The use of LinkedIN by Belgian CEOs

Tuesday

I got a paper copy of the Belgian magazine 'itprofessional.be' on my desk today. One article drew my attention (being a fan of social media): "1 op 3 Belgische CEO's zit op LinkedIN" (link to the online version). Or translated, "one out of three Belgian CEOs uses LinkedIN".

The company TrendQ selected 155 large Belgian companies to do a survey. Of each company, they looked for a LinkedIN page from the CEO, HR manager and/or marketing manager. And how did they score? For both HR manager and CEO, one third (about 50 out of 155) had a LinkedIN page. For the Sales & marketing managers this was only one fourth. An De Jonghe from TrendQ is a bit surprised because it's this group that has a commercial interest in a large social network. But all by all, Belgian upper management is well represented on Linkedin.
She also mentions that some of the profiles have too little information (two rules of text) and only a small network to be effective.

It's also my observation in general, that LinkedIN is used by a lot of people (maybe not upper management) but it's not managed in an optimal way. A complete and especially up-to-date profile is very important. Having enough people in your (online) network and investing some time to expand it, is essential to make it an effective tool.

Another way to leverage LinkedIN to gain some visibility is to ask and answer LinkedIn questions keeping in mind that you don't ask confidential questions or provide confidential answers. Joining interesting LinkedIN groups can be interesting. Especially now that we have a search function for the groups.

Don't be afraid to ask colleagues or clients for a recommendation on LinkedIN. What some people don't know is that network updates on LinkedIN are not only available by email but also as a RSS feed.

If you have other tips, just let me know. Just remember, personal branding and/or social networking is an ongoing endeavor.

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