Using LinkedIn as Our Social Media Tool

Collage: LinkedIn Answers
Ask a Question - Answer Questions: wobuilt q&a
Credit: LinkedIn

Martina Ernst @ LinkedIn
CEO - Design & Build General Contractor - Renovations with a Woman's Touch
Toronto, Canada Area
Connections - 122 connections
Industry - Construction
Websites - Company Website + Blog

Everyone in the business world knows that LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 80 million professionals using this social networking platform to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. LinkedIn Answers is a great place to connect with other professionals to share business knowledge and expertise. Here are a few of my latest answers to the questions on the LinkedIn Answers:

"new years resolutions" Are annual goals too long of a timeframe? would having semi-annual resolutions be a better idea?
Asked by Issamar G. The Entrepreneur's Best Friend at Monetized Intellect Consulting
in Business Development, Career Management

Martina E. @ wobuilt answer:
Actually I have found that you need five year resolutions/goals or longer as well to steer your company in an overall direction. Sometimes ideas and initiatives will take a couple of years to come to fruition. A long-term goal needs to be divided into smaller time frame goals and strategies, which might be yearly or semi-annual goals, or even monthly ones. They have to be reviewed and evaluated on a predetermined frequency to make sure that they are still on track or need to adjusted. We get so wrapped up in day to day activities that we loose focus of the bigger picture.

Does a pop up make you more likely to sign up for a newsletter when you visit a website or does it irritate you? I am curious as to what your habits tend to be...
Asked by Lisa L.: Social Media Specialist - Teaching you how to grow your business via online connections and engagement
in Lead Generation

Martina E. @ wobuilt answer:
I find pop-ups very irritating and they have never enticed me to sign up for or buy anything. Generally I do not sign up for newsletters, mailing lists etc since I am inundated with e-mails I do not want in the first place. I hardly read the newsletters from people i know due to lack of time. Therefore what would entice me to give out my contact info? Usually only if there is something I need right at that moment and I usually only want a one time answer, not a longstanding flow of information. Maybe active social media campaigns would be better lead generators than mailing lists.

I'm doing a little survey for a bunch of my friends. If you're self employed and sell a service - what are your PROVEN tips for getting gigs?
Asked by Isabella M.: Co-Organizer at MentalHealthCamp
in Business Development

Martina E. @ wobuilt answer:
It depends on what your service is, what your client profile is, if your service local or covers a wider area. However, regardless of the above it is important to have a web presence. A website more static, general information, a blog, tweets, facebook etc for more dynamic timely information are a minimum nowadays. However maintaining a successful web presence will require persistence.

What's the worth of a "Like" for your business?
Asked by Hanan G.: Managing Director, 2creativ - a Digital Marketing Agency
in Business Development

Martina E. @ wobuilt answer:
Hi Hanan, I generally agree with Erica's answer and her blog since I believe that clicking the "like" button takes the least effort and that at this point one does not have a relationship with the reader. I also agree that the quantity of likes are meaningless and give a faulty sense of popularity.

However, I consider likes a start to a relationship as they are first points of contact. The content of a post stood out enough that the person reading it noticed it and thought enough of it to press the like button. It is up to me then to develop the relationship by answering the "like" and start a conversation, after all there seem to be some common ground for a conversation. Similar to other forms of contact they need to be acknowledged and maybe something unexpected might be the outcome.