Do you speak LinkedIn yet?

Launched back in 2003, the former career network LinkedIn is celebrating its 18th birthday and enjoys national and international renown. The number of users is constantly increasing, and the trend is clear in Switzerland as well, where there will soon be 3.2 million users: networking, digital selling and recruiting take place online every day thanks to LinkedIn. Despite the high success potential of the social media network, there are still a lot of mistakes, especially in behavior, but there are also opportunities that can be exploited.

What is LinkedIn anyway?

LinkedIn is a social media platform, bought by Microsoft in 2016, that is specifically designed for business. Contrary to other platforms, LinkedIn is not intended to share anything too personal, such as dinners or vacation pictures - even though many people now do this in the same way as on Facebook. This is probably a natural development when the likes and comments on Facebook and Instagram fail to materialize and you can quickly gain many contacts via LinkedIn.

However, it would be much better to view and use the platform as a networking platform with social media functionality. This way, jobs can be found via LinkedIn, you can stay in touch with colleagues and partners, and you can further expand your network online.

But that's not all: with LinkedIn Learning, the platform also has a continuing education character, and specific solutions such as Recruiter Light or the Sales Navigator are popular in human resources and sales, respectively. LinkedIn is thus a business-to-business medium on the web where everyone shows their best side - after all, it's all about business.

Why LinkedIn is being used incorrectly

LinkedIn, like all other platforms, has three elements for presenting your own professional brand:

• Stories (mobile only)
• Profiles (for the person)
• and pages (for companies or schools or NGO)

In the case of company pages, it is also possible to attach focus pages, for example for subareas, additional brands or departments. Since 2021, it has also been possible to attach products to LinkedIn pages, and LinkedIn is working on a service marketplace in the background via Linkedin.com/services.

Of course, the LinkedIn profile is important first, but LinkedIn is also a social network that should be maintained. Thus, the real relationship and contact are only created through interaction. Meaning: Create a clean profile, but then be sure to create posts. Because currently only 4 percent of all users on LinkedIn - 756 million worldwide, 16 million in the roof space - are actually real content creators.

Today, we know that interaction leads to conversations, conversations lead to relationships, and relationships lead to opportunities - for example, a sale or a recommendation.

So a profile or page that is never touched after it is created will not lead to job opportunities, network expansion, or sales success. The basic principle is to help and network. Far too often, individuals and companies are still in self-promotion mode. Yet it is on LinkedIn that you can show that you are present and engaged. If there are several people within a company, all the better. Because this directly improves the company image, and at the same time it also increases your own visibility of the professional brand: among the people and the company in general.

The value of the network is behind the network

In the business context, networking is key. Therefore, it is also highly relevant to network on LinkedIn with business partners, acquaintances and perhaps even new, potential customers and partners. But should you accept every person for this? Or should you just make wild inquiries?

Twice clearly no. Because only a genuine, organically grown network also leads to real interaction and conversations. First of all, this requires a contact request on LinkedIn, and many things can go wrong with this. The first mistake: not attaching a message to the contact request. Would you sit down at a table with a person without being asked? Probably not. But that's exactly what happens when you send "blank" contact requests. Then the content: is it personal or does it sound copy-pasted? Can I make a relevant connection? Don't sell is the motto: it's about building relationships. And that takes time, and above all decency.

What about the contacts on company websites? These are called followers, and all too often the preconception prevails: many contacts or followers also mean a lot of reach. Unfortunately far from it. You can invite up to 100 people per month to follow your company page, but is the content really exciting enough? If we know that only 4 percent of people on LinkedIn create content, then we also have to soberingly realize that often only 2 to 3 percent of people interact on LinkedIn. Still far too few and thus a great opportunity.

What change is taking place on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is increasingly taking on the characteristics of Instagram and Facebook. The fact that the platform is intended for business purposes can hardly be guessed from some profiles on the business network. Instead of professional portrait photos, more and more people are using selfies, group photos or their own photo shoots as profile pictures. The photos may be nice, but they are more than inappropriate in a business context. You have to think of LinkedIn like a job application portfolio. A selfie does not belong in a cover letter, and neither does it belong on LinkedIn.

Social interactions are essential on LinkedIn. As already mentioned, posting and commenting is also highly relevant to push your own network. However, you should not overdo it. You should remain professional and only post something if you have something to announce. Does it help someone? Does it show my competence or a commitment? Or is it just advertising? More and more people are wasting LinkedIn as a marketing tool, or posting every single little thing. That's simply not what LinkedIn is for. It is a network for exchanging professional questions and opinions. But it is by no means a network for marketing one's own business, let alone one's own person. On LinkedIn, only one's own expertise counts in the end, and that is recognizable even without many words. And for those who do want to use a lot of words: LinkedIn has a blog function called Article, where you can write pages of text, as well as links and videos. In addition, there is the Live function and soon a Clubhouse variant - so LinkedIn is also developing further.

Why digital selling ideally complements and partially replaces classic sales

The fact is that classic sales measures often no longer work as they used to. Especially in times of home offices, LinkedIn offers exciting opportunities. But be careful: people don't like cold calling on social media. The chances of being successful are quite small. Statistical figures from Germany and the U.S., as well as our own research in the DACH region, show that around 90 percent of all decision-makers say they ignore cold calls, but are on LinkedIn every day - up to four times a day.

A proven measure in digital selling is the tactic of social selling. Here, the aim is to use social media to build up and strengthen customer loyalty during the sales process and to prepare it to a large extent - despite all the digital aspects, people still buy from people. But prospects become aware through social media. Today we know that the relationship with the customer can be maintained until the sale is closed via LinkedIn and supplementary channels such as blog, YouTube or TikTok.

Examples of social selling techniques include:

• the exchange of relevant content
• direct interaction with potential buyers and customers
• the personal branding and social listening

But before the start, the people involved have to be trained. Social selling is a matter of attitude and a lot of routine. It doesn't matter what product or service wants to be sold, but whether it is understood, in this new digital reality and with contemporary tools like the LinkedIn Sales Navigator, added value is created and people are brought together.

Roger Basler, why is a current Profile on LinkedIn so important?

Roger Basler: It is the business card and the first touchpoint when it comes to building trust and getting the relationship started.

What should the user personally disclose on the LinkedIn profile?

Personal never means private! For me, personal means everything that you would say at an aperitif. This includes voluntary commitments or topics that have helped me professionally, or even education. Topics related to politics or religion should be avoided.

How do I get clients without pandering on LinkedIn?

With comments. One should not forget the power of comments, because it creates the initiation of a relationship. Only the interaction brings the dialogue, the dialogue brings the relationship and then the relationship brings success.

Why do you propagate recommendations so strongly on LinkedIn?

Because I believe that you should give more than you take. On LinkedIn in particular, you can actively give people a recommendation - in my case, there are now over 100 people I know and trust. So I wrote a recommendation to these people and that helps them and of course indirectly helps me, because my network has a network value.

* Roger L. Basler de Roca is a business economist FH and digital entrepreneur. His specialties include building digital business and growth models in digital marketing with analytics.