The document discusses using LinkedIn as a professional social networking tool. It outlines several goals of using LinkedIn such as replacing resumes, bios, and reference letters. It also discusses using LinkedIn to find experts, research customers and companies, and get answers to questions. The document provides tips for setting up a LinkedIn profile and using features like groups, advanced searching, and introducing people. It emphasizes keeping your profile and connections up to date to get full benefit from the professional networking platform.

1. Professional Social
Networking
With a Focus on Linked-In
Marco Thompson
EVP & CTO, Solekai
Managing Director, Express Ventures

2. Goals
■ Replacing Resumes, Bios, Reference Letters
■ Help Customers Find Us
● Aura of Expertise
● Skill inventory
■ Use as a tool for Prospecting
● Efficient way to find “birds of a feather”
■ Research Customers before meetings
■ Use as an Industry News Source
■ Use as an information resource to get
“Answers” from a worldwide community
■ “Self Healing” Contact updates
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3. Disclaimer for HP Session Key
■ This training is normally 3 hours
■ I have not updated these slides for 12-
18 months – Linked-In has changed
many UI features, so much of this deck
is out of date in detail, but the concepts
are all still relevant
■ I have never tried this on a conference
call before, or with more than 30 folks…
■ Editing before presentation, & adding
Key designation to certain slides
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4. Before Training
■ You need to Open a Linked-In Account & build
a basic profile
■ Complete your profile quickly by importing
your resume. (note that there is no “Import”
button on LI, by Import, I mean transfer ALL
of the information on your resume to the
appropriate fields on LI) Your profile needs to
have job position /company details for at least
2 jobs, & detailed job descriptions for 2 of
your career posts. Include your education.
■ Your Linked-In profile should reflect your
entire resume, this will become your resume.
■ You need to understand the Basics of Linked-
In
■ You need to invite at least 20 people to
“connect”, including the trainer…
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5. Expectations Key
■ What are you hoping to learn today?
■ What features of Linked-In do you not
understand or need help with?
■ What “success stories” or “valuable
features” can you share with the group?
■ Please share your answers to these
questions….
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6. Quick Tour and Highlights Key
■ Outlook Toolbar (Unstable as of 11/2010)
● We will review this at the end if we have time
● “Grab” email signature to create a Contact vcard using Outlook
Toolbar – massive time savings…
● “Look up” someone quickly from an Outlook email or a contact
(notice LI info button on contacts and email)
● “Instant Invite” from contacts with templates
● Collect Contacts from Email & Dashboard & Much More !!
● Recent Challenge Outlook Startup Time…
■ Groups
● Prospecting for business – HDTV Group search members
“software manager” – advanced search - 1st connections. Key
Group feature is direct email contact to other group members,
even though you are not 1st level contacts (Update - Now must
connect before messaging)
● Looking for Expertise – Android Developer Group – Search
Members “java” (Search people “advanced” select group)
● Doctor Design Authentic – roll your own groups…
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7. Quick Tour and Highlights
■ Linked-In account types
● Basic, free (limited search and functionality)
● Paid accounts ($25/mo & more)
 Critical for power users
 Critical for Recruiters / HR
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8. Quick Tour and Highlights
■ “Company” & “Search”
● Home, Upper right, change “People” search box
to “Company”
● Company search “Qualcomm” – Inspect &
“Follow”
● “Check out insightful statistics about Qualcomm
employees”
● Interesting Facts about Companies that you
cannot find elsewhere.
● Interesting Facts about “Who Does What” inside
those companies that you cannot find elsewhere.
All very helpful in recruiting and business
development
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9. Quick Tour and Highlights
■ “Answers” Search
● Home, Upper right, change “People” search
box to “Answers”
● Try a search on your own time
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10. Quick Tour and Highlights Key
■ “Add Connections” Upper Right
● “Colleagues” Tab (Feature deleted?)
● Connect to Everyone at current
company/employer. (the Network effect)
● Check out colleagues at your past employers!
Connect to those that you worked closely
with and respected.
● Note that you cannot connect to past
colleagues if you do not list past jobs on your
profile !! Your profile needs to be complete.
Everything on your resume & bio needs to be
on Linked-In. It should tell your entire
professional history.
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11. Quick Tour and Highlights Key
■ Contacts Tour
● “Network Statistics”, Then “My Connections”
● Poke all the buttons
● Can’t find this now
■ More Complex Advanced People Search
Including Groups (not available on basic
account)
● Keywords “digital video” (run & review)
● Add Current title “CEO” (run & review)
● 1st Connections & Group Members
● Further refinement - Where are they?
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12. Quick Tour and Highlights
■ Introducing Multiple Speakers using LI
■ Project their LI Profile page for the
audience
■ Click on the Attendees names during
introductions
■ People can only say so much about
themselves or another person in a 30-90
second introduction. Putting their LI
page up on the screen during the intro
provides another pathway, through the
EYES, which consume data 10X faster
than the ears…
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13. Quick Tour and Highlights Key
■ “While I’m in Denver, who else should I
visit”? (No other tool really can provide
this information to me)
● Home, Advanced People search (upper right)
● Located zip 80201 within 100 miles
● First level connections only
● 32 people, I would have only thought of half
of them, and found half of them in Outlook
■ More complicated, “While in Bay Area”
● Cupertino = 95014, 200+ results, so add job
filter “CEO” to bring it down to a reasonable
80+ to consider
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14. Quick Tour and Highlights Key
■ Asking for an Introduction to a Specific
Individual
● People search “Steve Bjorg”
● Upper right, “Get introduced thru connection”
● Selection Connection
● Compose messages
● Send it along
■ A request received by the middleman using
this process is VERY easy to handle. Simple
Yes/No interface decision to forward your
request on to the target if appropriate.
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15. Functions Performed by Linked-
In & what it replaces Key
■ Your Resume, Biography, Reference Letters
● Never ever send your resume or bio or reference
letters to anyone again, ever…
■ Finding People / Recruiting / Lists of Experts
(no more keywords “java” or “wifi” in Outlook
Contact notes)
■ Market Research & Competitive Research
■ Researching a Person or Company before a
Sales Visit or Interview
■ Researching a Candidate before an Interview
■ Getting High Quality Free Answers to Questions
Posed to Your Network and the network at
large
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16. Functions Performed by Linked-
In & what it replaces Key
■ “While I’m in Denver, who else should I visit”?
■ Sales Prospecting via Membership Searches
■ Sales Prospecting via Group Affiliation (Direct
messaging to Group members!)
■ Visibility Inside Companies to see who does
what in the organization
■ Visibility to see the Company trend, are they
growing or shrinking.
■ Historical Visibility, Where do the company
employees come from, and where do they tend
to go when they leave? None of these
functions are available anywhere else.
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17. Functions Performed by Linked-
In & what it replaces Key
■ Time Savings on Every Day Tasks
■ Forwarding information about a person to
another person or group. “Check this guy out”.
(“Forward this profile”)
■ Making an introduction of Person A to Person B
in a few key strokes. (“Forward”)
■ Requesting an introduction to a specific person
in a few key strokes. (“Get Introduced through
a connection”)
■ Writing Letters of Recommendation (for others)
without stamps & letterhead…
■ Endorse a co-worker, vendor or service
provider who just did a great job for you.
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18. Marco’s Suggested Default
Settings for Linked-In Key
■ Go to upper right “Settings” (pulldown under your name)
■ (Privacy Controls)
■ Make the following changes until you know better and
understand the impact of the settings completely.
■ Activity Broadcasts “Off” (especially while job hunting)
■ Who can see activity feed “Everyone”
■ Upload photo, visible to “everyone”
■ Select What others see when you have viewed their
profile “Name & Headline”
■ Select who can see your connections “Only Me” if
you are in Sales or certain sensitive Executive
positions
■ Profile photo visibility “everyone”
■ Viewers of this profile also viewed “Display on my profile”
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19. Marco’s Suggested Default
Settings for Linked-In Key
■ (Settings) Right Column
■ Twitter Settings – up to you
■ Name location and Industry – Put it all in there
■ Edit your profile – Entry to profile screen
■ Edit your Public Profile – “Make my proflie
visible to EVERYONE” - Customize your URL
(lower right) so that you can use it on your
email signature such as
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcothompson
■ Email Adresses: List ALL email addresses, that
any business contact might try to contact you
through.
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20. Care & Feeding of your
Linked-In Digital Life Key
■ Check in daily or at least a few times a
week.
■ Accept pending invitations
■ Who should I invite to Linked-In ?
● Co-Workers, Service Providers, Customers,
Classmates
● People with valuable networks
● Do not invite people who you do not respect
or would not help
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21. Linked-In Profile Basics Key
■ “Edit my Profile” to update your profile
■ “View my Profile” to see what others see
■ Public Profile – Put your name in it (remove
numbers) and use it on your email signature line !!!
■ Upload a Picture!!
■ Make sure that your “headline” makes sense
● This is what users of Outlook Toolbar see about you
instantly
■ Complete Summary!!! “Specialties =
keywords”
■ Experience & Education – fill out Everything !!!
■ If there is anything in your resume or bio that
is missing on your LinkedIn profile, you are not
finished..
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22. Linked-In Groups
■ Sales & Marketing to Group Members
● Join all of the interesting groups in your target industry
● You can search groups the same way you search
companies and people… top right, pull down “groups”
enter the key words of your market, technology or
industry.
● You may join up to 50 groups, use them wisely.
● Search each group regularly using keywords & other
methods.
● Direct message Group members with introductory
messages, asking for connection, and asking for
additional contact info (phone number) and offering
something… (white paper, free quote, whatever)
● Now you have a direct connection to that individual for
future business prospecting.
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23. Linked-In Groups
■ Other Group Marketing Goodies
● Groups You May Like are suggested by Linked-
In, according to your profile.
● Groups have Message Boards, Jobs, News
● Members can post
■ How to Avoid all that Group Spam Email
● Go to “Settings”
● Go to “Groups”
● Go to “Set the Frequency”
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24. Additional Features
■ Sent invites status
● Inbox, Invitations- left column, Sent, Archived or
Trash.
■ Companies to follow
● Companies, Find Companies. Indicate company to
follow and location.
■ Applications (mostly worthless)
● Lower right of home page, Add an Application
● Too many to list, explore them all.
 SlideShare Presentations
• Great way to share presentations/PowerPoint
• Lower right of home page, Add an Application,
SlideShare Presentations.
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25. Questions (& Answers)
■ Ask a Question (My Questions)
● I need to find a patent expert willing to work
for equity – 15 offers
● I need to find a copy of ByteBos – found the
author
● Need trade show display for cheap or free –
got one
● How long can my company go without 409A
valuation? – got 10 good answers
■ Posting a Question – Sending to your
contacts & Posting to the world at large
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26. Linked-In Success Story
■ I wanted to thank you again for speaking so highly
of LinkedIn. I was doing some research for a
school project and found a patent that is directly
inline with what we are researching. I looked up
the name of the inventor (some guy in
Philadelphia) on LinkedIn and found that he is
surprisingly only a couple links away. A close
friend of my classmate at UCSD is directly
connected to him. I plan to be speaking to the
patent inventor this weekend. What a small world!
■ Jerome Snell
Vistage, UCSD MBA 2008
Software Engineering Manager, Provide
Commerce
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27. Linked-In Outlook Toolbar
■ This is a MUST HAVE for Efficiency
(Unstable as of 11/10)
■ Simple Installation – go to bottom of LI home
page, “tools”, “outlook toolbar”
■ After installation complete, “LI button” provides
Quick Info on Person from Mail or Contact
■ “One Click” Invitations from Mail or Contacts
● Multiple Invitation Types – “Save Template”
■ “Grab” Feature – Puts contact into “Collected”
■ Browser Toolbars also offered
■ Recent challenges with slowing down Outlook
■ Dashboard & Sync features high functionality
● Some issues with Plaxo sync & primary vs 2nd email
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28. Linked-In Tricks & Traps
■ “I worked with that guy, but I’m not sure that I
want to connect with him” What to do. (Don’t
connect if you won’t help in the future)
■ Inviting Strangers to Connect – do not do it –
Linked-In “blacklisting”
■ Recommendations – when to give, when to ask (be
honest, be real)
■ “This is all common sense”
■ Email Notifications – avoiding LI Spam – Every
Group has settings that allows you to throttle or
completely turn off group email contact and contact
from group members
■ When NOT to forward an introduction – If you think
the target will not appreciate receiving it. Would
you forward it as an email ?
■ Removing Contacts without them knowing
(contacts, remove connections)
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29. Linked-In for Human
Resources – Reference Check
■ This is a feature that is not free
■ John Doe wants a job
■ He listed references, but you want more
■ Click Advanced People Search, Reference
Search
■ His history includes:
● Qualcomm 2003-2007
● SAIC 2001-2002
● SDG&E 1998-2001
■ “Your reference search found 3,078 people: 66
are your connections”
■ “3,012 are friends of your connections”
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30. Exercises
■ Find people in San Diego (50 mi of
92121) that currently work for Microsoft
(approx. 184)
■ Find people in San Diego (50 mi of
92121) who work in the Utility industry
and have “Smart Grid” in their profile
(16)
■ Find Sports Marketing People in Denver
(50 mi of 80201) -hard- (approx 326)
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31. ■ Fin / Done / End
■ marco@marcothompson.com
■ 619-518-3001
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