Marketing Dopamine • October 5, 2026
Belonging and Reputation
Instagram and LinkedIn are both social platforms. They do not run on the same thing.
On Instagram, I have watched people support each other in a way that feels personal. They cheer each other on, show up in each other’s comments, and celebrate small wins together. That is community, and it runs on belonging.
I expected LinkedIn to work the same way. When it did not, I assumed I was doing something wrong.
Now I think I was measuring it against the wrong standard.
Instagram runs on belonging. LinkedIn runs on reputation.
People do not usually go to LinkedIn to feel part of something. They go to learn, to evaluate, and to quietly decide who knows what they are talking about. Much of that happens without a single like or comment. Someone reads your post, remembers your name, and months later reaches out when the need finally arrives.
That is not a weaker kind of connection. It is a different kind. Belonging is felt in the moment. Reputation accumulates out of sight, and it tends to show up when it matters most.
Neither platform is right or wrong. The mistake is expecting one to behave like the other, and deciding it is not working because it does not feel the same.
A quiet audience is not always an absent one. Sometimes it is simply watching.
I still love the warmth of Instagram. I am just learning to value the slower, quieter way trust builds on LinkedIn.
Lisa Carmichael is the author of The Marketing Dopamine Workbook: From Awareness to Action, available now, a companion to her book Marketing Dopamine: What Your Brain Is Really Doing When You Think You’re Building a Business, coming soon. Learn more at marketingdopamine.com
I appreciate this insight, Lisa. While I find myself mindlessly scrolling social media more than I’d care to admit, I don’t actually love posting so I am constantly struggling to determine which type of post goes where. Thanks for a peek into that!
I completely understand that! I think figuring out where something belongs can sometimes be harder than creating the post itself. I’m trying to be much more intentional about that too.
Thank you for sharing this distinction! I never thought of this distinction before.
I hadn’t really thought about it this way either until I started paying closer attention to how I was using both platforms. It definitely changed how I approach LinkedIn.
That’s so interesting!!! I think of instagram as a place to go to look at really interesting pictures and linked in as a place to find a job (even though that hasn’t really worked for me, lol).
I used to think of LinkedIn mostly that way too! I’m realizing there’s a lot more happening there than job searching. I’ve actually been enjoying it more now that I’m using it to connect with people instead of just thinking of it as a professional résumé.