Here are some of the areas I covered:

• How LinkedIn can assist you if you want to be make sure that you are found online for professional expertise
• Tips for optimising your professional LinkedIn profile so that it can attract leads for you
• Guidance on how to develop a network of strategic business contacts
• How to ensure you never lose the important connections you make on LinkedIn
• The most important rule you need to follow when using LinkedIn to represent your personal brand online or offline
• Ways to expand your network to support your personal and professional goals
• Guidance to boost your online visibility and your visibility to your LinkedIn network.

Just head over to the opt in page and leave your name and email address – make sure that you leave a valid email address as there is also a special offer that will be emailed to you – a discount off my forthcoming 4 week programme starting the 9 August 2010 called “LinkedIn for Business Leads and Profits”. The discount is valid until the 31 July 2010.

I have delivered this programme in workshops with clients but this is the first (and possibly only) time I will be delivering the programme online.

I was also recently interviewed on a national radio show about LinkedIn for business and career success – you can listen to the recording here.

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how professional services practices, consultants and coaches are using these popular social networks to attract leads, build their visibility and reputation online, and engage with prospects and clients.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

DATE:  10 June  2010
TIME:  2pm – 5.30pm
VENUE:  Clarion Hotel Dublin IFSC
INVESTMENT:  €100 for members and €150 for non-memberS (NOTE – this programme is subsidised).

This programme is particularly relevant for those consultants who are thinking of exploring social networking as part of their marketing and communications programme.

It is going to be a very ‘hands-on’ workshop so you are invited to bring your laptops so that you can immediately put into use what we cover in the workshop.

AGENDA

During the workshop we will cover:

-    Establishing  your goals and measuring the effectiveness of your online networking

-    How to develop your magnetic content marketing strategy that will position your consulting practice as thought leaders in your field to assist you in client attraction

-    Using Facebook for hyper targeted client attraction

-    Best practice use of Twitter to attract more leads and boost website traffic

-    How to leverage your LinkedIn profile to set up client meetings and build your online visibility and reputation.

HOW TO BOOK

There are still a few places left. You can download a booking form from here.

OTHER OPEN PROGRAMMES

As you may know, I deliver open programmes for a few organisations with most of my work being focused on digitial marketing and social media consulting. mentoring and training inside of organisations.

I have a few open programmes I am facilitating in the next few weeks – as an example if you are not a consultant or coach and are interested in Twitter and Facebook for Business training you can join me on 22 June 2010 when I am delivering a full day programme for the IIA and Irish Times Training in conjunction with Engineers Ireland.

And watch out for a few forthcoming FREE webinars taking place this month.

Recent research conducted on behalf of O2 in Ireland identified that 23% of SME executives are now members of a business or professional social media site.

• 18% had a profile on LinkedIn
• 15% have registered with Facebook
• 10% have a twitter account.
• 9% have a blog (up from 5% in 2009) and 13% os SME senior executives respond to blogs.

The study surveyed over 300 owners or director level executives in organisations employing between 1-250 people nationwide.

But are you confident that you profile and what you post on social media sites reflects what you want to be known for?

Recent research by Eurocom Worldwide and managed by Simpson FTPR has found that 37% of technology companies check out potential employees’ profiles on social media sites such Facebook or LinkedIn.

I was interviewed today by Al Dunne on 4FM about how to manage your connections for career success on social networks as a result of hearing about the Eurocom Worldwide survey– you can hear the interview here (note a correction in his statement – I am a contributor to the book mentioned not the overall author). Thanks to Simpson FT PR for suggesting my name to the show researcher for the interview.

The Eurocom Worldwide survey was conducted during January and February 2010 and surveyed 286 senior level executives in technology companies mostly across the European region (13% of respondents were from Irish technology firms).

The companies themselves also participated in social media and social networking sites:

• 72.9% are using LinkedIn
• 34.7% are using Facebook
• 23.3% are using YouTube
• 19.2% are using Plaxo
• 4% are using MySpace.

The Eurocom Worldwide survey also identified that just over a third (37%) of technology companies surveyed have a corporate blog, (33% had blogs in 2009)

The key reasons that the respondents gave for blogging were:

• 56% to improve interaction with customers
• 34% blog to raise their profile and thought leadership
• 5.7% to boost search engine optimisation
• 4.3% to participates in industry debates and issues.

The key reasons given by those technology companies surveyed who did not have a blog were:

• 38.9% – it is too time consuming
• 31.5% – do not see the value in it
• 15.7% – had never thought about it
• 13.9% – fear of a negative reaction or response.

Almost half (45%) of those surveyed expect to increase their budget on social media over the next 12 months and the means of increasing their social media spend was be:

• 27.7% – reallocation of part of the advertising budget
• 25.3% – reallocation of part of an existing PR budget
• 25.3% – unsure
• 21.7% – allocating an additional budget.

(Source for research: Simpson FT PR).

What actions are you planning in the year ahead in relation to implementing social media as part of your marketing and communications programme?

But what if the testimonial you receive is incorrect, or you want it to more accurately reflect what you did and who you worked for?

Or has the company name changed since you worked there due to a merger?

I was asked how to change the information in endorsements by someone in my network today – so here is a quick video about how to request changes to the endorsements that you receive through LinkedIn.

Well that’s the question I also put to Ronan Lyons and Irish Economist who I met at the Future Focus conference in Dublin a few months ago.

We caught up at the end of the conference so you will hear the contruction crew dismantling things around us – you’ll also notice my poor camera work for which I apologise. But if that gets in your way close your eyes when you turn on the video and listen to what Ronan has to say about the power of Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs to help you connect to thought leaders and to add value to your community.

Other resources that Ronan refers to are:

• Richard Florida
• Paul Krugman
• Brad DeLong
• The Irish Economy blog

In addition, this last weekend the Global Irish Economic Forum has just taken place – you can access the video archives of the event HERE and it would be remiss of me not to include Irish Economist David McWilliams who you will also find on Twitter and on YouTube.