Informed Podcast by Mark Williams The podcast for LinkedIn™️ users

Host Mark Williams provides insights, news, feature updates and expert interviews for LinkedIn™️ enthusiasts. This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed or approved by the LinkedIn™️ corporation. Mark Williams is an independent trainer and does not work for LinkedIn™️ (not would he wish to!)

The Case For Impressions 04/12/2025

interesting People - Lea Turner 03/29/2025

Uplift Live 2025 03/22/2025

LinkedIn™️ invests in offline networking 03/15/2025

The Power Of Comments 03/01/2025

The LinkedIn™️ Video Feed 02/15/2025

One Hour A Week 02/10/2025

LinkedIn™️ in 2025 01/25/2025

Interesting People - Louise Brogan 12/14/2024

Video Killed the LinkedIn Star 11/30/2024

How not to prune your connections! 11/16/2024

The LinkedIn™️ TOFU Myth! 11/09/2024

Disappearing Connections! 11/02/2024

How To Fix The Services Marketplace! 10/19/2024

Genuine Connections, Lasting Impact 10/12/2024

The new video feed criteria 09/23/2024

Overthinking Content 09/07/2024

Why do you post? 08/31/2024

Podders 'Exposed' 08/24/2024

Proactive vs Inbound Business Development Strategies 08/17/2024

LinkedIn™️ Q&A 08/10/2024

Interesting People - John Espirian 08/03/2024

From Bland to Brilliant: Transform Your LinkedIn™️ Content with Personal Flair 07/27/2024

Why LinkedIn Automation Tools Are Ruining the Platform 07/20/2024

Appropriate posting for a company? 07/06/2024

Interesting People - Lynnaire Johnston 06/22/2024

Employee Advocacy on LinkedIn™️ 06/15/2024

Employee Advocacy on LinkedIn™️ 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 The New Video Feed I was chatting recently with 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. How a video is displayed in 3 different feeds 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. Multiple Image Posts 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 . I've had this change for a while but apparently more the majority of users are now seeing this in their feeds. Images On External Links 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. Employee Advocacy Earlier this year I was a panel member on stage at 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. 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. Post Of The Week This a belter from 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 this week, come and say hello! Until next time... Published by People call me 'Mr LinkedIn™️' · LinkedIn™️ visibility · Informed Podcast host · One to one online coaching · Speaker · Social Selling · Online sessionsPeople call me 'Mr LinkedIn™️' · LinkedIn™️ visibility · Informed Podcast host · One to one online coaching · Speaker · Social Selling · Online sessions Published • 4d So the organic reach for company pages has gone from poor to almost non-existent...so what do you do? You turn to your employees (who have better reach) and you call this employee advocacy! Sharing company page content is not employee advocacy, it doesn't really help either the company or the individual...but there is a better way. More of 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 from Want these articles delivered to your inbox automatically❓ Simply subscribe to the Informed newsletter Follow me 👊 Ring the 🔔 on my Profile /episode/index/show/linkedinformed/id/31747902

Copywriting with Dan Nelken 06/01/2024

Copywriting with Dan Nelken This week I had a thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking chat with Copywriting expert and author of the modern classic 'A self-help guide for copywriters' . I've been a follower and admirer of Dans work for several years, so I was delighted to finally get him on the podcast to talk about copywriting techniques, LinkedIn™️ and Bunions! Plus a post of the week about gender equality! Here are the topics we covered; Dan's Journey and Overcoming Self-Doubt. Dan shared his early days working as a forklift driver, his later studies at copywriting school, and his subsequent work as a copywriter at various ad agencies, working with massive brands. Authenticity in Professional Content We chatted about how people find it challenging to really be themselves on LinkedIn™️ and how we need to become 'an expert in being ourselves' and why our inner critic is a 'ding dong' - I wrongly assumed this was a Canadian term! He also shared his struggles with self-doubt and the importance of remaining true to oneself in communication Balancing Personal and Professional Content We discussed how sharing personal experiences can effectively engage the target audience by illustrating overcoming relevant challenges. Dan emphasized the importance of authenticity and using language to impress oneself rather than others "Your audience is you" We also discussed the trend of using complex vocabulary in professional settings and debated its effectiveness as a means of communication. Content Creation Strategy and LinkedIn Success Dan admits to being no expert in LinkedIn™️ content strategies but he has, through trial and error developed a style using images, quotes and carousel templates that resonate with his audience. He also discussed his 'list and twist technique' as demonstrated in this 2 page carousel post... AI & Creativity Dan does use AI and is impressed with it's capabilities but he "prompts it to prompt him to be more creative"...not to answer questions or create for him. Book Rankings, Deals, and Course Launches Dan revealed his challenges with the competitive element of launching a book and bestseller rankings and how with that and marketing he stuck to his values and accepted that he is not going to appeal to everyone and that being helpful to others is more important than maximising sales. Maximize image Edit image Delete image Click on the image above to view Dans book Embracing Self-Expression on LinkedIn Everyone has to start somewhere and Dans advice is to start small and develop a habit for content, even if it's just 15 mins a week brainstorming ideas for posts. Figure out who you are and how you want to communicate and develop the habit of creating content ideas. As mentioned earlier, above really is a very brief summary of a 55 minute conversation so I strongly recommend you listen to the full episode to gain the most from Dan's expertise. Thanks again to Dan for taking the time to share so many golden nuggets. Post of the week Plenty of good nominations this week including this from in support of Lara Acosta This weeks winner had less impressions and engagement but I've picked it because I think we can learn more from it. An attention grabbing and recognisable image of a film star couple with a brilliant hook 'My new man!!' followed by... Well icon…. Well screen saver.. ok not even screen saver… look I took the image from Google! and then the (now irresistible) 'See more' link Great structure, a great use of image and even more critical to it's success, an important and potential controversial topic. Congratulations to Jo (although you would be much easier to tag if you used your full name...just sayin!) and thanks to for nominating it. That's all for this week, feel free to and let him know what you thought of the episode. Until next time. /episode/index/show/linkedinformed/id/31548617

Unpacking the Decline in Organic Reach 05/25/2024

Leveraging Groups 05/18/2024

Informed Podcast by Mark Williams The podcast for LinkedIn™️ users

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