Creatively speaking, I get bored with the repetitive nature of language on LinkedIn. I don’t doubt the sincerity of the statements, but like the office birthday card we all sign off on… “What should I write?”
I took a minute to scan the Google cache of LinkedIn to see what some of the most common phrases are. Here are the results in PDF
We always see the “So Proud, Very Honored, Amazing Team” posts. And we agree! Your team is amazing, and you SHOULD be proud of them. At the same time, explaining some of the background and specifics of what amazing thing happened would be creatively more influential. Consider using your conversational voice or a more casual tone.
For example, this is a tweet (it’s about the example not the platform haha) Wil Reynolds of SEER Interactive wrote about an upcoming webinar:
Now compare this with the more common Linkedin Update:
So honored to be hosting this webinar, and proud that we had such a strong response. It’s humbling. Please stay on the lookout for a 2nd edition in the upcoming weeks!
See any differences? I prefer the first because it sounds like a person I would tune into. It has a bit of humor, and gives the impression of a candid person. The second is just run-of-the-mill “professional” speak and it makes me assume I will get more of the same from the speaker if I attend their webinar.
When it’s my turn to get the office birthday card that says “HBD Ben” 30 times I go home feeling special BUT hearing “You make me laugh, and work wouldn’t be the same without you!” may punch a little harder in the feels.
Ben
