Want to improve your LinkedIn engagement? Have a heart attack....

New year new you? I bet one of your new year resolutions was to improve your linked in posts this year. Like many of you I often receive emails, linked in messages or direct calls from marketing agencies suggesting I book a course they run on how to improve my linked in engagement. Your marketing department love this type of thing.  For just a zillion pounds (including follow up and feedback on posts) and 3 short hours I can have someone just out of college, who says “kinda like” every 3 words, teach me how to get some engagement on linked in. “Be authentic, be yourself, post interesting things, write in a weird short paragraph style, post images every time,  doesn’t have to be always about work” is the advice. Seems a bargain and overdue. It won’t be long before you’re writing articles entitled “How I can improve my conveyancing work with things I learnt from a Bottomless Brunch” or “I’ve seen the light – I am only acting for vegan clients now”. But now I can recommend a guaranteed hit, alternative arrangement- have a heart attack. Read on…

My Magna Carter posts are what I like to think of as sporadic or which Ilaria the MT marketing guru calls “disappointingly irregular”. I promise to do better. My posts usually average around 2-3000 impressions and a nod of the head which means I have kept the content ravenous marketing department at bay. My last post however in October reached 30,000 impressions (in 2 tranches after a fatal deletion of the first entry- doh!) and a big, fat, corporate halo surrounded my head for a few light headed days as well as a “very good” comment from Ilaria. In that post I was updating everyone that I was stepping down as managing partner after a recent heart attack and moving job into a compliance role. A big thank you to all of you kind enough to post comments (over 100 in all!), or who shared or liked the post. I am truly grateful and all it took was an attention seeking heart attack. It might just work for you. It is the epitome of a marketing strategy when you think about it- you’re coming from an unexpected angle, tugging emotional heart strings, creating drama and engaging your audience. Ok so your health suffers, your poor family are put through a rollercoaster, and you burden the NHS but what does that matter when your marketing department are happy and you’ve got your most popular ever linked in post??. You know it makes sense – stop exercising, eat some crisps dipped in lard, think about your most stressful files and start drafting. Accompanying picture from your hospital bed preferred.