It Takes Two to Tango: LinkedIn/Twitter Interface

Imagine that you have two employees working on the same project. They are both talented and diligent; however, they don't coordinate their efforts at all. Do you think there is any efficiency lost due to them not setting a common strategy and not working in sync? You bet there is! And yet, this is exactly…

Great Quote! …What Quote?

Have you noticed that quite a few LinkedIn users share somewhat mysterious status updates saying things like “Check out this great quote!” and then sharing a nice photo, but distinctly no quote? What’s happening here is that these users are attempting to share someone’s status update on LinkedIn. The original update had two components: text…

A Secret LinkedIn Feature

Very few LinkedIn users know that you can share, tweet, and email a customized link to a particular document in your LinkedIn profile. How is this valuable, you ask? Let me explain. There are three main reasons you want to leverage this vastly underutilized LinkedIn feature. 1. Using this feature is a great way to add value…

3 Magical LinkedIn Questions to Ask

Did you know that all it takes to avoid making costly mistakes in the area of LinkedIn engagement is asking 3 simple questions before you take action? Let me explain. When considering taking a certain action on LinkedIn, ask yourself: 1. Will it negatively affect my personal brand? 2. Will it negatively affect the people…

Your LinkedIn To Do List

Do you have a LinkedIn to do list? What’s that, you ask? It's simply a list of activities you will be engaging in on LinkedIn to accomplish your professional goals. It's a bridge between your long term objectives and your everyday activities. It's the answer to your: "Now that I have clarified my goals, how exactly…

No Follow Button? No Problem!

"Maria, I want to follow someone on LinkedIn, but alas, they don’t have a Follow button in their profile. What to do?" Ah, the elusive Follow button. It’s oh so easy to follow someone when it’s front and center on their profile. But if it's nowhere to be found, following gets a little trickier. Here…

How Do I Connect to an Influencer?

 “Maria, how can I connect with Influencer Mr. X on LinkedIn? Unfortunately, I don’t have anybody in my network who can introduce me.” I know it’s time to write about a topic when I get the same question from different corners of the world. This one has showed up in my inbox many times, and…

Are Recommendations Worthless?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Are LinkedIn recommendations valuable or worthless? It seems that everybody has many generic recommendations – do they even mean anything? Recommendations are valuable – but only if they are detailed, substantial, and enthusiastic recommendations from clients, managers, and colleagues familiar with the quality of your work. Another important element is consistency.…

I Don’t Need This Content in My Life

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Maria, some of my connections are routinely posting low quality content, links that frankly have nothing to do with the professional world and pictures I could do without. What’s worse, they post frequently, so my news feed is difficult to navigate. Other than block them, what can I do? ANSWER: Sorry…

I Can’t Write

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Maria, I see a lot of advice (including yours) asking us to participate in groups. Well, I am not a great writer. I am good at what I do, but I don’t like to write and I am not good at it. So my fear is this, I start participating in…