How I use LinkedIn to promote a program

Ron Villejo, PhD

I am affiliated with the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University (US), and I am working with them to encourage managers and executives to attend a very unique program - Leadership Deep Dive - to be held in Dubai. I really enjoy attending conferences and networking with fellow business people and professionals.  But when time and budget are tight, I focus more on social media, especially LinkedIn.  With 300+ million now on the site, it is simply hard to beat.

Here are three key things I've done to promote LDD, and their benefits for me:

1. I took stock of my 1071 connections, and privately messaged those who might very well be interested in this program.  It gave me reason to check in and get caught up a bit with a number of them who responded back.  
2. LinkedIn allows me to target colleagues, even those who aren't connections.  I am a member of a group by a key client prospect in the Middle East, so I can see colleagues' headline profiles in a list and message those who fit my target directly.  I do not send mass or generic messages; in fact I message each one personally, that is, by name, and reference their position and company name.  
3. Both connections and would-be connections have been checking out my profile more.  Since I started promoting LDD, I have had a noticeable uptick in views (below).  That isn't the only thing I'm doing - I post and comment regularly on my Timeline, plus I am active in select groups.  

I am proud to say that in 2012, my profile was in the top 5% most viewed among about 200 million members.  To be in the top 19% among my connections in particular is quite good, actually.  Last year I updated my profile once or twice a week, which LinkedIn algorithms would announce to my connections.  But because I hadn't updated it in a while, these profile views prompted me to do so.