Analytics Is King

We interrupt your regularly scheduled analytics broadcast for another confession: I love social media. First it was LinkedIn, now it’s all social media. Everything that’s happened as a result of participating in social media over the last few years has been positive. Well, maybe not everything, but darn near close to everything

One of the greatest parts about the space is that you never know when it is going to present you with interesting opportunities. Social media helps you discover everything from speaking engagements to guest blog post opportunities to, gasp, job possibilities.

A few weeks ago, I received a message (through social media, of course) from David Armano asking if I would be willing to get together for a drink while we were all in New York (for different reasons). When I showed up, there was Rick Murray, who I’ve also followed and admired for a long-time online. After our discussion, I was so pumped up that I remember going through every last detail of it in the cab.

These guys were interested in having me join the team? I was incredibly excited.

After more conversations (you know how these things go and don’t need me boring you with the details), I received an offer from the folks at Edelman to come to Chicago and take on a role as Vice President, Digital Analytics. In case you didn’t gather from the context inherent in the first few paragraphs here, I’ve decided to accept their offer and join the team.

WAIT… Did I just say move to Chicago and join Edelman Digital? Does that mean I’m leaving Austin? What about Ogilvy? I need answers!  

Let me take a second and try to address some of the questions:

1. Yes, I am moving to Chicago. Before the initial conversation with David and Rick, I had no plans of returning to the Midwest anytime soon. Sure, I love Chicago. Yes, I absolutely love everything about Minneapolis. Of course I love going home to Cleveland. But, the winters! Opportunities to work with guys of this caliber are not presented everyday, especially to those of us who are numbers dorks
2. Yes, it also means that I’m leaving Austin. After moving here in February 2010, I felt like this would be home for a long time. I love everything about the city and its people. I’ve made some tremendous friends here, and be damn sure I’ll be making plenty of return trips (aside from SXSW, of course)
3. It does, in fact, mean I’m leaving Ogilvy. This was the most difficult decision of all. Even in a relatively short period of time, the “Ogilvy red” has made its way into my veins. I love the people. I love the culture. It has great clients. This move should in no way change your opinion of that firm. It’s TOP NOTCH.

To say I am excited to join the likes of Jill Knisley, Zena Weist, Dave Fleet, Michael Brito, Chris Lightner, David Almacy, Phil Gomes and of course David and Rick was just something I couldn’t miss out on. These people are incredibly talented, and I can’t wait to work with them!

A few quick things before I continue to plan….errrrrr…. panic about moving cross country for the second time in two years in just a few weeks:

1. Several people helped me with this decision along the way. To Kyle Flaherty, Bridget Jewell, Allan Schoenberg, Damion White, Lisa Grimm, Gina Gretchko, Katie Huntley and Sonny Gill…. I can’t thank you all enough. Difficult decision and your unwavering support made it a lot easier. Again, thanks!
2. I’m going to miss my friends in Austin, “like whoa!” That, “like whoa” is credited to Lauren Warthan, who I’d most definitely put in this category. It’s going to be tough to leave such a great group of people, but hopefully we can all hang out again soon!
3. Go Bulls! The, “anyone but Lebron” motto will continue in the Windy City…

SWEET HOME CHICAGO (apologies Robert Johnson)

My name is Chuck Hemann, and I have a confession to make - I have a crush on a social network. Yes, it's true. I've kept this love in the closet for a long time, but now I feel like it's time to reveal that love. It's likely a social network that you don't think about on a daily basis. We're so busy tweeting, and offering up status updates that we've neglected a tool that can dramatically improve our careers. You're probably asking which social network I'm talking about, right? Well, the answer is LinkedIn.

Yes, my crush is on LinkedIn. Why? I've received more utility since joining that platform than any other by a long shot. Sure, Twitter has helped amplify my blog posts, and I do enjoy connecting with friends via Facebook. However, professionally speaking, I've had more success with LinkedIn than Facebook and Twitter combined. But, when I tell people about how much I love LinkedIn, I'm typically met with skepticism. "It's spammy," people say. Or, "all I receive are annoying emails from recruiters on LinkedIn," they remark. I'd say there's a lot more to LinkedIn than recruiting emails, but let me offer up a couple of reasons why I think people don't like it:

1. It's not an online contact list - Just with anything else, you get out of it what you put into it. Unfortunately, most just connect with people on LinkedIn and then don't bother to continue building a relationship. LinkedIn isn't a replacement for your Outlook contacts. It is, however, a place to build real business relationships after making a connection
2. Recruiting emails - We all get them, and we seem to be getting more of them through LinkedIn. Why is it annoying? It should be flattering that people want to talk to you about an opening. Get over it.
3. Connecting with everyone - This isn't Twitter (or even to some degree, Facebook) where you need to accept every new follow request. If you really don't know someone, why accept their request? I don't. I think your LinkedIn contact lists are filled up with people you don't know and that makes it inherently not valuable.
4. It's not sexy - You don't get to upload photos, or tweet about your weekend doings on LinkedIn. It doesn't have crazy applications that allow you to visualize your social graph. It takes work, and it isn't sexy. Trust me though, it pays off.

So, if I get so much value out of LinkedIn how do I do that? What are the tips and tricks that I've used? Here are a few that might help you:

1. Don't connect with everyone - Related to #3 above, but I don't accept every LinkedIn request. In fact, not even close. If I don't know you, or never met you, I'm not going to accept your request there. If you want to connect for some sort of business purpose, send me an email through LinkedIn explaining why. If it's beneficial, I'll accept.
2. Download your contacts frequently - I try every week to download my contacts and go through them to see who I've not connected with in a long time. If there are some people, I'll spend a few minutes dropping each of them a line to see how they are doing. You'd be amazed how far that goes.
3. Offer up recommendations to people you have worked with - I'll admit to not doing this enough, but write recommendations for people you know. It helps them, and it helps you when they (likely) return the favor.
4. Participate in groups - You know those emails you receive showing a digest of posts from the day? At least read them, and try to answer a question if you can. It's helpful to the community, and you're seen as an industry expert after doing so.
5. Think about making connections for friends - Quite often, friends ask me if I know anyone in a particular city. My response? Here is a list of my LinkedIn contacts. Take a look through it and let me know who you see. If I know someone in that place, I'll be sure to make the connection. Again, it helps you and helps them.

LinkedIn isn't sexy, and takes a lot of work. However, if you put in the work you'll derive significant value from it. Don't be a communications pro that underutilizes LinkedIn. Next week, spend a little more time on LinkedIn versus Facebook or Twitter. See what happens...