IoD 'Just Lunch' Monday 25th January - Reflections

We hosted the first in our series of 'Just Lunch' networking events yesterday at 3 Albion Place, 12 - 2pm.

It was a group of members that attended, and for some their first networking event they have attended at the IoD and others it was great to catch up.

Over the past year, we have listened to our members and tailored events accordingly. The emphasis on networking and referrals has grown in importance, and so we came up with 'Just Lunch'.

Rather than the rushed networking you find at some events, it was great to take the opportunity to talk further. Usually you get as far as the immediate 'so what do you do?' conversation, so with the informal approach (no seating plan and no elevator pitches over lunch) it was good to take the time to have those conversations.

Over lunch, I took the opportunity to talk to Andy Cheetham from Lime Licensing on how franchising operates, the pitfalls and licensing considerations; Steve Garcia-Luengo from Mako Marketing has just moved up to Yorkshire and has an interesting PR and marketing business.

People always think of the 'here and now' when they think networking. It's about the art of conversation and listening to individuals, it is not just about you, and getting your message across.

The next 'Just Lunch' - 22nd February, 12 - 2pm, 3 Albion Place

We are having Martin Dean from Leeds Initiative joining us for lunch. The Leeds Initiative is the city’s local strategic partnership working together for The vision for Leeds.

The Vision for Leeds is a long-term strategy for the economic, social and environmental development of the city. It is also known as the sustainable community strategy, which the Government now requires cities to produce.

Martin is joining us to engage business leaders in their view of Leeds and to get IoD members view on the economic and skills aspect of the future for Leeds.

Would be great to have a good turn out, so we can have a lively and involved discussion about where we (as business leaders) see the vision for Leeds in 2030. If there are any questions prior to the event, please let me know.

To book go to the IoD Website or call the regional office: 0113 243 0152

Build Your Credibility on LinkedIn

Online Credibility – why is it important
Online credibility is the perception your customers, potential customers, business / collaboration partners get when they encounter you online e.g. visit your blog, read your comments online, read your profile, etc.

Your online credibility is an increasingly important way of showcasing your specialised knowledge and expertise. Anyone can start a blog or start participating in forums and as more people engage with the social web, differentiating yourself will become imperative.

We live in a world where we expect people to be qualified on what they write about – but you don't need qualifications in the social web. So your online credibility is the only evidence of your expertise. Even if you have qualifications, people will use the all of the information about you online to draw conclusions about your credibility. Every bit of information about you on the internet is important.


Build Your Credibility on Linkedin
A new member joined LinkedIn every second and it is becoming an essential place to build your online e-portfolio and credibility. In January 2009 there was a 22% increase in visitors to LinkedIn, which was primarily due to people understanding the need for networking and job hunting during a recession.

Most people understand the basics to setting up the profile, but beyond that they do not understand the potential of how they can use this online networking to:

• Increase traffic to their website
• Become an online expert within your niche
• Build trust with existing & potential customers
• Build rapport with your existing network

In this post I will look beyond the basics and look at how you can invest your time to build your reputation and credibility on Linkedin. You can download this post as a document from Google Docs.

• Setting up Your Profile
• Do not set up dummy accounts on false names
• Accounts with few people linked to are considered less influential
• Needs to be real, needs to reflect your personality and who you are

• Add a picture
• Make sure it is a professional looking picture
• Make sure it's a head shot and you are looking at the camera
• You need to make an impact with the photo

• Headline – is your personal brand tag line
• Focus it around your niche and occupation
• E.g. it could be very main stream: Charlotte Britton, Online Marketing Expert or
• Enticing and engaging: Helping you make the most of the Social Web
• You need to draw people in to look at your profile

• Work experience
• Put in each role
• Summarise the impact you made there
• Keep it concise, do not waffle

• Summary
• This is your elevator pitch
• What looking to do, what you are about, your unique selling points

• Include keywords in content
• Increase your chances of getting the content indexed by Google
• Content will then get shown on search phrases around – your name and company
• Boosting your web presence
• Making you look more influential

• Remember how people read online
• Make it short and snappy
• Summarise, use bullet points

• Distinguish yourself from the crowd
• Add websites that showcase your abilities
• As you get more recommendations, answer more questions and build your network, you will gain more credibility

• Customise Contact Settings
• Let people know what you are looking out for on LinkedIn

• Build Your Network
• Reflect your offline network online
• Upload your contacts from your email client (AOL, Gmail or Outlook etc)

• If you are going to an event
• Research the people prior to going (if you have the delegate list before hand

• After a networking event
• Do not link to all the people that attended the event, as that would be considered spamming people and appear aggressive
• Only link to the people you personally met or will be doing business with

• Personalise each invitation
• As you would with any networking, invest the time in personalising the introduction

• People with too many connections
• How can anyone know so many of people?
• People with a huge network could be considered a 'social butterfly'
• Unless they hold a position where they may meet a lot of people, too may contacts could lead to a drop in credibility
• Only link to the people that are influential, potential customers / suppliers or people that you know
• Try not to link with the people just to increase numbers

• Do not link to people to the people you met at a job interview or pitch
• If you do not get the job, you have linked up un-necessarily
• Looks like you are stalking them
• Is inappropriate as you may appear to be attempting to influence their decision

• Add in other Applications
• Find the Application Directory
• There are other applications you may find applicable
• The main ones listed are below

• Integrate your blog using the Blog Link
• Ensure you blog regularly
• Add commentary on topical subjects
• This can prove that you understand your niche and your knowledge

• Twitter
• Link to your Twitter account under the profile
• Integrate the twitter feed, which will update your status with your tweets

• Slideshare
• Upload white papers / power points which prove your knowledge to Slideshare
• Then link up your slide share account with LinkedIn
• Then people reading your profile can browse the documents
• Further building your credibility

• Events
• If you run any events you may wish to add on the events application which will enable you to set up and promote your events
• Show which events you are attending
• Promote your events to your network

• Recommendations
• Think wisely on this as it's linked to your credibility
• Only recommend people you know well and would be happy to work with yourself
• Try not to reciprocal recommend as this will show up on the weekly Linkedin updates and will lose credibility
• Be sincere, authentic and real
• Anything too gushy and over the top will appear insincere

• Linked In Answers
• Was launched in February 2007
• Enables users to ask and answer questions
• Questions are open for 7 days prior to closing
• The person who has asked the question can close the question early
• Answer questions before you start asking questions
• Sub categories within each main category
• Find one which reflects your skill set
• Or where you potential customers might reside
• Do not go for the obvious choices which are crowded with your competitors
• Pull Categories RSS into you RSS reader
• Such as feedburner or Google reader
• This means you don't have to login every time you want to review the questions
• Makes participating more time effective

• Answering Questions
• Establish and grow your personal brand
• Only answer questions that are pertinent to your niche and knowledge base
• Don't make up an answer
• Answer questions on a regular basis, infrequent participating does not look like you are committed
• Answer in a timely fashion
• If your opinion goes against the majority of answers, ensure you back it up with evidence / links to other people who think the same
• Do not troll other people in the group (your response invokes an emotional response from the person who asked the question or disruptive behaviour)

• Becoming an expert
• Share more than you take
• Explicit selling, marketing and self promotion can be flagged by anyone, be careful
• Demonstrate you are an expert, give the reader a compelling reason to view your profile
• When you become an expert you get a badge on your profile by Linkedin
• It takes time, building your credibility is not going to happen in a week
• Questions are indexed by Google
• Great opportunity to increase web / brand presence
• Boost traffic to website and profile

• Asking Questions
• Follow Linkedin's etiquette on answering questions
• Linkedin FAQs
• You can email question to 200 of your 1st degree contacts
• Free members can ask 10 questions per month
• Should be 1 question on 1 subject
• Ask questions that will be of value to others
• If answers go off topic you can close early
• Personally thank people who take the time to answer your question (you'd do it in the real world!)
• Asking 1 question per month is good for building credibility

• Groups
• Search for groups where you can be grow to be an expert
• Find one which reflects your skill set
• Or where you potential customers might reside
• Do not go for the obvious choices which are crowded with your competitors
• Same principles as Asking / Answering Questions apply

• Add company profile page
• Current employees can add page
• will need to provide registered company own email address which will be validated
• Click on companies found on top bar of navigation
• optimise so will be found in search engines

E Portfolios - your personal brand online

Today I was on the panel at Leeds Met Uni Learning Lunch: E-Portfolios event. I managed to get the team to set up the hash tag #LeedsMetLL and so we got quite a few questions from students prior to the event. The Leeds Met Employerability Office tweeted the event and kept up with the lively debate (so please read the tweets!).

There were three of us presenting slightly different aspects of e-portfolios:

Nicholas Halafihi - Senior Lecturer Sports Business Management talked about the pilot e-portfolio programme that is running with Year 1 students. The system enabled students to record the reflections, assessment, biography & other associated profile / learning information. With the idea being that epmployers would be able to view the CV / e-portfolio of the student when they are looking for work experience or employment. Employers would be able to login with specific details so they could only view that specific student. Two students came along to share their positive experience.

Ben Cotton - talked about 'Going Digital' from a student perspective and how having a living e-portfolio available online has enabled him to build his online presence and credibility. He currently is on the Leeds Met Grad progamme and has had various roles within PR and will be taking up a new job in London at the end of the month . Ben is an avid social media user - and I had already started following Ben on Twitter, way before this event.

Ben mentioned that using the social media sites that are out there to build your e-portfolio is essential as it demonstrated to employers that you understand the industry and how to build a campaign.

It was useful being last as I could blend ideas from the two previous presentations. I do think there is a role for an e-portfolio system where students can document their journey and growth as a student. This information is important for a potential employer as you can see the strengths, weaknesses and skills of that person.

However it should not be used in isolation of the social media and online marketing sites that are available. Every person is their own brand, and it is important to build your brand, shout about your USPs and what makes you different.

So students, especially if they are looking for careers in journalism, IT, marketing, PR or advertising need to be engaged in the other social media sites to prove their proficiency and capabilty to employers.

However students need to learn and understand the ettiquette and importance of building an online brand and the credibility / integrity that goes with it. We all have those lary nights, but those photos that get uploaded to Flickr/ Facebook could be deterimental to your employerability in the future.

Having spoken to quite a number of my fellow business owners, they all said they check people on Facebook - and what they find, does influence the impression of that person. They also mentioned that they 'Google' a person and see what search results come up on their name. I wonder how many students acutally realise that? Scary huh?

Giving students these skills of to understand the importance of their online brand and maintaining their integrity / credibility is fundamental to building their e-portfolio.

The univerisities that enable their students to start off in a protected, internal e-portfolio system and helps them grow the skills / understanding of the other sites will improve their employerability of their students overall. The universities that get this the quickest and respond to the challenge accordingly, will be successful in winning students as well.

However this will need a step change internally - as students will need to collaborate and learn from each other, online within the e-portfolio system. So there needs to be joined up thinking between the facalties, so the areas of excellence amongst the students can share their knowledge and experience.

Waterstones inspiring use of Twitter

I was on Twitter on New Years Eve afternoon and saw this tweet come through on the Waterstones account:





I clicked on the link to the book which was a book called A Wild Affair by Gemma Townley. It sounded like just the kind of book for a winter's afternoon.

As directed by the tweet I emailed Waterstones back. Last week the book arrived in the post. Luckily I was on a long snowy train journey this week, so took the book with me.

Overall I give 10/10 to Waterstones for an inspiring use of Twitter. What great way to get customer generated content on your website, to get customers engaged with your brand and to get people talking about your brand. It must of worked as I am writing this blog post, right?

So I am now on the look out for other inspiring uses of Twitter. Not just the standard RT of articles, jokes or videos. Something inspiring, new, innovative that's going to get people talking about the brand and the outcome. Would be great to hear your stories of innovative uses of Twitter

Audio Blogging - word of mouth marketing

Ever had those moments / thoughts, where you want to share an experience on your blog with others but the technology just isn't there?

I was at a meeting on Thursday last week and met John Duffy, Marketing Director from Ipadio. They have some clever software which enables you to do live telephone feeds into your website. Alternatively you can record these calls and these files can upload them afterwards.

John gave some inspiring demonstrations where this software / service has been used. One was where a team had tracked the Great Wall of China for sponsorship and phoned in live (and recorded it) to say they had arrived.

Another example is the Duke of Edinburgh awards which are evaluated by assessors on their expeditions, so the assessors phone in the assessment rather than writing it down.

There are a few terms for this phlogging or audio blogging and certainly is an extension to moblogging, mobile blogging. This differs to podcasts (not video casts) as that assumes that the files is streamed over the internet, as opposed to live streaming to a web page (and the file is then saved).

Audio blogging is an emerging market with only a few services on offer such as hipcast. Interestingly Audioboo has launched a service for the iphone so your audio blog file is saved and you can link to it.

Ipadio can also do phone > text service as well. It can integrate into Twitter, blogs and all the main social media platforms, so the potential for adoption of the technology into main stream is a possibility.

With the increase in mobile technology, I can see this being a growing marketing, as there are so many applications for this software. People calling in from expeditions, people sending in reviews of gigs, people sharing moments with friends, businesses using it for site visits.....the list is endless.

So how would you use this technology in your business or hobbies? I'd be interested to hear!

Meet Up Mondays IoD YDF Informal Networking

Networking is critical to business especially in the slowdown, but it's often hard to find the right type of event or find a suitable venue. 'Meet Up Monday's is more of an informal approach to networking or whether you just want to catch up with friends then this is a great opportunity.

The first event was held in January 09, where over 40 IoD members and guests gathered at IoD Leeds, since then this informal networking event has grown from strength to strength.

Every 3rd Monday of the month, the YDF invite all IoD members to attend informal networking. All members are invited to attend and can bring up to two guests to any meeting. Any non IoD member should get in touch through LinkedIn to confirm their attendance.

The next events:

• Monday 18th January, 5.30 - 7.30pm, 3 Albion Place
• Monday 8th February (3rd week being 1/2 term), Sky Lounge, City Inn, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR, 5 - 7pm

IoD Young Directors Forum Yorkshire and Humber

Stepping up to the Challenge

2009 has been a great year for the Young Directors Forum, we have had a great turn out to our events and we have run more engaging events for our membership that have provided real value and networking.

The committee's vision for the YDF has not changed, our vision is to provide emerging leaders with support and development they need to enable personal and business success.

We would like to develop the membership of the YDF into something of real value where younger members of the IoD can share their experiences and discuss ideas and current issues with their contemporaries. The ultimate aim that we all can develop skills and relationships that will allow us to become business leaders of the future.

Now more than ever this is relevant. There is a sea of change amongst business leaders, to do things differently going forward and to embrace the new business landscape that's emerging. The YDF are leading the way with innovative thinking, approach and style.

We will aim to represent and support views of the forum's membership in the Yorkshire business community and we will build partnerships with the key power bases in the region to allow this to happen. Engaging with the decision makers of today to influence the vision of the future of Yorkshire is imperative to the succession planning and continual future achievements for the region.

Building Your Online Credibility: Top 30 Tips

Harness the Power of the Social Web

2009 was the year that the social web hit made an impact on how companies and people interact online. Technologies such as facebook, twitter and blogging took the social web to the masses, so the power of the social web grew and became mainstream.

The ultimate expression of this was the Christmas #1 on Radio 1. The true music lovers in the UK had enough of the manufactured #1 hits from the X factor show and set up a facebook group to promote the cause. This viral marketing campaigns was one of the most successful campaigns to date through using social media with Rage Against the Machine making it to #1.

Harnessing the power of the social web is imperative to surviving sea of change in 2010. This will put yourself and your company on the front foot when the upturn in the economy starts.

This series of white papers will focus on specific aspects of the social web and the strategies companies and individuals should be adopting to make the most of this growing marketing channel.

Online Credibility – why is it important
Your online credibility is an increasingly important way of showcasing your specialised knowledge and expertise which will build your online credibility. As more people engage with the social web differentiating yourself become imperative.

Anyone can start a blog or start participating in forums. We live in a world where we expect people to be qualified on what they write about – but you don't need qualifications in the social web. So your online credibility is the evidence of your expertise.

Online credibility is a perception your customers, potential customers, business / collaboration partners get when they visit your blog, read your comments online, read your profile, etc. which is why it takes time to build

Steps for improving your online credibility

How you look online

1. Complete profiles on community sites When setting up profiles on the social sites such as Linked In or a Ning community, ensure that you set up your profile as comprehensively as possible.

2. Be authentic and real when writing your personal profile, company profile and other information on the profile section. This is not another opportunity to sell, so it needs to resonate with who you are and how you talk.

3. Upload a head shot photograph of yourself. Think of the online networks as networking events, so you need to be dressed for the occasion. Think how you engage with people at a event and how you introduce yourself, it is the same principle.

4. Testimonials – get customers and partners to recommend you where feasible. These need to be genuine recommendations, not just back slapping efforts.

5. Be yourself - be human. At the end of the day the social web is about people interacting online. So be empathic, modest, engaging in a way that reflects who you are.

6. Be Enthusiastic – people who are passionate and enthusiastic about what they are talking about come across as more credible than those who are not interested. Enthusiasm online comes across in the tone of voice, commitment to regular contributions and though leadership

How you participate and behave online

7. Go where your customers are. For example on LinkedIn, find the groups where your customers and potential customers are, rather than groups where your competitors are. Showing your expertise to your customers in a less crowded group is a more effective strategy than joining all the groups of your competitors.

8. Have your own blog – as this is an opportunity to share your thoughts, opinions and views on what is happening in your industry

9. Guest Bloggers – get some of the leaders/speakers in your niche market to write a guest blog post. This will boost your credibility as it shows that you have contacts with some of the leaders who are influential

10. Comment on other people's blogs – through using Google alerts / Google reader / Trackur you can track content on the internet around specific key phrases that are relevant to your niche market. If there are opportunities for you to comment on blogs or forums, then you should take this opportunity to share your view / information. Which in turn will build your credibility. The comments need to be real and authentic and not an opportunity to sell your product.

11. Read up on individuals – once you start a conversation with someone, whether it's on Twitter, LinkedIn or another site, read up on that individual. Start following them on Twitter, follow their blog or link up on Linked In. The point being that you are then taking time to get to know them. Just like real networking.

12. Build on conversations. This is what you would do if you met someone at a networking event, once you have linked up with them, then start building on the conversation by regularly commenting on their conversations, as it shows that you are listening to then and are genuinely interested.

13. Be a thought leader – don't just report the news in your niche market. Add your views, opinions and commentary to it?

14. Reference your sources – if you are going to cite other credible sources in your blog / comments / website then you need to ensure you are crediting those people as it shows that you show respect for their view and shows honesty.

15. Be transparent – be upfront about any personal interests you have in specific topics or subjects - E.g. sponsorship or directorships - as these could influence your integrity if you do not disclose these upfront.

16. Demonstrate your expertise – participate in the forums, groups and blog regularly to demonstrate your knowledge and that it is up to date. Participating in the social web on an erratic basis shows that you are not committed. Ensure you plan time in your schedule on a daily / 3 day basis to keep up to date.

17. Share free and important information. Sharing information whether it is in a blog post, white paper or press release, shows that you are generous in nature and want to engage with people rather than sell to them.

18. Use proper grammar. Rather than using abbreviations or text/sms slang. This shows that you have considered your content rather…?.

19. Think about how you react to an abusive or negative comment – how would you respond offline/in person.. Use that as a benchmark for responding online. If you feel you have to respond negatively, save your response for an hour or so to cool down, then reconsider sending it

20. Monitor conversations around your brand. Set up Google Alerts or Trackur to monitor conversations online around specific key phrases that are relevant to your brand. So you can then respond in a timely manner to positive and negative comments.

21. Be proactive - contribute regularly. Using tracking comment and contribute on a regular basis

22. Be willing to admit you are wrong – we all make mistakes individuals and companies. It is about taking responsibility for this and responding correctly. Showing humility shows that you are willing to be vulnerable and listen.

23. Think about your customers – every time you are writing a blog post or responding to a comment always have your customer at the forefront of your mind. If the offline world we support our customers and potential customers sharing information, discussing ideas or connecting them. The same is online, if you reflect the same processes online for your potential customers then if demonstrates that are not in it just for the sale, you genuinely want to support them.

24. Designs matter – the look and feel of your blog, website and logo matter as it is the first thing they see when the go to your blog or website. Makes sure the look and feel is professional and is inline with the expectations of the industry. Less is better than more, simple better than complex.

25. Maintain your integrity – don't lose your temper, waffle, give inaccurate advice online, maintain your professionalism at all times. Always consider that the person you are responding to may have many contacts themselves. A diplomatic response is nearly always the best one.

26. Speaking opportunities – host a webinar or a round table discussion or offer to be a guest expert on someone else's as this builds on your knowledge sharing. Get this content video-ed and uploaded to You Tube or Vimeo. Then link this in with your other online social networks

27. Video Content – create video content around your niche topic. Whether it's an interview, discussion, talking through how to do something. Creating that point of difference between yourself and you competitors will boost your online credibility. New digital cameras have extremely good quality video capability, making videos doesn’t need to be expensive.

28. It takes time to build your credibility, so don't rush it . You need to be in for the long haul, with no short cuts, as these always end up being detrimental to your credibility

29. Stick to what you know – don't stray from your core expertise. Stay focused on your niche market and what differentiates you from your competitors. It is easy to get pulled into conversations which are outside your comfort zone. It is easier to state that you'll have to find out if a specific question comes up that you don't know about. Rather than pretending to know and loosing all that hard work in one sentence.

30. Care and concern for your audience. If you show care and concern for your audience above your personal goals of building a blog, communicate with readers, build your online credibility, then it proves that you are 'in it' for the benefit of others as well as yourself, which is an important differentiator.
    

Hopefully these steps for improving your online credibility will boost your confidence in terms of what actions you need to take to start managing your credibility.

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