I just saw this brilliant infographic created by Creotivo.com that looks at facts and figures from accross a variety of platforms during 2012. Did you know?…
I read an interesting post this morning by Samantha Hosenkamp about the eight Facebook features every social media manager should know. After finishing reading the piece I decided to share it with my network and it was then that I spotted something quite interesting and even more telling. The share buttons.
120 people had re-tweeted the piece but by far the most popular sharing tool was LinkedIn, with 149 shares. 112 people had liked the piece on Facebook and only 21 people had shared on google+ and Pinterest (not too surprising that one).
I talked about my love of LinkedIn last week but this observation again demonstrated what an important social tool this is for PR professionals looking to share content. It needs to be part of any content distribution plan and should be factored into helping spread the word. It would be true to say that I see a lot of traffic to this PR blog from LinkedIn.
The fact that people are more inclined to share a top tip type piece of content on LinkedIn than on Twitter is interesting and needs to be understood. Are people choosing LinkedIn as a way of sharing useful content to their network because it is a way of getting interesting content in front of a work audience while ensuring that it doesn’t get lost in amongst comments about football and the weather.
All too often people create content and share it across everything but it makes far more sense to think about the platforms you would want the content to be shared on and create a plan for getting maximum pick up.
For example, below are some tactics that could help with the article I shared.
LinkedIn – perfect as it is. A top tips piece works well – especially with a headline like the one used.
Twitter – Research which hashtags will be the best to get this noticed by the target audience. This should then be built into the description to help it get found when sharing. For example #socialmed or #socialmedia could help
Pinterest – Create an inforgraphic of the eight points to make it visual instead of words
Google+ – When sharing it ask your community to share their thoughts. Which other features should also be included?
Facebook – Wherever possible include a really strong image and headline that captures the essence of the story to go with the like.
Paul Stallard LinkedIn
As a PR pro I love LinkedIn.
It helps me keep up to date with journalist moving around, clients and colleagues getting new roles and recruitment. This is important to me as PR is all about relationships and with over 1,000 connections it helps me keep track.
Recently I have also been using it to share content and it is now a major source of traffic to this blog whenever I post content.
So….if we aren’t connected already please do. I use LinkedIn a lot and value the contacts I have within it and am always looking to connect with other PR pros.
I also live online at quite a few other places. A list of them can be found on my Paul Stallard online page. Please connect, follow or become a friend – I’m always looking for interesting people to start communicating with.
Source: Google images
I had a very enjoyable meeting today with a couple of guys I met at a recent exhibition who are working on a social networking site. The site will work in a similar way to LinkedIn but will be industry specific.
One of the guys sat around the table mentioned that using such services was important because it doesn’t matter which industry you are working in it is actually smaller than you think. I couldn’t agree more and think that this mentality should be taken into any industry as you never know when you will bump into someone again.
In the PR world we are quite lucky as there is a little community of PR professionals who communicate with each other and share ideas via blogs and Twitter. Don’t get me wrong, individually we are all looking out for our own agencies and are fiercely proud of our achievements but don’t feel threatened enough to not speak to each other.
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Source: LinkedIn.com
Most people in the Berkeley PR office use LinkedIn to keep track of journalists, clients as they move around and potential new business leads but I never hear too many people refer to LinkedIn as fondly as other social media tools. I often think that this is strange, considering that the core principles of the brand is that it helps connect people, yet it is one that hasn’t really taken the step to engage with its audience.
I have in the past rather unfairly heard it referred to as the business tool people use when they have been made redundant, which however hash does reflect the fact that people don’t have a relationship with the tool in the sameway they do with Twitter and Facebook. Most professionals have a LinkedIn account which they have populated with information about their working life and education but most don’t bring the personality of that individual to the front. I have linked to many people who are brilliant, influential and a great laugh face to face, but by reading their profile alone would feel they were pretty uninspiring.
That said I spotted a Tweet from Andrew Smith (@andismit) earlier this week about the new LinkedIn applications and decided to investigate. I have to say that I am impressed and there are a number of cool features which are all really easy to apply to your LinkedIn profile and can quickly add some much needed personality with minimum effort. These include:
* My Travel – See where your LinkedIn network is traveling and when you will be in the same city as your colleagues
* Slideshare Presentations – You can upload & display your own presentations, check out presentations from your colleagues
* Company Buzz – Shows you the twitter activity associated with your company.
* Box.net files – Lets you share content on your profile, and collaborate with friends and colleagues
* Blog Link – Blog Link helps you, and your professional network, stay connected
* Huddle – Gives you private, secure online workspaces packed with simple yet powerful project, collaboration and sharing tools for working with your connections
* Google Presentation – Upload a .PPT or use Google’s online application to embed a presentation on your profile
* WordPress – you can sync your WordPress blog posts with your LinkedIn profile, keeping everyone you know in the know
* Reading List by Amazon – Extend your professional profile by sharing the books you’re reading with other LinkedIn members.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to play with all of these but I have installed the WordPress and Company Buzz apps which I really like. However, what I would like to see if an extension of the work that they have done with Twitter and see if you could link the status bar with your Twitter account. It would save me a whole heap of time and also help keep my profile fresh.
My dear friend and freelance PR Josie Pearson sent me an interesting article the other day by Andy Coote which is well worth a read. According to the piece LinkedIn states that we should all be keeping a ‘separate account for socialising so that business contacts don’t mix with friends’.
The problem, it seems, is that we feel that we cannot refuse requests by our colleagues to connect online and then go ahead and post material which neither group should be privy to. Andy quite rightly suggests that we might be better looking at it in a slightly, but critically different, way. In a world when it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep our professional and social lives separate, Andy argues that to manage our online reputation effectively, we should think very seriously about what we release into the wild.
While out for a few beers last night with some mates, that don’t work in PR, Amanda (the wife) started telling them how I had my own blog that I work on daily, I contribute to the company blog and use a tool called LinkedIn instead of FaceBook.
At this point I tried to explain why I use the LinkedIn and what I hope to get out of doing so especially as I have been such a vocal anti-Facebook user in my circle of mates. I don’t have a Facebook profile and am quite happy not having one. After every horror story I hear about the dreaded social network I feel that I have taken the right stance…regardless of how sad I sound saying this.
This said, it has got me thinking about LinkedIn and why I use it today. Initially I started using it when I was leaving my last agency when I wasn’t allowed to tell clients, journalists and other contacts where I was going but instead was expected to let them all think I had fallen off the face of the Earth. I realized that it was a way of letting these people know where I had gone and most importantly what my new contact details were.
This said, as a PR professional I have found LinkedIn invaluable. At Berkeley PR we use Gorkana as our media database, a service which I think is excellent, but every now and again it doesn’t have a direct line or email for a journo I want to contact. At this point I always consult my LinkedIn to find these details.
Below are some ideas from the excellent Chris Brogan’s blog on how to get the best out of LinkedIn:
Who are you? The headline you use is vital as this is what people see when they choose whether to accept your invite. If you work for a company, put that name in the headline and don’t lie…..that means you Mr Recruitment agency. When writing your summary try where possible to lead with what you do, the type of business you want to do, the reason why others would do business with you and then look at what you actually do.
As a Pr person always try to write this not only with journalists in mind but also prospective clients. Hopefully they will read your profile and think “this is the type of person I want to lead my account”.
I have to admit that the next point is something I am quite poor at but I am trying to improve. It is vital to keep your summary fresh by updating it every two week and your work experience sections every four weeks. LinkedIn needs to be more than just something you add contacts to.
Recommendations, is a key part of LinkedIn but you need to be smart about using them. Can you vouch for the person you are recommending’s abilities? I have heard many people say that they are recommending someone in return for the one they received from someone else. Ridiculous.
The reputation engine part of LinkedIn, is the most important part of the tool and you should only recommend people that you would work with again. Recommendations is an extremely powerful part of LinkedIn and it is important its strength is not weakened by recommending everyone and their dog just because they ask you.
Points to always remember include:
1. Review your LinkedIn profile. Look at it as if you’re a prospective client or journalist. Would you want to work with this person? If not, rewrite it.
2. Ensure you include your blog address on your profile page.
3. Always add a photo. As a PR we have all gone to meet a journalist we have never met before so this is an important way of getting them to know what you look like. Use a good picture.
4. Start writing quality recommendations for people you can vouch for.
5. Grow your network. If you deal with someone on a press release, press interview or case study send a request.
6. Keep reviewing your profile and ensure it is up to date.
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