I have been using LinkedIn as a business development, personal brand management, and recruiting and research tool for years. But I have to admit it has taken a lot of time to put the pieces together. The process can be overwhelming trying to navigate the many options available. In fact, at times it has felt more like performing magic than actually getting any tangible, traceable results. The following pertains to a quick success story covering business development, research, and branding through a LinkedIn Poll, an incredibly user friendly tool.
LinkedIn Poll Success!!
This is actually a two fold success. I had lunch with a Chicago Tribune reporter several weeks ago and she mentioned a story that she was working on regarding social media policy within organizations. When I returned to my office I created a very easy to use LinkedIn Poll.
I circulated the poll out via Twitter, Facebook (Paladin Fanpage), LinkedIn Groups as well as my individual contacts. In addition, several of my colleagues here at Paladin sent the poll out to their clients and prospects. We had over 180 responses in a week along with two fantastic outcomes.
1) Paladin was able to get their client an interview for the Chicago Tribune article and, in turn, Paladin received a job order from the client the very next day.
2) Desert Rose Design, an agency that participated and left a comment in the poll, was contacted by the Tribune and made an appearance in the article as well.
I don’t need to remind anyone how challenging business development can be right now. Paladin is meeting this challenge head on by thinking of ways to add value to our clients regardless of their staffing needs. Magical? No. Achievable? Absolutely.





June 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 am
Nice work, Mike! And great to quantify the results of using LinkedIn.
Cheers!
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 am
Very cool story. Good learning for all of us. Congrats on the success.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Very effective use of tools to build replationships into profitable outcomes! Cheers to you Mike!
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Thanks to everyone for your positive feedback. It’s most appreciated.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Nice work Mike! The fact that you presented an actionable use-case with quick results demonstrates a basic truth in social media - be relevant. Much continued success!
June 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Mike -
Thank you for being a catalyst to exposure for Desert Rose Design. We are Social Media enthusiasts and big fans of Linkedin. I did not realize Paladin’s influence on the article.
We have had great response to the article as well. It has helped position us for landing some new speaking engagements on adding Social Media to digital marketing plans and learning to network on Linkedin.
Congratulations on the success! And thanks again! I definitely owe you lunch.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Mike, great post on the power and effectivenes of social media. Continued success, and look forward to reading more blog posts!
September 4th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Great job Mike! Thanks for sharing the success story. Motivational