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Missing a trick
Some good points Mark, but..........
You are really missing some gems on children's TV. Catch Spongebob Squarepants - all of human life is there (as the News of the World would have said).
Yet another sales plug under the disguise of so called advice
Should 2012 be the year when accountancy web stop this practice
Cheers
Stewart
Linkedin is but one Marketing Channel
I don't really disagree with much if anything written here. But Linkedin has never got me any business that I am aware of. Just thought I would take 10 to relate my experiences.
I adopted Linkedin early and approached people to link with, who wondered what it was all about. Now I see we all have 100+ links and professionals at it like Mark have thousands. So I've spent some time and tried to play the game to see what would happen. But I've not spent hours on it.
But Mark's market I guess is accountants. Mine is hoteliers, restaurateurs and publicans, and whilst some of the former are joining, there are about none of the latter. Are hoteliers looking for accountants on Linkedin? I guess not. They come from referrals, or local knowledge. And I do direct telesales marketing.
So okay my links are in the main fellow professionals of other disciplines. The last people I seek to link with are accountants, unless I genuinely work with them. These people could refer work to me, and Linkedin could be part of that reminder that I exist process. But if I bother to look at other accountants profiles, in the main I look to see if they have any interesting clients to poach!
When I quote to a prospect I always refer them to my Linkedin page - and here I see a real value. They can read my background and see that I am connected in the hospitality industry. It also links to my website and vice versa.
I have never found anything fruitful in the discussions, which in the main seem to be consultants pretending to discuss their subject and show us how clever they are at the end. And yes there are lots of job adverts for working in Dubai!
I posted something in my relevant groups once asking if anyone knew an expert in business rates appeals. Really surprised that it fell on deaf ears, as it was a genuine business opportunity.
But for me Linkedin is very passive. I would always have a profile and I do look daily to see what my links are saying, and to post my own hospitality/finance comments. But an hotelier phoning me up following reading my profile on Linkedin - well I'll let you know if it happens!
If anyone wants to point out what I could do to improve those chances I would be very grateful.
Testimonials
Try to get some of those you have worked with to give recommendations on Linked In. Others looking at your profile can then see what you have done. If the reference is from a contact of theirs - or a 3rd degree contact - they can check down the line. This is like getting a personal recommendation via a friend of a friend.
ps: It's AccountingWeb, not 'accountancy web'
Sorry it is indeed although I think my title actually sounds better
Cheers
Latin
Should be 'ad nauseam'. No offence intended but if you use Latin, get it right otherwise boring pedants like me will spot it.
On the plus side, your English is impeccable, witch is more than can be said for sum.
ad nauseam
How Many Pedants Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?
None. A pedant can find an error in the dark.
I think Linkedin is great! You get out what you put in!
@BookMarkLee Good sound advice/tips/handy hints well presented! Definitely not a sales pitch in my opinion.
I don't spend a huge amount of time cultivating Linkedin, but I do find huge benefit from it.
My online CV has been generously populated by some fabulous people I've worked with over the years. The words are theirs not mine, and I'm delighted to have this publicly available so potential clients/contacts can see if I'm credible or not without me having to 'sell' myself. Linkedin does this for me.
I follow people, I follow groups, I follow companies and I get involved in occasional discussions. I have learned loads and I continue to learn every day. New ideas, new technologies, new thinking. All for free. How fabulous is that?
I pay particular attention to area's that I feel are not my strengths, and all this new information and learning comes straight to me and into my inbox. If I like it, I keep it and read further, if I don't, I delete... super efficient. If I really like it, I clip it to Evernote but that's a different topic! I also filter weekly digests into a separate mailbox so I can attend to the unread mails at my leisure. No clutter.
I follow the local business community, through local Linkedin Groups. It's helped me identify the key players; the mover's and shakers, and then I've actively sought them out and made contact at local events. So I am quickly establishing a presence in my local community.
I've had quite a few people connect through Linkedin that I might otherwise not have met, through other people who thought we might have something in common - I'm growing a great community of contacts and when I have a query, I have found they are always willing to give me free advice or simply a different perspective, or another contact! Super!
Whilst I don't think Linkedin is solely responsible for the opportunities that come my way, it's certainly part of the package.
I love it, but then I'm a glass always full super geek!
LinkedIn and connecting with strangers - a non-sequitur
I know that you are not meant to because it is a stated condition of LinkedIn, but surely the whole darn point of networking is to meet new people and build up contacts?
I have absolutely no issues with networking with strangers. I welcome the opportunity and I am delighted when people I don't know make contact, because then I have a chance to read their profile, decide whether to agree to contacting them and then I can engage with them.
This is after all the whole point of networking. So, if you find me on LinkedIn do connect with me!
Virtual Tax Support for accountants: www.rossmartin.co.uk
Outlook plugin...
Hi Mark
Good article, and yes LinkedIn is growing massively within the accounting community anyway.
I too have got to the 500+ size which, I believe is where the real benefit kicks in. Until you get to "a few hundred" connections you will see gaps in your network. After this point you can find and/or engage with virtually anyone and it becomes much more interesting. For reference I think I am up to about 200,000 friends of friends, which is all UK as well.
The tip that I wanted to share is the Outlook plug-in. This is free and when people email an enquiry to you (or you start an email to them), their picture and a link to their profile appears in the Outlook preview pane. This is very handy to quickly read about people and their background.
You can invite them to connect (in one click from Outlook), plus it works for multiple recipients giving you a small gallery of all the people in the email thread.
A great example of networking technology http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=microsoft_outlook
Dan