within a couple of months from most of those around you. Case in point when was the last time you had a discussion with a colleague about something that either of you had read recently. Most people will respond that it has either been a long time or it has never happened. Here is your opportunity to set yourself apart.

Do You Talk to Your Co-workers Involved in Other Business Areas About What They Are Doing?

Increasing your overall understanding of your company and the business adds value to you. When you can attend a meeting or other function and demonstrate that you know and understand other aspects of the business then just your specific area you will stand out.

Most people address issues based upon their limited knowledge of operational details and cannot see the big picture. Set yourself apart by learning about the big picture and establishing yourself as someone that cares about the entire operation not a small segment.

Be proactive in developing your skills and abilities and adding value to yourself and the organization.

If you are interested in more ideas on how to manage your career and position yourself for a strong future sign up for announcements of new posts on this site in the upper right corner. You can also follow me on Twitter and on the UP^PROACH Fan Page.

Change Is the Precursor to Opportunity

Change: Where Your Opportunities Lie

Change is ever present in our lives and in our world and as long as change exists; opportunities will exist. With every change there is a multitude of opportunities that surface. Those that are prepared will see the opportunities, while those that are unprepared will lament the changes.

Your Ability To Recognize Opportunity Is Dependent Upon Your Ability To Recognize Change

Opportunities come along as the result of change. If you are seeing opportunities look for the underlying changes that are occurring. Once you find those underlying changes; you can look for the opportunities.

Embracing Change

When a change is announced within your organization embrace it, jump at it, volunteer to be part of it. In today’s world you must be looking for every competitive advantage you can have and change is one of the things that will bring opportunities your way.

If your company is adopting a new technology, not just new to them, but new period. Raise your hand early and often to participate in learning about the technology and bringing it into your organization. Somewhere, someone made a commitment to this new technology and the implementation will take leaders; be one of them.

Get excited about the new technology and take every opportunity to learn about it. If you are in a department within the organization that is not directly involved; find out how it might impact your department and become the local resident expert on the technology. Do whatever you can to learn about the technology and be able to apply it in your area.

Often times new technology comes with unfriendly user manuals; identify the problem, and then start developing the customer manuals and training that will make your department members more productive faster. Be the innovator and the catalyst as the early adopter of the technology.

Change Be Your Friend

Did you know that change can be your friend? Typically it is because of change that we have the opportunity to pick up new skills or attend new training. Because of those new skills or training our value to our current and future employers increases.

We now have one more skill or trait to add to our resume. We have one more class to add to our educational profile. Adding skills, abilities, and training makes us more desirable as an employee and we should seek out these opportunities wherever we might find them.

How To Exploit Change

Change always needs a leader and those that raise the issue and make the justified case for change often become the leaders for the change process. Opportunities lie in change and when you can foster and lead the process you raise your visibility. When you are successful; you raise your value.

How Can You Benefit From Change?

Your willingness and ability to dig into and learn the details will set you apart from others within your organization. By getting in on the ground floor you can also become a sought after expert. Other organizations that are not the early adopters will be looking for people that are experienced with the technology when they are ready to implement. If you have taken the opportunity to create your brand and increase your sphere of influence can lead to many lucrative opportunities with other organizations.

How Do I Get A Response From My Network – Start Adding Value

How Do You Rectify Your Lack of Networking

First you must get involved with your network. There are several things that you can do:

1. Answer and ask questions.
2. Add your expertise to the conversations.
3. Share valuable information.
4. Add friends, connections, and followers.
5. Post articles and other information that is relevant to your network.

These actions all contribute to the overall value of your network and the benefit you provide to your network members.

Therefore to be an effective networker you must be adding value to your network.

Answer and Ask Questions

The Internet is full of people with questions and people looking for questions to answer. Everyone of these is an opportunity for you. Find out what questions exist; then draw either upon your previous knowledge or research the answer. When you find that answer post it. And then do it again and again.

The truth is there are a lot of lazy people out there looking for someone that will answer or find the answers to their questions. Be that person and you will start building a reputation of being a benefit to your network.

Make sure that you get good answers and if, for some reason you post something that turns out to be incorrect, fix it immediately! We all make mistakes; you just need to make sure you correct them immediately.

The more questions you answer correctly and the better the answers you provide; will add to your credibility, reputation, and brand.

Add your Expertise to the Conversations

The Internet is full of conversations and therefore opportunities to share your expertise. Join Social Networking groups that are relevant to your expertise and join in. Your group members are always looking for members that will add value to existing conversations and start relevant conversations of their own.

Make sure that what you add is of value. Many people participate with one or two line statements; although that may be appropriate sometimes, but you cannot do that regularly or you will jeopardize your credibility.

Web 2.0 applications, like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc are predicated upon conversations; get involved and demonstrate your networking value.

Share Valuable Information

When you are participating share valuable information. Many people are afraid to add anything of value because they believe that if they wait long enough they will be able to sell the information. Although that may be true, your audience will eventually recognize you as someone that participates but adds little or no value.

If your goal is to develop relationships that are based upon credibility and trust; you must be willing to give valuable information.

Add Friends, Connections, and Followers

One very valuable contribution that you can make to you network is adding friends, connections, and followers. Your first level connections are the weak connections for your other first level connections. Through your relationships with new people you extend the breadth and scope of that person’s network and the networks of all of your other contacts.

The reality is that most opportunities are found one or two levels removed from your immediate connections so network growth increases everyone’s opportunities. Grow your network and expand the sphere of influence for yourself and the members of your network.

Post Articles and Other Information That Is Relevant to Your Network

The last method of adding value that I will discuss is the process of posting articles and other information that is relevant to your network. When you encounter information that you find of value, chances are other members of your network will find value as well. As one who disseminates information you increase your value to your network and raise your value in their eyes.

Build your brand, create credibility and trust, by adding value to your network. It will generate rewards that will pay you back over and over.