LinkedIn continues to remain the top platform for B2B content marketing. 80% of B2B leads are generated on the platform (Rivard, 2018)! The multitude of tools and resources that LinkedIn offers its business profiles are just one of the many reasons the platform continues to remain top dog. However, some companies fail to properly utilize these tools or neglect areas of their business pages. This can result in a decrease in followers, traffic, engagement, and leads. This week’s blog post will discuss some of the most common mistakes businesses make on LinkedIn, how you can avoid them, and how to repair your brand if you have committed any of these faux pas!

LinkedIn Blunders

When companies use social media, you are bound to get some blunders. Some of the most notable include typos, poorly timed jokes, or failing to check facts. Remember that time Chick-fil-A forgot where Alaska was? When asked on social media if they would be opening a location in a town in Alaska, the fast food chain responded with “Thanks for asking! Although we have no immediate plans of expanding beyond North America at this time, we appreciate your feedback! Thanks for being a fan!” (Garcia, 2018).

LinkedIn has seen its fair share of blunders as well. One of the most common is profile photo fails. Some profile photo gems include “the selfie,” “the pet lover,” “the club-goer,” or the ultimate jewel, “the Silhouette” (aka, no picture at all). Some users have even used an image of their passport photo (Kim, 2018)! 

Another faux pas you might run across is a brand posting inappropriate memes or videos on the platform. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional networking site, and you should be posting content geared towards your target audience. LinkedIn Sales Force was actually guilty of this when they posted a Toy Story Meme on their business page (Contentworks Agency, 2019)!

Avoid a PR Nightmare on LinkedIn

Making mistakes on social media can have costly, and sometimes humorous, outcomes. But these mistakes can also result in more costly consequences, like a significant drop in sales.

Take, for example, Snapchat’s “Would you Rather” fail. Last year, Snapchat shared an ad for their Would You Rather game on social media that featured the question, “Would you rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?” This came after Chris Brown’s 2009 domestic abuse allegations against Rihanna, who was his girlfriend at the time. Snapchat received global criticism and backlash and ended up seeing a $650 million loss! Don’t be like Snapchat! Here’s how you can avoid a PR nightmare on LinkedIn.

1. Have a Plan. It’s critical that you know how to handle a PR crisis before it hits! (Read to the end to learn how to repair your brand’s reputation after a PR blunder.) Know how you will respond, what channels you will use, and who will handle the situation. Having a template can help you implement more immediate action! 
2. Be Tactful. Remember, LinkedIn is still a platform for professional connections. All posts should be respectful and relevant. Avoid offensive jokes or controversial subjects.
3. Proof Read, Proof Read, Proof Read. As we have seen with social media blunders, typos are a major contender for social media whoops! It’s best to have more than one person review the content before it goes live. This tactic is great for catching any errors and to also ensure the message is received properly.
4. Have Clear Content Guidelines. Having a clearly defined guideline of what is acceptable to post or share on your page can help you avoid backlash or blunders. Talking about the Kardashian’s new scandal may be best saved for your personal Twitter profile. Make sure your whole team knows the drill! 
5. Do Your Research. Before posting anything, it’s essential to double check your facts and messaging. Make sure you know exactly what you’re talking about and how it will be perceived by your audience (Bullock, 2018)! You also want to be sure you fully understand the hashtags you choose, and how they come across, to avoid an embarrassing mix-up. One of the more famous ones was the branded hashtag for Susan’s Album Party, #susanalbumparty. Wait, what kind of party?

LinkedIn Marketing Mistakes

In addition to avoiding a PR nightmare, there are also LinkedIn marketing mistakes you should be sure to avoid. These mistakes can have negative implications for your business page, as well as, your company’s bottom line.  

1. Posting Content Not Aligned with Your Audience. Before you begin to publish content on LinkedIn, it’s critical you have a plan and know who you’re publishing content for! If you just start creating content that you think is interesting, but isn’t really relevant to your audience, you will notice your posts won’t be read or shared, which can hurt the traffic to your page and potential leads!

1. Spamming with Sales Pitches. Give value to your followers and groups by creating content that is interesting and relevant. Posting too much promotional content will result in a drop-in followers and engagement!

1. Relying on Ads Over Sponsored Content. Like Facebook, LinkedIn also offers marketers the option of paid ads and sponsored posts. One mistake many companies make is neglecting sponsored posts, which can be a powerful tool for generating leads. HubSpot’s CMO stated that they were able to generate 400% more leads through Sponsored Content. Similarly, Hootsuite saw a 22.8x increase in their conversions by utilizing this feature!

1. Neglecting LinkedIn’s Features. LinkedIn provides you with many tools to optimize your page, take advantage of them! Simple things like completing your profile, using keywords, and incorporating visually appealing images can go a long way. LinkedIn’s Sponsored Content, Pulse, and Elevate features can also give your page an extra boost (Agius,n.d.)! To learn more about the tools on LinkedIn, be sure to read our blog post “12 AMAZING LinkedIn Features You Should Be Using!”

1. Failing to Set Goals. Creating goals will help you more efficiently use your time and resources. Decide what you want to achieve, and plan out how you will get there.

1. Getting Too Personal. Even though LinkedIn is a social network, it’s still best to convey a professional tone with your page and how you interact with groups and comments. Remember, it’s better to come across as too professional, then to have a reply be misconstrued (see PR Nightmares!). After all, it is still a site for professional networking!

1. Ignoring Your Followers. While you want to keep things professional, you should still be engaging with your audience! Network, Network, Network! Join groups, reply to comments, join relevant discussions, and build meaningful connections (Rossum, 2018). Create a community that attracts the right audience. This is valuable for you AND your followers!

Where’s the Follow Through?

Another mistake companies can make on the platform is not following through with marketing tactics. One in particular, is with giveaways and promotions. Ok, so your giveaway you announced got 10,000 impressions, great! Now what? If you don’t have an answer to this, you’re making another LinkedIn marketing mistake. Follow through is critical to continuing your momentum! Here are some tips to up your follow through game.

1. Send a Follow Up Right Away. Consider adding a coupon code or promotion to reengage interest.
2. Let Your Followers Know a Winner Was Chosen. Don’t make them suffer in agonizing suspense!
3. Provide Those Who Didn’t Win with a Discount. They were still interested enough in your product to compete in your giveaway.
4. Utilize User-Generated Content. If your giveaway or promotion included user-generated content creation, be sure to use it while it’s still relevant (Burstin, 2017)!

Keep Your Word. Nothing can tarnish your reputation faster than when users find out you have been misleading or deceptive!

Recovering your Reputation

Recovering a brand’s reputation is not an easy task. It can be done, but it’s much easier to prevent an incident than fix one. As they say, “the best offense is a good defense.” Having a plan in place to prevent a PR crisis or an embarrassing blunder can help tremendously. Anticipate any issues you may run into, assess how you might prevent them from occurring, and formulate how you would handle these situations if they do happen. Here are some guidelines if you ever do find yourself needing some reputation rehab!

1. Have a Plan. Knowing exactly how to handle the situation will help you appropriately act in the midst of the crisis. Waiting until you are in the heat of the moment, can result in impulsive and hasty decisions!
2. Monitor All Your Social Channels. Negative publicity can spread like wildfire, so be sure to keep an eye on all your social platforms. Monitoring your channels closely can help you take immediate action when necessary.
3. Take a Breath Before Responding. Inhale……. Exhale……ah! Taking a moment to collect your thoughts and emotions before responding to the problem can help you make more rational decisions. This also gives you the chance to meet with your team, gather facts, and formulate a strategic response plan.
4. Be Honest. Tell your followers what happened and what led to the incident.
5. Apologize. Issue a sincere public apology, address how you will fix it and prevent it from reoccurring, and move on.
6. Review and Revise. Determine the cause of the problem, implement a plan to prevent it from happening again, and learn from the situation.
7. Have a Positive Presence. Damage control is ongoing. Be sure to continue to listen to your audience and respond to comments and questions. It’s important to keep publishing positive content to help rebuild your reputation (Harrington,2013).

No one wants to have to clean up a social media mishap. Having a solid plan in place to prevent and respond to a crisis is critical. Be sure your team has content guidelines, proofreads all posts thoroughly, and gets a second opinion on messaging that might be misconstrued. If you do need to do damage control, be honest, apologize, and stay positive!