3 Tips for LinkedIn Recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations aren't likely to make or break a career opportunity for you; however, the professional networking site is without a doubt a resource for people who are considering job applicants. With that in mind, my philosophy is to take advantage of every avenue available to make a great and lasting impression - including requesting LinkedIn recommendations from colleagues, coworker and clients.

Here are the three tips I follow when I'm requesting recommendations:

1. Be Timely - The best time to ask for a recommendation from someone is when your work is top of mind, this goes for digital and print mediums. As soon as you know someone's happy with the project you completed, reach out via phone, email, or LinkedIn's "Ask for recommendations" tab. Being that some people don't often check their LinkedIn account and the email they receive alerts on may be different from the one they check regularly, it doesn't hurt to request the LinkedIn recommendation via phone or email and follow up with a request through LinkedIn itself.
2. Request Strategical Recommendations - Plan your recommendation requests to showcase the range of your work. Ideally, you'll garner a couple of solid recommendations for each of your areas of expertise. If you have 'holes' focus on requesting recommendations that will speak to your strengths in those areas.
3. Manage Your Recommendations - Now that LinkedIn lets us rank our recommendations, make sure you put your best ones front and center. Just like with a digital portfolio, you want to showcase the skills that you are focusing your career on with the best possible recommendations.

Good luck!

LinkedIn Takes A Village

LinkedIn is the one social media platform you need to get your whole company behind.  Everything else can be handled by one person if necessary, but LinkedIn is most successful if you have several experts engaged on behalf of your brand.

When you have multiple employees on board, you can divide and conquer the most influential groups within your industry.  Each person can do their best to respond to questions and prove the value of the brand for a few hours each week.  

Every person posting insightful, thought provoking content exponentially increases the perceived professionalism and credibility of the brand.

For this reason, LinkedIn in the social media platform that needs a team of employees supporting it and implementing the strategy.

How Much Social Media Posting Is Too Much?

I came across a blog post by Mitch Joel today that has me a little worried.  Here's the beginning paragraph of the blog, Your Brand Is Tweeting Too Much:

"How much is too much Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest for a brand?

It's getting ugly out there. Brands and fellow agencies will often ask me the same question: how often should we be on _____________ (insert your favorite social media channel here)? In the past, research be damned, my response would typically be: so long as it's quality and your audience cares, shares and keeps on about it, don't listen to the research reports or what any pundit has to tell you. The unique pulse between and a brand and its consumers is highly personal and unique on a case-by-case basis.

I may be wrong."

Not only do I hold Mitch Joel among the most well respected digital marketing and social media marketing experts in the world, I shared his view about how frequently brands should post on their social media platforms.

All the points Mitch makes are very relevant - I certainly can't name one single friend I want to hear from 30 times a week, let alone a brand I want to have that much interaction with.

It's time to reign it in and be more judicious about my posting.  My biggest offense is without a doubt Twitter, and I ascribed to the idea that the rapidly updating feed on Twitter is more forgiving of message overload than some of the other social media channels like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Market Yourself using Social Media

Social media marketing isn't just for your business, it can be a great tool to help you market yourself.  Instead of trying to cram all of your accolades and achievements onto one eight and a half by eleven inch piece of paper, embrace a digital resume using LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has come a long way from being the social media platform for jobseekers and headhunters. Savvy professionals are embracing digital marketing for their own personal brand.  

Not only does LinkedIn store the text associated with your resume, it allows you to add rich media to as well.  My LinkedIn profile showcases PDF documents created by vendors to highlight excellent service provided to clients, YouTube video testimonials and recommendations from clients, vendors and coworkers.