Isn’t LinkedIn meant to be a professional platform designed for building personal connections with business associates?

Is there really a place on the platform for talking about your overseas holiday, that you’re a coach for your son’s footy team or how a traumatic incident has impacted you?

Surely that type of content is strictly reserved for Facebook and other social sites?

Sorry folks, like it or not the world has changed and so has LinkedIn and we’re increasingly seeing more and more people providing their connections with insights into their personal lives.

But is that REALLY OK, I hear you ask?

It is.

At its most primitive, LinkedIn is a platform for speaking and engaging with your audience, building their trust and ultimately selling your services to them. The more human you can make yourself the more people get to know, like and trust you and the more likely they are to be open to your messages.

However, there is one big rule when it comes to posting personal content.

  • Keep it to a minimum. Personal posts should only make up about one-sixth of your regular content. If you want to be taken seriously as an expert in your field … pushing your knowledge, insights as well as content that adds value, should be your top priority.
  • Also avoid political or religious rants. All this does is alienate and annoy your audience.

Now that you know the rules, are there personal posts that work better than others?

Here are my top picks:

  • People’s origin stories that give us glimpses into your professional or business journey and how you got to do what you are doing right now.
  • How you overcame a problem or faced into a challenge and your big learnings along the way.
  • Your interests outside work. Knowing that you’re an active volunteer in your community, a member of several professional organizations or that you’re training for a marathon, are head of diversity or that you’re learning a new skill, speaks volumes about you. It suggests you’re gritty, determined, knowledgeable and prepared to go the full distance … the kind of person people like doing business with.
  • I’d be interested in behind-the-scenes footage and stories from your workplace or snippets from a team-building weekend. These speak loudly to who you are as employer and why your organisation is a great place to be.
  • And yes, I would be interested in hearing about your overseas travel.  However, I don’t want to see piccies of you basking on a sundrenched beach or having yet another margherita in a glorious rooftop bar. Those posts only have a place on other social channels! Rather I’d like to hear about your big take-outs or key learnings from your travels and why these would be of interest or relevant to your target audience.
  • As for those dog or cat stories … perhaps just one or two pics please!

Am I being too harsh? I would love to hear your thoughts.