Business groups get LinkedIn

Described by some as “facebook with a tie”, Linked In is social media for business. It is flavour of the month in Brisbane this month, with Kenmore & District Chamber of Commerce and Cooper Networking both holding sessions with this as the major topic.

This follows the emphasis on social media marketing at the Small Business Conference on July 25 in Southbank. See related story http://westender.com.au/mobile-media-future/

At its core of LinkedIn is a map of the connections between people, which offers a bit more sophistication than the single category of ‘friends’ that underpins facebook.

LinkedIn adds sophisticated Resume functions to this, reminiscent of most job finding networks and then adds a layer of social media that allow you to post articles, comments and thoughts to your profile, business page, or groups that you belong to.

Today at the Kenmore & District Chamber of Commerce, members Ian Reynolds and John Belchamber presented tips for building your business with LinkedIn.

During the interactive session they provided 7 ‘Must Do’ Tips For Building Your LinkedIn Profile:

1. Update Your Profile: make sure it tells people why they should do business with you with text, images, videos that tell your story for you;
2. Update Your Employees’ Profiles: people will look at their profiles when they’re researching your business. Make sure that they’re representing you well;
3. Start A Business Page: add your products, services, video and special offers and then spread the word to get people following your business;
4. Connect With The Right People: work out who you want to talk to, connect with them and then communicate with them;
5. Start And/Or Join Groups: join the groups where your prospects are active and/or that are related to what you do. Don’t spam groups with your content. Start business related conversations that add value to other members;
6. Become A Person Of Influence: post useful content using the 80/20 rule (i.e.only 20% about what you sell) and ask/answer questions to get yourself known as a person that knows their stuff
7. Start And/Or Join Groups: join the groups where your prospects are active and/or that are related to what you do. Don’t spam groups with your content. Start business related conversations that add value to other members

The session generated vigorous discussion, questions and advice from people with the full range of experience. Among some of the more controversial topics was the discussion around employees who build contacts with customers through Linked In and then take them when they move on.

Many companies are now writing into employment contracts that LinkedIn connections are part of the intellectual property developed while working for a company that belong to the company upon termination of the contract.

As if the concept itself is not controversial enough, the discussion about how this might be enforced is a minefield for both employers and employees.