The internal ROI of regularly posting on LinkedIn
The mental, emotional, and psychological energy of being a "thought leader"
1-minute read
The internal ROI of regularly posting on LinkedIn.
30 minutes to 1 hour coming up with and creating the post.
30 minutes replying to comments, checking engagement numbers, and refreshing notifications throughout the day.
2 hours (consciously or subconsciously) thinking about today’s post throughout the day.
1 hour thinking about tomorrow's post.
2 hours scrolling the feed and commenting on other people’s posts throughout the day. (Posting regularly keeps you addicted to the entire app, in general. You feel compelled to visit the feed more frequently and for longer periods of time.)
And if your post bombs or someone drops a negative comment on you, well there goes the day.
That’s a whole lot of lost productivity for anyone trying to do a job... and do it well.
Note: The external ROI is however you measure the progress of a single post and the cumulative impact of posting over time. Examples of external ROI include follower count, engagement metrics, impressions, and attributable revenue.
Why internal ROI matters more than external ROI:
It’s the only way to measure the time and personal resources—the mental, emotional, and psychological energy—required from an individual to execute this type of marketing strategy.
And within the context of work, time and energy are either moving you closer to or further away from your desired outcome.
The thing about the external ROI of posting on LinkedIn is that it can feel high when in reality it might be a mental, emotional, and psychological distraction from doing work that actually matters. It’s sneaky and deceptive. You can feel incredibly productive when really all you’re doing is becoming more and more addicted to an app—and the attention of strangers that the app funnels towards you.
As a result, you unwittingly begin to believe that because strangers think your thoughts and ideas are cool they want to give you their money. Then one day you look up and realize that real life and real business don't actually exist inside a blue box with white letters on your phone.
Something to pay attention to if you're going down this road. Eyes wide open is a good way to be. The trade-offs are real.
(I’m well aware of the irony. And with that, I say ✌️out.)