Perfectly Imperfect

I’m tired of reading LinkedIn posts. 

I used to love LinkedIn. I even wrote a previous article on this blog about having to go without using it for a couple days. But now, LinkedIn has tired me. Occasionally, I log onto the platform to see a new position announcement. “I am honored to announce that I’m starting a new position as a so-and-so at so-and-so company” reads the post. All the comments say “Congratulations! Well deserved!” or some other variation of that. 

I click to see my direct messages, only to find that they are not all that different. “Hi Sean! I do this-and-this. Want to set up a quick call?” These messages never get a response from me. In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie writes, “the only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it” (31). Unfortunately, some LinkedIn marketers don’t understand what I or other users want at all. It’s no wonder that LinkedIn is seen as an out-of-touch platform, made for gurus whose stories and life experiences seem less than realistic. 

In On Writing Well, Willian Zinsser instructs his readers to write in their own voice. “Don’t alter your voice to fit your subject” Zinsser writes. “Develop one voice that readers will recognize when they hear it on the page” (231). LinkedIn is painful to read because most users are doing the opposite. Users are writing formally, in a way they do not typically write or speak in real life. 

What can be done about this dilemma? Simply put, we need to write in our own voices. 

This concept goes beyond written content, and into the whole content creation field. Whether it be a graphic, photo, video, or written piece, everything we post should be authentic. People can sense when something is not authentic, and it is the duty of content creators to make things that not only resonate with the viewer, but are truthful.  

Both Zinsser and Carnegie wrote their books years before being an influencer was a thing, and yet, their advice continues to hold true today. Writers should heed Zinsser’s plea to write in their own voice. Authenticity is an important trait to have – especially in content creation. People want authentic and consistent content. As Gary Vaynerchuk writes in his article, “Your core story needs to be consistent and your personality needs to be constant too.” Without that consistency, the content will fail. But if we understand who we’re writing for, and, in Carnegie’s words, “what they want,” we will succeed.

Carnegie, D. (1981). How to Win Friends and Influence People: The Only Book You Need to Lead You to Success. Simon and Schuster.

Vaynerchuk, G. (2022, November 11). Content is King, But Context is God. Gary Vaynerchuk. https://garyvaynerchuk.com/content-is-king-but-context-is-god/

Zinsser, W. (2006). On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Harper Perennial.