Comments on: I Have Over 800 Connections In LinkedIn – I Must Admit I Am Excited About That

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:33:56 +0000

Quick update. I just got my 1500 connection on LinkedIn and last week presented a number of strategies to help MRA chapters increase membership and involvement at the MRA national conference.

I am so excited about using this tool!

Merrill

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:56:30 +0000

Quick update:

I just presented at the Philly/NY MRA event on strategies to move your business forward and I included LinkedIn as a must use business tool!

I now have over 1200 contacts and still growing!

Merrill

By: Karen Dawson

Karen Dawson — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:47:06 +0000

Glad to see you jumped on the bandwagon Merrill….I think you
were a little skeptical in the beginning of how/why you would use it as I remember. It’s also a great tool for businesses to ask recommendations from your clients right after you have just completed a recent job for them. So when NEW prospects call you about XYZ project, you can steer them to your Linked In page and have them read what other customers have written about you…very powerful stuff. I just need to devote more time to working it…

By: Ken Troupe

Ken Troupe — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:28:23 +0000

I found this to be a great topic and in my case a very timely one too. I have just collected my 400 connection this week and have really enjoyed linkedin for the past year or so. It has really taken off. I think that linkedin is a tremendous place to reconnect with past colleagues and share ideas. I really like the the groups and the free flowing sharing of ideas (in most cases).

I do agree that is it tough to leverage new business out of linkedin most of the times. I think many big decision makers don’t like to share their contact info in such a public manor.

Which is why this topic is such a timely one for me. Just this week I have accepted a position to head up sales at WhoDoYouKnowAt. They have developed software that will allow companies and individuals to share all their outlook contact and keep them anonymous. Very cool and the response has been great so far. Check it out if want. whodoyouknowat.com

Ken

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:59:37 +0000

Jeff,

543 connections is awesome! I really like your point about using the tool to review people’s background – in fact I did that last week with a new client and it helped us connect during the conversation much easier than in the past.

Nice contribution.

Merrill

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:57:19 +0000

fee,

i would gladly help you with a 15 minute tutorial on how to use LinkedIn better.

I love the tool and enjoy helping people out us well. let e know what might be a good time.

Merrill

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:55:46 +0000

Paul,

I really like your point about leveraging your contacts more and I agree that most people (including myself) can do a better job engaging them and not just letting them sit there.

good comments.

Merrill

By: Karen Bills

Karen Bills — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:30:51 +0000

Glad to hear you’re using and loving the LinkedIn site!

I’ve used LinkedIn to reconnect and/or stay in touch with past colleagues and keep up with who is doing what, what is going on in the industry and coming up with industry events. The ‘groups’ really help because you can pick on up on what is going on easily with the newsletters and then go to the site when you have time to read into topics of interest to you.

I’ve definitely found that the more detailed I keep my profile, which is really my online professional identity, the more useful the tool has become. People in need of market research services have reached out to me because they found my profile on LinkedIn.

Additionally, I think it is a great tool for those looking for a new job or trying to find qualified candidates for a position they are hiring for. The ability have have recommendations shown in your profile really helps give validity to the credentials of a candidate – I know that helped me get a better job!

By: Jeff Adler

Jeff Adler — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:43:17 +0000

I have “only” 543 connections on LinkedIn, so it is a good think I am not competing with Merrill or Paul!

Like Merrill, I find LI valuable for:

*Promoting events and seeing what conferences people are attending in the future

*Prospecting for new business

*Finding contacts I have lost touch with

In ADDITION, I find it valuable for researching the backgrounds of people I don’t know or know well before I speak or meet with them.

UNLIKE Merrill, I have not found LI to be speedier in terms of response. In fact, I have found the exact opposite. In large part, I think this is a function of the people on the other end of the contact (i.e. not myself or Merrill). I find if someone’s LI profile is out of date and they don’t have many connections — odds are they won’t be responding very rapidly through LI. I suspect the converse is also true, although I have not formally tested it as Merrill did.

By: Fee Sepahi

Fee Sepahi — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:56:39 +0000

WOW. 800!!!!!
I must admit, I don’t use either Twitter(15 following, 25 followers), LinkedIn (218 connections) or Facebook (222 connections) as effectively as I should. I do love the community aspect of it, but I also follow the Tipping Point mantra of 150 being the magic number of connections, any one individual can maintain, respectively.
I do need to learn how to use LinkedIn more effectively and as I now have many MR industry connections in my Facebook, I think I use it more on building relationships and getting to know people more, than conducting business, as I try to do that through strictly through LinkedIn.
Thank you, Merrill!
Fee