LinkedIn Marketing Fails Exposed: Avoid These Blunders & Win Big
LinkedIn Marketing Mistakes
LinkedIn has become an indispensable platform for B2B marketing and lead generation. With over 774 million users worldwide, it offers unrivaled opportunities to connect with your target audience.
However, many companies commit cardinal sins on LinkedIn that crush their marketing efforts. From inconsistent posting to sales-heavy content, these mistakes sabotage engagement and nuke lead generation.
To unlock the immense potential of LinkedIn marketing, you must avoid the most common pitfalls. Read on as we expose the 7 deadly LinkedIn mistakes that could be destroying your performance, with expert tips from Max Lammertink, Co-Founder of Talos Growth, on how to course-correct.
1. Inconsistent or Infrequent Posting
Posting relevant content regularly is vital for engagement on LinkedIn. As Max highlights, “You really need to work or put in your calendar like every Monday at nine, I start with creating x new posts.”
Inconsistent posting makes you seem unreliable. Going long periods without updates also suggests outdated information. This damages credibility and gives the impression you don't use LinkedIn actively.
The Fix:
- Commit to a posting schedule, like daily or weekly
- Use automation tools like Talos Growth to schedule updates
- Mix text, images, videos, and polls for variety.
- Always keep information current
2. Lack of Audience Targeting and Personalization
With over 740 million users, LinkedIn offers access to every industry and profession. Failing to target content creates scattershot marketing that attracts irrelevant followers.
Max explains, “It really depends on the keywords you're setting up…You need to think like your client, right?”
This lack of audience targeting and personalization leads to poor conversion rates from LinkedIn followers.
The Fix:
- Research to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Use precise keywords in content to target your ICP
- Personalize messaging for industry-specific audiences
- Leverage tools like Talos Growth to automatically target content
3. Generic, Sales-Heavy Content
LinkedIn is for networking and thought leadership, not aggressive selling. As Max suggests, “LinkedIn is, of course, not just a social network, but it's also about leaders in the industry.”
Generic, sales-focused content lacks value. It damages your brand image and causes followers to disengage.
The Fix:
- Create valuable, industry-relevant content
- Share insights and best practices instead of product pitches
- Use humor and relatability to craft engaging posts
- Highlight what makes your brand unique
4. Ignoring Engagement and Conversations
Every comment and mention is an opportunity to interact with your audience. Failing to respond looks lazy and suggests you don't value engagement.
As Max emphasizes, “If someone tags you in something, please respond to it because they are asking your attention.”
This indifference kills community building and erodes credibility.
The Fix:
- Respond to all tags and comments from your Page
- React and share follower posts when relevant
- Enable messaging on your Page to start conversations
- Use automation tools to scale engagement
5. Underutilizing Video and Multimedia
Text-only posts lead to social media fatigue. Videos, images, and polls create more engaging LinkedIn content.
One search result states, “Use rich, eye-catching visuals” and “Present a complete Page, taking advantage of all available tabs and fields.”
If you lean too heavily on text, you'll soon bore followers.
The Fix:
- Experiment with video posts and LinkedIn Live
- Create visual content with infographics and graphics
- Use polls and Q&As to encourage comments
- Ensure your Page uses all available tabs and sections
6. Failing to Track and Analyze Performance
Putting out content without assessing performance is like flying blind. You can end up making avoidable mistakes without key metrics insights.
As Max suggests, “It's good to click through and see. Is this actually what I mean?”
The Fix:
- Regularly review follower growth and engagement
- Analyze click-through rates on posts
- Track website traffic from LinkedIn
- Use analytics to identify high-performing content
- Keep improving based on data and insights
7. Neglecting Employee Advocacy and Influencer Collaborations
Your employees and partners can expand your LinkedIn reach exponentially. Failing to leverage them misses huge opportunities for visibility.
One search result states, “Many businesses make the mistake of neglecting analytics, missing out on valuable insights.”
The Fix:
- Encourage employees to share updates from your Page
- Repurpose partner content and vice versa
- Collaborate with influencers to access new audiences
- Inspire followers to share posts with their networks
The key is crafting content worth sharing organically.
These LinkedIn marketing mistakes can stall your lead gen efforts and damage credibility. Avoid them to gain traction on this vital platform.
Be sure to watch our Software Spotlight podcast with Talos Growth. By employing Talos Growth's software, businesses can effectively amplify their reach on LinkedIn. This is achieved through the algorithmic liking of industry-specific content, resulting in an increased number of followers. Co-founder Max Lammertink elaborates on how this tool harnesses LinkedIn's algorithm to attract followers who possess a genuine interest in the client's businesses.
FAQ
What are some common LinkedIn marketing errors?
Some frequent LinkedIn marketing mistakes include inconsistent posting, targeting the wrong audiences, publishing generic sales content, ignoring engagement and analytics, over-relying on text, and failing to leverage employees and partners.
How can I improve my LinkedIn performance?
You can improve LinkedIn performance by committing to a posting schedule, using automation tools, precisely targeting content to your ICP, creating valuable thought leadership content, responding to all interactions, incorporating multimedia, tracking metrics, and enabling employee advocacy.
What makes an effective LinkedIn marketing strategy?
An effective LinkedIn strategy revolves around valuable content tailored to your target audience. It should spark engagement through multimedia and conversations. The strategy must also track performance data to keep improving.
How is Talos Growth different from other LinkedIn tools?
Talos Growth goes beyond basic automation to deliver AI-powered content targeting, audience analysis, performance tracking, and engagement capabilities. This provides complete LinkedIn marketing optimization.
What type of content performs best on LinkedIn?
Thought leadership and best practice content focused on solving industry problems tend to perform best. Short posts with engaging headlines, eye-catching visuals, and clear calls to action also help drive high engagement.