by Tim Hughes | @Timothy_Hughes | LinkedIn
(For those that don’t know Bollocks is a slang term in the UK for rubbish. Not in a garbage way, you don’t say “I’m taking the bollocks out”, best way to describe it is that it’s worse than shit. If something is worse than shit, it’s bollocks. Bollocks are part of a male anatomy by the way!)
I was in a meeting with out of our clients and the CEO said “I’m now not feeling guilty of spending time on LinkedIn, but 90% of content on LinkedIn is bollocks!”
Adam Gray, my co-founder, myself and the rest of the clients management team agreed with him. You might be thinking that as a Social Seller and protector of all things Social I would disagree. Not at all, I think it’s closer to 95%!
This CEO then rattled off a list of things he thought were bollocks:-
- People posting certificates they had just obtained.
- The new starter photo with the iPad, phone etc
- Anything that is corporate marketing, so where you say you are the best, number one, market leader
- Anything about Hassle – For or against…
- Selfies at the gym
- 20K Rolex watches
Now you may be saying “yes, but… he may think this is bollocks, but I think the picture of the desk is funny, original and it gets me likes”.
This may be true, but what he said next was a revelation and his management team agreed. If they thought somebody posted spam (and in their opinion not yours) they blocked, unfollowed or muted the person. No second chances.
But one person’s spam is another person’s insight! Well, let’s be really honest here, one person’s spam is likely to be another person’s spam. The only person who does not think it’s spam is the person who posted it as they think their app, product is great and of course nobody cares.
The rules of content are simple, it has to add something to people life’s, it has to be insightful or it has to be educational. And it should be original. None of the 6 pieces of content above meet that criteria.
The problem with a lot of content is it is too salesy. Note I’m not saying anything in this blog about Digital Leadership Associates (DLA) social-experts.net. How great we are, don’t have to, if you have got this far you will have recognised we know what we are talking about.
I replied to the CEO that I agreed with him, and replied “with content, you need to stand head and shoulders above everybody and that’s why we have to rise above this bollocks and be better than everybody else. And that’s my message to you.
You are better than all the other rubbish on LinkedIn, prove it to people. That is what people will notice. Since the year dot, we have always said we need to differentiate the brand and you are not by being the same as everybody else.
People who read this article also read these:
https://dlaignite.com/dlaignite-does-it-really-change-social-selling-and-digital-transformation/
https://dlaignite.com/why-you-just-wasted-your-money-on-that-stand-at-an-exhibition/
https://dlaignite.com/why-corporate-content-is-like-picking-your-nose-in-public/
