Over the years, LinkedIn has grown into perhaps the best social platform for business. There is no denying that.
And over the years, I have developed a strong network that not only looks good in numbers but interacts with me strongly too – I get a lot of daily engagement in the form of comments, debates and conversations.
Which is what social media is for, right? To be social!
So quite recently I have had people asking me about my strategy on LinkedIn; and it got me thinking. Until this point, I wouldn’t have even said I had a strategy at all. Even now, I would not say I have a strategy as such, or a ‘game plan’ or some kind of tactics that I have pinned up on the wall of my office.
The more I think about these questions however, the more I start to think about actually what it is I do on LinkedIn that seems to get me the best results. In a nutshell, I like to think of my LinkedIn strategy like that of a standard business networking meeting.
We have all been to a networking event, right? A good chance to speak with like-minded business individuals, all of whom have their own opinions, and their own insights to life, and their own view points. The same can be said for LinkedIn, and it works for a beautiful analogy.
A networking event always goes better when people are starting conversations and discussions. If you can converse with another business owner, you can open the door to wonderful opportunities and start to develop wonderful relationships. LinkedIn is the same; hide in the shadows, and no one will be able to find you!
We all love to buy from people we love. It can be very easy to post general robotic posts about your business, why your business is so good, and why people should buy from you. But is that personal? Does that kind of post allow your connections to understand you as a person and to start to form a likeness towards you? The more personal, the better. This is social media after all, not a classified ads board.
If you see something that you do not agree with, move on. Don’t start being the negative one and appoint yourself as ‘head of LinkedIn Police!’ – at the end of the day, you wouldn’t run over to a conversation going on at a networking event and say; ‘please stop talking about your children! This is for business!’
Finally, I always say, keep it social. This is a social media platform after all. If you wouldn’t say it in person, or in public, it is perhaps best not to say it on here. Be professional, be polite, and be yourself. You cannot get it wrong if you just be yourself.