As someone who admittedly does not use my personal LinkedIn to its full potential (ok, at all), I do open the app and scroll daily to see the latest conversations about project management, digital marketing, and business trends in general. Interestingly enough, there was a post I saw from someone who is not a direct connection, though it was commented on by a direct connection. Best of all, it was speaking directly to me!
The aforementioned post, by a person named John, called me out in the first sentence: “LinkedIn is trying to tell us all something, and it's bad news if you're a lurker.” Yes, that’s me. He goes on to explain that he just started getting notifications about how many impressions his comments were getting — not just original posts. While creating content and posting is still good, John tells me that “is sadly not enough anymore. You have to engage!” Ok, I can do that!
In fact, I recalled that only last week I commented on a post from a popular LinkedIn creator. Nothing groundbreaking, just a brief comment with my experience on the topic. I didn’t look for or get notified about the number of impressions my comment received. However, I did get notifications about profile views. They were existing connections, and I can only assume that they clicked on my profile because it appeared due to that comment, not from an intentional search to find me.
Fast forward to this week and the post from John. He wraps it up by saying “'I’m making a concerted effort to show up and comment on post from my network, as well as 2nd and 3rd degree connections if something catches my eye, and the results already showing themselves. [sic]” Following his advice to engage, I reply, noting my observation in the uptick in profile views after commenting on a post last week.
And of course, that isn’t where this ends. Shortly after commenting, my comment got a response from an old colleague from my film days. He asks how I’ve been, I say “been too long,” etc. The original poster, John, replies to us, “hold on can you guys catch me up here?! Did you guys just reconnect in the comments section of a random guy's (me) post?!” Yes, that’s exactly what happened! We haven’t seen each other in about ten years, and I noted that this is “ironically also supporting the idea of the original post!”
Creating your own content and being a thought leader is valuable work in its own right. However, to get the most out of the platform, engage with others! You never know where it could lead.
P.S. My initial comment on John’s post has received 759 impressions in the last 22 hours.