I “hid” posts from a colleague on LinkedIn today. There – I said it out loud.
I got feed up with the incessant stream of her twitter posts on my LinkedIn updates – so I went to that little button on the right hand side and clicked “Hide”….. Done.
Here’s the problem. I like my LinkedIn stream to keep up on what former colleagues are up to, what they are reading, in general, keeping in touch with their work lives. Of course, I understand that LinkedIn is also used for organic search and to build a web profile. I get it.
Don’t OverWhelm My Stream
Too many posts from the same person can become overwhelming. Here is the deal – my pal is a great management consultant and marketer. She has multiple social media accounts and loves to tweet. Then she adds the #IN hashtag so that her tweets are cross posted on her LinkedIn account. And she uses software to post the same blog to all her accounts and then tweets it ten times.
My consultant friend was looking for a wider reach for her information and to reach a broader audience in order to get more people to click on her links and drive traffic – I understand that. But in the meantime – I was getting a lot of posts from one person filling my stream and had trouble seeing what might be of value to me. Sigh.
Post Content in the Appropriate Place
So here is what I suggest; Post content that is appropriate for each social media network.
• Twitter is an immediate medium so multiple posts are ok. Though ten in an hour is annoying unless you are live tweeting from a conference, in which case, keep tweeting.
• Facebook is for fun and dialogue. Some of the posts for Facebook are not appropriate for LinkedIn – pick and choose carefully.
• LinkedIn is for business. Don’t automatically cross post your twitter feed.
• Only cross post tweets that are really of interest to LinkedIN contacts. And believe me – the decision point for what is interesting lies with the reader not you.
As a general rule, I don’t like the concept of linking Facebook posts automatically to twitter. The post on twitter will be “I just posted a new photo on Facebook”..with a link to the photo. Why would anyone click on it unless they knew you? In this case, the tweet has low value, no hashtags and visitors have no idea why it would be of interest to them.
Be Respectful of my Time
I love social media, and am a tweetaholic. I love keeping in contact with other management consultants and knowing what you are up to. But if you were at a cocktail party and someone bombarded you with all their information and never engaged with you – it would be annoying. Just like you do with your email marketing – be prudent – only send information that has value to the reader and target who might be interested.
Or you will be blocked, hidden or ignored. And you won’t even know it.
Btw – I told my management consulting pal about her over-posts and we spent some time over coffee outlining a more prudent posting plan. And she is no longer hidden from my stream!
About the Author
Terry Rachwalski is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) in Victoria BC who helps consulting clients with social media and despises slimey sales techniques. Through her management consulting firm, Front Porch Perspectives, Rachwalski assists technology firms with business development, go to market strategies and product launch including customized internet marketing, pay per click campaigns and social media monitoring services.
Photo Creative Commons attributed to the talented Sam Leppanen