PR 101

I was going through one of my wife’s and my email inboxes the other day. It struck me that I was deleting a lot of messages from legitimate retailers. Why was I doing that? Because they send a lot – too many to be honest.

My wife and I get a lot of emails – both personal and professional. Between us, we have four addresses. I am talking about receiving perhaps 200 message a day or more. Many of them are for me. I monitor a lot of different social media trends and belong to a lot of different sites. I follow those sites via either RSS feed or email.

There is no problem with that part of my email load. In fact, most of the professional sites to which I belong has policies limiting themselves to one message a week or one a day. What bothers me is the retailers to whom I have given my email address.

I am a very picky about where I shop and what I buy. I have rules about comfort, style and ingredients. As much as possible, my wife and I shop at stores headquartered in Milwaukee or Wisconsin. Because Wisconsin produces everything from cheese to underwear to cleaning products, it isn’t hard.

We also tend to be loyal to the companies who produce what we view as good things. Because of that, we follow those companies on their social media sites. We also used to sign up for their email lists. We don’t do that so much anymore.

Why? Because these retailers don’t seem to understand there’s a limit to how many emails should be sent. It get’s very annoying very quickly. What’s really annoying is when the same retailer sends multiple copies of the same email. I know this is an automated marketing tool these retailers use. I also know that times are tough for retailers right now. I know they are desperate to drum up business anyway they can. The recession has hit them particularly hard.

I also know they are not going to dig themselves out of it by annoying their customers. I get so many emails from some of them that my spam filter kicks in. That’s annoying because I then have to go through my spam filter to sort through the messages.

I know these retailers are not spammers. They are not trying to sell me a timeshare in Kuala Lumpur or tell me I won the Irish lottery. (Don’t ever try that last one on someone who knows Ireland. It ain’t gonna work. My grandfather used to buy me Irish lottery tickets. I know how the Irish lottery works.) Yet, sometimes they act like spammers – they send out multiple emails each week trying to get me to buy something.

I try to be a careful shopper. I check online reviews, talk to friends, and compare prices. I am a very good collector of information. I don’t need five emails in one week from a retailer.

What usually ends up happening is that I will skim the message line. If it doesn’t grab my attention right away, I just delete the email. It never gets opened. I am way too busy building my business. I don’t have time to wade through 20 or 30 emails from companies that want me to buy something.

That means the company loses a sale. I suspect I am not alone in this.

Bloggers note: This the same article that ran in Cision’s online magazine -
The Navigator. I received such a positive response to it that I decided to run it here. In addition, I know many of you do not read the Navigator and I wanted to make it available to all of you.

As I start my day each morning, I spend about 45 minutes reviewing the emails I have received from my LinkedIn contacts. Some are requests to connect, some are emails from individuals asking questions or inquiring about my company’s services, and some are from the LinkedIn groups to which I belong. I repeat the routine in the afternoon. I regard the 90 minutes or so that I use as one of the most important exercises of my working day.

Although it seems like a lot of time to spend on one social media application, it is a very productive use of 90 minutes. I find that with LinkedIn I learn more, make better contacts, and am contacted by more prospective clients than any other application – with the possible exception of my blog. There’s no spam, no silly games and no time-wasting requests to become a fan of someone you’ve never met.

That’s why I called LinkedIn the Facebook for adults. It is Facebook without all the superfluous noise. No LinkedIn user will tell you what they had for breakfast or post a video of some cute thing their cat did. They will ask for opinions on a proposed marketing plan or for an introduction to the CMO of the company they’re pitching.

LinkedIn defines itself as: “an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals.”

According to its website, LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn has over 50 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world.
• A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of its members is outside the U.S.
• Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

Like any successful venture, LinkedIn was started because its founders saw a need for a social network for those moving beyond Facebook and MySpace.

“Before you turn 25, your social needs tend to be in the foreground,” LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke told BusinessWeek Online in 2006. “You want to be cool, express yourself, focus on your friends. I am in my late 30s. I am married and have two kids. My social needs aren’t that great. My professional needs are in the foreground.

“It is harder to reach people in my age group than it is to reach younger people, who are much quicker adopters of technology. But once you do, the network effects are stronger. And even though a younger audience is easier to get, it’s also easier to lose.”

Building that audience and interacting with it is the key to LinkedIn. LinkedIn audiences tend to be very loyal, according to a number of studies. They are also much more serious than the users of other social media sites. These are people who want you to get to right to the point.  It is why I belong.

Getting started with LinkedIn is simple. Access the site and fill out the required profile section. You will not be providing any personal information. LinkedIn doesn’t want that information What it is looking for is a professional biography – what your current position is, where have you worked before, and your educational background. It also asks for professional memberships and accreditations. Links to blogs and websites can also be listed.

Right away, you can see where the value comes from. Anyone looking for someone in your field can search on LinkedIn for you based on any number of criteria. The last numbers I saw said 80 percent of companies looking to fill a position go to LinkedIn first. It is easy to see why. A person’s professional life is laid in the site.

In March, CNNMoney.com reported that: “employers also increasingly rely on LinkedIn to recruit and vet their potential hires. Drew Patterson, vice president of marketing for Kayak.com, used the site to find two of the five employees he hired last year, paying $195 to list his job posts for 60 days. In addition to his fellow Harvard alumni, and his former Columbia Business School classmates, Patterson considers LinkedIn among his most useful job networks. ‘LinkedIn is great because you have some sense of where this person is and how they fit into your world,’ he said.”

Joining LinkedIn is free. The company provides four levels of service ranging from the free service to its Pro Service. The Pro Service costs $499.95 a month. The price ncreases from level-to-level.

LinkedIn has three areas that I believe set it apart from every other social media site. The first is the ability of people to list recommendations from their colleagues and co-workers. Generally, the recommendations are unsolicited. In fact, they should be. I feel it is breach of LinkedIn etiquette to ask for a recommendation unless you know well the person doing the recommending. It is not uncommon for two people to recommend each other. Potential clients or employers can review a person simply by going to their LinkedIn

The second way are the LinkedIn groups. There are thousands of groups on LinkedIn. Each group is geared toward a particular industry, discipline or area of interest. Some of the groups have 15 members, some have thousands. The advantages in the groups are two-fold: you can find people who work in your industry and network with them; and the groups give you a chance to demonstrate expertise in your field.

The second one is very important. Social media marketing demands that you show expertise. You can do that in the groups by joining in the discussions that go in the groups. Answering a question, or posting a comment allows you to demonstrate your knowledge.

The third way is the ability to contact a person through LinkedIn. There is no need to provide your own email address. That blocks spammers from bombarding you with annoying, unsolicited email.

There is another advantage to LinkedIn. Having a LinkedIn profile increases your Google search rankings. That’s important because it makes it easier for those looking for a potential company to work with to find you.

Although LinkedIn tool is not the only tool in the social media toolbox, it is one of the most important. It can be the key to a successful social media campaign.