One of Des Walsh’s specialties is showing businesses how to have an effective presence on LinkedIn and how to use the platform to grow your business or career.
Services provided include, as set out below:
Some Background: the LinkedIn Phenomenon
When the first edition of Bill Vick and Des Walsh’s book LinkedIn for Recruiting was published at the beginning of 2006 there were just over 4 million members.
Just six years on, in a pattern of continuous growth, the number has ballooned to over 100 million, spanning more than 200 countries and territories. It is a global phenomenon, with 44 million users in the US and 56 million in other countries, including 11 million from Europe. LinkedIn currently operates in six languages, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
What makes LinkedIn special?
Unlike many other social networking sites, where the objective seems to be one of getting the maximum possible number of people signed up, LinkedIn has been from the outset a specialized, business networking site aimed at attracting and connecting professional people.
It is much more a business site than a social site, although in recent times there have been more social elements introduced. Because LinkedIn is structured as a business contact and referral site and has powerful search tools, it is a logical place to be when you want people to know about your services or products.
Why LinkedIn Coaching?
Our experience over a number of years is that, while many people have succeeded in making LinkedIn a key part of their business networking and promotion strategies, many others are either unaware of how they can use LinkedIn or confused by it.
People commonly say things like:
- “I get all these invitations from friends to connect on LinkedIn, but I don’t see the point: I already have their contact details.”
- “Someone invited me once and I joined but I haven’t looked at it. Is it something I should look at?”
- “It’s a kind of resumé site isn’t it? I’m not looking for a job so why would I be interested?”
- “My customers and prospects wouldn’t be on there.”
Before we go on, some short answers to those perfectly understandable questions are:
- It’s more than a contact book. The idea is for you and your colleagues to leverage your networks and be “findable” by many more people who may be people you want to do business with or may be interested in buying your product or services.
- It’s up to you whether you want to look at it, but with all those professional people establishing a presence there, isn’t it worth a look?
- Many people use LinkedIn both for seeking employment and for finding people to employ. But many others use it for more diverse business building purposes.
- Do you know your customers and prospects aren’t there or are you just assuming that? And what if your competitors are then and connecting happily with people who could be your customers?
What coaching is available?
At the moment there are two basic options for personal LinkedIn coaching and an option for corporate workshops.
The information here is very much a basic outline – please get in touch (details below) if you would like some more information to help you make a decision.
The better your LinkedIn profile and its content are structured, the more you are likely to be found by the people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. This makeover is to support you in gettin your profile up to speed, helping you put your best LinkedIn foot forward.
The makeover includes:
- email exchange to clarify what you want to achieve via LinkedIn
- 40 minute, one on one consultation, using Skype with screen sharing
- follow up email with comments and suggestions for refining your profile
- invitation to join my professional network on LinkedIn
Your investment $250.
There is more than one way to use LinkedIn effectively. The LinkedIn Strategy coaching looks at your business objectives and helps you develop a strategy to make the best possible use of LinkedIn in a way that suits your particular business or career.
It includes:
- initial email exchange to establish a shared understanding of how LinkedIn can support your business objectives
- a personal, 60 minute online consultation using Skype screen sharing to be able to pinpoint specific items in your LinkedIn profile
- email follow up to ensure smooth implementation
- invitation to join my professional network on LinkedIn
Investment is $330.
If you are interested in a company or group workshop, either online (easily done) or live (travel and other costs could need to be added), please get in touch (see details below for making contact).
The big picture – social media strategy
I believe LinkedIn is an important element of a social media strategy for most businesses and for freelance professionals. I also believe you can get much more value out of your LinkedIn strategy if it is part of a broader social media strategy.
So, whether or not you pursue either of these options further, I recommend you register for my free monthly webinars on Social Media strategy. All previous webinars are available online for people who have registered.
A free startup or re-boot guide
From various conferences, webinars and conversations over recent years I have noticed a need for a basic “get started” (or re-started) guide to LinkedIn. So I put together a really basic guide: if you would like to have that, with my compliments, just provide the details below and I’ll send you the download details.
Ask me about any of this
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about any of the above. You can use:
- the Contact page on this site
- email at deswalsh(at)gmail(dot)com
If you would like to talk on Skype, send me your Skype username details via the Contact or email options and we can then connect via Skype.
