Do profile views on linkedin count…
I love linkedin.
Actually let me start again, I love some parts of linkedin, the connectivity it gives you to people you might not be able to talk to, the ability to see where that bloke you went to school with has actually gone and where that sales director you once worked for finally finished up. My love of linkedin means that I embrace it, send me a connection request and I’ll connect (as long as you look like you are real) happily. I do that as it improves my search results, increases collaboration and brings more people to read my blog posts. Linkedin for me is all about the connection, sharing information, doing favours, introducing A to B with no direct gain apart from Karma points that I will get a return on one day.
I am in Linkedin all the time, not in a time wasting facebook style but with a structured plan. Ten minutes and a coffee and I can do several things, connect with some new people, read some articles and check out who is looking at me. Which leads me neatly to my post.
I recently posted an amazing fact. Amazing in my world anyway. You see I am (for the last seven days anyway) the most viewed linkedin profile in Symantec. As I write this there are 22,006 Symantec profiles and I am the most viewed. Not the CEO, COO, CMO etc. but little old me, armed with a fairly standard ‘non recruiter’ account, using linkedin pretty much as it was intended.
So how can this be?
Well firstly I am reasonably well connected. Going back to what I said earlier I happily connect with real people although I know this is not the norm. I recently had an email exchange with someone who I had been introduced to by a friend. They wouldn’t connect until I had met them for a sales meeting and for them to listen to the benefits of their new product. Sadly we are not connected and I have not met. People take the whole thing far too seriously.
Anyway, back on track.
Me. No.1 viewed Symantec profile on Linkedin.
So we have established I am well connected with c4500 connections, but I know some of my colleagues have more, so it has to be more than that. So not pure volume an element of quality as well counts. I suspect though ‘quality’ in this context means like minded people who are into Linkedin as much as me. When I posted that I was the 2 most viewed Symantec profile, 1400 people viewed it, that is more than 30% of my connections. Can you imagine doing some advertising on google with a click through rate of 30%? We would all be billionaires.
So we need some quantity, some quality to our connections but what else? I would like to think it is the quality of the content, that people look at my profile because I have said something interesting, shared something they like. Does that suggest more senior people in the organisation aren’t doing that though? In my mind CMO’s, COO’s etc. have more opportunity to share. Their name goes out on press releases, webinars and financial announcements. All of those activities drive traffic to Linkedin, so it must be more than that.
So as ever, let me know what you think, your own position on linkedin and why you think you have got there.
Do add comments below and share this post with your colleagues.
Talk soon M.
This blog will also appear at http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140528132015-957515-do-profile-views-on-linkedin-count
About
I have a background in executive search and selection, headhunting and senior level recruitment combined with people and business management experiences. My focus has always been on the IT services, technology and management consultancy sectors on a permanent and interim basis where I have developed a personal portfolio that covers areas such as EVP, social recruitment and the successful creation of talent pools as well the management and leadership of corporate talent acquisition teams. I am an avid blogger, writer, public speaker and traveller of trains across the UK.
In addition I am available from June 2014 for permanent or interim roles – http://www.linkedin.com/in/martindangerfield for more details. Follow me here or twitter @MDangerfield.