Caveat: what I’m about to suggest is unconventional and may rub right into the faces of LinkedIn influencers and gurus. Read on if that’s okay with you. For me, the whole point of being on LinkedIn is to ignore the gurus and be yourself. Yup, I’m telling you to ignore what everyone else is doing and be yourself, including:
- Posting the content that you think adds value to your network and followers.
- Not caring about the likes and comments because they don’t matter in the long run. And the only thing that does is how consistent you are when it comes to showing up. That’s what puts you on top of everyone’s (particularly your minimum viable audience) mind. That could mean posting once, twice, or even thrice a day. More isn’t any better than one. But one is better than none!
- I’m blown away with the amount of content there is on LinkedIn. The quality is way better than Facebook, but it’s cluttering up fast, and we’ve got to do something about it. For me, that’ll be posting less and contributing to conversations a lot more. The latter adds value in a more profound way than most people think of… supplementing it with a piece or two of valuable content will go a long way to establish you as an authority, at least amidst your peers. It’s great for people, potential clients, and the audience who would want to check you out. Your body of work will speak volumes.
- I’ve started to think differently about what to post — wisdom, insights, and ideas packed in a short, snackable format. So, I got a little too particular about my brand and started experimenting with the color schemes. There wasn’t much of a choice between Orange and Black, so that was it! Why is a color scheme relevant? From my perspective, it’s easier for people to relate to colors and formats. So, someone who puts out quotes or thought-provoking statements in a creative with a black background and orange (Tangelo, actually) text helps people relate that color scheme with a person. It’s now burned into their memories. Of course, there are other creative ways to do this. I wanted something simple and straight-forward, so I went ahead with this.
- I also think we should have a section on our website that curates all the content you are putting out on LinkedIn. It’s a great practice, mainly if you’re using LinkedIn as the only social platform. I’m thinking this from a different perspective — it’s damn easy for one to get lost in socials. You need to figure out a way to showcase your best content; else nobody would know, right? Perhaps, this is an overkill for most people (even for me, at times). I think it’s the least one can do, though. I can say check out some of my best LinkedIn posts on my website. They get to see my body of work, carefully curated and preserved for generations. The alternative is to skip it. IT’s an experiment, after all.
That, my friends, is my bare-bones LinkedIn strategy. I’m not sure how effective that is to other established practices out there. All I know is that you’re going to get pretty good numbers in terms of “impressions.” Not much when it comes to “likes” and “comments,” which is okay. The idea is not to create content for others but share what’s on your mind. Remember that it’s far easier to comment on something you can resonate versus content that makes you think and reflect. And the latter is what I intend to do.
Like I mentioned at the start — the strategy goes against the conventional wisdom of engaging with as many people as possible or posting a dozen times a day or putting out a piece of video content every day. They’re all enjoyable but time-consuming and may not be what you want to do in the first place.
That said, being a busy professional shouldn’t let you deter from not posting content. You should, but only what you want to, you’ll find yourself keeping up with the trends. The big question you should be asking is this — is this adding value? And is this the minimum effective dose? If the answer is yes, you should go for it. Uncomplicate it for yourself and everyone else.