Linkedin is not a popularity contest

I wrote previously that knowledge marketing is about helping people solve a problem so they can have a better life.

I also argued that self-publishing should be called “solution publishing,” because readers want useful, how-to information, not biographical information.

In other words, people don’t want to hear about your “story” but rather, they would like to hear about your “theory.” That is, you should share your theory about how things work — in your industry, your profession, etc.

Only by writing down valuable information and sharing it with your Linkedin connections, will you be able to position yourself as a valued expert.

It will then be MUCH EASIER to invite others to connect to you. You can even have hundreds of connections quite easily, if not thousands.

Why? Because most people respect authority. They respect people who are experts.

You might object and say that you don’t have expertise in any particular area, and that would be a valid concern. Most people do have that concern.

However, the good news is that you can easily become an expert by simply organizing expert information from other people such as best-selling authors.

You see, expertise is not about the quantity of knowledge in your head. Rather, it’s about HOW you organize knowledge so that it can be easily retrieved and used.

For instance, suppose I was a young person who’s 22 years old. I don’t know much about business. However, I would like to become a business expert so as to facilitate my networking on Linkedin.

Thus, I would do the following: read books by Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Allen, Michael Gerber, Jay Abraham and Mack Hanan. Next, I would summarize their books into a report of 20 pages. I would then give away that report to all my Linkedin connections. I would also promise to email that report to people who accept my invitation to connect.

This is a simple thing to do, yet the overwhelming majority of Linkedin users do not do it. This baffles me since the average Linkedin user is 39 years old and has 15 years of experience.

The problem is not that Linked users are not smart or experienced; it’s just that they never seriously thought about putting their valuable knowledge down on paper. They also never thought of summarizing the books they read so as to share the key concepts with others.

Without a knowledge-sharing mentality, it’s very difficult to leverage Linkedin strategically or profitably.

My point is that Linkedin provides the unique opportunity to multiply your connections. However, there’s one missing ingredient and that’s CONTENT (which is your knowledge captured in the form of a digital document, whether it’s a PDF, audio, or video file, etc.). Success = Content X Connections.

On Linkedin, you are only as good as your content. And to build good content, you have to focus on developing expertise in a narrow field, and become the authority in that narrow field. Only then will you earn the respect of other professionals on Linkedin.

In conclusion, Linkedin is not a popularity contest (Facebook might serve that purpose better!). Rather, Linkedin is an authority contest: it’s about who’s the authority, and in what field.

To develop expert authority in any field is tough, but then again, once you achieve expert status, the world becomes your oyster since everybody respects authority and would love to connect to a knowledgeable person.

Publishing your expertise for profit

Someone asked about how to publish a book, and I suggested that self-publishing might be a more viable option for many reasons.

Note: This post might be of particular interest to Linkedin users who are experienced professionals, managers or entrepreneurs, and who wish to share their valuable (and hopefully replicable) expertise via publishing.

For instance, self-publishing on the Web is more advantageous for psychological, intellectual and financial reasons.

Take my blog Real-time Success Secrets, for example. I began writing it four years ago, and it now has over 850 posts. This blog could easily become a book printed and shipped to thousands of people.

The secret I discovered is that by inserting a “subscribe” button, which enables readers to receive my new posts directly into their email, I could benefit psychologically. In other words, every time somebody subscribed to my blog, I felt motivated to write more posts and of higher quality.

Also, having hundreds of subscribers who are counting on me to provide them with quality material, drove me to read more and more books in a quasi-religious manner and to engage in serious thinking so that I could share my conclusions with subscribers. In short, my subscribers drove my intellectual process because I felt I could not let them down.

Self-publishing is also advantageous for financial reasons since you, as a self-published and self-marketed author, are in complete control of how much money you make.

Payloadz is one way to monetize your content, Lulu.com is another.

Whether or not you make a lot of money on your first book, may be less important than the process of learning about knowledge marketing.

“Knowledge marketing” is a new concept that few people understand, although it has enormous financial implications especially for experts and highly knowledgeable professionals.

Knowledge marketing (KMK) is not the same as knowledge management (KM). The latter is more about “supplying information” while the former is about “applying information.”

Value (and, therefore, money) comes from APPLYING information or expertise or knowledge to a client’s problem. Information, by itself, offers little value. Think for example of the Yellow Pages: it has a great deal of information, yet it’s given away for free. Few people would pay for it. Google is another example.

People who venture into publishing with the (explicit or implicit) goal of “supplying information” will not succeed. On the other hand, those who publish a book (or newsletter, blog, podcast, etc.) with the clear intent of helping a specific type of people solve a specific type of problem, will succeed.

KMK is really about helping people solve a problem so they can have a better life.

However, KMK requires a marketing orientation and especially a thorough and accurate understanding of what marketing is all about.

Essentially, marketing is the process of “anticipating, identifying and profitably satisfying customer needs.”

Self-publishing therefore should rather be called “solution publishing.” In other words, publishing one’s story (unless you are Bill Clinton!) will be less profitable than publishing one’s theory (about how things work, and how to leverage that understanding).

(to be continued)

Make money from your expertise. Here’s how!

The above diagram makes it clear that by promoting your expertise, you stand to gain financially, either from contracts or lucrative job offers.

Join S.E.N.S.E. by visiting http://linkedinsense.wordpress.com. Once you become a member, you will receive the password to access the continually updated members list at http://linkedinsensemembers.wordpress.com. Good luck!

3. Grab the money and run!

On June 18, 2005 I started writing about Linkedin because I felt strongly that it would change the world. At the time, it had about 3 million users (compared to 24 million today). The first post I wrote is HERE.

So for more than three years, I’ve been studying Linkedin and been observing how people use it. Here’s my most shocking observation:

Linkedin is like a giant vault FILLED with gold. There are no security guards, so anyone can walk in. How much gold? $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollar’s worth). VCs indeed estimate that each user is worth $50, and there are 24 million users.

So what do people do when they walk into this vault filled with gold? That is, what do new Linkedin users do?

Well, they stand in awe at the amount of wealth contained in the vault (in Linkedin). “Wow, they say, this place is RICH! I feel really good, standing here! I feel like my career will go places. I feel I can learn so much. I feel I can open up new horizons for my career and/or business. This is really exciting.

Then — and this is the most shocking part! — they turn around and walk out the door WITHOUT TAKING ANY GOLD WITH THEM!

They go back to their regular daytime job, obey the same boss, endure the same daily drudgery and try as best they can to handle the daily stress of corporate America or corporate (insert your nation here).

I feel like telling them, “Hey! Why don’t you grab the gold and bring it with you?!”

In fact, I did suggest this several times in the form of questions on Linkedin Answers.

Some do get it, that Linkedin is a platform for economic expansion — not the mild, nice-to-be-in, vague social networking site that most believe it to be.

But most seem to argue that Linkedin is for “networking” and learning and sharing. “We’re one big family,” they seem to shout in unison.

I’ve nothing against that. Networking is good, learning is good, sharing is good and family is definitely good.

But my question is, “Is anybody going to grab the gold and walk out the door? Because if nobody is going to grab this gold within Linkedin, I’m going to help myself. In fact, I’ll need a few trucks to bring all this gold with me!”

Some will say, “Come on, Peter, what are you talking about? Where is the gold? Linkedin is about people. We’re 24 million people trying to connect and help one another.”

Well, put your hand in your pocket and pull out your wallet. The gold is right in there.

Every single person on Linkedin has a wallet (or a purse). Therefore, every Linkedin user has purchasing power. In fact, most Linkedin users are working every day, five days a week. They are making money so they can spend money.

Why shouldn’t they spend money on YOUR products and services?

Well, there are many reasons why they won’t buy products and services from you. Those are the same reasons you might never get rich by using Linkedin:

1. You don’t have product to sell

2. Your product is too narrowly focused

3. You don’t have a professional service to sell

4. Your professional service must be delivered in person (and Linkedin works best for services that can be delivered virtually, worldwide)

5. You are not an affiliate or representative for a company, and thus you are not selling any product or service for them

6. Etc.

For the above reasons, most people do not view Linkedin as a money-maker.

It doesn’t occur to people that they should create a product that they can sell via Linkedin. The main reason probably has to do with the fact that most careers are based on a professional service, not product.

People who work in offices or even in factories, are not creating a product that they own. They are performing a service. Even if their service results in a product (tangible or not), they do not have the legal rights to that product. For example, a consultant who creates a report for a client, CANNOT resell that report via the Web. It belongs to his corporate employer.

The major economic problem of Linkedin users is that they do not have a product to sell to the 24 million users of Linkedin.

However, as I’ve alluded several times already, the more subtle and indeed “invisible” problem is that people do not believe there is gold at Linkedin and that they can actually TAKE that gold and walk out the vault.

In future posts, I will write about how to (legally) “rob” the small bank that Linkedin really is.

2. What concrete, tangible, bankable value are you getting and giving?

It is unfortunate that everyone, including the news media and the business press, refers to Facebook and Linkedin as “social networking sites.”

Technically, “social networking” is the correct expression.

However, the Linkedin mastermind views social networking sites as “global instruments for achieving economic sovereignty.”

In other words, he (in this blog, “he” shall refer to both men and women) uses social networking as a way to rise in the world by differentiating himself as a being of sharp intellectual capability. A unique being who possesses clarity, creativity, talent and the irrepressible desire to realize his highest potential.

Alas, the majority of Linkedin users have not yet realized how powerful social networking really is.

People are usually invited to Linkedin by a friend or colleague. Next, they create their profile as best they can. Then, they begin to invite people to join their network. All of this, with all due respect, is done in a quasi-mechanical manner, without much thought or any apparent strategy.

The game for most “power users” of Linkedin seems to involve building a network of as many connections as possible. Unless they are headhunters, it is doubtful they are making any serious money from their hundreds (or even thousands, in some cases) of connections.

The Linkedin mastermind, for his part, understands something that most users do not:

Profit = Product X Pitch X People

If you have no product to sell, then no matter how many connections you have, your profit will be zero. This is mathematically predictable.

But even if you had 500 connections and a few products to sell, you would still have a profit of zero if your pitching strategy or methodology is not clear or finetuned.

Note: “Product” here includes services, solutions, digital content, etc.

For those who succeed in mastering the above wealth formula, there is another formula to master that is MUCH MORE POWERFUL:

Abundance = Architecture X Acceleration (auto-response) X Affiliates

I will discuss this second formula in great detail later on.

For now, ask yourself, “What concrete, tangible, bankable value am I getting and giving on Linkedin?”

The more often you ask yourself that question, the faster you will accelerate toward the aforementioned “economic sovereignty.”

The key is to have a frank talk with every single connection you have. Propose what you can do for him, and ask him what he can do for you.

Tell him specifically how you intend to use Linkedin and what you expect from your connections, and ask him how he uses Linkedin and what he expects from his connections. This mutual (and crystal-clear) understanding will go a long way to prepare for future collaboration.

Note: Do not broadcast a letter to all your connections. This is the surest way to tell your connections that they individually do not matter.

By having a frank talk with every single one of your connections, you can quickly identify the players from the non-players.

Probably 5% – 10% of your connections are players who can bring you significant economic benefits. The others have not yet awakened to their true economic potential, but that is okay. Every person has a unique path in life, and wealth might not be the priority for many.

After a few conversations (by email or phone) with a few players in your network, you will be able to create a joint venture or some valuable collaborative projects. These can serve as “success stories” that you can include in your letter to invite new people to your network. These success stories can also be sent, individually, to each connection you have to show them that you are a real player who is ready to negotiate win-win agreements.

Ultimately, the above behavior on your part will establish you as a leader, and the people in your network will begin to respect and trust you. Eventually, this will put you in the best position for influencing their thinking. As a result, you will be able to recommend high-quality products and services that help your connections while earning you a nice recurring income. That’s when your leadership will pay off handsomely.

1. The best thing about Linkedin

Let me start with two provocative statements:

1. The best thing about Linkedin has nothing to do with Linkedin

2. The value of Linkedin to you also has little to do with Linkedin.

Let’s start with the last statement.

If Linked were to close tomorrow and the website shut down forever, what VALUE would you get from it?

Most likely, the value you get would be the contact information of your connections. For instance, I have 900 connections, so I would get more value than a person who only had 20 connections. However, I would get less value than a person who had 2,500 connections.

Yet, this does NOT mean that your connections are customers or clients. In other words, your Linkedin rolodex is NOT a client list.

But why not? Ask yourself that very important question. Why can’t your turn EVERY SINGLE ONE of your connections into a client who trusts you? If you think about this carefully, you’ll soon realize that not every connection can become a client of yours BECAUSE you are not Wal-Mart.

In other words, whatever product or service you are currently offering to your employer or clients, is unlikely to serve the great variety of needs from your Linkedin connections.

It’s important to thoroughly understand this because your future fortune depends on it. So let me use the following analogy: Imagine a deck of cards and you have ONE black card. Imagine that you have 26 connections and they each have ONE red card.

The rule is this: Value (or money) is created every time a red card is matched with its numerical equivalent in black.

As you can see, every person has one chance in 13 of making money. For example, if one of your connections had a red King, then you only have to provide a black King in order to make money. Of course, if you have a black Queen, then you’d have to search for the connection who had a red Queen.

Think of the color “red” as indicating that someone is in trouble or in need.

Lesson #1: Know what black card you have, and let ALL your connections know precisely what red card you are looking for. Translation: Know precisely what service or product you are offering, and tell ALL your connections what you are offering and who could really, really, really benefit from your service or product.

Most Linkedin users make the basic mistake of offering a vague promise (as seen on their Linkedin profile) instead of offering a crystal clear solution.

Your solution has to be at least as clear and colorful as a crisp $100 bill!

I will write more about this special wealth technique, called “how to convert a promise into an assurance.”

And speaking of insurance, think seriously about this interesting story of how the insurance industry became successful. Initially, insurance salespeople had a great deal of trouble selling life insurance to housewives because women viewed insurance as “gambling.” Women thought, “This is crazy! My buying life insurance is like my betting that my husband will die before I do, and if my bet is correct, then I win and benefit from his death!”

Insurance salespeople, being the smart (or sneaky?) people that they are, came up with another way to explain life insurance to housewives: “M’am, this life insurance is a way for your husband to love you forever. Indeed, he can take care of you even after he departs for heaven.”

Wow. What a sales pitch! What wife, in her right mind, would refuse “eternal love” from her husband?! Of course, she’ll take the money too since women are genetically predisposed to the social addiction called “shopping.” (Just kidding, ladies).

But back to the special wealth technique called “promise-to-assurance.” This is a technique I teach to private consulting clients and charge $500 for. And you’re getting it for free! So thank your lucky star!

I will write more about it in greater detail later on, but basically, Promise-to-Assurance (P2A) is a doctrine that will COMPLETELY ELIMINATE all your competitors. You can apply this technique when you’re looking for a new job, a new promotion, a new contract, a new client, even a new boyfriend or girlfriend! (I’m serious!).

P2A is based on a comment I often hear from my girlfriends: “Peter, stop promising and start delivering the goods!” I’m just kidding.

P2A means “serve people, don’t sell them.” P2A requires that you have a totally transparent system that shows to potential clients EXACTLY how you will serve them and take care of them AFTER they become your clients. By sharing ALL the information available about your system and how it helps clients to extract value from your product or service, you virtually eliminate the MAJOR risk that clients inevitably perceive when purchasing new products or services: the risk of non-performance.

This concept is not new. This is why car dealers allow prospective customers to test drive a car before they buy it.

Since most Linkedin users are professionals, they offer a professional service. The main problem with a service is that it’s not easy to allow prospective customers to go for a “test drive.” However, you CAN create a map that shows clearly and unequivocally HOW you will treat your clients AFTER they sign up with you.

This brings us to the first statement: The best thing about Linkedin has nothing to do with Linkedin.

Linkedin is just a place filled with information. It’s what you do with that information that determines how wealthy you will be. It’s also the quality and the quantity of information you bring to LInkedin that determines how rich you will get.

Upcoming post:

2. What concrete, tangible, bankable value are you getting and giving?

Purpose

Over two years ago, I began writing Linkedin User Manual (http://linkedinusermanual.blogspot.com).

Linkedin Mastermind is an elite version of the above blogzine. Feel free to subscribe, free of charge, by clicking the link at the top righthand corner.

Subscription will cost $200 in a few weeks and all posts on this blog will be passworded. Take advantage of this offer today!

More to come, stay tuned.

Peter Nguyen

Creator of:
S.E.N.S.E. (http://linkedinsense.wordpress.com)
PowerKnowledge.net
CareerKnowledge.net
Talentelle.com
Real-time Success Secrets (http://realtimesuccesssecrets.blogspot.com)
Twitter.com/lazymillionaire