Please stop creating posts on LinkedIn the way you (probably) do...

A quick scroll through LiinkedIn's timeline will reveal two things:

1. How bad LinkedIn actually knows us (the irrelevance of content shown is astounding given how much it knows of our areas of expertise, interests etc).
2. The majority of the content created and shared adds very little true value and is usually just adverts or solicitations disguised as posts.

LinkedIn is a hugely powerful tool (I even created a free course a while back to help young professionals and startups without big network on how to 'cheat' the platform to your advantange) yet in my experience most (not all! There are some amazing people out there totally worth following!) use it really badly, often creating posts that are cringeworthy, which has an impact on the perception people have of you.

For example:

• Celebrating an achievement (and to add insult to injury do it with a selfie)
• Showing off how well you are doing by winning a client (that's is such an insult to other potential client)
• Creating posts that ask people to follow you (beautifully desperate)
• Posting things to make you look important (I do get it! We are human. It is just embarassing.. there are more elegant ways to do it)

So here are my 3 tips on creating content vs noise on LinkedIn.

In the rush for likes, followers and engagements it is easy to forget that what you decide to share says a lot about you. If you are into creating lots of click-bait or ego-driven posts for the sake of generating followers then you can skip post of mine.

If you are interested in creating content that though might generate less likes but actually strenghten your brand and reputation then this might be useful. This is all based on my experience. I am not a social media expert. So take this with a pinch of salt.

A gentle reminder (I know you know this, but reminding just in case)

FOLLOWERS DOES NOT EQUAL TO TRACTION

I can't stress this enough. If you see someone with tons of followers - generally speaking - you can ignore them. It is a signal that they are sharing clickbait content that is all over the place in terms of focus. In other words, they are going after followers in terms of numbers and not focused on a specific niche (there are as always lots of great exceptions.. as with all rules of thumbs use your own judgement). Your aim isn't to have lots of followers but to build a community around your area of expertise and skill, either current or future (if you're just starting out

Tip 1- share insights not happenings

When you decide to share an accomplishment, an event attendance or an award of some sort please also add the learnings from that happening. Your aim is to enrich people's lives with content that adds value and not to just show off.

Practical example? Let's say you got an award for something, instead of just showing off (even if you are proud of it) why not make it into something that is a learning experience? Eg. Recently I was awarded XYZ and that is obviously great, but I thought I'd share with you the 3 reasons why we got that award and a few tips to help you one day also achieve this! Tip 1, Tip 2, Tip 3. If you attended a conference or event, share what you learned so that others who couldn't be there can benefit from your time investment.

Always share these things with the aim of raising the tide for everyone!

2. Stick to your area of expertise (i.e. you want people to remember what to call you for)

As hard as it is - and I am guilty of not following my own advice regularly - try and stick to posts that relate to your field of expertise. Nothing confuses potential clients and partners more than you posting all sort of things across the interest board. Ideally try and posts and share things that in a way highlight that you're THE person to speak to or follow in this sector/industry.

If you are passionate about a specific topic that is unrelated to your professional or entrepreneurial expertise then maybe consider creating a group on linkedin for those posts (I did it for AI/Chatgpt and it works really well as those that join you know are really interested in that topic!).

There is one exception (which is a little where I am at now): if your reputation is such that most of your business comes from word of mouth and you want to use linkedin (or any social media medium) as a tool to share useful things then you could be a bit more creative. I do it and to be honest it is a very mixed bag of results (happy to explain more if my results are of interest). If I could turn back the clock I'd stick to a more narrow focus.

3. Watch what you like or comment on!

Be ultra careful about what you like and comment on, both from a negative as well as a positive point of view.

Comments and likes are like posts: they send a very strong signal about you and who you are. When you comment or like something your network sees that activity in their timelines (granted: most of the time people will skip it). But that comment reveals something about you and what you stand for. So be careful. I have removed the connection of hundreds of people over the years who are careless with their comments (to be clear: I don't remove a connection because I disagree with someone. I remove it when I see lack of consciousness or critical thinking which suggests intellectual sloppiness on the individual's part).

Now, there's no need to be paralysed into inaction, but just remember that your comments are HIGHLY visible. We even check people's comments and posts before deciding if to partner with them. On the flip side, comments are an incredible opportunity to engage with people - including potential clients.

Here's a suggestion: instead of commenting "thanks for sharing" etc why not add value in a way that reinforces your experience and expertise? Eg. "Your post was really interesting. Thank you for sharing. I had a similar experience with a client when we did XYZ project where... etc" or "Your perspective on (topic) very much resonates with me, specifially around the aspect of (insert text)". If you disagree with something then show some respect to the post by respectfully disagreeing and why. So stay clear of high level statements (all X are crooks, etc) and focus on turning your disagreement points into questions "Thank you for your perspective. One aspect of it was a little unclear to me when you mentioned XYZ. I would love to understand your perspective more and the data or info you based your understanding on".

Back to Coffee

Hope the above helps. The golden rule to remember is that even if your posts don't hit high engagement, what they are doing is building a reputation for you when people check you out. And check you out they will, epecially prospects who want to understand if they can trust their brand with you.

Onwards and upwards. Back to coffee.

By the way, talking of coffee... Ever wondered if you're drinking too much coffee? Well... here's an brilliant podcast that looks at the science and research of coffee