Biz Growth Express - January 28, 2008

ISSN: 1649-8127 

IN THIS WEEK’S ‘BIZ GROWTH EXPRESS’                                      

Hi

Welcome to all new members of our ‘BIZ GROWTH COMMUNITY’ who join us this week having met me at the recent ‘Bank Of Ireland’ workshops. We do hope you enjoy our ezine bringing you strategies and tips to bring your corporate brand, your employer brand, your internal brand AND your personal brand to life, so that you can build your reputation in the media … with business partners, clients and colleagues.

This week I am off to Rome to work with 250 leaders of one of the top 10 FORTUNE companies. Do you know how they came to meet me? You won’t believe it when I tell you – through social media of course!

Yes, they approached me because of the visibility I have online through my blogs and podcasts. This is just one of the successes I’ve been enjoying trough the use of social media.

Now I am not sharing this with you to “toot my own trumpet”, so to speak. I am sharing this with you so those who have been procrastinating or wondering about how social media can help you build your brand, I want to encourage you to seriously consider your social media strategy in 2008 …

Believe me, small and large companies are starting to take note of this incredible series of communication and engagement platforms. You will find a number of recent articles and podcasts on the Biz Growth News Blog.

Oh … Don’t forget to join me today for our first teleseminar of 2008 with author and LINKEDIN expert, JASON ALBA when we will be revealing how to get more out of your membership to LinkedIn.

And watch out for the special offer I am making today if you want to join me on a forthcoming virtual training programme on the subject of social media marketing.

As you know, our goal is your success, providing you with strategies, inspiration and tips that you can adapt, adopt and apply today.

I hope you enjoy this week’s edition of ‘Biz Growth Express’ and until next week – have a great brand building week.

Here’s to bringing YOUR brand to life!

Best wishes

Krishna

FEATURED ARTICLE: ‘GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LINKEDIN’

I have to be honest, I never took much notice of the social networking site LinkedIn until a few years ago when a good friend of mine shared how one of his Linkedin.com contacts closed a $100,000 deal with someone they met on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a social networking site that is expanding rapidly and I read just today that they are now opening an office in the UK to support their growth.

LinkedIn is one of the sites I always encourage business leaders to join to upload their personal profile even if they have no plans to get involved in blogging or podcasting especially as if you want to be found in Google, you can make your profile visible.

However, many people are nervous about joining a social networking site as they may be approached by people asking them to join their network and they do not know them.

For quite sometime I looked at my LinkedIn network as one that was effectively a group of people who were my closest business contacts and therefore I took the approach that:

  1. I never asked someone to join me on LinkedIn if I were not prepared to endorse their work so I would always be happy to refer them
  2. I never responded to a request to join someone’s LinkedIn network unless I knew them.

However with the increase in social networking and more people inviting me to connect to their network on LinkedIn, I realised that perhaps I was being too strict in my self-imposed guidelines.

But how could I ensure the quality of the connections stayed high and that I referred people to others in my network only if relevant?

Well, here are a few things to remember in any social networking community:

  1. You are always in control of who you invite to join your network
  2. You can always decline an invitation to join someone’s network
  3. You are rarely inundated with invitations to join someone’s online network, so screening  invitations takes only a little time.

I took things a step further and have now updated my LinkedIn profile with specific guidance on how best to connect with me on LinkedIn after listening to an interview with LinkedIn expert Shally Steckerl. This is how my LinkedIn profile now reads:

GUIDANCE FOR CONNECTING TO MY LINKEDIN NETWORK

Please read the following so that we can ensure that our connecting will be of benefit to you:

1. I love connecting people to great resources and other people that can assist them in achieving their professional goals, so yes please, feel free to connect – I always try to respond to emails within 48 hours

2. I will always accept invitations from friends, business acquaintances and clients to join my network on LinkedIn

3. If we haven’t met, I am open to connecting but please send an introductory note providing a little information about your background and how we would both benefit from connecting – a standard LinkedIn request to connect won’t be responded to

4. As I consider connecting people in my network to others as a recommendation and therefore want to ensure a quality connection for all concerned I will not usually forward requests to connect you to members of my LinkedIn network if I do not know you and your work

5. Please ensure that you spend a little time writing a thoughtful and detailed request as to the benefit to the person in my network and why they would benefit in connecting to you. In return I promise to only send you relevant, well written requests.

So if you have been hesitating about joining LinkedIn, I do hope that these tips might help you overcome your fear of joining a great business networking community, helping you build your personal brand online.

And if you have any tips on how you get the most out of LinkedIn or guidance on how to ensure that you manage your online network effectively, perhaps you’ll share them here with our Biz Growth Community.

THIS WEEK’S ‘BIZ GROWTH’ ACTION STEPS

If you want to discover how to get even more out of being on Linkedin, make sure that you join me today at 1pm ET / 6pm Ireland and UK for our expert call with LinkedIn expert and author JASON ALBA – see below for details.

© Krishna De, 2008. All rights reserved. This article is extracted from Krishna’s forthcoming book “The New Rules of Career Success”.

BIZ GROWTH TELECONFERENCE – 28 JANUARY 2008 SUBJECT : ‘I’M ON LINKEDIN – NOW WHAT??? – HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LINKEDIN’

Guest Expert: Jason Alba, author and Linkedin expert

Time: 1pm EST/EDT New York
         6pm GMT/BST Dublin/London
         7pm CET/CEST Paris/Madrid/Berlin

LinkedIn is one of the most popular online social networks for people in business.

But just how should you be using it, who is it relevant for and how do you make sure you’re not constantly spammed by people wanting to connect to you and to people in your network?

In this call we discuss tips on how to create your profile on ‘LinkedIn’ and how to make the most of this social networking environment to increase qualified leads to your business.

If you have questions about how to get the most out of your ‘LinkedIn’ membership you can post your questions before the call here.

You can buy Jason’s book here.

Please note that the call is free to attend live and we will be making a 20 minute podcast available. The full recording will be available to members of our ‘Biz Growth Gym’ mastermind programme launching later this Spring – watch out for details of how to join us.
 
BRANDING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PODCASTS

As you know, here at Oneocean, we are all about building brands, from your corporate brand to attract great clients, to your employer brand to attract and retain great talent, to your personal leadership brand to build your personal reputation as an expert in your field and expand your professional success.

You can access our no-cost podcasts to help you on your journey to success.

FEATURED PODCAST: ‘The Why’s and How’s of Social Bookmarking’

This week’s audio show is from my Web 2.0 series at THE PODCAST SISTERS, where we discuss how to use and engage in social bookmarking to build your reputation and help you become more productive. Access the podcast here.

BRAND BUILDING AND MARKETING LIVE EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS

SOCIAL MEDIA TELESUMMIT

Were you aware that the world’s best companies to work for are engaging in social media – you can read all about it in one of my recent articles here.

But how do you get started? Well why not join me at the forthcoming ‘Social Media Training Programme’ being hosted by Leesa Barnes, author of Podcasting for Profit. Leesa has brought together some of the foremost leaders in the work of social media for this virtual conference starting the 20 February 2008 and running to the 29 February 2008.

*I’ll be speaking on the 28 February 2008*

** SPECIAL OFFER **

If you do decide to join me for the programme and you connect through my link, be sure to let me know, as I’m OFFERING the first 10 people who register from the ‘Biz Growth’ community ONE HOUR’S PRIVATE MENTORING to make sure that you take all that you learnt and put it into action to develop your personal social media marketing plan for 2008.

You can find all the details here.

You can register direct for the free preview calls and to find out more about the programme here.

(Disclosure – this link is an affiliate link)

RESOURCES FOR EVENT ORGANISERS

If you are an event organiser and are working on developing your forthcoming programme, I would love to hear from you. I regularly help event organisers plan their events and connect them to my network of professional speakers on a wide range of business development and personal development topics.

I am also available to facilitate your meeting, speak at your event, your workshop or as an expert interviewer for your virtual book tour or promotion of your programme or event.

Worried about travel costs? In addition to live face to face workshops, at Oneocean we are one of Europe’s expert consultancies in making use of new media and leading edge technologies including webinars, podcasts, on-line video or teleconferences which means that you can expand your reach and deliver your live event to your community no matter where they live.

I would be delighted to speak with you about your requirements. Just email me today for our event organisers questionnaire at: connect(at)oneoceangroup.com

For details of our most popular live events and workshops mouse over to our forthcoming events page.

Wishing you continued success, so until next week.

Best wishes,

Krishna De

Bringing YOUR brand to life!
www.bizgrowthlive.com
www.bizgrowthnews.com
www.krishnade.com
www.oneoceangroup.com
www.talkingcoaching.com
www.thepodcastsisters.com
www.todayswomeninbusiness.com

If you have friends and colleagues who would like to join the weekly teleconference call, they would be very welcome – please invite them to register at:

http://www.bizgrowthlive.com

TERMS OF REPRINT: You are welcome to publish extracts from ‘BIZ GROWTH EXPRESS’ in your own online ezine or news letter, providing the article is printed in its entirety and is left unedited and you include the copyright notice and the following statement:

©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2008.  All rights reserved. Reprinted from ‘BIZ GROWTH EXPRESS’, a Oneocean Ltd publication for leaders in professional services practices. If you would like to access more articles just like this and enjoy access to teleseminars where you will discover how bring to life your corporate brand, your employer brand and your personal leadership brand, so that you can build your reputation in the media, with business partners, clients and colleagues, then subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com

©Oneocean Ltd 2008 – All Rights Reserved.