There are a lot of reasons to use LinkedIn, but there are also many reasons why people don’t.
I’m with you.
I’m not the biggest fan, but I use it a lot.
There’s a lot of crap on there, posted by ‘Hustle Bros‘ who make out that you’re a failure unless you:
- Work every second of every day (including weekends and taking your laptop on holiday)
- Earn six figures, if you don’t, you’re a failure.
Or some people seem to have their life together, have the perfect job and want to tell you how all your dreams can come true by spending £800 on a course that’ll turn your life around in a day and a half.
Most of them are bullshitters, faking it because they haven’t actually made it.
But not everyone is like that, and that’s just one of the reasons to use LinkedIn.
9 reasons to use LinkedIn, even if you hate it
Look, you’re here cos you hate LinkedIn but have decided to give this article the benefit of the doubt, so, let’s stop faffing:
One. Not everyone is a ‘Hustle Bro’
That’s right, not everyone on LinkedIn is a massive bell end.
There are a lot of normal people, trying to talk about their business or looking for work, like you. Not everyone is out for themselves. If you surround yourself with the right people, it’s an incredibly supportive place to be. You can build a like-minded community that has your back and looks out for you.
Believe me, during a spell of awful mental health, my LinkedIn community totally supported me.
Two. You have 1 billion opportunities
At last count, LinkedIn had around 1 billion users spread across 200 counties.
Wowza!
A lot of them could be your:
- Dream client
- Ideal employer (job recruiters are on LinkedIn)
- Next employee
- Next referral
Don’t let trolls, imposter syndrome or hustle monsters put you off posting.
There are potentially a billion people ready to hear from you.
Three. You can build your brand
Ugh, sounds awful, doesn’t it?
But you don’t have to be a ‘Hustle Bro‘ arse.
It’s your feed, like every other social media platform is. You get to post whatever you want to showcase who you are, whether that’s because you’re a freelancer looking for more work with aligned clients or you’re searching for work and want to give a good impression to potential employers.
I use it to be really silly and fun, mixing helpful writing tips with daft stuff that showcases my personality and sense of humour. That way, I can catch the eye of brands who want a writer who’ll pack their copy with personality.
Four. You get to show people how much you know
Nothing worse than being interviewed by someone and them wanting you to prove you know your stuff.
Your LinkedIn profile not only gives you a place to big yourself up but the posts and articles you write prove how much of an expert you are.
Someone looking for the right freelancer or job candidate will learn a lot about the kind of person you are from your profile alone – and if they check out your posts, well, they get to see why they’d be mad not to contact you.
Five. You CAN use it like Facebook – kinda
You might get the odd troll popping up telling you, “This isn’t Facebook, you know!”
Right, and wrong.
The algorithm will give you reach problems if you post multiple times per day. You’ll probably get away with two, but you can post everyday stuff.
People buy into people, so yes, post about work-related stuff. Create helpful content. But post about random stuff you’re doing in your spare time, even if that’s losing your shoe in the mud on a country walk.
Actually, random, funny stuff like that gets way more engagement than stuffy posts these days. LinkedIn wants you to use it however you want.
When it comes to reasons to use LinkedIn or not, this point is a big reason why people don’t, but those days are over.
Ignore the starched collar and tie brigade, post whatever you want on YOUR feed.
Six. You can connect with decision-makers
In the past, connecting with a company decision-maker wasn’t easy.
LinkedIn makes it a piece of piss.
You can connect with people at your favourite companies and brands, build a rapport and, potentially, work with them at some point. If you have a dream client, they want to work with people who totally buy into their ethos because it’s a lot less time-consuming than getting someone in who is totally oblivious.
That’s how I ended up working with Beano, they bought into me and said to me, “Matt, you’re one of us!”
That’s why I landed them as a client.
To learn more, check out my article, How I manifested my dream client, Beano.
Seven. It’s good for your SEO
Hmmm, not sure about this one, are you?
Answer me this: how many times have you searched for something and found a LinkedIn article?
Exactly, loads!
If you’re a business owner, you want people heading to your website, but if that’s not possible, getting them on your LinkedIn profile isn’t a bad start.
Eight. You can actually learn stuff
You don’t even have to post on LinkedIn if you don’t want to.
LinkedIn is full of really knowledgable people, so you can find posts, articles or links to courses or blog posts. Use it as a place of learning and you might find it a much more enjoyable experience.
Nine. You get to flex your creative muscle
You might not be great at design, but carousel posts can turn your posts from so-so to ‘WHOA!
Carousels allow you to create a visual slideshow, which tends to get more reads than posts do (especially if they’re close to maxing out the character total). If you’re a little more arty, it’s definitely a place where you get to flex your creativity – and they’re dead easy to make.
To learn more, check out my article, How to create LinkedIn carousel posts.
Do you still hate LinkedIn?
Well, if none of my nine reasons to use LinkedIn have made it more appealing, then it’s not right for you – and that’s fine.
If they have, I’d love to see you over there; you can connect with me on LinkedIn.com/in/matthewdrzymala
Or, I can help write content for you if you need a little help.
Until next time,
Matt
PS. If you know you should use LinkedIn more, but would rather someone else write your posts than you spend any longer than you need to there, I can do it for you – let’s chat.
