A Sincere Message To Non-Influencer Writers On Linkedin

Not too long after the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft, Peter Morscheck, a PR consultant in Washington, wrote this article on the current state of LinkedIn Pulse.
http://www.petermorscheck.xyz/linkedin-or-pushed-out-the-corporatization-of-linkedin-pulse/
As a former and now quite infrequent contributor to the Pulse platform, it really opened my eyes as to what’s going on with LinkedIn these days. It also provided me with some clarity on the lack of views and engagement that were pretty commonplace for most non-influencer writers on LinkedIn.
And this is a big part of the reason that a great many of those same writers have and continue to migrate to beBee.com.

beBee Is A Social Media Site With A Difference (A Bunch Actually)

Difference #1: beBee is structured on what is called an affinity based system. This means than when you write a post on their Publisher, you get to send it to three beBee ‘hives’, where you think it will get the most attention, because those hives are populated by people who share a common interest.
Say you write something about marketing or communications, well there are a number of ‘hives’ that you can place that post into, frequented by people who share an interest in marketing or communications or both.
On LinkedIn, posting directly to groups is seen as somehow being pushy or aggressive. So you have to do a lot of tip-toeing around to get your post into them.
Difference #2: If you want your post in more than three hives, you can copy and paste the URL into any other hives you choose. This will expand your reach and, of course, views and engagement.
Difference #3: You do not have to go through an elaborate process in order to build your following on beBee. You can follow anyone you like just by clicking on their name, going to their profile page and following them. Once they accept, you can communicate directly with them from their profile page, with no limits.
This notion that you have to know someone to become connected with them, as we all know, Is kind of lame. I mean isn’t the point of being here in the first place to meet new people and make new connections?
Difference #4: No one or no thing is controlling your destiny on beBee.
LinkedIn employs an algorithm that some of the smartest people in the programming world cannot figure out. It is a constant source of frustration, especially for independent writers, who, because of it, have little or no chance of ever being featured, or these days, getting any more than a handful of views.
Difference #5: The BeBee hives, of which there are more than 20,000, currently cover off almost every area of social and business interest imaginable. They are indexed, easy to scroll through, and as mentioned before, easy to join.
I personally belong to about 20 hives, but always look at where the articles I’m interested in are posted for ideas on new hives to join.
Difference #6: Every post you create on beBee, be it on your home page or in the Publisher, is always visible on your home page. It’s just a little thing, the absence of which I always found maddening about both LinkedIn and Facebook.
Difference #7: The beBee publisher actually works. I don’t know if you have tried posting anything on Pulse lately, but what you end up with leaves much to be desired, especially the fact that you cannot insert anything into the body of your posts, including a graphic signature, pics, videos…nada.
Difference #8: Once you have written a post, any post on beBee, you can easily share it on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, Google Plus and by email. LinkedIn only offers a couple of these options.

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day…Neither Will Your Success On BeBee

I have, over the past few months, had quite several people tell me they have tried posting on beBee and haven’t had much success.
My response to that is simply “What was your expectation?…that you put up a couple of posts and the beBee world will beat a path to your door?”
I implore these people to think back to their early days on Facebook,Twitter, WordPress or LinkedIn, and remember just how long it took to build a decent following.
For me personally, that process on LinkedIn was the better part of a year posting with a much higher frequency than most.

Yes, starting up on beBee means starting over.

But you are starting over on a platform with a lot of interested people… a platform that’s not controlling your progress or the destination of your posts…a platform where lack of notification is never an issue…a platform where you can build your following quickly and easily…a platform that is slowly and steadily building a substantial roster of interesting people…a platform where views lead to engagement which lead to communication.
But just like anywhere else on the Internet, your willingness to invest the time it takes to build that presence is going to be directly proportional to your success.

Some Free Advice

I have been a blogger since 1998 and one thing I have learned is that the more platforms you can have a presence on, the better it will be for your success and personal satisfaction.
So don’t leave LinkedIn for beBee. Don’t abandon Twitter or your own blog or Facebook for beBee. Add beBee to the mix and grow with this rather young platform.
Let’s face it, once you have written a post, be it short or long format, the more places it can appear the better it will be for you.
beBee would love it if you chose them as your starting point and so they have built this site to make that easy and expedient for you you to be a bee.

If you have a marketing or communications challenge you would like to discuss, (no obligation), there are three ways you can contact me:
Direct Line: 416 463-3475 • 
Email: onandup3@gmail.com • 
Skype: jimbobmur61

If you want to read more of my posts and follow me, you can do that here:
https://www.bebee.com/publisher/@jim-murray
Download my free ebook, Small Business Communications For The Real World, here:
https://onwordsandupwords.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/small-business-communications-for-the-real-world/
All my profile and contact information can be accessed here:
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray

All content Copyright 2016, Onwords & Upwords Inc.