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View Full Version : Does anyone post comments on Linkedin?



jamesray50
12-12-2010, 02:42 AM
I've been thinking about using Linkedin as a marketing tool but haven't decided yet how to do it. I follow quite a few people and they all have different approaches. Some will just ask a question and several people will answer. Others will write a short comment with a link to the complete article, usually their blog or article.

But, one time someone posted an article that was not written by her and I question her on if she thought it was okay to use other peoples articles. She said she thought it was as long as she gave them credit for the article. I'm wondring what you all thought of that.

I'm not necessarily thinking I would use someone's blog, but would it be wrong to post an article from an online newspaper, or magazine or something like that?

Patrysha
12-12-2010, 04:36 AM
I really haven't used linked in. I don't think most of my target market is there really...I've only really been able to connect with people within the same or similar industries. I have a grand total of 3 local targets/clients on Linked In.

I do think it's perfectly okay to post a link to anything you can find online...but it will be much more powerful if you add your own thoughts.

Tell them why are you recommending it what will the reader get out of clicking the link. What did you find that you believe is important and relevant to their needs first and your needs second. The principles of good marketing really don't change no matter what the platform or format. Remember the customer/reader/prospect/client only wants to know "What's in it for me?" tie that in to whatever it is that you are putting out there and it will lead further into your marketing funnel.

Harold Mansfield
12-12-2010, 08:58 AM
I don't use Linked In at all past creating a profile. Probably because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it. With the exception of a few clients, most of my requests for connections come with solicitations and SEO freaks.

Spider
12-12-2010, 09:23 AM
LinkedIn doesn't hold any appeal for me although I'm sure many of my prospective clients might be found there. The platform just doesn't seem to be set up for easy communication of the sort you find at Facebook, for example. That's probably intentional. I think LinkedIn is designed for one-on-one contact between people who know each other in a business context - and as most of the people I know on LinkedIn are Friends on Facebook, it just seems superfluous.

I do think the LinkedIn group discussions are better than anything I have seen on Facebook. Facebook seems to lend itself to brief exchanges while LinkedIn leans more to longer, in-depth conversations.

That's how they seems to me, but that could be because that's how I use them.

Business Attorney
12-12-2010, 09:51 AM
But, one time someone posted an article that was not written by her and I question her on if she thought it was okay to use other peoples articles. She said she thought it was as long as she gave them credit for the article. I'm wondring what you all thought of that.

I'm not necessarily thinking I would use someone's blog, but would it be wrong to post an article from an online newspaper, or magazine or something like that?

Posting a link = OK. Posting a whole article = Copyright Infringement. Giving credit does not cure the infringement.

Spider
12-12-2010, 08:57 PM
There is, however, the doctrine of "fair use," as I am sure David will confirm.

You can use someone else's work without permission in certain specific ways --

1. Quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment;
2. Quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations;
3. Use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied;
4. Summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report;
5. Reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy;
6. Reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson;
7. Reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports;
8. Incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.

Of course, you can reprint the whole thing if the copyright owner gives you permission.

Also worth noting is - Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself. It does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work.

vangogh
12-12-2010, 11:06 PM
I don't use LinkedIn a lot, but I have joined some groups and I've answered some questions. If I remember right you can set it up to get notified of questions on specific topics. While I haven't done a lot with LinkedIn the way I would go about becoming a greater part of the community there is joining a few groups relevant to my business and participate with those groups. I might even start one of my own. Answering questions that display I know my business would also be something I would do and I'd probably set aside a few minutes each day or week to answer questions.

KristineS
12-13-2010, 12:30 PM
If you credit the link, it's no different than referencing someone else's work in a blog post or something. It happens to me quite a bit, and I never mind as long as proper credit is given. When I get annoyed is when someone takes my work and passes it off as their own. We've actually gotten a few sites closed down because of that.

All you have to do is mention the original site and author, or link back to the original post so people can see the entire piece of work. I generally specify where the work came from and why I'm mentioning it.

jamesray50
12-13-2010, 06:18 PM
Let me get this straight, if I found an interesting article I could write a short post on why I thought the article was interesting and why it would benefit the reader, who wrote the article and give a link to the article and I would be in compliant with copywrite laws? I have also tweeted about new IRS laws with a link to the law on the IRS website, but I'm assuming that is ok.

Harold Mansfield
12-13-2010, 06:52 PM
Let me get this straight, if I found an interesting article I could write a short post on why I thought the article was interesting and why it would benefit the reader, who wrote the article and give a link to the article and I would be in compliant with copywrite laws?

You don't even have to write a short post about it. You can link to anything you want, anytime you want. There is nothing that says you can't. Copyright is more for protection against copying someone elses work...articles, lyrics, images and republishing it in full or part as your own.

Many times just giving credit is not sufficient.

In the case of images, credit is not enough (unless otherwise stated), you need permission. With some organizations like AP, permission is required. You can't use a story from AP, or the New York Times and simply give credit. You may however get away with a quote or example.

vangogh
12-14-2010, 01:55 AM
I realize I didn't chime in on the copyright issue before. You really can't take a full post from someone and republish it. You can quote from the article and post parts of it under fair use, though from what I understand fair use is a but murky. Unfortunately so many people now copy entire articles and repost them that others think it's ok. I think we're going to need to rewrite copyright laws to both protect creators of original works as well as reflect the reality of things being so easy to copy that you can't realistically prevent it from happening.

You can always link to something. You don't need permission to do that and you violate no laws.

If it were me answering a question I'd likely offer some thoughts of my own and pull a quote or two or summarize the article and then post a link to the article for more details.

jamesray50
12-14-2010, 04:42 PM
I did find an interesting bookkeeping blog that had a retweet button. So I retweeted it and on my twitter page it says that I had found an interesting article and gave the link. I looked at several articles and blogs yesterday and that was the only one that had a retweet on it. Some articles had information on how to get permission to use the article. I just don't think I could use someone else's work unless I had permission, paid for it, or it was public information.

KristineS
12-14-2010, 05:09 PM
There's a difference between using someone's work and spotlighting someone's work. Bloggers share links and link to each other's posts all the time. Proper credit is given, and the link is usually used in the context of commenting, promoting or sharing a thought. You're not taking the work and passing it off as your own, you're simply pointing out something you think is useful and/or interesting. It's exactly this sort of activity that helps a lot of bloggers get noticed.

vangogh
12-14-2010, 06:24 PM
There's definitely a difference. You should never copy someone's article whole and republish it, however you're perfectly fine to grab a part of the article to quote it. It's fairly common, especially when your post is commenting on the original. Usually to be nice you link back to the source and a link back to a site is almost always a benefit for the site being linked to.

Books and articles will quote each other all the time and often use some of the text of the original. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

AmyAllen
12-14-2010, 07:00 PM
Just wanted to add (outside of the legal-legitimacy) that most businesses engage in social media marketing BECAUSE of the potential for this type of linking and sharing. This is the viral nature of the web and that's what makes it such a powerful marketing tool. Your expertise, article, your sale, or your [WHATEVER it is you're putting out there] - can go to your direct contacts - but also (and hopefully) to their friends/family...

When something "goes viral" on the web (every marketers dream!) that just means that thousands of people are linking to it and passing it on through their own mediums.

jamesray50
12-14-2010, 11:21 PM
I did notice some things yesterday while reading blogs and wondering if they would be good blogs to comment on or retweet. If they have a retweet, I'm not going to retweet if they are QuickBooks affiliates because I am also a QuickBooks and I don't want someone to click on their affiliate link and purchase from them rather than me. I also will not retweet any article from anyone who is in the same business as me if they are advertising their service in the blog. I want the business, I am not recommending them to my potential clients. So I have decided that I need to be careful in what I choose to retweet. So for now, I will concentrate on writing a new blog at least once a week, maybe twice, although I'm not a writer. I also have trouble coming up with topics, althought this time of year it should be easy to come up with stuff.

I also got my social media websites set up so when I tweet on twitter my face book page and linkedIn is updated and if I write a blog, my LinkedIn is updated. I think facebook or twitter is too, I don't remember which. At least I won't have to go to every single site to post an update. And today I posted a poll on LinkedIn. I hope a lot of people respond and I get a lot of traffic to my website from it.

vangogh
12-14-2010, 11:41 PM
One thing to consider with blogs in the same industry is that those are the very people you'd like to link to you. Often you'll find if you give to them they'll give back to you. Look for business who maybe aren't directly competing with you even if they are still in your industry and indirectly competing with you. There are a lot of bookkeepers in the world and a huge market for them. It's ok to build connections with some of your competition. You might even find they sometimes give you their overflow work.

jamesray50
12-15-2010, 12:06 AM
I hadn't thought of it that way. So just exactly do I get a link from them. Do I subscribe to their feed or blog or newsletter and then hope they do the same in return? How do they know I have subscribed? I'm just confused on getting these types of links.

Harold Mansfield
12-15-2010, 07:35 AM
I hadn't thought of it that way. So just exactly do I get a link from them. Do I subscribe to their feed or blog or newsletter and then hope they do the same in return? How do they know I have subscribed? I'm just confused on getting these types of links.

Usually from relationships built over time or some common ground. Even if you build up a relationship, it's still doubtful that you will pick up a link so that really shouldn't be a consideration.
The best way to pick up links from related sites, forums or have them shared is to write stuff that people want to read, informs them with information that is hard to find or understand, or entertain them.

Good content picks up random links.
People don't just link to a company website unless that company is the subject of an article or blog post.
They link to well written articles that provide timely information.

There's no simpler way to say it. If you want people to link to you, write good stuff and promote it so that others see it.

vangogh
12-15-2010, 11:32 AM
Like Harold said you build a relationship with them over time. You should subscribe to their blogs if they have one. Even if you don't want to build a relationship it's good to know what others in your industry are saying.

With those bloggers you want to connect with comment on their posts, link to their content in your posts. Find them on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever and see if you can connect with them there. Don't try to force a connection that isn't there. Some people will respond, others won't. When you see any opportunity to grow the relationship take advantage of that opportunity. You shouldn't be building the relationship solely for the link, otherwise it won't be much of a relationship. Get to know people who's ideas you like, who's personality you like.

Odds are some of those people will feel the same about you and you'll build a network of friends in the industry. In time they will start paying more attention to you, your site, your blog. They likely will link to you and you'll probably be able to ask a favor of them when the times comes.

With the links specifically you do need to create content people want to link to. One reason to subscribe to industry blogs is because it'll give you a feel for the kind of content that gets links. Creating content alone isn't enough. "If you build it they will come" doesn't work. You have to push your content out there. You need to attract some attention to it. One reason people like social media is you can push your content to one social site or another and get some attention for it. It's not the only way though. If you have built good relationships with people you can email telling them about your content. Some industries have natural mechanisms for things like this. In the design world many sites run a community news section where they as you to submit a link to your post.

Also don't expect any one channel to do all the work. You might get a few people visiting your site via Twitter and a few more via Facebook. Maybe you connect with one blogger who links to you. Take some time learning each new channel and figure out some way to make it work for you. Then add another channel and another.

Over time people will subscribe to your blog and you won't need to push content into there sphere of attention. They'll start telling their friends about you and you grow a little more. Much of it just takes some time to get the process going.

daveb
01-04-2011, 07:02 AM
well thats a violation of copyright. unless she used it for educational purpose (which is clearly not) , it does not matter if she acknowledges the author in the article she attached

Harold Mansfield
01-04-2011, 08:21 AM
well thats a violation of copyright. unless she used it for educational purpose (which is clearly not) , it does not matter if she acknowledges the author in the article she attached

To what are you referring?