The Power of LinkedIn

LinkedIn gives users great power, and with great power comes great responsibility. The platform helps users engage with others and learn more about the professional world. It strengthens our networking skills while giving members opportunities to pursue a variety of different jobs and internships.

Through various observations, many users post on LinkedIn regarding personal branding, relevant information, and job opportunities. The interactions and discussions are fascinating, especially those from users to well-known influencers like CEOs and businessmen.

I decided to jump on the “LinkedIn train” to see the capabilities of the platform. My goals included the following:

1. Measuring engagement between users and posts
2. How posts translate into higher traffic/profile views
3. Takeaways from posting relevant content on the platform

The Three Posts

Post #1

My first post was simple: a status regarding a phone chat with a recent grad who wanted me to “push his resume”. The purpose of the post was to tell a story and provide an alternative to the approach taken by a recent grad. Here are the stats of the post:

Through LinkedIn’s advanced features, users may see how many other users liked, shared, and viewed their post. In the first post, it had 162 likes, 5 comments, and over 15,000 views. What’s amazing about the information from LinkedIn is that we see who looks at our posts and from what industry; it says their company, title, and location. In this case, the most user views came from my university, UC Riverside, and the Big Four accounting firms like Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG. The surprising statistic showed that most views came from San Francisco Bay Area, a location I had not known many members from, but an area in which I want to pursue a future career.

Post #2

The second post occurred a few weeks later. This time, media and content were added; it included a before and after picture with one of my mentors who had helped me with my career goals. I included hashtags at the end while tagging my mentor and companies correlating with the post. The stats of the post are as followed:

When comparing this post from the last one, it received over 8,000 more views and almost 100% more likes with over 300. Also, more tech companies looked at the post including Microsoft, Google, and, of course, Snap. Once again, the views based on location were mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Post #3

The last post out of the three had to do with a LinkedIn workshop I lead at Concordia Irvine University. I posted it around 9:00AM on a Tuesday, which was Halloween Day. The post’s purpose was to acknowledge students attending the workshop and exemplify ALPFA’s value. I took a different approach to this post; I tagged an influencer, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, as well as Concordia Irvine University, LinkedIn, ALPFA, and included hashtags at the end. I thought it would be a long-shot for Jeff Weiner to see the post; However, he liked/shared the post an hour later! The stats are from the following post:

After Jeff Weiner liked the post, the likes, views, and comments went through the roof! Over 560,000 LinkedIn users viewed the post and 1,772 likes. However, the most important statistic was the amount of shares. It had 15 shares, 12 more shares than the previous two posts combined. Due to the shares and likes, the post was seen by audiences not only in the United States but also worldwide. Some locations included New York City, Chicago, India, and London.

Totals and Profile Views

For the three posts, the total stats were over 600,000 views and 2,000 likes. There was not only high engagement on the posts, but it also translated into more users viewing my profile. In a few months, the profile views increased significantly with over 2,600 new views, a 373% increase. This increase is because of 3 posts, sharing content, and being active on LinkedIn.The stats for profile views are as followed:

Before first post:

After Last Post:

Takeaways from LinkedIn Posting/Sharing

There are 5 takeaways I took from LinkedIn posting and sharing that I would like to share. They include the following:

Great content = Great stories: By posting great content, we tell a story about our own careers and how we got to where we are today. We not only create personal branding, but inspire others to post their own stories to share with other LinkedIn users. LinkedIn creates that environment of networking and meeting others.

The Influencer Effect: When telling your story, it is important to tag and mention those in the story that may be relevant to the content. For example, if you attended a Speaker Series or a Forbes event and met a person you look up to, you can tell a story about why they inspire you and have meaning behind it. By tagging/mentioning the person and event you attended, it not only brings attention to what you have been up to, but also informs other users about possible events they may attend in the future. In the third post, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner liked the content, thus sharing to over 7 million of his followers/connections. You never know what effect a simple like or share may have.

Sharing Relevant Content and its Purpose: What is the purpose of the content we share? Is it relevant to what we aspire to do later on, or is it helpful information to our network? By posting and sharing relevant content, we inform our network of our interests, opportunities, and important articles. Many LinkedIn members use the platform to be informed about what is going on in the world, and by sharing content, we are able to contribute valuable information to others.

Engagement Strategy with Users: By strategizing engagement with users who like/comment on your posts, we can gain more traffic and establish stronger relationships. For example, there were 29 users who engaged with one of the posts. By commenting in hourly increments, ranging from 2-4 hours, the post will continue to appear on other user timelines. This strategy keeps your post at the top of LinkedIn’s algorithm, translating to more views and recognition.

LinkedIn Premium Perks/Features: LinkedIn premium perks give you your “bang for your buck”. With premium, users are able to send in-mails to users they are not connected with and also see who has viewed their profile. For example, when I posted content and received more profile views, I looked at who viewed my profile, specifically those in the same industry. I then sent them a personalized message to connect; over 80% of users accepted. This is just some of the perks that LinkedIn premium offers, which I highly recommend getting.

Regarding these takeaways and postings, I hope it inspires others to post and share content of their own. It is all about being authentic and telling your story. Through LinkedIn, we connect and network with those in areas of interests and inquire about their experiences. By utilizing the platform correctly through proper interactions and networking, users will realize the power of LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmjavier/

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