#none of that here.. and yet... this pic is significantly more powerful

[flintstill]

I don't know what it is about this lil 'stache on him, but it makes me absolutely feral

[fizzingwizard]

Okay I really enjoyed this week’s episode! It set up a bunch of cool stuff that I can’t wait to see, and it was a fun watch. We got a number of desperately needed partner/Digimon moments, and we got some much needed Taiyama friendship action going on - as well as some other stuff I super appreciated (but still want more of). I’m so stoked for how the team is coming together.

We didn’t get a few things I normally would have expected, and I’m never quite sure if I feel that way because it’s truly missing or if it’s just that “this ain’t your momma’s Digimon Adventure” yadda yadda. I don’t think i’ll ever get used to Taichi being so serious in comparison to his 99 incarnation (but, I get the feeling he is more in line with original V-Tamer Taichi, so there’s that).

So not a slam dunk for me, but all in all, it was good!

I just took as many Taiyama pics as I could so why don’t we just knock one out of the way before we begin xD

They look so coooool all beat up and windswept

More below!

Sooo last week, the aptly named Eyesmon evolved into the equally well-named Orochimon. I always think “hydra!” (thank you Hercules) so initially my thought was that the plan would be for each of the kids to take out one head. Then I remembered, we only have six kids so far... and then I got a better look at it:

(this cap’s from much later but it shows the whole body so)

there was clearly one head that was significantly different from the others and appeared the most connected to the body! So the strategy was clearly lop off the central head because that’s what’s controlling the rest! A la VenomVamdemon only slightly less gross hahaha

Meanwhile back in real Tokyo, as Koushirou explains, the electronic pulse generated from this freaky Digimon’s battle is affecting anything digital, or even just anything that uses electricity.

Kaaaboom!

Our kids try to fight but it’s pretty obvious they’re out of their league. I did totally love MetalGreymon and Zudomon leading the charge together sort of. Because I continue to be a sucker for Taichi/Jou growth parallels! Anyway they both get knocked out and de-evolve so Taichi calls for them to regroup.

Aww piggyback

The way Jou carries Gomamon like an infant though ;___;

Sora and Garudamon lead the retreat, scooping everyone up and carrying them out of danger and omg look at Gomamon he looks so cozy gaaah

but not before Taichi realizes someone’s not with them... it’s Yamato of course... he’s just standing there... staring...

Why? Because “my little brother’s in danger in the real world!” That is adorable. Stupid but adorable.

Also stupid yet adorable... Taichi immediately runs to go get him. I have no idea WHAT his plan was but I am eternally grateful that he is such a dork because it gives adorable dorkiness like this:

and this

and ultimately this

pffffffftb

weregarurumon tries his best he really does

(no but really this is now my PREFERRED method of transportation for these two, one each tucked under WereGarurumon’s armpit and just dangling like that while he runs like crazy protecting his precious cargo... also look at Taichi holding onto Agumon’s arm the whole time eeeeeiiiii I love those detals it almost distracts from WereGarurumon’s expression of shock when they inevitably get shot and fall to their doom x’D)

yeah so everyone gets shot and falls to their separate dooms, and this was 100% just an excuse to put Taichi and Yamato alone together. The shonen action anime equivalent of “and there was only one bed!”

Jou continues to cradle Gomamon like his very own son

The kids wonder what to do and Jou has a cool moment here and there (like legit cool, where he acts all responsible)

... er, I did say “moment” :P

Meanwhile Koushirou is all cryptic and scary. That is his main job after all. You may think it’s to be the team brain, but it’s actually to make sure we viewers know just how terrible things really are so we can lose all hope of survival even though we already know they’re going to win x’D

I mean that is pretty scary tbh

Taichi breathes a sigh of relief. I wasn’t exactly surprised that he’s not running out to fight - even 99 Taichi usually understood when it was time for a strategic retreat. At the same time, maybe it’s just me, but I totally got the sense that he was scared in this scene. Not out of his head with fear, but definitely worried, I mean none of them seemed to have any effect on this monster earlier. It’s interesting to feel his tension.

“Yamato why did you just stand there in the street while we were trying to make our getaway?”

“Because... my little brother’s right in the center of danger back home... I can’t let this monster continue its rampage or he could get hurt...”

“Yeah man that’s all fine but I mean why did you just stand there in the street like an idiot I’m pretty sure you won’t be much use to your little bro if you’re steamrollered?!?!”

He looks so surprised that all this has been because of brotherly love. I can’t remember, is this the first Taichi’s hearing of Takeru? I know he wasn’t there when Yamato told Sora & co but maybe it was mentioned way back when they jogressed... Either way I wonder why he doesn’t say “I get it, I have a sister back home too that I’m worried about too.” Seems like a moment for bonding ya know?

That is the one thing I felt was missing here... we went through all the trouble of getting Taichi and Yamato alone together, and all that happens is Yamato confides something in Taichi that he’s already shared with the others. I mean, Taichi also shows his willingness to help Yamato and work together, and I think that is the important thing we’re supposed to take away, as Yamato’s all touched by it... but uh, for the most part I felt like not much happened in this scene, at least not that we haven’t already seen before.

Takeru’s phone, he’s waiting for a call from “oniichan” T-T my precious boy

And we actually get to see him!! His face!! His adorableness!! Ahhh Takeru I miss youuu!

Family photo! Parents’ faces not shown in the usual tradition of “divorcees in kids’ shows”! Also the tell-tale brothers are holding hands, but parents are standing as far apart as possible...

Meanwhile Taichi’s mom and sis are trying in vain to evacuate while their car flips out. Hikari sees an image of Orochimon broadcast on a nearby building and flinches away. No one else seems to notice it so maybe this is just her special ability like in 99 Adventure?

Traffic’s at a complete standstill and everyone’s electronics are going bonkers so Mama Yagami has them get out and head for the trains. Unfortunately this is what everyone else decides to do as well, and Hikari winds up like Simba in the wildebeest stampede, only there’s no one to jump in and save her so she tragically dies. :P

taichi: I see your ‘brother in danger’ and raise you one ‘dead sister.’

yamato: screw you

“You did great Mimi!!” A JOUMI MOMENT WE GOT A JOUMI MOMENT sort of okay but beggars can’t be choosers HE PRAISES HER (FOR STUFF HE WASNT EVEN THERE TO WITNESS THO LOL) AWWWW ITS SO CUTE

Then he remembers to praise his partner!!! All by himself! (Finally!) Gomamon’s so happy! It was so unexpected and he’s ecstastic!

Piyomon instantly gets jealous!!!! It’s so adorable!!! Sora is quick to reassure her that Garudamon is indispensable.

“And I’m the prettiest, right Mimi?”

“When you’re Lillymon, anyway.”

“D:”

lol the return of Mimi only appreciates Lillymon’s sense of fashion tickles me. an essential Mimi characteristic

Tentomon shyly and awkwardly tries to wring a compliment out of Koushirou too. It works, Koushirou is quick to tell Tentomon that he’s super cool as AtlurKabuterimon. I will be honest though, I wanted him to fail, just because we need to let these kids actually develop!! Their arcs are over so quickly! It took 99 Koushirou 52 episodes to be able to say “I love you” (I think it was “thank you” or something in the original Japanese but the point is he was being super honest and vulnerable at long long last). Imagine what an important moment this would have been if Tentomon’s “and me?” had been met with “huh? uh uh... I was thinking about how to defeat Orochimon... what are we talking about?”

That is something I continue to miss, not just with Koushirou but with everyone... their personal weaknesses just don’t really feel like weaknesses the way they did in 99 Adventure. And I’m just wondering why? For me, that was a driving force of what made 99 Adventure really great. It wasn’t afternoon special “stories with a moral” type drivel, because what they learned in the moment still had to build upon, and they would fail again, and learn again, and become their best selves slowly. And they’d risk a lot in the meantime. It was powerful to ten-year-old me. We are at ep 17 now and by this point in 99 Adventure, we’d had tons of scenes like that. I keep thinking “okay it’s early, we’ve got time!” but at this point it’s not so early anymore! But comparing with 99 Adventure is also a useless effort and I continue to choose to enjoy this show as its own separate thing and believe there’s still lots to come.

Taichi expresses his willingness to fight alongside Yamato even though as Yamato warn’s “it’s gonna be totes yabai”

Taichi: “I eat yabai for breakfast”

Yamato: “smiles”

jokes aside... the way Yamato smiles at Taichi is so cute! It’s hesitant, but once it’s there it doesn’t waver. He’s clearly starting to get used to relying on Taichi for backup, at least, and it’s no question that he feels friendship for him and the others, he’s just reluctant to admit it. The question is how all this will hold up when the situation’s reversed.

I LOVE this particular cap, Idk, there’s something about the sheer determination on Taichi’s face and the trust in Yamato’s as he looks back at him while they ride Garurumon directly into Orochimon’s line of fire... Fizz I think you’re reading too much into the animation. DON’T MESS WITH MY DREAMS OK I KNOW THESE KIDS BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF

obligatory Best Boy cap

Suddenly, in the real world, the fight is broadcast on the screens!! I was expecting this to happen every time a screen flickered, but once it did, I was like wow!! they’re going to let the whole world in on the secret of the digital world already!? and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that

BUT... that’s not what happened, maybe. Because so far the only ones who for sure are seeing these images of Digimon and the Chosen Children are Hikari and Takeru. No one else reacted to Orochimon and Mama Yagami doesn’t go “hey, that’s my son!” We could argue no one noticed because they were busy evacuating like maniacs, and Mama Yagami was busy looking for Hikari on the ground and not looking up at the screens. But it feels impossible that someone wouldn’t notice! So my current theory is only Hikari and Takeru can actually see these images... at least for now.

The fight rages. Meanwhile, the others soon catch up, as the only reason they were separated in the first place was to let Taichi and Yamato have a Moment. One thing I really liked though was Sora more or less leading the charge to join Taichi and Yamato. I want more of “second in command Sora” now and forever. (My personal headcanon since I was a kid was always that if something happened to Taichi, Sora, not Yamato, would take over. Tri did not go that way though :P)

Burning eyes of courage!!

They beat Orochimon by taking off his central head, as predicted. Then they all go and take a nap in the street. It is full of d’awww.

Gabumon and Agumon mimicking their partners’ body language always get’s a mega d’awwwww

Taichi: “That was yabai!”

Yamato: “I warned you it would be.”

Taichi: “Yeah, but we made it somehow!”

Yamato: “... smiles”

Uggggghhhh I can’tttttt with these two

Like Koushrou, Yamato is totally whipped by Taichi’s smile... oh dear... my heart is pulled in two directions... Taiyama... Taishirou... “my number one my number two...” (anyone else remember that dumb song there used to be tons of love triangle amvs on youtube set to it...)

I mean just look. look at Yamato looking at Taichi. he can’t make himself look anywhere else. ToT

Sora and Piyomon also win Adorable Award of the Day.

Honestly everyone gets it... I apologize for not having any cute Tentomon resting on Koushirou scenes capped! It’s because they drew Tentomon’s head freakishly big and I just couldn’t do it bahahaha but they were cute too

And that’s the end of... oh oh wait, did you think the battle was over? YOU NOOB. xD

every veteran Digi fan was not at all surprised to see this countdown appear and what looks like yet another bad guy evolution next week. Also next week...

... looks like Takeru’s finally going to join us!! Yaaaay! Very dramatically too it seems!

We got a glimpse of Hikari in a similar moment BUT... I’m not convinced Hikari will truly be joining us. She was separated from her mom and is clearly going to have a Digimon interaction of some sort like Takeru, but I think this is “eighth child” build up, one because the current ending theme is completely Takeru centric, and two because it just makes sense to me that Takeru would be Crisis One and Hikari will be Crisis Two. Idk of course it’s just a hunch.

Fizz before you said Hikari was killed in the stampede I WAS KIDDING

kidding about children dying??? OMG Y’ALL

maybe though Hikari’s swept away by those people, gets her Digivice, then is promptly captured by... idk evil Digimon, or shady government officials? More likely, she gets her digivice and helps but keeps it a secret and plans to show her brother when they reunite... we’ll see!

This ep I give 8/10!!

Ending with one more cool Taichi cap from next week’s trailer!

[this-is-telophase]

In which Murderface 2.0 breaks the game

I said I wouldn’t be writing every session up, and I won’t be, but you get this session written up because Murderface McKenzie 2.0 accidentally broke Skyrim and it was hilarious. Well, to me, at least.

He didn’t break the entire game, just one quest. And who knows (or cares) if it was due to a mod I’ve got or just a bug I managed to find.

It started off innocently enough--at the end of the previous session Murderface ran into a quest that didn’t produce a quest marker in his inventory. Toby looked it up and helped me stick a custom marker on the map in the general area of the cave so I could figure out where to start Murderface looking the next time I booted Skyrim up.  And thus next time, I teleported Murderface nearby the custom marker and aimed him at the closest cave marker on the map.

One of the nice things about Skyrim is that dungeons have a quick exit near the end that opens into the outside or into an earlier part of the dungeon, so you don’t have to go all the way back through the passages you fought your way through to get out. The outside exits usually have a way to prevent you from entering: a barred door that can only be unlocked from the inside, a steep ledge to jump off to exit that you can’t jump up to enter, etc.

Naturally, the closest cave marker turned out to be an exit. It was an exit for a totally different cave that was part of Ironbind Barrow,  but Murderface (coughIcough) had forgotten the name of the cave he was supposed to be looting (Hob's Fall Cave), so went on in.

To be confronted by what looked like a Blue Screen of Death, no matter which way he turned.

The above pic is looking back out the way he entered. I know it looks a bit like the sky, but trust me, there ought to have been mountains there.

Experimentally, I had Murderface take a step further into the cave entrance, and the game fixed itself, presenting him with a wooden door. He pushed the door, which obligingly swung open while at the same time presenting him with a message that the door was barred from the other side, but giving him the option to unbar the now-open door.

Shrugging, he did so and entered the dungeon from the back. He crept down the passage a bit and found a gate barring his way, but he could see a mobile skeleton through it and figured he'd see if he could kill any enemies so he wouldn't have to face them when he inevitably had to go back to the proper entrance to do the quest. He shot an arrow and took out not only that skeleton, but two more who heard the commotion and showed up.

Murderface looked around the gate half-heartedly and was surprised to find a chain pull that opened the gate. Huh.

While looting the skeletons, he heard the dulcet tones of a nearby word wall. He hasn't fought any dragons yet in this game, but he's run into a couple of word walls before, so he went over to investigate. This triggered the boss fight against a draugr warlord who, because Murderface is playing on Easy, only took a few arrows to die. He had a lot of good loot on him, as well as a nifty enchanted axe hanging on the back of his throne, and a nice loot chest nearby.

After triggering the word wall Murderface set forth to do the dungeon in reverse since he'd forgotten exactly what the thing was that he was supposed to get, but assumed it would present itself along the way. (As he was in the wrong cave, it wouldn't, but neither he nor I realized that.)

He crept through twisting tunnels, defeating undead enemies by shooting them in the back since they were prepared for adventurers to come in from the opposite door. In one room, he saw a grate set into the ceiling and a few minutes later, found the room above it, which had the grate in its floor.

Here is an enemy, a draugr, that died a few inches above the floor.

Murderface found an iron door that could be opened with a lever from the back, which opened onto a room with another door on the opposite end a pedestal supporting an enchanted helmet. He grabbed the helmet and stumbled a few steps backwards as the pedestal's top rose up, triggering a rather slow spear trap (thank you Easy setting) and triggering the iron door he'd just come into the room by to close. Shrugging, he went on out the other door, at the entrance of the room.

Eventually he could progress no further: he found a metal grate set into a doorway with no corresponding lever or pull-chain on his side. It was significantly farther than he expected to get. He turned and retraced his steps. He got a bit worried when entering the room with the pedestal, not knowing if he could re-trigger it, but jumping on the pedestal and immediately jumping off again to avoid the slow spear trap worked, and the exit door swung open.

In the room with the grate in the floor, he found a pull chain he hadn't seen on the first trip and experimentally pulled it, to see if it would trigger the unopenable door-grate. It didn't, instead opening up the grate in the floor.

Murderface continued to pick his way out of the cavern, and exited into the cool mountain air. It took him a while to find the entrance, especially as he was nearby this pass, and spent some time exploring the walkways, as the location was quite pretty.

After some bumbling around, he eventually found the entrance to Ironbind Barrow. He also found Salma, a Redguard woman in armor, exhorting an Argonian (lizard people) mage that they should get going into the barrow and get that treasure! Lizard-Bob counseled caution, but after Murderface told Salma he was going in there like it or not, they both joined him.

They ran ahead while Murderface crept, which means that they did all the work of slaying the frostbite spiders they encountered, while Murderface did all the work of looting them. They shortly came upon the grate that had stopped Murderface previously, and Lizard-Bob explained that there had to be a trigger that opened it somewhere around, but neither he nor Salma bothered to look for it, instead crouching in place, so that Murderface had to do all the work of strolling into a side room pulling the lever he found there.

The grate opened, and Salma and Lizard-Bob ran in. Murderface ran also at this point, wondering if the enemies would respawn and kind of hoping they would so he could re-loot them. His companions stopped short in the pedestal room, and Salma ogled the empty pedestal with a "Would you look at that!" and Lizard-Bob cautioned him about possible traps.

Instead of jumping on it, this time Murderface got somewhat smarter (he does learn. Slowly.) and shot an arrow at the pedestal, triggering the trap and opening the back door. Salma rushed on ahead, and they heard an "Ow!" as she fell through the open grate in the floor of the next room, which had not closed after Murderface opened it.

Lizard-Bob and Murderface continued on the traditional way and a seemingly unhurt Salma rejoined them when they reached the room below.

None of the enemies had respawned, and when they entered the ultimate chamber, with the draugr warlord and the word wall, only bones and the corpse of the draugr warlord remained. Lizard-Bob vanished as well. Salma ran over to the dais with the warlord's throne, crouched in ready position, brandishing her sword and shield.  Murderface walked over to the warlord's corpse and poked it. Salam stayed in position. Murderface optimistically re-looted the warlord's body and for once it paid off: he'd spawned two black soul gems and another weapon (which I forget), which Murderface happily put into his inventory.

He crossed back over to Salma. Salma said "We should clear this room first, then grab the treasure!"

Murderface looked at the corpse. He looked back at Salma. Salma insisted they should clear the room again.

At this point, Murderface consulted the gods, i.e. I checked the Skyrim wiki. It turns out that if you don't break the quest, Lizard-Bob double-crosses Salma and the player character, explaining that he needs a blood sacrifice to absorb the dead warlord's power, and uses his magic to revive the warlord and you enter a second fight.

Obviously, this failed to happen. The wiki also explained that if you kill the draugr warlord and then immediately run back to the entrance of the cavern and back again to the final chamber, you can kill Lizard-Bob without the second fight, and Murderface figured that might trigger the proper sequences. Don't think he needed some sort of proper closure or anything like that--Murderface is used to things not making a whole lot of sense around him--it's that the wiki listed the loot Lizard-Bob carried and Murderface wanted that.

But he didn't want to trudge through the entire damn barrow again TWICE, so figured that leaving it by the shortcut and going back into the front might work. So he did that, exiting and teleporting to the entrance.

He entered and ran through the dungeon, finding Lizard-Bob holding a torch and placidly walking back to the front. Lizard-Bob's conversation triggers were the same as during the trek to the final boss, and showed no sign of treachery. Murderface experimentally shot an arrow into Lizard-Bob's back to see if that would trigger anything, but the only sign Lizard-Bob showed was that his health bar went down by half, and he continued his trek to the entrance.

Murderface followed him, and once Lizard-Bob got outside, his behavior went back to his outside set of actions--crouching by the fire they'd built, and then sitting on a rock--although his dialogue remained stuck on the trek dialogue.

Eventually Murderface got bored of this, crouched and waited until Lizard-Bob forgot he existed, then shot him with an arrow from cover (3x damage, baby!). Lizard-Bob flamed briefly and died, his body sinking into the earth. While Murderface stood there, disappointed that he wasn't going to get his loot after all, Salma ran out of the cave's entrance, crying, and ran down the mountain path. Intrigued, Murderface followed her. A while down the path, she stopped at a spot now occupied by Lizard-Bob's body, and expressed that she was stunned at this change in him, obviously responding to the dialogue and events that were supposed to have happened. Lizard-Bob had been a good friend of her father's and practically raised her, so she was shocked that he'd been planning on double-crossing her.

Murderface respectfully looted Lizard-Bob's body as Salma looked on.

When he talked to her one last time, she explained that she hadn't needed the treasure--which was good, because Murderface hadn't planned on giving any of it to her--because she was the daughter of a rich man. She'd just wanted adventure. But she needed to be alone for a while now.

So he left her to mourn the Lizard-Bob she thought she knew, and headed majestically off into the sunrise hoping to impress her like a mysterious protagonist in a story who comes into town, does a deed, and leaves without a word, before teleporting back to the person who'd given him the original quest and finding that he hadn't done the right quest after all.

Here's a nice vista he encountered a few minutes later, back in the frozen north, looking for the proper quest.

And here's an actual frozen mammoth!

When Murderface picked his way closer to the mammoth, it turned out to have several dwarven arrows stuck in it, which he was able to extract and add to his inventory. He took a closer picture. (man, I should have had him take a selfie!)

After this, he did find the correct cave and entered, finding the thing he needed (a letter on a corpse, it turned out) near the entrance, and turned it into the dude who needed it.

And at that point, I called it a night.

Next time:  who knows? That was the session I played last night. :)

[dorishull]

Is Your LinkedIn Content Strategy Making You Look Desperate?

Lately, the quality of posts on LinkedIn shifted significantly, and it’s affecting the reach and engagement of those posts.

If you are like many B2B professionals on LinkedIn, you’ve noticed this change hasn’t been for the better. And like many other professionals on the platform, you may have taken drastic measures to try to recapture some of those views and engagement with your content.

The problem is, those drastic measures may be hurting you more than helping.

In some cases, they may be making you look desperate (ouch, that’s not ideal for a professional).

Those desperate posts may also be contributing to further decrease in views and engagement of your LinkedIn status updates.

But that still leaves you with the problem:

“How do I post on LinkedIn in a way that helps my ideal clients to notice and engage with my content – without looking desperate or foolish?”

That is an excellent question.

In this article, I show you what kinds of posts make you look desperate (so you stop posting them) and share my easy LinkedIn Content Strategy so you know what you should be posting to get noticed and be seen as a trusted authority on your topic by your ideal clients.

7 Things to Stop Doing on LinkedIn Immediately

1. Posting too frequently

LinkedIn is not Twitter.

You don’t need to provide your network with a running commentary of your day or broadcast every thought that pops into your mind. This will create noise, which will drown out any valuable posts you do share.

It will also often annoy your connections. If they get tired of the bombardment, they will most likely click Unfollow. Once they take this action, you’ve lost them forever.

Don’t undermine the good work you’ve done, connecting with your ideal clients or attracting followers, with posts that do not offer value.

Do this instead: Post only when you are inspired to share something of interest to your network. Do it even if that means you post only a couple of times a week. Less is more!

2. Posting the wrong types of content for LinkedIn

Over the past two years, as more and more people have become disillusioned with Facebook, many social media users have decided to spend more time on LinkedIn.

This is great because more people spending more time on the platform means more opportunities.

But the problem is, LinkedIn is unlike any other social media platform out there.

It is, first and foremost, a business networking platform.

Yet many people confuse it with Facebook or even Instagram. Mindless posts, silly memes and attention-seeking behaviors have become all too common.

I know you have seen this if you’ve spent even just a couple of minutes scrolling through the LinkedIn newsfeed.

LinkedIn is now flooded with images of holidays, cocktails on the beach, dogs chasing their tails, food pics and all those posts that could be classified as “too much information.”

None of these are appropriate for LinkedIn.

Think of LinkedIn as an extension of your workplace. It’s a professional environment where people do business.

Do this instead: Here is a good rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t say or share it in the workplace, don’t share it on LinkedIn.

Always keep it professional, and leave the personal stuff for your friends on Facebook.

3. Fishing for engagement

“I just saw the New Star Wars film and it SUCKED! What did you think? Drop a comment below and let me know!”

People who post questions like this often think they’re being current and perhaps a little controversial, using two elements of writing often associated with higher engagement. But what does it have to do with business?

Posting irrelevant questions or content is a personal brand killer because it’s obvious the person posting is fishing for likes and comments.

Sure, they’ll get a few bites, but from whom? Chances are the people responding to these posts are NOT your ideal clients that can take your business forward. 

Relevance is important.

Posting what effectively amounts to click-bait in the form of random questions and irrelevant content sends a clear message that you’re not serious about doing business on LinkedIn.

Do this instead: Posting questions is a great way to increase engagement, but keep your questions relevant to the audience you want to attract.

4. All numbers, no substance

There is a common misconception that when someone receives lots of comments, likes and shares on a post, they must be doing something right. Right?

Well, not necessarily.

You see, it’s easy to be fooled by vanity metrics. Big social media numbers can be seductive.

But when analysing your LinkedIn post, you need to look past these numbers and ask yourself:

Is it relevant?

Does it provide value?

Does it solve a problem or challenge for my ideal client?

Will it help my ideal clients to know, like and trust me more than they did before?

Relevant quality content that connects with your ideal clients is far more powerful than irrelevant content that gets a bunch of likes from the masses.

Consider this question. Is it more effective to post:

a relevant piece of content that gets 30 likes and three direct messages asking you about your services or

an irrelevant piece that gets 100 likes but no direct response from your ideal clients?

Do this instead: Pay attention to your posts that get the most visibility and engagement. Also pay attention to others in your field, especially those who get good engagement. Do not pay attention to those with a style, business or target market that doesn’t align with yours. Notice the trends. For example, I notice that when I share a story with a business lesson, my engagement and views jump massively, so I strive to create more posts like that.

5. Tagging people excessively

I’m sure you have seen posts in your LinkedIn’s newsfeed with a bunch of tagged people. Excessive tagging screams “look at me!” and “please engage with my post!”

I can’t tell you how often I get tagged in LinkedIn posts that have nothing to do with me. And this strategy backfires!

LinkedIn’s algorithm is getting smarter all the time. It now de-emphasizes such a post in the newsfeed if the tagged people do not engage with it.

It is perfectly okay, and even recommended, to tag someone when the post is relevant to them. Every time someone shares my content and tags me, I make a point to like their post and leave a thank-you-for-sharing-it comment.

Recently, someone shared one of my posts, tagging me in it. This person then let me know that she had the highest number of views on that post compared to all her previous posts. But I had also engaged with it because it was relevant to me.

Tagging inappropriately and over-tagging screams desperation.

Do this instead: Only tag people in a post when it’s relevant to them. For example, tag people if you share their quote, an image of them at an event or their content. If you want to alert some of your colleagues or peers to your post, do that in the comment section so that the post doesn’t look spammy.

6. Attention-seeking (and over-the-top) videos

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn lately, you would’ve seen a video with the delivery so over-the-top, it looks comical or fake.

You can be energetic and engaging without looking as if you’re trying way too hard for attention.

This is one disturbing trend that has really crept in over the last 18 months. I fear more people are adopting it because they assume it works and they don’t want to be left behind.

The one thing I always tell people – regardless of the platform – you need to speak the language and use the formats your audience is familiar with. So, adjust your behaviour and delivery appropriately.

LinkedIn’s Top Voices (video creators) are mainly Millennials who have a very different style than most LinkedIn users. Their approach may work for them and their audience, but in most cases, it doesn’t lead to real business results. And it definitely won’t work for the rest of us.

Keep in mind that social media fatigue is a real thing. And I’d add, silly video fatigue is setting in as well, very fast!

I am seeing more and more video fatigue set in as people overuse and improperly use videos. And this will get only worse when LinkedIn Live (live video streaming) is rolled out across the entire platform.

Even if your only goal is attention, the attention you may be getting is not the attention you want. More to the point, often attention alone will not improve your revenue. Worse yet, the wrong kind of attention can hurt your business!

Remember that attention seeking-behavior on social media and, more specifically, on LinkedIn will make you look desperate. And desperation is not a characteristic that attracts clients.

Do this instead: If you want to add video to your LinkedIn content strategy, do it tastefully, professionally and, most of all, authentically. Avoid the excited gameshow host approach!

7. #Overdoing #Hashtags #Looks #Very #Spammy

Need I say more?

Overusing hashtags on LinkedIn looks desperate, drowns your message in unnecessary noise, turns people off and can get you penalized by LinkedIn’s algorithm.

Yes, 5 to 20 hashtags might be what works best on Instagram, but LinkedIn is NOT Instagram.

If you’re hash-tagging every possible keyword in the hope of being found in every possible search, you’ll put a lot of people off.

Do this instead: Use hashtags strategically, and limit it to two or three in a post.

Create an Effective LinkedIn Content Strategy

1. Quality over quantity

A question I’m often asked is, “How often should I post on LinkedIn?”

My response used to be once a day. But now, I emphasize:

“Only when you have something valuable to post.”

Take a moment to think about how you engage with your newsfeed.

Do you read, like, comment on or share everything you see?

Of course, not! You interact only with the posts that capture your attention and that you connect with.

I bet you skip over posts from a person who posts multiple times a day, especially if you don’t have a large network. With a smaller network size, it is much easier for a single person to inundate your newsfeed.

Remember, over-exposure on LinkedIn can kill engagement.

Additional reading: How to Write LinkedIn Posts That Inspire Engagement

But what’s your reaction when you see a post from someone you respect, who posts only valuable, inspiring and educational posts, and doesn’t over-post? You probably enjoy reading and maybe even engaging with that person’s content.  

That’s how you want people to feel about your posts.

If you adopt the strategy of less is more or, better yet – quality over quantity – and offer meatier, more valuable, insightful posts, your followers will hold you in higher regard.

BEWARE: If you are consistently posting low quality posts and getting very little engagement, you will find your future posts will be less visible to your network.

LinkedIn’s algorithm keeps getting smarter. When it sees people don’t engage with your posts, it shows your posts to fewer and fewer people in your network.

As I mentioned above, I used to recommend posting once a day. Now, I recommend posting only when you are inspired to create a quality post.

Otherwise, you might be penalized for it.

Follow this advice even if that means posting only 2-3 times a week.

Less is more. It’s a concept you need to incorporate into your LinkedIn content strategy…  unless you are prepared to create a compelling post every day. In this case, go right ahead.

2. Be real, be authentically you

When I say real, I don’t mean overshare.

Leave the unfiltered confessionals and dramatic self-videos for Facebook.

What I’m saying is…

Just be you.

When you’re building a profile and relationships online, your biggest asset (or obstacle) is you.

The right people, your ideal clients, will gravitate towards you and your style if they can see the genuine you.

People can spot a fake a mile away, especially in videos where people are now wearing a persona often similar to an over-excited game show host.

Be warm. Be engaging. Be real. But be you.

3. Post with a purpose

When you post, ask yourself these questions:

Do you have a goal in mind?

What do you want that post to achieve?

Are you providing value and insight?

What problem or challenge are you solving for your ideal clients?

Does it build your brand and increase your authority in your field?

If you saw this post in your newsfeed, would you like, comment on or share it?

Every post should solve a challenge for your ideal client and have a desired outcome tied to it.

Creating this framework for your LinkedIn content strategy will ensure you always think about your audience, the ways you can help them and actions you want them to take.

If you’re not posting with purpose, you’re merely shouting into the void and adding to the noise.

Instead, make your efforts count, and reap the rewards.

4. Appropriate engagement

Remember the old saying interested is interesting?

It’s as true when you have a conversation in real life as it is when you have a conversation in the digital world.

Engaging in conversations on LinkedIn is key to building relationships and establishing trust. But no one likes a loudmouth or know-it-all. Don’t be that person.

Too many people spend their time talking about themselves or commenting on others’ posts simply to show people how smart they are. This is a mistake.

Take notice of the tone of the conversation you want to join, and adapt your comments accordingly. Speak to people using the language they use and, most importantly, ask them questions about themselves or their businesses!

Find out what their key challenges are. Show them you are interested in helping them be successful.

Engage authentically, and make your engagement about the other person, not about you.

Additional reading: Do Your LinkedIn Posts Hurt or Help Your Personal Brand?

5. This is no joke!

This is business, not stand-up comedy.

It is okay to be light-hearted when appropriate.

It is also important to be warm and friendly (as this is key to building trust), but don’t try to be funny or amusing all the time. This is business, and you need to show people you take business and success seriously, yours and theirs.

Treat LinkedIn as an extension of a real-life professional work environment. Before making a joke, ask yourself whether you would share this in the office in front of your boss or your clients.

Always maintain a professional persona, and make it clear your client’s success comes first.

6. Use hashtags strategically

The whole point of including hashtags is to be found in search. Unfortunately, hashtag stuffing has become widespread in LinkedIn posts.

Your extremely detailed, funny or branded hashtags are not the ones people are searching for or following, making them a complete waste. More importantly, they make you look desperate and spammy.

Always research a hashtag before using it to make sure it is a commonly followed hashtag on LinkedIn. You can do this by typing the hashtag into the advanced search box.

In the results, click on the box with the hashtag you are researching. You’ll be taken to that hashtag page so you can see the number of people following it.

For example, if I search for a more general hashtag such as #linkedin, I can see it is very popular.

But if I search for a more specific hashtag such as #linkedinbestpractices, I see it is not popular at all.

Even if a hashtag is popular, you should never add it unless it applies to the topic of your post. Irrelevant hashtags annoy people, and LinkedIn’s search algorithm will penalize you for it.

It is also important to limit your hashtags to two or three per post. Remember, this is not Instagram or Twitter.

7. Why are you posting this?

Content may be important, but it loses its relevance without context.

Engagement will plummet when you share content that fails to provide context.

What do I mean by context?

Tell your audience why it is relevant to them. More importantly, tell them how it will solve one of their key challenges.

Why?

Because you need to give people a reason to pay attention and engage.

Your audience views everything in their newsfeeds with a “What’s in it for me?” mindset. How will your post help them solve one of their problems? 

Do include your opinion or perspective on the content. Doing this will result in more engagement.

Remember that anybody can share a link. Your ideal clients want to know what you think about it.

Avoid LinkedIn content strategy mistakes that make you look desperate

Imagine what it will feel like when your LinkedIn network and ideal clients stop ignoring your posts and instead start reading and engaging with them, looking forward to your next post.

Wouldn’t it be great if a lot more people started seeing your posts because LinkedIn’s algorithm deemed your posts worthy and started showing them more?

You may have been using some of these bad tactics making you look desperate without knowing it, but now that you know, you can fix this problem with ease.

Follow the LinkedIn content strategy laid out in this article, and you’ll easily build your reputation, get more views and see more engagement.

And if you really want to up your content game on LinkedIn, think strategically about every single post. Have a goal and a purpose for each. Spend a few extra minutes writing your post to make sure it provides value. And create posts that educate or inspire and, more importantly, speak to (or solve) your ideal clients’ top of mind problems. 

If you found this article helpful, please share it on LinkedIn so we can clean up the newsfeed! And I’d love to hear from you in the comments below on anything else I missed in this article.

The post Is Your LinkedIn Content Strategy Making You Look Desperate? appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

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Settle Down About The Eagles Keeping Donnell Pumphrey

I can already feel your vitriol as you as you read these words, but just hear me out on this. Besides, what else are you going to do today, get back to work? It’s the first day after Labor Day weekend, these kind of days are made for ingesting 1,400 words about your favorite team���s fifth-string running back. Your boss can wait.

Much to the ire of most of the fan base, it appears the Eagles are keeping Donnel Pumphrey as their fifth running back. From a statistical standpoint, Pumphrey’s preseason was brutal. He totaled 49 yards on 26 carries for a despicable 1.9 yards per carry. As a receiver, he’s been only slightly better, catching 13 passes for 72 yards. The larger point is that he failed to make a noticeable play on any of his touches. As a smaller and supposedly quicker player, Pumphrey most certainly did not live up to his billing in the preseason.

So why the hell did the Eagles keep him?

The Big Picture

Based on his preseason performance, Pumphrey may not be able to contribute right away, if at all in 2017. But that’s OK. The Eagles – probably not a legitimate Super Bowl contender this year – need to focus not just on competing now, but also on keeping an eye towards the future. In his press conference immediately following the 4:00 PM cuts on Saturday, Howie Roseman described the thought process that went into making the roster decisions:

“When we make these decisions, we’re talking about the 46 (players activated for game day), the 53 (complete roster) and then the 63 (complete roster plus practice squad) and we want to make sure our coaches have the best 46 guys that they need to go into Washington, and then, from there, there are also guys that we want to develop.”

Roseman also later said:

“We are trying to balance where the ceilings are of guys, especially some of the guys that may not be playing, may not be active. We don’t want to lose a guy that, a year from now or two years from now, we think has starter traits.”

Right or wrong, the front office and coaching staff see something in Pumphrey that has yet to show itself on the field. In their multiple debriefs following the draft, Roseman and his second-in-command, Gregor CleganeJoe Douglas, often mentioned Pumphrey’s toughness and lightning-quick feet as traits that drew them to the running back. Although they weren’t on display in the preseason, when looking back on Pumphrey in college, there is no questioning that assessment.

While traits like speed and strength are relative to the competition, toughness and lightning-quick feet are not. They should be able to translate to the NFL. At least that is what the Eagles are hoping. And Pumphrey did have one run in last Thursday’s preseason finale that was reminiscent of his college days. It was not a play that would stand out on the stat sheet, as it only resulted in a 4-yard gain, but Pumphrey displayed the quickness and suddenness in the hole that made him so effective at San Diego State:

The Eagles front office has a process and, by keeping Pumphrey, they are trusting it. The scouts and coaches spent hours on him. They saw something that they liked. For a franchise looking to improve, there is little harm in giving a player they believe in a chance to develop.

Rookie Development

The transition from college to the NFL is a major adjustment for rookies. As fans, we are willing to accept and acknowledge this, but only until it affects us. Once the preseason starts, if we are not entertained, we look to immediately banish the player straight to hell.

Pumphrey talk post-draft: “Pumphrey will probably need some time to develop, get stronger, add some weight, learn the playbook, etc.”

Pumphrey talk in preseason: “Pumphrey sucks, cut his ass!!”

Fans can afford to think this way, but the Eagles cannot. The rookie learning curve is gigantic, and quality organizations recognize that. It is not simply a matter of Pumphrey learning where to run on each play– that can change depending on the dozens of formations the team utilizes. Then it can change again based on the personnel and alignment of the defense. That’s not all: after the ball is snapped, a running back must read the reaction of the defense and execution of the blockers in front of him and hit the appropriate hole. There are an insane number of variables that impact what a player is supposed to do on any given play, and rookies must understand all of them and be able to process them in real-time.

None of that takes into account the adjustment the player must make to the level of competition. On top of the information and data a rookie is asked to consume, he also has to adjust to the bigger, faster and stronger competition. This takes time and consistency. In college, Pumphrey was a cut above the rest athletically. He could make those college defenders miss in his sleep. In the NFL, he has to be ready to make that cut a half-second sooner on every play. That takes time. It’s like playing Madden and deciding you’re going to sack up and change the settings from All-Pro to All-Madden. You start taking a ton of sacks and throw a ton of interceptions, but if you can weather the storm, you’ll eventually steady the ship. You’ll adjust and figure out what does and does not work on that level of play.

I’ve heard people acknowledge that the learning curve may be a factor but then say that Pumphrey is not even showing the speed and athleticism necessary for the NFL. Speed and athleticism, though, are very much intertwined with the mental side of the game. There is a difference between a player’s athletic speed and their play speed. Football is a complex game. If a player cannot make the required mental adjustments, he can never play to his full athletic potential. There have been plenty of good athletes over the years who have been unable to play fast. Pumphrey is still trying to make those mental adjustments and it’s entirely possible he never does, but it’s way too early to make that determination.

He Holds the NCAA Rushing Record!

What do NCAA rushing records mean in the NFL? Absolutely nothing! It does tell us something about Pumphrey. There is something special about him. Despite his small stature and lack of power, he still found a way to be the NCAA All-Time leading rusher. That’s not nothing. That’s not the San Diego State record, not the Mountain West record, but the NCAA rushing record. Of course, you could argue that the competition in the Mountain West is relatively weak, and that is a valid argument. Then again, there have been hundreds of other running backs to come out of the Mountain West who never came close to owning the rushing crown. The next closest has almost 1,500 less yards than Pumphrey.

I can’t argue that Pumphrey has been good this preseason. I can’t even argue that he definitely deserved to make this team. But, let’s not pretend to be mad about keeping a fifth running back. I understand that some may have preferred that they keep another player such as Dillon Gordon or Nate Gerry over Pumphrey, but do you really care that much? Is anyone losing sleep over it? What other player that got cut on Saturday was really going to make an impact on the 2017 team? Pumphrey has not shown the playmaking ability he did in college, but at the very least, his background makes him intriguing as a developmental player. If there is any NFL level talent in him, we deserve the opportunity to find it.

Game Week

Congratulations! We’ve finally made it to Week 1! Football is officially back. We can finally stop fighting amongst ourselves about players who won’t even dress on Sundays. Later this week, I will be doing a mailbag. Feel free to send me any Eagles related questions. I will pick the best ones for the post. My Twitter handle is @S_Cottrell23.

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