5 Things You Won’t See Me Do on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a powerful platform for business owners and professionals to connect with others in their industry. With over 310 million monthly users, you have a pretty large base to develop new connections and build relationships with potential clients. While there are many things you can do on LinkedIn, several LinkedIn “sins” can haunt you and affect your credibility and reputation. Here are five things you won’t see me do on LinkedIn.

Judge others for their choices. 

We all have the power to judge others for their choices, but it’s important not do so. Even if a prospect choose a competitor over your company or picked an aesthetically less pleasing color palette in branding – don’t criticize them! Posting your negative opinions on LinkedIn serves no purpose. If your prospect chose a competitor of you, ask them privately what influenced their decision. Feedback is valuable; public shaming is not.

Start political arguments. 

Unless you’re an aspiring political strategist, politics don’t have any place in your business. The world is a big place, and it’s important to remember that not everyone in your audience shares the same beliefs as you! You are most certainly entitled to your political opinions but save those debates for Facebook or Twitter. LinkedIn has the most professional atmosphere of any other platform, and with today’s political climate, you will only scare away many prospects if you start political arguments.

Add my network’s email addresses to my list.

Just because you have access to your connections’ email addresses via their LinkedIn profiles does NOT mean they give permission for you to add them to your email list.

The same is true of any prospects you meet who provide you with business cards. Not only can these prospects mark your messages as spam, but also break federal laws called “CAN-SPAM Act” which requires getting explicit permission to add people to your list.

Add them to your inbox as personal contact, NOT to your autoresponder.

Post personal photos or reminisce about college partying. 

You should be careful when posting personal photos online. It’s important to know the differences between professional and personal social media sites. Share your fun stories on less professional sites like Facebook or Snapchat. LinkedIn serves a professional purpose, and those types of photos can give pause to anyone looking to hire or work with you. We’ve all heard the stories of college graduates who lost job opportunities because of what they posted online. A good rule of thumb, if it has the potential to harm your reputation or credibility, keep it offline.

Use others strictly for introductions or job opportunities. 

Relationships are important. If you want to be successful in any field, it’s crucial that people believe and trust you. Otherwise why would they help with introductions or interviews? Don’t just use others when there is no relationship yet existing between yourself and them; put forth time into building these connections first before asking for assistance! 

Build a relationship first, then ask instead of hitting up new connections immediately for introductions or job interviews.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg regarding what you should NOT do on LinkedIn. Across all the social media platforms, you’ve probably seen plenty of tacky things that made your eyes roll. How will your posts be perceived? Use your common sense and think before you post on LinkedIn.

These tips are not meant to make you less of who YOU truly want to be; instead, they provide guidelines for maintaining YOUR professional credibility so that your ideal clients will trust and follow in whatever path leads them towards finding The Solutions.

Don’t forget to grab our LinkedIn Quick Guide!  This guide will help you optimize your LinkedIn profile and provide you with a few daily action tips–enabling you to engage with your audience more fully. 🙂