LinkedIn: 690 Million Users and Growing
Did you know that LinkedIn has 690 MILLION active users? This was announced by parent company, Microsoft at the end of April in their quarterly earnings news.
How is LinkedIn gaining so many users? For this, we need to look at some of the newest features and how that drives users to this business-oriented platform.
Live Streaming – This is one of the biggest advances LinkedIn has made. While Facebook & Instagram launched live streaming features 4 years ago, LinkedIn joined the party much later. Last year, they brought us LinkedIn Live and LinkedIn Events which winds up being a total virtual event solution. This allows you to host your events in a trusted environment and invite all of your 1st level connections. For me, that’s over 1600 people! Talk about the power of leveraging your network.
Let’s put some perspective on why live streaming is important. Last year alone, viewers watched over a billion hours of live stream video content per StreamElements & Arsenal’s 2019 year-end report. And, according to LinkedIn, LinkedIn Live is seeing 23 times more comments per host and six times more reactions per post than native video.
So why isn’t everyone doing LinkedIn Live Streaming? In part, you must apply to become a LinkedIn Live broadcaster. Additionally, LinkedIn is currently experiencing heavier than normal the number of requests, so processing is a bit slower. Applying does not guarantee that you will be approved. If you are interested in applying, you can do this here: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask/lv-app.
It would be unfair and inaccurate to present live streaming as the only feature that is driving people to LinkedIn. They have consistently worked toward making the platform more user friendly, maintaining business focus, and eradicating bots and automation from spamming its users. So next, we’ll chat about some of the new profile options that have been implemented
Featured Profile Section – Keep in mind that the first two items in the Featured Profile section are the only ones that show in their entirety, but you can highlight as many items here as you want. You can also reorder them so that the most important two are always at the front. If you had media in your About Section, then this auto-populated in the Featured section of your profile automatically. To edit or add items, click on the down arrow by your profile picture, then select “view profile”. Once in your profile, click on the blue “add profile section button” and select “featured.” From here you can add featured posts, media, links to website content, or articles. Having a well thought out Featured section can really help you stand out as a job-seeker or business.
Organic Reach – Okay, this is not a new feature, but it is definitely worth mentioning. In 2018 Facebook made significant algorithm changes. Your business’s official Facebook page got a real smack-down on the natural traffic and engagement. With LinkedIn, this is not the case. Their high standards have kept the trolls off their site. So, there has been no reason to create such a restrictive algorithm. You really can get a great reach organically by simply engaging yourself with those who you wish to have conversations with. This is without any of their paid products, although those can also help you increase your reach.
While the methods of making connections is often debated regarding whether a L.I.O.N. – LinkedIn Open Networker – approach is better than a selective strategy, it is true that building your network increases your opportunities to have conversations with those with whom you connect. Building a network of peers, colleagues, potential clients, and referral assets will create a broad range of connections with ample opportunity. There is also some merit to a more strategic approach.
Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn has an algorithm. Connecting through the L.I.O.N. method causes confusion with the algorithm. If your goal is to generate business leads, then it is important to be more intentional about who you connect with and what industry or job title they have.
So now you know some of the reasons why LinkedIn is becoming more popular, why are you then not jumping into it?
New to LinkedIn? Connect with me: www.linkedin.com/in/denisecagan. Connect with DCA Virtual Business Support: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dca-virtual-business-support.