LinkedIn Shouldn’t Be Sexy. And That Will Keep it Afloat
Unfortunately, many business people think that everything has to be just like that other really exciting and sexy thing in order to survive. However, this just isn’t true. This chase-your-competitor mentality only leads companies to veer away from their true brand and into the territory of a prostitute, selling whatever feature they think is sexiest at the time. Even if your competitors aren’t sexy, making yourself sexier isn’t necessarily the best move - especially if being sexy is against H.R. policy.
Jim Edwards at Business Insider wrote a short article decrying the boring and unsexy appeal of LinkedIn. If you’d like to go read it first, I’ll wait.
Edwards believes that even though LinkedIn seems to have a strong business model, it seems to be less volatile than it’s social media peers and that it consistently creates products relevant to its core offering, it just doesn’t have that short skirt and heels that everyone on the Internet loves.
Social media need to have sex appeal in order to cement their brands in the minds of consumers.
Ohhh, so only the sexy brands are the ones that last for ever? I’m sorry, Edwards, but you’re off the mark here.
The sexy brands are the ones that actually get so easily replaced by another sexy brand. The brands that get cemented into the mind of consumers have connected with consumers at a deep emotional level. Sexy is the mistress who is volatile, crazy and can get you into deep water. Your wife is the one who means a lot more to you. And don’t get me wrong, we all love it when our wives our sexy. But every spouse out there would be lying if they said their significant other was sexy in EVERY WAY. Heaven knows my sweat pants from college are not my wife’s turn-on, yet she’s with me still. Mowing the lawn is not sexy either but you know what, sometimes it works for her.
So being sexy is the last of LinkedIn’s problems. LinkedIn is a site for professional use. It’s not social media the way social media was originally defined - an online orgy of thought, fame and photo-tagging. In the world of social media, LinkedIn is where your Facebook profile goes to work. And if you show up drunk at work with your Go-Go boots, you may run into some problems. The same goes for LinkedIn. Don’t become what you’re not. Otherwise, you might get written up by H.R. and abandoned by everyone who knows the role you play in their life.
