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24 Replies Last post: Nov 15, 2008 2:29 PM by EagleEye

Mar 12, 2009 11:35 AM

SBOCTeam 328 posts since
Jul 27, 2007

Your professional relationships are key to your professional success. Social networks help you be more effective in your daily work and open doors to opportunities using the professional relationships you already have. Find answers to questions like:

How would joining a group benefit me?
Are there any small business social networking success stories?
Can I be searched for business opportunities?
How do I meet other small business professionals?

With over 26 million members, Steve Patrizi leads the advertising sales and operations organization for LinkedIn, the world's largest professional online network.

About Steve:
Steve's team works with the world's most widely recognized brands and advertising agencies to help them connect with LinkedIn's audience of affluent, influential, and ambitious professionals.

Steve joined LinkedIn from Microsoft Corporation, where as Manager of Advertising Sales he led a team tasked with delivering cross-platform digital marketing solutions for Fortune 500 accounts based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to Microsoft, Steve spent 10 years with Dow Jones & Company in various roles, including 5 years as Director of West Region Advertising Sales for The Wall Street Journal Online.

To expand your networking opportunities, if you're not a member of the Small Business Online Community, join today for free. http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/create-account.jspa

The SBOC Team is collecting questions. Post yours now and see's Steve's expert answer. He'll answer as many as he can but may not get to all of them.

Tags: networking, social_networking, steve_patrizi, linkedin, advertising, sales, marketing, internet, ecommerce, digital_marketing, business_opportunities, business_opportunity, technology_management, technology, web_2.0, starting_a_business, home_based_business, facebook, myspace Report as inappropriate

SBOCTeam 328 posts since
Jul 27, 2007

1. Re: September Event: Leveraging social networks to drive sales Aug 18, 2008 3:53 PM

Also, be part of the Small Business Online Community group on LinkedIn and receive a special SBOC badge on your LinkedIn profile. Show your support by joining and further expand your networking opportunities too! Simply go to this URL to join for free:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/54772/02918E51BBD1

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HumanArrow 45 posts since
May 16, 2008

2. Re: Event September 22: Leverage social networks to drive sales Sep 13, 2008 1:00 AM

Hello,

My name is Steve Rangel and I am with Human Arrow, a target marketing company from Chicago.
We direct traffic to businesses by creating friendly and professional interactions with pedestrians and motorists. Our associates are stationed at major intersections holding an arrow shaped sign that displays an ad or sales event. Our customers are Retailers, Restaurants, Websites, etc.

As a current LinkedIn member, I have faced some challenges in connecting with Retail LinkedIn members such as Managers and Executives because I do not know anyone that can do an introduction. I have tried contacting directly, but its not the best approach. What recommendations would you give me to get the most out of LinkedIn and other social networking sites?

Please feel free to view my LinkedIn Profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/humanarrow and give me your feedback.

Thank you,

Steve Rangel
Human Arrow
Directing Traffic To your Business!

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caffeinated 176 posts since
Apr 29, 2008

3. Re: Event September 22: Leverage social networks to drive sales Sep 16, 2008 11:55 AM

For business owners that have one location, like say a coffee shop, what are some of the advantages of belonging to a social networking site. Would it make more sense utilizing these sites to form peer groups within my industry so we can share best practices, see how we rank up to each other, bash and/or praise distributors etc?

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lilac22 5 posts since
Sep 14, 2008

4. Re: Event September 22: Leverage social networks to drive sales Sep 18, 2008 10:51 AM

in response to: caffeinated

I believe there are advantages to social network if you have a store front business. You set up your page to reflect your business and find friends that live in your area. On myspace you can post bulletins and perhaps advertise your specials, etc. If you search around there are tons of bars, restaurants, etc that have myspace pages.

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deborahbeatty 4 posts since
Mar 24, 2008

5. Re: September Event: Leveraging social networks to drive sales Sep 21, 2008 1:32 AM

in response to: SBOCTeam

Here's a question for Linked In - why among all the social networks is linked in the only one so difficult to expand a network within? I hardly have cracked the surface since the only invitations that are actually sent and not bounced are for people I already know. I already belong to several alumnae associations, I want to use a social networking site to expand my network and thus my business.

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spatrizi 10 posts since
Sep 19, 2008

6. Re: Live Event Now: Social networking can drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:03 PM

Hi everyone -

Thanks for attending this Live Event. At LinkedIn, we're always looking for ways to help out small businesses in any we can, and I'm looking forward to today's conversation.

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spatrizi 10 posts since
Sep 19, 2008

7. Re: Event September 22: Leverage social networks to drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:10 PM

in response to: HumanArrow

Hi HumanArrow -

I have a few suggestions that might be of help.

1) First, make sure you're as descriptive as possible in your profile, particularly in the "specialties" section; the LinkedIn search engine looks here for keywords, so you'll want to be sure you have words such as "retail advertising" or "local advertising" in your profile so that when members search on those terms, your profile ranks well.

2) Get involved in the Answers section, particularly the Marketing & Advertising section. Provided you answer questions in ways that provide value vs. just pitch your services, you'll earn credibility with the LinkedIn community and will likely find people reaching out to you for solutions.

3) Join Groups - we recently launched enhanced group functionality that enables deeper conversations among people with similar interests. I'd do some searches for groups that focus on retailing, and join those groups. Again, focus your conversations there around providing value/insights vs. a pure pitch and you'll start making more connections.

Good luck, and thanks for using LinkedIn!

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spatrizi 10 posts since
Sep 19, 2008

8. Re: Event September 22: Leverage social networks to drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:15 PM

in response to: caffeinated

Hi Caffeinated - One thing we hear often is that many local business find a lot of value in connecting with other local businesses in other markets to share ideas, insights, best practices etc. Personally, I find it very helpful to be part of a LinkedIn group of other people who do exactly what I do at other companies - it's a great way to get a broader understanding of the marketplace, get an early read on major trends, or simply help each other solve problems.

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spatrizi 10 posts since
Sep 19, 2008

9. Re: September Event: Leveraging social networks to drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:23 PM

in response to: deborahbeatty

Hi deborahbeatty - This is actually by design. Our view is that your LinkedIn network should be a highly relevant network of trusted peers, contacts, customers and colleagues. The idea is that, through people who you know and trust, you can be connected to other people in a meaningful way. Without that "relevancy" filter, LinkedIn would quickly become simply a database of searchable names, which isn't exactly the spirit of the product. In fact, we've put in quite a few controls to ensure that there's no rampant abuse of the system; if people are "spamming" invitations out to the network and compromising the experience for the rest of the community, then those members quickly lose some of their invitation ability. We believe that creates a more productive environment for the entire community.

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Howard 82 posts since
Jul 29, 2008

10. Re: Live Event Now: Social networking can drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:23 PM

I see my kids on Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn all the time. They seem to be simply sending messages to their friends and swapping pictures. So I am having a hard time understanding how businesses are using these same websites for business purposes. Can you give us examples of how these websites are being used for business purposes? And what type of results can I expect?

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SBOCTeam 328 posts since
Jul 27, 2007

11. Re: Live Event Now: Social networking can drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:26 PM

Steve, great answers!

Community, we have Steve for another half hour. Be sure to get those questions in!

And remember to refresh your browsers often to see the latest posts

Thanks,
The SBOC Team

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spatrizi 10 posts since
Sep 19, 2008

12. Re: Live Event Now: Social networking can drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:33 PM

in response to: Howard

Hi Howard - this is a good question. One thing to keep in mind that, while there are functional similarities between MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn i.e. they provide the ability to connect to others, there are some significant differences in both the endeavors of each and they way their members use them. MySpace is very much about entertainment and self-expression, with the origin of the site being about helping independent artists distribute their wares. Facebook is becoming a communication platform - a place for people (like your kids) to share pictures and message to friends.

LinkedIn is focused on helping professionals be successful. We don't offer the means to share pictures (outside of a personal headshot) and we optimize the platform to help professionals connect with other professionals to discover business opportunities, find answers to their business challenges, find talented people to join their company, and connect with customers and colleagues.

There are a number of examples of professionals finding success in this way, and we've posted some video interviews of real members who have interesting success stories - you can view them here: http://learn.linkedin.com/videos

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Bluesuit 136 posts since
Oct 23, 2007

13. Re: Live Event Now: Social networking can drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:34 PM

You mentioned "groups" several times - what are groups on LinkedIn? Can anyone start one? And what can you do with a group?

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spatrizi 10 posts since
Sep 19, 2008

14. Re: Live Event Now: Social networking can drive sales Sep 22, 2008 3:42 PM

in response to: Bluesuit

Hi Bluesuit -

Groups on LinkedIn allow professionals to find and join communities of professionals based on common interests, experience, affiliations, and goals. When you join a Group, you have the option of displaying that Group's "badge" on your LinkedIn profile, as well as join conversations with members of that group. There's a group for this community - you can find a link to it in the introduction post. For example, I belong to some groups for Online Marketing Professionals, where I can start and engage in conversations with the members of that group.

Anyone can start a group - you can go to LinkedIn.com and click "Groups" in the left hand navigation bar.

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Mar 12, 2009 11:35 AM

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