Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Life Insurance

What to do with those LinkedIn endorsements

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

LinkedIn has made it incredibly easy to endorse other users’ skills. A big blue box at the top of everyone’s profile asks “Does Ms. X have these skills or expertise?” This may have led others to endorse you for skills which may or may not be your specialty. And, more important for advisors, this may result in endorsements you simply cannot have. (Remember, you can always accept or decline an endorsement by choosing “Add to profile” or “Skip.”)

Upon receiving an endorsement, whether relevant or not, you may have wondered whether you are expected to reciprocate. The answer is not necessarily. The generally accepted etiquette is to endorse the skills of another user only if you can attest to the recommendation with 100-percent confidence. When it comes to endorsements, quality trumps quantity.

It is a good idea to take an endorsement as an opportunity to build your relationship with the endorser. Take a moment to send her a personal message. This adds value to an otherwise offhanded click of the mouse and creates an opportunity for dialogue.

Oregon advisor David Gratke employs the following email when he must remove an endorsement:

Greetings Mr. Y,

I would like to thank you for your recent LinkedIn endorsement of our services. Thank you for your heartfelt appreciation of our work.

However, I will need to remove all my LI endorsements, as the regulators forbid testimonials for investment advisors and construe LI endorsements as such.

I would love to connect with you to learn more about your interests and needs with respect to my services. I believe there are a number of ways we could help each other. Would you be free for a brief chat in the near future?

Looking forward to connecting soon.

Thanks, David

LinkedIn endorsements are akin to the “like” button on Facebook and similarly they have the potential to turn into a lot of meaningless clutter, which could be harmful for advisors. But, if you know how to manage these settings, you’ll be able to control endorsements and ensure they add value to your business.

Sign up for The Lead and get a new tip in your inbox every day! More tips:

Amy McIlwain is a professional speaker on social media and President of Financial Social Media, an online marketing firm specializing in the financial industry. She can be reached through her website www.financialsocialmedia.com and on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.