LinkedIn is primarily a professional social media platform used for building business connections and promoting oneself career-wise. With over 800 million users, LinkedIn is the largest professional networking site in the world.
While platforms like Facebook and Twitter thrive on sharing viral content like memes, LinkedIn has traditionally focused more on professional content like industry updates, career advice, and corporate insights. This raises the question – can you post memes on LinkedIn or is it strictly prohibited?
The short answer is yes, you can post memes on LinkedIn in moderation. However, there are some caveats to keep in mind before flooding your LinkedIn feed with hilarious memes. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore if posting memes on LinkedIn is allowed, the benefits and drawbacks of sharing memes, tips to post them appropriately, and examples of viral LinkedIn memes.
Is Posting Memes on LinkedIn Allowed?
LinkedIn’s User Agreement does not expressly prohibit sharing memes and other viral content. As per their policies, members are allowed to post creative content as long as it is relevant, respectful, and in line with their Professional Community Policies.
Some key tips from LinkedIn’s policies to keep in mind are:
– Content must add value and engage your professional network in a meaningful way. Do not post content just for entertainment value.
– Respect copyright and give proper attribution when sharing content created by others. Do not post copy-written images or videos without permission.
– Refrain from posting objectionable, offensive or inappropriate content. Do not troll, bully or intimidate others.
– Do not post misleading, illegal, or unethical content.
– Advertising and promotions must follow LinkedIn’s guidelines. Don’t spam connections with sales pitches.
As long as your memes are original, relevant to your industry, and posted in moderation, LinkedIn does allow them on its platform. But keep the professional environment of LinkedIn in mind before hitting share.
Benefits of Posting Memes on LinkedIn
Posting memes on LinkedIn in a thoughtful way can have many benefits:
Engagement
A funny, topical meme can spark lively conversations and engagement from your connections. It brings some humor into the feed and catches viewers’ attention.
Virality
Memes are easily shareable and have the potential to go viral quickly. This expands your reach and presence across the platform.
Personality
Memes allow you to showcase your personality and interests beyond just professional accomplishments. It humanizes your brand.
Relatability
Many memes poke fun at work life and office culture. This builds rapport with your audience through shared experiences.
Thought Leadership
Industry-specific memes highlight your knowledge and expertise around hot topics. When done right, they position you as an influencer.
Traffic
Viral memes can drive many profile visits, shares, and new followers – boosting your overall visibility.
Drawbacks of Posting Memes on LinkedIn
However, there are some potential downsides to be aware of when posting memes on LinkedIn:
Unprofessional Perception
Too many funny memes may damage your brand if connections start to view you as unprofessional or immature.
Inappropriate Content
Despite best intentions, some memes come across as offensive, controversial or in poor taste to certain audiences. This can reflect poorly on you.
Copyright Issues
Reposting popular memes without attribution often violates copyright. This could get you banned from LinkedIn.
Lack of Context
Unless industry-specific, a generic meme may confuse connections who don’t get the relevance to you or your niche.
Cluttering Feeds
When overdone, memes may annoy some users and cause them to unfollow you to declutter their feed.
Negative Sentiment
While funny, some memes spread negative, sarcastic or biting sentiment which may turn off sensitive viewers.
Tips for Posting Memes on LinkedIn
If you want to try posting some memes on LinkedIn, here are some tips to do it successfully:
Limit Meme Posts
Only share a meme once every few weeks at most. Avoid making your profile solely a meme board.
Match Topics to Your Niche
Ensure memes are relevant to your industry so connections “get” the humor and context.
Create Original Memes
Use meme generators to create your own memes instead of copying ones already circulating the internet.
Credit Sources
If you didn’t create the meme, credit the original source or creator appropriately.
Use Memes to Make a Point
Tie memes back to a useful workplace insight, career tip or industry commentary.
Keep Captions Professional
While the meme may be humorous, keep the caption and tone professional. Don’t go overboard with slang or hashtags.
Monitor Engagement
Pay attention to likes, comments, and shares to see if your audience responds well to memes or not.
Ask for Permission
If concerned, you can ask connections if they are comfortable with some humorous memes mixed into your normal posts.
Examples of Viral LinkedIn Memes
Some examples of popular meme trends on LinkedIn include:
“How it Started vs. How it’s Going”
This meme format shows contrasting work scenarios side by side. On the left is an entry-level position, while the right highlights career success years later.
“Daily Struggles” Memes
These memes use reaction images and relatable text to poke fun at common workday frustrations and scenarios.
Work from Home Memes
These memes highlight the ups and downs of remote work and managing video calls. Popular during the pandemic.
Office Pet Memes
Companies often post memes showcasing their cute office dogs, cats, or other pets to humanize their employer brand.
“LinkedIn Influencers”
Sarcastic memes making fun of motivational influencer posts are trendy. They call out virtue signaling and meaningless platitudes.
| Meme Type | Example |
|---|---|
| How it Started vs. How it’s Going | Image with first day at work with messy desk on left contrasted with organized corner office on right |
| Daily Struggles | Woman frustrated facepalming at computer screen |
| Work from Home | Man in pajamas on a video call with formal wear on top and pajamas on bottom |
| Office Pet | Golden retriever puppy face with caption “New HR Manager” |
| LinkedIn Influencers | “Imagine a chairsocial chairpreneur who chairnovates by chairthinking outside the box and never chairgiving up on their chairdreams” |
Conclusion
In summary, posting memes on LinkedIn in moderation can be an effective strategy to boost engagement, showcase your personality, and highlight your expertise. However, it is important to post thoughtfully, tie memes to industry insights, credit sources properly, and monitor how your audience responds. Avoid making your profile solely meme-focused and stay away from offensive, illegal or irrelevant memes. If done tastefully and sparingly, memes can connect with your professional audience on a more human level to strengthen relationships. Just don’t let the memes undermine your brand credibility.