Catalog/Multichannel Industry Networking in the 21st Century Via the LinkedIn Network
My favorite function of building an online profile/resume is to ask people I know for recommendations to add to my profile. These recommendations are there for all to see. They become a testimonial to you and your career. Testimonials build your credibility greatly when someone other than yourself is doing your “selling.” You also can recommend people you know — something that will help in their careers.
More Things You Can Do
Beyond the basic goals, there are many other things you can do in the network. Consider the following, for instance:
* Find jobs and use your connections to help you network into those positions by requesting referrals from people you know.
* Ask questions of your network and get answers. This also is a way to tactfully promote your wares.
* Answer questions and if your answer is the “best,” receive expert status (promotion on network as expert).
* Your homepage alerts you to new connections that your connections have made. I like to go through all of the new connections my connections add. I always find people I know to add to my network.
Frankly, there are many more facets of LinkedIn, and I could spend much more time discussing them. But see for yourself. Networking is an acquired skill. You get out of it what you put into it. Thus, individual results may vary.
Speak to you next week.
Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing Inc., a full-service catalog and direct marketing agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert , or you can e-mail him at jimdirect@aol.com.
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Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
