What Should I Do about Microsoft’s Acquisition of LinkedIn?

Previously, I blogged about the possible consequences of the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft.   

There’s a lot that we don’t know.  For that matter, Microsoft and LinkedIn probably don’t know a lot about what they’ve gotten themselves into despite what the pundits say.  

Questions are being asked of me repeatedly by clients and others.

“What should I do about this?”

“What can I do?”

“Can anything be done?”

The good news is that the sky’s not falling.  BREXIT will probably have more of a day-to-day impact upon readers of this article long before the LinkedIn acquisition does.  

LinkedIn is going to be around for a long time.  (If nothing else then its acquisition by Microsoft ensures that.)

Inevitably, though, there will be changes and it would be prudent to ensure against that.

It’s like life insurance.  Policies typically just talk about how you die and don’t go into the particulars too much of how and when you kick-off!

I’ll discuss that insurance in this article.

There are five things that you should do to protect yourself against something catastrophic happening at LinkedIn, or at any social media channel that you may happen to be using:

1. Maintain your own blog
2. Maintain your own email list
3. Spread your risk by using multiple social media channels
4. Develop and execute a content strategy
5. Grow your communities

First, let’s talk about your own blog.  

You should have your own blog with your own domain name.  You should publish regularly on it and cross promote your posts on your social media channels.  You should also actively promote your blog.

Second, having an email list.

You should maintain a list of all connections and their email addresses independent of any social media channel.  MailChimp or Constant Contact are two services worth looking into for this purpose.  Your blog is a good vehicle for collecting email addresses.

Third, using other social media channels.  

Don’t become overly reliant on LinkedIn or any other social media channel for that matter.  Use the other major social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) to add depth to your social media efforts.  Having your own blog and email list as described above permits to have your own piece of real estate on the Internet that no one can take from you.

Next, having a content strategy.

You should regularly post your own original content on your blog and cross promote it on LinkedIn and your other social media assets.  You should reshare on your social media channel the relevant content of others.  Also, maintain an editorial calendar for what you’ll be posting and resharing, and when you’ll be doing it.  

Finally, growing your communities!

Engage your communities by liking, sharing, and commenting on the content of others.  Actively work to grow your connections on all your social media channels.  Establish targets for yourself.  Leverage all your social media assets to do this.

Having your own brand or online identity independent of LinkedIn or any other social media channel is the best way to insure yourself against sudden and unpleasant changes,

Owning your own corner of the Internet with a blog and an email list gives you an unassailable position that’s difficult to take from you.

Leveraging all your social media assets and staying current with new trends in social media will ensure that you’ll always come out right no matter what happens on the corporate landscape of social media!

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I’m always willing to help you out with your social media program!

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!