I Don't Have Time for LinkedIn

Pardon me for the opportunity to rant, but aren't those of us that use and depend on the power of LinkedIn to achieve our professional and business networking goals very tired of hearing from LinkedIn Luddites that they just don't have the time to "fool around" with LinkedIn?

Here are a few examples for what LinkedIn Luddites don't have the time...

1) I don't have the time to maintain effective relationships with my best customers.
Those of us that are using LinkedIn to stay connected to our professional networks have multiple opportunities to monitor the activities of our connections.

Assuming that one has added his/her customers as LinkedIn connections, it is possible to now answer some of the following questions:

• To whom else are my customers connected? Could they be my biggest competitors? Are my customers also connected to some of my co-workers and is this something I need to encourage or discourage?
• Have some of my customers been actively networking on LinkedIn in such as way that could be indicative of looking for a different job?
• To what LinkedIn Groups do my customers belong. What information are they currently receiving from Groups that I am not able to provide?
• Are my customers answering LinkedIn Questions? Is it worthwhile for me to post comments on their answers or comments?

LinkedIn provides ample opportunities to proactively network among your contacts with timely communications. Either you can make the time to do it or your competitors will be only too happy to engage your clients and customers.

2) I don't have time to monitor the activities of my competitors

There are no rules about not connecting with your competitors. It is always important to keep in mind that a competitor may one day be a strategic partner or future employer. That's a personal choice and, if one is not inclined to cast his/her net that far, it is still possible to gather business intelligence the LinkedIn way.

• Join as many LinkedIn Groups as are relevant to your industry or business sector. Monitor the discussions to determine who among your competitors is posting (either as answers to LinkedIn Questions or Comments) and what they are saying.
• Monitor industry events that have been posted on LinkedIn and see if any of your competitors are attending. LinkedIn even provides a tool that indicates if someone is attending an event as a guest , as a sponsor or as a speaker.

3) I don't have time to stay on top of the activities of key vendors.

Vendors are great sources of information -- especially about competitors. In a face-to-face meeting, most vendors would not dare to discuss the activities of one of your competitors. However, their LinkedIn activities would point you in that direction.

• How many of your competitors are on your vendor's LinkedIn Connections list? How deep do these connections go? A vendor that maintains multiple connections with one of your competitors and only one with your firm might be telling you something about the relationship.
• Is your vendor attending any events sponsored by one of your competitors?
• Is your vendor sponsoring an event and is it being attended by your competitors?

It's extremely difficult to convert LinkedIn Luddites -- especially if they maintain that their time is too valuable for LinkedIn. As stated before, either you make the time or one of your competitors will be only too happy to use the power of LinkedIn to grow their business at your expense.