So LinkedIn! Are you loving it? Hating it? Trying to make sense of it? Or just not sure it’s for you?

It’s had a bit of a transformation of late. LinkedIn is literally trying to reinvent itself. From the corporate bore in the blue colours of Microsoft, IBM and Dell (yawn) to the pale, male and stale stereotype of its users. I’ve heard of people being told in the comments their posts aren’t welcome there, no fluff, no cats, no what did you eat for lunch and certainly no personality.

Things are a changing!

Oh yes!

LinkedIn has invested heavily in its video functionality, creating a whole new heap of people talking to camera baring all. And those that are embracing the new LinkedIn are finding a whole heap of new people to connect and do business with.

Yes it’s not as beautiful as Instagram and doesn’t have the user base of Facebook – but watch out LinkedIn is growing and gaining traction fast.

As people get frustrated with Facebook’s tight algorithm rules and look elsewhere they might just turn to LinkedIn.

Debunking the Linkedin Myths

There are 2 main myths. One that it’s just a placeholder for an online cv and two it’s the place to go if you want a job. Meaning if you’re not looking for work there is literally no point.

Linkedin has 25 million UK users – that’s 60% of the working and student population and 400 million globally. More than half of those log on monthly and 60% of those log on everyday.

Just to put this into context Instagram has 23 million UK users and, Facebook 39.2 million and twitter 17.1 million and Pinterest is hard to track down but released figures of 200 million users worldwide in 2017.

So if you’re ideal customer is 60% if the working population if the UK, they might just be on Linkedin.

Getting rid of the corporate image

Linkedin has been doing something interesting lately. They’ve got 'ambassadors' who for the love of LinkedIn are changing it's perception.

Authentic Alex

The lovely Alex Galviz, is a woman, a young woman, open and happy to talk about her vulnerabilities online. A very different linkedin voice. She believes Linkedin is the best kept secret in the social media sphere.

I heard her speak at a conference in London and she told 2 stories that helped change my perception of Linkedin – I’ll share them here for you!

She spoke about a story of a florist. Now a florist looks great on Instagram. Flowers look great. People love clicking ‘like’ on pictures of flowers. But who else is on Instagram? Loads of florists. Loads of competition.

So this florist decided to make a game changer and moved her marketing to Linkedin. What’s generally not on linkedin? Pictures of flowers and florists telling their stories. But who is on Linkedin? Business people, short of time who need to buy presents for their partners, their parents and their friends. The florist’s income went through the roof.

Alex told another story about a shoe maker. Really it’s the same story. Instagram seems to make sense, but it’s hard to get above the noise and the mindless likes. Do business people need shoes – yes they do. He’s also killing it!

Goldie Chan

Another of Linkedin’s Ambassadors is the effervescent Goldie Chan. A young woman, from America with green hair! Green hair, a million miles away from men in corporate suit.

She is a massive advocate of using video in linkedin to tell your story and get people to know, like and trust you.

She has 2 great courses on how to use video to stand out on linkedin and market your personal brand:

Might Linkedin be for you?

If you’re not already on Linkedin it might be worth dipping your toe in. If Authentic Alex is right and Linkedin is social media’s best kept secret, it might not stay that way for long.

Much held to be the place for discussions on business, people with products and services to sell are realising that Linkedin isn’t a place full of robots, but people with beating hearts and hopes and dreams just like the rest of us.

Could your ideal customer be there wishing they could find someone just like you?

Peaked your interest? Next week I’m going to give you some concrete tips, techniques and strategies to try out on linkedin for your business. Plus I’ll be giving the low down on using Linkedin business profiles, blogging and looking at what’s around the corner for Linkedin and whether going premium is worth it!

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