48 Social Selling Mistakes You Should Avoid On LinkedIn

There is more than one way to make LinkedIn work, whether you are a seller, marketing or solopreneur… but there are some common mistakes I…

There is more than one way to make LinkedIn work, whether you are a seller, marketing or solopreneur… but there are some common mistakes I see every single day.

So, I’ve created a list of some of the common ones I see all the time.

If you’re doing any of these and want to get better results, more conversations, better sales outcomes, drop me a DM.

The Big Ones

1. You are trying to use a free account to leverage LinkedIn

2. You’re not using Sales Navigator to find the most active and lucrative prospects

3. You have no written down plan of how you will win on LinkedIn

4. You have no prospect list, you just work erratically

5. You are trying to pursue a 100% attract model with content doing all the work

6. You prioritise outreach and ignore content — you’re not building trust with prospects

7. You’re sending InMails to 2nd and 3rd degrees hoping that will work

Your Profile

1. Setting your profile picture so that only 1st degree connections can see it

2. Keeping the visibility of your 1st degree network open to other users

3. Just using your headline for your job title, no buyer education info

4. Your profile picture looks like you are auditioning for The Apprentice

5. Your header image is just promoting the brand, not explaining what you do

6. You haven’t turned creator mode on and benefit from increased reach

7. Your featured section contains generic info and not buyer education content

8. You aren’t collecting recommendations from past clients on your profile

9. Your about section looks like a pitch for a job not an ambassador for your company

10. You haven’t got a custom button for your website / call booking

Creating Content

1. Your not posting, this is a big red flag for buyers when you try to connect

2. Reposting marketing propaganda from the company page

3. All your content is promotional, no value and no relationship building content

4. You don’t share anything personal so you’re not making real connections

5. Your posts don’t make a clear point so nobody can engage with it

6. None of your content is helpful for your prospects

7. You see content as less important, compared to outreach

8. You aren’t using content to build name recognition before you outreach to prospects

9. You don’t use polls to engage prospects and start conversations

10. You don’t share any case studies or social proof

11. You try to drive traffic off the platform too often

12. Content should have an equal share of your attention as outreach

Connecting with prospects

1. You don’t use your 100 connection requests each week

2. You don’t connect with the influencers and stakeholders — just decision makers

3. You try to connect top down rather than bottom up

4. You use generic connection messages which say nothing

5. You don’t engage with prospects before connecting

6. You don’t look at the profile of prospects to create a more personal connection message

7. You don’t withdraw connection requests that haven’t accepted after 2–3 weeks

8. When prospects accept, you do nothing to build relationships with them

9. You don’t send a short thank you for connecting message

Outreach and Messaging

1. You opt to cut to the chase and pitch people after connecting

2. You write too formally and forget that LinkedIn is a professional SOCIAL platform

3. Your messages aren’t tailored to the individual, you use the same messages on everyone

4. You aren’t creative with your messaging format (voice, video, text)

5. You don’t mix phone and email with your LinkedIn efforts

6. Your cadences and follow ups are robotic and empty of value

7. Your messages are too long

8. You aren’t timing your outreach based on the activity levels of the prospect

9. You send one message and never follow up

10. You don’t check your messages regularly and miss opportunities

These are common ones.

It’s annoying as often these mistakes become habits. I’ve met people who are almost addicted to repeating the same mistakes.

Succeeding on LinkedIn is about having a strategy, working that strategy and refining it. Often people jump around from strategy to strategy, never really refining it. So, LinkedIn never really works for them.

If you need help building and launching your strategy, DM me.