Why I quit the numbers rat race on LinkedIn (and so should you…)

If you don’t have 20,000+ LinkedIn followers already, STOP!

Stop writing?

Stop engaging?

Nope, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, stop bothering with numbers.

Let’s decode what some of LinkedIn’s datapoints mean and their relevance for you.

1. Impressions (or views)
“85,000 people SAW MY POST! I’ve arrived in life!!”

Ho hum, so what? It’s like passing by the Louvre in Paris, without going in.

Listen to great advice from folks like A N D Y F O O T E and don’t worry about impressions. All those endlessly scrolling folks, remember?

2. Likes
“I scored 452 likes in 45 minutes. Clearly, I’m popular!”

Likes feed into a lazy way to engage — but rarely lead to a job, new business, or anything substantial. Also, the folks who ‘like’ your content may not even be your target audience.

Remember, like ≠ love.

3. Comments
“You know, people CARE! They’re commenting on my post. THIS IS IT.”

Yes, you have a point. Getting people to sit up and talk is a good win. It means your ideas led them to think.

Also, you made them comfortable enough to share their thoughts (or in some cases, so mad and triggered by your content that they had to write something nasty)

It’s fine to talk about controversial topics to spark debate. However, don’t try to go ‘viral’ through triggering content.

4. Shares
“I’m now a thought leader. People are sharing my thoughts with their people. Ah, Nirvana.”

This is actually good. It means that someone found value in your post or related with it so much that they would like others to see it too.

Express gratitude. Be nice and thank them! (It’s also ok to ask them what clicked for them and if they would like to connect.)

5. Connections
“I got 14 connection requests yesterday. People love me!”

Brilliant, but only if those 14 are part of your target audience. Think about and filter out:
a. ‘L.I.O.N.’s — ‘open networkers’ who would accept a request from an Antarctic penguin (penguins are cute but would they help your LinkedIn goals?)

Don’t turn LinkedIn into a mutual back-scratching activity.

b. ‘Peas in a pod’ — people artificially trying to boost each other’s posts by saying meaningless stuff such as ‘love it’, ‘great post’, ‘wow’, ‘fantastic’ etc.

Easily identifiable, and hopefully LinkedIn will start banning them soon. Or they’ll ruin it forever for all of us.

6. Followers
“Jesus had them. Why shouldn’t I?”

People boast about followers in their headlines. DISRESPECTFUL.

Collecting followers to brag makes no sense and quantity ≠ quality.

For both — connections and followers, look into who are the people interested in you and whether there are opportunities of mutual benefit anywhere.

ONE single DM saying, “I came across your profile based on your post about <insert expertise area>. Do you think we could chat about a potential collaboration?” is worth way more than the artificial indicators of success.

What do you think? What’s your LinkedIn strategy?