For whatever, I’m
sure, deeply psychological reason, I embraced the social media age a number of
years ago. So I’m an active Facebooker and I tweet, therefore I am. I’m also
LinkedIn and have linked with a wide range of colleagues, ex-colleagues,
clients, ex-clients, suppliers, potential suppliers, friends, potential
friends, you know the kind of mix.
When I think
about these three ways of ‘communicating’, however, it’s LinkedIn that leaves
me more confused than the other two. Facebook keeps me in touch, and has put me
in touch with a wide range of current and past friends and connections. Through
Twitter I’ve engaged with a few ‘famous’ people and exchanged pats on the back
with clients and the like.
But how does
one ‘connect’ with those one connects with on LinkedIn?
I get the
general idea – make links and you’ll end up just one link away from Sir Richard
Branson – a number of people seem to have that ambition.
But what about
the actual connections you make – WhatThen?
I’ve connected
with a few new people lately so now they’re ‘in my gang’ but what happens next?
Do I give them a ring and welcome them in? Do I send them an email and say,
hey, thanks for linking? Or do I just let them sit in the gang with the rest of
my gang members, seeing my occasional foray into the LinkedIn world, maybe even
commenting on the odd post I might offer?
As I say, I get
the idea, I’ve heard LinkedIn’s great if you’re looking for a job, for example –
but I’m not looking for a job. So what am I looking for?
In essence, and
when I look at my current LinkedIn connections, the main thing these people
have in common is that they’re not just linked with me, they’re liked by me –
maybe I should patent LikedIn?
So I have liked
dealing with them, I like the idea of dealing with them again. But is it enough
to sit there linking and liking? Or should I be ‘working the room’ in a more
active way?
I have no
answers to these questions, I’ve Googled, I’ve Wikied, I’ve Siried even, no-one
and nothing seems to know.
We link, our
gang gets bigger, we measure out our lives in LinkedIn connections.
Does anyone out there
have any answers? I’d be grateful for some feedback…maybe we could link in?!
Hi. Interesting and to some extent I feel the same. It seems the only group who are seeking to benefit directly are recruitment consultants who seem to view this medium as recruitment by stealth, ie not wanting to overtly sell their wares - yeah right!
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting to note that your options to move this article on social media don't include LinkedIn - why not go to the "horses mouth"?