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As a leader, you can leverage your LinkedIn presence and become the face and voice of your brand. But many leaders make lasting mistakes that hinder their long-term success on the platform.
With 180 million high profile influencers on LinkedIn, a lack of engagement or posting will cost you exposure in your industry and the opportunity to maximize your revenue. LinkedIn is unlike any other platform, in that it builds niche communities and discussion threads for specific industries. It is a gold mine for leaders to shine as authorities in their respective fields.
LinkedIn has 900 million members worldwide starting in 2023, an untapped pool of leaders to network with. Once you find your industry tribe, you can easily connect with them through authoritative, original, and engaging content.
So why not start building your personal brand on LinkedIn today and avoid these eight LinkedIn mistakes in the process?
Related: 5 LinkedIn Content Ideas for Entrepreneurs to Drive Growth and Visibility in 2023
8 LinkedIn mistakes to avoid (as a leader)
- Third person profile content — A LinkedIn profile is not a public relations biography. Authenticity and personalization are important traits that will help you succeed on LinkedIn, and writing your profile in the “About” section in the third person is anything but authentic. Write the copy to approachable and relatable. Your biography is an important first impression, so it’s best to avoid mistakes here.
- Not being relatable — Think strategically about your voice and how your voice not only represents your company’s brand, but yourself. Leaders often leave the “voice creation process” in the hands of their corporate brand team. It’s okay for the branding team to have a say, but your LinkedIn profile is your personal brand. The last thing you want is a profile written by the marketing team that isn’t tied to your voice and you as a person. Leaders who thrive on LinkedIn have a genuine, genuine tone.
- focus too much on yourself — Your content and profile posts should not resonate with narcissism and only include personal accomplishments. Remember that your audience and the community you’re trying to create are at the heart of your LinkedIn strategy. Without your community, your personal brand wouldn’t thrive, so focus on them (and not just yourself).
- Share company posts without comment — Social pressure to share content has exploded in recent years. But most leaders share the content incorrectly. As you scroll through your feed, you’ll likely see executives hitting the “share” button from their company posts and broadcasting them to their profiles. It has very little impact on growth and success. Instead, write at least two paragraphs and add your personal wisdom to the company post before hitting publish.
Related: Unleashing the Power of LinkedIn: How Entrepreneurs Can Leverage the Platform to Grow and Succeed
- Do not post original content — If your feed is full of shares of company posts, you might also fall victim to this error. Writing original content is the best way to build your personal brand and position yourself as a leader in your field. Thought leadership is a strategic lever for any leader. For this to work, you need to integrate at all levels of the content production process. As a leader, you are the brains and original insight of your brand. Your marketing team writes and creates, and maybe your personal assistant is the person responsible for publishing the content. Several people can be part of the process, but You must be at the center of the project.
- Publish long texts (without different types of content) — In a report shared by Similarweb, a LinkedIn user will only spend an average of 7 minutes and 38 seconds on the platform per day. In conclusion, we can say that you have very little time to capture the attention of your readers. Large blocks of text are a terrible viewing experience. To get more growth from your posts, add a balanced mix of documents, polls, images, and text messages to your content calendar. This will help you ensure that part of those 7 minutes is spent on your content.
- Not responding to or commenting on employee content — If you’ve gone this far in your LinkedIn strategy by checking off points 1-6, your company’s brand strategy is likely strong and a employee brand program could be part of it too. Your employees are probably actively writing and posting content on their personal LinkedIn profiles. As a leader, the next common mistake is not engaging with employee content. Besides being a supportive leader, your content ideas will not only enhance your personal brand, but also encourage your employees to continue their great work.
- Lack of transparency — Many leaders are on LinkedIn to generate sales for their company. It’s a reasonable goal and totally logical, but your traditional sales messages probably won’t work on LinkedIn. On the contrary, they are too sales-oriented and “me-centric”. Those who succeed on LinkedIn are community builders and recruiters. Transparency plays an important role in how you develop relationships before the first sales message.
Related: 5 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Become a True Thought Leader
Now that you’re equipped with eight common LinkedIn mistakes by leaders, you can be careful not to make the same mistakes. LinkedIn is a valuable opportunity for a leader to develop their personal brand, strategically position their expertise and generate leads. Avoid these pitfalls to thrive!