linkedin

How does a design and manufacturing company in rural Ohio find itself receiving $100,000 worth of consulting? Recently I had the opportunity to talk with someone that most would not guess to be an innovator in using social networking for business purposes. From the onset of our conversation, he talked about how his town, Gnadenhutten, located in eastern Ohio, is the second oldest established settlement and oldest permanent settlement in the state’s history. A town of 1,300 found in Tuscarawas County, Gnadenhutten’s largest employer is the local school district, followed by Tusco Display.

Target Audience

• Workshop is intended for entry level social networkers. Attendees will have minimal experience with any social network. Most likely have a LinkedIn account but rarely use it. Some have Facebook accounts but those who do use Facebook do so socially, not professionally. Very few use or understand Twitter.

Guidelines

When giving presentations or workshops, I ask the participants if they have a profile on LinkedIn and if so who has used LinkedIn to request an intro to a specific individual.    Most folks immediately joke that they have a profile but it is only 40 (or some number other than 100) percent complete.

I also ask participants if they have a profile on Facebook and if so, who has uploaded their organization’s contact list.  As you can see below, folks are likely to have a profile but are a) not using LinkedIn to strategically expand their network and b) not using Facebook professionally.

Chicago – Net Tuesday    DC – New America Fdn    Cbus – Ohio Small Biz Dev Ctrs
LinkedIn profile              70%                                  100%                                100%  

Request intro                 20%                                  13%                                   41%   

Facebook                      77%                                   53%                                  100%   

Uploaded org contacts  35%                                 37%                                    8%    

Participants will learn how to make even greater use of networking
tools to promote their organization, business, project or self. 
Participants will discover applications within LinkedIn and Facebook
while also learning the value of Plaxo and Twitter.  Prerequisite 101
or prior use of LinkedIn and Facebook. 

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