This is an update to our original post from May 6.  The purpose of this post was to get a quickie look at some things that might give a brief indication, vs. exhaustive test, of relative suitability for speaking or consulting.  As such, we have modernized the post.

The original post was focused exclusively on simple, “in your face”, ways to get an idea of the relative expertise of  a “self-proclaimed” LinkedIn Expert or Social Media Expert.

We are well aware that there are many other factors that fill in this picture and the blog post comments below are very good at explaining what some of the “analog” methods might be.  If one is not teaching or training others, the size of one’s network is of less importance, although it should still be well into the hundreds (see below).

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A new self-proclaimed expert, Social Media Expert, LinkedIn Expert or Twitter Expert seems to crop up every hour or two. They shout it out, present what might be their first Webinars or presentations and seem to forget that the world can see whether or not this is true.

One’s profile and network size are among the truest indicators of expertise. Profiles, because they are the root of it all, and Network Size, because it is a skill that must be learned YOURSELF before it can be taught to others.

Here are some things that you can do to see if these claims are brick solid or a house of cards about to fall under their own weighty claims.

LinkedIn:

Is their name clean and free of Non-name Text like an E-Mail address?  Should be preaching good housekeeping.
Do they have a Professional Photo? Any photo at all?  Basic 101 requirement.
Is their Profile Complete? They can’t teach YOU completeness if they are not complete.

Do they list Web sites and are they NOT defaulted to “My Company”?  This is basic customization that any expert should know and know well. A true expert will show 3 Web sites that list a Twitter site, a facebook page or some other social media location.
Is the Personal URL to their profile personalized?  Random characters in the profile URL are a red flag.

Does their Summary reflect their abilities? This is their brochure.  Does it make you want to buy from them?
Do they even have Specialties listed?  Often overlooked by basic users, but not Experts.
Are Jobs and Education listed all the way back with real data included?  SEO basics they should be practicing.

Are the Interests and Groups/Associations sections completed and “formatted”?  The strategic use of comma’s is critical and experts know this.  Hover over the words here and you will see.
Are they a member of any LinkedIn Groups? How many? More than 20?  Groups are critical in LinkedIn circa 2009.
Does their Contact Settings area tell you how to reach them?  They should know this.

How BIG is their Network? If it isn’t at 500+ you can stop right there…..  Experts without a following are not experts.
True LinkedIn experts cannot have small networks. It is a demonstration of their following and their network building skills.  EXperts should have 2,000+ connections and state it somewhere.
Are their connections being shared?  Blocking off connection sharing is only OK for a select few, not for Experts.

Twitter:

Is their Twitter ID something that makes sense?  It should be their name or their company or something else that is strategic.
Can you find them when you search Twitter (try their name)?  Findable or not?  Do YOU want to be found?
Do they have a respectable Picture showing?  Simple best practice for BUSINESS.

How many Followers do they have? Should be 1,000 or more AT THE LEAST!
How many others are they Following? Should be within 10% of the Followers – basic Twitter strategy.
How many Updates have they done? Should be well over 500.
Does their Twitter profile tell you what they do? Free of mis-spellings, include a URL?

These are the requirements for a B-level Social Media Expert, LinkedIn Expert or Twitter Expert. Maybe we will do a posting for an A-level Expert sometime (see the A-level players below).

We suggest you use this as a litmus test to gauge experts. Here a few that we recommend you look at.

Check out these TRUE LinkedIn and Social Media Experts:

Mike O’Neil, Denver, 22,000 connections, 5,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/mikeoneil – Twitter @mikeoneildenver

Viveka von Rosen, Ft. Collins, 9,000 connections, 10,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/LinkedInExpert – Twitter @linkedinexpert

Lori Ruff, Denver & Charlotte, 8,000 connections, 4,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/loriruff – Twitter @loriruff

Dave Westfall, Denver, 10,000 connections, 2,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/davewestfall - Twitter @davewestfall

Dave Reingold, New Jersey, 5,000 connections
www.linkedin.com/in/davereingold

Ed Riefenstahl, Ft. Worth, 5,000 connections
www.linkedin.com/in/edriefenstahl

Valeria Riefenstahl, Ft. Worth, 4,000 connections
www.linkedin.com/in/valeriefiefenstahl

Brad Hanks, Denver, 14,000 connections, 4,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/bradhanks – Twitter @bradhanks

Rich Fiene, Minneapolis, 12,000 connections, 1,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/richfiene – Twitter @richfiene

Lonny Gulden, Minneapolis, 9,000 connections
www.linkedin.com/in/lonnygulden

Neal Schaffer, Los Angeles, 15,000 connections, 13,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/nealschaffer – Twitter @nealschaffer

Patrick O’Malley, Boston, 10,000 connections, 2,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/patrickomalley  – Twitter @617patrick

Lewis Howes, Columbus, 5,000 connections, 6,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/lewishowes - Twitter @lewishowes

Miles Austin, Seattle, 4,000 connections, 1,000 followers
www.linkedin.com/in/milesaustin - Twitter @milesaustin

Integrated Alliances Web Site

Dan Schawbel of Gen-Y has a terrific post entitled “6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Brand Yourself as a Social Media Expert” that goes very well with this topic.  See the post

As a power user on LinkedIn (10,000+ direct connections) who, just over a week ago, setup a Twitter account, I thought it might be interesting to explore my thoughts as a newbie to Tweeting.

At the time of this writing, I have close to 1,300 people following me and I am following 1,800. First let me say to get to anywhere close to that number of connections on LinkedIn was well close to a year’s worth of effort. There are so many constraints on who one can connect to, and how connections are facilitated on LinkedIn, that just do not exist on Twitter.

Anyone can follow anybody they choose, whether or not the person being followed returns the favor, strikingly different from the strategy employed by all the other major social media sites. I guess one could say in the Twitterverse one can truly have one-sided relationships, and in some cases that is an acceptable practice and even makes sense.

Just prior to setting up my Twitter Account (@LinkedInMaster), I didn’t fully grasp the benefit one would receive from participation on this very busy and at first confusing site. Which is the same sort of feeling I have heard several others express. I was discussing with a friend and Twitter enthusiast Brent Jordan (@Brent_Jordan), and he compared Twitter to a party or a business networking event. We all love parties, right? We attend parties and meet new people, especially big parties.

In any party there can be hundreds of conversations going on at once. No way can we be involved in every conversation that goes on at a party; but we can have a very meaningful introductory conversation while surrounded by all the other conversations.

I knew this was true from my own experiences, and the proverbial light went on. So going forward, at least at this time, my strategy will be to meet numerous people on Twitter and solidify the meaningful/strategic relationships on LinkedIn, facebook, or whatever platform is most appropriate. The analogy that works in my mind is to view Twitter as an online handshake, and LinkedIn or facebook as an online meeting for one on one lunch, coffee, or a happy hour.

-Lyndle Savage, VP-Business Development

Listen carefully to the experts, even if you are one yourself. They not only have the knowledge that can help you, but they have the life experiences to back it up. A number of Colorado’s leading LinkedIn Experts and Social Media Experts gathered in Denver on Sat. June 6 at a special National Speakers Association (NSA) training session featuring on-line marketing.

The Denver Athletic Club played host to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert Heather Lutze, founder of The Findability Group. She started the day off with a roar!  Being an authority on LinkedIn Expert myself (We have trained 7,000 people in 400 LinkedIn training sessions), I wasn’t sure that I would learn much.  Boy was I wrong. I came home with 5 pages of notes.  Being an expert and being a great speaker often do NOT go hand in hand.

Viveka von Rosen, a fellow LinkedIn Expert (@LinkedInExpert), and I (@MikeOneilDenver) are taking a new approach to our LinkedIn names as a result.  Viveka is now “Viveka von Rosen: LinkedIn Expert & Speaker“.  Her LAST NAME is entered as “von Rosen: LinkedIn Expert & Speaker”.  It is still searchable in LinkedIn, and Google supposedly likes it a whole lot more. See how it looks on Viveka’s LinkedIn profile.

I am trying a slightly different approach.  I put “the LinkedIn Expert” as my former or maiden name so I am now “Mike (the LinkedIn Expert) O’Neil”. See how it looks on my profile.

We will both be independently reporting on how this LinkedIn search and Google search works out and will pray that the forces of the mighty LinkedIn do not come down upon us.  See Viveka’s blog post on this topic.  She has a wealth of other great information on her www.LinkedIntoBusiness.com blog site.

Also “on the bill” Saturday as a co-headliner was Steve Spangler of Steve Spangler Science.  Steve is well known to the public from his 9News appearances showing interesting science experiments.  See Steve blowing up soda bottles with 9News reporter Kim Christianson.  It has had over 1.5 million views!

Have a nagging question about LinkedIn or Social Media?

Want to learn more about the Latest Techniques?

Got 15 minutes to invest?

Join us for IA’s “Ask an @LinkedInExpert” FREE LinkedIn Live Question and Answer Web Conference on Mondays at Noon Eastern.

To register for this free webinar now, visit  Ask an @LinkedIn Expert Webinar

WHEN: Mondays NOON EASTERN
HOW: Webinar – Pre-registration required
WHAT: Open Mic Q&A and by popular request, pre-submit your questions reply email

We look forward to seeing you next Monday!

Your hosts Lori Ruff and Mike O’Neil of Integrated Alliances.

Unless the profile belongs to a job seeker who understands that they need to show potential employers their skills and talents, many LinkedIn profiles are lacking in a very important area, experience. Showing on the profile below Summary, Specialties and any plug-ins may give one a false sense of security. However, the important point is that by including as much employment history as possible makes one more findable.

Here’s why. Many people are found on LinkedIn because of keyword searches. A profile robust in keywords and phrases is much more findable. So, with 750 characters available for each position added, a profile well built-out is much more findable than one just listing previous employer and title.

People ask what should be included. After all, this is the area of LinkedIn that is most like a resume.  That may be so, and it is important that positions correlate with ones resume. However, being found is the most critical focus of this section. So here’s the methodology practiced at IA and recommended to our clients by the most experienced LinkedIn business strategist in the world, IA Founder, Mike O’Neil.

Answer these five questions when completing each position:

1. Who is the Company?

• For example, not everyone realizes that ACN is a distributor of video phones

2. What do they do?

• To carry forward the example, ACN distributes video phones and sells internet-based telecommunications solutions

3. Where do they do it?

• Nationwide, Regional, Locally?

4. Who do they do it for?

• Individuals or Companies, B2B, B2C, etc. What does a customer look like?

5. What is your role at the company; what makes you special?

• Briefly describe your responsibilities and one or two special achievements

This methodology is proven time and again in conversations with recruiters and employers who want to know that potential candidates have what they are looking for. It is also proven by sales, marketing and business development professionals who want to show potential customers that they and their company has the experience needed to get the job done.

For more information: check out Mike O’Neil’s LinkedIn Profiles Guide.

For the latest in what’s happening in the Denver area concert and festival scene, visit Mike O’Neil’s personal blog.

In the LinkedIn and social media training we do, we always seem to get asked about the status function and if one status update might cover all three, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter statusing is really at the heart of it all. Statuses (Tweets) from here can feed LinkedIn, Facebook and a long list of other social media platforms by using tools like Ping.fm.  But, because you CAN share the status, does that mean you SHOULD?

This is what we do here at Integrated Alliances.  Maybe it will work for you:

Do NOT use a status utility to feed all three.  They have different purposes in terms of what types of information. I think you might want to try the following strategies.

LinkedIn statusing  is best for activities that have a 1 week to 1 month horizon.  It is not a real time statusing system, although you could do that if you liked. One other problem is that LinkedIn inserts your name at the beginning of the status statement. For example, on Twitter you might send:

“At the Denver Metro Chamber event meeting lots of new downtown business partners, Brown Palace, goes until 10.”

Whereas in LinkedIn it becomes:

“ Mike At the Denver Metro Chamber event meeting lots of new downtown business partners, Brown Palace, goes until 10.”

 Facebook statusing is generally for activities that are on the 1 day to 1 week horizon.  It works out well getting the feed from Twitter. People often comment on my Tweets right on my Facebook wall. This allows me to see and reply quickly to each comment.

So, how might actual status messages differ?

Some good examples of status updates for LinkedIn:

• “Meeting with new customers from India, never thought that there would be more English speaking people there than in the US.”
• “Looking for C++ programmers for 6 month project, data architect and coders needed. http://www.tinyurl.com/Tcsw3“

Some good examples of status updates for  Facebook:

• “Taste of Colorado this weekend. Opie Gone Bad hits the main stage at 3:30 on Sunday. Look for me in front.  I’ll be dancin”.
• “Scored big – touring the commercial studio where they make 9News commercials, excited to meet Adele Arakawa, heard she races Porche’s.”

Some good examples of Twitter Tweets (status updates):

• Hazel Miller band rockin’ the house at the Taste of Colorado, tunes from the new album.
• At National Speaker Association event watching @klutze, knows her stuff. @stevespangler is up next – Learning how to do a YouTube Channel.
• At #SXSW with my East Coast Buds, hitting 6th Street tonight for the VIP party, end up at Chili Willy’s.

There was a big stir in the LinkedIn world Thursday; we received calls from friends and clients about an unusual number of invitations in their LinkedIn inbox from people whose names were in all caps. In looking at the profiles, we discovered that they are nearly identical, right down to college degree, or lack thereof… and groups represented by each profile. Thanks to Rob Hayes at Cynocast for the initial heads up!

The company “Social Media Magic” seemingly put up dozens of profiles of individuals with no pictures, with identical profiles, different colleges and no degree, all showing a concentration in marketing and each have different groups. Without looking at everyone, the only profile that seems to have a photo is that of John Souza, and he actually has two—profiles that is. John is listed as CEO or Chief Strategist at Vertical Partners and other companies. There is also no company profile on LinkedIn. One would think that a company touting to provide expert social media services for others, they’d have their own presence up to par.

Brent Jordan did a little digging and learned Souza has at least 269 domain names including socialmediamagic.com, verticalpartners.com, and dedicatedrep.com. Looking at his websites, we’ll grant that he is evidently an Internet Marketing Wiz.

As we continued to dig, we learned that Souza was the only member of the Toplinked.com Group, which is a network building group dedicated to helping people build opportunities and resources. It appears that he, or someone representing him, downloaded the weekly list and used it to send invitations from all of the company’s profiles. This is a Toplinked.com service agreement violation and he was immediately banned from the group and the service. He made a huge mistake by not understanding how the program works, or he might not have been caught so fast. Because he didn’t follow the rules or the standard protocol, his company profiles represent the majority of the invitations that showed up on Thursday in the inboxes of people who use Toplinked.com.

So, we dug a bit further, asking LinkedIn for assistance. It takes a while for them to respond, so we have delayed our own response via blog. We also began tweeting about the issue and had great feedback from people like @DenverPete, who was on a webinar by Social Media Magic while this was going down. They offered a free webinar to describe how they can provide “Managed Services” for people. If they were to build my social media presence like they built their own, I don’t want or need their service!

Brent Jordan described the issue well at lunch on Friday… compare a quality G2 Pilot pen to a store brand knock-off. They look almost identical until you use the pens and compare the results. Then the difference becomes clear and you either use the better quality pen, paying a little more for the difference, or you just put up with the poor quality.

Until the investigation is complete and we have an idea if these guys are legitimate connections, we have instructed our Managed Services team to ignore the invitations and recommended that our friends and LinkedInsiders do the same. The bottom line is that it looks as if these profiles are not for real people. Avoid them.

This is actual video of the weekly Integrated Alliances Ask an @LinkedInExpert Q/A Webinar here the audience asks questions for the panel of experts.  In this case it is Mike O’Neil, Founder of Integrated Alliances and Lori Ruff, VP of Operations for Integrated Alliances.  This was shot May 18, 2009, Noon Eastern.

See the Video

In this video I start a discussion around LinkedIn Groups.  We’ve had lots of questions on our last several shows about that topic.

I also explore the world around Twitter and the place that TweetDack plays in.  It walks through the deck, @replies, Direct Messages, keyword searching and more.

Twitter: @mikeoneildenver All sites at http://www.mikeisonline.com