Corporate Networking

Last night you got a LinkedIn update that your old college roommate now runs the western division of his company. One of your former coworkers is offering a really interesting seminar on eMail open rates. And that pesky recruiter FINALLY has an interesting opportunity.

You immediately think – I know way more about what's going on in the broader world than I do about my own company! What we need is a way to rapidly share news, engage team members in quicker rounds of updates, and get new thoughts disseminated.

We need LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Twitter, or... all of them.

But the public tools are, well, too public. The need for this type of interaction is apparent and more companies are expanding their existing interaction tools – eMail, Calendaring, Project Repositories – to encompass these needs.

I've just read about two tools that come at 'company social' from different vantage points.

Socialcast is basically an access-controlled version of Twitter, with many features that make it more of an enterprise tool. Brief thoughts can be shared, questions asked, and concepts bandied about. All of these are stored and categorized. Messages can also have files attached. Similar to Twitter, employees can follow groups, team mates, and other employees. Sold on an SaaS model, Socialcast is quite affordable to test and try.

Socialtext made it's name on wiki technology, but has expanded that platform to encompass most social tools such as messaging, blogs, networking and also a desktop interface. It's really broadly like a true Facebook platform for an organization. It's a much richer platform and significantly more expensive, but opens tremendous opportunities.

Check them out. Imagine the free flow of information...

Seven ways any professional can use LinkedIn

After two or three years of trying to ‘find the ROI’ and experimenting with the various social network tools, I’ve found that LinkedIn is by far the most valuable from a professional perspective. In addition to the more soft measure of personal brand building, it’s possible to gain insight on customers and prospects, job search, and source great employees and qualified vendors:

Show expertise

• After joining a group, you’ll soon see a series of questions posed to the group. Answering these questions offers an opportunity to subtly position yourself as an expert.
• Present at an industry conference or even a ‘brown bag’ at work? Post the presentation on your LinkedIn profile.
• It's also easy to link to articles through your status bar.

Learn about customers and prospects

• Ask questions in your groups that will help you learn more about your customer base.
• Post a poll on your profile!

Expand your network

• Review the recommended contacts suggested by the tool, as well as regularly reviewing people who also worked at your former employer or attended your alma mater.
• Periodically review your contacts’ profiles and ask your contacts to link with their contacts.

Find vendors and contractors

• Check out who your contacts know… and especially those they endorse.

Meet contacts face-to-face

• Publish your travel plans, especially if your contacts travel too.

Find talent

• Post job openings.
• Mention openings in your updates.
• Research people you’d like to reach out to as you expand your team.

Get started on LinkedIn in one afternoon

Earlier this week one of my many unemployed friends asked me to help him get started with LinkedIn. I joined LinkedIn years ago and have gradually built out my profile, contacts, and groups over time so had to take a step back and think through where to start.

After some online research, I found that… well… there are a lot of ideas about how to get the most out of LinkedIn, and endless laundry lists of tasks that would take months to complete.

So for him and other neophytes out there, here’s Phase One:

1. Fill out your profile to explain your competence and unique skills, not as though you’re applying for a job with the FBI. If a company has changed names or been acquired, show both the name as it was when you worked there but lead with the current name. When you’re describing the roles you’ve had at various companies use descriptive terms and not necessarily titles. Focus more on what you learned and accomplished than what your specific responsibilities were.
2. Import vCards and contacts from your email app to start your base of connections. This should get you in to a reasonable number of contacts rather fast.
3. Start sifting through the hundreds of fellow alumni from your colleges and previous jobs to find friends and former coworkers. Be diligent about adding new contacts all the time… but only people you know well enough to be professionally linked.
4. Immediately add your personal LinkedIn URL to your personal business cards as well as your personal email signature.
5. Make sure to set LinkedIn to send all messages through to your standard email inbox.
6. Join industry and alumni groups. But monitor to see which are truly valuable.
7. Begin requesting recommendations from your former managers and colleagues, and start writing for them too. If you’re in a customer facing role, don’t hesitate to ask for references from former clients.
8. Update your status often to keep your network informed. Start with ‘I’ve joined LinkedIn and am becoming reacquainted with so many former colleagues.”
   

Watch for Phase 2 next week… and good luck getting started!