More and more in recent months I have seen that LinkedIn is just a space to spam people. It’s the scattergun approach. Just email lots and lots of people and maybe it will work for someone. Surely this isn’t the approach for a networking tool? Do you go to a networking event and say the same pitch to every single person after shaking their hand and finding out what they do? Then why do it on LinkedIn?
You go to a networking event, you ask who the person is, they introduce themselves, tell you what they do, why and for who. You then create a targeted message for them. You tell them something that is relevant to them and will be of interest to them.
Yet people have all this information on LinkedIn. You can see where people work, what they, their work experience and the tone they speak to others in. You’re gaining so much personal knowledge about them that you can easily create a personalised message for them – if you want to make LinkedIn work.
LinkedIn is not a place to spam. However, that is exactly what happened to me recently.
I got a message from Reginald. He is apparently a celebrity branding coach, so his title tells me.
His message was as follows;
“Hi Hazel, great to see you on here! I saw that you’re in the moving industry, so I wanted so share an article that I wrote. (link to article) I hope it helps you book a few more jobs this winter. – Reginald“
Now, and I need to be honest here, I have no idea what the moving industry is? I presume he means removals? In which case, definitely not an industry I am in. So I replied;
“In the moving industry?”
To which Reginald replied;
“Yeah, my bad. You popped up in the sales navigator search, and I just tend to breeze right through those, copy & paste style.”
And my response;
“Wow….how’s that working for you?”
LinkedIn is not a place for spam. The response from this business coach didn’t show me that he cared about his own brand at all. In fact by using LinkedIn as a place for spam it shows him in a really negative light.
You are damaging your brand, your business and your reputation if you do not realise that LinkedIn is not a place for spam.
I personally recommend that you treat LinkedIn as you would a networking event. Look at people and find out that they are the right person for you. Find out things about them by looking at their profile. Talk to them as real people, just as you would in a networking event. Only then will LinkedIn work for you.
