Tag: social media is dead

  • Why do I use LinkedIn – and other questions

    I’ve been asked to talk about LinkedIn. This isn’t the first time. Most of the talks, I’ve given were about how to use LinkedIn “technically”. Given that LinkedIn has been available for over 15 years and there are many excellent online courses and webinars on how to use LinkedIn features, I suggested a session on “Why do I use LinkedIn?” instead.

    From a more personal point of view.

    I am planning to talk about my own use of LinkedIn.

    Why I am using LinkedIn to build my personal network.

    What the perceived added value is for me.

    spiral up
    Looking up

    I think it’s about what works for me, what benefits me.

    Sometimes platforms stick. Sometimes they don’t. Who knows, maybe Instagram is a better business platform for you?

    to do list
    To do list

    Why do I use LinkedIn?

    Here’s my list:

    1. Recruiting. LinkedIn started out as a recruiting platform. That’s still a large and important part. Example: I actively use LinkedIn to recruit.
    2. Networking. I use LinkedIn to build a net of business connections from my past, present, and future. Providers, external contractors, people I worked with. Example: a contact asked me where to find a UX designer and I shared 3 people that I thought could help her with her search, based on my LinkedIn network. I use the Direct Messaging area for this.
    3. Gathering information. Follow business topics, companies, magazines, and individuals. Example: I actively use LinkedIn to find information about the industry that I am in.
    4. Promoting and distributing information. I use LinkedIn to share info with relevant audiences. Example: A lot of energy is spent on creating content. In today’s world, it doesn’t stop there. Telling people via Paid and Organic that a piece of content exists is equally important as creating and writing the piece in the first place. Distribute everywhere. An Ahref study on 1 billion web pages says approximately 90% of pages do not get any traffic from Google. With a limited paid budget, telling people about the web pages I worked on is 1 way to promote new web pages. Expecting others, that don’t know my employer or my business area, to distribute B2B info, isn’t likely to happen. It starts with me. Raising awareness for the cool projects I work on.
    5. Learning and experimenting. Use LinkedIn to learn what kind of messages and formats work and what doesn’t resonate. Learn how often the organic algorithm shows the message. Which posts it currently prefers. See who interacts with a post. Example: Currently the LinkedIn algorithm favours longer posts with no external links, and a long thread of comments.

    LinkedIn has the most accurate database of Job Titles.

    Personal benefits:

    Networking.

    Posting on LinkedIn at regular intervals gets noticed. My LinkedIn activities help me to stand out. Semrush and other social media tools show my activity levels. It’s a way to stay top-of-mind.

    Articles that I promote on LinkedIn have a better chance of ranking.

    Sharing articles and posting messages gives me ideas on what topics will work.

    My knowledge of Organic LinkedIn helps me with my Paid Advertising projects on LinkedIn.

    social media decision tree
    Social Media decision tree

    My recommendations:

    Think about your topics and your goal on LinkedIn. Do you want to add new skills? Do you want to learn about a new topic? Do you want to position yourself as an expert? Do research. Follow their streams. Attend their online events. Add useful comments or ask questions.

    Don’t be a robot.

    Try your own text.

    Be personable.

    Use your own voice.

    Add value. Add comments. Contribute.

    Be a human filter for your employer and your areas of expertise.

    People buy from people.

    fischer netz am rhein
    Fishing net along the Rhine river

    Words of caution:

    Everything you share on LinkedIn is public or might become public. Don’t post about sensitive topics. Avoid referring to client projects or internal processes.

    I would stick to business-related topics for the majority of the posts. There are other networks for your hobbies or your holiday plans. My litmus test is: Would I talk about this in a real-life, face-to-face business context?

    You will get advertisers and providers trying to sell you stuff via Direct Messaging. It’s inevitable. Depending on your role, you may want to turn down these requests. Or, learn from them. Sending me a message to connect and then following up immediately with a direct sales request will not be successful. And, it’s an example of robotic behaviour.

    michiru
    The road ahead

    Tips:

    Use a tool like Buffer.com to schedule posts throughout the week. Free plan allows 10 posts.

    Maintain your LinkedIn profile.

    Map our your topics.

    branches
    Branches
  • Gaming the System

    Recommended read via Mlle A.‘s Delicious bookmarks:

    How we killed social media

    And probably a reason why many companies that are latecomers to the social media circus will never understand, why everybody is was so excited.

    Instead of following the latest social media advertising trend, my advice is: Be yourself.

    Be your-crazy-self.

    If it means only 20 unique visits per day, that’s much better than selling your ideas, your soul and well-being for 5K hits that will not return and will make you look trashy.

    Imagine 20 people walking into your brick-and-mortar shop per day.

    Don’t try to blog or post photos or twitter or upload videos or bookmark articles or share RSS feeds for advertising purposes only.

    Have fun.

    Don’t copy.

    Don’t be fake.

    Be Visible.

    Persuade with good content at regular intervals.

    When I presented a talk about blogging for content developers at an STC conference in Zurich, it was a photo collection of Nutella alternatives that Mlle A. and I started at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nutellaalternative/ that people noticed. Lots of craziness in there.

    But I’m also using my energy for other projects such as the Malawi group at Flickr:

    My talk about cell phones in Africa was well received because I’m genuinely interested in ICT developments in Africa, because now I can connect with family and friends. Which I couldn’t in the early 90s, due to very high telephone costs.

    I don’t need to push my own business. Chiperoni and all of its side streams is just a fun project to try out new technologies and practice my writing skills and keep online bookmarks. And as such I’m probably a lot freer than somebody that needs to pay their bills with their online shop.

    Consider these facts:

    Social media is really disrupting the traditional conventional advertising and news world. Maybe at the end of it, all kinds of media will be dead… new and old. C.f. my recent post on “Where are the business models for content?”.

    Search engines have become all powerful. Important facts and knowledge are getting ignored because they’re not in the search results on page 1.

    That’s why independent niche blogging is important to me. Excellent research skills are much needed.

    That’s why your point of view and your understanding of a topic can make a difference. And that’s why you should continue to blog and tweet and post photos… But IMHO the gold rush is over. It’s hard work. No quick wins.

    In a corporate environment, asking all of your company employees to digg an article or tweet by command is fake, if you don’t engage further and learn to use the new tools and make networking part of your company culture. C.f Scoble on Zappos.

    I would try to move away from “all about me and my beautiful company” kind of articles to showing your expertise and understanding for your particular part of the world market.