Trade show producer and entertainer Ken Newman masters sleight of hand but when he’s not performing on the trade show floor, Ken’s magic may be how he uses social media to market his 25-year old company, Magnet Productions.
“Email is white noise,” says Ken, who still uses email blasts to reach key prospects but he sees its limitations in its efficacy. as email conjures up only two percent of his annual revenues.
Email is like the digital equivalent of 25 lbs of recycled paper you get in the mail everyday. I’m not going to open the PG&E bill, or the letter from the IRS first. I’m going to sort the stuff on the front stoop and throw most of it that doesn’t look of interest to me immediately in the recycling bin. There is just too much for me to open and organize. On the other hand, LinkedIn is something that my prospects and former clients are excited about. They open a message from me, because it’s come from an organized network free of junk.
So Ken did an experiment to test his hypothesis that LinkedIn was more effective to getting new engagements:
He sent out LinkedIn requests to his entire address book, and asked his prospects and clients if they would write a testimonial for him and post it to his LinkedIn profile. The results?
- A 20% response rate.
- Personal messages & testimonials from marketing directors, senior execs – decision makers who hire Ken directly.
- Warm, direct responses from former clients whom he hasn’t connected with in over two years.
- 21 new testimonials in less than one week.
- Bookings for over four new engagements.
- Comments regarding Ken’s expansion of services.
- An offer to speak at an exclusive conference from his knowledge about social media.
There is the sense, it is business centric. It’s got a lot less noise. People look at that and think if I don’t respond to this in a timely fashion, I wont be thought of. The only way I can test that is empirically, the only way I did this to get recommendations on email 2%
“When someone is writing how wonderful you are, it reminds them how valuable you are. It’s happened to me, when I write a testimonial for someone else…. It makes me think, ‘Wow, This person is really that wonderful.’ ”
LinkedIn is about connection in a very profound way, says Ken, who’s also got a healthy following on Twitter, Facebook and biznik. Even outside the viritual world, Ken knows how to build and manage business relationships, and understanding that connection in safe and trusted medium creates an impression in the mind of prospect.
A message from someone on LinkedIn may carry more value than email because it’s coming from a closed network; a perception that the sender of the message is familiar in someway, focused on business, and intelligent enough to use something that, I also have the decoder ring for.
There are 50 million LinkedIn users, and since 2002, LinkedIn has been building its credibility and product to ensure that those of us using it, will benefit from its experience. Has LinkedIn worked in growing your business?
Add your comments