Tuesday 5 April 2016

LinkedIn Tip # 24 - Endorsements vs Recommendations?

What value do endorsements have when people endorse you without even knowing you?

Have you noticed that many times you receive a connection request and immediately after you accept, the new connection endorses you for every specialty you have?

What use is it to receive these endorsements?

Let me share a story to explain the value of endorsements on LinkedIn.

I was invited by LinkedIn to attend a major conference they were holding in Vancouver a few years ago. I was excited to attend because first of all, it was free and second I wanted to meet all the local gurus that I had met online and at networking groups.

When the day of the event arrived, I enthusiastically entered the large conference center in downtown Vancouver. It was gorgeous, on the water, sunshine, light breeze blowing, many people arriving!

As I started looking around the room, I did not see many of the so-called LinkedIn gurus that I knew. Perhaps there were 5 or 6 that I knew. The rest of the audience was totally new to me.

Here is what happened!

At the end of the day, as the LinkedIn presenters wrapped up their presentation of all the latest features of LinkedIn, suddenly my headshot appeared on the huge video screens at the front of the room!

Shock! What was this all about?!

The person on the podium announced, "Would Christine Till please come up! We have an award for you!"

Of course I jumped up and approached the stage?

As I approached the stage, they announced that I was receiving an award for having the most endorsements of anyone in British Columbia!

More shock! I could not believe my ears!

Big lesson!

Here I had thought all along that endorsements had little or no value and that they were pretty much bogus things to have, but this experience demonstrated to me the true value of accepting endorsements and allowing people to find great things to compliment me on, and that I should be more open to doing the same.

Today I endorse people every day, multiple times a day. Here is my caveat: I endorse the people I know and/or have done business with, or have had recommended to me by someone I trust.

Mind you, the written recommendation still carries more weight, because that means someone has taken time to actually type out how they have felt about doing business with you. These are the best by far.

There is a secret when it comes to written recommendations. Never ask for a written recommendation on LinkedIn! Be pro-active and write one for the people you do business with first. People love to receive a glowing compliment in writing that is heart-felt and honest. Then guess what happens? They feel inspired to write one for you!

In all the years I have been using LinkedIn, I have never asked for recommendations from anyone. I now have over 200 written recommendations on LinkedIn. They have all come to me from people who responded to my recommendation that I sent to them first.

So the next time you are wondering what else you can do with LinkedIn, sit down and write some recommendations for the people you have done business with. They will love you for it, and write you one back.

It is all part of building your brand and making money on LinkedIn.

Endorsements and Recommendations keep your face in front of your audience, so the next time someone on LinkedIn needs what you have to offer, they will think of you first.

For more tips book into our series of complimentary webinars. The next one is April 12th at 4pm Mountain Time.

Christine Till
The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com


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