Hinge’s Fab Five: January 2012

Top Professional Services Marketing Content from January 2012

By: Lee Eliav

Each month, an enormous amount of content is published on marketing. This monthly column will help you keep up with the best marketing articles on the web. Enjoy!

How Google’s Social Search Shift Will Impact Your Brand’s SEO
By: Erin Everhart, 352 Media Group on Mashable

How changes in Google’s search will affect your SEO strategy.

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LinkedIn Strategy for Professional Services Executives: 4 Building Your Online Brand

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

In this series we’re exploring how LinkedIn can help busy professional services executives achieve their objectives. So far we’ve covered the basics of LinkedIn, explored the tools that are available, and laid out a basic 10-minute-a-day plan.

In this installment we’re going to cover the basics of using LinkedIn to develop your individual brand. There are a couple of fundamental reasons that you may want to attend to your online brand.

• To help drive new business to your firm
• To find a new position
• To avoid having someone else define it for you

 
In achieving any of these objectives, LinkedIn is a good place to start. As the premier business oriented social network it is often where people start when checking you out.

Here are the basic steps to building your online brand:

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LinkedIn Strategy For Professional Services Executives: 3 The 10-Minute-a-Day Plan

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

If you are like most professional services executives you are strapped for time. And while the benefits of social media sound appealing, the process also sounds very time intensive (which it is). Does all of this activity justify the time devoted to it?

The answer, in my experience, is to start small and determine if it is a good match for your disposition and target client group. Here’s a plan to make that happen.

Step 1. Find your 10-minutes a day.
Consider substituting this “online networking” for a piece of your traditional “offline networking” — perhaps a networking event that isn’t producing results. Or you may want to carve out 10 minutes in the evening or morning.

Step 2. Aim low.
Don’t expect too much at first. Consider LinkedIn as an investment in networking — one through which you may uncover new prospects, referral sources, business partners, or market information. Success may come from any direction. At this point don’t be too picky.

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LinkedIn Strategy for Professional Services Executives 2: Top Tools To Use

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

So you’re on LinkedIn but not really sure how you should be using it. Is it a good use of your time? What exactly should you be doing when you are there?

In the first post in this series, we made the case that LinkedIn is both a widely used tool and is seen as effective by those that know and use it well. We also reviewed the most realistic goals for a LinkedIn strategy. In this post we’ll explore the top “tools” that LinkedIn provides with its free accounts. These tools will provide all the functionality that most professional services executives are likely to need. (If, however, you are planning to use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool, may want to consider exploring some of the platform’s premium account features.)

So let’s hit the basics.

1. Your Profile
Your profile is the single most important component of your LinkedIn strategy. People you meet at networking events, prospective clients, and referral sources will check you out on LinkedIn. As a result, your profile is arguably as important as your bio page on your firm’s website. Make your entry complete and use appropriate keywords to get your point across. Always include a professional photo that is consistent with the image you want to project. Don’t forget to ask people for references. Linked has a handy little bar that tells you how complete your profile is.

2. Your Contacts
This is the list of people that you are connected with on LinkedIn. You can communicate directly with these folks, if you wish. In addition, they receive regular updates on activities that you choose to share. Having a robust list of contacts is important. This is your professional network and, as in the offline world, it is important to grow and nurture it. How many do you need? I find that getting over 200 is a good target to shoot for. 

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LinkedIn Strategy For Professional Services Executives: 1

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

If you are a professional services executive there’s a good chance that you’re already on LinkedIn. You may love it, hate it, or not even understand it, but you can’t ignore it.

So what is the appropriate LinkedIn strategy for you and your professional services firm? Let’s start with the basics.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the premier social media site for professionals. With its laser0like focus on the business side of life (as contrasted to the more personal focus of Facebook), it may be something of a misnomer to call it a social media platform. Think of it instead as an online professional networking platform. And as you will see, it is a powerful tool with a wide variety of strategic uses.

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Local SEO Optimization and Why it is Important

By Christopher Surovick, Guest Author

Local SEO is the new “black.” At least that is what I am hearing around the blogosphere. With that said, Vision Course wants to make sure you understand why local SEO optimization is so powerful and is different than general SEO. Here are a couple of tips that will help you grow your local online business.

1. Be Active in Your Community

One of my favorite ways to get involved in your local community is to join niche groups in your area. There are many groups that are available to you, some paid, some free. But all will require some time and effort to be an active member. But, what you get out of it is a new expansion on your inner network. Plus, lead generation is a priority of most of these groups with all parties trying to help one another. Here are two great examples which will both have a local chapter, as well as encourage your participation to get involved:

a) BNI

b) Chambers of Commerce

2. Build your Own Local Network

The first step is to join the above mentioned business niche groups in your area. Once you are active, this will help you build your own local network.  Each and every member will be an active participant in the local business arena. If you provide goods or services that their network can benefit from, it will begin the inner circle of product offering and sharing. These like-minded people will actively support your cause, as long as you do the same in return. It works very well if all parties are active participants.

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