Grow My Law Firm

When does working your LinkedIn network cross the line into abusing your network?

I had an interesting discourse with one of my LinkedIn connections this morning. He messaged his connections, asking for a critique of his new website. Since this is one of my paid services, I emailed him asking if he wanted a quote. He emailed me back, obviously indignant, and said that he didn't know that's what I do, and he was simply working his network, and asking for advice, which he certainly didn't expect to pay for. The key, however, is that this man and I are strangers, so he didn't know anything about some of the people he was asking for free help.

He was abusing his network.

So, what is appropriate conduct on LinkedIn, and what crosses the line?

Is LinkedIn really any different than real-life? Would this man stand up in a restaurant, interrupt everybody's lunch, and ask that they stop eating and review his website as a favor to him? Yes, that's an extreme example meant to emphasize the rudeness of the request. It's one thing to ask friends for help. Most people are generous about helping those in their personal lives. But strangers? This isn't courteously holding a door open for someone behind you, it's asking someone to take time out of their day, do work, and make a report back. That absolutely crosses the line into inappropriate behavior.

Now, let's discuss the delivery method, the LinkedIn message system. LinkedIn members generally do not expect to be interrupted by irrelevant communications from their connections. This is not the first time that this particular gentleman messaged me. The last message, a few days prior, was a sales pitch for his product. Again, misfire. Nobody wants to be sold something that they don't want from someone they don't know on LinkedIn.

Make no mistake...everybody is on LinkedIn to sell something...their expertise, their service, their products...

LinkedIn is a wonderful personal marketing tool. However, some people don't seem to understand that this is not the place to push anything. LinkedIn, and social media in general, is about subtly positioning yourself as an expert and being helpful.

LinkedIn is about getting to know people, developing and enhancing relationships, and earning trust and respect.

Only then have you earned the right to sell, and even then, it's usually when someone makes an inquiry about what you have to offer. Interrupting and disrespecting people is not the way to be successful on LinkedIn any more than in the real world.

 

- Christine Pilch

Netflix and Qwikster: can the brand survive its own tragic PR gaffes?

Netflix damaged their brand again today…twice. 

First they sent out an email and posted on their blog that their mistake in separating their streaming and dvd services, and jacking up the price 60%, was only in the fact that they didn’t first educate their customers. 

Second, their CEO, Reed Hastings, made a low-end video with another Netflix brass that further insults their customers by stating that they, “…think it will be great for us to have a separate brand, a separate website…” Therein lies the crux of the problem. Suddenly this apology, which was intended to appease those offended and angered by past mistakes, turned into something that sounds like, “We don’t care about you or how this inconveniences you at all. It’s good for us, so there.” 

There is no doubt that streaming will become the standard for video delivery, dvds are going the way of vinyl records, and Netflix must evolve to remain relevant. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't seem to have anybody in place who truly understands branding. Their brand is what their customers perceive it to be, and they keep doing things to antagonize their customers and make them angry.

The PR gaffes over the last couple of months are extremely damaging to their brand. People don’t want to pay 60% more for the same service. People don’t want to go to 2 websites to fulfill a need previously fulfilled by a 1-stop-shop. People don’t want to pay extra for 3^rd rate streaming content.

I know that the Netflix name lends itself better to online delivery, but dvd delivery is the current Netflix brand. It would be easier to eventually transition all customers to the inevitable exclusive online service by keeping the dvd customers close and tight, not carelessly casting them off. How about the glaring oversight of the @Qwikster Twitter username currently being held by a foul-mouthed, pot-smoking Elmo character? 

Who is running Netflix’s PR/marketing machine? How are they keeping their jobs through this colossal brand breach? No, Hastings' video doesn’t help. It proves that the Netflix brass have lost touch with what made them great in the first place, curing a customer pain point, (late fees and physical trips to the rental store.)

I am a long-time Netflix customer. I emailed back and forth with Hastings many years ago when I was frustrated that it was taking 10-days to receive a replacement movie, and he convinced me to hang in there because they were soon rolling out nation-wide distribution centers. Unfortunately even I’m scouting my alternative options now. Amazon’s free online delivery via their Prime subscription is looking better and better. 

Netflix is killing their brand. So sad, so sad.

- Christine Pilch