Which type of LinkedIn user are you?

It's a bit like joining a golf club, paying the subscription but never playing the game. You might be on their mailing list, but you won't get to know any of the other members. So what type of LinkedIn user are you? And are you getting the most out of it?

Unconvinced

You received an email inviting you to join LinkedIn and thought perhaps you should, since everyone else is. Signing up was simple too - you plugged in your name and the name of your company, and hey presto, you're a member. The photo and CV can wait. Then you see you have two profiles, but you're not sure how that happened; you don't remember having signed up before. And now you're not sure how to get rid of the spare one.

You don't see much interesting and you don't know if you should post anything in case you look foolish. Besides, you don't really have time for this, so you only go onto LinkedIn once every blue moon. You don't really see how social media networks will help you grow your business. But if ever you lose your cell phone and your computer crashes, you can use LinkedIn to email your contacts and get their details.

Classified

You're a private person and customised your visibility settings so that people who don't know you can't see who you are. You don't want strangers stalking you. In fact, you're not sure if "someone in the advertising industry in Durban" is private enough, and are considering resetting it to "anonymous".

Of course, this means that you're unlikely to make any new connections, and makes using the groups a little pointless, but you don't really plan to post anyway, so it doesn't matter. You'll just pop in now and then and read some bits and pieces.

Energiser Bunny

You know that a wide network can mean extra sales. You send friend requests to every person you know and plenty that you don't, and you're winning the race to build your network.

From time to time, someone you invited to connect with you suggests you meet but you're too busy. But if there is anything they need, you'd be happy to quote.

Labrador Puppy

You love the endorsement feature! After all, if you endorse someone they'll probably endorse you back. So every time the pop-up suggests you endorse someone, you do. Sometimes, you aren't entirely sure what they do, but hey, the LinkedIn suggestions are probably fairly accurate. You're disappointed that you've spend a lot of time endorsing people, and they don't always return the favour.

Groupie

You've joined lots of groups, but there's just so much going on that you don't have time to participate. But from time to time you see an interesting discussion and hit the like button. Occasionally you see something you really don't agree with, but you don't comment. You don't want to be controversial. Or you suddenly realise that the discussion is about six weeks old, so it hardly seems worth it.

Hard Sell

You've got a great product, and you know that it's something everyone needs - if only they were aware of it. So you join a couple of groups and post a "discussion" announcing your product. You know that if you repeat your offer often enough, someone will buy, so you post the same discussion half an hour later just in case they missed the first one.

Focused

You filled out your bio giving a little detail. You're the CEO of your company, but you don't put that in your description; instead you tell people what you do. You market green office products or facilitate home-loans; you sell personalised gifts or help companies with risk analysis. The only photo you could find was about six years old, so you had a new one taken. After all, you can use it elsewhere too.

You're not quite sure how often people will visit your company page, but you noticed that you can link your website to it so people can find out more about your business if they're interested. You post updates; information from your own website and share other useful info too. (If you found it worthwhile, your contacts might too.) You join a few groups, and leave the ones that don't work for you. You comment on discussions and don't shy away from disagreeing with people.

Sometimes you get too busy to do any social media at all, but you schedule 10 minutes every week to check your messages and make sure you don't lose touch. You get regular requests to connect, some not that useful, but others adding more value than you give in return, (even if only in sharing useful information or business insights). You vet their profiles and accept most of them - then invite them to join your mailing list. You see an increase in enquiries. Occasionally you meet with contacts if the profile seems right. You know that social media is just another marketing channel, and you include it in your marketing strategy.

Of course social media takes a bit of effort, but it's real marketing, so that's to be expected. And since I've gained new clients through social media and content marketing, I'm happy with the return on my investment.