Are You Receiving the Full Benefit from LinkedIn?

It’s easy to sign up for social media sites and only use them for a messaging service, checking out your friends latest photos, and keeping up with what friends are doing.  LinkedIn is different; it was designed for “professional networking”, and can be a great tool for building your trust, credibility, and publicity for your ministry and your career. 

If you aren’t using all LinkedIn’s features and receiving all their benefits, 2012 is a great time to ramp up your results by looking at some other uses that might help you ‘extend your reach into the kingdom’.  Here’s a few to consider:

Complete your LinkedIn profile – Of course your LinkedIn profile will always need frequent updates, but be sure you’ve posted a professional head shot (photos say you are real), your LinkedIn headline is not just your title (this should be a reason others will look at your profile to see who you are), your LinkedIn public profile (URL) has been customized to just your name (so it’s easy to use and looks professional), your summary is both informative and interesting (this might be all others see and will know about you), your current and past experience is included with quantifiable results (what have you done), your education and credentials are included (are you qualified), and you’ve included at least an app or two (Reading list by Amazon, etc.) to show a bit more about yourself.  The bottom line is if someone looks at your profile, will they see all they need to know who you are and why they will want to contact you?

Be an active, professional networker – Your network is important to you, but do you make them feel that way?  It’s easy to get overwhelmed as your network grows so maintaining communications is critical.  Let your contacts know what you’re doing, but don’t just push your services and products, share things that offer real value to them.  Change your LinkedIn Status (several times a week is good) with links to articles that your network will find helpful or interesting.  Scan through your Network Updates (on your LinkedIn Home screen) every day or two.  If you see one of your contacts has changed positions, is involved in something interesting, or posted an interesting link, congratulate them or let them know the link was interesting.

Participate in your groups, and search for new ones that might be helpful – LinkedIn groups are one of the most helpful ways to connect with new, influential, and valuable people in LinkedIn.  Search for and join LinkedIn groups that are focused on your interests.  If you have a “target” contact list, you can join groups they are in (as long as those groups would also be helpful for you).  Once in the group, read through the discussions and look for ones you can add value to.  Those valuable comments are frequently noticed by others in the group, giving you a perfect opportunity to communicate directly with them, and even invite them to join your network.

Get a few recommendations – Recommendations tell readers what others know about you and why to contact you.  Don’t just send out requests to everyone you know.  The best strategy is for you to send 2-3 recommendations to your connections each week.  Many will respond with their recommendation for you.  If you do request recommendations, send some examples of what you’d like them to include, it makes it easier for them to write and you’ll get the results you desire.

Create a “Company” or ministry page – A company page is used to share additional details about your company’s products and services, as well as comments made by clients.  It provides an additional internet location for you and other employees and partners to be found by LinkedIn and other internet searches.

Create a LinkedIn Group – If your ministry might benefit from a continual connection to a specific group of clients, partners, etc. you can create a LinkedIn group.  The group options allow you to approve members and even comments members post, or leave it as an open group that anyone can join or post comments.

Be aware of your competition – Have you researched other ‘competitive’ or ‘partner’ ministries to see how they are using LinkedIn?  It’s always helpful to see what others have done to give you ideas on how to present your ministry and yourself on the internet.

Advertise Events – The events app can be especially helpful for ministries located in a small geographic area or advertising web events for a larger audience.  It also gives you an opportunity to see what events others are hosting or attending to see if they might interest you.

This is only a small list of things that LinkedIn participation can help you ‘extend your reach into the kingdom’ with.  The key is making the time (10-15 minutes a day, or an hour or two a week) to make use of LinkedIn’s features and benefits.  If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to send them to me at BillBenderLinkedIn <@> gmailcom.  That way of presenting an email address keeps the ‘web-bots’ from finding an email address to scam, just put a period or ampersand in place of theand <@> and leave out the spaces.

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

 

Why You Should Participate in LinkedIn Groups, and How to Do It !

One of the best ways to make new influential connections, and build credibility and trust at the same time is by participating in LinkedIn group discussions.  Starting or participating in interesting or intriguing discussions gets notice by other group members.  If you take the time to sincerely add insight or value to the conversation it will be not only noticed, but will also demonstrate your expertise on the subject, and could even build trust and increase your credibility.  

Of course that means you can’t just make a casual comment.  Unless you are truly gifted, it will probably take some time to compose the right thoughts or words.  You can’t just respond to the first question or comment, you should really read all the previous responses so your comments aren’t out of context or just repeating others words..  Being aware of previous comments can also give you a stronger platform to build your response on, thus adding to your knowledge and credibility.

You must also find the right group and group discussion so you can add value.  That requires a minimum of reading through the new and current discussion topics in the group digest emails.  When you see something that’s in your field of expertise or interest, you can click on it to go directly to the discussion to see if it’s of interest.

 

Maximizing your Group Time

When you join a LinkedIn group, the default is to send you a “Daily” group digest emails that list all the new and current discussions.  If you have joined lots of LinkedIn groups, the number of group digest emails can be overwhelming unless you set your frequency to weekly.  You can do that by clicking on “Settings” in the top right of the LinkedIn screen, then on “Groups, Companies & Applications” at the bottom right, then on “Set the frequency of group digest emails” just to the right under Groups.  You can then scroll through your groups and select how often you want to receive the group digest emails in each drop down box.  You can select Daily, Weekly, or No Emails.  I’m not sure why you would select No Emails if you have a good reason for joining the group, unless you frequently go into the group to read the new discussions, or you’re going on vacation for several weeks and don’t want the emails to build up.  I choose Daily for my groups, and the one’s I am most inclined to participate in frequently, and Weekly for all the rest.

If you initiate or participate in a discussion, you will automatically receive email updates when someone else adds to the discussion.  That allows you to easily see new additions without having to enter the group to check for new comments, and gives you an opportunity to leave a timely response if desired.

 

NEW – Group Polls

LinkedIn has just announced a new way of participating in groups without the time required for lengthy discussions.  Over the next few days, all LinkedIn Groups will have the ability to have their own “Poll”.  Members can then click on Start a “Discussion” or “Poll”.  If you click on Poll, a drop down box will allow you to enter the topic, and up to 5 choices for answers. 

Creating a Poll can take less time than creating an interesting or intriguing discussion, and answering it will be as easy as clicking on “Like”, and allow those that wish to elaborate further on their choice to easily do so.  This will not only make it quicker to start a quick discussion (in the form of a poll), but it will encourage more participating by making it easier for more members to participate.

 

How to Start a New Group Poll

To start a new poll, enter the group and click on “Poll” just past your photo and Start a “Discussion”.

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When this Linked4Ministry tip was posted, Linked4Ministry had not yet received “Polls” but watch for it in the next few days, and give it a try!

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

Not Customizing your LinkedIn Public Profile URL Can Limit Your Effectiveness

Have you customized your LinkedIn Public Profile?  Did you even know that you had one, or what it is?  If you answered no to either question you have limited the effectiveness of your LinkedIn profile and reduced your online exposure to new connections, partners, and clients.  Not customizing and using your LinkedIn Public Profile is like building a website, giving it an obscure hard to remember name, and not telling anyone what the address is.  No one would ever find your website, right?  Well, maybe some would find it in Google searches, but if you had some odd website address that no one could remember, those that did find it might never come back, or tell others about you.  It’s a plan to fail, but can be easily corrected with a few simple actions.  A customized name that’s easy to use and remember, and will inspire others to click through to your profile to learn more about you and your ministry.  Now, let’s get started.

A LinkedIn Public Profile is your LinkedIn Profile’s URL, or web address.  If you don’t customize it, LinkedIn will assign a default address when you set up your profile.  The default address will include your name, usually with dashes between first, middle, and last, and will have a series of seemingly random numbers, letters, and slashes after it.  If you customize it, it will be easy to remember, easy to use, and look a lot more professional, thus encouraging others to go to your LinkedIn profile.

If I did not customize my LinkedIn Public Profile, it might look something like:

                http://www.linkedin.com/pub/Bill-Bender/18/a32/2be  

After customization, it is now:

                http://www.linkedin.com/in/billbender  

The second address is clearly much easier to remember, and therefore use.  I can use it in emails, business cards, brochures, in books, on CDs & DVDs, on Blogs, and even at the end of a Video to direct readers to find out more about me.  Another subtle advantage of a customized LinkedIn URL is it tells other LinkedIn users that you know your way around LinkedIn!

Here’s how to Customize your LinkedIn Public Profile URL:

1. Let your mouse hover over “Profile” in the LinkedIn tool bar.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on “Edit” just to the right of your current LinkedIn Public Profile  (See  “Step 3″  illustration below)
4. Click on “Customize your public profile URL” at the bottom of the “Customize your Public Profile” box on the right side of the page.  (See “Step 4″  illustration below)
5. Enter your name without spaces, symbols, or special characters.  You can use just an initial for your first and/or middle names but remember, the best address is one that is clearly you, and easy to remember.  (See  “Step 5″  illustration below)
6. Click on the “Set Custom URL” blue button to complete your customization.

 

 Step 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, a customized LinkedIn URL is all for not if your LinkedIn profile is not complete.  Check out other Linked4Ministry articles, and stay tuned for future tips to learn more about building a great LinkedIn profile.

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  

If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and . . . it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

 

Are You Missing Out on LinkedIn Recommendations?

LinkedIn recommendations should be from someone that actually knows you personally, or that you’ve worked with or ministered to.  The goal of a LinkedIn recommendation is to give those that don’t know you an idea of your expertise, your character, your empathy, etc., and the kind of work or ministry they might expect to receive if they contact you.  The more credible the source, the more value the recommendation will have, and the more informative the recommendation, the better the response will be so it’s important that your recommendations portray exactly what you believe will be helpful in meeting your LinkedIn (and ministry) goals.

The best way to receive LinkedIn recommendations is to send 2-3 recommendations a week to your current connections.  When they receive them, they will be asked if they would like to send you one.  Even if they don’t respond on their own, they will be more likely to send you a recommendation when you ask them at a later date.

How Many and How Often?

How many recommendations you receive doesn’t matter because you can post just the ones that will benefit your current needs, and change them as often as needed.  You should have enough recommendations to tell others what you want them to know about you (so they will be encouraged to call you, use your services, engage your ministry, etc.).

It’s important to have enough recommendations that it doesn’t look like they only came from a few close friends, but not so many that they will be ignored.  A good guideline is 10% of your connections.  Remember, you can select the ones you want to show on your profile, and save others for later use.

What if I Don’t Have Enough Recommendations?

If you are not receiving enough recommendations, it’s time to ask for them.  Remember, requests should be sent to those that actually know you and have worked with you. 

Don’t send out bulk requests, it’s best to have your recommendations spread out over a long period of time, and continually coming in.  This keeps your profile alive, allows your contacts to see you are continually being recommended, and a continuous stream of recommendations is more realistic of a thriving ministry.  That’s why I say to send only 2-3 recommendations a week, and the same goes for the requests for recommendations that you send.

Getting the Recommendations You Need

If you receive a recommendation that doesn’t fit what you are trying to present, don’t hesitate to ask the sender to modify their recommendation.  Perhaps they knew you in a past assignment that doesn’t represent what you are involved in now.  Most people that recommend you want to help you, and will be willing to reword their recommendation, especially if you suggest the wording you would prefer.

Sending Recommendation Requests

When you send a recommendation request, make it easy for them to fulfill your request by suggesting some things they might include.

Begin your request with something like:  “I’m sending this request to ask you for a short recommendation of my work for my LinkedIn profile.  I’d especially appreciate your including some examples of my work (ministry) with you.  To make this as easy as possible, I’ve included a draft that you can use or edit to make it your own.  You might also want to view other’s recommendations that I’ve posted on my profile at http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/billbneder. 

(Include a short draft of the kind of recommendation you’d like to receive).

Bottom Line

Make sure the recommendations you send, and the suggestions you request others to include in their recommendations of you are honest.

Never send a “Canned” LinkedIn request.  If you just click on “Request Recommendations” tab (under Profile / Recommendations on the menu bar) your message will read:

“I’m sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my LinkedIn profile. If you have any questions, let me know.
Thanks in advance for helping me out.”

It’s not that the canned request is wrong, but I’m sure you will agree that it’s impersonal.  If you personalize your request, you can expect a more personal (and helpful) recommendation.  If you give them suggestions, you have a better chance of getting a quick response that includes the details that you want to show.  (The same goes for LinkedIn invitations!)

Conclusion

Any recommendation is NOT necessarily better than NO recommendations!  Good recommendations are a key factor in getting your LinkedIn profile to help you accomplish your goals and they deserve some of your time to achieve great results.  Be proactive in sending great recommendations to your connections, and make sure your connections know when you need recommendations and what kind of recommendations will help you!

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  

If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

LinkedIn or Facebook which is better for Ministries?

It seems like every industry is trying to figure out what social media is best for them, and where to put their resources to receive the best return, and it’s no less important for Ministries!  One of the biggest differences may be the large budgets some industries have for this effort.  Many ministries, including mine, operate on a small budget and any social media effort is left to the leaders to accomplish in their spare time.  If the goals of increased web exposure, desired growth, and success are the same, then it’s perhaps more important for ministries with limited resources to be sure they are making the right decisions.  The purpose of this article is to discuss different features and benefits of LinkedIn and Facebook for ministry.

Goals

It’s important to know your goals in order to make the decisions of what type of social media is best.  Goals might include things like gaining loyalty, growth, exposure, followers, selling products, advertising events, etc.  You then might want to determine who your target audience is, and where they spend time.  If you are selling a book, who might buy it, where you will get their attention, and how they are most likely to buy it.  I’m sure you can spend too much time with this, but I’m also sure most ministries are not currently spending enough time here.  The business slogan “failing to plan, is planning to fail” also applies to ministries.

Private vs. Professional

Most users would say Facebook is for personal use, and LinkedIn is viewed as a trusted place for professionals to use.  Most Facebook users post ‘family’ type photos, share ‘family’ type activities and events, and many spend time playing the games.  Many professionals do not use Facebook, and if they do it’s to communicate photos and stories with their family members and close friends.  It’s true that a ministry page can gain the attention of loyal followers but no one else will see the content if it’s not “liked” or “shared”?  A congregation’s use of a facebook page to keep in touch with members might be great (if it’s frequently updated), but that page will not likely be seen by new or prospective members.  For a healing ministry, the followers might not be as connected with the ministry or each other.

Number of Users

Facebook clearly has more users, but do more users make it more beneficial?  Of course it depends on the ministry, and where their target audience might frequent.  Its clear many people spend a lot of time on facebook, but who are they and what are they looking for or at?

Facebook Fan Pages vs. LinkedIn Companies Pages

Both Facebook and LinkedIn have pages that ministries can use.  The Facebook fan pages allow members to post web links, and like pages so their network will see them.  LinkedIn company pages allow followers to recommend products and services and add their comments to recommendations so their network will see them.  This can add a great visibility to your ministry services, products, events, and even needs.  Facebook and LinkedIn groups that choose to be public can be seen by anyone on the web, and both can add to your search engine optimization and visibility.

Ease in Management

Since many ministry leaders also manage the pages, this may be an important factor to consider.  Facebook fan pages don’t permit specific content control that can cause headaches for the administrators.  LinkedIn includes moderation tools in their groups that allow the administrator to choose who can post what.  Administrators can add group managers to help them moderate the group discussions, including approving new discussions, deleting unwanted or inappropriate comments and flagging promotions.

LinkedIn Groups

The LinkedIn groups remain one of their unparalleled benefits.  There are LinkedIn groups for almost any interest, and anyone can start their own group.  The discussions allow everyone to share their insight, knowledge, experience, and values giving many group members the benefit of a huge knowledge base.  You can ask questions, post articles of common interest, announce events, etc.  The group discussions are not limited to small status update boxes as in Facebook, and users can choose immediate, daily, or weekly updates to new postings so they can stay on top of discussions through email.

Conclusion

You don’t have to choose only one, if you plan correctly, both Facebook and LinkedIn have many benefits for ministries.  The important choice is not which one to spend all your time on developing, but how much time you should spend on each one.  Linked4Ministry is admittedly a little biased toward LinkedIn, but still committed to helping you use both to “extend your reach into the kingdom”.

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

Are You Taking Advantage of a LinkedIn Company or Ministry Page?

LinkedIn profiles are for individuals, but occasionally I see ministries create a profile and use their company or ministry name instead of their name, or add their ministry name to their personal name on their profile.  It’s just a matter of understanding what works best and what advantages you might gain by seperate profiles/pages.  This article describes Why and How to set up a separate Company / Ministry Page.

Advantages in a Separate Ministry Page

There are several advantages of creating the LinkedIn profile with your own name, and creating another profile (called a company or ministry page) for your ministry.

• A LinkedIn search, including Google type internet searches, will work much better if your name is the only thing in the LinkedIn profile name box.
• If someone searches for your company / ministry, all employees will be easier to find if they have their own personal profile, and a ‘position’ in the company.  Think about this as a company directory.
• A company / ministry page allows additional listings that you can take advantage of to describe your products and services.
• A company / ministry page helps others learn about your ministry’s job opportunities and work or ministry culture.
• A company / ministry page allows followers and clients to recommend your products and services to their connections.
• Setting up a personal profile and a separate company / ministry page gives you greater flexibility in describing your current and past experience, your education, your recommendations, and your groups.
• A separate personal profile allows a change in employers or even ministry names without totally rebuilding your profile.

How to Set Up a Ministry Page:

Start by clicking on “Companies” in the LinkedIn tool bar, then click on the “Add a Company” at the top right of the Companies page.  Or click on the following link http://www.linkedin.com/company/add/show

Enter your Company / Ministry Name and your email address at the ministry in the space indicated.  Click in the box that ‘verifies you are an official representative of the company / ministry and have the right to act on behalf of the company in the creation of the page’.

Requirements to Add a Company / Ministry Page:

• You need to be a current employee or owner of the ministry, and your position should be listed on your profile.
• You need a company / ministry email address, and it should be one of the confirmed email addresses on your personal LinkedIn profile account.
• You should associate your personal profile with the company / ministry name by selecting your ministry name when you add or edit your position on your profile.
• Your company / ministry email domain is unique to the company.

To add a Company Page:

1. Click Companies near the top of your home page.
2. Click the Add a Company link in the upper right area of the page.
3. Enter your company’s official name and your work email address.
4. Click Continue and enter your company information.

If the work email address you provide is an unconfirmed email address on your LinkedIn account, a message will be sent to that address. Follow the instructions in the message to confirm your email address and then use the instructions above to add the Company Page.

A red error message may appear if you have problems adding a Company / Ministry Page.

Currently, companies without their own distinct email domain (e.g. yourcompany.com) can’t create a Company Page. In this case, you might create a group to promote your company instead.

Your new Company / Ministry will now be included under the “Companies” tab on your LinkedIn menu bar.

Adding Services to your Company / Ministry Page:

Once your Company / Ministry page is done, you will want to add Services and describe them.  This gives your followers and clients the ability of recommending or sharing them with their connections.

• Start by clicking on the “Services” tab, then click on “Add a product or service” in the “Admin Tools” drop down box at the top right.
• List each product or service separately, and write a description of each.  You can add a photo by clicking on “Add image” under the Image / Photo box.
• Follow the list of options to list key features, disclaimers, contact names, promotions, YouTube video URLs, and a separate URL for each product or service if desired.
• You can also promote your products and services under the “Admin tools” drop down box.

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

 

Are You Using Your LinkedIn Status to Engage Your Connections?

Did you know LinkedIn currently has two (2) Status Updates available to many people?  One is your “Personal Status” and it’s on your Personal LinkedIn Profile, the second is a “Company Status” for those who have their own company or ministry.  The LinkedIn Status is one of several ways LinkedIn participants can engage their connections and followers.  You could have several purposes for engaging your connections including things like:

1-    Keeping your name in front of your connections

2-    Letting your connections know what you are doing

3-    Adding value to your network by sharing things they may be interested in

4-    Announcing events and new products and services you offer

 

LinkedIn “Personal” Status updates

If you’ve updated your LinkedIn personal profile “Status” recently, it will show up in several places.

When others view your profile, it will be just under your photo/Headline/Location block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you view your Network Updates under “LinkedIn Home”, it will show up as your current update just under the block where you can enter/share a new update, and under the “All Updates” section below.

When your connections view their Network Updates, it will be listed in their “All Updates” section, along with their other connection’s status updates.

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LinkedIn “Company / Ministry” Status Updates

LinkedIn has recently added Status Updates for Companies (and ministries).  This is a great way to keep your companies followers in touch with what you are doing.  Some ideal purposes might include:

1-    Share company announcements

2-    Advertise new products and services

3-    Announce promotions

4-    Share company news

5-    Announce new employees and their function

6-    Engage directly with your companies followers and possibly their entire network (truly expanding your reach into the kingdom)

Those who follow your company will receive your Company Status Updates directly, as well as showing up in your own status updates

First you will need to set up a Company/Ministry profile.  Begin by letting your mouse hover over “Companies” in the LinkedIn menu bar, and click on “Search Companies”.  Click on “Add a Company” at the top right of that screen and follow the instructions.

Company Status Updates can only be made by company “Administrators” when the Company Page is set to “Designated Admins Only”.  If you are not an “Administrator”, please request access from the relevant person at your company.

Tips to Get You Started

Begin by reading what kinds of things your connections post in their Status Updates by letting your mouse hover over “Home” in the LinkedIn menu bar, and clicking on “LinkedIn Home.  Scroll through your “All Updates” just below the LinkedIn Today news.

For your Personal Status, if you’ve updated it recently, the input box will be at the top of your LinkedIn Home page, or just below your photo on your profile edit page.  Begin by clicking on “Post an Update”.  If you haven’t used it recently (or ever), let your mouse hover over “Profile” in the LinkedIn tool bar, then click on “Edit Profile”.

Your personal and company status updates all begin with your name.  Notice mine in the illustration above begins with “Bill Bender . . . “.  So when you type your update, word it so it will sound right if it begins with your name.

Type your update in the box provided.  It’s always best to spell check anything you are not sure of before you click submit.

If you want to add a link, type or cut and paste it in the space indicated.

You can automatically post an update in your Twitter account by clicking the square beside the blue Twitter bird.  Remember only the first 140 characters of your LinkedIn post will appear in Twitter.

What Else Appears in Status Updates?

Besides the things you type in the update box, other things will show up in your connections “All Updates” on their LinkedIn Home page.  These can include your new connections, when you comment or like someone’s posting, when you post a discussion in a LinkedIn group, articles and links you share, and updates to your profile including employment changes, expertise and skills updates, new groups you join, etc.

What you post depends on what your LinkedIn goals are, but everything you post should properly represent the brand you are trying to build, and add to the trust and credibility you want to have.

How Often to Change Your Status Update

For most goals, depending on what you are doing you will probably want to update your status, and perhaps your company’s status, one or two times a week at a minimum.  As long as the information you share adds value, or is of significant interest, even once a day might be appropriate.  Updating it several times a day every day is usually risky as you will overload your connections with more information than they will want to read and/or scroll through to see their other connection’s updates.  LinkedIn’s status updates are not like Twitter where you might share many things you are doing as you are doing them.  People ‘expect’ Twitter and facebook to have lots of personal info but most users expect LinkedIn to be reserved for ‘professional’ things.

If you haven’t used your Status Update, it’s time to get started.  Done properly, your status updates will engage your connections and followers and you might be pleasantly surprised how many will respond!

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

 

Using LinkedIn Recommendations and how to post those you receive from other sources

 

LinkedIn recommendations are very powerful.  Even though you would only post the favorable ones, they still give your readers someone else’s view of who you are and what you offer should they contact you.  We know the power of our personal testimony when we witness to a non-believer, but too many Christians don’t take advantage of that power in representing their ministry.  If you were looking for a new church, think about how helpful it would be to see 5-10 opinions of what others have found before you actually visit.  Also, remember how helpful it is when you are shopping online to read recommendations from other users.  There’s no doubt that recommendations can influence decisions and actions, so isn’t it time to get started.

 

The “best” way to get recommendations is to first ‘give’ some.  Pick 3-4 of your contacts ‘each week’ that you know personally (or through ministry/products received), and that you feel comfortable about recommending, and send them a recommendation.  When they receive your unsolicited recommendation they will be blessed.  When they accept your recommendation, LinkedIn suggests they send you one.  By sending 3-4 each week, you receive a ‘constant stream’ of recommendations that reinforce the message they send.

 

If you receive a recommendation from a non-LinkedIn user (i.e. in a thank you letter), you can suggest they join LinkedIn and send it through the LinkedIn system.  If it’s from someone who doesn’t want to join LinkedIn, or perhaps it’s an older recommendation from someone you can no longer contact, you can scan it, or retype it and make a .pdf of the recommendation.  Once it’s in .pdf format, you can post it in your LinkedIn profile in the ‘box.net’ files.  (You have to add the box.net files to your profile first if you don’t already have it).  Use a description that shows what the file is, like “Letter of recommendation from a Pastor (or ministry receiver) about my work with them”.  To further enhance that recommendation you could use a quote or two from the recommendation in your LinkedIn summary, and note the complete recommendation can be found in your ‘box.net’ files.

 

By adding recommendations to your LinkedIn profile, you profile further becomes a ‘selling’ tool for your ministry.  Be sure to customize your LinkedIn public profile URL, and then you can add it to your business cards, ministry brochures, and emails to help build your trust, your credibility, and your ministry success.

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

 

 

Are You Using Your LinkedIn Headline Properly?

Are You Using Your LinkedIn Headline Properly?

Are first impressions important?  Do most people form first impressions for those that they see, meet, or listen to the first time?  Everything I’ve learned indicates that first impressions are important and probably even more important in social media because we can’t see the other person to gauge their reaction to how we look, what we’ve written, or how we write.

We each have our own individual goals that we should have identified and written a plan of what needs to be done to accomplish them.  Regardless of our individual goals, our goal in social media is to get others to pay attention to us, look at our LinkedIn profile, check out our facebook page, or follow us on twitter.  It’s not easy with so much competition for attention on the internet.  Sam Richter just posted some social marketing statistics that began with 3 interesting facts; “20 percent of searches on Google each day have Never been searched for before”, “There are more than 3.5 billion pieces of content shared each week on facebook”, and “53 percent of people on Twitter recommend companies or their products in their tweets”.  If we don’t stand out from the crowd, we cannot achieve our other goals to grow our ministries!

 

LinkedIn headlines are the “First Thing” LinkedIn users see right after your name and photo.

For the most part, LinkedIn headlines are not recognized, not understood, ignored, or not used.  It’s mostly a matter of not being aware of where to input a LinkedIn headline, or what a headline should be.  When you look at a LinkedIn profile, the headline is one of the first things you see, right after the photo and name.

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Your LinkedIn Headline is also seen in other locations like group discussions.  If someone initiates or contributes to a discussion and a viewer wants to see more about the person, letting their mouse hover over the photo will bring up their photo, name and headline.  The goal is for the headline and the posting to encourage viewers to check out your entire profile, including your websites, summary, and recommendations.

 

 

Most Headlines don’t tell the whole story

For most LinkedIn profiles, the headline is the person’s title for their current position.  If you don’t specifically enter your own LinkedIn headline, LinkedIn provides a headline for you based on your most recently entered position.

LinkedIn’s instructions say your own headline will be much more effective than the one they select.

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What should your Headline be?

Your LinkedIn Headline should attract attention, get people to want to know more about you, and tell them what they might expect from you or your ministry.  I’ll use my own ministries as an example.  I’ve tried to highlight two ministries in my headline; (1) Anothen Life, which is a deliverance and inner healing ministry, and (2) Linked4Ministry, which helps other Christian ministries use LinkedIn and other social media. 

Anothen Life – If I used “Creator, Director, etc. of Anothen Life” those that didn’t know what Anothen Life was, would have no idea what I did, and probably not encouraged many to seek out more information.  By using “Anothen Life helps you eliminate things that you thought you had to live with”, I’ve included a hint of what deliverance and inner healing is, what it can do for the viewer, and added in a bit of curiosity to get viewers to investigate more.

Linked4Ministry – Since the name Linked4Ministry doesn’t tell what the ministries are linked for, using “Creator at Linked4Ministry wouldn’t be very informative.  Instead I used part of the Linked4Ministry ‘tagline’ “Linked4Ministry extends your ministries reach”.  I would have preferred to use the full tagline “Linked4Ministry helps Christian Ministries extend their reach into the kingdom”, but the number of characters was limited.

This isn’t an easy choice or a quick decision; it may take some time and trials to get it right.  I changed mine several times before I was satisfied.  Ask others that know your ministry or goals for their input, and give them your thoughts for their feedback.  To get you thinking, consider creating your ministry 20 second “elevator speech” – that is what you might tell someone in an elevator or in a coffee line who asks what your ministry is about.  You want it to be something that describes your ministry, and they will remember after you’ve parted ways.

 

How To Enter, or Change Your LinkedIn Headline

To enter, or change your LinkedIn headline, just follow these simple steps:

1. Let your mouse hover over “Profile” in the top menu bar.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on the blue word “Edit” just after your name.
4. Enter your custom headline in the block titled “Professional ‘Headline’”.
5. Click on “Save Changes” at the bottom.

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Summary:

Don’t waste this important LinkedIn feature by leaving it out or settling for your title.  Using a creative, attention getting, and informative LinkedIn Headline will help you gain attention, get connections, gain trust and credibility, and help you spread the Gospel.

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries

How to Get More Out Of LinkedIn

 Getting more out of LinkedIn, or any social media, is just a matter of knowing what’s available, what’s important, and scheduling time to do it.  If you signed up for LinkedIn and nothing is happening, it’s probably time to take a look at (1) what you want out of LinkedIn, and (2) what you are doing to achieve it.  Comparing it to going to a networking meeting and just standing in the corner, you won’t get very good results.

There’s no doubt that LinkedIn is “the place to be”.  Their recent IPO surprised everyone with the results, and their number of members continues to grow at an outstanding pace, just passing 120 Million.  LinkedIn is still a “Must” for job seekers, but LinkedIn’s true power is in networking professionals (including ministers).

 

What do you want?

 

Facebook is a great tool for strengthening existing ministry followers and promoting a ministry that already has a large number of friends that will share your page with their friends.  LinkedIn is about connecting you to people you know, people you’ve ministered to, ministered with, and trained with, as well as giving you opportunities to connect to “target contacts” (those that could be beneficial to your ministry).

 

Here’s a list of some of the things LinkedIn could do for a ministry:

 

• Help you be found – LinkedIn allows you to be found by searching for “Key Words” that describe your ministry or expertise.  Your key words should be in your summary, your specialties, your skills, and possibly your ministry name, your headline and your title if it is appropriate.

 

• Establish Trust and Credibility – LinkedIn can help you establish trust and credibility with new contacts from your recommendations, your achievements, your connections, your groups, your honors and awards, your publications, your blog, your presentation, your reading list, and anything else you include in your profile.

 

• Free Advertising – By creating a LinkedIn “Company” (Ministry) Profile, you can describe your company/ministry, as well as the products and services you provide.  This can serve as a temporary web presence if you don’t have a dedicated web page yet.

 

• Connecting Group Members  – LinkedIn groups are unique and powerful in joining members of a like minded focus like a church congregation, denomination leadership, an ordination fellowship, a seminary, or a ministry focus (healing, deliverance, social media, prison, women’s, etc).  A LinkedIn group allows sharing discussions, questions, ideas, events, as well as sending free newsletters and messages to your members.  LinkedIn Group members also update their own email address, keeping you from having to maintain your own list.

 

• Reaching Out – Joining larger groups that compliment your focus will allow you to be connected to an almost unlimited number of others with a common focus, background, or interest.  Joining groups is a great way to get connected to “target contacts” that you wouldn’t otherwise have a way to connect.

 

• Soliciting input and help – When you share what you are working on in your “status” update, all your connections will see it and can give you input, support, and share it with others in their network.

 

• Promoting Books & Products – The Reading List by Amazon allows you to highlight your own publications and recommend other’s works.

 

• Advertise Events – LinkedIn Events allows you to post event details that your contacts will see in their network updates and share with their contacts.  Other LinkedIn members can also search for events of interest.  LinkedIn allows users to indicate if they will attend or be a presenter, increasing the event visibility among other members.

 

• Promoting Your Blog – LinkedIn allows you to automatically include the title, the first few sentences, and a link to your most recent blogs.  A Blog is important to your ministry because it allows you to show your expertise in your area of ministry, it brings people to your website and keeps them coming back, and having a blog gives your ministry more visibility in internet searches.

 

• Linking your Ministry Associates – Your ministry associates can have their own profile with all the above features, as well as being linked to your ministry through your Ministry Profile.  This allows visitors to see all your associates and recognize the strength and expertise of your ministry.

 

In Conclusion

Begin by determining what you want to accomplish with LinkedIn, then write down the steps you will need to reach your goals.  Don’t forget to include who will take action, and a target date for each needed action.  It’s best to set up some kind of follow up system to reduce the chance of missing an important step in the process.  A weekly review of needed actions and a completion check list will keep you and your team on track.  When you have completed all the necessary steps, it’s probably time to set new goals and the actions needed.  If you ever stop the process, your future success can be limited.

 

As always, thank you for reading Linked4Ministry.  If you are new here, the best way to receive all the new posts is to subscribe for e-mail updates at the top right.  If you have been following Linked4Ministry and find it helpful, please consider sharing it with other ministry partners that it could benefit.  It’s easy to do by clicking on the following buttons, and it’s OK to click more than one !

Blessings,
Bill Bender
Linked4Ministry & Anothen Life Ministries