I am a big believer that using comments to boost your brand on LinkedIn and other social platforms can be a great visibility tool – but I never thought I would have to say that you should only post positive, supportive and helpful comments until I received a nasty comment on one of my recent LinkedIn posts.
This is a real comment that I received on a recent post of mine from a (now former) connection. I wanted to share this as an example of what not to post on LinkedIn.
Not only did he insult me, he insulted the entire legal marketing industry – look at what he says about it not being “real marketing” – that made me chuckle.
Second, this comment was from a man. Would he have said it to another man, or did he feel comfortable singling me out because I am a woman?
Third of all, he’s questioning my experience. As someone who has been head of marketing teams at law firms but hasn’t had the actual CMO title, why do I need to even need to justify my experience and background?
But most of all, why did he feel the need to post a public comment like this on a post of mine for all to see? Several people messaged me about what he said.
This jeopardizes his personal brand and it makes him look bad. You should always use self control when posting a comment or anything to social media – but especially to LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social media network. I am protecting his identity because that’s who I am.
Posting this publicly was bold and stupid. Everything we say and do is part of our overall personal brand and to use language like this is just very damaging and divisive especially when you don’t even know the person well.
When I reached out to my good friend and leading diversity consultant Paula Edgar to ask her why a man would post this publicly on LinkedIn, she summed it up this way – EGO + PRIVILEGE + BIAS.
So what do you do if something like this happens to you?
- Simply delete the comment and either delete or block the person.
- Don’t engage with them or the comment they posted.
- You have control over your LinkedIn network as well as any comments like this. Delete them.
- Your LinkedIn community should be positive and supportive.
I want to make this a teaching moment. What he thinks of me doesn’t matter. I know the value I bring to my clients and followers on LinkedIn.
Something about me triggered something in him that made him feel bad about himself, so he wanted to try and make me feel bad.
Silence the naysayers. Pay them no attention. And remember that what someone else thinks of you is their opinion and shake it off.
The more successful you are the more haters you will have.
Just keep rising.