LinkedIN Social Eminence Project - 60 Day Update

February 3rd marks the passing of 60 days since I started the LinkedIN Social Eminence Project.  So, it is time for an update.  The first update at the 30th day mark can be found here.

LinkedIN Social Eminence Project - 30 Day Update

My personal metrics for this social media project at the 60th day mark are displayed in the following chart for your review.

A final report will be published on March 3rd, 2016.  This final report will wrap up the efforts committed to for participation as a LinkedIN subject matter expert.  My general sense is that this project has been worthwhile.  I continue to learn a lot about social media and its value to individuals as well as corporations.

In my opinion, the results have been impressive.  While the results are not to the scale of celebrity followers on other social media sites for the likes of Justin Bieber, Madonna, Floyd Mayweather, Rihanna, Shakira and Selena Gomez, who enjoy over 30 million followers each, they are still reasonable results for an unknown business consultant in an niche industry from Canada on a purely business social media site.

It would be wonderful if I could get to 40,000 or 50,000 followers by the 90 day mark.  But, maintaining this level of social media activity with hundreds of actions per week is hard work and a serious commitment.  Since I have a full work life that exceeds 50 to 60 hours per week, it means getting up at 5:00 am to post and add new actions (shares, likes, comments, etc.) and again at 10:00 pm before sleeping for the night.  I suspect that the list of celebrities shown above have teams of staff to manage their social media presence between 9:00 t0 5:00.  As well, they have the ability to monetize their social media engagement so as to fund and profit from their sage comments, videos, posts, and tweets.  For me, a tiny weeny social media fish floundering in this vast social media ocean, this is simply not practical nor realistic to assume any measure of success at the global scale to be achievable or sustainable.

However, the quantity of followers is surprising good; I am both surprised and delighted by the response.  However, the geographic dispersion of the followers has been misaligned to my personal goals.  Most are coming from countries where I do not do business.  I work in Canada, so I seek Canadian followers.  But, in a global social media site, you get the entire world.  If I was a business, an independent consultant, or a manufacturer, and held aspirations to sell my goods or services globally, this global country dispersion would be excellent for my business.  But, as a Canadian consultant working for IBM, the global reach is beyond my grasp.  However, I do work for IBM and IBM is a global business operating in more than 170 countries.  So, perhaps this global social eminence is a very positive thing for my employer?  I would like to think "yes", so it may be considered a success for the greater good (IBM).

Stay tuned for the March 3, 2016 final report for this winter project.  So far, it has been fun and a great learning experience.  I thank everyone who has taken the time to read my articles, follow my posts, and connect as followers or connections.  Also, many thinks to the wonderful folks at LinkedIN for their endless patience with me and for answering my many questions. 

LinkedIN is wonderful.

LinkedIN

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About the Author:

Michael Martin has more than 35 years of experience in broadband networks, optical fibre, wireless and digital communications technologies. He is a Senior Executive Consultant with IBM Canada's GTS Network Services Group. Over the past 11 years with IBM, he has worked in the GBS Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities and the GTS Global Center of Excellence for Energy and Utilities. He was previously a founding partner and President of MICAN Communications and before that was President of Comlink Systems Limited and Ensat Broadcast Services, Inc., both divisions of Cygnal Technologies Corporation (CYN:TSX). Martin currently serves on the Board of Directors for TeraGo Inc (TGO:TSX) and previously served on the Board of Directors for Avante Logixx Inc. (XX:TSX.V).  He served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and on the Board of Advisors of four different Colleges in Ontario as well as for 16 years on the Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Toronto Section.  He holds three Masters level degrees, in business (MBA), communication (MA), and education (MEd). As well, he has diplomas and certifications in business, computer programming, internetworking, project management, media, photography, and communication technology.

LinkedIN