Getting Value out of LinkedIn?

The TL;DR top tips are:

1. Follow hashtags and join groups on subjects that interest you. Hashtags with a high number of followers will probably have the most content - you can search on the hashtag and see the posts before following
2. Clean up! Unfollow hashtags & leave groups that no longer interest you. Decluttering your feed is a key step in improving its relevance to you!
3. Report irrelevant Ads (or use the browser). LinkedIn creates revenue from presenting Ads to you. Tell LinkedIn if those Ads are not relevant. I've noticed a huge difference in the number of Ads on the mobile app to the browser. If you're one of the many who hate Ads, use the browser!
4. Engage. LinkedIn is a Social Media platform. Your interaction with your LinkedIn feed will mean those content creators get prioritized in your feed in the future. Don't just scroll on by, Like, Comment or Share. LinkedIn will surface similar content next time.

If you like these tips - give my post a Like or Reshare - it will get these tips out to a much broader audience!

So how did I get these?

If you've seen my video diaries you'll know I've been on a journey with LinkedIn. I have this point of view that the new future of work means we need to reimagine how we work and learn from adjacent industries. So I'm trying to become much more comfortable creating content for social media and improve my business relationships while we work remotely.

One thing I noticed during the pandemic was I was using YouTube far more than I had in the past. From learning how to repair my dishwasher, to learning how to draw, YouTube became my go-to service for most learning. I realized that content is now all around us on various platforms, so I looked at how "business content" in LinkedIn was being surfaced to me. I realized with some optimization LinkedIn could give me leading edge perspectives on topics I am curious about.

I wondered; how many other people were getting value from LinkedIn?

Turns out most people don't think LinkedIn helps them do their best work (55% negative). Most people (including myself) also have a low attention span when it comes to their LinkedIn feed.

For content to have meaningful impact on your work, that content needs to be early in the feed otherwise you're unlikely to see it. I wondered, do people tell LinkedIn what they're interested in? LinkedIn interprets your interests based on the network you have, the groups you are a member of and the #tags you follow.

It turns out that most of you don't tell LinkedIn what you are interested in! This is a big issue if you're looking for meaning in your LinkedIn feed. You need to tell the platform what you're looking for so it can provide you with content, otherwise the quality of your LinkedIn feed is always going to be poor. Search and find groups that share interesting content, follow hashtags that are relevant to your current project. Improve your feed by telling the platform what you need.

Now there's a flip side; our interests change over time. If you are in groups or follow hashtags you're no longer interested in, your feed is going to contain content you are no longer interested in. I realized I was in groups and following many hashtags from things I did years ago. It turns out I'm not alone!

So improve your LinkedIn feed by leaving groups and unfollowing hashtags that are no longer relevant to you. This clean up can have a massive improvement on the content in your feed.

And finally... Ads. One evening I noticed my LinkedIn feed on my cell phone had every other post as an Ad. I checked my laptop. No Ads in the browser interface. I started reporting Ads as irrelevant or uninteresting, the number of Ads on my cell phone decreased dramatically. Turns out Ads irritate many of us. Report those Ads!