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Why LinkedIn is the Only Social Media I Use

Posted By Guest Blogger 21st of July 2016 Social Media 0 Comments

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This is a guest contribution from Matthew Oleniuk.

Close to ten years after Facebook took the world by storm, there’s not much point in stressing the importance of social media anymore.

You just can’t grow your blog or your brand these days without having a social presence – so everyone races to create their Facebook page, and their Twitter profile, and their Instagram portfolio.

Right?

But in all the busy-ness, the one platform that always seems to be ignored is LinkedIn.

Okay, sure: it might not have the billion-plus users that Facebook has, and you won’t find LinkedIn feeds at the bottom of a television broadcast like you do with Twitter.

So is LinkedIn even worth your time? Isn’t it just for job-seekers?

As we’ll cover below, not only do I think LinkedIn is the best social media platform out there for every blogger, it’s the only one I use.

And it’s the only one you should use, too.

Why not all of them?

First of all, let’s address the question that people always ask when I tell them to focus on LinkedIn: why do we have to choose? Sure, LinkedIn might be great, but why not also use Twitter, and Facebook, and Pinterest, and Instagram, and Google+?

For huge blogs there might be enough people on board to cover lots of tasks at the same time, and hire different people who are all really good at different things.

But most bloggers are one-person shops – especially with those blogs in their early days. We’re the writer, the designer, the marketer, and the public face of the business.

We simply don’t have the time to do everything.

To be everywhere.

To connect with everyone.

So, if we can’t do everything, we have to recognize that we’re faced with a choice: we can do many things badly, or we can do a few things really well.

If we want to succeed, we have to focus.

And that means concentrating our efforts where we think they’ll have the most impact.

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LinkedIn people actually want you to connect with them.

So if we decide to focus on LinkedIn, what kinds of people will we find?

To answer that question – and to distinguish between the types of people you’ll encounter on LinkedIn versus everywhere else – let’s look at the difference between a party and a conference.

Even if you only know the host, you’re probably still happy to go to a party, because a friend of Joe is a friend of yours, right? So you grab your bottle of wine, happily introduce yourself to complete strangers, and hope to make some new friends by the end of the night.

But what if you don’t know anyone at the party – not even the host??

You’ll probably be asked to leave, the police might be called, and the only reason you’ll be on anyone’s phones is because you’ll be added to a whole bunch of blocked lists.

At a conference, however, it’s perfectly normal to not know anyone – and just as acceptable to start a conversation with a complete stranger for little to no reason.

If you’re at a conference, you belong – as simple as that. And everyone you talk to will be happy to make a new connection.

It’s the latter mentality that you’ll find on LinkedIn: a great community of people who just want to meet more people.

If you reach out one-by-one on LinkedIn, you won’t come across as a spammer or a stalker. You’ll just look like someone who wants to build their network.

Network connections are hard currency for professionals, and on LinkedIn, everyone wants to build their bank accounts.

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It’s not just for “professional businesses.”

A lot of you might have niche blogs that don’t really fit the “suit and tie” mold. You started your blog out of passion, and who knew that something you loved would actually gain an audience?

So you might be wondering: could LinkedIn still work for you?

The answer is a resounding: yes!

And the reason is that there are groups for everything, and those groups can be a fantastic entrance into your new community of followers.

If you run a pet-lover’s blog, look for groups of groomers, vegetarians, or special interest groups. If you run a gardening blog, look for groups of nurseries, landscapers, or horticulturalists.

But while Facebook and the rest might have a lot of those groups, here’s the big advantage LinkedIn has over the other social media.

You won’t find “fan page” groups, on LinkedIn. You’ll only find collections of professionals in those fields – which means they’re also influencers in your target market.

These aren’t people who just “like” your area of expertise, they’re people who are trying to lead the movement.

You’re connecting with authorities in your field – not followers.

You won’t know where those connections might lead.

For anyone whose business goes beyond the blog – coaching, speaking, consulting – it’s impossible to have too many opportunities to extend your reach.

And while other social media are great for spreading your brand, it’s unlikely that you’ll get as many opportunities coming back to you as you would with LinkedIn.

Why’s that?

We’ve already talked about how your connections will be more engaged than in other media, and we’ve covered how your connections will most likely be leaders, rather than followers.

Which means that the partnerships they’re seeking won’t be to boost their stats – they’ll connect in order to grow their brand.

That means they’ll be motivated to get you in front of their own audience. They’ll want you to speak to their audience, to inform them, to teach them.

And they’ll push you in front of their audiences to do just that.

Although we can all claim to be experts in a certain field, most of us are targeting a very specific piece of that field.

So – for example – while there are a lot of people who call themselves “career coaches,” most will focus on any one of writing resumes, or preparing for interviews, or changing careers, or leadership building, or…

You get the picture.

Everyone has their focused toolbox, and every real expert knows where his expertise ends.

When you work with professionals, you work with people who will recognize the unique skills and knowledge you can provide.

And they’re eager to take advantage of it.

It has to work for you.

At the end of the day, I focus all of my efforts on LinkedIn because it’s the most natural fit for me. The connections I’m looking for are there, the business opportunities are there, the type of engagement is there.

It’s perfect – for me.

And that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned in building my business: that we can listen to loads of different “experts” describing the silver bullet of wealth and fame, but really, we need to find the communities and tools that work for us.

If you’ve built a massive following on Twitter, I would never suggest you should abandon ship. If you get a thousand Facebook likes every time you post, I would say you’ve made quite a success of yourself.

But if you’re still building your following and you’re wary of spreading yourself too thin across too many platforms, I highly suggest you give LinkedIn a shot.

There’s a whole community of super engaged leaders just waiting for you to join them.

Matthew Oleniuk is an author and speaker who coaches people on how to transform their careers. Grab some free tips on how to redefine your job identity and follow your passion using his free book series at theCareerNomad.com – and don’t forget to connect with him on LinkedIn!

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Comments
  1. I deleted my facebook about three months ago and at times I do miss it, but my LinkedIn has been slowly gaining followers. This post is solid gold and I’m going to execute on these ideas.

  2. I agree that LinkedIn is a great social media outlet, and I use it when my posts are business related. I would have liked to have more information on specifically how you use it though. Do you re-post a blog post? Send emails to your connections?

    • Jayne, I will probably write another post in the future about more advanced LinkedIn techniques (this one was meant to be an intro), but you’re on the right path. It’s a great place to post your articles, and share and comment on other great articles you find – and it has the built-in tracking metrics that Facebook has. And yes: as with any social network, it makes it much easier to get in touch with your connections.

      But as I’ve said above, the biggest asset that LinkedIn has isn’t a set of tools: it’s the types of people you connect with. Everyone seems (to me) to be more purposeful, more eager to share, more eager to connect.

      It’s a really great, hyper-engaged community – hope you jump in soon! Thanks for the question! :)

  3. I got to know from various bloggers that twitter and G+ are the only social sites that we needto use, so for the first timeI am getting to know how we can use linkedin in really effective ways in order to expand.

    Thank you for sharing this.

  4. I used LinkedIn for quite some time a couple of years ago. But today, I’m not into it.

    The reason I quit LinkedIn was because to me it turned out pretty much like all the other social media. People were sharing self-help posts like they do on Facebook and Twitter. I found it no different than any other social platforms.

    Maybe I didn’t connect with the right people. Or maybe I gave up too fast.
    But I’m definitely going to give it one more shot now.
    Thanks for your article.

  5. its 5 year i am with linkedin, best network for professionals. i got many project in my field and have 100’s of connection here.

  6. LinkedIn have really powerful groups to learn from. And also it’s the best way to find a job or a good profile… I found my last job with linkedIn in a company 6000 kms away from my previous house.

  7. Thank you for sharing this!!!!
    I got exactly what I was looking for.
    We all know that LinkedIn is famous for connecting professionals all over the world. Many people associate it with finding new positions, updates and advancing one’s career, but LinkedIn can also be a valuable space for expanding the network for many types of businesses.
    Freelancers, digital creatives, recently established companies and even an student can use LinkedIn to promote their services to a different audience than is available on other social networks.

  8. Best system for experts. i got numerous task in my field and have 100’s of association here. LinkedIn have truly intense gatherings to gain from. Furthermore it’s the most ideal approach to discover a vocation or a decent profile. I quit LinkedIn because on the grounds that to me it turned out essentially like the various online networking. Individuals were sharing self improvement posts as they do on Facebook and Twitter. I discovered it the same than whatever other social stages.

  9. Matthew,
    what a great post. It is interesting that there are still business people who aren’t leveraging LinkedIn. You are right in that people expect to be invited to connect, those who have success hone their communication skills to develop relationships with their network. Obviously you have a winning strategy which I imagine includes a social selling mentality. Great that you are sharing these ideas, perhaps others will re-think the effort the put into LinkedIn.

  10. Um, loved this piece. Nicely done. I’m persuaded to look around on LinkedIn a little. haha! Great analogy with conference vs. party and good point about meeting influencers. Thanks!

  11. In my opinion, LinkedIn is a good social media site and indeed, it have brought me many good results since I tried it years ago. However, I think you may want to try other social media sites like Twitter or Facebook because there are a whole lot potentials there.

    Maybe LinkedIn is good for you because your niche, but I would suggest you try other social media sites as well.

  12. LinkedIn is not perfect but it’s still a great network for anyone interested in building solid partnerships. I get most of my leads from there and Twitter, actually.

    Great post, Matthew!

  13. Matthew,

    Point taken! ;) I like LinkedIn, but my main social media activities are blogging together with podcasting and tweeting.

    It is funny that you write a post on LinkedIn, on a blog! Have you published this material on LinkedIn’s publishing tool, Pulse?

    All the Best,

    Martin Lindeskog

  14. I love using Linkedin because it helps me connect with business-mindlike people. It’s really important because it lets me establish my professional business networks. Since the platform is mostly for businessmen, you are rest assured that most of the things you read are important and crucial, not just for entertainment. But now that LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft, I don’t know how it will impact us, the loyal users. The platform is quite buggy nowadays and it might affect our user experience.

  15. LinkedIn is good for building professional network and finding jobs. You have explained how it can help bloggers, and yes if one wants to connect with you he or she really has some purpose behind the same.

  16. LinkedIn is the only social media that I do not use ..hehe .. is very confusing and nothing practical. Facebook is all that I need.

  17. I found LinkedIn very difficult to use. And it does have “spammers”, non-genuine people who try to link to you just to either look good or sell you products you don’t want. I hate how it tries to hijack your email list. I hope they’ve listened to feedback and stopped doing this. I have one friend who only uses it, and I know I should leverage it more, but I’ve just found it so daunting to use. It could be friendlier. I haven’t given up on it yet, but I just want to say it doesn’t suit everyone.

  18. LinkedIn is a great professional network. No doubt that it does have spammers but other social media platform like facebook, twitter too have many spammers and fake accounts, so to avoid spammer it necessary to check out the details of accounts before sending connecting invitation.

  19. Brilliant! As a new blogger, I was feeling very very thin indeed when it came to social media management. I was recommended LinkedIn, about 2 weeks ago now, by the very person (an expect in his field) who wasn’t represented anywhere else but LinkedIn! I contacted this expect because I couldn’t # or @ him correctly and I was important to both of our work that he was well represented. I can’t believe how accurate and precise this forum is. In just two weeks I’ve had more interest in my work then all my social media platforms combined and a feel quite freed up. Just yesterday I was recommended to read this article, and so I have and now feel compelled to say, THANK YOU and totally agree!

  20. Matthew – this is such a great post that I wanted to share it with my colleagues and other connections on LinkedIn. This is a huge topic of discussion between me, the C-suite and our sales reps and you make a lot of very good points. Interestingly, LinkedIn isn’t one of the automated sharing options at the bottom of the post.

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