Welcome to LinkedIn Lite

Ever try putting together a jigsaw puzzle only to find several key pieces missing?

Welcome to LinkedIn Lite - tastes like crap and is less fulfilling of your business needs than ever before.

Over the past few years LinkedIn has been removing features that many found useful, including

- the Q&A forum
- the events calendar
- the group statistics
- getting introduced (part of the messaging)
- BCC  removed from :bulk" messages
- the ability to reply to connection requests before accepting
- the "advanced search" capability
- the ability to view people's entire profiles without having to click "see more"
- seeing the groups your connections belonged to
- and now, the ability to post

This is far from the entire list, but you get the point.

Some LinkedIn members may not know all of these, but those who've been on the platform for a longer time may recall some or most of them.

Bottom line? The overall functionality of LinkedIn is going down in a big way for those not willing to pay $900 a year for Sales Navigator. 

In my market, U.S. government contracting, government employees are not going to pay the $900, nor will the agency they work for. This will drive the value down the value for federal managers, and they will use the platform less. This, in turn, will reduce the value for contractors, who will then use it less.

My market is measured in $Trillion$, and LinkedIn is trying to get the federal government to use the HR platform for recruiting. With the reduced functionality AND the ridiculously high price for the Sales Navigator, Federal and state and local governments will find much less value in using LinkedIn.

For over a decade, LinkedIn worked hard to build a great for social networking platform business, and largely they succeeded. However over the past few years, much of the value for active LinkedIn members has either evaporated or migrated to Sales Navigator.

As LinkedIn approaches year 14 (it launched May 5, 2003), 460+ million LinkedIn members are asking "WTF?!?!?"

So, welcome to LinkedIn Lite -tastes like crap and is less fulfilling of your business needs than ever before.

Will your FY 2017 Kickoff be more of the same?

What does your FY 2017 Kickoff look like?

Winning government business in 2017 will be harder than ever for smaller businesses. Getting the attention of decision makers has never been easy, so getting and staying on their radar in ways that matter will be more important than ever.

Here's what we can be certain of: 

    - we will have yet another CR

    - competition will be tougher than ever

    - LPTA and FSSI (category management) will be with us

Now ask yourself these questions:

    - Are you going to be engaging in the same marketing activities as FY 2016?

    - Have you reviewed your marketing program to make certain it supports your BD and sales?

    - Do you want the same results as last year?

There are three key activities you can employ without breaking the bank:

-         -  differentiating your company in ways that matter to buyers and influencers

-         - clearly enunciating those differentiators via the number one platform where you will be vetted - LinkedIn

-       -   supporting those differentiators by publishing and curating content germane to your customers and prospects

First, unless and until you differentiate your company in ways that matter to buyers and influencers, you will always be one of many, not a company that stands out from the crowd.

Second, after you determine your legitimate differentiators you need to clearly enunciate them through your company web site and on LinkedIn. These are the two places where you will be vetted.

Third, now that you defined your niche and have clearly enunciated the differentiators, you need to defend the position. Generating and curating content that helps customers and prospects understand the issues and solutions around your area of expertise, and demonstrates that you are a leader in the category.

I have developed a half-day workshop that will help your company define and defend areas of expertise, then reach out and share those areas with your key prospect audiences. This workshop combines elements from my three most popular workshops: LinkedIn for GovCon, Developing the Subject Matter Expert Platform and Content Marketing.

The “Kickoff” is designed to differentiate your company, leveraging LinkedIn and launch your content marketing program and develop your subject matter expert position without breaking your budget.

The Kickoff workshop will help you:

-          - determine your core skills and create a differentiated market position

-          - define the key elements of your individual and company LinkedIn profiles

-          - identify and reach out to key prospects on LinkedIn, building a focused network

-          - successfully publish on LinkedIn

-         -  create original content and develop an editorial calendar

-        -  find and curate other content

-        -  build a legitimate, differentiated position in the government market

-       -   provide you a roadmap for building and defending a subject matter expert (SME) platform

-      -   and more.

Each workshop is customized for your company and the market niche where you operate.

I am offering an introductory investment fee for the Kickoff workshop of $3,995. The investment will go up to $4,995 on December 9, 2016.

Sign up today and reserve your Kickoff workshop. A $1,000 deposit is required to reserve your workshop, with the balance due seven days prior to the workshop.

I will require two weeks to develop your workshop. After you reserve your Kickoff at the introductory rate, you can choose any date that works between now and Friday, February 3, 2017.

To reserve your workshop, call or email me today-

301 854 9493   mark@federaldirect.net

Best regards for a successful FY 2017,

Mark Amtower

www.LinkedIn.com/in/markamtower 

@amtower 

Social Adopter, Adapter or A-Lister: where do you fit?

Six degrees of separation is rapidly shrinking.

Only twenty years ago, the launch of Netscape Navigator democratized the world wide web, which was often referred to as the "information super-highway". Navigator was a free browser that allowed anyone with an internet connection to look for anything that was available on the web. Admittedly, back then it was a lot less than today.

Service providers then started offering low-cost access to the new online communication tool - email. 

Younger people loved this stuff, especially college students who saw their peers developing and deploying these things. Now those students are professionals and executives themselves.

For those who were around back then, you may recall the resistance of company management to take this seriously, using this tool for business: email was going to be the biggest time waster ever, along with the "information super-highway", which was full of useless stuff. 

Only a very few B2G industry executives had the foresight to understand the value that would come to our market. Dendy Young, then CEO of Falcon MicroSystems, built the first e-commerce web site in the government market. He was also an advocate of email, stating in a keynote at one of my mid-1990s conferences that one day email would be an integral part of the government procurement process.

In Dendy Young we have the first B2G example of the internet trifecta: adopter, adapter then A-Lister. 

He adopted early, possibly in part because of Falcon's relationship to Apple, which meant Dendy more than most in DC had exposure to Silicon Valley.

He then adapted quickly, putting Falcon on the leading B2G edge of e-commerce.

He is an A-Lister because of his continuous appetite for learning and sharing information. 

Still, while Dendy forged ahead, most doubted. And waited. Email and company web sites did not catch on until later in the 1990s as a real business tool and it changed the way we do business. 

Then we faced the "irrational exuberance" of the dot-bomb era.

Eleven years ago social networks started popping up in a significant way, In May 2003 LinkedIn launched; in February 2004 Facebook followed. Others have come and gone.

LinkedIn, always my focus point, has 300 million members, over one-third in the US and about 2.5 million in the DC area.

There is absolutely no doubt that the migration to social networking platforms rivals any of the great human or animal migrations in history. Each hour, tens of thousands of business people and others are joining LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and other social networking platforms. Adoption of these platforms is ubiquitous.

But what happens then?

For many, little or nothing. Newton's First Law kicks in - a body at rest tends to stay at rest...

Why does little or nothing happen?

It is in part a herd mentality, and in part an assumption that your mere presence on a social networking platform will cause something to occur. 

During the past decade, as social networks have grown exponentially, the resistance to joining them has disappeared, but the actual use of them for business purposes for most companies still lags behind.

Research shows that companies that leverage social networks grow faster than those that don't; companies that develop social media strategies grow faster than those without a strategy; and that companies that train their personnel how to use social networks win more business as a result. Each of these three steps moves a company closer to those it needs to reach: buyers and influencers.

Six degrees of separation is shrinking as I write. Virtually everyone is now connected to at least one social network, probably more, so reaching out to anyone has become easier.

For those leveraging social media as a business tool and doing a good job of it, the results are palpable. For those waiting on the sidelines, well, keep waiting or give me a call. I train companies like yours.

I am not certain what the next big tech shift will be, but it will not replace social networks. 

Maybe it's time to call Dendy...



*I do coach companies and individuals on all aspects of LinkedIn. Drop me a line for details- mark@federaldirect.net 

Does Your LinkedIn Profile Have a Pulse?

Is your LinkedIn profile working for you while you sleep? Is it a tombstone or a cash register?

Every marketing research study I have seen over the past three years has shown a steady increase in people relying of social networks when it comes to researching employees, employers, business partners, suppliers, consultants, clients and more. The more recent studies show social media in the top two or three. 

Hinge Research (www.HingeMarketing.com) will be releasing a new study shortly called Beyond Referrals: How Today's Buyers Check You Out. The research clearly shows the rise of social media as a research tool and the dominance of LinkedIn in that category.

LinkedIn had 5.7 billion internal searches - searches inside LinkedIn - in 2012. 5.7 billion!

Now I am not a math major, but that is a pretty big number. And I am anxiously awaiting the stats for 2013.

I hear you out there muttering - What's your point, Mark?

My point is simple. If we are all using LinkedIn more and more, why is it that so many profiles are written so poorly?

Are some so vain that they think everyone knows them? 

Are there those who still don't realize how important LinkedIn can be for them and their company?

Or are many just too lazy to be bothered by actually thinking before they write? 

I have seen hundreds, perhaps thousands, of profiles that look more like tombstones than profiles of professionals. 

They simply don't have a pulse.

Here is my point: if you are not fully leveraging LinkedIn and other carefully selected social media, you are losing business to those who are, and they hope you still don't get it.

Amtower's Dilemma - Making an agency reco to a Fortune 200 company

So here's my dilemma. I get a call from a friend and occasional client at a top tech firm, well inside the Fortune Top 200. They need an agency that can help with public sector content, social and qualified lead generation. I tell my friend I will send them a short list within 48 hours.

A couple of companies come to mind quickly as their content is extraordinary.

Then I look them up on LinkedIn....

Content may be a strength, but social, at least LinkedIn, is really weak. I see execs at these companies that should have profiles with SOME information on who they are and what they do, but it isn't there. Their web sites are nice, and populated with some decent content, but they look like the cobbler's children, or worse, the emperor with no clothes when it comes to LinkedIn.

While I admire their ability to generate great content for some clients, it doesn't appear that they leverage social for dissemination of that content.

LinkedIn is my #1 venue for vetting those I recommend. Web sites are #2.

So the list got shorter.

Linkedin SitRep: Group Grope (The Waldo Factor, part 24)

So what is the Situation Report on LinkedIn? What new changes have come down the pike to confuse and abuse members?

When they changed the look and feel of the groups, they sent out this infographic as part of the announcement. While it didn't explain why the changes were made, or how they might help you (as opposed to confuse you), it did offer some data.

 

Actually, some useful data, as well as some misleading data. While over 2 millions groups have been started, not all of them are still there. Currently there are about 1.8 million active groups.

 

The average number of groups is also a little misleading. Many people belong to no groups, which brings the average down. Others, like me, belong to 50.

 

Posting in groups makes you more visible- this should be no surprise.

 

8,000 groups are added weekly. This is a healthy number, but would be in better context if they mentioned how many people joined every week.

 

200 conversations per minute is also a neat stat until you figure that with 230 million members, it is not a high percentage on a daily basis. But is certainly explains why those posting are more viewed than those who don't - the % is not that high.

 

While the sudden changes are annoying, and seem to occur with no member input, LinkedIn remains vital for business professionals.

 

Hang tough. LinkedIn is still a great investment of your time.

 

And remember, if you need some help navigating LinkedIn  and making it pay higher dividends, help is only a click away!

 

http://nsp.performedia.com/amtower/alt13/welcome

Are CEOs exempt from participating on LinkedIn? (The Waldo Factor, part 23)

Many CEOs feel they are absolved from participating on LinkedIn and other social networks. They ignore it, post a minimal profile, or have someone do it for them.

These are all poor strategies.

Ignoring LinkedIn or taking it lightly is akin to ignoring all of the people in your niche, including your customers and prospects. By any measure, LinkedIn has become one of the most viable and accessible business marketing tools available – and it is largely free to use.  

A minimal profile buys you absolutely nothing and offers no reason for anyone to pay attention. It shows a lack of respect for yourself and is a waste of time for those viewing the profile. It offers absolutely no reason for people to connect with you.  The assumption seems to be that as a CEO, the “right” people will want to connect with you.

Having someone manage your profile for you runs the risk of statements that don't reflect who you are and what you think, and eliminates the interaction of discussions on any social media platform.

I have discussed this with CEOs that fit into each category and they gave a variety of "reasons" for non/minimal participation. Among these are the time factor, the relevance factor, and the "I think it's a waste of time" factor.

The time factor is simply that they feel "too busy" to do it, so they put up a minimal profile, join no groups, and wait for something to happen.

The relevance factor goes a little deeper. They don't feel that social media deserves attention as it is not relevant to 'their circle" and/or their niche. LinkedIn is a business network that proves over and over Chris Anderson’s “Long Tail” theory (you can find virtually any niche group on the web).

The "waste of time group" is identical to the "relevance" group, just more blatant, though still very wrong. This group feels that online social networking is nothing but a complete waste of time.

My friend Carl Dickson (www.captureplanning.com) takes the sarcastic, contrarian point of view: CEOs should not be involved in marketing, business development, sales and other granular activities, so they don't need to be on LinkedIn or any other social media. Carl feels that if they believe any of the above reasons, they really shouldn’t be allowed online or perhaps out of the building.

Many studies over the past few years from Forrester, Market Connections and others indicate the importance of leveraging social media, especially LinkedIn, in B2G.

LinkedIn affords savvy users the ability to position themselves and their companies as thought leaders in virtually any niche. It provides a platform where you can reach out and build a network of those important to your success: partners, prospects and customers. It delivers the venue where you can stay on the radar of the network you build. All this if you take the time to learn how to use it well.

Those government contractors and CEOs not leveraging LinkedIn will lose new business in direct proportion to their inactivity, because your competitors will be here taking that business away from you.

If you need a little push to really start to leverage LinkedIn- go here:

http://nsp.performedia.com/amtower/alt13/welcome

 

Connecting Dots in the Dark: The Waldo Factor, part 20

Recently I recorded an interview with Mike O'Connell for www.itsalljournalism.com. I know Mike from Federal News Radio where he is the web editor and he is adept at social media. The interview focused on the many uses of LinkedIn, including why it is important for journalists and others.

During the interview I used a phrase that shows up in many of my live presentations on LinkedIn: connecting dots in the dark. The dots are things you know or suspect are "out there", you are just not certain where and who.

Even by itself, this is an interesting metaphor. In the context of LinkedIn it means several things, among them-

   * the ability to find people who share their discipline, but people you did not previously know

   * key people at companies you want to do business with

   * finding people you have not seen in years

   * finding groups (communities) of like-minded thinkers

   * ideas - coming across interesting discussions that are pertinent to what you do, started and commented on by people you probably need to know

   * and so much more.

I view LinkedIn as one of the coolest, most useful and versatile marketing tools I have run across in my thirty-plus years of marketing, with literally something for anyone in business.

You can read the interview (it's not long) at www.itsalljournalism.com.

Entering Year 10 on LinkedIn … and the Point of The Waldo Factor (The Waldo Factor, part 17)

LinkedIn celebrates its 11^th birthday  on May 5 (launched 5/5/03),  and I am entering my 10^th year on this evolving platform.

I joined LinkedIn on February 11, 2004 as member # 222,445. By that time Frank Araby had invited me to join at least 5 times, starting in 2003. I knew Frank was not one to waste his time, so I joined. I joined one week after Facebook was launched at Harvard. At that time LinkedIn was already 9 months old.

Like many then and now, after joining I waited for something to happen. And waited…. Most of us have been here at one point. I had minor notoriety in the early 2000s from my activity in the GovCon community, and I probably expected some people to find me. That didn't happen. Between 2004 and 2007, the vast majority of the GovCon community was not on LinkedIn.

In early 2007 I read David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR. While he did not discuss LinkedIn in the first edition (there are currently 3 editions), he did open my eyes to the rapidly expanding influence of the new tools on the web. He opened them wide.

I took his guidance but applied it directly to LinkedIn, where I felt my market had the best chance of developing. By March 2007, I had only about 100 connections and was a member of 2 or 3 groups.

After reading David's book, I developed a simple LinkedIn strategy and started working.

By early 2008, I started writing and speaking about using LinkedIn for B2G. Anecdotally, at this time maybe 10% of those in my audience when I was speaking were on LinkedIn. Today, it is not under 90% in any business venue. Coincidentally, as I was writing and speaking about this tool, the  growth curve of LinkedIn started on a significant upward trend. I am not claiming responsibility for that growth, but I was addressing the subject at an opportune time, well before many others.

Since 2008, I have written over 75 articles and blog posts and have presented nearly 150 public and private seminars, speeches and coaching sessions on LinkedIn.  Both talking and writing about LinkedIn makes me work harder at being good at using it. When I talk about LinkedIn I will often get questions that make me think hard before I answer. Sometimes the answer is, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

Between the fall of 2010 and summer of 2011 LinkedIn hit its tipping point and went from a "nice to be on" to a "must be on"  social network. In 2012, 5.7 billion searches were conducted on LinkedIn, and it averaged 160 million unique visitors a month. The GovCon market is now on LinkedIn in big numbers, federal employees and managers and almost all of the major contractors. There are hundreds of groups for this community.

According to Alexa.com, LinkedIn is one of the most visited sites on the web, almost always ranking in the top 15 sites with the most traffic.

LinkedIn is a great tool, but it is not a panacea. Scott talked about many new tools in New Rules, but he also emphasized generating pertinent content. Content is something I’ve been talking and writing about for over 20 years. Having new places to share pertinent content was great.

To further educate myself and others on the potential of social networking I started writing The Waldo Factor posts on 8/30/11. I started the series for several reasons, among them are to:

-          demonstrate the importance of generating pertinent content

-          show where and how you could share the content in venues that pay dividends

-          prove that by doing so, both your credibility and visibility would rise

-         validate that LinkedIn is the premier venue for connecting and sharing for business professionals. Good-to-great content leads directly to really good connections.

Here is the first Waldo post from 8/30/11. I find it more valid today then when I  first wrote it.

Here’s the scene, and I think we’ve all been here: You are at a conference and the person on stage speaking to 1,000+ people is somewhere between adequate and pretty good, but you are thinking he/she is not as good as you. My usual thought is along the lines of “where did they dig up this clown, and why is he/she talking about last year’s hot ideas as if they were new?”

So why is that person on the stage and you are sitting, frustrated, in the audience? What got them up there and not you?

While there are no easy answers to that question, the biggest factor is they are better known for what they do than you are. It may be because they wrote a book or some articles, they had some other speaking engagements, they were recommended by someone advising the event, or maybe they “knew somebody” or probably some combination of these and other factors.

Somehow they were able to get in front of the right people at the right time and get the speaking engagement.

Regardless of the factors that created the situation, the fact is they are on the stage and you are in the audience. People are looking at and listening to them, and you are one of those faceless people in the crowd. Again, we've all been there.

Think of the person on the stage as Point B, and you as Point A. How do you get from Point A to Point B?

In the book series Where's Waldo, a tall guy with glasses dressed in blue pants, a red and white striped shirt and matching hat is always somewhere in a scene so crowded with other things and other people that it is hard to find him. The reader’s (really, viewer, as there are no words) job is to find Waldo.

In the speaking scenario above, the only person easy to find is the person on the stage. Unless you are wearing a red and white striped shirt with a matching hat, you will be hard to pick out in that audience. That's not usually the way you want to stand out in a business crowd.

Your job is to intellectually stand out and stand apart in your business niche, and to be easily found by those who need to find you because of your expertise. Only then the people you want to meet and know will have an interest in knowing you and having as part of their online and offline network.

Growth in any market niche is predicated on building relationships with key influencers in that niche, and then becoming an influencer in that niche. Those influencers can include prospects, partners, press, investors, C-level execs and others influential in your market.

To build the relationships and maximize your presence, you need to develop credibility in your market, then build your visibility. Visibility without credibility has no value or worse, negative value.

Credibility is developed by being good at what you do and working at getting better, being among the best at what you do, and adding value to the community. Then you find ways to share some of your knowledge and opinions with others.

Once you start this process, you are already creating visibility, but it is necessary to continue to build your knowledge base as you expand your visibility. Markets evolve and you must evolve with them to retain your credibility.

Traditionally we have face-to-face events for networking, seminars and conferences where we share or receive knowledge, publications where we read, write or be quoted. These are still excellent venues.

But wait!!! There's more!

With the advent of web 2.0 tools, we have the ability to either bypass traditional methods or enhance them by incorporating them into our web-based activity.

For business professionals, LinkedIn has become an incredibly valuable tool for developing credibility and visibility. Your ability to stand out in a crowd is now predicated on your ability use both the traditional and web-based tools and coordinate the activity between them to make you among the most “findable" experts in your niche. Think of it as "findability".

So here is the initial equation:

credibility + visibility = findability.

There are several examples and one great example is Steve Ressler, founder of GovLoop.

Steve was a government IT analyst and program manager at the Department of Homeland Security. While working for the government, on his own time he co-founded Young Government Leaders, which has become a great networking venue for the next generation of public managers.

Then in 2008, Steve started the online community for Feds, GovLoop (“by for and about Feds - the Facebook for government”).

Steve's use of social media, which also led to being featured in traditional media, is a great example of what can happen if you develop an expertise and share your ideas. Along the way he won acclaim and awards from industry groups and trade publications, leading to even more visibility.

Steve stays active through GovLoop, Young Government Leaders and mainly by sharing ideas in as many forums as possible.

None of this happened overnight for Steve, and it all required hard work.

We don't all need industry-wide visibility, but most of us need visibility within a defined niche. And the tactics to gain that visibility are basically the same:

1- be good at what you do and work hard at staying good;

2- find the venues where those in your niche congregate, both online and offline venues, and get involved;

3- participation in these venues involves helping with events, working in special interest groups, developing and sharing ideas, commenting on other ideas, etc;

4- always be on the lookout for ways to share with others who would be interested.

Credibility, visibility and findability are truly keys to success.

 

LinkedIn's Tipping Point (The Waldo Factor, part 16)

LinkedIn announced on January 9 that it had reached 200 million members.

LinkedIn launched in May 2003 and was on a slow growth curve for several years. By Q1 2009 LinkedIn had reached 36 million members; Q1 2010, 64 million; Q1 2011, 102 million; Q1 2012, 161 million; and Q1, 2013 it reached 200 million - with 74 million in the U.S.

An article by Wyatt Kash came out earlier this week from AOLGov and highlighted the results of a Forrester study commissioned by LinkedIn. The study looked at the role of social media in the IT buying process.

Among the results :  "That 85% of those surveyed have used at least one social network for business was not surprising. What was surprising, said (Mike) Weir, was that three out of four had engaged directly with an IT vendor through a social network. (Also not a surprise: 95% of IT decision makers report using LinkedIn.)

What's evolved over the past two years, however, said Weir, is the extent to which the use of social networks has grown from a way for professionals to connect with their peers, into something deeper and more dynamic." (from the AOLGov article)

http://gov.aol.com/2013/01/08/social-media-networks-gain-greater-role-in-it-decisions/

The article goes on: "The study, which polled 400 IT decision makers across North America, asked what's causing IT decisions to turn to social networks? According to their responses:

• 58% said to learn from trusted peers
• 49% said to access a broader network of peers
• 40% said to quickly find reliable information
• 37% said networks provide relevant context to connect with vendors."

Rather than keep quoting from the article, I suggest you read it, and I'll get to my point: what was the tipping point for LinkedIn? When did it cease to be a place where you had a profile and visited occasionally and become the site that gets 160 million unique visitors each month?

When did people start using LinkedIn to seriously share information and build communities?

The reality is, since the first groups were formed this has been happening. The numbers simply increased year-over-year until sometime between late 2010 year and mid/late 2011 when critical mass occurred. I base this purely on empirical observation, being a perpetual monitor of LinkedIn from a GovCon perspective.

I have monitored the growth of key groups in our market and to an extent I have monitored the discussions. There are some groups with many discussions, but not all are germane. The better groups are well-managed and the discussions can be lively and have multiple participants.

The activity in the groups I belong to has been improving in both quality and quantity. The membership in some key groups has been growing as well.

LinkedIn can be a sales tool, a business development tool, and most certainly a marketing tool.

But the major function is communtiy builder.

There are three types of people: those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who wonder what happened. Need to get better on LinkedIn and make things happen? Attend my LinkedIn for Government Contractors seminar February 19. Use code "GMM" for a 20% discount.

https://www.govevents.com/details/5422/linkedin-for-government-contractors

Highlights from Past & Upcoming Presentations on Leveraging LInkedIn (The Waldo Factor, part 15)

During my July 2008 Government Marketing Best Practices seminar I stated that publications and associations without a robust social networking presence were going to loose marketshare. The same certainly applies to businesses.

I made that statement because by mid 2008 social networks had evolved to the point of becoming important in information sharing and the government trade publications were ignoring them completely.

Since that time groups on LinkedIn like Carl Dickson's Business Development group, Peter Weishaar's GSA & VA Schedule group, and my Government Market Master group have grown into successful online communities largely because they are each well-managed and each provide an active forum where information from GovCon professionals is shared and commented on regularly.

There are several other good groups, but I think these three stand out. These communities have become a vital part of the information sharing ecosystem among professionals that is making "old media" fall behind.

In 2012 over half of my 20+ public presentations either included or focused on leveraging LinkedIn. Further, more than half of my over 60 in-house presentations and webinars also focused on LinkedIn.

Why?

Because LinkedIn has become the major hub on online networking for the Government Contracting community. And the GovCon community is here because the government buyers, influencers and managers are here.

Developing and  managing relationships is the true core of success in this market.

In an era where government travel and event participation is down, online networking becomes even more critical.

So here are a few recurrent highlights and tips to think about.

1: It all begins with a good-to-great profile.

A profile is not a presence. A profile with little or no information is worthless, as people viewing the profile have absolutely no reason to connect with you or even remember you.

2: If your photo makes you look like a hooker, psycho, or party animal, you lose credibility.

This happens more frequently than you might think. Prime contractors and government buyers don't need to know about cleavage or your drinking habits. They want to see someone they can rely on.

As we are all visual learners, our eyes go to the photo first. If your photo does not show you in a positive light, your credibility suffers immediately.

This is a professional network, so present yourself in a professional manner.

3: The headline under your name is valuable real estate and should not simply reiterate your current job title.

The headline should be used to highlight the skill you bring to the market, not simply repeat one of the next things that appears on your profile. It should grab the attention of the viewer and encourage them to read more.

4: Groups are there not simply to join, but for participation.

Groups are communities where people of similar interests gather online to share articles, ideas, and opinions. they are superb venues for raising your visibility to a targeted niche by offering your thoughts and opinions.

Among the other changes, LinkedIn removed the applications and plans to replace them with rich media feeds. Stay tuned for that...

There are many ways to leverage LinkedIn to raise visibility for you and your company. Simply being there is not enough.

Those without a robust social networking presence will lose marketshare in direct proportion to their social networking inactivity.

My next LinkedIn for Contractors seminar is February 19 at Capitol College. This 4 hour session is the extended version of my LinkedIn Blackbelt Workshop. Drop me a line for details. markamtower@gmail.com or register here
https://www.govevents.com/details/5422/linkedin-for-government-contractors


I will also be speaking about LinkedIn at the

APMP dinner speaker series January 16:
http://www.apmpnca.org/events/events/january-16th-speaker-series/

and the NVTC breakfast February 22:
http://www.nvtc.org/events/geteventinfo.php?event=BUSDEVL-60

Learning Linkedin from a "Black Belt"

One of my clients recently attended a "Become a LinkedIn Expert" seminar where the instructor was not able to answer several basic questions posed during and after the session.

Kind of makes you go "Hmmmm..."

Whenever I see an announcement for a LinkedIn seminar, I look at the profile of the presenter. Rarely do I find see a profile that tells me this is someone who should be the instructor of the course.

My LinkedIn headline reads "Leading GovCon consultant, luncheon & keynote speaker, author & columnist, LinkedIn Blackbelt & sensei, radio host."

I don't make any of these claims lightly. I work hard at consulting, speaking, writing, interviewing and being a LinkedIn sensei.

When I coach individuals and companies on maximizing the value of LinkedIn, one area I spend time focusing on is the "headline", that area right under your name. If you do not edit this area, the default for the headline is your job title, which shows up on your profile a little further on. Rather than re-state the job title, I suggest emphasizing the skills you bring to the niche you serve, positioning yourself as a subject matter expert or professional.

My headline highlights five skill areas: consulting, speaking, writing, radio show (interviewing), and Linkedin skills.

The question about the headline that people ask most is how I got a Black Belt in LinkedIn.

The short answer is that it is self-awarded.

Several martial art disciplines were started by those who went out on their own. Although I gave it to myself, it was earned the traditional way: long hours, weeks, months of practice, developing the skills necessary to excel.

I have been on LinkedIn almost none years, since February 11, 2004, long before most people knew it existed. I am member # 222,445. To put this in perspective, I joined LinkedIn the week after Facebook was started at Harvard.

Although an early adopter, I did not adapt until 2007, when I read a book which changed my attitude about social networking: David Meerman Scott's the New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Scott's New Rules propelled me into the world of social networking so much so that he has been a guest on my radio show (see my headline...) 4 times, most recently just a few weeks back, discussing his new book, Newsjacking. My copies of  his books are highlighted and tabbed, and referred to regularly.

Mr Scott is a true social media guru and his books have been translated into dozens of languages and sold tens of millions of copies.  They are also fun to read.

But until early 2012 he was not on LinkedIn. He had explained to me that he wanted to be very good at a few things, not OK at all. That made perfect sense, as his books were geared to the general public, not simply business people.

But when he was invited to keynote the international LinkedIn Summit in India and he had to get on LinkedIn and get acclimated pretty quick. In part, this is how he did it (this is his recommendation for me on LinkedIn):

In early 2012, Mark coached me on how to make my LinkedIn profile stand out. His ideas for improvement were personal for me (not canned) and while they made perfect sense the moment he said them, I was too close to my profile to see the need for change myself. The difference is dramatic and worth 100X what I paid Mark for the service. I'll most certainly hire Mark again for a LinkedIn profile tuneup or to learn how to become a power user. February 21, 2012 .

If you need to develop LinkedIn skills for yourself or your company, check references carefully before you hire someone.

Or you can attend one of my upcoming LinkedIn sessions at Capitol College. The next one is December 11. email me for details. mark@federaldirect.net

Here is a link to my latest interview with David Meerman Scott:

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/79/3095688/Marketing-in-the-social-media-age


And, btw, one of the visible results of getting active on LinkedIn and working hard at being good was being one of seven profiles selected as the best on LinkedIn in November of 2009. LinkedIn experts Mike O'Neil and Lori Ruff ran a contest, Rock the World with Your Online Presence (also a book) that asked Linkedin members to select and vote on the best profiles.

Sustainable Visibility (The Waldo Factor, part 14)

Make no mistake about it: government contracting is a relationship driven market. You have to become visible. You are known by the right people or you are not.

Attaining and maintaining visibility in the market niche you serve should be top of mind. There are several paths you can take, but be certain you take a path that adds value to the community on a regular basis. Do not take a path that is more hype than substance.

You have probably run across the concept of "personal branding" more than a few times over the past few years. Each of us wants to believe that we are important and that we add value. The outward reception of that premise is not a given until the outward perception aligns what we think and how the market perceives us.

Once these are in tandem - and until that alignment takes place, there is no guarantee that others will pay attention to anything we say, regardless of how or where we say it.

Personal branding has been embraced by many looking for short-cuts to fame and fortune, but without adequate substance (an associated product or service), it leads nowhere because there is nothing to "brand".

There are no short-cuts. It takes work and dedication, persistence and perspiration. You need something that resonates with the prospect audience you wish to influence.

Winning business in the government market, any market, is about being visible to the prospects, partners and influencers in the buying process, visible in a positive way on a regular basis. Showing up on the radar on an occasional basis is not good enough.

This does not mean you have to be on the radar of the entire market. In all likelihood your products or services are not needed by everyone. It does mean that you need to define your niche carefully and find multiple ways to become more visible to your niche in a perpetual manner.

The best way to get on and stay on the radar is to add value to your market niche in as many ways as possible. Finding, developing and delivering content is the best way to do this.

There are many venues for developing and delivering content. Among these venues are:

- blogs
- webinars
- video
- white papers
- podcasts
- starting and otherwise participating in discussions on social networks like LinkedIn
- speaking (large group, small group, one on one)

In order to add value, the content must be germane to those you seek to influence.

It is always about relationships: if they know you, they are more likely to buy from you. The more visible you are, the more likely it is they know you. The more good content you develop, find and share, the more your "net worth" rises in your niche.

Five Areas Contractors Need to Watch in 2013

Five Areas Contractors Need

to Watch in 2013

We live in interesting times.

There have been bad periods for government contractors several times in the 30 years I have been advising companies in this market, but beyond any doubt, these are the strangest and by far the worst of any I have seen.

To successfully stay ahead of the curve, to be as competitive as possible, certain activities must be monitored on a very regular basis. These activities require an investment, sometimes of time, sometimes of money or other resources, and sometimes a combination of several.

But make no mistake, these activities must be closely monitored if you are to remain or become successful.

1-      Careful attention must be paid to how your prospects and customers are being driven in their purchasing. Strategic sourcing is expanding; low-price, technically acceptable is the rallying cry of bean-counters inside OMB and elsewhere; and fixed-price contracting looms. Each of these have serious downsides for the government, but in their cyclic mind frame, they won’t figure this out for the next four or five years. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of companies will be removed from various GSA Schedules by then, and many of those will go out of business as a result. Study these issues carefully and be prepared to deal with each as it encroaches on your niche.

2-      ‘Fraud, waste and abuse’ is yet another rallying cry from those who have little or no clue as to what “common commercial practice” actually is. That does not remove it as a threat to the contracting community. Make certain you are getting the proper legal advice in all areas of contracting: pricing, partnering, prime/sub relations, audit and other activities which raise red flags inside IG offices. I am not saying that contract fraud does not exist, but I am certainly implying that over-zealous government lawyers often don't have a clue as to how the business world operates.

3-       All things “small business”. Small businesses continue to seek sub-contracting and other arrangements with primes, and primes seek to find competent sub-contractors for specific bids. With the number of bills in Congress impacting small business, in particular set-asides, both small and larger business must take into account all the rules impacting how they can work together. It does not appear that Congress, despite all their lip service, will make this easier for anyone. But keep in mind that missteps here can lead to #2 above.

4-      To get away from the pitfalls for a moment, let’s look at social networking. With the temporary demise of some major events sponsored by the government, new ways must be found to identify and influence prospective buyers and other influencers. LinkedIn is particularly well-suited to this task, and while many contractors are here, along with the governmental counterparts, few companies use LinkedIn to its maximum advantage. Invest in some training to see if you are among those missing this particular boat.

5-      Thought leadership has been a hot topic for a few years now, but like social networking, many really do not get what it means and how to develop a thought leadership platform. While many claim to be thought leaders, but few can substantiate the claim. Thought leadership is differentiation on steroids. It is the development of expertise in a niche subject area, and the sharing of that knowledge base in multiple venues throughout a defined community. And still, it is more. It is ultimately the acknowledgment of that community that you are among the thought leaders. You can learn the elements, but you never claim the status without broad recognition from the community.

There are other areas that may need to be monitored for you particular niche, but these five cut across the entire market.

Pay careful attention to the first three and start acting on the final two.

Best of fortunes in 2013.