Linked Intelligence

This Wednesday, 9/23, I’ll be conducting a 90-minute webinar on how to use social networking and social media to grow your business.
Most of my recent webinars have focused on a particular tool (e.g., LinkedIn) or a particular business function (e.g., recruiting). The primary focus of this program will be how to do more with less, [...]

While this is kind of funny, there’s a lesson here too…it’s important to be memorable, in any way that’s not negative: Italian cowboy boots, a pink feather in your hair, a distinctive business card, an interesting story about how you got started in your business, etc.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the insulation of the internet allows us to be bitter, snarky, etc., with impunity. Perhaps in an anonymous environment like Slashdot that may be the case, but when all your interaction is tied to your very public identity, as on LinkedIn, guess what? [...]

3 per day? How about 3 ever???
Posting open LinkedIn connection requests on Twitter is:

Noise. It’s certainly not conversation or relationship-building.
Desperate. Ugh. Who wants to connect with desperate?
Ineffective. What’s the value of those trivial electronic links? Referrals require trust.

Anyway, it’s not the size of your network that matters – it’s how you use it.

This week we’re having some fun in the b5media Business Channel doing a “blog scramble”, with everyone doing guest posts on another blog in the channel. My guest blogger is the inimitable Liz Strauss of Successful Blog, explaining how a well-done blog can enhance your network.
How My Blog Turbo Powers My LinkedIn Connections
a guest [...]

Problogger’s Darren Rowse has declared Monday, April 14, Blogger Appreciation Day, saying:
I’ve been chatting with a few bloggers of late who’ve been feeling a little down in the dumps about their blogging – so perhaps everyone could do with a little lift.
Lets spend today doing a few random acts of kindness and encouragement for [...]

Recently on MyLinkedInPowerForum, Vincent Wright posed the following challenging question:
How do you feel about networking with someone who puts their own interests ahead of yours?

My answer? Just fine, within reason. In fact, people who are always ready to give, but then don’t take care of themselves, concern me!

Do you watch Celebrity Apprentice? Well, if you missed the first week, you missed a great lesson in networking from rock star Gene Simmons. The celebrities were divided into two teams — men and women — and tasked with selling hot dogs on the street in New York to raise money for the charity of [...]

There are a lot of networking experts out there who advocate the use of handwritten notes. I’m not one of them. Handwritten notes make me think of two things:  clutter and dead trees. If you insist on sending me a note, it had better be on 100% recycled paper with a substantial post-consumer content or [...]