Category: Network of Champions

How To Use Membership Sites To Bring Opportunity To Your Door

The purpose in joining a membership site is to bring opportunity to your door and avoid sending opportunity to the door of other people and businesses.  The solution is as simple as how you use links to membership sites.

For example, I see resumes that contain links to a profile on a membership site.  The risk to job seekers occurs when hiring or staffing managers read resumes on a computer.  If resume readers click on the link, they land on a page that has the applicant’s profile and that has the statement “People Similar to [name of person].”  What job seekers are doing is putting a link in their resume that not only takes the hiring and staffing managers to the job seekers’ profile but to the profile of the competition.

I even had one applicant who insisted that hiring companies use his profile endorsements as references.  Conceptually, the idea is efficient, but hiring companies want references they can reach on the phone not read on a membership site.

For social media, there are three types of links.

1. Follow Links
2. Like and Share Links
3. Links on membership sites that link to you

Follow Links take traffic from a website to another a website.  I use follow links to help them connect with me on another website.   Through these connections, they will receive What I had in mind was expanding my connections and followers by having my website visitors click to my profile or my business page on a membership site.  I was sending the traffic the wrong direction.  Having a profile or a business page on a membership site is a good thing, but these pages should connect people out from the membership site to the member and not the other way around.

Observing what I saw on large commercial websites, I designed follow buttons to match the icons on membership sites.

However, I see more websites abandoning the follow links, perhaps for the same reason that you do not see CareerBuilder follow links on Monster or Facebook follow links on Linked.

The Like and Share links are very helpful for promotion.  Although few people would include those links in a resume, they do have a place in newsletters, some business proposals, and on websites.  The buttons link people back to the profile or business of the publisher.

Links on membership sites that link to you are free advertising.  The first link that you get when you join  a membership site is the URL for your profile.  Presto, when you register with a membership site, search engines immediately get a link representing you or your business on the Internet.  Every comment you make in a discussion group gives you another link on the membership site.  Every business page or group that you start gives your another link.  Then you can post links that direct search engines to your website or online resume.  This third type of links for membership sites (that is, the links within the membership site)gives you the greatest benefits of being a member on these site.

The way to build contacts and followers on membership sites is to sign into the site and create connections from inside the site.  This approach directs people to you, not away from you or your business.

To make sure that you get the greatest amount of traffic, carefully write your profile to include the contact information you want people to use to reach you and create a profile of a person people want to contact.

Success on a membership site is an inside job.   You have to go into the site and work on your content and contribution. There are at least eight things you can do that will give you benefits on membership sites.

1. Create and distribute the highlights of your professional profile
2. Publish a listing of your personal or business contact information
3. Put your name or your business name at the top of search results
4. Build an online database of contacts
5. Find and communicate with people and businesses
6. Get professional or personal advice from other members of the website
7. Get information about people and companies
8. Promote yourself or your business through creating powerful, meaningful content

However, to get these benefits, do not link out to membership sites.  Use these sites to link back to you.

6 Ways to Create Brand Power in Your Online Profile

A basic online profile is a person’s picture, name,  skills, employment history, education, training, and accomplishments.

Managed correctly, your profile can become the platform for your professional brand and advertising campaign.  Here are six ways to build your brand:

1. From your profile, create advertising on a business page.
2. Sell products or promote your company’s business by posting links on your business page and your profile.
3. Create a group.  A group attracts members who create content that in turn attracts other people to become aware of your profile or your company profile.
4. Build relationships by helping people through connections, recommendations, or introductions.
5. Establish an image as a person or a company that helps people through your comments in membership groups.
6. Publish a newsletter through updates to your profile, your business page, and your membership group.

For search engines, content is king. Whenever you post anything on a membership site, you are creating content.  As you create content, your name or your company name appears more often in search engine results, sometimes even when you are not signed into a membership site.

Some companies divert money from advertising to the cost of creating content on social media.  With a little time everyday on a regular basis, you can do the same thing without spending a dime.

LinkedIn:  Who Can See My Profile? 

By default, everyone in the world can see your public profile on LinkedIn without signing in to LinkedIn.  That is why LinkedIn calls these profiles “public profiles.”

You can alter the settings to restrict what information is available to the public.  In their words, LinkedIn allows you to “Control how you look when people search for you on Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.”

Here are the steps to changing those settings.

Breadcrumbs:  LinkedIn>>Photo top-right corner>>Privacy and Settings>>Edit your public profile>>settings options.

This is the process step by step.

Step 1:  Sign into to LinkedIn.

Step 2:  Hold your cursor over the image in the upper right-hand corner of the page and you will see a drop-down menu.

Step 3:  Click “Privacy and Settings.”

When you land on the Account Settings page, you will see this set of options:

Settings
Manage your Twitter settings
Helpful Links
Edit your name, location & industry
Edit your profile
Edit your public profile
Manage your recommendations

Step 4:  Click “Edit your public profile.‘

You will have these options:

Profile Content
Make my public profile visible to no one
Make my public profile visible to everyone

•  Basics
•  Name, industry, location, number of recommendations
•  Picture
•  Headline
•  Summary
•  Current Positions
•  Past Positions
•  Skills
•  Education
•  Additional Information
•  Interested In

By default, yes, people can tell that you have looked at their profile.  LinkedIn puts your photo and your name on the profile page of people you view.

Here is a detailed set of directions.

Step 1:  Sign into to LinkedIn.

Step 2:  Hold your cursor over the image in the upper right-hand corner of the page and you will see a drop-down menu.

Step 3:  Click “Privacy and Settings.”

When land on the Account Settings page, you will see this set of options:
Privacy Controls

Turn on/off your activity broadcasts
Select who can see your activity feed
Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile
Select who can see your connections
Change your profile photo & visibility »
Show/hide “Viewers of this profile also viewed” box

Step 4:  Click “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile.”

You will these options.
“You name and headline”
“Anonymous profile characteristics such as industry and title”
“Totally anonymous”

Facebook answers this question and includes a separate question that it words slightly differently, “Can I know who’s looking at my Timeline or how often it’s being viewed?”

“Your Timeline is your collection of the photos, stories, and experiences that tell your story.”

The links to the questions above and the following list of questions are on a Facebook.com page titled “Common Myths About Facebook.”

“Will Facebook ever charge for service?
Do advertisers have access to my personal information?
Does Facebook sell my information?
Can people tell that I’ve looked at their Timeline?
Can I know who’s looking at my Timeline or how often it’s being viewed?”
Can people see my private messages on my Timeline?
What personal information is shared with sites that use social plugins?
The app I’m using says I need to download something, fill out a survey or sign into Facebook again to see special content. Is this true?”

“No, Facebook doesn’t let people track who views their Timeline.  Third-party apps also can’t provide this functionality. If you come across an app that claims to offer this ability, please report the app.”

Source: Facebook.com

Digital Marketing for Your Job:  Do the Risks Outweigh the Rewards?

You have worked hard to create an Internet presence.  You have created a LinkedIn account, a Twitter account, and a Facebook account.  You have polished your profile on these accounts.  You have carefully selected people for your connections.  You value your relationship with each person you have added as a connection.  These are the people in your business, career, and social network.  They are classmates, co-workers, bosses, clients, friends, and family.

You have connected your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts so that what you post on LinkedIn appears on all three accounts.

Late one night, you are reading through the updates on LinkedIn.  You see something that disturbs you, perhaps a political article or some religious or social statement.  You decide to post your opinion on this subject on your LinkedIn updates. The next morning you realize that what you posted is true but inflammatory.

You go back through your accounts and cut the comment.  To your horror, you realize that your comment has created a thread of comments among people who completely disagree with your comment.

We all can say things that we regret.  When we say these things in the privacy of our homes, we can more easily correct our wrongs.  When say regrettable things in the office, we may find that we can correct our wrongs as long as we do not make a habit of saying regrettable things.  When we post something on the Internet where hundreds or maybe thousands of people can read our comments, we suddenly find ourselves in situations that we can not correct.

In the media, broadcasters often work in teams of broadcasters who help each other review what they write.  These broadcasters also may have editors with distinguished histories of cutting inappropriate statements.

Here are some good things to remember.

1. If what you are writing makes you wonder whether the material is proper, your instincts are sending you a warning sign that you should heed.
2. You have nothing to gain from posting anything you could regret.
3. The things you write on the Internet become public records.  People may come across comments years from now.  By that time, you may have changed your point of view and have different friends and associates who find your comments offensive.
4. You may not know you have offended someone and how that offense may have hurt you.
5. Stay off membership sites when you feel tired or angry.  A weary mind and bad moods can make us say things we regret.
6. Avoid politics and religious discussions on membership sites.  Membership sites are not political rallies or churches.  They are places people go to learn what is current in business and in people’s lives.
7. If you can’t say anything nice, do not say anything at all.

Marketing through social media definitely helps build careers and businesses.  The most important thing you can write in social media is your profile.  Make it correct and positive.  As for updates and comments, limit those to things that draw people to you.

How to Pick a LinkedIn Group: Different LinkedIn groups have different purposes.

Some groups are directories of people in the same industry or who have the same interest.  These groups are terrific for building networks or creating databases.   You can pick nearly any business sector and find that there is LinkedIn group for that business sector.  From there, you can build relationships to expand your network.

Other groups give terrific sources of information on how to get things done or how to find people who can help you get things done.  These groups are really forums where people answer questions.  The members of these forums tend are often very responsive and may give better help on topics that relate to products which have their own company forums.

I read one article which complained that LinkedIn was letter group managers get away with too much self-promotion and that LinkedIn should police the groups more carefully.  Extra policing hardly seems necessary.  LinkedIn has set up discussions to enable group managers to move discussions from the main discussions area to the promotion or jobs discussions area.

Another nice benefit of the groups on LinkedIn is that members of the group can allow people to connect with them through the groups.  The feature is very nice if you do not have an email address.  If a person has selected not to have people connect with them through a LinkedIn group, their decision alone may tell you that you are attempting to network with someone who is not in the market and not a practical customer.

If you do not find what you are seeking in LinkedIn group, create your own group.  You might find that you have a hugely successful group that helps a lot of people including yourself.

“The World’s Noblest Headhunter”

Social Media and Your Career: Do These Things

There are some simple suggestions that can make you social media career campaign easy to manage and very effective.

Post one profile photo on all social media sites.  That photo is your brand packaging.

Attire for your profile photo:  A suit and tie are okay.  An open-collared shirt is okay.  However, unless you name is Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook, you probably should wear a shirt with a collar.

Write full sentences on your web posts.  Use complete words.  Use simple sentences and easy to understand words everyone knows.

Say nice things on all web posts.  Do you remember what Thumper told Bambi?  “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Everybody loves Thumper.

The best boss I ever had told me those exact words.  He retired as a four-star Navy Admiral and went to become CEO of two corporations and in his last capacity was head of the United States Nuclear Research Program.  I absolutely love Thumper and absolutely respect and admire Admiral S.R. Foley, Jr., who gave me that advice.

Say nice things about yourself on the Internet.  List your accomplishments the way you would on your resume.

Be 100% honest in the things you say about yourself.  If you are accurate and 100% honest in your Internet postings, you will be 100% consistent in your web postings.

Join groups and participate in those groups.  People go to groups on membership to do a lot of different things.  If you want people to respect you, offer suggestions to people who are asking for help.

Interact on membership sites.  Registering with a membership site and interacting with people will help you build your professional network quickly.

On membership sites, tell people when they have done a good job and congratulate them when they get a new employer or a promotion.

Have fun.  Make friends.  Enrich your life and the lives of others.  Use social media every day.