Launching a B2C business on LinkedIn??

LinkedIn?? is primarily a B2B networking platform but that doesn't mean that a B2C (business to consumer) business can't succeed. This week I talked with Anna Williams about how she recently relaunched her coffee shop on LinkedIn??.

That plus;

• How I became a LinkedIn 'Top voice'
• An update on profile verification with Persona
• More on how to get a community top voice badge
• New - Company sponsored articles
• Are hashtags still relevant?

LinkedInformed is a weekly podcast which you can listen to and subscribe to for free on any podcast app. These notes are merely brief overview of what I covered in the podcast so do listen to the full show on Spotify below or simply search for LinkedInformed on your podcast app of choice.

Firstly I would like to offer a big thank you to all who responded to kindly with ideas, advice and offers of support to last weeks show. I've been overwhelmed by the response and it has been a great help to me.

I have a shortlist of new names for the podcast and I will be deciding on the winner in a couple of week...watch this space!

How I became a LinkedIn 'Top Voice'

The short answer is... I have no idea! ??

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, my profile now boasts a new badge

Not to be mistaken for the lower grade and 'common as muck' Community Top Voice badge! (only joking), I have been granted the great honour of an 'on brand' blue badge. This was originally called an 'Influencer' badge and was only given to business leaders and famous people. In recent years they have changed it's name to Top Voice and handed them out to 'normal' people but they are not something you can apply for...you have to be selected by LinkedIn??!

I've been critical of the award of these badges in the past as they seemed to be pretty random and not based on the quality of their content, or anything one would normally consider to matter such as the amount of engagement etc.

And then, out of the blue, I get one!

Many have congratulated me, which is lovely but I know of plenty of others who deserve one far more than I do!

Here's the email I received;

The badge didn't actually appear until last week (a couple of weeks after the above was received). The first odd thing I noticed was a notification introducing me to LinkedIn?? Premium which I assumed was a mistake! The next day I noticed the badge and then I searched for and found the above email!

I'm not sure exactly what difference this will make to the reach of my content but I do like the way it adds that nice blue 'in' next to wherever you see my name!

I have no idea why I was selected but I'm sure it is in no way related to issues they have with me for trademark infringement and falling foul of the trust and safety guidelines - noting that you can lose the badge for that but I'm currently putting those things right so it should be an issue.

The good thing is that I can now assess and share with you what impact it has over the coming weeks and months...watch this space!

Profile Verification Update.

Listener David Thorne got in touch with some more useful information about the verification process through Persona as detailed last week. David says;

I have just listened to the last part on Persona, trust etc. LinkedIn it says somewhere in the T&C's do not get access to the data. What happens based on my understanding is the data is sent back as either "matches" or "doesn't match" (obviously word may vary). This was proved to me by it not liking "Dave" over "David" (which is obviously what's on my passport). This helps show it's not got (yet) the capability for preferred names (such as Dave, Tina for Christina and so on) whether that's a requirement of Persona or not I obviously don't know (and isn't likely to be publicly available). The indication from T&C's is Persona get your LinkedIn info, and use the Passport. My understanding is some countries use them for visa etc (mum and dad are moving abroad and had to use Persona to verify something, as an example.)

Excellent information, thanks David.

Collaborative Articles Update

Nanna Sondrup ?? got in touch with more information on what it takes to get a community Top Voice badge. It seems that not all topics are equal! If you contribute to very popular topics, you may find that it takes many more contributions to reach the top 5%

So the message appears to be to pick your topics carefully, if you pick a popular subject then you will need to contribute an awful lot to have any chance of a badge!

Company 'sponsored' Articles

It has been announced in this post that company page admins will now be able to 'sponsor' long form articles by targetting a specific audience, just as they can do with posts.

It's unclear whether the 'enter email address to continue reading' is obligatory in setting this up or not. If it is, the feature will be largely useless - if not, I would advise that it's not used...nobody wants to have to submit an email address to read your corporate content!

Seriously though, taking the option of requiring an email would depend on the content being 'highly valuable' rather than just interesting and useful.

Are Hashtags still relevant?

I thought this was an interesting discussion raised in this article in Social media today;

Despite reproducing a list of the top hashtags from 2021....how useful is that? Andrew does raise some interesting points.

My view on hashtags hasn't really changed. They've never been especially useful and nothing has really changed. They are worth using but don't expect too much from them!

Using LinkedIn?? to launch a B2C business

This week I got to interview my daughter! How amazing is that?

I wanted to get Anna on the show because she has recently taken over an re-launched a coffee shop in Alderley Edge in Cheshire (south of Manchester).

I was fascinated to understand how Anna saw LinkedIn?? as an effective way to launch her personal brand and how she has put the emphasis on her, more than she has on other SM platforms.

I'm obviously biased but I think she is doing a great job and if you are ever in the area, pop in for a delicious flat white or hot chocolate! I know she would be happy to see you ??

The audio in the podcast goes into a lot more detail but in summary;

• How it took her 10 mins to pluck up the courage to press the 'post' button on her first LinkedIn?? post!
• Why personal branding is important to her business
• Why it's so much quicker to post on LinkedIn?? than other SM channels (assuming you don't take 10 mins to hit publish!)
• The benefits of being visible on LinkedIn?? to a B2C business

This is Anna's first post that took 10 mins to hit 'post'...it was clearly worth the effort!

There are many B2C business owners on LinkedIn?? but how many really use it properly?

I'd love to hear of other examples...maybe you could tag them in the comments below.

No post of the week this week, I'm afraid and I'm on holiday next week but the podcast will be back with another interesting People interview with Nanna Sondrup ?? on 10th February.

Until then...