So what am I actually doing on LinkedIn?! I’m sure I’m not alone in asking myself that question sometimes! Here are my thoughts.

Well firstly, I like being there – I’ve curated my news feed so it only shows me the people I want to see, and those people are usually talking about being creative, being freelance, being freelance and being a parent, exploring ways to promote their services, finding joy in everyday life, going for walks, having lots of ideas.

Secondly, I have had plenty of work from being on there. Former colleagues who have messaged me to ask if I’m available for a project, existing clients who phoned me for additional help prompted by a post I wrote, former colleagues who connected me with someone they knew who wanted some help when they saw that I had spare time.

And thirdly it’s one of several marketing channels I use, and it works in combination with communications I share elsewhere. I often have clients who ultimately become clients after they respond to an email to my mailing list or to a conversation we have, rather than in response to something I share on LinkedIn – but over time we’ve interacted on there and on other social media platforms before we got to the point of discussing how I could help them in return for money.

Ultimately for me LinkedIn is about getting to know people and helping them get to know me. And maybe one day I’ll buy from them or refer a client to them, or they’ll buy from me or refer a client to me. Or maybe we’ll collaborate on something.

Or perhaps we’ll just be freelance friends who chat on Zoom or in person every now and then – which is not a bad outcome either 🙂.

And sometimes I need to remind myself of all of that to get a bit of perspective on where I should be spending my time for my goals at that point.

How about you? Where does LinkedIn fit into your mix of marketing activities?