4 Mistakes you can stop right now on Linkedin – by Naishadh Gadani

Morgan Freeman said “with power, comes responsibility.”

This is absolutely true in regards to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an awesome powerhouse, and is becoming more powerful. But we must exercise a great deal of responsibility while using it for our own advantage.

I have come across some crazy, outrageous and silly mistakes that people make on LinkedIn. I still don’t consider myself a LinkedIn user extraordinaire, but I’ve implemented sound LinkedIn strategies for myself. So I thought I would share a few of my tips and techniques.

To enhance your professional standing and profile on this insanely awesome tool you must avoid following actions:

1. Liking all or many posts I call this the “like-addiction”. When you’re on LinkedIn or Facebook, you don’t have to keep hitting the button “Like” for no reason. Every time you hit the like button it sends a signal to your reader that you approve this post or at the minimum you like what is being said. Before hitting the button think about these questions  “is it relevant my brand or message? Will it enhance my brand image?” Readers don’t want to occupy their LinkedIn dash board space with your random likes. It’s a turn off.

2. Updating irrelevant status update: I think updating status and sharing stories and articles you like is a great feature and needs to be used strategically. If used wisely it will act as catalyst in your brand enhancement. My observation is quite a few people have a compulsive approach to sharing stories of varied nature, from US debt crisis to political crisis in Libya to job search issues around the world to Prince William’s wedding. This just confuses readers of your profile. They may ask “what does this person really stand for?” Why is he or she on LinkedIn? What does he or he want to communicate? Stop before you hit the share button and think if the story/article is on-brand or not.

3. Not customising invites: I will be brutally honest and straight forward in this matter. Do your homework, read the profile and tailor your invite. Let me give you an analogy. While writing wedding invitations for my wedding my Dad wrote the name of the invitee and his family members on each and every invite. This really makes a big difference. Tailoring your invites communicates that you have studied the profile and found a common thread or interest and are interested in building relationships. In past I have spammed lot of people with my invites and learnt this lesson the hard way. As a consequence LinkedIn restricted my ability to send invites to anyone. This is now lifted. Sigh!!!

4. Spamming group members with marketing materials: From the time I wake up and go to bed, I have been asked to buy some product or services “on train, bus, radio, TV, internet, Facebook and many more”. Stop misusing LinkedIn group to spread and bombard readers about your products and services.

There are many more small and not-so-small mistakes that people are currently making and will continue to do on LinkedIn. I know I’ll continue to make a few.

LinkedIn is a great tool for career management. Let’s make the most of it. Happy LinkedIn-working!!!

This guest post is by Naishadh Gadani – you can read his LinkedIn profile here!

Tagged as: LinkedIn, LinkedIn Tactics