LinkedIn is the only social media platform that feels mandatory.
Every other one is optional. You can skip Instagram. You can skip TikTok. You can quit Twitter and most people won’t notice. But LinkedIn? Not negotiable.
It doesn’t matter what you do: employed, consultant, founder, executive, artist, freelancer, in between jobs. Someone will eventually ask if they can find you on LinkedIn. And if they don’t ask, they’re looking you up silently and forming an opinion either way.
That’s not true of any other platform. Tell someone you don’t get Instagram and you’ll get a shrug. Tell them you don’t have TikTok and they might envy you. Tell them you don’t have LinkedIn and watch their face change.
Meanwhile, you can’t really apply for a job, raise money, or even land an interview without one. The platform people complain about the most is the same one nobody can actually opt out of.
And here’s the kicker: it’s also the least understood of the bunch. Most people threw together a profile in 2014, never touched it again, and wonder why nothing happens. The platform that’s most consequential for your career is the one most people put the least strategic thought into.
If you’re tired of having a profile that doesn’t pull its weight, start with Optimize. Or, if you want someone to tell you what’s actually broken on your current profile in fifteen minutes, a Profile Audit is $147.