Welcome to episode 184, this week I’m expanding on the subject of the meteoric rise of LinkedIn in terms of engagement and activity and I want to to focus on some of the key characters behind that change - the class of 2017!

But before I get to that…..

Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week

HiQ turn to crowdfunding to fight LinkedIn’s legal appeal of a recent court decision
LinkedIn announces the ‘Most socially engagement employment agencies’ but the get the measures all wrong!
Native video is coming to company page updates. Currently only a few have access including Mashable. See one such update here. Mashable video update
Huawei and LinkedIn announce a new phone collaboration embed https://youtu.be/C5gXjyGimRA
As reported recently ‘smart replies’ are improving in LinkedIn messaging and here is the Engineering blog on the detail of how it is done.

The Class of 2017 (plus Oleg!)

When we look back in years to come we will see 2017 as being THE year LinkedIn really became a mainstream social media platform. 2008 was a similar year, that was when LinkedIn initially became widely used but this year is different. It’s not so much that LinkedIn are attracting new members, it’s more that more users are engaging on LinkedIn.
A 60% increase in engagement levels vs the same period last year is pretty phenomenal so how has this happened?
I mentioned recently that a big part of this has to be attributed to the new design and LinkedIn deserve a lot of credit for that but another big part of this has been down to a new generation of LinkedIn users who have started to use the platform in different and more ‘socially connected’ ways.
I have been studying this for some time now and I just love the way the class of 2017 are challenging the status quo and rewriting the rule book on how to use LinkedIn.

Here is a list of some of the most impressive and influential members of the class of 2017 (in no particular order)

Michaela Alexis
Janet Murray
Tim Queen
Mike Morgan
Josh Fechter
Jonathan Pollard
Gretta van Riel
Eli Hochberg
Chris Williams
Ben Rea
Alexandra Galviz
Matt Wilson
Lila Smith
Tom Mallens
Simon Dodson
Josh Quigley
Erik Eklund
String Nguyen
Amy Blaschka
Anna McAfee
Manu Goswami
Simon Chan
And last but not least, I can’t go without giving a mention to the honourable ‘mature student’ of the year Oleg Vishneplosky who consistently continues to set the pace with some of the highest levels of engagement ever seen on LinkedIn!

I’m sure I have missed some important names, so please do not be offended if I have not listed you!

I’m not stating that I agree with everything these members do on LinkedIn but they are definitely pace setters in this new age of LinkedIn engagement. Take a look at their posts and you will see similar patterns;
Storytelling, often of a personal nature
Use of hashtags
Lots of @mentioning
Large, diverse networks and followers
A sense of community - many comment, share or Like each others posts
A sense of fun about their LinkedIn activity
Rarely, if ever, promote themselves or their businesses
Use of native video
Many long, text only posts

As I have stated before, some of them post things that I think are not always suitable for LinkedIn but who am I to argue with the level of engagement those posts get?
Many (not all) of the above are millennials and one concern I have is whether they are likely to drop LinkedIn like a stone when something ‘new and shiny’ comes along - this is very typical of how this generation use Social media and it could happen to LinkedIn.

This weeks questions are all regarding last weeks topic of GDPR and were all aimed at Jeremy Kajendran following his interview. Jeremy has been very generous in answering all the questions I sent him by recording his answers.

Topics covered were;
Do subscribers on pre-GDPR email lists need to opt-in again to be compliant?
If I work under the name of another company as a Consultant and promote them as a company etc. Do I still need to register with the ICO?
Am I still able to send InMails to 2nd and 3rd degree contacts under GDPR?

Welcome to episode 183, this week I am dedicating the whole episode to this much requested subject. GDPR is coming next year whether we like it or not so it’s time to start educating ourselves on the dangers and opportunities this presents.

With that in mind I have taken time to speak with three individuals, two of which are interviewed on this show.
As a result, I am skipping any news, cool things or questions this week and will revert back to our normal format next week.

My first interview is with Privacy, Cyber Security and Risk Advisor Jeremy Kajendran who is the UK Privacy Practice Leader for EY

Key points from Jeremy;
GDPR = General Data Protection Regulation
Data protection act has been in place since 1998 but GDPR is intended to bring the legislation up to date with today’s technology and business practices. Fines are greater and organisations are now having to ensure they are compliant.
Fines can be for up to 4% of global turnover or £20,000
It is a criminal offence in the UK to not be registered with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office)
Individuals have a right to access to their data (this hasn’t changed)
Individuals can now ask you to delete their data and stop processing their data as well as asking you to send it back to them.
The ICO is concerned in protecting individuals from abuse of their privacy.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations also run in tandem with GDPR and also worth being familiar with because they could be more onerous.
Continual opt-in is not a requirement of GDPR. People have to be asked to opt-in to something which is explicit just once but are always given the option to opt-out.
It’s unlikely that the ICO will be interested in one off unsolicited emails. If however a recipient asks to receive no more emails then you must respect their wishes and could be in trouble if you don’t.
There will be lots of publicity in May next year which may increase the amount of complaints the ICO receive and in practical terms they are unlikely to be able to follow all of them up. They will prioritise on a risk basis.
If you are an organisation that processes data on anyone within the EU then you are subject to the GDPR
LinkedIn Forms are a way of collecting data on people so you are the data controller once you take that information from LinkedIn. The form should make it explicitly clear that by adding details an individual is agreeing to receiving more than just the information advertised (ie an e-book). A double opt-in is helpful but the days of signing up for a giveaway is not permission to send them anything else, unless they explicitly opt-in for ongoing communications. Ideally this should be included in the sign up form on LinkedIn
Explicit opt-in can be a very positive thing because your list open rate is likely to be much higher.

TOP 10 Questions To Ask A GDPR Expert by Jeremy Kajendran

Jeremy’s InfoRisky Podcast.

I also had a chat with Kim Bradford who also specialises in GDPR but tends to focus on it from the perspective of small businesses and solopreneurs.

Advice from Kim;

If you process data on anyone, you need to register with the ICO in the UK. Data can in theory include keeping their email asking you to take them to remove your data!
Registering with the ICO (UK only) may help to mitigate any issues. Put simply a good analogy would be that being investigated and fined by the ICO is like getting caught speeding but not being registered is like getting caught speeding without a valid drivers licence!
Email providers are slow to react and some appear to be trying to push responsibility onto their customers - perhaps LinkedIn may do the same.
The ICO are going to issue very clear guidance to people on what businesses can and can’t do regarding their data and clarifying their rights on data. This may lead to some people reporting you and even if you have done nothing wrong, the ICO may want to investigate how you hold and use other data (opening a can of worms)
It’s possible that LinkedIn may remove or at least significantly change the feature that allows you to download your connections.

Advice from Kim;

If you process data on anyone, you need to register with the ICO in the UK. Data can in theory include keeping their email asking you to take them to remove your data!
Registering with the ICO (UK only) may help to mitigate any issues. Put simply a good analogy would be that being investigated and fined by the ICO is like getting caught speeding but not being registered is like getting caught speeding without a valid drivers licence!
Email providers are slow to react and some appear to be trying to push responsibility onto their customers - perhaps LinkedIn may do the same.
The ICO are going to issue very clear guidance to people on what businesses can and can’t do regarding their data and clarifying their rights on data. This may lead to some people reporting you and even if you have done nothing wrong, the ICO may want to investigate how you hold and use other data (opening a can of worms)
It’s possible that LinkedIn may remove or at least significantly change the feature that allows you to download your connections.

Welcome to episode 182, lots to tell you about this week so no main subject as such.

Firstly I want to correct something I mentioned in last weeks show under the title ‘The State of Groups’ It seems that, on closer examination, the stated number of pending members isn’t actually accurate! Thanks to Carl for putting me right on that one!

Another correction from last week regarding GDPR. Asked if you had any questions and a number of you did. I will be interviewing an expert on the matter soon so I will make sure all your questions are answered (keep sending them in).
The thing I got wrong was suggesting that this would only be a subject of interest to European listeners - apparently this isn’t the case as anyone who holds data on people who are in a country under GDPR could be liable for fines (quite how, I don’t know!)

Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week

LinkedIn opens it’s new EMEA HQ offices in Dublin.
It’s a bit ‘cheesy’ as always but here is the video of the new offices. They do look pretty amazing!

Welcome to episode 181, this weeks episode is focussed on an interview with Janet Murray from Soulful PR. I appeared on her podcast recently and since then she has been achieving great things with LinkedIn so I thought you would all like to hear from her.

But first…

Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week

Bumblebizz is now live!
LinkedIn to launch Talent Insights in 2018

Janet Murray spent 17 years as a freelance journalist before setting up her Soulful PR business.
She now focusses on helping people to ‘pitch’ into the media to get better exposure for their business.

Key things I took from this episode;

• Traditional PR is not enough anymore
• Four areas of PR you should be paying attention to on a regular basis;
• • Publishing content on your website
  • Email marketing / newsletter
  • Social media posting and activity
  • Press coverage (show the results on your website)
• To build relationship with journalists you have to read the papers, show patience and work at getting to know them.
• Be aware of what is going on and when a story breaks that is relevant to your specialism, contact relevant journalists via Twitter or call them. They are always looking for stories so you are potentially being really helpful.
• Make a list of relevant journalists on Twitter and LinkedIn (mainly Twitter) - find them via a Google search/alerts.
• #journorequest on Twitter can be helpful
• Media enquiry services such as Response source, help a reporter out and source bottle
• Journalists like to call (for speed) so put your telephone number in your profile (summary not headline) and Twitter bio
• Make sure you have relatively recent Articles and videos in your profile so that a journalist or producer can see that you can write and appear comfortable in front of a camera.
• Clarity in your headline is key….journalists needs to see quickly exactly what your niche is (arguably this is true for everyone, not just journalists)
• Journalists always ask “Why do people need to hear this now?”
• ‘Everything is potentially content’ If others care about it then it will probably fly on LinkedIn.
• People are more interested in ‘how’ you work than what you do but PR about the ‘how’ allows you to talk about the ‘what’

Win a free 60 minute PR strategy session with Janet (worth £300+vat).
You can read more about these sessions here

You can enter this free prize draw by entering your details below

Links to other things mentioned in this interview;

Cara Mackay’s LinkedIn profile
Book - Your Press release Is Breaking My Heart
Media diary
Soulful PR Studio
The Soulful PR Podcast

If you have any questions that you want me to ask Janet, I will be happy to do so if you drop me a voicemail (link on the right edge of this page) or email me at mark@linkedinfomed.com