Are you using recommendations?
Twice a year I get on Linkedin and Biznik and spend part of a day writing recommendations and compliments to people I’ve done business with. It’s my way of thanking people that have helped me in the last half year and its my hope that if someone sees my recommendation on their profile, it will help that person choose the person I recommended.
Some social media consultants argue that if you have lots of recommendations on your linkedin profile people may actually not believe all those recommendations, but to my way of thinking, if someone actually does write a recommendation I want to show that recommendation so that people who visit my profile can see what someone had to say. I don’t think that lots of recommendations discredit someone, so much as show the real value of that person’s services.
I don’t ask for recommendations. If someone wants to give me one, I think its better to do so because they feel I’ve earned their recommendation. But I do notice that after I write recommendations, I usually get a few back. Why? Because those people are reminded of me with the recommendation and they start thinking about me and how I helped them.
You don’t have to use recommendations and maybe you won’t, but there’s nothing wrong with getting a recommendation on a site or displaying it. Let people who visit your profile see who you are and what you’ve done. That’s what a profile should show them and recommendations are part of that.
Categories: Social Media
Tags: biznik, compliments, Linkedin, recommendations, Taylor Ellwood
