What is one creative way to use LinkedIn for lead generation?”

LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting professionally, finding work and sharing content. But have you ever thought of using LinkedIn for lead generation?

We asked 13 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to explain their best tips and tricks for taking full advantage of the career based site:

​1. Introduce Yourself

“If you feel comfortable enough with the relationship to make a connection with someone on LinkedIn, feel free to go through his contacts. Copy and paste a short list of names you’d like to be introduced to, and message him asking if he would be willing to make a quick introduction for you to each of them. Include a blurb the person can use to do so. It’s a quick way to get warm intros.” ~ Darrah Brustein, Finance Whiz Kids | Equitable Payments

2. Participate in Discussions

“There are targeted discussion groups on LinkedIn for almost every niche imaginable. These are typically full of people looking for support and answers. Give your expert knowledge freely, and start relationships in these groups — you’ll quickly become a go-to source and will generate new leads for your business. “ ~ Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes

3. Search for Connections

“A Boolean search on Google is an amazing way to source leads based on keywords in LinkedIn. In the Google search bar, simply type in your string, which could be something like: site: www.linkedin.com AND (“keyword 1″ OR “keyword 2″) AND (Seattle OR Tacoma). Hit search, and all the people on LinkedIn that match those conditions will show up. “ ~ Ronnie Castro, Porch

4. Find Common Interests

“There’s a very cool function within the group settings so that you can send free messages to any member of that group, regardless if you’re connected with them. You can join up to 50 groups, so maximize that limit with groups of people or prospects you want to connect with. Make sure that you provide a mutual benefit for both parties when you message potential connections. “ ~Andrew Vest, Preferling

5. Use Flattery

“One tactic I used a lot, especially when reaching out to other startups, was to compliment their business. I would say that I thought there were interesting ways for us to work together. It sounds stupidly simple, but it’s extremely effective. I’ve closed hundreds of deals reaching out cold via LinkedIn with this technique or slight variations.” ~ Carlo Cisco, FoodFan

6. Collect Leads

“LinkedIn Ads actually has an optional feature called Lead Collection. This feature allows advertisers to collect leads directly through their LinkedIn ad campaigns. Members who click on your ad are taken to your landing page with a button to request you to contact them. It’s incredibly easy for the user, and it’s easy for you to build up a nice lead gen list. “ ~ Brett Farmiloe, Internet Marketing Company

7. Research Profile Views

“LinkedIn has a feature that shows you people who visited your profile. I’d contact those people, if they’re a connection, by sending a message that says, “Hi, is there anything I can help you with?” If they’re not a connection, then do a bit more research on them, and send a note saying, “Hi, I noticed you recently visited my profile.” Someone who spent time on your profile is likely a lead worth reaching out to. “ ~ Devesh Dwivedi, Idea2Inception

8. Search with Advanced Filters

“One of the best features of having a LinkedIn premium account is being able to use advanced filters in search. Not only can you search by company and relationship, but premium advanced search on LinkedIn allows you to search by function, seniority level and company size, too.” ~ Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

9. Ask Questions

“Ask questions to the people you’re connected to. Most people connect with great professionals but don’t keep in touch with them. Use your status updates to engage the people that are connected to you so you can stay top of mind. Post about industry trends, motivational quotes and general business questions. You’ll be surprised by how many people start talking. “ ~ Joe Apfelbaum, Ajax Union

10. Stay Active

“I think LinkedIn Today is a great tool to find newsworthy content to share with your target market. Staying active on LinkedIn with at least a weekly post will keep you top of mind with your network. That passive awareness becomes important when you reach out for an introduction or when someone in your network has a need for your specialty. “ ~ Lauren Perkins, Perks Consulting

11. Connect with Twitter

“Chances are you are pretty active on Twitter. If you are, you can amplify the reach of your updates simply by connecting Twitter to LinkedIn. Now every Twitter update will be reposted to your LinkedIn followers. “ ~ Pablo Villalba, 8fit

12. Publish Articles

“We promote our guest contributions on LinkedIn and engage with prospective clients by asking for feedback on the content. If you utilize LinkedIn to educate leads, you’ll provide more value and ultimately form stronger relationships. “ ~Kelsey Meyer, Influence & Co.

13. Be Aggressive

“I’m constantly checking who has viewed my profile on LinkedIn; it’s one part vanity, another part strategy. I sell to a very niche audience and if I see a target customer sniffing around my profile, I reach out to them to learn what they need. Sometimes it’s just to pick my brain but more often than not, they are looking to hire and because I caught them at the right moment, they hire me.” ~Maren Hogan, Red Branch Media

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Success vs Failure or Life vs Death

Article on making error's in judgment in corporate world.

Making error in judgment is not uncommon in corporate world.  The consequences or the implications of such error are also well known to the corporate.  The issue is not about the error but about how to avoid such 'judgment errors' and knowing what actually contributes to such state is what the leaders must focus and learn from the animal world.

The fastest animal known to man on date is Cheetah.  The recorded highest running speed of cheetah is 114 kilometers per hour.  But such speed, the animal can maintain only for a few seconds.  On the other hand, the deer also can run around 80 kilometers per hour but can maintain the speed for much larger time period.

The deer with such great capacity falls prey to cheetah.  Knowing the capability of the deer well, cheetah chases and catches the deer.  Sometime cheetah also fails in its hunting attempt.

The root cause for the failure or success is not the capability or its superiority but only the error in judging the distance of the prey by the predator or the prey about the predator, present success/failure to cheetah or death/life to a deer.

Hence the judgment has to be wise, spontaneous, correct and accurate.  This message the corporate world must understand.  It is not avoiding or delaying the 'judgment' is as an option but how to be wise is what one should learn.

In the case of deer, the fear due to the chasing cheetah from behind certainly allows the deer to be unwise and makes error in judgment.  Many corporate bosses do behave like cheetah and always they chase the subordinates to achieve the target/result.  The constant chasing does harm the creativity, wisdom and understanding of the people.  Sometime such approach may yield result but never makes the people 'empowered' and 'talented'.

The reason for the bosses to behave like cheetah is nothing but the acute necessity.  If cheetah had planned properly and hunt before it becomes totally hungry, much of the judgment error would not have happened or can be avoided.   The corporate leaders should not wakeup one fine morning to realize that results are not happening and hence chase the subordinates from behind like how a cheetah chases the deer.

Neither the boss nor the subordinate lacks talent, merit or capability to achieve the result.  But unfortunately, they have not used them wisely and timely.  Remember, it is not just the capability enables one to become successful but knowing and using it appropriately and making least 'judgment error' only ensures success.

Death of the deer is what makes the success of cheetah.  This management approach is fine only for prey and predators in nature.  The corporate should understand the message differently and apply the same wisely.  Understand the fact that most judgment errors are happening only due to the 11th hour chase or follow up for result.

Learn the lesson wisely from both the success and failure of cheetah and deer as both has many essential management lessons to share.

POST 23 
PART-2

Well, want to continue the topic from yesterday about MGNREGA, and when i want cover those remaining points about what is the rate of change of employment and how it has affected the life of the normal people, today issue in times of India talks about the same. 
Will put some light on it.

1) The wage rate till recently remained around average is just above 120,but just a day ago government has increased the wage rate and have been changed w.r.t the states and adjusted according to the rate of inflation .

2) The number of people from the categories who are employed under this scheme has almost dropped by 10%.

3) The number of works taken may have gone up  by 60% in last 5 years, but the number of works completed have dropped below 205 and work in progress have grown up steeply.

The government now want to bring this under direct transfer scheme (DBT), but this would happen if the government agencies are able to provide unique identification or Aadhaar numbers to entire population i, where the government intends to put MGNREGA under DBT mode. 


well we will have to wait and watch

POST 23 
PART-1

Well some hours ago there was a news on Wage revision under MGNREGS scheme so I thought that I must put down something on this.May be good topic for GD's.

Even though many of you must have have heard about this term, let me first put some light on its history.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on 25 August 2005. The scheme provides a legal guarantee for at least one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of Rs 120  per day in 2009 prices. If they fail to do so the govt. has to pay the salary at their homes.

This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living in rural India, whether or not they are below the poverty line. Around one-third of the stipulated work force is women. The law was initially called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) but was renamed on 2 October 2009.Some Say that it the reason why UPA government came back into power. 

Well to get the provisions under this act you can visit Wikipedia.

But how well the scheme is doing now is the question to be answered.

Here are some findings to prove them.

1) The main purpose of the scheme is to provide livelihood security and create physical assets, while the average wage paid is rising , the benefits to rural households are limited because of employment provided per household in days.

As i say this government has increased the maximum wage of Rs. 214 has been fixed for Haryana, and a minimum of Rs. 135 for the northeastern States. But the facts remains 4 states (AP,MP , RAJ, UP) account for 50% expenditure under the scheme

Bihar,Maharashtra,Up account 46 % of the rural poor , but have utlized only 20 % the MGNREGS Funds.

2) The number of projects launched under the scheme are rising, but the number of project completed fell sharply in 2011/12

3) The expenditure in the scheme has not increased significantly in past 3 years, rather it declined in 2011/12 rs. 39,377 Cr in 2010/11 to 38,035 Cr in 2011/12.

I mean we should give this a thought.  

POST 22

India Ranks on 136th position on Human Development Indicators list, well that's not great rank considering that there 249 countries in the world (Wikipedia) far from BRIC nations.

Before I tell why this is the question of concern, let me first  tell what this Human Development Index means and how this system works.

Human Development Index :The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices to rank countries into four tiers of human development. It was created by economist Mahbub ul Haq, followed by economist Amartya Sen in 1990 and published by the United Nations Development Programme.

There are complex calculation formula for the methods, for what i want to put forward is the concern why a developing nation like India is standing in this position and small countries like Norway,Japan top the list.

The GDP per Capita in 2011 46982$ in Norway, 30660 in Japan where it is just 3203$ in India which indicates our standard of living. Life Expectancy at birth in Japan is 83.6 years, Norway 81.3 yrs, where as in India it 65.8 yrs.

Adult literacy which is a major concern only 62.8% as majority of our strength lies in youth, as compared to canada where its 100% and china 94.3% as per latest figures available.Well figures don't seem to give a good picture.Well we need to do a lot of things and after reading few article I came across some objectives we can set for ourselves,

 1: ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER

 2: ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN EUALITY AND EMPOWER       WOMEN

 4: REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY

 5: IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH

 6: COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES

 7:ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY MENTAL SUSTAINABILITY.

Please put across your views.

 

POST 21
G mane Genius

Was reading a article on Biscuit Market in India from Parle point of view and was astonished by some finding, here are some of them.

1) The total Biscuit market in India is worth Rs. 21,213 Cr.of which Parle is the Market Leader.
The stats to prove this are

PARLE 38%
Britannia 26%
ITC (Sunfeast) 10%
Others 26%

Well I must , we have made Parle name synonyms with the glucose biscuits.

2)Parle is now diversified into snack market by introducing chips under the name Parle's, where they have some stiff competition by Lay's  (49%) , Balaji (12%), Bingo (8%), where as Parle has now gained only 6% market share.
But thing about snack product is they need to be consumed within 2 months of manufacturing  And parle has done a ight thing by targeting smaller towns and playing high volume and , low margin game which it has successfully mastered from its business Biscuit.
A pack of parle off 15.6 grams of chips , while pack of lays offers 12.5 grams of chips for same price of 5 rs.

3) Some astonishing figures for the naion beloved biscuit. Parle-G I found n the net
Year of Launch -1939
400 Mn : No of parle-G biscuit manufactured daily
4551 No of parle-G biscuit consumed per second
79.4% Parle-g share in glucose biscuit market
Sells more than al the biscuits sold in china.

POST 20

The Direct-To-Home (DTH) satellite broadcast has been expanding at scorching pace in last 5 years.But it remains under severe financial stress, with mounting Debt and losses.This is mainly due low average revenue per user (ARPU),soaring content cost and heavy taxation.

The substantial investments DTH companies have made in infrastructure have added to their to costs,while the slow pace of switching over from analog to digital has kept revenue down.

THE FACTS

1)The subscriber base of DTH companies in india has risen almost nine-fold in the last five years...
from 6 Millon in 2008 to 53 Million in 2013*

2)Bu the cable and  satellite industry is still dominated by local cable operators due to slow pace of digitisation( swichover from analog to digital cable signals). Most cable networks operate in the digital mode
Market share of local cable operator in 2009 was 83% and that of DTH was 17% and in 2013 it is 63% by Local Cable operators  to 37% by DTH service providers.

3) The ARPU is low due to rock botom pricing by DTH companies to compete in crowded market.
5$ in india where as 80$ in USA

4)DTH companies are taxed heavily.Expenses include licence fees,service tax,entertainment tax and an import duty on set top boxes.High Content cost is paid to broadcasters is major concern.

5)Investment in infrastucture too has risen over years.As a result DTH industry is reporting huge losses and is saddled with massive debt.
Debt reported for 2012 is Rs. 5.5 Billion, where as industry faces a loss of Rs.18.4 Billion.

SOURCE:Business Standard
FICCI_KPMG India Media & Entertainment Report.