One of the key purposes of the Raising Profiles Group on LinkedIn is to provide a forum for professionals, small business owners and leaders to raise their profile as experts in their specialist fields of interest. Here is a recap on recent popular discussions followed by a shoutout to all our contributing members.

Popular Discussions

Good Old Fashioned Customer Service - by Richard Teraud

I always enjoy reading articles in this group about social media, branding, company culture etc and find it very educational too. 

A recent experience of mine with a well known and trusted brand - I will not name them - had me thinking that you can have the strongest brand, superb website and be as active as you like on all of the social media streams but if you do not provide top quality customer service at the coalface all of the rest becomes meaningless. 

On the Prince's Trust Explore Enterprise Course we do cover branding and social media and some of our young people bring excellent ideas to the table - but they have no idea on how to provide quality customer service. 

What do you guys think?

The 'Issue' of Posting Tweets on LinkedIn - Have You Really Thought About It? – by Sue Cartwright

Why don't I like (or agree with) having to read tweets on my LinkedIn home page? 

Not only because I have Twitter accounts to do that but because I can't respond to that information with a 'like' or 'comment' within the LinkedIn environment. I can only reply or retweet in Twitter which takes any potential debate or conversation away from the LinkedIn environment. This greatly reduces interaction between my connections and jams up my stream. 

Each social media platform requires a different treatment and any auto-posting links should reflect that.

As most of my connections seem to be auto-posting their tweets to LinkedIn, I would be very interested to understand the thinking behind it. Is it to save time? Is it because it's considered to be helpful? Is it because people don't like sharing their views on their LinkedIn home pages?

Comments anyone?

Understanding Brand – by David Hassell

We have all been to networking events and experienced a designer standing up to say that they can help create our branding. This got me thinking about how much the average micro and small enterprise really understands about the whole concept of what a brand really is.

The Power of Culture. How to Inject Culture into Business – by Silvia Causo-Garbutt

From traditional business management models to the importance of art in today's business developments. 

In my opinion an inspiring, clear and clever explanation on why and how to bring humanity and creativity into business.  

6 ways to get your Linkedin Account Suspended – by Phillip Wattis

Having recently suffered from my Linkedin account suspended, I thought I'd write a short blog post about the no-no's on Linkedin that could land you in hot water. I hope the group finds it useful.

6 Steps to a More Marketable LinkedIn Profile  - by Keith Busfield

Somewhere along the line you started treating it more like a resume. It's time to fix that. Overall, LinkedIn is the best social media platform for entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals.

Contributing to LinkedIn Discussions – by Barry Waller

How often do you influence discussions on Linked In groups populated by your customer audience? A great way to build relationships, gain market feedback & raise profile, plus no cold call.

Launch of a New Business Networking Group in Wolverhampton – by Paul Landa

In the spirit of Raising Profiles, I thought this may be useful for some to do just that. There is also a special social media gift for everyone that pre-books!  It's time to network, the proper way!

The Demise of CoTweet – by Graham Cornfield

CoTweet Standard Edition is being pulled on 15th February, leaving many without the free platform that has been around for some years. It is being replaced by "Social Engage", (which is a mis-nomer!!) of which, there is no free version.

As a long time user of CoTweet, and some of its' excellent tools, I was wondering what other platforms people are using for their Tweeting? In particular, for a couple of accounts, I like to schedule a number of tweets in advance.

5 BASIC TIPS to balance your life and business! – by Joel Graham-Blake

Over the roller coaster year of 2011, I have been able to sum up the key things that ive learnt from the year, to help move me into 2012. I have put them in a blog just for you! 

The 5 BASIC TIPS are focused on helping you, the person behind your business to develop and grow...see our blog page and i hope they help you in some small way!

Email Etiquette – by Ade Pitt

Otherwise known as "Wham! Spam! No Thank You, Ma'am!"

Happy New Year all! I don't know about you, but I get a bit rattled when folk don't reply to my emails. I'm not talking about the "spam" kind, that's not really my style. I refer to genuine emails to genuine contacts, people who've asked me to send them information, organisations/staff I've met, worked with and/or those that appeared to be interested in working with me etc.

OK, so, you COULD say: "Ade, just pick up the phone!" That's all very well, however, in my opinion, no one is THAT busy they can't politely acknowledge an email with either a "Thanks, Adrian..." or a "Cheers, Ade, I'll get back to you..." or a "Not today, thank you!"

Ignorance? Laziness? What are your thoughts?

Member Contributions

Since the New Year many interesting topics have been and are currently being debated by members with special thanks to the following discussion starters and contributors.

Adrian Pitt - Learning and Development Manager at Develop-meant Training Consultants [Telford]

Joel Graham-Blake - Founder at The DEN, I help businesses meet their CSR objectives, help small business owners overcome challenges and empower young people! [Birmingham]

Alison Taylor - Managing Director at FIE Group [Birmingham]

Philip Wattis - Entrepreneur, Internet & Mobile Expert, Startup Specialist & Mentor, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at wigidi [Birmingham]

Mark Tonks - Director at Leadership Management UK (LMI UK) Enabling leadership excellence through the unique LMI process.  Chairman at Veseyans, RFC  [Birmingham]

Graeme Dixon - Director at Oportunis Group, Route To Funding, Route To Exit, Inventors Group and Cast Intelligence [Nottingham]

Dan Davies - Independent Business Development Manager at i-BDM Ltd [Worcester]

Graham Cornfield - Managing Director at in-Tandem Management Solutions Ltd, Organiser at Walsall Jelly [Walsall]

Shelley Jackson-Woodall - Business Development Manager , Funky Concepts Limited, Secretary at Stourbridge Speakers Club, Chair and Social Secretary at Stour Valley Networking [Dudley]

Glen Tapper - Collaborative branding and design, Designer at Hello Forest  [Cannock, Staffordshire]

Steve Pitt - Creating credible, visual identities to reflect values, objectives and vision [Birmingham]

Richard Teraud - Enterprise Executive at The Princes Trust [Dudley]

David Hassell - DLH Marketing [Birmingham]

Silvia Causo-Garbutt - Creative-Fun – Creative Practitioner, Visual Artist, Specialist in The Art of Creative Learning [Wolverhampton]

John Eaves - Experienced brand designer helping B2B and B2C open more doors to new business with innovative practical solutions [Dudley]

Paul Landa - Business Owner | Financial Services Professional | Digital Marketing Agency Owner | Social Media Optimisation Consultant [Wolverhampton]

Sue Wilkinson - Jewellery Retailer, Fashion Accessories Retailer, Charity Fundraiser, Event Support, Party Planner at Kiss Jewellery [Wolverhampton]

Christine Littler-Thomas - The Networking Coach at Working Partners GB, Area Co-Ordinator at BoB Clubs [Cannock, Staffordshire]

Kate Fletcher - Marketing and Development Officer at Beacon Centre for the Blind - helping to promote local businesses - networking club [Wolverhampton]

Dr Giles Brindley - Partner at The Infinite Group [Birmingham]

Keith Busfield - Director, Anderson Yorke Associates - UK Specialists in Outplacement & Career Transition [Coventry]

Kristopher Tolson - Tradesman of the Future, Anchorage, Power Generation Systems Facilitator/ Journeyman Electrician, Marsh Creek LLC [Alaska]

Barry Waller - Passionate about reducing costs and improving candidate experience and quality of hire for the Public Sector.  Head of Resourcing (SmartSearch) at JGP Resourcing [Bromley]

Chris Hallett - Author of The Winning Project Formula; Project Management Coach, specialising in Personal and Business Breakthrough [ Wolverhampton]

Dalvinder Cheema & Mary Ashman - KissMeCupcakes - Delicious handmade cupcakes for all occasions [Birmingham]

Join Us Today !

Thank you to everyone who has started and contributed to the Raising Profiles forum. The time you have taken to add value to our group is very much appreciated and as your group manager, I will continue to highlight your efforts here and on my new Raising Profiles blog.

If anyone else would like to raise their profile by contributing to one of our group discussions, please feel free to do so. Or you are very welcome to start your own on a subject that interests you or with a question you would like an answer to.

To ensure you get a good response from members, I recommend 5 Ways to Start and Grow Popular Discussions on LinkedIn which I have written as a separate post.

Many thanks for your continued support and look forward to sharing more insights with you in the coming months.

All my best

Sue

Raising Profiles Group Founder 

Nothing happens by chance

If you are a member of a group (or groups) on LinkedIn, you will have noticed that some discussions attract more attention than others. This is no accident and does not happen by chance. By following a simple 5 step formula, you too can orchestrate LinkedIn debates that generate interesting threads of conversation, shared ideas and insights from various members.

Those members who take time to craft interesting titles and introductions, add their own points of view, and even better, add value with expert tips, questions or ideas, consistently get the best results from LinkedIn group forums.

This time is not wasted as most members are updated by email when a discussion is started or commented on, thus raising the profile of every contributor to the wider group. A scenerio that serves to benefit individual members and the group as a whole. 

What not to do

The worst kind of discussions are those that consist of a solitary link to an article or blog post showing just the first few lines of the introductory paragraph. These are not discussions and can easily be misconstrued as members trying to ‘push post’ content from their websites or blogs onto the forum, however helpful the information might be.

Using the discussion section to post links without adding an introduction or comment ia not good practice or fair on other members who are expected to comment or take the trouble to click through to the site in question without having been given a good reason to do so. 

Orchestrate the debate

So, how do you go about posting a discussion that will be of value to you and to other members? Here are 5 tips that have proven to work very well for Raising Profiles Group members who have generated healthy discussions and debate with their fellow members:

1) Start with a Catchy Title

BOX 1 – Start a Discussion or Share Something with the Group 

You could add 200 words to this box but DON’T – use this box for your title and perhaps a one-liner tagline only. This will ensure your discussion title stands out to act as a signpost for other members to identify key topics of interest on the Group Discussion stream.

2) Expand with an Interesting Introduction

BOX 2 – Add Details

If you are attaching a link to a post, article, blog or website, write a short introduction that summarises what it’s about to convince people that it's worth looking at. It goes without saying that you will have read the article or watched the video you are posting. Take notes so that you can include a salient quote, interesting fact or excerpt in your introduction. 

3) Add Your Personal Opinion

BOX 3  - Add a Comment 

What people really want to know is your view on something. A discussion with '1 comment' is more likely to attract attention than a discussion with none. This is what triggers other members to take a look and (hopefully) respond with a counter-view, an agreement or enhancement on the subject you are talking about. 

4) Add Value

In BOX 2 or 3 the best way to engender a response is to add something of value, It could be a series of top tips you can offer around the subject (very popular) or it could be a question asking members to give their ideas or it could be a case study where you have achieved something of benefit for your customers or colleagues in some way.

Don't forget to add a 'call to action' asking people what they think, whether they can add further tips or benefits, what their experience is, how they have tackled a particular problem and so on.

5) Respond to Comments

As soon as a member adds a comment to your discussion, respond with another comment of your own. In this way you can draw out the topic further and encourage a healthy debate. When there are 3 or more comments on a discussion, other members will be attracted towards it and will take an interest. The more comments, the more exposure, the more opportunity to raise your profile as a valued, active group member and an expert in your field.

Join Us!

So, now you know what to do, why not start a group discussion as a means to raise your profile on LInkedIn. 

If you need proof, check out a recent post, Raising Profiles Group – Member Contributions and Recent Discussions, to find out who has started the best discussions this year and the titles that have been most popular.

One thing is for sure, if you post a discussion on the Raising Profiles Group on LinkedIn, you have one fan already, I will always add a comment and do my best to encourage other members to do the same. The rest is down to you in terms of quality content, try to think of something to talk about that other members might be interested in and together, let's try and get a good thread going.

All my best

Sue

Raising Profiles Group Founder

 

'I' or 'Her' / 'Him' 

I've just answered a question on Quora entitled What might be the benefits of writing a LinkedIn profile in the third person? and my answer is, 'None, be bold, write in the first person and make it all about you!'

Writing in the first person is the best way to present your Summary Profile on LinkedIn. Whereas, using more generalised bullet points and short sentences (as Christopher Huang suggests in his answer to this question) is the best way to present your skills and achievements in your Current and Past Position sections. 

It's All About You

Far from being thought of as unprofessional, as long as you are not 'over friendly', this 'new' style of writing for business and marketing is the way to go, Your LinkedIn professional profile is meant to be all about you, and therefore it makes sense to write the content from your own perspective, not as if someone else has written it for you.

A positive introduction written 'by you' establishes your confidence from the get-go, draws the reader to engage in your story and provides a great opportunity for you to showcase your personality as well as your expertise, experience and achievements. If you want to stand out, you need to demonstrate a passion for what you do, how you have made a difference, how you can add value and your vision for the future of your career (or your business) and the industry you represent.

If you search for profiles of people who have done this, you will see the difference it makes. Particularly compared to those who have played it safe with the third person option. This is a good way to get some ideas on how best to go about it. Make it your own and focus on keeping it brief and punchy - a few well crafted paragraphs is all you need to get your message across and make an impact.

And Your Customers

If you are a business owner, the Current Experience section is going to be quite different from someone who is looking for a position within a company. This is your one and only opportunity to present your business and what you have to offer which requires a different approach altogether.

Here you DO want to use the third person but from the persective of talking TO the person reading your profile. Here you need to identify with them and talk to them as if they are an existing client or prospective customer. Here's an example taken from the Current Experience of my LinkedIn profile relating to my business services:

Social Media Audit – Designing your Strategy
A comprehensive overview of your current situation – what sites should you be using, what will it take to learn how to use them well, what results can you expect to achieve, how can you best integrate a strategic social media network that will have a positive impact on your business.

Competitor Audit – Making a Difference
A comprehensive overview of your top competitors – what social media sites are they using, how well are they using them, what results are they achieving, where are the gaps so that you can gain competitive advantage.

If you need some help in learning how to adopt this more informal yet powerful style of writing in the first person, sign up to Copyblogger for a fantastic selection of free tips and updates. I promise, you will never look back.

And What You Look Like

Finally, add a professional photograph, preferably one that has been created by a skilled photographer in a studio. First impressions count on LinkedIn and profiles with good quality photographs always receive the best response.

If you need a refresher on the do's and don'ts of using LinkedIn, check out my post LinkedIn Protocol - Rules Rule.

Let's Connect

To become a valued part of my online network, you are very welcome to connect with me on any of my sites. Send a message to say 'hello' and I will add you to one of my lists on Twitter or my circles on G+. I am always delighted to meet new people and look forward to hearing from you.

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Why Skype? 

Skype is one of the best known online meeting tools on the Internet with over 200 million average monthly users accruing more than 300 billion total calling minutes annually. That equates to around 50% of all international calls (compared to 12% in 2009) with approximately 50% being video calling minutes. (Phil Wolff, Independent Skype Journal).

Now owned by Microsoft, Skype offers a range of calling, video, messaging and managing features together with a range of plug-in applications and accessories. An invaluable tool for business users with an impressive array of features make it ideal for Outlook and Facebook integration, voicemail, call recording, sending files, holding video conferences, making international calls and sharing on-screen presentations, tutorials and solutions. 

Reasons to utilise Skype for your business 

1) Cost Effective- A free service for Skype-to-Skype users including one-to-one video calls, screen sharing and instant messaging. Extremely competitive costs for calls to landlines, mobile phones, text messaging and call forwarding on a contract or pay-as-you-go basis. Whichever package you choose, using Skype will result in substantial savings for your business. You can also integrate Skype with your existing phone system and/or install a Skype-ready TV to make video calls in super-quality HD.

2) Easy to Install – Just download the latest version to your PC or Mac, choose a name for your Skype account and set up your profile. You can upload a photograph or logo and add a description or bio. If you have a Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox or Google Chrome browser, a Skype Extension is automatically added that identifies Skype and telephone numbers on any website you visit. At a click of a button you can call a Skype user for free or call any mobile or landline number directly if you have a Skype premium account. A very useful feature for prospects and customers who are browsing your website or blog. 

3) Skype Buttons – Easily added to your website, blog or email signature to enable people to contact you at the click of a button. You can choose from various design options including those that show your Skype status (offline, away, not available) and you can customise your button using the Skype buttons wizard.

4) Reliable - Just a few years ago in the early days of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), call quality was patchy and calls got cut off on a regular basis. Lawrence Latif reported in The Inquirer in June 2011 that Skype is not yet considered to be the failsafe solution for large enterprises but that new owners, Microsoft, will look to Skype as an enterprise telephony and messaging system that will outperform competitors.  A good internet connection, accessories and apps will ensure a reliable service for the majority of small business users.

5) Reciprocal - If you can persuade your contacts to sign up to Skype (which they can do easily and for free), you will be saving them money in the long run too. This is especially true when calling and sending texts to international numbers.  You could also provide this information at a click of a button on your website or blog to show visitors how they can contact you for free when they browse your site or want to contact you quickly.

6) Facebook Integration – Skype enables you to integrate Facebook so that you can view your news feed, see who is using the system, invite them to connect with you and contact them directly from Skype’s Facebook interface.

7) Instant Messaging and File Sending – A quick and easy way to chat without having to make a call or you can use this feature to send written information during calls. You can add people to messages and arrange meetings without having to call them or send an email. And, if you need to send data that’s too big for regular email, you can send documents, photos, videos or presentations of any size for free. 

8) Screen Sharing - My absolute favourite Skype benefit is that you can share whatever is on your screen with the person you are talking to. It’s easy to switch from chat (no video) to face-to-face contact (video) to screen sharing at the click of your mouse. This feature is great for presenting information and on-screen demonstrations to your contacts without having to set up costly onsite meetings and organise travel arrangements. 

9) Skype Manager – Create Skype accounts for your employees and manage them from one administrative interface where you control a central company account balance and distribute credit to different users in your company. You can also purchase additional add-on features such as Voicemail, Call Forwarding and Group Video. 

10) Group Video Calling – A premium low cost service that enables you to connect up to 10 parties (including the host) via video. It only requires one party to have a subscription so it represents great value for team meetings, presentations and group tutorials. 

Skype Me

I use Skype to connect with trusted contacts across my network and for pre-arranged coaching sessions to help my clients progress the Social Media programmes I design for them. My Skype name is 'Raising Profiles' so if you are an active part of my network, why not send an invitation.

To become a valued part of my online network, you are very welcome to connect with me on any of my sites and send a message to say 'hello'. I am always delighted to meet new people and look forward to hearing from you.

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Social Media Proliferation

‘We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.’  Erik Qualman 

I sited this quotation as a starting point for my Social Media Trends for 2011 report last year and this still stands for 2012. Social media continues to grow at an unprecedented, exponential rate. In fact, at the beginning of 2012, online networking sites were reaching 82% of the world’s online population, representing 1.2 billion users around the world.

In the UK, this equates to a total social networking audience of 36.5 million, with 97.5% of the online population visiting social networking sites, spending 18.3% of their time on the Internet social networking. 

So, is social media reaching saturation point? A gloomy presentation by George Colony, CEO of Forrester entitled Three Social Thunderstorms is summarised by Stephen Shankland of CNet. In his article Social Media Salad Days are Ending, he quotes Forrester stating that: Social media is running out of hours and people …  the social media start-up bubble is going to burst (sweeping away applications like Foursquare) … the net wave of social media services will be more efficient and time-saving. 

I agree that there are way too many social networks, not enough time for us to use them all and that there is a potential for a social media bubble. I also agree that social media services are gradually becoming more efficient and time saving. What I don’t agree with, however, is that new social media applications will stop coming online this year or that Foursquare will die. More the opposite - mobile platforms like Foursquare and Facebook Places will become ever more popular with consumers and providers alike (see below). 

The one that nails it for me, cited in an article by Jacob Brown of In-Depth Technology Market Research entitled Has Social Media reached Saturation Point? is this: If we’re reaching the ceiling on domestic growth, this suggests that we’re going to see a fundamental change in the SNS (Social Networking Service) marketplace – a shift from a Growth Strategy (just get more members) to a Value Strategy (provide a better [and more engaging] service).

My key recommendations in relation to predictions I made for last year are: 

Social Media Strategy 

Last year I noted that social media strategists needed to concentrate on more practical tasks such as identifying and piloting new tools, integrating social marketing with PR, marketing, advertising and customer service, developing protocols and measuring the right things.  A key objective was to effectively educate and integrate social-based thinking into business processes and culture. 

This was identified as an even greater imperative for 2012 in the Social Media Examiner’s Industry Report © 2011. Based on 2278 open-ended responses from marketers, the report identified ‘How do I integrate and manage my social media marketing activities?’ as the question with the most significant rise in importance (up from ninth to second place), with ‘How do I measure the effect of social media on my business?’ reaching first place and ‘What are the best ways to sell with social media?’ in third place''. 

With so many people spending so much time on social networking and global companies struggling to manage as many as 178 business-related sites, it’s crucial for companies to map a route through the minefield and design effective strategies. 'Without proper education, defined roles and real time strategies aligned to business goals, companies are in danger of exposing themselves to a host of legal, compliance and brand-fragmentation risks.' (Altimeter: A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation). 

Listening to People 

In 2011, research identified that with 78% of consumers trusting peer reviews when only 14% trust advertisements, it is essential to be involved in your online community, to build a good reputation and know what people are saying about you. The need therefore to engage, monitor conversations, join the debate, help others and show customers you care as a means to building a loyal network remains.   

This is why the award winning peer-to-peer reputation trust platform Connect.me is going to be an essential requirement for 2012. So important, I have written three posts on this to date, including Giving Credit where Credit’s Due – Who to Vouch for and Why.  As a Founding Trust Anchor, I am writing a further two posts on how to achieve Trust Anchor status and what my criteria will be for awarding my allocated 150 Trust Anchors to members of my network.

Essentially, when it comes to listening to the needs, aspirations, concerns and achievements of your network members, you need to think seriously about what sites you commit to. Whilst it makes sense to use only Facebook, Twitter', Google+ and LinkedIn to keep costs down (and I would recommend this to all new users as a starting point), companies are missing out on other popular platform where marketing efforts are having (and will have) a significant impact such including mobile applications (see below), YouTube, Tumblr and Blogging. 

If you are not using a Twitter application such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Twimbow, Co-Tweet or SocialBro yet, you need to be. As your followers increase, this is the only way to properly engage with key contacts and keep your time on Twitter down to a minimum.

Mobile, Location Based Marketing and Deal Hunting

Mobile applications, mobile-friendly websites and blogs, Foursquare and Facebook Places are going to be so significant in 2012, I have written a separate post about it entitled Hot Trend #1 - Get Mobile with a Formula One Strategy for 2012. It represents the first in my new ‘Hot Trends’ series, so keep an out for this next week, closely followed by Hot Trend #2 - Compelling Reasons to Utilise Skype for your Business.

Join Me

Meanwhile, let me know if you need any help with your differentiating social media strategy or connect with me on any of my networks. You will be made very welcome :) 

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The 999.9 carat gold question has been raised on Twitter already: ‘Will Connect.me have no value because people will just keep vouching for each other to get vouched for?’ 

Built In Protocol

This is a good question which deserves an explanation. For my money, I believe that just like LinkedIn, Connect.me will rely on the built-in protocol provided by the integrity of individual users.

On LinkedIn, recommendations are sacrosanct, the fact that no one writes a recommendation unless they have had first-hand experience of the person’s work quality and delivery, is exactly why they hold so much value. 

It’s a self-regulating practice that works very well because no-one gives a recommendation lightly. After all it could fall back on the person providing the recommendation if that person fails to deliver in accordance with the skills, experience and benefits they are promoting on their profiles.  

I predict that Connect.me will work in exactly the same way but for different reasons which I have explained below. 

As an aside, remember that Connect.me is the result of over 10 years hard work based on a Respect Trust Framework, the legal foundation upon which the system is based. It was originally announced at the European Identity Conference in May (where it won the Privacy Award). How the trust system works is explained further on the Connect.me blog Trust Levels and Trust Anchors.

The power of engagement 

After importing around 13,500 connections on my Connect.me account, I had to scroll through over 900 pages of contacts in no particular order to identify who I wanted to vouch for. 

I realised straight away that I instantly recognised anyone who had engaged with me on the networks, even if I had only met that person online or if I had a conversation with them some time ago. 

It brought to mind the type of communication we had, from conversations, re-tweets and Follow Friday mentions (#ff) on Twitter, to questions I had answered on LinkedIn or discussions posted by members of my group on LinkedIn, to people who had 'liked' my business page on Facebook and written comments or posted on my wall. 

Having recognised certain followers and connections in this way, it became clear that one of my criteria for giving vouches was going to be ‘engagement’. If a person had taken the time to engage with me, respond to my tweets, ask questions, answer my questions and present themselves as ‘good online citizens’ with intelligent and heart-felt messages and intentions, that certainly deserved my recognition. 

Quality ‘Content, Communication, Collaboration’ 

Anyone who knows about my work will be familiar with my Social Media Marketing Success Model which describes the importance of quality ‘Content’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Collaboration’. Together, these components represent the essential building blocks required to master the art of integrated engagement, networking, marketing and relationship building online. 

The power of engagement (as described above) can therefore be attributed to the quality of ‘Communication’, where people are pro-active, consistent and reliable in their online communications as a means to building trust with their online connections. 

To achieve this requires quality ‘Content’ in terms of having a great profile or bio with interesting, accurate and well-presented information about who they are, what they do and what they have to offer.  

It also relates to the quality of information being posted, from materials the person has written on their blog or website to materials they recommend that have been written by others, to insights that are inspirational, thoughtful and useful, to news and updates that are on-trend, important and leading-edge. 

Quality communication and content have a direct impact on quality ‘Collaboration’, especially when your content and communication is written with the best interests of those you want to collaborate with in mind. 

Using the above criteria, I have so far given over 320 vouches and continue to look for anyone I might have missed or newcomers to my network. It might not seem many out of 13,500 connections but that’s exactly the point, I’m only giving credit where credit is due in the context of my values, my experience and my profesional opinion – and I hope that others will do the same for me. 

Who are you vouching for?

Here are some ideas of the kind of connections you could vouch for and why:

Industry Leaders, Experts, Authors - you rate their work, find their content interesting or inspiring, you follow them to get ideas, news and updates on specialist subjects that interest you.

Celebrities, Famous People, Personalities - you admire their work, talent and skills, you follow them because they enrich your life in some way. 

Brands, Products, Services - you trust their integrity and what they have to offer, from the quality of their offerings to problems they solve for people to the quality of their customer service. 

Social Enterprise, Charity, Non Profits - you fight the same cause or feel empathy for what they are trying to achieve whether working on a global scale, nationally or for your local community.  

Your Extended Network - Individuals, Businesses and Organisations - you trust their integrity from the quality of their presentation, their mission, vision, values, their spirit, positivity, attitude, their posts, links, support, advice and information. They have engaged with you in a good way, answered a pressing question, inspired you or acknowledged you or forwarded your posts to their networks.  

Your Inner Circle - Individuals, Businesses and Organisations - you trust them because you know them well, you've had first hand experience of their work and you wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to your peers as a future contact, associate or client.

The power of re-engagement

If you are looking for a good reason to set up your own Connect.me account or indeed a business case to justify the time spent on doing so, I can tell you now that you will soon start to reep just rewards for your investment.

By re-connecting with my valued connections on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, I have so far received some fantastic replies. I have been invited to call people directly on the phone (or Skype), I have received an ocean of thank-you's, reciprocal vouches, enquiries for business and orders for my services.

Be under no illusion that making the effort to credit people for engaging with you is worth every moment of your time. You just need to make sure you set up and manage your sites effectively, take time to create and provide great information and advice, and connect with the genuine intention of making friends and building relationships based on trust. 

If you have had a similar experience with Connect.me or would like to share your ideas on who to vouch for and why, please add your comment below. 

Many thanks and happy vouching! 

Be Active

Just read a great article by Deno Dogan of Triberr fame posted by +Saul Fleischman on G+, thanks Saul. 

Why your blog will never win Google’s Affection | Beat the System - DIY Blogger Net

This is all about being active on our blogs AND networks - activity on pages and profiles, between pages, sites and connections, as views, diggs, conversations. It’s the combination of all these things that makes our voice so powerful.

Make SEO happen

Get this right, and we’ve got our SEO right there - activity energised with goodwill and integrity (likes, vouches, recommendations) … connected by a genius online peer-to-peer trust network (Connect.me) that consolidates all that goodwill and integrity into a universal online showcase of people, skills and attributes. Get your anchor badge, keep it all moving, embed your card on your website and, without question, the opportunities and orders will start to flow in.

Get your badges 

It takes hard work and skill to get an anchor badge, so we need to think about how we will do that. The Raising Profiles Matrix says it’s the quality of our content, communication and collaboration that makes all the difference between #losethisrace #getknowhere #succeedbigtime #fail.

That’s huge and makes it worth the investment, especially when there’s still time to benefit from being an early adopter.

The first thing we need to do is get our 'labels' or 'tabs' right (what we want to be accredited for) and the second is to decide 'why and what we would like to accredit other people for'. I would suggest this will be for a variety and comination of reasons, from both a personal and professional perspective.

Connect with me

Let's get beating the system, connect and contact me on any of my social networks:

• Twitter @suecartwright | @raisingprofiles
• Facebook Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• LinkedIn Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• Raising Profiles Group LinkedIn | YouTube Raising Profiles 
• Google+ Sue Cartwright | Google+ Raising Profiles
• Connect.me Sue Cartwright

You will be made very welcome :)

There's a new buzz on the airwaves and it's called Connect.me. This is not another flash in the pan but a serious contender for building trust and reputation across your social network.

This peer-to-peer reputation system for the social web was co-founded by internet entrepreneur Drummond Reed and developer Joe Johnston. It was awarded the prestigious 2011 European Identity Conference Privacy Award before being launched in private beta. Their ground breaking trust framework and privacy policies ensure your data is safe, making Connect.me a brand you can trust. 

Having received my invitation from one of my trusted online colleagues, Steven Healey, I immediately set up my profile, linked my accounts and started the business of 'vouching' for my known contacts, colleagues and friends on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. An arduous task with over 13,500 connections but a labour of love (in progress) as it turns out and here's why.

How it works

Add links to your other online profiles including your website, blog, Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook Twitter, G+ and so on - if it has a URL you can add it to your profile.

Add tags to determine which specialities you want to be 'vouched' for, known for and searched for online. The idea is to have people add 'vouches' to the tags they rate you for and you do the same for them. The benefit of being an early adopter is that you choose your tags and don't rely on people to choose them for you. If your tags are set up it makes it easier for people to see how they can vouch for you.

Earn badges starting with a 'thumbs up' for vouching for 30 people, then a 'connector symbol' for connecting to 2 accounts with 100 connections, then a 'tick' for being vouched for by 3 people, then a 'shield' for being vouched for by 25 people, then a 'hierarchy symbol' for each of your tags being vouched for 3 times and finally (the most difficult) an 'anchor' for being vouched for by 3 people with an anchor badge. 

The Trust anchor is the highest level of trust which earns you a Trust Anchor ribbon and special privileges. Don't you want one of those already, I certainly do.

Vouch for your connections by clicking on the 'Vouch' button next to each of your imported connections. This will take time, especially if you have a lot of connections, but you will soon start to see the benefits as you re-connect with people, merit them and start earning your badges - it feels great when you do.

Engage with people because the best thing about this system is it works beautifully (and no doubt will improve exponentially as more people use it), it gets you to re-connect with your connections by checking their profiles and remembering what it was about them that made you connect with them in the first place.

Was it because of their expertise, their passion, their knowledge, their optimism, their support, their uplifting tweets. Have you developed a friendship over the months and years which deserves recognition? Wouldn't you be glad for the opportunity to formally thank trusted followers and fans, being given a public forum upon which to praise them for their good work? Whatever it is they have done for you, now is the time to accredit them for it.

Remember, you can select the tags they have presented on the Connect.me card or select other attributes and skills they may not have thought of. It's up entirely up to you. Here's a summary of the benefits I see coming our way with Connect.me.

Revisit all your contacts

As your social media networks grow, it's very easy to forget who you are connected to and why you are connected, especially if those people use social media infrequently. Worse, if you haven't yet set up an effective management system such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite or Co-Tweet to track your followers, you will be missing people when they are online and may not have had any contact with them for a while.

Connect.me makes you re-visit all your contacts because you have to do this to be able to vouch for them. Particularly in the beginning when you will be introducing people to the system by vouching for them first. This in-built reciprocation protocol makes for very good practice - on both sides of the relationship. 

Give credit where credit's due

Having been on the networks so long, I have developed a nose for a good online citizen, a good person and a good business. My BS detector has been well honed and I can tell the quality of a person and their business by the quality of their content, the regularity and sincerity of their communications and the level of engagement they have with their connections. 

Get in early

Apart from the obvious benefit of getting in early with Connect.me to establish the tags you want to be known for, as an early adopter you will be well within the radar of other early adopters working hard to earn their badges. You will then be ready to take advantage of other benefits coming soon as Connect.me develops and becomes a public social networking platform. 

Embeddable cards and widgets will enable you to embed your Connect.me profile in your website or blog to help people promote and discover you

A public directory will enable you to find interesting and respected people on the social web based on peer reputation instead of reach or influence

Find people in your extended network by browsing your network and extended network using tags.

Further Information

Follow the Connect.me blog on Posterous for up to the minute updates on latest developments, particularly for information about 'Requesting Vouchers' which will only be available when Connect.me opens to the public.

Take a look at co-founder and developer, Joe Johnston's Connect.me card, vouch for him and follow him @Simple10 and co-founder entrepreneur @DrummondReed on Twitter for up to the minute updates. You want to know when this goes public and be ready for it. 

Read an excellent @Fastgush post by Shashank  published in March 2011: 'Connect.me's Ambitious Plans to Make Social Web Safe' with a video of co-founder Drummond Reed talking about Connect.me and the concept of Vendor Relationship Management (VMR). It’s fascinating and marks the beginning of a huge progressive trend for 2012.

Connect with me on Connect.me or write a comment below to ask me for an invitation. At this point you need to be invited to get involved. Don't delay, Connect.me is going to be THE trust and reputation management platform next year, an essential tool for engaging with your contacts, gaining credibility and being found via all the search options on the internet.

Connect with me

Meanwhile connect and contact me on any of my social networks:

• Twitter @suecartwright | @raisingprofiles
• Facebook Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• LinkedIn Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• Raising Profiles Group LinkedIn | YouTube Raising Profiles 
• Google+ Sue Cartwright | Google+ Raising Profiles
• Connect.me Sue Cartwright

You will be made very welcome :)

What is premium content exactly?

Premium content is not an easy thing to define, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder after all. But in terms of your LinkedIn Professional Profile, it would be safe to say that to achieve maximum impact as a professional person of genuine character and integrity, your content needs to be original, of the highest quality, distinctive, valuable and honest throughout.

These attributes go a long way to providing a solid set of ground rules when it comes to creating content for your LinkedIn Professional Profile:

1. Original Content - No 'copying and pasting' however tempting it may be to 'pinch' text from other peoples' profiles with similar roles or businesses to your own. You need to sit down and think through who you are, what you have to offer and how you can best present yourself to your desired audience. There is no quick way to do this and the more effort you put into it, the better the impact you will have on readers visiting your profile.
2. Highest Quality - This includes correct spelling, punctuation, flow, tone, brevity, context and meaning. Your content needs to be easy on the eye (not too long and not too short) and well constructed so that your visitors can find out what they need to know and quickly.
3. Distinctive - A true reflection of the uniqueness and character of yourself as a person, your brand, your business and the products and services you have to offer. You need to present your unique selling points, what makes you better than your competitors and how you can make a difference.
4. Valuable - Avoid the risk of turning people off with cheap tricks such as keyword stuffing, push marketing or spammy content that de-values you, your brand, your business and the products and services you have to offer. If you don't understand the difference between 'pull and push marketing', find out about it now and adapt your strategy accordingly.
5. Honest - avoid the risk of losing your credibility by including anything in your profile that is an embellishment of the truth or inaccurate in any way. This kind of deflection will only come back to bite you in the long run for obvious reasons. 

Why is honesty so important?

Believe it or not, honesty is another grey area where rules can sometimes be ignored in order to achieve certain objectives. Examples include:

1. Keyword Stuffing - Loading your profile with repetitive phrases and keywords as a means to obtain maximum search engine rankings and visibility. This is known as keyword stuffing and is completely outdated on today's internet. It adds no value as Google no longer give good rankings to pages employing this technique and LinkedIn takes this form of abuse very seriously. It also makes your profile look ridiculous so please don't do this.
2. Multiple Current Positions - Creating multiple positions under 'Current Experience' is often carried out by owners of small businesses and this is another form of keyword stuffing. In normal circumstances, you would only ever have one position if you worked for a company, certainly no more than 3 positions at any one time. I have seen profiles with 12 or more similar roles listed under one current position. These people are trying to gain some kind of an advantage and it doesn't look good so please don't do this either.
3. Dishonest Information - The worst possible mal-practice that will do you no favours in the long run. You need to be able to hold true to everything you present on your profile and that includes NOT presenting yourself as an 'expert' in your field or industry unless you have a proven track record, an exemplary reputation and excellent results to back this claim.
4. Manipulating Dates - Be careful about manipulating dates to make certain roles appear in a certain order on your profile. Currently, positions with the most recent dates appear first. This means my new Voluntary Director role for Running Deer CIC would appear at the top of my Current Experience section but I don't want it to appear there so I have included this position in my Summary Profile. If you do decide to manipulate dates, add an addendum to that particular section to explain why you have done so.

Beware the knock-on effect of 'private' communications

My campaign to raise awareness about the mal-practice of keyword stuffing and dishonest profiling on LinkedIn started with one of my fist degree connections forwarding me a MESSAGE sent to them by someone outside my network.

This message was INTENDED for a select group of connections in that person's immediate network, it was certainly not meant for me.

The communication contained a link to a PRIVATE invitation to a LinkedIn Workshop where the trainer was promoting the mal-practice of keyword stuffing as a key benefit.

The workshop description included the NAMES of people and businesses who had been taught how to do this with 'bragging rights' attached on how these clients were achieving first positions in LinkedIn 'People' Search. I checked their profiles and sure enough, keyword stuffing is rife on their profiles - not a great start for them on their LinkedIn journey.

What can we learn from this?

Lessons we can learn from misrepresentation on your Professional LinkedIn Profile are as follows:

1. Nowhere to Hide - Once you present your profile online you are EXPOSED. If your profile is incomplete, inaccurate, dishonest or doesn't make sense due to blatant keyword stuffing, be clear that your reputation is at stake and could result in your best prospects and clients not wanting to do business with you. 
2. No Privacy - Confidential messages sent via LinkedIn to your 1st degree connections can easily be forwarded to people outside your immediate network and this could DAMAGE your reputation if the wrong content gets in front of the wrong person.  
3. No Going Back - Misrepresentation may seem to give you the edge now as your immediate connections on LinkedIn may not be clear about protocol and ground rules. As people become more educated, however, any shortcuts you have taken will be regarded as 'cheating' and you will lose any advantage when your competition starts to gain momentum.  
4. Closed Accounts - I am actively pursuing LinkedIn to create a 'Report MisUse' button for profiles in the same way they have a 'Report Spam' button for messages. When this happens, everyone will be at the mercy of other LinkedIn users to report mal-practice and this could result in profiles being closed down.

Invest in your Premium Content

So you can see, there are many excellent reasons to spent time working on your premium content. Understanding what goes where, what format to use, what to include and leave out is an essential part of creating a LinkedIn Professional Profile you can be proud of.

I work with professionals, business owners and companies first hand to help them get this right. Your reputation, credibility and integrity are all at stake if you don't take this seriously. I ensure my clients avoid these risks to get the very best from their long-term presence on LinkedIn.

If you would like to talk through how I can help you create a fabulous, ethical and distinctive LinkedIn Professional Profile - and teach you to use it effectively using proven social networking and 'Pull Marketing' techniques, please send an email to sue@raisingprofiles.com.

Join Me!

 You are very welcome to join me on any of my networks:

• Twitter @suecartwright | @raisingprofiles
• Facebook Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• LinkedIn Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• Raising Profiles Group on LinkedIn
• YouTube Raising Profiles | Google+ Sue Cartwright

I've said it myself, and I know you're thinking the same thing: 'Forget Direct Messages on Twitter, apart from doing a quick scan to see if there's a 'real' message from a 'real' person on there, it's best to avoid it, it's just mindless SPAM!'.

Breaking through Old Frontiers

And you would be right, but today's excellent, thought-provoking post by Seth Godin, entitled

'The new frontier - What, exactly, is wrong with the old frontier?'

does very well to support my new theory (and practice) on how to BENEFIT from the useless graveyard of abandoned, un-read and sole-less Auto-DMs on Twitter. 

My old theory was that negative, along with many other anti Auto-DM demonstrators - it really was that bad.

A New Perspective

But as, Seth (above) so rightly says: 'It's the old frontier that actually presents the most interesting opportunities, because the shine has worn off. This is your platform for real innovation, innovation in a place or a market or a situation that truly is ready for it.'

Which is exactly what the Direct Messages stream on Twitter represents - an old frontier (that doesn't work) so I've decided to make it my mission to 'break on through to another (new) side'.

To be clear, for several years since recently, I've been banging on about how dreadful Auto-DMs are and have infrequently visited my Direct Messages stream. Mainly because the one original message from that one key contact will be buried in a sea of meaningless, pointless, pushy, outbound, marketing SPAM that you're made to sift through - so much so that for me, it was a chore! 

So, how has my mind been changed so drastically? Why the complete turn-around? Why have I chosen this mission? The following simple steps, will explain things.

7 Steps to Auto-DM Success

1. Set Up your Auto-DMs to say 'Hi' to your new followers and direct them towards your Facebook (LinkedIn, Google+) page to 'catch up on your regular news and updates'.

Rotate them so they don't all say the same thing – you can do this for a cost of less than $3 per month on Social Oomph.

2. Check other Auto-DMs for links to 'the chosen platform you have included in your Auto-DM' such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ or similar. Why? Because you want a reciprocal arrangement and visiting websites and blogs, reading and commenting on blog posts, takes a lot of time.

Instead, you need something quick you can do such as 'liking' or 'following' or 'circling' so that you can THEN come back to your Direct Messages and TELL the person you have done so. That's when the magic begins to happen.

3. Start checking your Direct Messages regularly to see if anyone has RESPONDED to your Auto-DMs and/or have LIKED or interacted with you on your chosen platform. You will be amazed that some people will have done so.

4. Start responding to their Auto-DMs because responding to the Auto-DMs of others and visiting and/or liking them, will encourage them to engage with you and do the same for you.

If you get a response back, it feels FANTASTIC, and they will feel the same. It's like: ‘Excellent, someone actually responded to my Auto-DM, it's working!'. So, like each others' pages, join each others' networks, have a brief chat, put each other on your Twitter lists, ReTweet each others’ tweets and you have created the start of a powerful WIN-WIN relationship.

I haven't been doing this for long and believe me, I've made some fabulous new friends already.

Pro-Active Engagement 

5. Keep on pro-actively engaging with people because, don't forget, social networking is ALL about pro-active engagement.

6. Diligently respond to your chosen Auto-DMs in a way that will have a direct impact on the quality of your connections. This doesn't actually take long if you’ve designed a good strategy and you know what you are looking for.

Some of your responses will work and some won't but it's a great way to find out whether or not people are paying attention.

Responding to others' DMs will tell you a lot about them and their methodology and, it could give them a wake-up call which does them a favour. In which case, you will have gained a significant advantage. 

Building Trust 

Remember, social networking is about doing things for others that you would like others to do for you. Responding to others' Auto-DMs and inviting them to respond to yours, becomes a good practice that will reap rewards if you have good intentions and stick with it.

In no time, you will start to find REAL people and create an opportunity to get to know them through REAL conversations. It's a great way to connect with prospects who could well be pleasantly surprised with your generosity and again, this will gain you an advantage.

In fact, it reminds me of when I first started out on Twitter, getting to know people in a pro-active way - turning push into pull, transforming a robotic practice into something meaningful – and it feels great!

ROI Bonus!

7. Watch your fans and followers steadily grow! 

My Facebook likes are increasing steadily because I am liking more pages that I’ve found through Facebook links in peoples’ Auto-DM messages – and they’re liking me back.

By writing on their walls and saying great things about them, I am encouraging people to do the same for me - and I'm gaining traction on my Facebook page in a new way I hadn't thought of before.

Rather than keep dismissing or ignoring or complaining about Auto-DMs on Twitter, decide whether this might be a perfect way for you to 'engage' with your leading contacts, prospects, influencers and connectors.

Bring your Auto-DM network to life, be pro-active and enjoy the welcome you receive.  

Need Help?

If this makes sense to you, then try it. You will be delighted with your results.

If, however, you could do with some help on this, let me know. I'll be pleased to arrange a time to chat about how this kind of thinking can be applied to your ENTIRE social networking strategy.

Contact Me

There's still time to become a cutting-edge, early adoptor, so make the most of it.

Let me help you, it would be great to hear from you. Either send me an email to sue@raisingprofiles.com or leave a message below and I will reply with a comment.

Meanwhile, Happy Direct Messaging !

Join Me!

 You are very welcome to join me on any of my networks:

• Twitter @suecartwright | @raisingprofiles
• Facebook Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• LinkedIn Sue Cartwright | Raising Profiles
• Raising Profiles Group on LinkedIn
• YouTube Raising Profiles | Google+ Sue Cartwright