This week we continue our 4-week series in which we cover the top 5 mistakes business make on the most popular social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram. We invite you to subscribe and follow along each Monday for quick and valuable tips on how you can avoid making these mistakes and immediately improve your business’s social media presence. Enjoy!
Linkedin is a valuable, professional networking tool for building your personal brand, which is ultimately a reflection on your business. Because your profile represents you as a person, it’s all the more important to know what mistakes to avoid so that you don’t risk putting anything but your best face forward. Take a look at these five mistakes and learn how to avoid making them with your own profile on Linkedin!
Not reaching out and actively building your network
With any social networking site, actively reaching out to build connections with other people is an important part of successfully growing the value of your network. Don’t make the mistake of creating an account only to forget to reach out to contacts you know or have an interest in getting to know. Growing your network is as simple as this: send an invitation to connect with at least one new contact a day. Another great way to engage contacts and build your personal brand is to commit to participating in group discussions a couple times a week. Simply comment or ask a question, anything to start a conversation!
Reaching out TOO far and building your network with anyone and everyone
Now that we’ve talked about the value of building your network, it’s important to keep in mind that you can take this piece of advice too far. Trying to connect with everyone and anyone that Linkedin suggests will result in a ton of “false” connections that carry no value and merely clutter your contact list. Think about your goals and purpose for your personal brand. Aim to connect with contacts that you genuinely know or that align with the vision or your brand. When you go to search your contacts, you’ll have a meaningful list of professionals that can truly be of help to you.
Leaving outdated or incomplete content on your profile
In a world where change is constant, you want to remember to also regularly update your profile information to keep it accurate and relevant. Whether your business moves to a new location or broadens its scope of service, it’s important to reflect these changes in your personal profile and on your business page on Linkedin.
Sharing your tweets or Facebook posts on Linkedin without formatting them specifically for this audience
Sharing the same content across all your social media accounts is problematic because each platform has its own features and limitations that call for a unique message. For example, Linkedin doesn’t limit you to 140 characters like Twitter, but it’s also not the best social media site for using hashtags. If you push your Twitter posts to Linkedin, it will be obvious you didn’t take the time to customize the content. Not only will this lose impact with your audience, it will also reflect that you’re not willing to put in the minimal extra time to customize your content in an effort to engage your contacts.
Not fully utilizing the power of long-form posts
The final, and possibly the biggest mistake people continue to make on Linkedin is not fully utilizing the power of long-form posts. You don’t have to have your own blog or be a skilled writer to publish meaningful content on Linkedin. In fact, this is a great way to get started! Rather than just sharing a link to your article or blog hosted on another website, you have the opportunity to increase the visibility of your content by publishing it directly to Linkedin. Your contacts can subscribe to your posts, comment on them and share with their network– all of which are powerful ways to increase your brand value, expertise and SEO.
What strategy have you used to build your Linkedin network and profile? Have you made any of these mistakes? Share your thoughts by commenting below!
