How to be LinkedIn and Sociable?
Many people have over the last six months become far more social than ever before.
What I mean is that since the Coronavirus lockdown many of us have been working from home (WFH) and have increased our social media input and some of us our output. I read a recent article on and about LinkedIn titled the ‘Mind-Blowing LinkedIn Statistics & Facts’ by Maddy Osman (April 2020).
In the article she quotes that the: –
‘Content on the LinkedIn feed receives about 9 billion impressions per week, but only 3 million users (out of the more than 500 million) share content on a weekly basis. This means that only about 1% of LinkedIn’s 260 million monthly users share posts, and those 3 million or so users net the 9 billion impressions per week.’ This is something that I find staggering, that’s an awful lot of people listening (reading and watching) and only a few people writing and talking.
That is an average of 3000 impressions/views per post , not everyone gets that many. On an average post, I might get 450 to 600 views; it’s climbing almost daily, but someone else is getting my extra views on their posts. We all look to get a viral post and some people get them every time they post. It is largely down to following and audience that they have and this takes time to establish and gain.
There are clear ways to increase traffic, but it also takes time to establish and build. You can associate yourself by tagging yourself with Influencers e.g. @Bill Gates Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, adding the @ sign and their name builds the association. This will create visibility for you not just with Bill himself, but with all his connections as well, just don’t over play that hand. It also has to be relevant to the people and to the audience that you are associating with.
Another way, is to follow a number of people, influencers, or people with a large following, in the subject areas or hashtags that are of interest to you (#training). You can comment daily on their posts that they make and other people who follow them get used to seeing your comments and will eventually check you out and hopefully follow you in turn. Make sure your comments are real, authentic, and meaningful, no one is going to follow a twit ??. Yes use Emojis in your posts they get peoples attention as well.
It is always worth posting a picture with your post, the more appealing or thought provoking the better, it helps people be more curious about the content.
If you are really brave and not camera shy at all, then video is an ideal medium; post it native on LinkedIn – up to 10 minutes’ worth per post. Video is regarded as the new mega trend on all, of the social media platforms and the fastest way to build an audience. Going ‘Live’ with video is the level beyond that really gets people’s attention especially if you do it, at the same time and on the same day each week. These are the sorts of things that can drive the stats up and start to get you into the viral options with people listening to your every word.
Some people on LinkedIn are certainly gaining the audience every time they post or utter a word, but they have worked hard for it. Remember you can lose an audience just as fast if you don’t keep it relevant and interesting.
Here are some more staggering statistics and facts from LinkedIn
- 40% of the monthly users engage daily
- 50% of University students join LinkedIn and only 9% of people whose education doesn’t surpass secondary school.
- Approximately 133 million users are in the US, more than 100 million across Europe of which 25 million are in the UK alone.
- Hubspot found that LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter.
- 80% of all B2B leads are now generated from LinkedIn
- More than 20 million companies have a company listing on the site and 14 million have open jobs
- 122 million people received an interview through LinkedIn, with 35.5 million having been hired by a person they connected with on the site.
- 54% of senior executives share work related video with colleagues at least weekly and 59% prefer to watch video.
LinkedIn is a members first social site; this means that priority is given to the members post above any advertising or other input.
So, what does that really mean – ‘Everyone has equal billing and viewing’?
Everyone potentially, has an equal opportunity, to learn how to use the site to get the audience they are looking for. The hard thing is to learn what works best for you and when you think you know LinkedIn will change the algorithms to keep you on your toes. But you must stay current & interesting to the audience that you have obtained and continue to grow and increase this.
I’ve been on LinkedIn since 2004 and just like many people have never used it in anger before.
Until now, over the last eight (8) weeks, the last two months, I’ve been posting on a regular basis. Currently I am posting every day, Monday to Friday, and hopefully making it as interesting as possible to as many people as possible.
As a recruiter however, its often hard for me not to talk about recruiting, retention, interviewing techniques and other recruiting issues and concerns. The key is to find things that are relevant to the audience that you are looking for. Finding things that will be of interest, we all have concerns beyond the day job we do for a living, so tap into those things. They are all people at the end of the day just at work and are still a potential follower for you if you can snag them.
About the Author
Howard Longstaff has over 25 years of experience delivering people within the talent acquisition arena.
He has worked extensively across the UK, Europe, USA, Canada as well as in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Over the last 20 years he has specialised in two fundamental areas, although he often covers a wider remit due to his thirst and understanding of technology. The first area which he has a real passion for, building ‘Sales Teams’, pulling together the very best ‘A Players’ and creating something very special for his clients.
To do that, he needs to have a clear understanding of what his client wants, so establishing clear communication with the client is paramount, understanding the nuances of what they are looking for and documenting this. Understanding the technology, the opportunity, and the growth potential all help to find the ‘right fit, first time’. He is one of the few head-hunters that is willing to guarantee his work, offering 12 months free replacement.
The second area he loves getting involved in, is the leadership team, the C-Suite, helping to get the balance right, cover the gaps in knowledge, skills and experience, working on the assumption that ‘No one is perfect but a team can be’?
Howard is someone who thinks outside the box, has an eye for detail, but is perceptive, looking beyond the surface of just skills and experience. He wants to know and understand the candidate behaviour as well as the emotional intelligence, the motives that drive the candidates he interviews. He is looking for the best fit for his client but also looking to ensure it is a fit for the candidate as well.
In the last 25 years he has also built his own companies and opened offices in New Zealand, Los Angeles, New York and most recently several companies in London. Specialising in technology companies, he has delivered permanent resources across practically every department. This has predominantly been for technology start-ups (Enterprise Software Co’s) but also for many leading management consulting and enterprise clients.
Howard is someone that uses technology to enhance the hiring process, to save time, money and effort and take the pain out of the process, but to find those ‘Exceptional People, who are so hard to find’. He operates a ‘Private Client Video Portal’ keeping everything together, the video, as well as psychrometric behavioural assessments on candidates and interviewing on an emotional intelligence level. He has repeatedly built teams across three continents, so has a good breadth of knowledge across the talent acquisition arena.