The Learning Center

In a previous post, I mentioned that I have been signing up with different online business networking sites and also mentioned that for awhile now I have been a member of LinkedIn. Well, yesterday I was talking with a friend of mine Steve Smith a business coach in Orange county, California and sometimes JV partner about LinkedIn networking methods. And I asked him if he’d give me a LinkedIn recommendation and I would return the favor. That led to a discussion of the value of such recommendations.

A recommendation on LinkedIn is the same as a testimonial of your business. Someone is saying something good about you and what you do and the more LinkedIn recommendations you have the more people are endorsing you. They’re saying that this person has helped me and can help you too. Now you might be thinking that you haven’t actually done business with a lot of the people in your network so you shouldn’t ask for a recommendation. Wrong! The important part of a recommendation is not whether you’ve done business with someone or not. It’s whether they know you well enough to testify towards your expertise. If you have known someone for awhile, talked on the phone, passed emails back and forth, shared ideas and brainstorming sessions, or given advice about business then you have a professional relationship with them. This means that they may have dealt with you enough to be willing to write you a recommendation. You just need to ask. Of course not everyone in your network will know you that well but if they do then you should be asking them for a LinkedIn recommendation.

Of course if they know you well enough to ask for a recommendation then you should know them well enough to return the favor. Writing a LinkedIn recommendation takes no more than ten minutes of your time but can help them as well. Just like testimonials there is a power to recommendations. And there is no better way for proving you are an expert in your field than having other people say so. And LinkedIn makes asking for and giving recommendations an easy thing to do. One thing though when you ask for or give a recommendation make sure to use LinkedIn’s built in system. That way you can easily manage your activity. And when you receive a recommendation you must make sure you approve it for public viewing otherwise it won’t do you much good.

I know I’m going to be asking for all the LinkedIn recommendations I can get. What are you waiting for? Go ask for a recommendation today!

If you’ve been thinking about using LinkedIn or social media to market your local business or are already using it but haven’t gotten the results you expected give us a call at 615-890-3600 or use the form to email us. Search marketing works when it’s done right.