15 Feb Why I’m Disgusted With LinkedIn

 … followed by What I Like About LinkedIn. 

Groups Are Bogus

I belong to 42 LinkedIn groups. None of them are worth a damn. No Likes, Comments, or Shares on the posts.  A steady stream of self-serving hogwash. LinkedIn’s latest attempt to revamp groups doesn’t change that assessment.

LinkedIn Ads Don’t Work

Too cumbersome, lousy analytics, low payoff. Little to no help from LinkedIn. What more can I say?

Customer Service is Terrible

Don’t send me an email from “do not rely” and then give me no option to contact a human by voice or mail. Don’t do it. I can call Google ads and get them on the phone in under a minute. Know your competition.

“Influencers” Are Not

Once you become a LinkedIn “Influencer” you cease to be interesting or influential. I understand, it’s good PR. But it’s no longer insightful or fun to read. I make it a point not to follow “influencers.”

What I Like About LinkedIn

Education

The educational component has value. I found an excellent 3 hour course on Google Ads. This was extremely valuable because I’m so disgusted with LinkedIn ads.

My Connections

As of this writing, I have 3,125 connections. Financial industry leaders, journalists, writers, PR people. I feel connected, on a professional level. Thank you.

Access

Through InMail I can get through to people I don’t know for possible business, references, insight. I get a much higher rate of response through LinkedIn than through regular business email.

Research

The LinkedIn database can be an excellent source for media relations research, industry research, sales and marketing research.  Best to think of LinkedIn as a huge, publicly available professional database. How smart can you be in using it?

So, what’s the verdict on LinkedIn?

It’s still worth my Premium membership, which nets out nearly $700 for the year.  It’s still my primary “social” network for business. My hope is that Microsoft has some big, bona fide improvements in store. LinkedIn is looking old and frayed.