TARGETING LINKEDIN TRENDS 

In the attention economy it’s not our job to keep up with the Jones’, for 2024 it’s time to remember that acting with confidence, giving space to think and using your ears for listening are all ‘green flags’ in life. So why wouldn’t the same be true for LinkedIn or brands?

The team asked me to write a blog on creativity, something about trends vs. the longevity of creativity. A very nice topic. It’s important to get in front of people, it’s important to be consistent, but can you do both? 

SAY SOMETHING. WHAT? ANYTHING. 

Sat at my desk watching the rain fall in London, the words wouldn’t come. A lack of inspiration perhaps. After all, I’ve already read 100 anodyne, contrary thoughts from LinkedIn’s favourite influencers (often even in the same posts) and now I’m trying to throw my wood on the fire… 

I started letting my mind wander, letting the morning curmudgeon take hold. What if we all talked a lot less. 

We essentially ‘love bomb’ the public with messages from brands, from ourselves, so we can grab their attention, game the algorithm, get the followers, earn the money…make them fall in love. 

I wouldn’t like it if someone did that to me, in fact, I’d run a bloody mile. We’re caught in a trap of…

COULD WE, CAN WE, DO IT DIFFERENTLY? 

For some brands, maybe it’s time to say a little less. Spinning off a current social media trend, let’s ‘degrowth’ what we say, less posts, less certainty, less talk, less attention, more conversation. 

In a world where brand purpose is important and audiences of different ages are disconnecting from social, from advertising, from newspapers and from each other, we could look after our audience and reach them better with ‘talk-less’. 

LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE

You might find that they start to feel like they want to hear from you. Say it quietly, but they might even miss you. 

Falling in love with how comfortably secure you are as a brand, an agency, an expert and a human. It takes guts to zig when all around are zagging. That leap is also backed up by the data with the recommended amount of posts for a brand is on average 3 posts a week. 

TAKEAWAYS 

I was also asked to write some key takeaways from this blog as clearly you, dear reader, cannot be trusted to do that yourself and they might even get made into a carousel: 

• Burnout is real – if we bombard our audience they will eventually have enough 
  
  
• People read to learn, to escape, to laugh, to cry, not to just consume – so if you don’t have anything interesting to say, don’t say anything at all. Equally, if you do, don’t be afraid to. More platforms are encouraging creativity and individuality in your content. With Linkedin having the highest rate of lead generation according to Hootsuite, it’s progressively becoming an opportunity go against the grain in a similar vein to other sharing platforms.
  
  
• Write for you, it’s a gift to be able to write. Practice that craft and enjoy it, if you do, others will too
  
  
• According to Maverrik, LinkedIn has become the new sharing platform with a 22% increase in engagement. Probably because so much of our lives are about work, but we should be careful not to fall in the trap of trying to gain attention. I’d rather 10 people who cared read my words, than 100 who happened to be served it.
   
• Be you  

So, there you go, I wrote something. Am I going to start a trend (#talkless)? Unlikely, but it’s fun to let the mind wander.