The Power of LinkedIN?

Taking a break from all things Apprenticeships today to look at something I have been thinking a lot of recently…LinkedIn!

Now we all know just how powerful a tool LinkedIn is when it comes to networking, getting ourselves out there, meeting new, like-minded people and even getting the chance to be involved with a bunch of new and exciting opportunities. You might even be reading this on the platform right now (LinkedIn inception, right?).

But I feel like sometimes we need to reflect on how much LinkedIn has helped our businesses thrive and grow. This is exactly what I’ve been doing this week.

I joined LinkedIN 11 years ago. I saw a gap in the Apprenticeship Sector for people to have a group where people who were involved in the sector could have a voice with people who shared their interest in apprenticceships. Apprenticeships England now has 24886 Members When I had 900 members I held the first get together. And on a Friday afternoon in London 100 people from all over the country got together at the Channel 4 Studio in London. and the rest is history.

The power of LinkedIn is amazing 4 weeks ago I started the Apprenticeships LinkedIn Newsletter 6500 people have subscribed. Contact lists, getting information out there is so important to people in our sector. Everyday I receive phone calls, emails from people in our sector. Would I have managed my business over the past 10 years without LinkedIN the answer for me would be no. Over the past few years LinkedIN has become more human, which I love. It is lovely to congratulate people for starting a new position, share success stories.

Over the past 2 years, however, users have increasingly veered into personal musings, according to Dan Roth, editor in chief of LinkedIn. Users are considering “what they want to do, are they working on the right things, how are they dealing with the pressures of work and life?”, he says. Mental health hashtags have “grown exponentially”, he adds. Recent popular posts have included a woman describing stepping down from her chief executive role to pursue her dream of becoming a mother. One man posted about how his partner coming out as transgender inspired him to pursue a more fulfilling but less lucrative career. And earlier this year, a young woman published a photo of herself in graduation robes alongside her father in a hospital bed before he died. This is part of a wider uptake in activity on the platform. There was a 38 per cent increase in the number of feed updates viewed in the first half of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020, LinkedIn says. Advertising revenue reached $1bn in the last quarter — almost double the same time a year ago. LinkedIn’s personal content also echoes a wider change in corporate culture that rejects buttoned-up emotions in favour of authenticity. Company mental health campaigns, for example, have encouraged employees to come forward with their stories of depression and other conditions. Social justice movements, such as #MeToo, have also depended on professionals sharing personal experiences. Would love to hear what others think.

My most viewed post on LinkedIN had over 200,000 views and hundreds of comments, It was a post about the Celebration of Women in Apprenticeship Conference. 150 women coming together to share their experiences of work and family. My greatest compliment from a gentleman attending was I was dragged here today, but now I cannot wait to get back into the room and hear more. Greatest event I have ever attended and I have learnt so much, which I can take back to the office and put in place. At one point we even trended on Twitter.

Have you a mailing listing ( I have 25,000 people on a Mailchimp list) and costs me ￡180.00 a month to use). Over the past few years many people have changed jobs, emails have changed. Very hard to keep up todate. LinkedIn is free I do not have a premium membership. But when I send out the LinkedIN newsletter I know it is going out to my 6500 subsscribers inboxes and my connections.

LinkedIn is different to other social platforms as it is much less about selling or marketing your products and services. In fact, blatantly pushing your business and hard-selling products is highly frowned upon throughout the platform. Instead, LinkedIn requires a different approach to marketing in order to get the results you want and appeal to your connections and other businesses.

So then why be on LinkedIn? That’s an understandable question to have when the process of marketing seems so different from the norm. After all, you want to make sure your efforts go into a platform that can deliver real results. Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the benefits LinkedIn marketing has been shown to have:

? Compared to Facebook, LinkedIn generates leads more effectively by 277%. ? LinkedIn accounts for 80% of B2B leads. ? LinkedIn also accounts for nearly 50% of the total social traffic coming to B2B sites. ? It is the top choice for professionally relevant content, with a little over 90% of executives choosing this platform.? LinkedIn has helped 45% of marketers improve their customer acquisition.

The benefits of LinkedIn in a professional environment far exceeds the other popular social media channels out there, therefore you should focus your efforts on LinkedIn marketing and optimise any strategy you might already have to reap the advantages.??

I have seen companies come and go over the last decade, but I have also made many dear friends through the site and seen people progress in their careers. I have 250 personal connections on facebook, 5000 Facebook Company page, 12500 followers twitter, and 33,000 followers and 30,000 connections on LinkedIN. I love LinkedIN, and if used right can make a real difference to your business and also your own professional circle. At one conference we had a young apprentice get up and speak, it was his first public speaking slot he was outstanding and I saw the audience stand up and give him a standing oviation. He had asked if he could invite his family to attend and to see his mum proud with tears running down her face makes what I try and do so worthwhile.

This was a write up Josh Dixon did after the event 2017

After having time to think over my presentation and soak up the reaction from the attendees and the wider apprenticeship / education sector, I wanted to write a brief overview of my experience at the conference, the feedback I have received and what it means for me to be an apprentice.

I felt the event was structured very well with all the speakers and attendees getting involved to discuss the hot topics around the Levy but also sharing the same views about how far the apprenticeship scheme has come and the work needed to continue driving apprenticeships forward. It’s great to see there is so much energy and support behind our apprentices.

As mentioned at the conference, it was a huge decision for me to leave the standard education route at 14 and it was not a decision that I took lightly given the comments from my previous school. When I left school I decided to continue my studies at Leeds City College. They not only allowed me to complete my GCSEs and Level 3 qualifications in a flexible, practical environment, but they also set me up with multiple work experience visits with companies across the region as well as universities. After leaving college, I decided to go down the apprenticeship route which has been an amazing experience for me. In the last two years, I have been promoted 5 times and I’m now looking after the software development team at award winning recruitment firm, Corecom Consulting. I’m very proud of my journey as an apprentice and I’m looking forward to being involved in driving the movement forward until apprenticeships become the norm for companies across the UK.

Thankfully, leaving schools and becoming an apprentice was one of the best decisions that I have ever made and enabled me to completely turn my life around, meeting some very influential people across the way who have helped me to get into the fortunate position that I am in today.

I’d like to say a big thank you to both Lindsay and Tony for giving me my first real breakthrough speaking at an apprenticeship specific conference as this wouldn’t have been possible hadn’t you managed to fit me in. My final thank you is to all the attendees and external community who have congratulated me on my journey across social media. I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoyed presenting in front of you and being able to share my experiences as an apprentice. The support you showed me has been phenomenal and I am looking forward to speaking at many more events across the UK; thank you

I will take away that I hope I have made a difference over the past decade

Thank you LinkedIn!

Moral of the story? Reflect back on your wins as a person/company, how far you’ve come, the relationships you’ve built and the tools that got you there.

Our next Event 24th Feb. 99 companys have booked delegates to attend to date. Are you going to be the 100th www.apprenticeships-conference.com