In this episode, I talk through the following topics;

• LinkedIn™️ ran a Christmas poll

• INteresting profiles 2024

• Issues with post drafts and article analytics

• Spot a pod

• New WVYP filters - are they useful?

• The new 'create an image' feature for Articles using Microsoft designer

• 50+ factors that can impact the performance of your posts

• Post of the week

When your company page content consistently fails to engage an audience what can you do to make your brand more visible?

That plus;

• Profile verification finally comes to Europe

• Skill assessments

• A new feature on profiles

• A new content newsletter from LinkedIn™️ - is it any good?

• How to report spam

• Post of the week

Last week I shared a message I received from Sandra Long (AKA East coast 🇺🇸Sandra) about collaborative articles where she shared that she finds them very useful asked me to have another look at them...so I did!

I will share the results of my findings later but first, here's what else I cover in this weeks episode...

• Feedback on company page competitors

• A new profile feature

• A couple of improvements to Newsletters

• Why the out of office reply feature needs updating.

• Post of the week

I'm back from the trip of a lifetime!

And I got married as well!

This week I catch up on what has been happening on LinkedIn™️ while I've been away;

• Collaborative articles improve but become more like Q&A's rather than articles
• LinkedIn™️ break links with X (Twitter) accounts
• Several changes to company pages
• Profile videos are going to disappear
• Profile custom badges surpass creator website links
• 1 billion users...but less than 40% are active!
• Profile verification expands to Brazil and Australia
• More images allowed in image posts
• @mention (tagging) gets worse!
• The customized invitation debacle returns

All that plus the lowdown on my amazing trip.

Why do men approach women on LinkedIn when they would never act that way in real life?
Why do people send a sales pitch DM immediately after connecting?
People seem to act in strange ways with a keyboard, often very differently to the way they would in person.
In this episode of LinkedInformed I had the pleasure of chatting with Jacob Elton about this fascinating topic

Part two of my chat with Karen Tisdell about LinkedIn™️ profiles.
In this final part we discuss...
🔶 Experience section
🔶 Recommendations
🔶 Skills
🔶 Background image
🔶 Pronouns and there misuse
🔶 Name pronunciation

Thanks again to Karen for helping out with not just the recording but also helping me put together this summary of the podcast.

Profiles are the bedrock on which everything else you do on LinkedIn™️ is built.
So why do we sometimes take them for granted ❓
Perhaps it's time to take a closer look at your profile?
This week I chat with Karen Tisdell, who is a professional profile writer about what makes a great LinkedIn™️ profile.
We don't agree on everything but I think you will find this discussion valuable.

Business development on LinkedIn.
Some focus on inbound whilst others cold approach multiple prospects (knowing they will mainly get rejected). Luis Báez 🇵🇷🏳️‍🌈 has a different approach...one that is more targeted and highly personalised.

This week I chat with Luis, a sales enablement strategist and coach dedicated to online business owners and B2B professionals - he also used to work for LinkedIn in sales!

When pods combine with auto-commenting tools, we have a problem ❗ 

But is it right to publicly expose people who we believe are cheating in this way ❓ 

That plus;

- A new Chrome extension

- My thoughts on LinkedIn™️ AI enhancement tools

- A great AI talk from Mo Gawdat

- A brilliant post of the week

LinkedIn restricts customised invitations to just 10 a month❗️

I examine why they are doing it and why it's such a bad idea.

That plus;

✅ New message inboxes 👍

✅ New content search filter 👍

✅ Added feature to new custom buttons 👍

✅ Name pronunciation goes backwards 👎

✅ Does verification make you more visible? 🤔

✅ Added value author comments 💡

✅ 'Top' emerging creators (not) 👎

✅ Is it wise for LinkedIn™️ to be 'all in' on AI? 🤔

✅ Screw the views! 👍

✅ Post of the week 🏆

There are 5 key questions to ask yourself before you post on LinkedIn™️

If you can consistently deliver on these points, you are much more likely to reach more of the right people on LinkedIn™️

Before that though...

• NEW profile 'goals'
• Connections vs followers - your feedback
• How to promote a podcast, or anything else on LinkedIn™️
• A Hashtag u-turn or misinformation?
• Have you checked your profile URL preview lately?
• Daniel Roth the dictator and the arrogance of LinkedIn™️!
• Post of the week

This week, I sat down for a chat with the relentlessly helpful, and all-round top bloke John Espirian about the exciting news that there will be a conference for LinkedIn™️ enthusiasts in Birmingham, UK next year...How exciting!

More on that later but here's the other things I covered in this weeks podcast

• Are search filters going to become a premium feature? 👎

• An update of profile custom buttons 👍

• Do you hide your connections? 🤔

• Are LinkedIn Notifications The New Homepage Feed? 🤔

• LinkedIn™️ introductions make a return...ish! 👎

• About this profile becomes more prominent 👍

• Does AI generated content put you off the 'author'? 🤔

We've had creator mode for over 2 years now and for some, the decision on whether to enable it or not is still debatable...not for me, It's a no brainer!

That plus,

• Passkey access is coming to LinkedIn

• 10 free AI courses on LinkedIn Learning

• Generative AI comes to Sales Navigator

• Do Thought leader ads damage subsequent posts reach

• Verified profiles get a makeover

• Post of the week

The news broke last week that LinkedIn have decided to dump hashtags.

In this episode I explore what I think is really going on and why I think this isn't quite the bad move others seem to think it is.

That plus;

• Update on search alerts

• New cybersecurity woes

• Search filters for dating?!

• New link for 'build a resume'

• Profile website links update

• Profile verification waitlist

• Post of the week

This week I've been hit with some sort of lurgy that has stolen my voice!

So instead of not publishing this week, I thought you might like to listen to a livestream I did with Lynnaire Johnston this week.

This week has seen another example of the notorious LinkedIn help center being less than helpful! It's an all to common story unfortunately but why does this happen?

According to LinkedIn Help they are 'experimenting' with dropping education, location and wait for it...employers from LinkedIn profiles! Is this true or are they misinformed?

That plus;

• Company page content is showing signs of better reach

• A new 'personalised' home page feed

• Thought Leader ads are now rolling out to all companies

• New mobile search design

• New Article publishing design

• New search alerts

• New Brand partnership label on posts

• Post of the week

Since the introduction of Chat GPT, we have begun to see a range of tools/extensions that broadly describe themselves as 'AI Assistants'.

They can be very dangerous!

That plus;

• Font changes on LinkedIn
• The job title search optimisation dilemma
• Could collaborative articles be more important than we thought?
• LinkedIn add Microsoft Designer for AI image posts
• New profile sections in Featured
• Sort feed added to the mobile app

A special episode to celebrate the 400th episode.

I swap seats this week and find myself being interviewed by Lynnaire Johnston.

"What does it take to produce 400 episodes of the world’s most listened to LinkedIn podcast? How does the host manage to inform and entertain us week after week? And why is Greece his favourite holiday destination?"

It’s LinkedInformed, episode 400.

Thanks to all those who contributed to this special celebration episode.

Many of us are experiencing a dramatic reduction in post engagement notifications and LinkedIn have admitted that they are prioritising other notifications instead. This week I look at what notifications are most useful to us and ask why we can't choose our own.

In addition to that...

• A new 'Active Group' badge that misses the point!
• More feedback on the services marketplace
• Do more followers improve engagement levels?
• Feedback on a new LinkedIn authors' posts
• Post of the week

I've been away in Greece for 10 days...it was pure bliss!

While I was away, a few things have been happening on LinkedIn so in this episode, I'm catching up on it all!

The biggest news was LinkedIn's algorithm changes: I will give my thoughts on content dominance, meaningful comments, and the quest for 'knowledge & advice' amplification.

As you would imagine,I have a few things to say about it!

This is the talk that I gave at LinkedSummit in Odense, Denmark this year.

We know that the content that perhaps should really be on Facebook does well on LinkedIn, but it's not going to generate business and pay the bills! On the flip side, neither is boring business content that fails to engage and is seen by very few.

So we need to find the sweet spot! 

This weeks episode is inspired by a post I saw that included this line;

"Don’t believe the bullsh!t that “commenting on others posts is the best way to grow”

So I thought it would be worth examining this in more detail.

Also in this episode;

• What's going on with Events messaging?
• Services Marketplace - dormant or important?
• Does unfollowing someone will reduce your relevance to them?
• Why I haven't published a book
• Is 'Open for work' worth having on your profile?
• A text-only Fathers day post of the week.

A special episode of the podcast this week as I talked through my recent experience of the LinkedIn conference in Odense, Denmark.

I can only give my feedback on the English language sessions from Ruben Hassid and Richard van der Blom for obvious reasons but they both provided plenty of gems in their presentations.

That plus a few new features and some features LinkedIn are retiring.

This week I return to the hottest topic in town!

Artificial intelligence and how it can be utilized on LinkedIn.

I'm no expert and these examples are very basic, but I'm hoping you might find them useful

That plus;

• A new and very useful update to Sales Navigator
• New Recruiter features that every job seeker should know about
• Feedback on the new 'conversations happening now' feature
• A very creative post of the week

This week I discuss the 7 ways to become more visible on LinkedIn. In the competitive world of professional networking, it's essential to make your presence known and stand out from the crowd. By applying these tips, you'll significantly improve your visibility on LinkedIn and attract more career opportunities. So, grab your notepad and pen, and let's dive into the world of LinkedIn visibility.

Imagine you're on another social media site and you see a great video post - it's ideal content for LinkedIn and especially your audience! You quickly check whether the author has posted it on LinkedIn and they haven't. What do you do next?

Plagiarism is rife on LinkedIn and LinkedIn don't seem to be doing much about it. Can we help?

That plus:

• Feedback from the last LinkedInformed regarding the prevalence of LinkedIn ads in our feed plus some more thoughts on that strange data from Social Insider.
• You can now specify that a job application on LInkedIn is one of your 'Top choices' but do Recruiters really care?
• Did Fiverr game the algorithm by changing the job titles of their staff?
• LinkedIn cut 716 jobs, discontinue InCareer in China, and close their graduate training program.
• LinkedIn starts to test AI-generated posts
• A technique for getting great results from Chat GPT
• The dangers of AI - humanity could be at risk!
• A royal post of the week.

This week I chat with the LinkedIn ads guy AJ Wilcox.

AJ is very enthusiastic about what I saw as the beginning of the end for LinkedIn - personal sponsored posts.

Hear what AJ has to say and make your own mind up!

That plus

• New call to action button on profiles
• Why your follower numbers may have dropped
• LinkedIn Stats from 2022 - if you can make any sense of them!
• A positive change to hashtags
• LinkedIn reveals a little more about how the feed algorithm works
• A unique first for post of the week

The single biggest factor that holds people back from using LinkedIn is time…or the lack of it and this is especially true for content creation.

Your job involves many other activities, LinkedIn is, for most people, a small part of it. This a massive challenge for everyone…some people give the appearance of having nothing else to do than spend all day on LinkedIn!

But is that true? 

How do they manage to make so much time for Linkedin?

I will share my thoughts and ideas on that this week plus;

• Are the BBC stuck in a time warp?
• The new LinkedIn Content Academy
• Employee verification advances
• A useful Hashtag tool
• The great GIF mystery
• Improvements to collaborative articles

We know that LinkedIn are especially interested in supporting helpful 'knowledge transfer' type posts, so we all need to get on the 'knowledge transfer bus' if we want to increase our visibility...but are we teaching or preaching?

That plus 5 new features and an excellent video post of the week.

"This is probably the worst move LinkedIn have made in the 15 years I've been closely following them!"

Sponsoring personal posts might seem like an innocent enough move, possibly even an exciting new feature to some but I see it very differently.

Sponsored posts will eventually lead to poor organic reach.

Poor organic reach will see LinkedIn decline to just being a job board again.

This could be the beginning of the end!

In the week that everyone is talking about the new Chat GPT4, LinkedIn release a new AI tool that helps you craft the perfect profile...or does it?

That is the main topic of this weeks LinkedInformed but I'm also going to cover;

• 3 new features
• An update of collaborative articles
• The LinkedIn podcast academy
• Post of the week

LinkedIn are heavily pushing collaborative articles with notifications and prompts pushing us to get involved but what exactly are they and should we be bothering with them?

That is the main topic of this weeks LInkedInformed but before I'm also going to cover;

• LinkedIn soon turns 20!
• Should LinkedIn position itself as the next Twitter?
• LinkedIn tests DM's to companies
• Post of the week

Commenting frequently is a LinkedIn superpower. If you did nothing else on LinkedIn, you could still achieve success by commenting on others content.

This week, I will explain why and reveal my recommended LinkedIn engagement strategy.

Plus several new LinkedIn features.

Welcome to the 385th edition of LinkedInformed

Should you Like (React) a post or comment on it❓

Which is best for you and which is best for the post creator?❓

Do you want others to Like or comment on your posts❓

In this edition of LinkedInformed I will attempt to answer these three questions, plus;

• LinkedIn are laying off staff
• The best times to post on LinkedIn
• Is there a workaround to pinning a top comment on your post?
• The evil of ChatGPT - misuse of AI is happening already on LinkedIn!
• The best way to use the new 'Star' inbox feature
• Post of the week

Does your employer encourage you to develop your authentic voice on LinkedIn? Many organisations are starting to understand the benefits of doing so.

As I continue my journey with ChatGPT, I discover why it's called a 'chat' and learn how to utilise it better in LinkedIn posts, articles and profiles.

Also, Microsoft results show modest sales growth for Linkedin but they have now reached the 900m member milestone.

Plus a couple of new features and a joyous post of the week!

Producing an authentic profile on LinkedIn used to be an advantage...with the growth of ChatGPT it's becoming an essential tool to prove that you are real!

That plus;

• 4 new features/changes to LinkedIn
• My assessment of Tomer Cohen's recent podcast interview
• LinkedIn search parameters are unreliable
• Some interesting LinkedIn stats
• Do LinkedIn really know a good profile when they see one?
• Post of the week

Happy New Year!

This week I explain my 11 key wishes for LinkedIn this year, some are design/functional changes I want LinkedIn to make, and others are related to how the community behaves and use the platform.

PLUS - Post of the year 2022

and of course, the first post of the week for 2023