LinkedIn is the center of the B2B universe, a vital global technology community, and rated by marketers the second-most important
social media platform.
And yet, despite being one of the world's most important economies, especially in B2B and tech, Taiwan is seriously underrepresented on LinkedIn.
Current
Taiwan penetration is under 20%. Taiwan barely makes the Top 50 in
Favikon ratings. And there
are presently zero
LinkedIn Top Voices in
Taiwan (while Japan has over 100).
Taiwan has its reasons for not being active on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is an English-first
social media platform. Taiwan has more important job platforms. And
employers are concerned about employees getting poached, with employees concerned about how LinkedIn
activity might be interpreted.
But Taiwan must raise its voice on LinkedIn, which can be a better platform for its people and
businesses than you might realize.
LinkedIn Is Becoming More Mandarin Friendly
LinkedIn now allows members and businesses to create Mandarin Chinese versions of their LinkedIn
profiles and pages.
And if you choose to post in Mandarin (though I would still recommend English), one-touch
translation capabilities are available so people can read in other languages. They're not perfect,
but I never have any trouble following what's being said.
LinkedIn Is Becoming More Friendly to Non-Native English Speakers
Many Taiwanese would be more active on LinkedIn if they weren't worried about how their English
abilities are perceived.
But
AI has reached the point where you don't really need to worry about spelling, grammar mistakes,
or Chinglish.
And what's more, LinkedIn is now so awash with
AI-generated posts (even from native speakers),
stereotypically AI-generated writing has become the default.
The baseline.
AI is what people are used to now.
And while native English speakers do sometimes criticize each other for using
AI on LinkedIn, the odds
of anyone criticizing a non-native speaker for using a tool to make their English more readable are
near zero.
LinkedIn Has Less Politics
Taiwan is the most contentious subject on the Pacific side of the world, and
social media is becoming
more political
all the time.
Vital social media platforms like Facebook and X have been overrun by political bile.
While LinkedIn remains about as non-political as it gets.
Taiwanese people and companies can speak with little need to worry about being shouted at or over.
LinkedIn Is a B2B Search Engine
When the world sources from Taiwan, or when overseas buyers walk by your booth at a tradeshow, they go to
LinkedIn.
Many Taiwanese companies who think themselves international don't even have a LinkedIn page.
Or they have one, but it's a stub. A half-finished mess, made years ago by someone who no longer works
there, with an old logo and tagline on display, broken English in the About section, and no
content.
When prospects see this, your margins and year-end bonus erode.
Prospects either bypass you, because they think you aren't world class, or they reduce the price they'll
accept, because they think you're desperate.
B2B prospects are more forgiving of a dorky, out-of-date, unattractive website, because they know redoing
or updating a website can be a pain in the ass, involving silos and politics and commitments and web
developers.
They also know that a thriving business with strong relationships with its customers might not need a
sexy website.
But building and keeping up a LinkedIn page up to date is easy.
If your brand can't manage that, what else can't you manage?
LinkedIn Is Good for Employee Advocacy
Employee advocacy (aka brand advocacy) is where employees post and share news and content from and about
your company (and its employees) under their own name, including on
social media.
And the
social media reach of your employees is far greater than your company can achieve alone.
Because Taiwan's LinkedIn penetration and activity are low, you might think employee advocacy unsuitable,
but this is not necessarily true.
If you ask your employees to share company content on LINE or Facebook, they might find posting such
content in the same place they share memes and cat photos with their family and friends awkward.
Let's face it, sharing company content can be a little uncool.
But LinkedIn is inherently a little uncool, so there's less to worry about.
Taiwan Can Stand Out in APAC
Taiwan may be punching below its weight on LinkedIn, but that's mostly in comparison to the West (or other big
English-speaking nations).
Compared to East and Southeast Asia, Taiwan is more typical.
Taiwan might not have any LinkedIn Top Voices, but neither does South Korea, and no nation where Mandarin
is the dominant language has more than a handful, so competition in the region for attention is less intense.
If Taiwan applied itself, with its expertise in tech and AI (both hot topics that travel well on LinkedIn),
it could be an East Asian standout.
LinkedIn Is Not a Poaching Threat
Employers are worried about employees leaving or being poached because of their LinkedIn activity, but
the odds of this happening to anyone in Taiwan are near zero.
LinkedIn is an also-ran in Taiwan job search.
And LinkedIn is more of an amplifier of real-world fame and clout than a creator of it.
If an employee did manage to raise their profile and become something of a LinkedIn bigshot, they were
probably already a bigshot in the real world (and therefore already a poaching risk).
LinkedIn fame and clout create opportunities, but they won't create a job for you.
More recruiters might look at your profile, but nobody gets hired solely because of what they're doing
on LinkedIn.
You need real world achievements, credentials, and experiences, and someone with those will get found
by recruiters with or without LinkedIn.
If you're looking to raise your profile on LinkedIn, check out my tips
here.
Or get in touch
here.
