Five possible reasons why your LinkedIn posts are getting ignored

Having a hard time getting likes and shares? Do your posts hardly get any views?

Here are five possible reasons why your LinkedIn posts are getting ignored by your connections.

1) You’re not thinking your LinkedIn posts through

‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently’. To me, this Warren Buffet quote basically says it all. If you want to be noticed as an authority or acclaimed value-creating expert on LinkedIn within a certain field, make sure you write about it, get endorsed by your peers or get noticed by your target audience. Think about what you want to say with your LinkedIn post before you post it. Think about your target audience and think about the goal you’re trying to achieve with your post.

2) You’re oversharing

If you think that posting numerous posts on LinkedIn every day is a good way to get noticed positively or be taken serious by your target audience, you need to think again. You will most likely cause a lot of annoyance and stir up irritation. With the risk of people eventually ignoring or unfollowing you. More isn’t always better. You might even have a better, bigger impact with one good post than with ten lousy ones. So don’t be the “Oh my God, it’s him/her again” guy or girl. It’s easier than you think. The world won’t stop spinning and totally forget you, when you don’t post anything for a day or more.

3) You’re posting content that really belongs on Facebook

Unless you’re a professional wedding planner or midwife, I really don’t see the relevance of posting marriage or newborn child pictures on LinkedIn. If you just got married or had a child, I’m very happy for you. Honestly, I am. Congratulations and good for you both! But don’t let your happiness cloud your thinking. LinkedIn is a business platform, so it should be about business related topics. Avoid posting things that really belong on your personal social media feed, such as Facebook or Instagram. Your holiday snapshots, funny animal videos, pictures of you sitting in a very expensive car (even if it isn’t yours) or fun drinking in a bar with friends or (believe me, I’ve seen it all) can all portray a very wrong image when you post them on LinkedIn (see 1). And that’s probably not what you want.

4) You’re thinking LinkedIn works the same as Facebook or Instagram

As a follow up to the previous point, you have to realise yourself that posting on LinkedIn isn’t the same as posting on Facebook or Instagram. A new post doesn’t directly show up in other peoples feed. A lot of people don’t even browse their LinkedIn feed as often. So more posts will not get you more views or likes (see 2). Content doesn’t get liked or shared as fast as on other social media platforms. It can actually take some time for a good LinkedIn post to be picked up by readers. Keep in mind: not everybody will like content when they read it, but still might like the content and engage with the poster in another way at a later time. And last but not least, you need to think the timing of your post through to be sure you target the right audience at the right time to create a maximum effect.

5) You’re posting incredibly unrealistic posts

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Posting topics on LinkedIn with headers like ‘Do you want to outsource your IT? Then call me!’ are far-fetched and unrealistic. IT-outsourcing and other BPO deals are big in terms of money and scope. Keep in mind that business is primarily done on a basis of mutual trust (see 1). So you’re basically saying the equivalent of ‘Do you have six million euro’s for me?’ to a complete stranger who doesn’t know and trusts you. Hoping that this complete stranger happens to be a CEO or CIO with big money to spend and will reply with ‘sure, let’s do this!’ What makes things even worse, is the fact that these topics usually always miss in-depth analysis or visions about the deals mentioned in the header. Yet still aiming at closing that big business deal. In my opinion, that’s not only a keen display on shallowness, but also incredibly unrealistic with a slim chance of ever happening.

Content is king

Steering away from these five reasons can get you a long way on the road to LinkedIn posting success. But there are two more things to take in consideration. First of all, content is king. You need to be creating content that’s not only relevant, but also interesting enough for your target audience to read. That’s not easy. But if you’re truly engaged and passionate about what you do, this is not mission impossible. It’s my firm believe that you can’t fake intrinsic motivation. People who do are insincere and will eventually blow the basket.

Second of all, and concluding this blog: show, don’t tell. Look in the mirror and really ask yourself why you are the expert and why people should believe that. But don’t just say you are and hope you can do a lot of business by doing so. If it’s social branding on LinkedIn you’re after, you need to be authentic in everything you do. You will need to have the ability to not only give in-depth analysis but also create clear visions about your expert field. And that’s not about telling how great of an expert you are, but by showing you are the expert so that other people will make that conclusion about you.

Thank you very much for reading my blog. Do feel free to comment if you liked it, but please keep in mind that all views and opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.