LinkedIn: To Tag or not to Tag and the Going Viral Controversy

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" 

What a week this has been on LinkedIn. HEATED!! At times VICIOUS!!  Let me bring you up to date. 

Reminder: I am posting this here because, if I post it in LinkedIn Publisher, I will be lucky if 20 people even see it. 

There have been posts by 2 individuals chastising members for being too focused on "going viral". 

One was a LinkedIn Publisher post by Andy Foster objecting to the fact that members are tagging their Publisher posts and LinkedIn status updates, in his view, to "go viral".

Andy's tagline is:

If you are not seen, you do not exist

The other was a status update by  Brian Wallace, Infographic Expert. His concern was that some LinkedIn members are putting too much emphasis on going viral. I pointed out that the concern stems from the fact that is is difficlut for content to be seen and B2B marketers are finding that they are not getting the desired results from social media.

Brian was very distressed that I dared state that in 7 years of putting out an urgent call for B2B success stories I have not uncovered even one. 

The discussion continued. 

I pointed out the reasons why people are tagging to extend the reach of their content. (More about that in a moment.) He then complained that people were checking their LinkedIn app every two seconds to check their view stats. (I am not sure how he knows this or why it bothers him.) When I mentioned that I don't even have the app. he attacked me and accused me of not being serious about LinkedIn. I told him that I did not need the app. as I am not a "follow fashion monkey" (Jamaican expression) and I don't just jump on the bandwagon because everybody else is doing something. 

He then insisted that social media was working and that through his discussion I was engaging with senior executives. I asked him to point out just one who had participate and back up his claims with proof.  That's when he blocked me. 

People just don't appreciate it when you point out that the Emperor is naked. I already spoke about this tendency to silence those who threaten the palace in my beBee post:

• B2B Social Media Marketing Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales

So now that you have an idea of just how heated this topic has become, let's dig deeper.

Are People Tagging for the Sake of Tagging and Going Viral for the Sake of Going Viral?

Here is my take on this whole issue of tagging and what is perceived as an obsession with going viral. (It isn't.)

I will be the first to admit that tagging is annoying. I don't mind being tagged but going through all the work of tagging is a tedious exercise and it should not be necessary.

None of this is about tagging for the sake of tagging or going viral for the sake of going viral. It is about legitimate business owners with quality content to distribute ensuring that people at least have a chance to see it.

Tagging should not be necessary but LinkedIn has left members no choice. 

Their artificial algorithms that suppress reach have created this situation. LinkedIn has also removed important tools, particularly in groups.

GROUPS 

In groups (and I managed 24 of them up until recently) tagging is essential: 

✔️ LinkedIn removed notifications of new content and new comments in discussions in which member shave participated.

 ✔️ If you don't tag, nobody sees new content unless they come into the group.

✔️ Not even announcements work in many groups. I now have 6 groups. Announcements work in none of them. 

So the option is tag or just close the group. 

LINKEDIN PUBLISHER

Organic reach of blog posts is pathetic. I have never used tagging for Publisher posts. 

I have watched my views plummet from 5,835 to 86 and that post was about virtual reality, a hot trend. So, I gave up.

Despite the fact that I have 5,594 Followers, no one was seeing my content. It was a pointless exercise so I no longer publish on Publisher. 

STATUS UPDATES

I started tagging recently. Why? No one was seeing my updates. PERIOD! 

Hey, perhaps my content sucks and that is why no one was seeing it. That could be a possibility and I would accept that except for one important fact. 

When people actually see my content, they engage, like, comment, and even distribute it.

Compare, just in the last month:

✔️ posts with no tags - 14 - 443 views

✔️ posts with tags 949 - 42,728 views (the lower end was when one person was tagged) 

The hilarious part about all of this is that the only reason I saw  Andy Foster's post is that someone tagged me and made me aware of it. I had never even heard of Danny before that. 

It was the second time this week Dave Etter has had me in STITCHES!! 

Yes, I tagged him in my comments on Danny's post. It's the only way he would SEE them. 

So my choice is to just pack up, close my account, and go home or tag. I am not the only member facing this dilemma.

Again, LinkedIn has created this situation. It is not the only site that has suppressed organic distribution. Facebook and Twitter are just as bad.

If you Don't want me to Tag you

If I tag you and you don't want me to tag you, I have absolutely no problem with that. 

Just pop me a quick private message here or on LinkedIn. I'll remove you from my network. 

Why? I wish you well but LinkedIn has made it impossible for us to engage otherwise. You likely won't see anything I post. LinkedIn has also removed the ability to send messages to multiple recipients without the whole list being visible to all recipients. I am not going to send individual emails to  4632 connections.

 If we can't engage there is absolutely no value in us being connected.

With 4632 connections and 5,594 followers, I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to ensure that people who have expressed an interest in engaging with me and seeing my content actually see it! 

What a concept that would be.... 

For Discussion

• Do you tag people on LinkedIn? 
• Why do you tag people and what has the result been?
• How do you feel when people tag you?

Epilogue

By the way, the fallout from all of the drama this week is that I finally did collect some B2B social media marketing success stories. It only took me 7 years to uncover it. Well, I guess no one can say I am not persistent.

I published part one with my findings on HuffPost. Here are more details about it.

Update:

Be careful with tagging.   If the people you tag don't respond within an hour, remove the tag. LinkedIn takes it as an indicator of low quality. Not even the people you tag are interested. Also when you do a new post, tag in a comment and remove the tag before an hour is up.