Is It Time To Delete LinkedIn? With Vicky Llerena

“I have truly limited faith in LinkedIn turning itself around so maybe it’s time we all walk away from this idea that it has so much untapped potential and we just give up on it to search out some more focused products that have a few users and meet a few needs.”

Tech Crunch published an article that claimed the death of LinkedIn. 

When I first read the article, I had dumbfounded by the writer’s limited faith in LinkedIn. The writer asserts that Linkedin‘s main purpose is to source data and such data is sold to corporations, salespeople and recruiters. Obviously, I have to throw in my two cents. LinkedIn, unlike Facebook and Instagram, tap into your professional network of friends. There is a certain culture that this platform possesses, compared to its competing platforms. In order for you to GET LinkedIn, you have to understand the culture.

For example, you would not normally see pictures of barbecues, birthdays, or intimate celebrations. You will not see relationship status, or desirable selfies. The culture on LinkedIn is to share career celebrations, business milestones, and business ideas. This culture still prevails on LinkedIn.

Personally, I prospect most of my clients through LinkedIn. Of course, I also understand the posting on the native platform requires a unique type of content. I mostly publish advice on marketing trends, lead generation tactics, and business-related events. By default, this content post attract a certain type of prospect and that’s the way it should be. Your content should appeal to a micro audience, a specific audience, a TARGET audience.

I also noticed how the algo’s in LinkedIn work in your favor: the more you comment on other’s posts, the more your own post increase in in the feeds. This algo rule applies to most social media platforms but with LinkedIn, I take advantage of it’s less noisy and less spammy ecosystem that I try and maximize engagement as much as possible.

Admittedly, I do also see the faults in LinkedIn platform. For example, business pages are way too expensive to advertise, averaging about $20 per click. Also, your LinkedIn will not allow you to publish sponsored posts on the personal platform. You must create a business page in order to promote. And everyone knows the drawback with business pages is that the algorithms are designed to reduce organic reach on a business page, which forces you to pay for ads. We all know that personal pages outperform business pages – organically, at least . Prospects, vendors, and new connections will always want to connect with your personal page NOT the business page. Nevertheless, this platform still prevails in value.

And while tech crunch argues against LinkedIn’s potential, I can undoubtedly say that LinkedIn is still one of the most underutilized social media platforms. It’s potential to generate organic leads, reach decision-makers, create a community, and produce in-person meetings with legit prospects or vendors are just some of the ways LinkedIn users can make use of the platform.

Hey, like any system, it has flaws, but LinkedIn is no VINE – it ain’t going nowhere anytime soon .