I’ve developed a teenage style crush. I can’t stop thinking about what might be for us, how good a pair we will make. I didn’t mean to talk about this in my latest entry, but sometimes it helps to talk about it doesn’t it? I’m a little ashamed that I have only just noticed them, but I have only recently started to focus my thoughts in this area, so it’s not surprising I haven’t really got what they’re about.
It came about yesterday when Tim showed me his presentation which he is doing in a few weeks time at the Family Business Conference in Perth, and suddenly there it was. Hello LinkedIn, let me introduce myself and blush wildly that I am only just wanting to get to know you now. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve known about it for sometime, I’ve even shared my details but I haven’t stopped to chat and get to know it better. I’ve looked for colleagues and found them and then gone….so what now? This is not the crowd to share my weekend activities with or be clever with in 140 characters so what’s the point?
So here’s the thing with me. I tend to not want to catch on very quickly. I like to make really sure I understand what it can do for me (or my business / customers) before I’ll give it more than a cursory investigation. I tend to always look for the content hook first and when I find it I want to read about it obsessively. Which is what happened. I found Groups on LinkedIn and now I can’t get enough. I spent yesterday afternoon swimming around in LinkedIn until my toes went wrinkly. And it’s a content heaven. People are really working this thing and it makes me want to really work it too. And it’s free.
Being new to the world of owning my own business and now realising I am also still new to Perth in terms of my connections this is the most perfect place for people to get to know what I’m about and for me to see what’s being talked about. If you want to position yourself as a thought-leader in your space / industry / subject then you have a ready made audience right there waiting for you and you don’t even need to force the introduction. It’s Yellow Pages on speed. And it’s free
My friend and neighbour works for one of Perth’s premier bike courier companies (B2B) and they are launching a new campaign around how their bike service makes a positive environmental impact as well as being significantly quicker than waiting around in Perth traffic. I’m going to introduce her to LinkedIn because they want their brand to become known as being environmentally conscious amongst Perth business owners.
And then I am thinking about our upcoming Universities Australia Marketing, Communications & Development conference and the opportunity to network with far flung colleagues and fellow speakers before we all arrive in September.
So hence the fact that I needed to talk about this crush, so I can hopefully now start to move into the more practical thinking stages rather than just fantasising. I’ll share Tim’s slides with you when he is done next month, providing I have not already transferred my affections elsewhere……….