3 of the Most Common LinkedIn Marketing Mistakes - and How to Fix Them

I'm seeing so many of these kinds of posts in my feeds, so I thought I should share with you why these are mistakes - and how you can fix them. Hopefully, these tips will help you improve your LinkedIn content approach.

1. You "hijack" your own post

I don't like to use the term "hijack," but it's the best way to describe this error. If you're familiar with the term " thread hijacking ," then I'm largely referring to the same thing, but in this case, it happens within your own post - and you're the one doing it, most probably without even realizing.

To hijack your own post means to start your update with an interesting topic, along with supporting images. You then suddenly switch topics at the end.

Here's a sample post I created to illustrate what I mean:

As you can see, the images were taken during a recent LinkedIn Local Philippines Campus Tour, and the post starts with an enthusiastic statement in reference to that event:

As a reader who's familiar with what LinkedIn Local is, it would sound interesting to me - I might think "it must be really fun holding LinkedIn Local events in campuses". Given this, I'm, keen to know more about the event - what the key takeaways were, the panelists that attended, etc. But there's no mention of any of these details - instead, the second paragraph veers into self-interest, switching focus to a separate topic that I want to promote:

As you can see, to hijack your own post means to write an update which initially gets the attention of your network, only for them to realize at the end that your main intent is to sell, not really to highlight what you've started.

Here's how you can fix it

With every one of your LinkedIn updates, remember to stick to a single main point.

In this case, I would be better off splitting the post above into two separate posts, each with a clear focus. I could then be more strategic about my posting of each, tagging relevant people, posting at ideal times, using relevant hashtags, etc.

For each of these posts, I would also have to ensure that the images I use support that single idea - otherwise, the image just serves as a "bait" to get the attention of my network. This may help get a little extra attention, but it won't help build connection and community. And worse, it could turn people off, and prompt them to unfollow, or remove you as a connection.

2. You post on LinkedIn only to promote your self-interest

I get it. You're a thought leader or a world-renowned speaker, or you might even be a best-selling author. You have speaking engagements here and there, you hold events in almost every location one can ever think of.

That's all fine, but if all you ever do on LinkedIn is promote yourself, you're not likely to maximize your reach and engagement potential on the platform.

I've seen a lot of LinkedIn members who seem very popular and well-respected in their fields, but who fail to "connect" with their network on LinkedIn.

The truth is, every LinkedIn member has "what's in it for me?" in mind. That makes sense, and is not surprising that people want to use the platform to promote themselves and their professional expertise. But the best way to leverage the platform is to build relationships, and you do that by providing value to your network - not endlessly talking about yourself.

Nobody wants to be sold to, no one wants to connect with you just so you can sell them your new online course, your newly released book or your insurance policies - or, indeed, so you can endlessly invite them to your upcoming events.

If you do so within reason that's generally okay, but if that's all you do, each and every time you post, it might be time to unfollow you.

Here's how you can fix it

Stop focusing on self-interest, and start thinking about how you can give, rather than take.