If you use Linkedin you will have seen those posts that say “I really need a …. for a job in ….. – can anyone recommend someone to help?” – But how can you respond to these types of posts? If you know someone that could help with their request what could you do to recommend them?
The obvious answer is to comment with their name and then they can follow it up and continue the conversation. But as many of us have seen, these posts often have lots of lots of replies with numerous names, companies and contacts, so how can you help your recommendation stand out from the crowd?
Just recently I saw someone recommended for a post, the recommender listed the name of the person they recommended and that was it, this is fine, but then the original poster has to trawl through the people on Linkedin to try and find the suggested person. The person recommended would not see the post either and therefore not be able to follow it up. (Luckily I knew the person they were recommending and tagged them)
An improvement to this would be tagging them in the reply, this can be done by using the @ and then typing in the person’s name and clicking on it as it comes up. This means the original poster can click their name through to their profile, but also the person that has been recommended will be notified so they can follow up on the lead.
Yet a further improvement to this is to give their name (tagged of course) and explain why you are recommending them. Maybe include a link to their work, explain what a great job they did for you and why you think they would be ideal for the posters needs. It won’t take that much longer and will give more credibility to you and the person you are recommending.
I then go one step further and email the person I have recommended and tagged in the post so they know they have a lead they can follow up on, even if they are not on Linkedin as much as I am (most minutes of the working day!).
The reason it is good to recommend others is because it shows you as a person that knows your business community, you are keen to help others and also the person you are recommending will be thankful for the recommendation which could lead to a thank-you gift, a recommendation from them to another business or even business from them!
