LinkedIn, You’re Doing It All Wrong

HE PUNCHES ABOVE HIS WEIGHT CLASS!

Have you ever heard the phrase, “he punches above his weight class?” This old adage harkens back to the sport of boxing, it’s the little guy who holds his own with the big guys. We use it to describe someone who exerts more influence or power than you might have expected.

That’s LinkedIn, the platform “punches above its weight class.”

Compared to other social media platforms LinkedIn is a bit like the younger brother; it doesn’t throw up the numbers like it’s older brothers Facebook and Instagram. Monthly, Facebook has in the range of 2.7 billion monthly users, Instagram, one billion. LinkedIn on the other hand has in the range of 300 million monthly users. 

If we were to think of these stats in terms of mountains, Facebook is Everest, Instagram is K2, and LinkedIn is some sand-dune on the western part of Florida. 

So, we should throw all our attention on Facebook then, right? 

No. 

LinkedIn is the place you need to be. I’ll give you four reasons, but I don’t think you need them. 

First, LinkedIn has the right people. The platform is a professionally based platform, meaning, all the professionals you are wanting to connect to, do business with, are already there, and they’re looking for relationships. If you’re missing, you’re missed — overlooked, forgotten. 

Second, LinkedIn has the right reputation. In the last two years social media has taken a reputation beating. The go-to reference for people seeking negative feedback is the simple phrase, “Twitter-thread.” Again, the phrase mis-information has become almost synonymous with Facebook and Twitter. 

But this isn’t true with LinkedIn. 

eMarketer’s Digital Trust Benchmark Report 2021 describes LinkedIn as “No 1 in the most valuable social currency of trust” and Edelman’s Trust Barometer ranks LinkedIn in first place for legitimacy.

Third, LinkedIn has the right goal. The way LinkedIn themselves put it, their platform is the perfect place to “do business where business is done.” It is people connection, it is networking, it is everything you need to be doing. 

Are there creeps and spammers on the platform, yes, it’s the internet. But don’t let that reality keep you from engaging where you need to engage. 

DID I REALLY NEED TO CONVINCE YOU?

But, even as I write these things, I have the suspicion you are already convinced. You know that LinkedIn is helpful, you just think it’s helpful and useful for other people. 

You’ve been making the mistake of not doing because you are worried you won’t do it right, and so you stay on the sidelines. 

That’s ok. I literally just described most people. 

A 19th Century Englishman has a word for you, “if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” What he means of course, is that it’s ok to be an amateur, it’s ok to try, it’s ok to do. 

Here’s an updated version of that idea I ran into on LinkedIn recently, “Be braVe enough to suck at something new.”

Friend, just do it. 

THE OPPORTUNITY

The opportunity you have on LinkedIn is for you to take hold of something, or for you to watch it drift away. 

In a recent article on the Wall Street Journal, they described a professor at a university who underestimated LinkedIn. He built a profile to connect with students, thought they might benefit from his connections and be able to find some future internships. 

That’s it. That’s what the platform was to him. 

One day he received a message from a contact at The National Geographic magazine, asking for his help on a project in Africa, months later he was with a film crew on the Savanna doing work with National Geographic — he’ll be sharing the story with his grandkids and they’ll remember it. You better believe he’s thanking LinkedIn. 

That’s the power of LinkedIn. It’s old-fashion relationship building with an electronic spin, relationships, referrals, connections.

Allow me to describe how this is going to work for you. 

Step one: Develop you personal brand, work hard at it, labor, be regular. 

Steph two: Watch yourself be established as a thought-leader in your industry, people will start leaning on you for direction, you will be referred customers rather than having to hunt for customers. 

Step three: Watch your sales compound. 

Step four: Be invited to the White House to visit the President — ok, maybe this last one is a bit too much, but you get the point. 

Work it and watch it help. 

OTHER HELPFUL SITES USED

• https://www.emarketer.com/content/digital-trust-benchmark-report-2021
• https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/corporate-reputation/5-reasons-why-linkedin-is-a-trusted-platform
• https://www.chesterton.org/a-thing-worth-doing/
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-linkedin-a-waste-of-time-11579111429
• SmartCompany.com
• TechCrunch.com

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