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Introduced as a quick way of recommending someone, LinkedIn's endorsements has taken a life of its own and has influenced how users optimise their profiles...

For better or for worse, the introduction of LinkedIn’s endorsements has had an effect on how users approach the site. In their Q3 earnings report released at the beginning of November, the company revealed that more than 200 million endorsements have been given out by members since the feature was released back in late September and that the number of members editing their profiles has more than doubled when compared to last year. If it means that users are improving and optimising their profiles because of endorsements, then you could argue that it’s having a positive effect.

However, there has been much debate about whether LinkedIn’s endorsement feature is valuable or not. The theory behind it makes a lot of sense – for those who mightn’t have the time to write a recommendation, a single click is much easier and less time-consuming – but at the same time, some have argued that it cheapens recommendations and is an effort to recreate the Facebook ‘Like’ button. While both sides have valid points, it’s better to see endorsements as a way of complementing your profile instead of being a deal breaker for employers.

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Via Tocquigny

Many professionals are turning to social media as a place of trust for their purchasing decisions and it’s no different for the IT industry. IT decision makers have a highly-regarded task of ensuring they recommend the best products and services for their organizations.
LinkedIn, Forrester Consulting, and Research Now zeroed in on these professionals to see how they utilize social media, including its effects on their purchasing decisions and how they engage with social.
According to Michael Weir, Head of Category Development for the Technology Industry at LinkedIn, “It’s no surprise that [IT decision makers] are heavy users of social networks. In fact, 85% have used at least one social network for business purposes. What’s surprising is that 73% have engaged with an IT vendor on a social network – underscoring the value of the channel for IT marketers. Even more revealing is the fact that social media is now a critical source of influence across the entire decision making process, not just during the initial research phase.”

Via Lauren Moss, John van den Brink

People always ask us what basic things they can do on a day to day basis, to improve their social media presence on the top social communities.

 

Well the guys at the whole brain group have put together a great Infographic, that can be printed and used as your daily social media checklist for your business.

 

Check out 8 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Edgerank, Engagement, and Success if you are looking for a basic strategy to really improve your Facebook fanpage’s success.

Via Peter Azzopardi, donhornsby

If you're not using LinkedIn as a lead generation tool, argues Shelly Kramer at MarketingProfs Daily Fix, you may be missing out on a very good thing: "According to data from HubSpot, LinkedIn is the most effective source of new business leads among the three leading social networks (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). And a study of some 3,000-plus B2B marketers indicated that LinkedIn's visitor-to-lead conversion rate is four times higher than that of Facebook and Twitter."

With LinkedIn Announcements, you can send email messages straight to the inboxes of likely prospects. Sound good? Here's the right way to do it:

• Ditch the default subject line. If you don't take the time to write an original subject line, why should anyone take the time to read your message? Treat this like any other email campaign—intrigue your recipient with a subject line that compels further investigation.
• Make your copy irresistible. Grab your reader's attention with a relevant case for action. "This is a great place for stats—not only can they present a compelling case in a short amount of space," she notes, "but they can also help readers visualize a particular topic or subject matter, which will help pique their interest."
• Include a call to action. Don't expect anyone to read your mind. Make your call to action, and the pathway to conversion, perfectly clear.
• Don't be a jerk. Would you want an endless stream of irrelevant LinkedIn Announcements? Probably not. So treat this access to a prospect's inbox with respect.

The Po!nt: With a strong LinkedIn strategy, your lead gen program can generate the high-quality leads your sales team craves.

Source: Daily Fix.

Via Tocquigny

1. Add Applications
LinkedIn provides a variety of applications, which can be used to improve your LinkedIn profile. Browse the Application Directory, and consider adding the SlideShare application or linking your blog to showcase your company presentations and blog articles on your profile. The Events application is also a great way to see what events your connections are attending and find places to do some in-person, face-to-face professional networking.

2. Are You Endorsed?
In September, LinkedIn launched a new feature called Endorsements, which enables users to endorse their connections for skills, which they listed in the Skill & Expertise section of their profile. Users can also recommend that their connections list addition skills. The endorsements show up on your profile within that same Skills & Expertise section. Endorsements are fast and painless; all you have to do is click on the + sign next to a particular skill on a user's profile. Because it is so simple quick, many of your connections will respond in kind once you have endorsed them. Just ensure that your profile is complete and that you list the skills you want people to endorse. Endorsements can certainly add credibility to your profile.

3. Use LinkedIn Today
LinkedIn Today is a great news feature that provides you with the most popular stories shared on LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn Today to stay on top of news occurring about marketing, the internet other relevant news. You can also have summaries of LinkedIn Today news sent right to your inbox.

4. Are You Generating Leads?
LinkedIn has a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74%, which is almost three times higher than the conversion rates of Facebook (.77%) and Twitter (.69%). LinkedIn presents a rich opportunity for lead generation. To get the most lead activity, you should promote and share links to the landing pages for your marketing offers in your Company Status Updates, where appropriate in LinkedIn Answers and Groups and on the Products & Services section of your Company Page.

5. Get Active in LinkedIn Groups
Participating in relevant LinkedIn Groups can help you expand your professional network and keep your finger on the pulse of your industry. You could even create your own LinkedIn Group based on a relevant industry topic, and become a LinkedIn Group administrator. You can use your group to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, increase your influence and credibility, and bounce ideas around.

6. Be Recommended
Recommendations are a powerful word-of-mouth marketing tool. The LinkedIn recommendation feature that lets users leave recommendations for each other, which is great for professional networking. Recommendations require a little more time than endorsements, since you actually need to write something about other users. Get recommendations by doing them for others without being asked; some will likely return the favor. Recommendations are not just for individuals. In fact, users can leave a recommendation for anything you feature within the Products & Services tab of your Company Page. After clicking on an individual item on that page, you will see all the user-generated reviews of that particular product or service.

Via Tocquigny

The social media industry has revolutionized the online worlds, including the traditional methods to online marketing. Companies and businesses need to develop strategies of their own or they risk behind left in the dust by competitors.

Adeo Internet Marketing published this infographic to show you why modern business needs social media to help revitalize their online business and rise to the top.

Via Lauren Moss

Infographic highlighting data about social media marketing usage from the 2012 SEOmoz industry survey.

 

The first statistic highlighted on our infographic reveals that 44.4% of survey respondents self-professed either “advanced” or “expert” level social media ability. This shows that marketers are feeling an increased sense of ability to tackle what was once thought of as a new and unknown technology.

 

To little surprise in the social media marketing world, Facebook and Twitter lead as the most popular social network. In fact, our own social media lead generation team at HubSpot is big advocates for these two networks! What is surprising, however, is that Google+ emerges as the third most popular network. Google+ has historically been plagued with the "useless" label when it comes to generating social ROI, so one theory behind this ranking could be the high impact Google+ has on SEO.

 

While LinkedIn falls behind in fifth place, it turns out that 74.1% of marketers use LinkedIn for branding. I found this to be particularly interesting since LinkedIn Company Pages do not provide many options for branding. While they can update their status and add a company logo, marketers don't have the more advanced branding capabilities that they have on more visual networks such as Facebook or Pinterest. One theory behind this statistic could be branding via employees. LinkedIn is an excellent platform for showing off the wonderful talent your employees bring to your company.

 

Lastly, it turns out that 60.2% of marketers are looking for analysis options, as well as other analytics options, in their social media management tools. This comes as no surprise. When savvy social media marketers are communicating their messages online, they want to know exactly how those efforts are benefiting them by analyzing whether each social strategy is connecting to their end goal: revenue. Tools that report on social media analytics are becoming more and more in demand among marketers, which is exactly why the HubSpot team has worked so hard to provide reach metrics and CTR on all your social media messages, as well as ROI metrics like closed-loop reporting on leads and customers generated from social media, all within the HubSpot Social Media tool.

Via Tocquigny, halhol