At the start of the year, I set myself a target: post on LinkedIn at least once a week. I failed that target quite quickly. So I set a new one: post at least three times. That got me to an average posting frequency of two posts per week – exceeding my initial, failed target. Without further analysis, I guess that the first target was too easy but, if achieved, satisfactory to me, and therefore a harder target got me to it.
In recent months, I’ve given up on posting on LinkedIn. In this blog post, I analyse the reasons to that and critique the number one professional (”) platform as I go.
What Do I Really Want Out of This?
Around March, when I had gotten to a reasonably steady posting cadence, I checked the target off. I then asked myself: now what? You’re ‘active’ on LinkedIn, not only as a consumer of content but as a creator of it. I knew from the get-go that simply posting frequently wouldn’t lead to meaningful results, but I also knew that I didn’t know what those meaningful results might be.
‘Just posting’ was enough for me when I needed to get myself to the rhythm. I will say I didn’t post whatever just to get to the KPI (oh how hard it is in the workplace to set meaningful and sensible KPIs!), but instead stood by, and still do, each post and what I wanted to say. But the posts weren’t focused on one topic only; they weren’t aimed at any subset of LinkedIn users. Why?
Generalist Woes
In an earlier post, I wrote about generalists, or multipassionates, people who have considerable experience from various industries or functions, or experiences from across the world in different situations. I’ve long felt that being a generalist is what I want, what I potentially am, but what I fear is not easily marketable. Many organizations employ specialised people to do a niche job. I’ve personally never liked the idea of being a one-trick pony and working on one topic only for the rest of my career, although I also understand the need for deep expertise in many fields. I also recognise that few jobs are repetitive and uninspiring simply because they go deep into a specific topic. Perhaps it’s just that I haven’t found my rabbit hole than I want to fall into and keep falling in. I see the appeal.
But in the meanwhile, I don’t have that one thing that I am interested in, curious about. So, my LinkedIn posts in 2024 ranged from recruitment to hush-vacationing to becoming better at networking to why I blog to micro-management. Indeed, I am interested in recruitment and making better hiring decisions and processes; I am interested in wellbeing at work and why so many people experience burnout or boreout; I find networking exasperating because I don’t know WHO I should try to connect with (I am generally interested in any and all people); and I find organizations promote incompetent people to leadership positions which paralyses the whole team under them. But none of these topics is the one that most drives me, most excites my imagination. I have lots to say about each, I am perfectly capable of acquiring plenty of true expertise in them, but I have no desire to pigeon-hole myself as of yet (or ever).
I attended an excellent LinkedIn training by an agency called Trickle a couple months ago. One note that stuck with me was that the more you post about the same topic (signal the sameness by using the same hashtags), the more LinkedIn thinks you are an expert on it, and the wider it allows your discovery to become. This leads to the question posed in the heading: what do I want out of posting on LinkedIn?
New Connections?
Yes! In 2023, I realised that my LinkedIn feed was dominated by posts by only a handful of my connections. That was because most of them never posted anything, bar the occasional new job announcement. That’s fine – you don’t have to post. But back then, LinkedIn was my main source of content and I hoped to be offered thought-provoking content. I just didn’t know how to find those people who posted about things I was interested in (the hashtag scan is a tedious exercise). So, I thought that if I can’t find them, perhaps they can find me.
I did get many new connections and followers, and even met some in person. Most connection requests sent came with no note (very regrettable limitation by LinkedIn as they try to monetize human connection), and even after accepting the connections request, there was no introductory message. When there was, it was clearly a template and after I responded, I never heard back.
Job Offers?
One of the reasons for writing this blog is showcasing who I am and how I think. Same goes for posting on LinkedIn. While the posts aren’t aimed at any one person or type of person in particular, I would love it if someone likeminded saw my post, thought it made sense, and reached out, not necessarily to offer me a top job, but to form a meaningful relationship. If that led to a job or some other joint venture, so much the better, but not the main thing.
Taking a Break
I’ve decided to take a break from posting on LinkedIn. I actually feel like I post there actively because in my current role, I write content for LinkedIn every single day and see my words on my feed, and while my network does not know this, I still feel like I am an active content creator there (which I in fact am, since I really do write all those posts).
I also don’t enjoy LinkedIn as much as I used to. I find most posts irrelevant, repetitive, and uninspiring. The posts that generate the most discussion are ones where it’s all been said or it’s an opinion that is so obviously the only correct one to have that adding a ‘I agree’ doesn’t contribute anything.
When shall I get back to posting? A logical point would be if and when I find that one, well-defined theme and topic I want to encourage discussion about. I also know that the stronger your brand is off LinkedIn, the stronger it’ll be on it – if I am featured in print press, it’ll generate much more interest in myself than by simply posting interesting messages on LinkedIn where an algorithm decides whether it’s worthy or not.
Are you active on LinkedIn? Why, why not? What are your goals using the platform?
Sidetracked 