What you see on your screen is only your truth and no one else’s, this is the leader’s trap on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a great platform for businesses. Imagine the opportunities created here that are not available elsewhere. Here you have staff who suddenly raise your brand in their networks and build something nice around you and themselves.
LinkedIn is unique in so many ways. In this newsletter we will take a closer look at “who sees what” i.e. how are you doing on LinkedIn? Is there a built-in trap that creates a false image?
- First of all, it is employees of the same company who see the posts, especially those with whom the networker has contact.
- Then it is the network’s own network that sees the posts, here it is good if the network is a mix of what is important for the company but also for the networker personally. Networks are often built up locally over the years so the geographical spread is greatly affected.
- The people with whom the networker interacts a lot are most exposed by the posts. Often a smaller group of 50-100 people. This is a ‘fan-base’ that really likes the person.
Do you see the trap that you as a company are falling into?
If you as a business leader do not have a high level of knowledge about LinkedIn and its algorithms, there is a great risk that your self-image on LinkedIn is highly inaccurate.
The biggest mistake is that you start from yourself and what you see. If you are a leader in a company and even a CEO, it is obvious that LinkedIn’s algorithms control your flow towards your own company. You simply feel that you are bigger on LinkedIn than you are. A sour truth but that is the case. The important thing is that you understand the reasonableness of what you see on your own screen.
Most likely, you are a great leader who gives a like to what comes from the company, you may even share posts or post yourself? By liking posts from others at the company, you show that you want to see more of the same type of content……and you will get it….. don’t be fooled by what you see.
We are 100% disqualified but you should read on
The wrong self-image and lack of good data make you happy….
– “We have two really good people in the company who are taking up a lot of space on LinkedIn, we are quite happy with that. We are doing well on the platform”
No, it doesn’t. As long as you do not have two of the absolute best on LinkedIn in Sweden in all categories, the effect you get does not reflect the size of your company through two people. It is the false image that is created if you read your feed or others at your company as “facit”
Visibility is a good measure but don’t forget about booked meetings and business
There is one job that companies should do and that is to measure. Everything else that is about marketing and lead generation is measured. LinkedIn is often an exception, so we take a wild guess here.
Let’s say that two people at the company are driving LinkedIn. If we look at some fictitious numbers, we can get closer to the truth. We start from impressions (exposure) and look at unique impressions, i.e. how many unique people are reached (net reach) and how many times each person sees a post (frequency, also called gross reach)
We estimate that each person has 45,000 views each month, below is a summary of 2 people who are active.
Exposure: 90,000 views (definition: 1 view is that the post occupied 50% of screen for 0.3s)
Unique impressions (net reach): 23 000 (unique persons)
Frequency: 3.9 times (i.e. each unique person has seen posts on average 3.9 times from the networker)
The above are not bad figures for any networker. We hope you understand that. But are they good figures in relation to the size of your company? If you are a market leader or close to the top of your industry, the numbers are weak. However, your experience is different, you at the company are exposed the most of all, that’s how LinkedIn works. You are simply fooled into thinking you are bigger than you are unless you learn to read the data.
A nationwide company in Sweden will not be a nationwide company unless you have networkers active in many locations. You will only be fooled that you are bigger than you think. LinkedIn is not much different from physical networks.
If large companies are to make small investments, then you will be on the same level as the local smaller company in the same industry. Because you become quite local outside your own company.
A bit harsh but that’s the case, if you are going to invest in real, divide Sweden geographically, to think that one or some of you can carry your big brand on their shoulders here on LinkedIn is a tough one. Today we work with large companies that often start with regions, northern Sweden, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and central Sweden. There and then we see that the effect comes in a completely different way.
Why not make the effort for real? Get knowledge and learn to read data, don’t rely on what you see on your screen because it is only your truth and no one else’s, especially if you are a leader in a company.
“LinkedCoach is today the leading company in the Nordic region when it comes to coaching and training on LinkedIn. With a team of 9 coaches, we work with world-leading companies on a global level or the smaller local company that sees the opportunities with LinkedIn.
The common denominator for Linkedcoach’s clients is the realization that LinkedIn is important in their communication with the market. Whether it is to drive sales or build brand”
