Recently I received my regular LinkedIn discussion update into my inbox, and, as you might expect someone had started a new thread.
But this was done so badly it really made me think.
I read a lot of discussions, I think it’s a great way to get to know people better and I’m often grateful for their insights or just to know I’m not alone in the way I think.
So why did this particular post cause me so much consternation?
It was because the writer hadn’t actually posted a discussion, what they had done was posted the title as a link to their blog page.
Now this may not seem like a big deal, but it did mean I had to click one extra time in order to read the content, and I had to leave LinkedIn.
If I had chosen to leave a comment on this discussion it would therefore have been on their blog. This is comparable to being invited to a party but sneaking off with the neighbour to have a conversation and praise their decor and hosting skills instead of the person that had created the party. To be fair it may open the door to you making new connections, but it is rather a snub to the LinkedIn group.
As the post was about customer service and making things easy for the potential customer to buy I did find it a touch ironic that as the potential customer I was being asked to go further and work harder instead of the seller making it easier for me!
Make no mistake, if you are posting an opinion or advice piece on a discussion board you are selling. You may not be asking people to part with cash but you are selling yourself, and asking them to buy into you.
So why would someone start a discussion in this way, what was in it for him or her? After all it’s not the first time I’ve seen this done. The benefits of getting someone to click onto your blog are manifold, for a start it improves your blog stats, this may be important if you sell advertising on your site. But most importantly, it takes their engagement with you to a deeper level, particularly if when they land there they find other things to read that enlighten them in some way.
So do encourage people to visit your blog through your LinkedIn posts, maybe by including a simple sentence at the bottom with a link to your blog, but please don’t force us to go there!
If you want to get to know me better – why not make friends with me here on LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?id=31683913&trk=hb_tab_pro_top
Or on Facebook – facebook.com/gemma.thompson.illuminate
Social Media Illumination 
Hi Gemma
One of the great facilities about Linkedin is that a user can post a Linkedin Message and then share it with the groups that they belong to, if the message is appropriate. If the message has a link to a blog post then as you say the link will open up in a new window taking you to the blog website.
However the Linkedin Bar at the top of the page allows you to make a comment on the Linkedin page without going back and once the comment is made or not you can click “return to discussion” and return to Linkedin from the place where you left.
This is the way Linkedin has designed this to be used and it is extremely effective in getting both good discussions and traffic to a website. It is a recommended route by many users of Linkedin so I am afraid that you will see this a lot! Using Linkedin works best if the title and blog post is in a discussion format.
Hi Roland,
Firstly thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I agree this can be a great way to get traffic.
My main point though is that it’s better customer service to save the reader as many clicks as possible!
As you can see I do have a blog, but I use it mainly to archive my blog posts, I always post into discussions, notes on Facebook etc first. Then this becomes another resource for those that really want to know more!
Look forward to hearing more from you.
Regards
Gemma