LinkedIn is a River

LinkedIn is a powerful and nourishing river like the Nile. It is huge - 810 Million users worldwide. It has tributaries into 20 different language groups. And... it is vastly underutilized.

Many busy leaders feel social media is a distraction from their work, not a vital element of it. Let me challenge that notion. If LinkedIn is a digital river, then it functions in the same ways key waterways always have.

1. LinkedIn is a means of transportation. The brilliance of digital is that I can move around the globe without having to physically move my body from my home office. Sure, the telephone has been doing that for the entire 20th Century, but this platform upgrades that ability from a raft to a steamship. Video, text, images, data and storytelling are at my disposal that would have made Louis B. Mayer or Churchill green with envy. Yet most people only use LinkedIn to check out a coworker's resume.
2. LinkedIn is a source of inspiration. For several months I've been actively following and listening in on conversations from the most interesting people on the globe. In any other previous era, I would only be able to read about these individuals from a dusty biography. LinkedIn gives me real-time, 'fly-on-the-wall' access to people at the top of their field and people on the rise (and fall). From this lurking I've learned that innovators are incredibly generous - offering for free what they have learned. Mainly, I think, because they know so few will actually heed their advice. Yet most people only use LinkedIn to stalk their office rivals.
3. LinkedIn is a power source. Like a mighty, rushing river, you will never be able to stop, or even keep up with, all the content flowing by. But instead of being overwhelmed, see it as renewable energy. So you missed an opportunity to connect; or your latest post was a bust; or.. add your own example. Don't weep, just turn and watch for what is coming downstream; because on LinkedIn there is always something coming. Learn from the past to grow in the now. Yet most people when they see the amount of content, despair and shut the laptop.

How do you make LinkedIn a vital part of your work?

Find your tribe. In the upper left hand corner is a search button. Type in the things that describe your interests, passions and hopes. Read the thumbnail bios of those that pop up. Follow 10 of those who peak your interest. After a week of following, send a connection request to those who actually post regularly with a note that shows you are interacting with their content. See who they follow and repeat the process.

Lurk and Learn. Set aside a reasonable amount of time a day to go to LinkedIn and read what is happening with your community. I'd advise starting with 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon. Start making comments on the posts that you resonate with, be yourself. Save posts that you find helpful. At the end of each week review those posts and jot down ideas for how to implement some of those ideas into your work.

Experiment. Take one idea and implement it, track the results and then share online with your community how it went. Ask for feedback or ideas. Iterate and try again, share; repeat. LinkedIn can be both a source of ideas for improvement and a brain trust that expands your abilities while simultaneously building a network of people who are more than names, but who become genuine colleagues and friends.