Season 1 Episode 11. Social Proof on LinkedIn

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In this weeks episode I tackle one of the most important aspects of using social media – social proof.

(Wikipedia definition)

This article from TechCrunch provides a good broad description of what social proof is;

Social proof is the new marketing

With regards to LinkedIn social proof can come in many forms – who you are connected to, who you follow, what you say in comments on updates, what articles you like, skill endorsements, which groups you are a member of and what you are seen to be doing in groups.

The most common, effective form of social proof on LinkedIn however are Recommendations.

Recommendations are testimonials written by people who you are connected to and show on your profile and provide a direct link back to the profile of the individual that wrote the recommendation.

In this episode I discuss a friend of mine called Matt and the genuine benefit he has obtained from having excellent recommendations in his profile, here are a few examples from his profile.

Matt has over 100 recommendations and the vast majority of them are of this quality!

Here are my guidelines for successful recommendations;

• Only ever seek a recommendation from a highly credible source. This means that the person who writes the recommendation must be seen as credible in the eyes of those you wish to impress.
• Always ask in person
• Never reciprocate the recommendation
• Accept the recommendation at a time of day when it is most likely to be seen by others.
• If someone does not write the recommendation when they said they would then send a request through LinkedIn. This is done from your own profile as seen below;

 

 

 

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