Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Growing Your Business With a Dog Walk

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IMG_5136Every morning, I get up, drink my coffee, check my email and catch up on social media. Then I get dressed and Hank and I take a 25 minute walk through the neighborhood. It’s my favorite part of the day. Not because we get our wiggles out so we can be productive for the day, but it’s the time of the day without interruption. Before the chaos of my inbox and meetings and clients gets going, I get to think.
I usually spend this time working on a problem. I might have a client project that I need to mull over. I may have a crazy day and need to think through the logistics of getting it all done. I may need to get out all the snarky comments so I can send a professional and appropriate email response when I return. Sometimes it’s personal, sometimes it’s business, sometimes it’s a client, sometimes it’s my company.
When Hank and I get back from our walk, we’re both ready to go for the day. He’ll calm down and sleep all day (and hopefully not snore) and I have my action plan ready to go. It’s the most valuable time of the day, and has led to great inspiration! And when I need to throw something? Duh- off to the dog park we go!

What do you do for your “processing” time?

Ask Yellow Dog: LinkedIn Endorsements

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imgresI received this email today from a friend of mine:

What is the etiquette for endorsing people on LinkedIn?

Is it merely to gain more brownie points with someone you want attention from?

Is it to attract those people who are reviewing someone’s profile?

And here was my response:

LinkedIn Endorsements- honestly, no idea. I typically DON’T endorse people, especially those I don’t know/haven’t talked to in a couple of years. It’s super obnoxious and I’m trying to decide if I should turn it off (which is an option) or if that’ll hurt my SEO/search results in LI. But, I think it’s just a popularity contest and pretty ridiculous.

I obviously haven’t turned off my endorsements yet, but it did get me thinking- what’s the deal here? You can already see how many connections I have, NOW you want those folks to tell others how awesome I am at certain things? Isn’t that the job of my profile? Yes I get that it’s helpful, but I have not placed any stock in the endorsements I receive or those I see others receiving. It seems similar to the Twitter idea of “I follow you, so you’ll follow me back and we’ll inflate our numbers together!” Kind of useless.

Instead, I suggest you have a really great LinkedIn profile page. A professional headshot (your kid is cute, but does she run the company?), a comprehensive bio, and a thoughtful work history. Make recommendations of individuals because they did great work, not because they’ll write one in response (which we all know is nice).

LinkedIn is ramping up their efforts and updating their engagement strategy. Just because they are, doesn’t mean you have to. Hopefully they continue to make it easy for us to make updates and add details and work history. Don’t worry about doing everything all the time. Make sure you’re hitting the pieces you want and that work for you. And if the endorsements aren’t your thing, turn them off, or hit ignore when they pop up, like I do.

Consistency with your Social Media

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imagesI recently started work with a new client. I noticed that the company has a Foursquare location claimed, which is great. When I mentioned that setting up a special there would be a good idea, the response was “I haven’t looked at that in ages!”

DO IT. Social media is great, but you have to be consistent. Make sure you’re checking your social media platforms regularly. Here’s my suggestions:

Facebook: check daily. You may not post to it daily, but you need to login every day to see if people are commenting/tagging/etc and make sure to respond as needed.

Twitter: Check Daily. Make sure to answer any DM’s (that aren’t spam) and reply to tweets. I recommend tweeting at least daily and using different content from FB.

LinkedIn: Weekly. This one you need to make sure you’re keeping up on invite requests, and a lot of folks still use LinkedIn to communicate with people. So keep an eye on it so you  remember who those people are you’re connecting with. A LinkedIn Company page should be updated when you add new services.

Google+ Business Page: Make sure you have one of these. you can’t auto-post to them from most places (like blog posts or newsletters) but you can go in and manually post. Google wants you to ENGAGE with people in real time, not schedule it.

Foursquare: Monthly at LEAST. You only need a Foursquare account if you have a physical location. Make sure you’re keeping an eye on people writing tips & if it makes sense to offer a special then make sure to check in often and update or refresh the special!

YouTube/Pinterest/Yelp/everything else: Yeah, I have no idea. That’s not really true, but the above are the big 5 I think are worth keeping an eye on!