At the risk of using a niche analogy that only somebody exactly my age and with my exact interests would understand, LinkedIn is to Facebook and Twitter what Pulp were to Blur and Oasis in the 1990s. While droves of people fawned over the ‘big two’, keen to see which of them would get bragging rights, there was a third heavyweight happily leaving them to it and gradually picking up discerning fans. Often, they were ones who decided to shun the mainstream hype and go for something smarter, and perhaps of greater quality and longevity.
We could take this obscure comparison further – perhaps Friends Reunited was The Stone Roses, who paved the way for what was to come but disappeared in a financial cloud. Bebo could be compared to someone like Ride; a notable part of the scene at the time but one that faded away, and only hardcore followers noticed their recent respective comebacks. Let’s get back to Pulp though, or LinkedIn more specifically.
LinkedIn, as we know, is a platform specifically designed for business, yet it’s Twitter and Facebook that are the go-to sites for companies attempting social media marketing. This isn’t surprising though, given that they’re by far the most commonly used social sites and can offer you the greatest reach. LinkedIn, meanwhile, can be a little cliquey, but that can be its strength as well as its weakness.
Post-modern
In the last couple of years, LinkedIn has allowed users to publish posts. This, along with the ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ you now regularly see on it, have given LinkedIn more of a ‘Facebooky’ feel than it used to have, but the change also allows savvy users to make better engagement among people they already know.
The post facility lets you use LinkedIn in a similar way to a blog. People looking at your profile will be able to see what you’ve previously ‘published’, and your posts will also pop up in your connections’ newsfeeds.
Here’s an example of what they look like, courtesy of our Technical Director:
As you can see, you’re able to add a pretty picture to the top of the post, and an even prettier picture of yourself appears underneath it, so nobody is in any doubt about the wise and wonderful individual responsible for the words that follow.
It comes with most of the facilities you get on WordPress, such as h2 tagging, links, block quotes and the ability to add media. When you publish it, you can include up to three tags so that people looking for what you’re writing about can find you more easily.
Reaching at arm’s length
If Facebook and Twitter are all about outreach, then LinkedIn is perhaps a tool for ‘inreach’. You’re unlikely to attract brand new customers through LinkedIn, but this goes back to the old business adage that it’s more cost effective to retain existing customers and clients than chase new ones. If you can remain an active presence on LinkedIn, you can show the people with whom you have previously worked that you mean business, know your stuff and are savvy enough on social media to show it.
If you’d like to give your LinkedIn profile a boost with posts that will grab the attention of your connections, why not speak to Engage Web today?
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[…] has been a couple of years now since LinkedIn opened up its publishing of long form posts for all members, allowing people to publish their own blogs directly onto LinkedIn. Many people […]