2nd Edition

TL;DR Polls (1 regular, 3 reaction), Poll Methodology, #16Questions & #Blinkety Blank (on pause), The About Section (A Stunningly Good Example), Newsletter Stats, LAUGH (on FB), Annoying (Relevant / Recent View).

Polls (1 regular, 3 reaction)

In the last 8 days I ran 4 polls. Despite many people complaining about there being too many polls in their feed. It was an experiment. I wanted to see how people would respond to regular polls and reaction polls, when they’re apparently sick of the former. Reaction polls don’t use LinkedIn’s polling mechanism at all, they’re regular posts with a visual element which specifies which reaction to use for your vote. You are not limited to 4 voting options with reaction polls. They’re looked down upon by some because they assume the reaction poll author is trying to game the algo by getting reactions. It’s a valid point but if regular polls had an option to add visuals, maybe users would hate them less? Find them less boring? Inspire poll author creativity? I also polled on non-LinkedIn content. Just to see how the market reacted. They loved it! But do I think that talking about non-LinkedIn subjects will bring me clients? No. People hire me for my LinkedIn knowledge and branding skills. I do want to be in your feed - but I don't want to confuse you about my offer.?

Here’s my analysis:

1. I’ve had a recurring dream/nightmare! (Regular Poll)

24,052 views, 33 reactions, 90 comments, 0 shares, 0.51% engagement

2. Purple Baby has to go (Reaction Poll)

26,253 views, 317 reactions, 141 comments, 0 shares, 1.75% engagement

3. Chips + Mayo or Chips + Ketchup (Reaction Poll)

13,023 views, 148 reactions, 295 comments, 1 re-share, 3.41% engagement

4. Best Bond? (Reaction Poll)

10,533 views, 193 reactions, 101 comments, 1 re-share, 2.81% engagement

The big thing that leaps out to me is that despite racking up over 24,000 views on the regular poll, it only got 33 reactions and under 100 comments, anemic. If we think of views as ‘scrolls’ in the feed, poll boredom may be the cause. People evidently saw it but many who saw ignored, scrolled passed and on to the next piece of content.

But look at the number of comments on the reaction polls. Even when you factor in that 30-40% of these are mine, that’s impressive. I typically get 1.5% engagement (views to reactions/comment/re-share ratio) on my content. So all 3 reaction polls performed above average, for me. But wait. Can you guess what type of content delivered these (stellar) engagement rates last month?

I’ll give you a clue, starts with a ‘V’. Oh and those views are real (they're not feed scrollers/impressions).

Poll Methodology

So what’s my methodology? I like binary choices for polls, give the punter only two options and you juice engagement because all of those opinionated folks will jump in to comment “What about X?” or “There’s a 3rd option”. I’m also fully invested in the topic, I don’t just say “The Curious reaction is hopeless, let’s get rid.” or “I love mayonnaise with fries, who agrees?”, I lay out my argument succinctly and give relevant background. I think it’s essential to explain why you are taking a stance - even if the subject is hopeless or frivolous. Do I think that LinkedIn will swap Purple Baby for ROFL? Nope, that’s never gonna happen. Do I care what condiment you pair your fries with? Not especially. So what's the upside of running reaction polls? You avoid poll fatigue, to an extent. There are ample opportunities to snag attention with strong visuals. Last but not least: engagement. Relationship city, new connections are made. I love it when people are engaging solely because I created content that got strangers chatting. The Mayo poll was an international event, people from multiple countries interacting with each other and sharing food experiences/suggestions. Very cool (you heathens dipping fries into mustard, should not be admitting that in public). The Bond poll was an afterthought, I may have read something about the latest Bond film but I realized that because there were 6 (main) Bond leads, I could use all 6 reactions. Of course it was hard to resist for all Bond/Daniel Craig fans.

#16Questions & #Blinkety Blank (LinkedIn?Live shows on pause)

My LL shows have garnered super high engagement ratios. I’ve pressed pause on #16Questions and #BlinketyBlank. I think both deserve more viewers (what creator doesn’t think this?) but without a mooring for this content, without a dedicated video tab in my Activity section, it’s simply too hard for people to find these shows. Hashtags will not get you there. LinkedIn needs to step up on the hashtag front, make them genuinely useful and easy to leverage please. Hashtags can and should be a slick and reliable content delivery mechanism. If you follow a hashtag you should be notified of new/hot (hashtagged content) and you should have the ability to filter your feed by hashtags you follow. I’m waiting to see what LinkedIn delivers next on the video front. The Stories deletion message announced a “a new format that better supports the needs of our unique professional users”. This creator is waiting, patiently for a better (native) video experience. I want to be able to choose a thumbnail, have a template for similar/recurring shows, offer a schedule link that adds a show to the the user’s preferred calendar, offer paid/ringfenced shows and pretty please - no lag and being able to see comments live on one device. Oh - and no jumping hoops to respond to comments after the show.

The About Section (A Stunningly Good Example)

Writing about the About section in 2013 put me on the map. I was able to build a LinkedIn consulting business because Google put an article I wrote about the LinkedIn Summary at the top of the first page for “LinkedIn Summary” and “LinkedIn Summary Examples”. Happened when I had no clue about SEO/SEM, rode that horse for almost 4 amazing years, it stayed on the first page and drove an astonishing amount of unique visitors to www.linkedinsights.com = lightning in a bottle.

First screen is the performance of www.linkedinsights.com, second one is performance of the '3 Stunningly Good LinkedIn?Profile SUMMARIES' article.

LinkedIn should call it ‘My Story’. ‘About’ is too vague. ‘Summary’ too cold. Because my friends, it has to be a STORY, ideally your story. The best way to hook anyone, make them care about, think about you - is the telling of your (authentic/memorable/relatable) story. A few weeks ago I came across a story very well told in a LinkedIn About section. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce to you: Jackie Hermes

Captures Jackie's unique voice, doesn't it? Feel you know her, right? It's a great story, very well told. It gives you pretty much everything you need to know about her. Down to earth, growth narrative, her how and why. Now look at your About. Tell me how it stacks up.

Newsletter Stats

4,449 views, 293 reactions, 164 comments, 7 re-shares, 10.43% engagement on the First Edition. So far so good. I signed up over 11,000 subscribers since last Wednesday and I calculated I’d only get 8,500 (25% of my Followers). So that’s the good news. The bad news is that many people who have had Newsletter have complained to me about open rate. LinkedIn doesn’t give open rate (or any stats on when the notification of a new edition is sent/acted upon) but here’s a great example of things not adding up.?

How does someone with almost 147,000 subscribers only get this low level of engagement (122 reactions, 1 comment) after a week? Another thing that worries me is that I can see folks who have Newsletter and have simply given up, they’ve not written a Newsletter for months. Maybe it’s not you? Maybe it’s the notification system? If this 2nd edition of The Curious AF Newsletter fails to get reach, I’ll be pointing a finger at you know what.

Savage bounce to my profile page views, definitely linked to the Newsletter launch.

LinkedIn?Action User Group Heroes (LAUGH on FB)

I created a community for LinkedIn fans on Facebook in 2018. 1,147 Heroes, all sharing and helping each other, it’s a beautiful thing. If you want to get up to date support and insights on the LinkedIn platform from people who make it their business to know, you should join LAUGH. Don’t forget to answer my 3 questions as part of the joining process. https://www.facebook.com/groups/linkedinheroes

Annoying (1st World Problem)

LinkedIn = please make the ‘Recent/Relevant’ view sticky. I’ve wasted at least 4.8hrs (and counting) of my life switching it from Relevant to Recent. It’s never truly relevant, let’s face it. Let me know in comments if you know how LinkedIn decides relevance on posts.

That was nice!

Hung Lee, creator (and curator) of 'Recruiting Brainfood' gave me a lovely shout out in his most recent Newsletter 'This Week In Recruiting' Edition 29. If recruitment is your niche, I strongly recommend you follow Hung and subscribe to his newsletter.

That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading, I'll be seeing you next week :)

Andy