Bad LinkedIn Advice

There's a lot of advice here on LinkedIn on how to use your profile to optimize your reach / get leads / find job opportunities. And MOST of it is bad.

That's right. I said it.

But what makes it bad? The fact that people believe ONE way is the way that will work for all people.

Never, ever, EVER has that been the case.

So today, I want to explore the advice given on a carousel titled "5 ways to stop using your LinkedIn profile to puff up your ego", and why it's BAD advice. Let's go.

Your Headline

The post states that you should use your tagline to show your clients what you can do for them to solve their problem. You've likely heard this one before. And you might be thinking, if so many people are recommending it, how can it be bad advice?

Well, we all have pain. But are we all looking for that pain to be solved at every moment?

Absolutely not.

Also, it's SUPER sales-y. People know from the get-go that you are here on LinkedIn to sell, and if they aren't in the mood to buy, they won't even bother connecting with you.

Do you know how many people are ready to buy your solution at any given time?

I think the going rate right now is about 3% of your target market.

When it comes to people seeing you on LinkedIn, assuming 100% of them are in your target market (which they're NOT), that leaves you with only 3% of people who will even CONNECT with you. I mean, if lead generation is about the numbers, that seems like a pretty terrible way to get there.

Your About Section

The advice here is to make your About Section about your target audience and how you serve them. Now, this one's not FULLY bad advice, but there's an important perspective that's missing.

A WE story.

I had a cool conversation with Jennifer Reefe today, and one of the things she said was, "like-minded people like US". And how did she come to the conclusion that we were the same type of people? Because I revealed something about myself.

Your people will resonate with YOUR story.

And at the end of the day, the only story you really know is YOURS.

You don't know they story of your target audience. You don't know precisely what they are feeling or why they are feeling it.

But, if something in their story MATCHES your story, then THEY decide that you are one of their people.

If you make it all about them, that's not possible ??

Keyword Optimization

Ok, this one drives me NUTS.

While hashtags and keywords MIGHT get people looking at your profile, they likelihood is actually SUPER low. Because there's something that ranks HIGHER in the algorithm.

Connection.

You will always see the content of your connections FIRST. And specifically, the content from people who you are in an active conversation with.

And honestly, if you're using "popular" keywords (ChatGPT says the most common one is "specialized"), you'll get MORE hits than if you just use your own language.

For example, there are 2.3 million "Marketing Specialists" on LinkedIn. And there is zero ways that my brain can actually process all 2.3 million. So my keyword optimization, is mostly irrelevant. On the other hand, there a TWO "Authentic Marketing Advisors"; and one of them have 145 connections, and one has 11,000. There's actually an easy way to choose there.

On another note, humans don't speak in search engine optimized language. So, it will ALWAYS sound scripted and repetitive. Which, if we're trying to actually stand out from the crowd, does NOT help our cause.

Rich Media Integration

Ok, so this isn't terrible advice, but it does need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Having videos on your profile CAN help show your energy to people. But only if that's the INTENTION of the video. A product demo, for example, doesn't by nature communicate that.

And presentations can show people what you offer...but going back to the first point, that's only relevant if people are ready to buy.

Articles (like this) are good too. They help with SEO and can demonstrate through-leadership...but only if they challenge the status quo.

This is where generic advice hinders more than helps.

Just DOING a video won't make your profile more impactful.

You need to know YOUR game and how you're playing it.

And THEN you can use rich media to support it.

Your Highlight Reel

Ok, so the advice listed here is to highlight your endorsements and recommendations in your highlight reel. Which, again, is not by nature a bad idea. BUT...

What if what's written in your endorsements and recommendations is only related to what you're selling? Is that the only message you want to show people.

Personally, the first thing on my highlight reel is a link to my TEDx.

It's NOT an endorsement or recommendation. Because I feel like it speaks to my area of expertise and thought-leadership MORE than most of my recommendations do.

Now, does that make endorsements and recommendations BAD?

No. By all means, collect them.

But the highlight reel is for the things you want people to know about you MOST. And only YOU can decide that.

In Summary

There's a lot of advice on LinkedIn. Some helpful, some not so much.

But the REAL power lies in YOU deciding what makes sense for YOU.

Maybe you read all the original advice here and you thought it sounded great.

GOOD FOR YOU!

Feel free to disregard all of my ideas.

But when you read something and it FEELS wrong (or incomplete, or inauthentic for you), please feel free to LET IT GO.

No one can be all things to all people. And no advice works for all people.

It's up to YOU to decide what fits you ??

And feel free to try on lots of things in the process ??

P.S. If this advice resonates with you, and we HAVEN'T chatted, we should! Book a time HERE.