LinkedIn Shouldn’t Try To Be Facebook
Posted on | January 6, 2010 | No Comments
A recent article on iMediaConnection.com reports that LinkedIn – the popular social media site for business professionals – is suffering an identity crisis. The article compares web traffic statistics between LinkedIn and Facebook. It goes on to suggest that if LinkedIn wishes to get the same traffic as Facebook It will have a hard time catching up.
I’d argue LinkedIn shouldn’t try to compete with Facebook. What would the value be if LinkedIn became another Facebook?
No doubt Facebook is the most popular social media platform to date. But should it be the standard in which we compare all social media sites? To me that’s like saying that the Toyota Camry is the benchmark for all automakers purely based on sales. Imagine if BMW or Mercedes believed that was true. You wouldn’t spend the $50,000 price tag to get a German made Camry. Would you?
For LinkedIn to stay relevant it needs to further distinguish itself from sites like Facebook and stay true to it purpose. Serve the business community.
You see the potential of marketing yourself on Facebook. But don’t know where to begin. Create a fan page. 
Social media is not for big business only. Being social online is not reserved for the top 500. Social media is about good old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing. Which has been the best tried and true marketing strategy – probably since the beginning of time. So it’s time for business small and large to get into the action and start talk to your potential and existing customers. 
Are you struggling with increasing the number of followers you have? Well no worries. There are many tools out there that help you increase relevant followers to your Twitter page. I can’t stress “relevant” enough. Just as important it is to be following many people. It is important you have as many followers watching you. So you need to find people that are very likely to follow you back. Especially if you represent a company looking to talk to peolpe who have purchased your product, Prospective leads or potential employees. Search tools like 
You have a cause that’s worth standing up for. It maybe political, social or environmental. But what a hassle it would be to go around town door-to-door to spread your word. Twitter maybe a great avenue to spread your word, include others and create a sense of solidarity. For instance there are a number of applications out that enable Twitter for online petitions. No more signatures! Just Tweets!! And the great thing is that everyone will no how much momentum is behind your cause by simply looking at your total followers and tweets.