To get the most out of your LinkedIn profile, you need to make sure that you are having the right conversations, instead of simply duplicating status updates from other social networks, according to Jeff Turner.
Is anyone listening on Linkedin?
One of my readers posed a question to me in my Tech Support Group for Real Estate Agents: โI heard LinkedIn is surpassing Facebook as a way of building credibility and hopefully attract followers. Whatโs your opinion?โ
My immediate response was, โwhere did you hear that?โ Why? Because what I see happening on LinkedIn would not lead me to that conclusion.
And itโs not because I donโt think LinkedIn could greatly contribute to an agents ability to establish trustworthiness and expertise. It most certainly can.
Certainly businesses have known this for some time. For example, 90 percent of companies who found new employees via social media, were found at LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has long been the go-to network for credibility in the job search arena. So, when talking about how LinkedIn is or is not effective, its ability to verify claims of expertise and experience are proven. And while I canโt verify the 90% number, it does highlight where LinkedIn fits into most peopleโs conscious understanding about what LinkedIn can or should be used for.
But it could be more.
When I think social, I think conversation.
Unfortunately, when I peruse LinkedIn status updates, what I see there falls short of any attempt to have conversations. Conversations, at least good ones, require at least one talker & one listener.
And conversations become really good when both parties are listening. What I see are status updates pouring in at an amazing pace, but not from people who are actually interacting on LinkedIn.
Theyโre interacting on other social networks and automating their status updates to it.
Iโm not opposed to automation on some level. But the volume of automation on LinkedIn, at least among my connections, is significantly higher than other networks. I suppose this level of sharing of information and data from other networks can add to the credibility perception, but I wonder about the practice and how beneficial it is if the person whoโs talking isnโt listening as well.
What might greater conversation levels around status updates yield?
Most of the conversation that takes place on LinkedIn happens in LinkedIn Groups or via LinkedIn Questions. And the conversations there are usually pretty darn good.
What Iโm also finding it this โif I go to LinkedIn with the specific goal of listening first, I can get great engagement around status updates as well.
When youโre the only one listening, people tend to notice. And most people still have alerts set to send them an email when someone comments on their status updates. Why? Probably because it happens so infrequently. I only turn off email notifications when they get out of control. As a result, the response is usually pretty quick, and the discussions are more one-on-one. Depending on how youโve moderated your associations there, the engagement can be very targeted.
Using Signal To Get To The Signal
If youโve not been to your LinkedIn Signal page in a long time, or ever, Iโd suggest you go there now. The quality and quantity of filters available for narrowing your search results and cutting through the โnoiseโ are truly impressive. And theyโre geared toward business goals.
You can filter signal by any combination of network, company, location, industry, time, school, group, topics, seniority, and update type. And you can search for keywords and filter on any combination of the above as well. The right hand of the signal page lists trending links, and those are also based on how youโve filtered your search. Itโs a powerful listening engine. But first you need to know the answers to a few questions.
Who do you want to be having conversations with? What do you want to have conversations about? What do you want the result of those conversations to be? Letโs go back to the original question, โI heard LinkedIn is surpassing Facebook as a way of building credibility and hopefully attract followers. Whatโs your opinion?โ I think LinkedIn has tremendous potential for building credibility among the people in your business network. As for attracting followers, I think thatโs a different subject. Iโm not looking for followers on LinkedIn, Iโm looking to maintain and strengthen already existing relationships.
Jeff Turner widely regarded as a leading thinker on how to effectively digital technologies and sought after conference speaker on topics related to emerging technologies.