Lately, I’ve noticed that a lot of people are using LinkedIn like their own personal wall on Facebook. This is troubling me, because it’s such a bad use of one of the most powerful marketing tools you have. Worse, you’re actively showing professionals that you’re not, while encouraging them to unfollow you and lose your network!
LinkedIn has 433 million members across 200 countries – that’s a huge network, and one that can potentially open huge avenues of exploration for you. My question is simple: why aren’t you using it to build your business? Why are you using it like it’s your Facebook backyard?
Next time you’re thinking about posting something on LinkedIn, be clear in your mind about what you want to achieve with it. Is this post going to help you become more successful, more productive, and build your business?
Or is it just some fluff that you want to share? Now, I’m not saying that you do this all the time, and honestly, we all probably share something that’s not 100% professional on LinkedIn at one time or another because we believe it has value.
But you have to remember that your goal on LinkedIn is to build you authority and trust. You want people to turn to you when they need help in your industry and niche. You do that by posting and sharing quality, interesting content that helps keep people up to date.
In other words, your LinkedIn profile and wall acts as an extension of your marketing. So, it’s time to stop using it like Facebook and treat it like the professional network you know it is!