Professional Social Networking for Sri Lankan Professionals

In the age of Google, the best repository for your online identity is your vanity Google search. Many people aspire for themselves — or their offspring — to command prominent placement in the top few links on search engines or social networking sites’ member lookup functions.

Social networking, popularized by teens sharing information with their friends online on Web sites such as Myspace and Facebook, is now blooming in the business world, thanks to new social networks that enable professionals and executives in industries such as advertising and finance to rub virtual elbows with colleagues.

Millions of professionals already turn to broad-based networking sites like LinkedIn to zoominfo to xing, often for recruiting purposes. Business executives also have turned to online forums, email lists and message boards to sound off on information related to their industries.

On LinkedIn, zoominfo and xing people don’t chat about music or what they did on Saturday night, but instead focus on opportunities and how the network can help you. And that’s a winning formula. Here are just some of the most common and productive uses of LinkedIn, zoominfo and xing:

1. Increase freelance work. If you’re a freelancer, or you want to be, getting work in Sri Lanka can always be a challenge. Getting paid on time is the last thing you’ll expect in Sri Lankan market, especially if you’re a freelancer. The only way out is serving other markets. So, set up a profile that shows what you can do, your experience, what you have to offer. Link up with others you know, and you’ve got a free way to market your services. It could take awhile before the jobs start rolling in, but it can’t hurt to start now.
2. Find your dream job. You’ve already got a job, but it’s far from perfect. What you really want to do is create the perfect widget, where only handful of Sri Lankan companies aware of. Well, you’ll never get a job doing that if you just sit on your keister. Put yourself out there on professional social networking sites, search for companies that are looking for perfect widget makers, and contact them.
3. Boost your business. Got a small business but want to generate more customers? Perhaps you’re not connecting with the right people or you need to get in to foreign markets. Professional social networking sites can increase your chances of hitting that big deal that puts your business exactly where you want to be.
4. Improve your Google results. When someone Googles you, do you really want the first thing they see to be your posts on the fly fishing forum? As your professional social networking sites’ profile will have a fairly high Google PageRank, it should rank fairly high in your search results. And you can fill it with stuff you want people to see.
   
5. Check references for potential hires. Trying to hire the perfect widget maker? Well, you’re not likely to find out about an applicant’s sordid past mistakes by calling the references on their application. Do a search for others who worked at the same company at the same time, and get a better background check in minutes.
6. Get advice. Use LinkedIn’s Answers feature to ask a question and get some great answers. As always, you’ll have to sort through the self-promotional fluff, but there are some true experts on LinkedIn, and it’s worth a shot to ask your question.
7. Easy resume. Don’t feel like creating an old-fashioned resume and photocopying, faxing or emailing it to 20 different companies? Create a LinkedIn, zoominfo or xing profile that serves as a resume, and then send people the URL. Be sure to get a vanity URL for this.
8. Do research. Need to find out about business trends for an article, need to find an expert or need to contact people for further information? Professional social networking sites are the decent place to start, especially if you’re running dry on Google.
9. Jazz up your profile. Don’t just go with a plain Jane, boring profile — be sure to put the right information on it to give it the most impact. See Guy Kawasaki’s article on profile makeovers for more.
10. Get connections. When you start out with professional social networking sites, you probably have between 0 and 1 connection. That’s not very productive. Get others you know in your network by granting permission to access your Gmail contacts. See the Slacker Manager’s article for more.
11. Prep for an interview. If you’re going for a job interview, it’s best to know the background of the person you’ll be talking to. Check out their social network profiles to find out more about their work experience, interests, education and more. This will give you an edge.
12. Increase your cred. If you’re trying to market yourself as an expert, for example, or develop credibility in your field, it looks good to have a strong presence in professional social network such as LinkedIn, with lots of connections. It’s even better, if you answer questions with the knowledge of an expert in the Answers section.
13. Brand yourself. This is related to No. 12, but whatever your aim in business, be it as a freelancer, as a potential employee, as a writer, as a business … it’s only smart to develop your own personal brand. What do people think of when they hear your name? A strong presence on LinkedIn only reinforces the branding you’re doing elsewhere. And while you’re at it, be sure to link to your website from your profile.
14. Help others. The best way to network is to help others succeed. They’ll never forget you, and you will be paid back tenfold some day. Use professional social network to help others — promote them, link to them, connect with them, recommend them, answer their questions.
15. Get to know a company. If you want to know about a company, you could Google it or go to their website. But using professional social network sites, you can find out much more about it.
16. Throw out a net when you don’t need it. Sure, a network like this is good when you’re job hunting. What, if you’re not looking for a job? That’s the perfect time to put yourself out there and make connections. Because when you don’t need it, people are more likely to get to know you, because you’re not pushing yourself on them. You’re just forming relationships — and that will pay off when you do need it. And who knows? Maybe the perfect offer will come in when you’re not even looking for it.
17. Get publicity. It can be hard to contact media or top bloggers. But many of them have social network profiles, and you can contact them through the profile. I highly advise you not to spam them — but a press release or a polite email letting them know about a new launch, for example, might be appreciate or at least noticed. It shouldn’t be your whole marketing strategy, but it could help.

Even though Sri Lanka is a very small market, internet is picking momentum, due to various reasons. Internet is becoming a part and parcel of Sri Lankan professionals. So, using Social media wisely will enrich your professionalism and strengthen the marketability. These will open numerous opportunities.

This article was sourced from Marketing Nirvana, The Wall Street Journal and Web Worker Daily