Seems like nowadays everyone says they are a LinkedIn expert… there are a bunch of people talking about LinkedIn… how to use LinkedIn in a job search, how to use LinkedIn to make a sale, how to use LinkedIn for  _________.

I realize I’m totally biased about my LinkedIn DVD (I’m quite proud of it :p), perhaps it’s not fair to tell you what I think of it.  Let me share what others are saying about it on Amazon.com:

VerySuperCool Sue writes from Austin:

I was surprised at the amount of information that was on the dvd. I thought I had finished, when I realized I was only beginning! I think everyone who has a Linkedin account could really benefit from watching this.

Paul Jones from Salt Lake writes:

I loaded Alba’s LinkedIn DVD and immediately started using the spacebar. You know, the spacebar pauses the video. And I needed to pause the video because so much of his advice was immediately actionable.

Kelly Kennedy says:

What I especially liked is that the DVD is a webinar format of Jason using LinkedIn, not just him standing there talking about it. As you view the DVD you see what he is clicking on, what Jason thinks about various features, and what you should do with LinkedIn for job search and career management. It is especially helpful how Jason highlights sections of the program and then discusses each section individually for clarity. Our undergraduate and MBA students have taken full advantage of the program and I admit that it was clearly worth the small investment we made.

Jeffrey Ogden in Bethpage, NY writes:

Jason has created a very useful and informative DVD for anyone who wishes to optimize his or her Linkedin profile. Why is it important? I just met with a Chairman and CEO of a good sized business. He said “I loved your resume.” I responded “What resume? I never gave you one.” He said “Oh, I mean your Linkedin profile.” [I LOVE THIS STORY!!]

Sophie Lagace from Eureka (!) writes:

I have used several other LinkedIn resources, including Jason Alba’s own book and blog, and I’m employed, not looking. Yet I still found value in the tutorials, and I took several new actions to connect with people and improve my profile.

Cultural Tofu writes:

Although it’s geared towards job seekers, I found the information to be relevant for non-job seekers just trying to build their professional brand and grow their professional network. … I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in updating their professional brand using LinkedIn.

Thom Allen in West Jordan, UT writes:

Most of the information in the DVD isn’t a secret, but Jason brings new ideas on how to use the features that already exist for LinkedIn users. You will find more opportunities to improve your LinkedIn connection base than ever. You need this DVD.

Julie Walraven in Wausau, WI writes:

… even though I have read his book before and worked with LinkedIn for a couple of years, I found a few more tips and changed my profile once again. … Screen by screen with Jason giving clear advice, jobseekers will learn what to do and what not to do with LinkedIn and why. As a professional resume writer, I am excited to use this new tool with my clients and am recommending it on my website.

Marc W from West Jordan writes:

Jason Alba shows us in his new DVD what works and why and how to implement it. He presents his material in a very easy to follow format with excellent examples.

Thomas Clifford writes:

What I like best is I can review any of the segments quickly and easily and then jump onto LinkedIn and execute the concept. … Books on LinkedIn are fine; this is like having a private one-on-one tutorial in your home. Pretty cool!

Awesome folks, thank you for those testimonials!

If you haven’t gotten a copy of LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the DVD, yet, click here to order.

Susan Joyce of Job-Hunt.org wrote two important posts that will help you incorporate Twitter into your job search strategy:

Top 50+ Employers Recruiting on Twitter

Top 50 College & University Career Centers Using Twitter

Susan does a terrific job adding more than “here’s another list” - on both posts she contemplates the companies and career centers NOT on the list, which she notes is just as interesting as who IS on the list!

How do you incorporate this information into a job search?

Seth Godin wrote a good post called The power of a tiny picture (how to improve your social network brand).  Go check out his list of 10 things to do (and not do) to make a great first impression with your “avatar.”

Then, check out my post about Gravatar, which is a website/tool that allows you to put your avatar in once, and then as you leave comments and do social networking in various sites, your picture is automatically put on that blog or social network.

I think I’m sometimes misunderstood when I present about using tools like Facebook and LinkedIn for marketing purposes.

Here’s a post from Lauren Yant that I totally agree with: Facebook drama, part 2.

If you have any inclination to use Facebook as a marketing tool, please read this post.  You may not totally agree, but it is something to chew on as you develop your personal relationships.

Today is the last day of the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD sale price - I just asked my main web guy to change the price to $59.95 plus shipping and handling tomorrow.  Tomorrow I expect the box of DVDs to arrive at my office, and I’ll ship a bunch in the afternoon.

If you want to save $10 and have me eat the shipping and handling, you need to order today .  Additionally, I’ll throw in some kind of THANK YOU for ordering early thing - not sure if it will be free premium of JibberJobber, or one of my other webinars (Blog Marketing 201 - 501 or Write Your Book), but it will be something cool (any ideas?).

LinkedIn for Job Seekers has the following chapters/session:

1. Profile Review Part I - Above the Fold - I critique the top part of five LinkedIn Profiles, and make suggestions on how they can make them stronger, and increase the chances of being found in search results.
2. Profile Review Part II - Below the Fold - I critique the rest of the five LinkedIn Profiles, specifically the stuff that you see when you scroll down (education, work history, etc.)
3. Applications - To wrap up the “LinkedIn Profile” stuff, I had to talk about the new “LinkedIn Applications,” and what I suggest you do as a professional.
4. Account and Settings - It’s a big menu page, but what do you need to worry about? We’ll go over some of the things I recommend you pay attention to.
5. Getting and Giving Recommendations - How to get and give LinkedIn Recommendations.
6. Answers - Asking Questions - Ask questions in LinkedIn as a part of your networking and personal branding strategy.  Here’s how.
7. Answers - Answering Questions - Not ready to commit to asking questions regularly?  Answering questions is also very powerful, and doesn’t come with any regular commitment.
8. Searching - If you aren’t using advanced search, you are missing a big part of LinkedIn.  There are a few simple tricks that can take you a long ways in LinkedIn.
9. Browsing Connections - Your first degree connections might have some golden contacts for you - here’s one way of finding people you need to network your way into.
10. Exporting Connections - Exporting your contacts is one of the four things I talk about in my seminar.  Here’s why and how.
11. Growing Your Network - I had 5 first degree contacts when I first got started, and that was a huge mistake.  Instead of saying “get thousands,” we say “get the right connections, and here’s what that means!”
12. Groups - Groups for the job search?  Absolutely, and strategically!  We talk about how to find Groups and what to do once you are a member.
13. Staying Current - I’m on LinkedIn — Now What Blog - Some info on how to keep up with current LinkedIn information, as well as communicate with others regarding issues we blog about.
14. Company Pages - The Company feature in LinkedIn is amazing… AMAZING.  I think it’s the second best thing they’ve done, next to Answers, for a user like me.  Eventually it could eclipse the value of Answers… !
15. Jobs - Looking for a job in LinkedIn’s job search area?  Here are some things to know.
16. Introductions and Communication - how to, when to, why to communicate with people in LinkedIn’s communication tools.
17. Conclusion - Some final thoughts on LinkedIn, LinkedIn in your job search, etc.

Instead of a “here is every link in LinkedIn, and if you click on it here’s what happens” training, this focuses on what I think you should focus on with LinkedIn.  So there you go - if you want it you can get it whenever, but if you want to save some money and get some other goodies then order it TODAY.

I’ll decide on what bonuses to give with these preorders before I ship - you can leave suggestions in the comments (or by email).

First, the announcement: I have one more Personal Branding Award to give out, and then I’m going to retire it.  I’ve been doing it for about two years, and I think there’s enough information in what I’ve written that you should get terrific ideas on writing your own blog for your personal brand.  It’s a great resource.

I’m sure I’ll come across some other blogs that are awesome, and I’ll showcase them, but I won’t necessarily do it on a monthly basis (I’ll just do it when I feel like it).  Cool?

You can see past winners of the JibberJobber You Get It Personal Branding award here.  Next week I’ll announce the last winner - it is someone who’s blog I’ve seen over the last year, and think it is one of THE BEST blogs on the internet…

Announcement 2 is that I already know what I’m replacing this award with… I’ve been thinking about it for the last 6 months and am really jazzed to switch gears to this other thing (you’ll see what it is soon).

Today I want to share the blog that Christine Sharer started for the Make A Wish Foundation of Utah.  Christine says she’s new to all this social stuff, including blogging, but one look at her blog and I know SHE GETS IT.  There are only a few posts, but they are so compelling… these are heart-tugging posts.

Make-A-Wish is an organization that needs donatations.  On her blog she is not asking for donations… rather, she is telling you stories about what happened to the recipients of your donations. Each of her posts start off with “Where are they now?” and then the name of the person.

These stories are awesome, and I think just telling these stories is going to do more for her organization than putting “donate here” badges on the blog.

Kudos Christine, may this be an example of excellent blogging for non-profits and for-profits alike!

And if you want to read some super-inspirational stories, go check out the Utah Make-A-Wish Foundation blog!

I’m in Conway, Arkansas today… I wrote a cool blog post while on the plane but it sounds too braggy, so I’m trying to figure out how to tone it down.

I also have a scathing blog post to write to college and university people (excluding career center professionals).  It is a result of a discussion at dinner last night that reminded me about one of my biggest pet peeves with the educational system.  I need to noodle on that one a bit more, too.

For now, check out this very quick read on using Twitter in your job search - great stuff from an industry expert: Using Twitter for Job Search

I got on Twitter a while back and chose to go for it and see what it was all about.

Since then, I’ve been super-impressed.

Not with the technology.  For crying out loud, it only really does one thing, and for so long it couldn’t even do that (google “fail whale” and you’ll wonder how a company can survive that).

In my social media/marketing/job-search presentations I talk about social tools, and “why” I participate in them.  Specifically, I share three reasons:

1. To grow your network. Not because you are out to be the biggest networker in the world, or because you want to brag about the thousands of (meaningless) connections you have, but for other reasons.  In LinkedIn, the bigger your network is the richer your search results could be.  In Facebook, the more Friends you have the more chances of benefiting from the viral goodness of using Facebook.
2. To nurture relationships. I want to learn about people, and figure out how I can help them, and I want the same from them.  We need to go beyond 30 second pitches and tag lines and get to know people at a more intimate level (”intimate relationships” comes from Never Eat Alone - required reading).  I don’t build intimate relationships by viewing LinkedIn profiles… I need more social interaction or functionality.
3. To ________ my (personal) brand. I still don’t know what word best fills in the blank… share, enhance, grow, etc.  But the more you can learn about me, assuming my message is on-brand, the more you understand my brand.  This applies to my personal brand AND my corporate brand.

I participate in various online environments, although not as much as you might think.  And I have to say, Twitter hits each of these three purposes spot-on.

The benefits I’ve seen from Twitter are huge, and my involvement has been so rewarding.  I’ll post more about that later, but for now, here are two things you can do:

1. Read Guy Kawasaki’s post on Twitter, written from a business/entrepreneur perspective. This post is the best post I’ve read on Twitter, and why it can help you.  I agree with most everything that Guy says in this post.
2. Follow me on Twitter. Ugh, I feel a little dirty even saying that, and have never wanted to even solicit connections on LinkedIn, or Friends on Facebook, etc.  But here’s why I finally am inviting you to follow me on Twitter.  First, if you aren’t using Twitter, you can simply go to my page without logging in or doing anything and get a feel for WHAT I tweet… just to see how it works.  Second, I tweet about 5ish times a day… news about my new baby and personal stuff like that, industry news, interesting finds online that I think are worth sharing, JibberJobber news, etc.  Stuff that helps you get to know me better, peak inside my head, and begin to understand me enough to help you develop an “intimate relationship.”

Okay, that did feel a little dirty… if you don’t follow me, there are others to follow, and learn from.  Go find someone interesting and see how they are using Twitter.

If you want to follow me, login to your account, then go to this page: http://twitter.com/jasonalba, then click the “follow” button right under my picture.

Oh yeah, one quick warning… if you get on Twitter today, you’ll probably think it’s the lamest thing in the world and leave it after a few days… I’ve seen this time after time.  And then, 4 - 6 months later, the person comes back.  It’s weird, and I can’t explain it… but Twitter is powerful!

Netshare has invited me back to do a follow-up webinar on using LinkedIn (and now Facebook) for executives and professionals in a job search (or, in career management).  This event is also sponsored by Career Resumes, a JibberJobber Partner.

Wednesday afternoon at 4pm EST I will start a 90 minute webinar for Experts Connection (cost is $50).  I’m really excited about this webinar because I’m taking stuff I’ve learned from about 60 presentations this year and creating a powerful presentation for this audience.

Here is more information:

LinkedIn & Facebook Essentials for Executives: Using Both Platforms as Professional Networking Tools
Guest Speaker: Jason Alba, Founder and CEO of JibberJobber.com & author of I’m on LinkedIn - Now What??? andI’m on Facebook – Now What???

Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Time: 4:00-5:30 PM Eastern, 1:00-2:30 PM Pacific

Class Description: LinkedIn is the professional network recruiters and hiring managers use to find talent. As important, it is the social network other professionals and executives use to find partners, customers and business relationships. It is not a hotbed of job seekers…rather…decision makers. If you are not using LinkedIn, you are missing out on a viable way to optimize opportunities that are available. This presentation is designed for executives…to help you understand ways to optimize LinkedIn. We’ll cover a number of tactics you can implement immediately to grow your network, nurture individual relationships, while putting your professional brand in front of your immediate and extended network.

Facebook is regarded as a popular hangout for a younger crowd…but that crowd has grown up and started in hiring manager and influencer roles. We’ll explore techniques you can implement on Facebook to network, share your brand and communicate with other professionals.

In this 90 minute session you will learn:

• How to create your LinkedIn profile to increase odds of being found.
• How to best communicate with your LinkedIn network.
• How to use the LinkedIn search features for an executive job search.
• How to use LinkedIn “Answers” as a strategy to enhance your personal brand.
• How to use new LinkedIn features to communicate with network contacts and professionals who should know you.
• The best way to get the “right” recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
• How to create a compelling Facebook profile.
• Two techniques to find professionals in your field on Facebook.
• Elements of a connection strategy for both platforms.

Hope you can make it!

If you are a professional, being on LinkedIn is NOT an option.  Facebook is optional. Twitter is optional. A blog is optional.  Yahoo! Groups are optional.

LinkedIn is not optional.

With that in mind, there are three things you need to know about:

The second edition of my LinkedIn book is shipping, even from Amazon.

It’s been a long time coming!  I wrote a post on my LinkedIn blog yesterday with all kinds of juicy information, INCLUDING information about how to get a FREE LinkedIn eBook!  How, you ask?  If you purchased the book from Happy About you will (or already have) receive a link to download the second edition, for free!  If you purchased the book through Amazon please go to the blog post from yesterday and follow the instructions, and we’ll get back to you with what to do to get the second edition LinkedIn eBook for free (it’s simple).  The cost is free for the eBook if you purchased the first edition, OR 11.95 for the second edition LinkedIn ebook, or 19.95+S&H for the LinkedIn paperback (or whatever Amazon charges).

Tomorrow you have the chance to learn from THE most connected person on LinkedIn.

Ron Bates is the man!  He has the largest first degree network on LinkedIn, and anyone who has a ton of connections and wants to grow their network knows who Ron is (the guy to beat :p).  Ron is offering a free webinar tomorrow, 12/10 - here’s the link to register, and here are some details (there is no cost):

If you are not able to attend the complimentary events coming up make sure to register anyway!!  Even if you’re traveling, in a meeting, or unplanned events cause you to miss the webinar, as a - no-show - you’ll receive a follow-up email with a link to access a recording at your convenience.

Do people really know how good you are??
December 10, 2008 (1pm EST) - How to Communicate Your Executive Value Proposition
Presented by Ron Bates - LinkedIn’s most connected member with over +44,000 direct contacts

Next week, Dec 17th, I will do a webinar for Experts Connection called LinkedIn & Facebook Essentials for Executives: Using Both Platforms as Professional Networking Tools.

I did a LinkedIn for Executives a month or two ago and it went really well - next week we are doing another one, and I’m really excited about this one.  Sponsored by Netshare and Career-Resumes (who does LinkedIn makeovers for $200), this is one of the most exciting presentations I’m doing this year - Netshare always puts on awesome events).  The cost for the 90 minute webinar is $50 (click here to learn more).

You better be on LinkedIn.

And you better have a LinkedIn strategy.

Do you?

Find your next job at Job Search USA.