An Austrian manager who has dared to go public is ÖBB Managing Director Michaela Huber. INDUSTRIEMAGAZIN spoke to her and found out more regarding her LinkedIn activities:
INDUSTRY MAGAZINE: When did you decide to use LinkedIn for professional purposes?
Michaela Huber: I started observing in 2017 and have been active with contributions since March 2021. I use it to show how varied and exciting the railway industry can be. But also to keep me up to date on a wide variety of people and industries.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the B2B platform?
Huber: Positive: networking, gathering information. Activity creates followers. Followers create reach. Reach creates visibility.
Cons: Unfortunately, activity costs time. But it’s quality over quantity that counts. Some LinkedIn posts from heavy users sometimes create triviality instead of relevance. You don’t read them anymore.
LinkedIn supports networking – are you a “better manager” if you also take care of contacts online?
Huber: You’re not, but you’re a bit more open-minded and better informed. You are only more transparent, but you also make yourself more vulnerable – in both a positive and negative sense. I can eg. also understood by everyone who keeps a low profile or does not want to appear on social media at all. However, activity in social media supports employer branding better than any “shot out” impersonal press release.
Have you ever started a business through LinkedIn in the past?
Huber: No business, but good networking with very exciting personalities every now and then. What I find increasingly exhausting are marketing requests in private messages.
