The LinkedIn Police - I'm a member

Would some people consider me to be one of the 'LinkedIn Police?

It’s interesting isn't it, that whilst a title has been created for those who want only to protect LinkedIn as a business networking site, there’s no equivalent for those who seem keen to turn it in to another Facebook? How about, LinkedIn Spoilers? That feels about right to me.

Anyway, in answer to the question I asked at the start of this post - yes, I’m sure many people would consider me to be one of the LinkedIn Police. And even though it’s not intended as a compliment, I’m perfectly happy with the description. Be aware that the LinkedIn Spoilers try desperately hard to create the narrative that the LinkedIn Police don’t want people having fun on the site. What utter nonsense!?Don't make me laugh! (Y'see what I did there?) Much of the time that's exactly what I'm trying to do in my posts, in my videos and in my comments.

Unless you're a 'social media expert' with a vested interest on this subject, I bet you have had people expressing dismay at the amount of junk they have to scroll past to get to the good stuff on LI in recent times. Why am I still using the site? Because it is still (according to Hubspot) THE best social media platform for generating business. I just want to make sure it stays that way.

Just because lots of people might think it’s fine if LinkedIn ends up like Facebook, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. (Why would we want 2 platforms that are the same???) Have you not heard how damaging Facebook has become to so many of the people who use it? Have you not heard of the narcissistic and vitriolic stuff that ends up on there? Have you not heard how damaging Facebook can be to people’s mental health? Sure you have. Is that the kind of 'fun' we want on LI? And to be clear, it’s ONLY that which users post on the platform that causes these problems. Be careful of what you want because you will surely get it.?Do you really want LinkedIn to end up like that?

The fact is that as a business community we have demonstrated ourselves to be immensely capable at reducing the effectiveness of tools that should be really good for everyone in growing their business. Like what?

I’ll give you 4 examples.?

1. Email. Everyone (and I mean everyone) complains about the amount of junk email they receive. So much junk email that many people don’t even read emails from people / companies they don’t know.

2. The telephone. Because the vast majority of businesses don’t know how to cold call, they’re unable to teach their people how to do it. Instead, they just allow their untrained people to pick a phone up and ring you and I. We’re all tired of getting calls from people who simply pitch their product and services at us often without even knowing if we need them. I was called by a company offering me a day’s sales training. I asked the caller (who was one of the 2 people who owned the business) “Do you know what I do?” They answered - “No. You were just someone on our list."

3. Business networking events. Again, the vast majority of businesses don’t teach their people how to network and many business owners don’t even know what networking is and so ask their staff (when they return from business networking events) “Did you get any leads?"?As a result, we attend what should be a business networking event only to find ourselves repeatedly talking to people who, when you ask them what they do, know only one way to reply - with words that are nothing more than a sales pitch..

4. Direct messaging on LI. It has already become virtually useless to many. Why? Because it seems that the vast majority of DMs that arrive are sales pitches. I regularly talk to people who never read their DMs for that very reason. I've even messaged good, valued connections of mine, not heard from them and rung them to ask if they'd read it. "No, I don't read them anymore, Austen. For every 20 I receive, 19 are crappy sales pitches."

LinkedIn can be a really useful and valuable platform that will be hugely devalued as a business networking site if we continue to support ’stuff’ that belongs on Facebook. Such as? Such as the ‘pity me’ posts.?

How do you know if what you’re about to post should be on Facebook? Easy. Ask yourself honestly, would I share this info with someone I’d just met at a face2face business networking event? If the answer is ’No’ put it on Facebook.?Would you really walk up to someone you've never met before at a business networking event and:

• Show them a photo of your child in their graduation outfit? (And often justify the post being on LI with - "This is a business networking post because this is the reason I go to work".) ??
• Tell them about the tough time you're having coming to terms with the death of a family member? (I'm in no way diminishing how hard that is, it's an experience I've had too.)
• Show them a photo of you on holiday? At the airport? By the pool? ??
• Give them 3 options and ask them to complete a poll on "The best Xmas movie ever." Or "What is the best pet to have?" or "Where's your 90's nostalgia landing?" Really? Most of the polls on here demonstrate the lack of ability of the author in creating value. And so many of them are nothing more than clickbait. I've never answered one yet.

So, would you? Would you really walk up to someone you've never met before at a business networking event and do any of the above - no, you wouldn’t.

And here's a tip; when you start your post with “I know this isn’t a subject for a business networking site but….” - log off LI and log in to FB

And let me explode another myth that will be perpetuated by the LinkedIn Spoilers after they've read this - that I'm suggesting you can't share personal info. You can. Of course you can. People who have read my stuff will have come to learn of my marital status, whether I have children, my favourite hotels, the sport I play etc etc but NOT - and here's the thing - NOT because I have or will ever write a post about those things. But I've been able to include personal info in posts whilst at the same time, trying to give some value on the subject of 'selling'.

For example, I recently wrote about my wife and I going to buy a sofa patio set. Just our going along to buy a sofa set would have been of zero value and no interest whatsoever to other people; why would it? Had I posted just that (and to get you really excited, even thrown a photo in of us sat on our new purchase), that post, in my view, would have been drivel. Nothing more than a ME ME ME post. But the post was primarily about 2 issues that came up during the buying experience; price and differentiation and how the seller handled those things. (Oh and BTW, you can share personal info on your profile too if you want.)

I'm not trying to 'offend' anybody (Jesus, I've never known a time when people could be so easily 'offended'), and even though my view won't be popular (even with some of my connections) and certainly not with the LinkedIn Spoilers who have no problem in shouting "LinkedIn Police" when they feel so inclined, I'm entitled to a view too. This was it.

If you don't want to see LI become less valuable as a business networking tool, stop engaging with the Facebook-type stuff and stop posting the Facebook-type stuff. But it's not just about NOT doing stuff, we need to be proactive too. You need to be prepared, as I have been, to stick your head above the parapet and let others know your opinion. If we don't, we'll only have ourselves to blame when the real value of LI is lost.

Right, I'm off to put my crash helmet on and wait for the insults, criticisms and 'You are a muppet' comments. And for those of you who agree with me, please don't be silent, stand up and let people know your view (and then I'll feel I can take my helmet off). ??

Selling is a skill #sias