The Downside of LinkedIn

Author: Myk Baxter

With over 800 million users, LinkedIn is one of the most influential networking platforms of today with entrepreneurs from across the globe connecting and interacting with those within their field daily 

As a result, new professional relationships are formed & vacant job roles are filled, with those seeking employment more likely to visit LinkedIn now rather than an outdated job site where you find yourself in competition with hundreds of candidates. 

In comparison to generic social networking sites such as Facebook & Twitter, it’s also found that more influential and helpful conversations are had on the platform, especially when it comes to questioning lead content. It could also be said that it’s a less toxic place to spend time due to the inspiring interactions that are had. 

Due to its growing popularity, LinkedIn is also miles ahead of its competitors for targeting your audience, reaching those key personnel within your field & growing your B2B through its targeting options for paid content and filters. Some key areas include experience, education, your company, skillset & professional interests. 

Whilst it’s a personal favourite for us, and of course many others, it does have its limitations and downside meaning that it’s not best to advise abandoning your Facebook ads just yet. Keep reading for a rundown on the downside. 

Limited listening-in capabilities

LinkedIn is alert with conversation at all hours of the day, but unlike other platforms, there’s no way to identify trends or receive alerts from those we admire most. Therefore, we’re left to manually search to uncover the conversations relevant to us – making it harder to connect with those who could make a real difference. 

The link preview penalty

The platform’s link preview penalty is disclosed to many, but it’s one that all businesses should be aware of. In short, users can be penalized for in-linking their posts, due to it taking the attention away from LinkedIn itself. To attempt to combat this, most hide their links in the comments but data has shown that website traffic is still lower in comparison to when using Facebook or Twitter. 

Restrictions in third-party publishing

Much to many social media managers’ dismay, third-party publishing tools (such as Hootsuite) have limited access to LinkedIn’s native features, for example tagging businesses or individuals must be done within the app itself which defeats the purpose of scheduling content altogether. 

Overall, it’s clear that the platform has both its advantages and disadvantages and over time we hope that the problems above are recertified to make it all the more better and beneficial. However, in the meantime, we would still encourage you to register with the platform.

Click here to read our handy guide on how to create the perfect profile.

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