20 LinkedIn Mistakes That Turn Off Potential Customers

Are you getting good results on LinkedIn?

The professional social network is a force to be reckoned with. It’s a great tool for businesses looking to increase traffic and leads, as well as for people searching for new career opportunities who want to market their expertise. It’s an easy-to-use portal that facilitates the exchange of ideas whose primary purpose is to cultivate professional relationships, and its mentality and etiquette are vastly different than on Twitter and Facebook.

Social media is unique in its ability to communicate with large audiences. This one-to-many model amplifies mistakes that have the potential to turn off potential customers before they’ve even had a chance to learn about your products and services. Nowhere is this more true than on LinkedIn. It’s important to use your brand’s professional voice at all times and keep in mind that word travels fast when you make these 20 mistakes.

Avoid these LinkedIn mistakes

1. Don’t send connection requests using LinkedIn’s default text. Personalize them so recipients know why you want to connect with them.
2. Don’t use the “friend” option when you’re trying to connect with someone. It’s important to provide context.
3. Don’t forget to use a professional profile photo. Amateurish photos — or having no photo at all — reflect badly on you.
4. Don’t ask people you don’t know for LinkedIn recommendations.
5. Don’t ask for recommendations without personalizing them, and offer to reciprocate where appropriate.
6. Don’t share information that isn’t relevant to business.
7. Don’t leave your profile incomplete.
8. Don’t neglect to send a welcome message that provides value when someone follows you.
9. Don’t treat LinkedIn as a numbers game — you should regularly nurture your relationships.
10. Don’t keep your contact list private; you should share it with your connections.
11. Don’t hoard your connections. Offer to introduce them to others in your network.
12. Don’t delay in responding to messages — you should reply within 24 to 48 hours.
13. Don’t send spammy messages to your connections. It will turn them off and they will drop you as a connection.
14. Don’t post too much — once a day is best.
15. Don’t criticize or make negative comments on posts in groups.
16. Don’t post self-serving content in groups that provides no value to members. You will either be dropped from the group or your posts will end up in the moderation queue.
17. Don’t send messages to multiple people without unchecking the option to “Allow recipients to see each other’s names and email addresses”. It’s important to respect others’ privacy.
18. Don’t ask people to like your Facebook page.
19. Don’t ask new connections or people you don’t know to endorse you.
20. Don’t begin messages with, “I noticed that you viewed my profile …” It’s really creepy.

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