Confessions of a Linkedin Network user August 22, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , trackbackConfessions of a Linkedin Network user
By Mark Blei
Part one of a 3 part series on Social Networking.
I am a networking junkie. It started out innocently enough, as all addictions do, when I was hired to do business development. There were certain contacts in specific companies that I wanted to access. Since at times a phone call depending on whom and when can be a little bit intrusive, I looked into expanding my then small LinkedIn network.
Through the LinkedIn network, I could find the names of various people that I wanted to get in touch with through media articles or different resources, and then send a small invitation to join my network with a brief explanation of why I was contacting them and what I did. If they accepted my invitation, I took that as a tacit approval to make the next step and reach out to them directly. This proved an excellent vehicle for me, and so as I delved deeper and deeper into expanding my network I found an interesting phenomenon. Even while keeping a closed network (meaning that I do not allow people who join my network to stroll through my list of contacts) I found a cavalcade of other people who wanted access to my network who started sending me invitations…three to four a day. What spurred these people to decide to link with me? I noticed two major and one minor subset of groups reaching out to me. People whose profiles, careers, goals or needs had no synergy with my needs or goals or experience were group one. Group two were recruiters who understandably would want to have the greatest scope of contacts even though my LinkedIn profile says very clearly that I’m not in the market for a job. And group three were the smallest fraction of my network who are my actual business contacts and or people who might be doing business with me in the future.
I can tell you that from a virtual nerd standpoint there is nothing quite so ego boosting as having hoards of people sending you invitations to simply stand in the shadow of my virtual awesomeness. But was there any way for me to take advantage of people contacting me whose goals were completely different from mine?
Is there really any value in having multiple people who really have no synergy with me hooked into my network? How much business networking is too much? Let’s look at an average day for an example.
Among the requests that I received today to join my network was a Latvian Wastewater management specialist, 4 recruiters that had nothing to do with my field at all, 6-10 job seekers who had no synergy with anything that I had ever done, and 1 or 2 connection requests that were viable contacts for my current business.
What’s the possibility that my new Latvian friend in Wastewater management will any in way, or at any time, provide something of value to me? None that I can think of, but that’s just the rub. It is frequently not the things that I can think of that turn out to be viable opportunities for me, instead, it is often things that seem to come out of left field.
A few months ago on the advice of my good friend and networking guru Vincent Wright I decided that I would take 2 hours a week and allow people within my LinkedIn network to call me up and get 15 minutes of my time to not only ask me questions about what I do, but also what I know about media in general from my various and sundry jobs and experience in the industry. I didn’t require that anyone had to have a specific opportunity for me but rather wanted to do what any good Biz Dev guy does and make friends. There are many people who have small businesses or have relatives or friends that don’t have the time or money to get the ear of someone who has any decent knowledge about online media.
Through these relationship and these brief 15 minute phone calls, people just like my Latvian Wastewater friend have introduced me to new publishers interested in my product line, new advertisers taking their first plunge into online marketing, and even agencies internationally and nationally that I had no traction in previously. As it turns out my friends have friends. And when I make friends with people they want to be friendly back and that’s where the true value of networking comes into play.
I’m one of the few people who I know who have actually drawn money out of LinkedIn. Over the last year and a half I can trace over $75,000 of direct sales that were initiated through LinkedIn contacts that I had connected with through my various networking efforts. Now keep in mind that $75,000 is certainly no great shakes in the overall amount of business that I do, but I also don’t turn away business. But what’s even more important is the potential that one of these small publishers, advertisers, or agencies will one day become a powerhouse- maybe the next P&G or maybe the next Time-Warner. All I know is that I remember the people who helped me when I was a small fish in a big pond and to this day those are the people who have my trust, and if possible, my dollars.
As a business development guy I’m not always looking for the quickest sale or the lowest hanging fruit, but I do know potential when I see it. When I see potential for long-term business I certainly feel that it’s useful for me to take a few minutes out of my day to explain the value of what I provide, so that when that first big deal comes knocking and they’re looking for some sort of third party analysis to validate the effect of the media that’s being exposed through their campaign, they will turn to me. And they do.
I now receive between 20 and 30 requests to join my network every day. I am now the official moderator of one of the LinkedIn Media forums, assisting in the development of a specific media measurement forum within LinkedIn for Dynamic Logic , and at some point early this year I officially became one of the Top 500 people to know on LinkedIn.
I have beyond a doubt reached critical mass. I am a member of
no less than 20 clubs on LinkedIn, all proudly displayed on my profile.
I also now receive daily invitations to join new business networks such as Xing, Ecadamy, and various others that go on ad infinitum, and frankly, ad nauseum.
Is LinkedIn the total sum answer to my business networking needs. No. in fact the LinkedIn model has several problem areas that I’ll get into in the last article in this series.
This posting is a personal opinion article by Mark Blei who is in International Business Development for Dynamic Logic Inc and the author of this blog. None of the content of this article is meant to be an opinion of Dynamic Logic, It’s parent company Millward Brown or anybody but the writer.
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