I ran a poll on LinkedIn in January about social media usage. I thought that quite probably lots of people will have made resolutions at the start of the year and quite a few would have been about cutting back on their social media usage.
While it is not very scientific, 71% suggested that they were going to cut back on their usage. It was obviously a very broad question about all usage and not specifically about LinkedIn but I did think it was slightly ironic that they were responding to the poll on social media!
Social media undoubtedly has many great benefits. I am in contact with people that I had either lost contact with or would struggle to stay in touch with if social media did not exist. Friends on the other side of the world do not seem so far away when you see what they are up to at the weekend. Of course, there is a major downside to social media that has been explored regularly over the last few years and I do not intend to repeat. Those downsides are, I think, less seen on LinkedIn.
Whether we like it or not, social media is here to stay. In the same way that we have adapted our ways of working to include email and the good parts of the internet, I feel that we need to adapt our businesses to include social media whether we really want to or not. Our competitors are doing it so if we want to stay in the game, we need to as well.
I see LinkedIn as vital to my business so I will be using it as much, if not more, than last year. I know that I have won work as a result of my activity on the site. It is not the only thing that I do but it is a very important part of what I do to win new work. Potential customers know who I am long before I ever make contact with them. They have seen that I can add value, know what I am talking about and can probably help them.
Some of the people that I work with are reluctant to engage on LinkedIn. They worry that their identify could be stolen or that people may find information about them that they would rather they didn’t. However, our identities are everywhere now and if someone wants to find out about us, they are going to be able to. If you are careful, you should be able to avoid major problems. I firmly believe that the benefits of being there far outweigh the possible downsides.
If you are going to use LinkedIn, I would recommend the following:
1. Post regularly and consistently. It does not need to be every day but keep doing it.
2. Post about yourself – people buy from people and they want to see the person behind the screen.
3. Add value by commenting on other people’s posts. This shows that you care and can be useful.
4. Build your connections sensibly, do not try to connect with everyone.
5. Show up and be valuable, do not try to sell your services before people have got to know you.
6. Be person and do not use AI tools to make connections or send emails. It is obvious and shows that you do not really care.
7. Keep a record of what you post and the reaction to it so that you know what works and what does not.