soho-life.com

As many of you know I’m a member of LinkedIn.com, along with several other forums. Lately there seems to be a trend for people, particularly from LinkedIn, to start sending their entire connection list their newsletter. I do not believe this to be a good practice, apart from it not being in line with their user agreement.

Imagine you have a connection count in excess of 1,000 people and every single one of them added you to their newsletter list. What would happen to the number of emails you receive every day?

I know that people think it’s ‘only once a month’ but when you times that by 1,000, 2,000 or more each month, it gets beyond a joke.

When people agree to connect with you via a networking forum I believe they should still be asked, or given the opportunity to subscribe of their own accord.

I did email my connections list and let them know about various things I was doing at the beginning of this year but it was a once-off email – even then I got people asking to unsubscribe even though I explained they weren’t on any list in the email.

We all get inundated with more email than we ask for so be fair and kind to your networking connections and don’t add them to lists they didn’t ask to be on. Connecting via a networking forum was specifically for networking purposes. If you participate in discussions and give people the opportunity to get to know you, then over time they may well subscribe to your lists and even do business with you. Developing a good signature block for participation in these forums will go a long way towards attracting interested people to your lists.

I believe the building of relationships is an important part of networking and putting people on lists before they even know you is not a good practice and will put people off for the most part, rather than endear them to you.

newsletter list, LinkedIn, networking,

Tags: Email Etiquette, LinkedIn by Kathie Thomas
1 Comment »

Welcome to the very first LinkedIn Blog Carnival – I hope it’s the first of many! The idea behind this carnival is for members of LinkedIn to showcase their writing talents via their blog entries, and in particular with posts about networking, blogging or the use of LinkedIn.

If you’re like me, a member of LinkedIn, you would have made many connections, new friends and done some business and I’ve found LinkedIn to be one of the most valuable networking tools I’ve experienced in the almost 14 years of my business ownership life.

Vikram Deo presents rAnDoM AnD rEstLeSS !!!!: Rafting, Trekking and Leeches!!!!! posted at rAnDoM AnD rEstLeSS !!!!.

Olga Kellen presents Online Networking posted at How I started on LinkedIn.

Sheila Scarborough presents 6 ways travelers can use social media posted at Perceptive Travel Blog, saying, “From the familiar blog to the lesser-known Twitter and even Second Life, here are some social media apps that travelers can use to improve their journeys.”

Charnell presents Join me at the Blog World & New Media Expo in Vegas! posted at Charnell Pugsley’s Weblog, saying, “I am really looking forward to going to the Blog World & New Media Expo in Las Vegas this year. I’ve recently moved into a new role at work that includes the task of blogging, so I hope to learn and experience a lot at the conference. Happy blogging!”

Michael@TSM presents Fall TSM Travel Writing Contest: Win $125! posted at Traveling Stories Magazine.

David Kam presents A Generous Leader, A Great Figure posted at MarketingDeviant.com.

isabella mori presents quit smoking posted at change therapy, saying, “great to have a new carnival! i’m a LinkedIn member but don’t have the LinkedIn badge on my blog right now – am changing my blog layout right now. hope that’s alright.”

Carol Sill presents Alphablogs – Musical Reminiscences posted at Alphablogs, saying, “Both princials at Alphablogs, Carol Sill and Isabella J. Mori, are LinkedIn members.”

Larry Russell presents Avoiding financial advisor and investment counselor frauds and scams – Overview posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “The best way to avoid being defrauded or scammed by a financial or investment advisor is to investigate carefully several different advisers before hiring one of them. If you carefully choose a financial adviser or investment counselor, you have a far greater chance of finding one who is objective, competent, and ethical. This could help you to avoid significant problems in the future.”

Robinson Go presents Report Paid Links to Google posted at The Robinson Go Blog, saying, “Make the most out of your Google ranking for your blog.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of linkedin using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: linkedin, blog carnival.

Tags: LinkedIn by Kathie Thomas
3 Comments »

There are a number of LinkedIn Bloggers out there and I thought it would be good to showcase them in one place. So enter the LinkedIn Blog Carnival. Submissions will be accepted up to 15th every month and then posted on the 17th by the hosting blog. I welcome your involvement!

Just some simple ground rules:

All topics are welcome from LinkedIn members who blog. NO adult content, or abusive and racist comments. One submission per site please. If you keep two or three sites, you can submit one article from each. Topic MUST relate to networking, blogging or the use of LinkedIn.

Submission time: 15th each month Australian time.

Submit your article here.

Tags: Blog Carnival, LinkedIn by Kathie Thomas
Comments Off

As my profile at LinkedIn grows and I remain active on the forums and the Q&A section, I receive constant invitations to other social and business networks. I often wonder what the thinking is behind this? Perhaps it’s because I am seen to be so active.

I’ve elected to make LinkedIn my preferred business networking tool and I am aware there are heaps out there. But how do you choose and where do you draw the line? There are a number of things you need to weigh up:

1. How long has the network been around?
2. Are there people you know and trust already connected?
3. What have you read about the network – has the information been worthwhile?
4. How much time will you need to spend on a daily or weekly basis to make the network work for you?
5. How much time can you afford if you join more than one network?
6. What is the benefit of joining more than one network if you’re just going to keep inviting your existing contacts to each network? Or, are you separating the groups and by what process?

For me I have a business network and I do belong to a social network reserved for friends and family – a small number of people will be in both but I make sure I don’t blur the lines and keep business for business and social for social.

It stuns me though that when I accept an invitation from someone I don’t know personally at LinkedIn that often I will then get a number of invitations from the same person for several other networks. I don’t get that. I do say on my profile I’m not accepting invitations from other networks but perhaps they didn’t get that far in my profile (assuming they have looked at it or read it). And the other day I received an invitation for a brand new network from someone who isn’t directly connected to me at LinkedIn but is a second level connection. I didn’t know why they were but because they sent it to my linkedin email address I knew where it had come and was able to look them up. But I don’t understand why they haven’t sent a linkedin invite? I’m still waiting…

business networks, social networks, LinkedIn, connections

Tags: LinkedIn, Networking, Social Networks by Kathie Thomas
Comments Off