Building a new level of social, one LinkedIn app at a time (LinkedIn interview)

A copy of the video interview and article from LinkedIn and MaRS Commons

Horizon Studios is a social business design practice led by Founding Partner and Executive Creative Director, Janice Diner. She and her team have conceived, developed and executed social media marketing and technology in both local and global markets. Diner is a social media powerhouse willing to explore new opportunities in social technology that are strategic to business and go beyond what’s been done before.

Following the social curve

Diner sees Horizon’s role as helping businesses “craft opportunities” in social by focusing on three sweet spots: marketing with a social curve, engaging across all screens and building products with purpose.

Evolving with LinkedIn

Diner was a very early adopter of LinkedIn. “I’m very passionate about LinkedIn. It helps me connect with colleagues, potential employees and contract workers, as well as my sales network and business influencers. But more importantly, we use it to help the businesses we work with connect with their audiences.”

One of the first marketers to work with the LinkedIn API (application programming interface), Diner and her team are always looking for new ways to use it to drive business forward. “LinkedIn may be one of the most under-developed social technology APIs, but it represents one of the greatest opportunities for developers and marketers.”

Building a new level of social, one LinkedIn app at a time from MaRS Media on Vimeo.

“We’re at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can do. These are early days, and there are opportunities we don’t even understand yet. There is so much potential here.”

~ Janice Diner, Founding Partner and Executive Creative Director, Horizon Studios

According to Diner, API integration is a unique development opportunity. “LinkedIn offers plug-ins such as LinkedIn Share, LinkedIn Recommend or Apply with LinkedIn, as well as LinkedIn Company Pages that are easy to set up. But API integration is a whole different animal that offers some very big business opportunities.”

Creating new business opportunities

A recent LinkedIn API integration effort is the LinkedIn Martindale-Hubbell® Lawyer Ratings Application that Horizon worked on for LexisNexis. The app integrates the 140-year-old LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings and Client Review rating system and standard used by the legal community with the world’s largest professional network.

What was once a book and then an online-only service takes LinkedIn recommendations to the next level for lawyers. “When you think about LinkedIn recommendations, they come from people who think positively of you,” she explains. “What the LexisNexis application does is let lawyers display their Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings on their LinkedIn profile for everyone in their network to see.”

“If every lawyer on LinkedIn were to use the app, it would very quickly become the new normal. Now that’s innovation. It’s a great example of how really good technology can serve a broader purpose and drive an industry forward.”

LinkedIn InMail was used to raise awareness and drive adoption of the new app. “Building a solution is never enough,” she says. “That’s only the first step. You also need to focus on adoption and show that this is a huge opportunity for the community.”

New horizons for developers

Diner believes the LinkedIn social platform shows great promise for the developer community. “The opportunity is now. The speed of change is only increasing, and there are millions of people actively engaged in this platform and ready to buy your products or services.”

“For anyone that finds it too daunting,” she says, “it’s really easy to do. At the base level, there are a lot of tools you can use right away. Start there if you have to.”

Ultimately she says, “It’s not about building a LinkedIn or other app. It’s about making your business social and finding out what social curve works best for you.”

When asked about what she sees for the future of social media, Diner says, “We’re at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can do. These are early days and there are opportunities we don’t even understand yet. There is so much potential here.”