Friyay, December 11th! Wishing everyone a happy and safe weekend.
If you have time this morning, please comment and share the article you’re about to read. I’m really interested to hear different perspectives.
Best!
The Problem With LinkedIn, And What You Can Do About It
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
I was duped into a sales call via Zoom. He was a self-proclaimed LinkedIn expert who promised to “10x” my commercial real estate income and triple my post engagement. This was back in May, peak lockdown, I was desperate for 10x of anything.
He ripped apart my content for the first few minutes. “Why are you posting TikToks and writing long-form articles?”
“Err, I don’t know,” I said. “I thought my audience would find it entertaining and valuable?” “That’s all wrong!” He replied. “LinkedIn is a seller’s platform, not a creative platform.” It’s LeviOsa, not LeviosA.
I was lost, and I could tell he was growing frustrated with me.
“Look here,” he said, pointing to his profile, which was full of pictures of him at happy hours and golf outings. “I just go to networking events and tag as many people as I can, then they have to like and comment.”
“Guilt people into liking your stuff; I think I remember Gary V saying something like that,” I said.
“who?”
“Never mind.”
I logged off the call more skeptical than ever. But it turned out he was right, LinkedIn is undeniably a seller’s platform, and boy did I start to notice it.
1.) Annoying feed of self-promoting content.
2.) Daily spam from people you’ve never met trying to sell stuff you don’t need.
3.) Comments from people redirecting your viewers to their product.
This isn’t what I signed up for, and it’s all very frustrating.
LinkedIn Has Become Super Salesy, What Should We Do?
The point is, I’m worried about LinkedIn. Since when has promotion taken priority over providing value? I just can’t hang with that.
I’m a huge advocate of posting business content, especially early in one’s career, but most young professionals, myself included until recently, post their business content solely on LinkedIn.
We should all think about pivoting this strategy.
Here’s what I started doing instead of relying on LinkedIn.
1.) Created a Substack newsletter.
2.) I started posting business content on Instagram.
3.) I started posting business articles on Medium instead of LinkedIn.
I’ll talk about how I use these platforms in this article.
Email Newsletters Could Be The Way Of The Future
I realize the email newsletter feels like a stone age strategy for content distribution, and I won’t lie it’s old school. But it’s making a comeback.
Think about it. Social media platforms (and, by extension, LinkedIn) have become so crowded that creators are climbing over each other tooth and nail just to get a few eyeballs.
Email newsletters offer a more intimate relationship with your audience and lets them consume your content on their own time and on their own terms. This establishes trust and builds a network of dedicated fans as opposed to passive followers.
Operating a newsletter used to be a full-time job. You not only had to create the content, but you had to manage its distribution, membership, and payments. Things are different now. Check out Substack: A subscription-based newsletter service that turn-keys the operation side of newsletters. All you have to do is write and post.
I send out a newsletter each Friday morning to my clients. The topics aren’t all commercial real estate related, I’ll sprinkle in book reviews, travel blogs, and rants about a subject I happen to be interested in.
That’s the beauty of it. You have more creative control because it’s basically your platform. The best part is, my open rates have fluctuated between 30–50%; it’s hard to beat that.
LinkedIn’s Article Writing Platform is Dog S***, Try Posting Your Business Articles On Medium
I don’t want to dig into LinkedIn too much, but their article writing platform is dog s*** wrapped in cat s***. I don’t know how else to say it. You put all this work into an article, and it’s like they don’t even try to put it in front of people.
I ran an A/B test with LinkedIn and Medium: posted the same article on both platforms and recorded the results. I realize the two audiences are entirely different (LinkedIn leans towards an older demographic), but it’s worth noting the difference in reach because it’s not close.
LinkedIn Followers: 2,506
Medium Followers: 71
Please explain this to me: I have 2,500 followers on LinkedIn, which translated into 20 views. I have 71 followers on Medium, which translated into 98 views. How the hell is that possible?
What’s more, Medium offers the opportunity to have your content published by influential publications like Fast Company, Inc, and The Startup.
Over at LinkedIn, maybe a coworker will share your article… maybe.
Your Friends Will Make Fun Of You, Post Your Business Content On Instagram Anyway
The time has come, companies can no longer treat Instagram like a cute side project, it’s a necessity.
But you have to respect the rules. Instagram does not reward sellers like on LinkedIn, you have to provide value, or content with an element of the following:
· Entertainment
· Educational
· Inspirational
Here’s what I’m doing to promote my business on Instagram.
1.) Post quick 30 second videos of me answering a commonly asked CRE question. I do this twice a week. The videos do extremely well because they hit the educational button and can be entertaining every once in a while.
2.) Post a slide show that highlights the subheaders of whatever blog I’m working on.
For example, 6 Important Lessons from my first 6 years in Business. Each slide provides a different lesson.
I should warn you that C-Suites executives will likely not engage with you on Instagram like they would on LinkedIn. But that’s not the point. You will receive engagement from other young professionals. You know, the people you will be doing business with for the rest of your career.
Should You Quit LinkedIn For Good?
No, hell no. But you should post your business content on other platforms as well.
It’s hard to beat LinkedIn in terms of their accessibility to C-Suite Executives and hiring managers, so don’t sell all your stock just yet.
However, unless LinkedIn recognizes they’re turning into a country club and updates their site (which I believe they will), they will lose leverage.