2012 in review-very cool and smart by WordPress!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Top 15 resolutions for 2013 to make LinkedIn work even better to tell WHY YOU!

• Resolve now to improve your LinkedIn profile to tell WHY YOU-who you really are, not what you do for your employer. You’re a brand-show us.

• Resolve now to make personalized LinkedIn connection requests, remind addressee where you met and tell how you can help them…like real life.

• Resolve now to add video and Slideshare presentations to your new LinkedIn personal profile. Easy & very memorable. Think of it like a TV ad for your brand.

• Resolve now to beef up your LinkedIn company profile page–make it show off your products/services. Use key word strategies–get found in searches.

• Resolve now to update your photo or make it larger on the new LinkedIn graphical interface on your personal profile page. Look approachable!

• Resolve now to connect your blog, about.me, website, twitter to your LinkedIn personal & company profile-be found among different audiences.

• Resolve to add new publications you author or are quoted in to let your LinkedIn connections know you are sought for your opinion and views.

• Resolve to add a brief description before each publication on your LinkedIn profile to let reader know this is what they are about to read.

• Resolve to update your LinkedIn connections with new articles or observations that will benefit them and others as frequently as warranted.

• Resolve to “like” “comment” or “share” others’ news-grow a personal learning network we have with each other–a virtual community on LinkedIn.

• Resolve to personalize and read LinkedIn Today daily to stay on top of news stories you might have normally missed.  Pass stories along to others as a favor.

• Resolve to cull through your list of LinkedIn connections and de-connect from those you do not have an affinity for, or because you connected to them so long ago you don’t recall who they are or what they do.

• Resolve to reevaluate the list of LinkedIn groups you belong to, and participate actively in the ones that make most sense.

• Resolve to create a “closed” LinkedIn group of your clients or others who share a similar interest as yours. Great way to enhance your relationships!

• Finally, resolve to present try one or more of these to present yourself the best you can, and give back the best you can, while you demonstrate WHY YOU, all possible on LinkedIn.

I wish you a happy successful, peaceful new year.

Top 10 Things to Be Thankful For on LinkedIn: A Thanksgiving blog posting

Personal note: Every Thanksgiving my father used to make my family go around the table and say one thing we were thankful for. After moans and reluctance, we finally sheepishly found something to say. Now I am making up for long lost times and offering this, electronically, so at least I won’t hear any groans:

1. Thanks, LinkedIn, for the opportunity to place a photo on my profile, to show others how approachable and friendly I look. I hope they are looking at my profile when they call me. I know I am looking at theirs.  Now we can have a much warmer, more productive conversation.
2. Thanks for letting me tell others WHO I am in the profile headline: in other words, my self-expression of WHY CHOOSE ME as a potential business partner.  I have stuffed my “self” into 120 characters, including spaces and have used the “|” symbol to show different aspects of my business interests.  I have been very economical but still could have used a few more characters, so LinkedIn, perhaps you could loosen this up someday…but thanks anyway.
3. Thanks for the Summary section being so flexible as to let me really expand on my headline.  And thanks for making this section so rich for being found on searches on LinkedIn.  I just love knowing people find me on searches and contact me for my services! That deserves a separate “thank you” in itself but I won’t count it twice. 
4. Thanks for hiding placing some of the apps and add-ons in a place I discovered on my edit my profile page, in the light blue bar ending with a green “+” under my contact details towards the top of my profile.  Wow!
5. Thanks everyone for keeping the discussion on LinkedIn nonpolitical and un-toxic, much opposed to the banter in my Facebook page. It’s a credit to my professional community that we were able to keep election politics out of the LinkedIn conversation.
6. Thanks for the body of knowledge and FAQs found in the Help Center section found at the bottom of every LinkedIn page.   The context-sensitive answers are easy to follow and implement.
7. Thanks, LinkedIn, for providing fast responses to specific questions that are not covered in the Help Center, answered by what seem to be real humans in natural language and best of all, they really seem to try to help.  If I need more information, then I can ask that same person instead of recreating the case with another person.  That in itself is pretty impressive, given there are 187+ million users who must be sending a helluva lot of questions to LinkedIn.
8. Thanks for LinkedIn Today where I can peruse multiple industries and sources of news and be well-informed in areas I need to be. I routinely share material that I think will help others:  individually, in a group, or to all my connections, and they have thanked me often. You are all welcome.
9. Thanks for making it easy to reorder the section headings on my profile by holding my mouse button down and dragging the entire section to its new position.  I can now de-emphasize my Education section and emphasize my Recommendations section, for example. 
10. Finally and most deservedly of all, thank all of you 1800 times (as many as my connections) for being there to help, for reading my postings and commenting, and for offering advice and answers when I ask.  As Reid Hoffman expresses in his book “The StartUp of You” I am one person exponentially raised to the 1800^th power (I^we). I always say “my network is my net worth” and you make it so rich and rewarding for me in all my business pursuits. 

I wish you all a bountiful and happy holiday period.

  -Marc

Get Over It

I haven’t blogged in a while, and that’s ok. Instead, I have been actively using LinkedIn as my daily blog, tweets, information resource, observation sharing, website, email adjunct, etc. But today I am blogging once again as a comment on what I see and hear as I lecture people in all walks of life on how to really use LinkedIn, you have been warned: I will express opinions which will exceed 140 characters and lie outside what would be appropriate as a LinkedIn profile update.

That is to say, get over it!

Get over the excuse that you don’t have enough time to invest in yourself.
Find pockets of free quality time and improve your LinkedIn presence. At least start somewhere and help yourself. In all regards, be memorable, beneficial, and positive.

Get over the fact the 20 year olds are talking about themselves on social media and we 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-something year olds were taught not to talk about ourselves.
Use your LinkedIn profile to convey why your deep experience and unique skills set you apart. Then ask for others’ LinkedIn recommendations about you that tell a story or anecdote to demonstrate those capabilities. Give others recommendations too.

Get over your fear and loathing of strangers seeing details about you.
First it’s probably out there anyway (have you Googled yourself lately??) and on LinkedIn you only post what you feel comfortable speaking about: besides, no one can say anything about you that you have not approved on LinkedIn. But at least stake your claim to the LinkedIn chunk of cyberspace and tell who you are, in your own voice.

Get over doing things the old way, especially if you seek something better in your life: more business, new job, etc.
Start fresh and adapt to today’s ways of operating. That will certainly include a well-thought-out, crisp, fully detailed LinkedIn profile, with a photo. Be searchable and approachable!

Get over cutting and pasting your resume onto your LinkedIn profile.
Make your LinkedIn profile tell who you really are, not merely recount where you’ve been. Your resume is an obituary (IMHO), telling what you used to do. Your LinkedIn profile should be organic, showing your pathways: past, present, future. Reid Hoffman’s book “The Start Up of You” explains that you are always in “beta.” Read why.

Get over sporadically cultivating your connections.
Make LinkedIn postings and updates a steady discipline to add value to your outside world. Think of regular, routine, yet relevant ways to contribute to the community of connections you nurture and appreciate. Your network is your net worth.

Get over people who abuse LinkedIn.
If they endorse your skills on LinkedIn and you don’t know them well or regard them highly, delete the endorsement. Or disconnect from them on LinkedIn. Both are easy to do. Preserve your own reputation.

Get over the feeling that people post irrelevant material in LinkedIn groups or that groups aren’t interesting.
Demand the group manager set a higher bar. Or leave the group. Then find other groups that work well and participate routinely. Groups of like-minded pros can be very beneficial.

Now, friends, I will begin to step off the soap box.

Get with the other LinkedIn professionals, interact now more than ever, even when you are not looking for a job, and build your network (net worth) arsenal.

Use LinkedIn as a prelude to a richer, more intensive phone call or a more successful face-to-face meeting.

LinkedIn is an active participant sport, not a passive spectator pastime. Do all this, starting now, because LinkedIn announced it is launching a whole new look and feel on your profile and this is likely only the start of more things they will bring us. Thank them for it by using it often, and using it well.

Get over it, and get moving in a new direction.

On the radio…

Thanks to Tony Martignetti of NonProfit Radio for an interview with my colleagues Geri Stengel of Ventureneer and Maria Semple of The Prospect Finder, recorded at AFP Westchester’s Philanthropy Day.

We discuss tips that nonprofits need to implement right away using LinkedIn.

Grab a cup of coffee and have a listen…

Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn’s CEO recommends our work!

I am so pleased LinkedIn’s senior management has recognized a collection of materials to which I routinely contribute!

Over the past 4 years I have frequently collaborated with Geri Stengel, owner and thought leader at Ventureneer, as we seek to teach and discuss better ways that small business and nonprofits can operate more efficiently.

This past week Geri pulled together a special collection of past webinars, articles and blog postings to help nonprofits use LinkedIn more effectively, and LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner refers to this collection in his tweet.  Many of my materials are included in this resource collection.

Maria Semple, an esteemed colleague in New Jersey, along with Geri and I, have been referencing these free educational materials in a travelling educational seminar called “LinkedIn: a Powerful Tool for Nonprofits,” most recently presented at AFP Philanthropy Days in both Westchester County and Connecticut. 

It is a real pleasure to have LinkedIn’s CEO take notice of our efforts to bring the power of Linkedin to nonprofits!

Here is Jeff Weiner’s tweet this past Friday evening:

Why LinkedIn Company Pages Matter to Non-Profits: a 5 part series

Over the past 2 weeks, colleague and fellow LinkedIn evangelist Colleen McKenna and I have collaborated to post a 5 part series for nonprofits to use to create lively, engaging LinkedIn company profile pages. You can find the whole series here.

Thanks to  Colleen McKenna for her expertise and help in making this come about.

Please let us know your comments and questions.

It’s all about sharing ideas that have worked best!

Recent articles you may like

I have had a few new articles published online recently and they may be of interest to you:

“10 tips for building a stronger LinkedIn profile“ in The Greensheet (leading publication for the electronic payments industry) September 26, 2011; designed as a follow-up to “The proper care and feeding of LinkedIn,” published in The GreenSheet Aug. 23, 2010, issue 10:08:02; this article contains 10 tips to help salespeople in the electronic payments industry rethink their LinkedIn profiles and, hopefully, spur them to make improvements.

“Raise Your LinkedIn Profile: Standing out on the professional network site“ in Tufts University Magazine, October 21, 2011; this gives eight tips to make your LinkedIn profile stand out from the crowd, aimed at students and their parents, alums and faculty.

I always have new courses starting…

Often I realize in my industry-specific courses that not everyone has the same level of experience on LinkedIn.  I get calls or emails saying, “I didn’t want to interrupt but can you offer a {beginner}/{intermediate}/{advanced} course?”

But for those of you who need a little more TLC, one-on-one coaching also available upon mutually convenient arrangement, by Skype, phone, or face-to-face.

However, if you prefer prerecorded sessions you can listen to at your leisure, click here.

SO NO MATTER HOW AND WHEN YOU LEARN BEST, WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED!  Let us know if you need other times/dates/venues.