Neuroscience and LinkedIn

About a month ago I received a personalised connection request from someone who had the words ‘LinkedIn and Neuroscience’ in his headline….as you can imagine this really piqued my interest.

What on earth does that mean?

So I arranged to have a chat with him and he explained to me his theories and how he uses his understanding of the ‘social brain’ to achieve success on LinkedIn…….so I just had to get him on the show!

But first…..

Hashtags on LinkedIn

Following on from the recent episode on our feeds getting more personal, I saw that this new information from LinkedIn has motivated some interesting research into hashtag usage from two LinkedIn specialists.

Great work from Richard, nothing new as such but I especially like point 4, it really is critical to engage with new connections if you want them to see your content.

Point 6 is correct but as discussed previously, it’s not driven by the algorithm, the algorithm is merely responding to our lack of interest in Shared posts

This is a really useful list from Andy who featured in episode 229

As previously mentioned it looks like using the most popular hashtags is more important than using random ones (provided they are relevant).

Here is my video post on the subject;

Following this post, I was asked an interesting question;

1. Do LinkedIn actually penalise you for using more than 3? I use about 15 at the moment!! I’ve noticed engagement dropping off so I wondered….

2. Is there a benefit in using the same HTs for every post? I’m thinking about continuity and what people might expect to look for to find you. What’s your thoughts on this?

Answer;

1, I have heard this same feedback from others recently so I suspect the answer is yes….which is probably why they are now clearly stating 3 max. This appears to be a recent change.

2, It could be true but I also think it’s very important to ensure the HT’s used are relevant to the post. In addition, you may find that you are hitting the same audience every time by using the same HT’s. I think visibility is important but it’s much more effective when spread across a wider variety of people. 100 comments a week across 5 posts but only 25 original commenters vs 100 comments a week across 5 posts with 50 original commenters. The second provides you with much greater visibility.

The Social Brain

Click screenshot to view Marko's profile

In my chat with Marko we covered a lot of ground.

Essentially Marko teaches LinkedIn techniques using the understanding of how the Social Brain works. This video of a TedX talk explains more about the Social brain.

A big part of Marko’s LinkedIn strategy is to target people based on shared interests and values. This requires courage because you will always be focussing on a smaller amount of prospects. The reality is though, you achieve more by taking more time and consideration for each prospect rather than taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach to a large number of prospects.

LinkedIn works best when it is used as a people to people network. human beings are naturally inclined to connect with people so by using LinkedIn in this way we are likely to achieve greater success…and importantly enjoy what we are doing. This is one of the key reasons company page updates struggle to engage – the social brain gravitates towards people.

On LinkedIn this breaks down into three areas;

• Newsfeed
• Connecting
• Messages

Newsfeed

Content that is produced in line with the interests and values of your carefully selected target market – remember these topics are also aligned to your own interests and values. This is mostly an inbound lead generation technique and should be focussed on providing information that is interesting and helpful to your audience. Marko refers to Gary Vee’s 80/20 principle (from his book Jab jab jab, right hook) meaning that a max of 20% of your content should be promotional. Side note; I’m increasingly advising people to promote less – more like 95/5 unless the promotional content is as interesting and entertaining as the rest

Follow relevant content and read the profiles of those who engage. From this you will gain many clues as to how to structure your own profile to fit with your target audience. Side note; Authentically of course. A profile should be written for your target customers but must also include enough information about you and your character – Marko’s ‘goat’ story is a good example.

Connecting

Follow and engage with people who fit your specific criteria. Ensure your profile (especially the headline) is likely to grab the attention of your audience (see above) and then send a personalised invite (not a template message) that clearly demonstrates you have read their profile and have thought about why you want to connect. This is precise and considered approach appeals to the recipient’s social brain.

Aim to connect with people that are aligned to your interests and values. This means developing a ‘social intuition’ from reading their profile, specifically look at;

• Summary
• Interests section – Groups they have joined, Influencers they follow, companies they follow.

Messages

Never send template messages and always follow up connection requests (InMail). When the connection occurs follow up with a non-salesy, relevant message and then an email. If no response from that then back off, add them to a CRM and follow up again in about a month – just a short ‘light touch’ message.

Storytelling

We know that storytelling is very appealing and this also appears to be connected to the social brain. Because we are drawn to other people we love to hear and follow their stories – The Star Wars films were heavily influenced by this.

I mentioned my interview with Simon Bourne in episode 207. He is a classic example of how this works.

Marko refers to Keith Ferrazzi and his book Never eat alone

This is also the video Markos refers to where Keith talks about vulnerability

A fantastic example nominated by Giles Davis. Giles wasn’t sure if it would win as he saw it offering no value….I disagree, it’s an excellent and creative example of a subtle promotional post that is interesting and comment-worthy – perfect!

Company Pages

As we have discussed before, LinkedIn are making a concerted effort to make Pages more relevant and effective.

Are you a page admin and do you want to know more about how LinkedIn plan to make your role easier/more effective?

Let me have your questions.

I’m in touch with a good source at LinkedIn and they have offered to answer your questions.

Fire away folks….

That’s all for this week.