Informed Podcast by Mark Williams. The podcast for LinkedIn™️ users – Détails, épisodes et analyse

"I just don't have the time to post on LinkedIn™️. It's not that I undervalue the benefits, it just takes me far too long because I overthink it"

This came from a delegate on a course I delivered recently and it hit me right between the eyes...That's why so many people find it hard to find the time to post content, they overthink it!

Also in this episode;

• Feedback on pods and direct messaging.

• How demure and mindful is your profile? I found out and got roasted!

• More changes coming to video content and Livestreaming...potentially.

• A heartbreaking post of the week

Serious question...why do you do it? 

What are your objectives and are you achieving them?

This week I received a message which challenged my views on posting content on LinkedIn™️. I disagreed with the points made but that doesn't make them wrong or inappropriate, just different and a good challenge to my thinking.

So I thought I would share my thoughts in this weeks episode.

That plus;

Drafting a post with AI✧

Premium perks

Forwarding DM's

More thoughts on organic reach (the lack of)

Post of the week

It's a common belief that the answer to poor (and getting worse) organic content reach from a company page is employee advocacy. So why are so many organisations getting it horribly wrong?

That plus;

• The new video feed and how it impacts the videos we post.
• Multiple image posts - new dimensions
• Images on external links are shrinking and it really doesn't matter!
• An outrageous post of the week

I was chatting recently with Lynnaire Johnston about this new feed (she doesn't yet have it) and she made the valuable point that this new style of delivery might necessitate a change in the way a video is produced.

Because the scroll has audio enabled (unlike in the normal feed) it puts more emphasis on the opening few seconds of the video and less emphasis on the words you type to accompany the post - these appear at the bottom of the video in this feed. This doesn't mean that you should worry less about the words because they still play an important role in the normal feed on both mobile and desktop (see image below).

In addition, the new video feed appears to zoom in somewhat which creates an issue with text on the video or even captions if you add them yourself.

As a reminder, this video feed is only enabled once you tap on some video posst you see on the main mobile feed, at the moment this is only for about 40% of the videos I see in my feed. Once you are in this feed you can the scroll to see more videos and those videos all autoplay with sound.

I suspect that LinkedIn will fix the zooming issue but that will probably take some time so it's worth ensuring your text does not go near the edges of your video for now.

The way images are displayed in a multi-image post is beginning to change as you can see here in these example of 2 and 3 image posts;

LinkedIn™️ have provided this helpful document which can be downloaded here.

I've had this change for a while but apparently more the majority of users are now seeing this in their feeds.

LinkedIn™️ have announced that images on posts with external links are shrinking unless you sponsor (advertise) that post, in which case the image stays the same size as it has always been.

Lots of people are up in arms about this!

Why?

External link posts are seen by very few people anyway so not seeing a larger or small image results in the same...it's not seen!

OK I'm being a bit cynical there but honestly guys, have you not learnt yet?....don't post external links, unless you really have to.

Earlier this year I was a panel member on stage at UpLift Live when a question about employee advocacy on LinkedIn was asked. My slightly cynical response was to state that asking employees to Repost or Like a company page post was not employee advocacy in any sense yet that is as far as most organisations go.

I stand by that answer but it did occur to me that it was worth trying to explain what a more productive method would be.

Firstly I am not a fan of the phrase 'employee advocacy'. To my understanding an 'advocate' is someone who promotes someone or something. This leads to a belief that employee advocacy is all about encouraging employees to promote the company that they work for.

And for the most part, that is what happens. Employees either repost company page content or directly promote the organisation that they work for either to other potential employees or customers.

This is highly ineffective.

Below is a classic example. Robert Half have published an article (ironically about employee advocacy) and then asked their employees to post it...so they do!

This is merely a distribution mechanism and, as you can see by the lack of engagement, not a very effective one!

Whilst this might be employee advocacy for some organisations, others 'ask' their employees to post about the amazing work environment or how they are so happy working for them or how impressed they are with the products or customer service etc etc.

It just comes across as forced and hollow...frankly nobody is buying it!

We all know that promotional content does not do well on LinkedIn, it is difficult to attract engagement and so typically achieves poor reach. So why do companies do it? It strikes me as being nothing more than a 'ticking the box' exercise.

"employee advocacy...done!" ✔️

All that said, we know that company page content has extremely limited reach and this reach seems to be getting worse so it does make sense for organisations to use their employees personal accounts for their benefit.

If however the objective is promotion, it simply won't work. The problem is that the objective is wrong, if the objective was greater visibility then employee advocacy could work, if done the right way.

When an employee of an organisation becomes influential on LinkedIn then the organisation will benefit from their greater visibility. To become influential on LinkedIn though, the employee shouldn't be posting about how amazing the company is, that's not great content.

The trick is to identify individuals within an organisation who have the motivation and ability to gain a following and influence on LinkedIn. This does not need to be many employees, just a few with the right mindset and desire.

The second part of this is about what employees are asked to do and many organisations will be deeply uncomfortable with what is the right approach - to encourage employees to develop their own personal brand by producing content that is helpful, interesting, entertaining and focussed on the audience.

This is usually seen as a threat in most organisations and that is the heart of the problem.

In the podcast I also get into the topic of recruitment and how this strategy will impact the sort of people that are recruited.

Tip: Start small by encouraging a few select employees to comment on company page content. Make sure the content is focussed on the audience and not the company and let the employees contribute to it by adding meaningful comments that add value to the piece.

These same employees should also be encouraged to comment of many other posts (not from the company) that are focussed on topics that will be interesting to your target audience.

Let them build their confidence and credibility this way first.

Then give them the tools and skills to start posting great content designed to encourage engagement.

Once they have gained a strong following and influence, they can occasionally post something about their employer or it's products/services but the main objective is to increase visibility and influence.

Ultimately, the power of employee advocacy lies in authenticity. By encouraging employees to share their unique perspectives, you can create a more compelling and genuine narrative for the organization.

This a belter from Lara Bywater and mainly because the topic is just....well, unbelievable really!

How on earth could anyone be so stupid as to think that this business card is OK? Maybe they would defend it by saying it's just harmless banter...if you believe that then just read the comment thread!

It's not clever, it's not funny and it shows a complete lack of empathy or understanding of how a woman would receive this.

The post is also well structured with a great hook line.

Well done to Lara for a great post and for having the courage to call out this sort of behaviour.

That's all for this week.

If you are in Odense in Denmark at Linkedsummit this week, come and say hello!

Until next time...

What changes can we expect and hope for on LinkedIn this year?

In this episode, I will go through my hopes, fears, and predictions for 2022…I think it’s going to be a good one!

Christmas is almost here and this is the last episode of 2021 so let’s take a look back at what’s been happening on LinkedIn this year.

A fantastic new notification feature was introduced this week but does this now require us to look more closely at our notification settings?

LinkedIn have announced the first cohort of 100 creators to benefit from funding and guidance support. I take a look at who they have selected and whether they are deserving of this support or not!

“Why should I bother creating awesome content, when it is arbitrarily limited by my connection network and not the quality of the content?”

I saw this comment in a thread this week and do you know what, it’s a really good point! …I think LinkedIn needs another feed, a feed where content is purely there because the algorithm thinks we will be interested - connecting, following and relevance do not count - just the quality and subject of the content.

Do you want followers or connections? Is a connection more valuable than a follower and can you build relationships with followers without the need to connect?

This week I deep dive into this and explore the relationship between followers and connections

I have been calling for employee verification on LinkedIn for years and LinkedIn have finally implemented it for company page admins…Unfortunately, they have done it for completely the wrong reasons and it doesn’t help at all!