The Value of Recommendations and Endorsements on LinkedIn

There are a lot of great features on LinkedIn.  It’s a great way to connect and network, to find great information and it’s a great way to get social proof on whether someone is worth working with.

Because of that last point I think the recommendations and endorsements are really key.

Recommendations

Recommendations are the equivalent of testimonials on LinkedIn.  They are given by people who have taken the time to write out why they have liked working with you, working for you, or having hired you.

3 tips for getting and using recommendations

1)   Ask for them.  LinkedIn makes this easy, but make sure to tell people what you’re looking for, and only ask people who could easily give you a testimonial (don’t ask people who have never worked with you!)

2)   Ask people who have given you recommendations if you can use them in other marketing materials and on your web site.

3)   Give recommendations to others.  This is not only a nice thing to do, it will often encourage the recipient to do the same for you.  

Here are a few of my recommendations.  They’re really nice to have :)

Endorsements

Endorsements are a way to tell people what you do and prove that people know what you do.  You set up a list of skills and people will click if they agree that you do that.

It is important not to think that these are testimonials.  Most of the people who endorse you haven’t even worked with you.  Instead it is a way to know if what you’re putting out into the world is what you want.  The important thing is to take it all with a grain of salt.  People will likely endorse you for things they’ve never seen you do, or for things you don’t even do.  Take it as an overall measure of what you’re projecting to the world.  

For example, if you are a mortgage broker and you are being endorsed for planning events then you need to figure out how to put more information about your ability to help with mortgages.  If you have skills that you wish weren’t there at all (maybe someone added them or you’ve changed your focus) you can edit them.

Challenge

1) Make a list of 3 people you could write a recommendation for.  What are the key points that you would share in a testimonial about them.  Go write them now!

2) Go to LinkedIn and endorse 5 people.

Leave us a comment here or on Facebook to let us know you did it!

Should I care about LinkedIn endorsements?

Lately, every time I log in to LinkedIn my notifications include a fairly long list of endorsements. This got me thinking about endorsements as a LinkedIn feature. Some people think they are great, others think they are worthless because anyone can endorse you on any skill without thought or real knowledge.

What are LinkedIn Endorsements?

According to LinkedIn they are:

Skill endorsements are a great way to recognize your 1st-degree connections’ skills and expertise with one click. They also let your connections validate the strengths found on your own profile. Skill endorsements are a simple and effective way of building your professional brand and engaging your network.

The Pros and Cons of LinkedIn Endorsements

Pros

• It (hopefully) reinforces the skills you are most known for, whether or not everyone who endorsed you knows you personally or has even worked with you in that capacity. They believe you know about those topics which means you’ve done a good job sharing who you are and what you do with people.
• It’s a fast and easy way to remind people you exist. They’re going to be notified if you endorsed them and the response could be for them to click on your profile and see what you’re up to, since it’s been awhile since you last saw each other.

Cons?

• Anyone can say you’re good at something without any proof.
  TRUE, but…that’s why the recommendations section is even more valuable…for proof.
• People can add skills to your profile for you. That could mean someone is adding things you don’t want to be known for.
  TRUE, but…new skills you’re endorsed for have to be added to your profile BY YOU.

Endorsements are good for your personal brand

As small business owners we are trying to build our business brand, but how we are personally viewed is also critical. Tools like LinkedIn allow us to connect with people and reinforce our expertise.

The top four skills I’ve been endorsed for are Blogging, Social Media, Facebook and Newsletters. I’ve been blogging the longest and talking about newsletters for the shortest amount of time. While it isn’t an exact picture of my qualifications it definitely shows that people think I know about the things I want them to know about.

Endorse and connect

Next time you’re on LinkedIn and they prompt you to endorse someone, do it when you feel it’s appropriate. Don’t do it if you don’t really know they’re good at something. I skip about half (if not more )of the suggestions I see go by because I just don’t know if those people have that skill. But if you feel comfortable with your knowledge of someone to endorse them, go for it.

On the flip side, next time someone endorses you, go and have a look at their profile and what they’ve been up to. Endorse them for skills you know they have. And if it makes sense, use that endorsement as a way to re-connect with someone. Send them a quick thank you note or a request to go for coffee and catch up.

If you really don’t like the concept and want to turn off endorsements, that is also possible. Here is an article that tells you how.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think about LinkedIn endorsements, and while you’re at it, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn too!

Back to basics: Three steps to using LinkedIn more effectively

LinkedIn is often that network (like Google+) that you just can’t seem to remember to use - or maybe you just don’t like it. You’re on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other “fun” networks regularly - even religiously. But LinkedIn? It’s one that’s easy to let go by the wayside. 

That could be a mistake. Many business owners I know personally have found LinkedIn to be invaluable to their business growth. I know freelancers who’ve gained opportunities they didn’t seek out or anticipate by having an active presence on LinkedIn. Let’s explore your profile and look at ways you can make positive changes so LinkedIn becomes a boost rather than a bust. We’re going to start with the basics:

Update your Profile

Even if LinkedIn tells you your profile is complete, how long has it been since you really read through it? I once went two years without looking at it. You know what happens when you go that long? 

Nothing, but here’s how you can turn it around:

1) Add a current profile picture.

Yesterday, my profile picture was over a year old. Today, it’s brand new. The previous picture looked like me, but it was still a little out of date. Even a cartoon avatar is better than no profile picture! And, though it’s done quite often on twitter and Facebook pages, it isn’t recommended to use your logo on LinkedIn, unless it’s for your company page. 

If you do nothing else with your profile, update that picture as soon as possible. 

Now for the text…

2) Start with your headline. 

What does it say?

• Marketing Coordinator
• Realtor
• Owner
• Partner (mine used to say this!) 
• Sales Agent
• Digitial Marketer

How many people on LinkedIn do you think have these titles? Too many to count. The challenge is that not only is your headline going to come up in LinkedIn searches, it is indexed by search engines as well. You’ve got about 255 characters - use them!

Instead of “Partner”, my headline tells visitors who I am, what I do and how I do it:

I am a Social Media Strategist & Coach and I help small businesses optimize their digital marketing to increase sales.

You could go further and add location if your business is localized to a certain area. You can pad the description with even more keywords. For me, I could include that I offer training and am available for public speaking.

Make that headline count!

3) Summarize your awesomeness

Here’s where you get to toot your own horn in plenty of detail. What do you do? How do you do it? Why do you do it? Why should someone call you? How does someone contact you?

Don’t get so bored by LinkedIn that you throw in a generic summary that doesn’t do you justice. LinkedIn isn’t boring. (It truly isn’t.) Don’t let a false impression of the tool (LinkedIn) suck you into giving a false impression of yourself (boring).

My summary used to be short, virtually keyword free and had zero details or personality. Now I’ve given visitors an overview of what I am currently doing and how I can help them:

Social Media Strategist

I help small businesses use social/content marketing to optimize their web presence efficiently and effectively. This creates greater brand awareness and builds relationships which ultimately leads to increased sales. I like to help my clients meet their goals.

Coaching

Every business owner struggles with prioritizing marketing. There is so much work to be done simply to keep the business running, providing service to clients and customers, and developing new products. I help clients stay on track with their digital marketing plans. 

Writing | Content Marketing

I have worked in communications and marketing for over ten years and have extensive experience writing for the web. When business owners don’t have time or resources to create their own content, I can help!

Do you want help with your digital marketing plan? Find out more on the Wellman Wilson website (http://wellmanwilson.com) or email me at karen@wellmanwilson.com to book a free consultation.

Specialties: digital marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, coaching, workshops, training, mentoring, writing, software knowledge/training, branding and identity, project management, organizing data, process improvement

Don’t forget a call to action!

Yep, right there in your summary. Invite visitors to your profile to contact you right away. You’ve shared who you are, what you’re about and goals with them - now give them the chance to connect and learn more.

Until next time…

These three areas of your LinkedIn profile should be reviewed regularly and updated as required. When we come back to LinkedIn again, we’re going to finish going through the steps you should take to finish updating your profile. Until then, let me know how you’re doing and be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn!

Introduction to LinkedIn: Who's using it and how?

We’re going to spend a few weeks talking about LinkedIn, whether you should be using it as a tool for your business and how you can optimize your activity there to get new business. 

I wanted to start by giving you an idea of who is on LinkedIn and what they’re using it for. This infographic was developed Wayne Breitbarth on 2012 research data, which is a bit out of date after the recent announcement that LinkedIn had hit the 200 million member mark. Nonetheless, it’s useful information if you’re not sure how LinkedIn may be useful to you for your business.

Via: PowerFormula for Linkedin Success

Are you on LinkedIn? What questions do you have about using LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Experiment: Lara's Tips for Recommendations

One of the features of LinkedIn I’ve always really liked is the ability to give and get recommendations.  I did some reading about and played around with the feature this week to get a bit more insight to share with you.

Here’s what I learned:

• People check out your recommendations - it’s one of the most interesting parts of your profile to check out, so getting some is worth your time and effort.
  
  
• It’s okay to ask for recommendations (and you should!) - they’ve made it really easy to do so.  

Here’s how:

1) Go to the profile tab and choose recommendations

2) Choose which role you’re asking for, who you’re asking (I personally think you shouldn’t be asking more than a couple at a time instead of using their lovely option of 200!)

Make sure to change the text - their sample text is too generic (more on this in following point)

Send!

 

• Ask for specific recommendations. Mention a specific project you worked on together, or the kinds of topics they might cover. People don’t want to have to think too hard about what they might say - make it as easy as possible for them to say what you hope to hear.
• Don’t forget to give recommendations. There are several reasons for this.  

1.  
   1. It might make people want to give you one back. 
   2. People read recommendations. If they are looking at someone’s profile they might click through to you based on the recommendation you gave someone else.
   3. It’s a nice thing to do.

• Clean up your recommendations from time to time. I had one recommendation from someone from 2008 that I never even met but only had some casual online in. I teractions with. I also don’t do much of anything related to the position she recommended me for. I decided to get rid of that recommendations to make sure the ones I want seen are more prominent.
• Don’t go overboard. Having 200 recommendations is a bit over the top and also a waste. Ask select people or a variety of types: bosses, colleagues, staff, suppliers, volunteers, etc. This will give a nice rounded mix of all your experience and expertise.

Homework:

Based on what I learned I did some clean up, wrote a few recommendations and asked for some too.  Here’s what I think you should do this week:

• Write 3 recommendations
• Ask for 3 recommendations
• Have you cleaned up your profile yet?
• If you have twitter linked to your linkedin status updates, please turn it off! It drives me crazy! :)

Best article I read on LinkedIn this week is from Mashable: 6 things you need to know about LinkedIn Recommendations