How Sharing More Business Related Questions on LinkedIn Can Create Opportunities
A story about how social media helped me achieve my dream of visiting LinkedIn Headquarters in San Francisco.
Using social media features, such as LinkedIn Group messages to experts, Facebook messenger, and Twitter direct messages to friends, helped me find someone that could make a connection to the LinkedIn HQ.
Yes, I made my intentions public and visualized that it would work.
I felt that it would happen and I trusted my guts—and it all worked thanks to a single LinkedIn post.
As an independent LinkedIn trainer, consultant, and international speaker, how could I miss the opportunity to visit LinkedIn while traveling to California? Yes, you got it—now here’s the story.
In October 2016 I booked a two week vacation in beautiful San Diego, California. My heart belongs on those sandy shores with my toes in the sand and a chilly breeze passing through my hair. It’s simply magical and a wonderful place.
I bought an event ticket to the Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, March 22-24, 2017, the largest social media conference (more than 3000 attendees and 120 speakers). This event had previous changed my private and business life in 2015.
Social media marketing, building relationships, and getting visibility by sharing and engaging with friends, partners, and new acquaintances is a passion of mine. Social networking leads to new opportunities and opens doors. Who can relate?
I started asking my community on social media through direct messages and conversations to see if there was a way for me to visit LinkedIn— but it did not work.
I needed a new idea or a different way to connect.
An idea came to my mind that I picked up from my US connections on the LinkedIn news feed. They were asking for help—something that I don’t see Swiss people do very often.
The Swiss culture differs from the US. We like to be neutral, we prefer to message, write an e-mail or even make a phone call. Asking for help on LinkedIn publicly is huge for most of us—but why not give it a try?
I started by reaching out to Jacob Warwick Think Warwick, my business partner and a copywriter in San Francisco. I told him that I’d like to ask for help on the LinkedIn newsfeed. His answer was an immediate yes—and encouraged me to make a post. Jacob even sent me three pictures that he took while working from San Francisco and I could choose one to help my post stand out. Fantastic!
The post I shared on the LinkedIn news stream attracted a handful of helpful comments and connection opportunities.
Three of the six comments stood out most, included a comment from Jared DiVincentFounder/Owner of SocialCompass, who mentioned that he could open the door for a visit to LinkedIn. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
I met Jared in 2015 at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego. Great to see a friend helping.
Jacob tagged two LinkedIn experts he knows. This gave me a chance to connect with them and learn more.
I didn’t know Eddie, but he wrote a fun comment to get the LinkedIn CEOs attention.
Complete post with all the comments.
You never know who will see your LinkedIn post and who is available to help you.
Turns out, Jared could make an introduction at LinkedIn—thank you, thank you, Jared, I’m so grateful.
He sent me a LinkedIn message on March 22, 2017 confirming that a tour had been set up at LinkedIn in San Francisco—and that I would hear from Matthew, a LinkedIn representative.
Then, Jared openly reached his friend Roman, who happened to work at LinkedIn in New York City, and Roman made the connection. Talk about using your network. Everyone went out of their way to help me, all from a single LinkedIn post.
Three days before I flew back to Zurich, Switzerland, I got an e-mail from Matthew at LinkedIn. I was with my friend, Viraja Prema Emotional Life Coach, in my beach hotel room in energized Encinitas, San Diego.
We celebrated and I had a big smile on my face—yeeess!
The next day I spoke with Matthew to discuss details. I booked the flight and flew from San Diego to San Francisco.
Hello LinkedIn – I’m Here
The following morning, there I was! Standing in front of the building at 222, 2nd street. Wow, so huge and very modern. When I spoke to the reception, I felt so good. I was so happy and I was telling myself that it is real. I’m there!
They had me sign in electronically—cool!
Matthew from the Talent Acquisition team welcomed me and thanked me for being a LinkedIn Ambassador.
He was pleased to hear that I’m a speaker, that I write LinkedIn articles in Swiss magazines, I was invited to talk at TheShow.Live, host Mitch Jackson, on April 26 2017 and that I was recently featured in the INC business magazine in social influencer, Rebekah Radice‘s new column.
Here are some of the photos I took on my tour
Boardroom with employee live streaming meetings – connecting employees globally. LinkedIn is using the latest technology which I like a lot.
An art wall along the meeting rooms – makes it lively.
The LinkedIn Culture Attracts Talent
It’s the culture which attracts employees Matthew said. A modern workplace, free drinks, and delicious food, daily homemade ice cream, and latte macchiato from the Barista. That isn’t bad, right?
The energy and the atmosphere were awesome.
I recommend sharing photos of your office on your LinkedIn company page and on your personal profile visuals. Be sure to share behind the scenes and event pictures to highlight your culture.
The culture always attracts the employees.
A one-hour business meeting discussing the latest trends and my feedback on how LinkedIn could make the users and a LinkedIn consultant life’s happier. I also got a souvenir LinkedIn mug!
I told them that an information release of new features, a newsletter, or more frequent blog posts would help all LinkedIn users. An early release of updates and information and a live chat for LinkedIn trainers would be fantastic. This would help our clients and also LinkedIn. So a win-win.
A hyperlink to a website – www.kessler-socialmedia.com – on the background graphic would be a dream come true to help your visitors learn more about you. I’d also like the profile background graphic to be wider.
Hopefully LinkedIn will implement a few ideas and features soon.
Due to LinkedIn’s confidentiality policy, Matthew could not answer all the questions.
Stand out with visuals and write articles, articles, articles to position yourself.
Since I’m back in Zurich I spoke at several events for recruiting solutions and employer branding and shared the latest LinkedIn trends from the United States to Swiss entrepreneurs, organizations, recruiters, and job seekers.
Thank you so much, Jared and Jacob, for helping me and open the door. Thanks so much Roman and Matthew from LinkedIn to make it possible. It was a fantastic experience where I enjoyed very interesting discussions and learned more about the US culture and talent trends.
The key takeaway?
Share more business related posts with questions—and don’t be afraid to ask for help. You may be surprised at what your network can do for you.
I hope that I inspired you to share on the LinkedIn news stream. Your friends, community or a LinkedIn user you don’t know can help you. Try it out.
Do you have the courage? What’s your business dream you might want to share on LinkedIn? Please share in the comment below, thanks.
What’s next for my clients and community?
I will continue to share my latest experiences and trends while speaking globally and helping my clients, CEO’s, Corporate enterprises, entrepreneurs, and professionals to support their goals on LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this article, please share with your community.
Erica Kessler is the founder and CEO of Kessler Social Media.
A LinkedIn marketing strategist, trainer, and international speaker. Erica empowers and consults business people, companies in Switzerland and English speaking countries to boost influence, earn more business, identify potential clients, and find top talent using LinkedIn marketing.