Are you making LinkedIn headlines for the right reasons?

???? ????????, ???? ??????????????'?? ???????? ???????????? ?????? ?????????????????? ???????? ????????. She was found in the living room of her small villa unit, a cup of milky tea and her tabby cat Mildred at her side.

Her living room was sparse and dim: heavy lace curtains muted the sunlight which barely reached her favourite recliner, and the air was always thick with the cloying scent of lilac, her favourite perfume. She said it suited her - the soft light made it 'relaxing' and the floral aroma reminded her of her mother, who had long since passed.

Most people never saw beyond the living room. They only saw what she wanted them to see. And what she wanted them to see was independence.

Not the decades of stories that lay beyond those four walls.

She ventured out every day. At 5'10" her tall yet stooped figure, always in pastel colours, would be seen shuffling to the community hall to play bingo or gin rummy, before going home in time for her daily dinner of lamb chops and boiled vegetables - always at 4.30pm, and always with the day’s newspaper tucked under her arm.

Lois bought a newspaper every day because it was what she'd always done. My grandma said she didn't even read it most days. But every day she went through the motions, and people saw her doing her thing. She'd return to her living room, her milky tea and Mildred and chalk up another day of what she liked to call "dodging the obits." *

(*obituaries)

It was her measure of success. She always believed in keeping up appearances. And her family had given up challenging her habits. So no one spoke about it.

It was my grandma who found her. She already knew about the newspapers, and she knew to leave well alone. But for everyone else who walked through the door after Lois died, the floor to ceiling piles were all they could talk about.

They discovered a history of newsprint spanning not just days, weeks or months, but decades. All carefully closeted behind French bi-fold doors that separated her living room from the rest of the home.

No one understood why.

No one except my grandma. Only she saw the yellow-edged envelope that had been laying in Lois' lap when she died, my grandma's name scrawled in shaky cursive on the front. When the commotion of questions and busyness subsided and she and Mildred were finally alone, my grandma opened it.

"Jean my wonderful friend, thank you.

For making me laugh, for sharing a sherry or three, and for never asking why.

Love, Lois xo

PS. You'll probably be asked about the newspapers, to which I say let 'em ask!

I never did care for reading the damned things, but it felt nice to have a reason to go out each day, apart from gambling my pension on bingo... ha ha!"

The principle behind Lois' tale is no different to many others on LinkedIn.

Business owners, leaders, marketers... all pumping out multiple posts a day, accepting connections from every Johan, Yiannis and Yolanda, all to create a perception of success and keep up appearances.

But bright shiny posts and 6-figure followings often have little more than a sparkly string of vanity metrics holding them up.

No commercial drivers, no revenue.

If commerciality is not your thing, that's ok.

But if you're frustrated by lack of ROI, or by trying to 'keep up appearances', I'd say you're out of alignment.

Every aspect of your LinkedIn presence needs to align with your broader marketing, content and social media strategies. If it doesn't, you might as well be playing bingo with your time, and your customers.

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