updated January 2022 One of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make when sharing content on social media - especially LinkedIn - is that they only talk about their company or what they are selling. At first blush this makes sense, but translate it to an offline experience: What do you think of salespeople who only talk about their company and give you a sales pitch every time you see them? At best you try to avoid them, and at worst you are actively annoyed by them. Should you share information about what you are selling on LinkedIn? Sure, but sparingly. Mix it up with other content. Topics that Engage Your Professional … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Stop Wasting Your Work Time On Social Media
Like most things in life, the rise of social media platforms has been both a blessing and a curse for professionals. There is a host of new opportunities to create meaningful engagement...and lose hours of productivity. Our approach to these platforms goes a long way to determining whether they really help us in our professional lives. For example, my wife surfs Facebook after a long day to connect with her friends and see what people have posted. I play video games. Both are totally valid forms of relaxation. But I don't play video games in the middle of the day. And you shouldn't mindlessly surf social media and pretend that … [Read more...]
The Secret Reason to Like Job Anniversaries on LinkedIn
updated January 2022 I've been showing people how to leverage LinkedIn for over a decade. And one of the most consistently maligned pieces of functionality has been the job anniversary notification. Over and over I hear some form of, "Why is LinkedIn gumming up my feed? Why should I care if Bill Jones has been at Company XYZ for 6 years? Does "liking" that really mean anything?" Well, yes it does. The Science of Online Small Talk To explain the value of liking job anniversaries, we have to look at something else that people don't really enjoy: small talk. It's easy to bash small talk. We think that it's an awkward and … [Read more...]
How to Lose Friends and Kill Your Influence By Sharing Political Posts
Do you remember the last time you saw a social media post about an opposing political viewpoint? Your face probably got a little red. You immediately thought of a response that included a few choice four-letter words. Maybe it was a meme lampooning your candidate or the link to the ultra-extreme political blog from your sworn enemies. Well, it's going to happen more and more as we go through this election year. I'm going to try to convince you to break the cycle and not post about politics on social media. This is especially true when you are on platforms where you connect with people from the professional parts of your life. That … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Destroy Your LinkedIn Likability
"Should I put my weekly Dungeons & Dragons group on my LinkedIn profile? That question came up in a workshop I was running for a sales team at a large business technology firm. We had been discussing the creation of an authentic personal brand online by bringing the human element into the LinkedIn profile. People want to connect with other people online, not brands or companies, so it makes sense to humanize yourself beyond just your resume bullet points. Look at Your Message from the Receiver's Perspective So the D&D question came up. After the chuckles from his co-workers subsided, I pondered his question. It was … [Read more...]
How to Combine Grey Hair and Social Savvy to Win on LinkedIn
For better or worse, social media has changed the way business happens. One of its biggest effects has been on how we judge credibility in others. In the past, we would extend provisional trust to new connections. When we met someone, for example through a referral or at a professional event, our starting point would be to trust them. We would then build a relationship and a foundation of credibility underneath it. These days, because information is so easy to access, that process has inverted. It's easy to research someone before we decide to do business with them. We're giving more and more credibility to the information we find … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Incorporate LinkedIn into Your Offline Networking
When I talk to professionals about social media, I often get a litany of complaints (especially from veterans in the industry): "It's a waste of time!" "All I see is kids on their cell phones all the time - I don't have room in my schedule for that!" "The next generation is going to have a hard time talking to people because they're so used to just texting everything or Facebooking their life!" Even though each of these has some measure of truth, I also hear a little bit of jealousy as well. Those born after 1980 are considered digital natives because they've grown up with technology integrated into their lives. It's easy for them … [Read more...]