A few weeks ago a business friend admitted he doesn’t use social media, including LinkedIn, because it is “a glorified open mic.”
Taken aback, perhaps he forgot what I do–not just for a living but as a major portion of my self-branding and marketing my services–I countered, “Do you have enough business?”
You know he had to honestly answer that he could always have more. Who couldn’t?
Then I asked how he gets his business and the harangue started about the cost of search engine marketing, the ROI of advertising, how he hates networking, all falling on my now deaf ears.
It reminded me of a joke I told in this blog once. (Actually my son told it in an elementary school talent show comedy standup routine and I always chuckle at that memory and this joke.) Hence the illustration above.
So I challenged him: renovate your LinkedIn and other social media profiles, pump your brand in those venues, ask others to refer and share your expertise with their connections, act like a mature entrepreneur and a up-and-rising business. NOW!
The response will not be immediate, I counseled, There will not be a rush to your door. It takes consistent images and prose to create a brand. Then I offered him this article that I feature in my slides when I speak to groups. I think he will benefit from it and I hope you will too.
You are a brand. Not feeding the brand will cause it to wither. Fresh nutrients will make it prosper. Tell us, smartly: why you.
More succinctly, in business to be absent on LinkedIn is to disappear.
