Social Media & Influencer Marketing

Are You Really in the 1% of LinkedIn?

Numbers. Sometimes they drive me nuts. Today is a great example. LinkedIn emailed congratulating their members in the top percent of profiles viewed. Here’s the key… profiles viewed. Here’s what the email looks like… compliments of friend Daren Tomey:

Daren Tomey

Daren is a hard-charger in my 1% club of sales executives nationwide. I’m not going to take that away from him. Why would Daren’s profile be one of the top viewed? And how can you get into the 1 percent club?

Half of the equation is simple, the other half difficult.

  1. More Views: Daren is a Chief Revenue Officer in the Martech industry. Sales are brutal, turnover is high, and companies are always looking for talent. The key here is looking. Looking = views. So, put sales management or executive in your profile, and you’ll skyrocket. Within my network, most of the top percenters were in sales.
  2. More Connections: Daren also works hard at connecting to prospective customers on LinkedIn. Daren knows just about everyone in the country from every major company. He’s an incredible networker and has a ton of relationships. He’s well-respected in the software and technology industry and in the who’s who of sales leaders. The more connections, the better the chances that his profile is being viewed.

Buzzfeed did a nice job of breaking down the numbers and rightly criticizing the subsequent sharing that followed across the social web. This campaign was a bit shady in my opinion. It built on LinkedIn users’ ego to manipulate them into sharing the LinkedIn brand – which is strongly evident on the outbound communications.

This is the kind of campaign that drives me nuts. The percent is a ridiculous number that means nothing… truly nothing. You didn’t get one of these emails if you’re a superstar in your field who is picky about who you connect with on LinkedIn. But if you’re in an industry with heavy recruitment with a big network… and you’re crappy at your job… you still received one of these emails.

Reputation be damned, endorsements discarded… tell someone they’re special so they share it. And it worked flawlessly.

Reminds me of one of my T-shirts: You are special. Just like everyone else.

Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is CMO of OpenINSIGHTS and the founder of the Martech Zone. Douglas has helped dozens of successful MarTech startups, has assisted in the due diligence of over $5 bil in Martech acquisitions and investments, and continues to assist companies in implementing and automating their sales and marketing strategies. Douglas is an internationally recognized digital transformation and MarTech expert and speaker. Douglas is also a published author of a Dummie's guide and a business leadership book.

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