How to Become a LinkedIn - Google Influencer
Madhav Trivedi
SEO | Founder | IMDb Performer Certified | Physics Journal publisher | endorsements , Recommendations
"How did you grow from 500 connections to 88,000 followers?!" I was recently approached on LinkedIn to share my insights on how to grow a following on LinkedIn. The questions were unique and I thought my answers could benefit you, too!
Let me first express that I do NOT consider myself an "influencer" - in fact, I absolutely loathe that term. My initial goal of sharing content on LinkedIn was to help the world understand the hidden battles of the disabled, chronically ill, and caregiver communities in the workforce.
I remember how excited I was to reach the 2410 Followers just a couple of years ago. Why would anyone want to follow a bubbly stranger from a town nobody has ever heard of in the middle of nowhere, USA?
LInkedIn influencers, as they are called, are paid?$0?by Linkedin to create and share their content.
Since launching LinkedIn Local Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago, I have helped other professionals establish large followings as well Who named me Einstein, leveraging just a few simple concepts and a whole lot of time and dedication to quality.
How to Become a LinkedIn Influencer
(Ew, I already hate that title, but SEO wants me to use that term more, so here I go!)
1.?Who qualifies as a LinkedIn influencer? Is there a difference in this definition across other social media platforms, or are they pretty much the same?
In my opinion, there is a difference between successful professionals who have already established a colossal digital reputation (i.e. Gary Vaynerchuk, Arianna Huffington, Richard Branson, etc.) vs a LinkedIn Influencer. LinkedIn Influencers have spent countless hours mastering the art of personal branding and content strategy whereas the other already established professionals outsource 95% of their content and engagement strategy. In my opinion, based on personal experience, qualifiers of a LinkedIn Influencers include:
?? Dedicate time to supporting other creators on the platform
?? Become an active community member in digital and in-person events
Share knowledge on the LinkedIn platform to help others achieve similar results
The biggest difference between LinkedIn and other social media platforms is that LinkedIn really requires a level of quality and professionalism mixed with a dedication to build real connections with your audience. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other social platforms are really reliant on the quality of content, not on the community-dedication of the influencer.
Other social media influencers use their established audience to land brand deals and promote products and services on their account for income. Although this is not yet a common practice on LinkedIn, I certainly have a feeling it will soon come.
2.?What role can an influencer have on LinkedIn?
I believe there are three ways to establish influence on LinkedIn as you will see by the big names and viral content.
The results of each type of influencer will vary based on the goals they set in place. For example,?The Educator?usually is there to build thought influence and generate leads via the LinkedIn platform whereas?The Ghost?is there to build success based on vanity metrics (likes, comments, follows).?The Inspirer?falls somewhere in between, receiving awards and bookings for a workshop, consulting, or motivational speaking engagements.
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3.?If an influencer on Instagram is there to help promote products and branding - what does a LinkedIn influencer do/influence/create?
Just like building a corporate business online, you have to begin with brand awareness marketing and completing a rock-solid digital reputation and personal brand. Your personal brand on LinkedIn may differ slightly from your presence on Instagram due to the different platform dynamics regarding professionalism and career growth. Here is a typical strategy I suggest other influencers follow to grow their influence on LinkedIn from alternative platforms:
1)????Polish Your Personal Brand
2)????Complete Your Professional Profile
3)????Understand the LinkedIn Algorithm
4)????Tweak Your Content for the LinkedIn Feed
5)????Have Fun!
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4.?What tips would you like to share to help someone find and establish a relationship with an influencer?
Influencers are Regular People who have just shared a lot of information online. How would you normally start up a conversation with a stranger? Thankfully, Influencers have lots of content available for you to review and learn more about them. Try one of the following ways to contact them directly via a direct connection request or message:
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5.?Any final lessons or secrets?
Bots and pods work, but only minimally. Bots are usually used to auto-comment and engage with posts as well as respond to incoming messages. These tools work but only minimally because you cannot create authentic conversations on autopilot. It’s the authenticity that makes personal brands truly shine.
Pods are engagement groups designed to share and promote content. This is a very common feature on Instagram to boost a piece of content’s reach in the algorithm. It works but the auto-commenting features are obvious and obnoxious. Proceed with caution.
How did you grow from 500 connections to 88,000
I was recently approached on LinkedIn to share my insights on how to grow a following on LinkedIn. The questions were unique and I thought my answers could benefit you, too!
Any final lessons or secrets?
Bots and pods work, but only minimally. Bots are usually used to auto-comment and engage with posts as well as respond to incoming messages. These tools work but only minimally because you cannot create authentic conversations on autopilot. It’s the authenticity that makes personal brands truly shine.
Pods are engagement groups designed to share and promote content. This is a very common feature on Instagram to boost a piece of content’s reach in the algorithm. It works but the auto-commenting features are obvious and obnoxious. Proceed with caution.
A final piece to be aware of when investigating whether or not to use a bot or pod is that LinkedIn has a very restrictive policy regarding illegitimate behavior. According to the guidelines you approve when creating an account, you agree not to leverage a third party via LinkedIn. A way around this is to organize “group chats” as pods within the platform and to set auto-replies on your LinkedIn account. If you get locked down or put into the LinkedIn Jail it takes time to get out — if you are lucky enough to not have your account deleted
We’re taking a look at the IPOs of tech’s biggest players, the firms that we call the?Big 5. They started with?Amazon. Next up on our list is Google, the search and advertising giant.
Google,?now part of Alphabet, a holding company it created, went public in 2004. At the time, the firm frankly told investors in its?founders’ letter?that it was “not a conventional company,” and it did “not intend to become one.”
For Google, the unconventional attitude worked and it worked well. But before its IPO more than 10 years ago, the company’s future was hardly certain. The climate that Google went public under is almost hard to imagine: In the pre-unicorn era, the most valuable internet company wasn’t even worth $50 billion (as we’ll see). Today, there are?private?tech companies worth more than that.
In the end, Google went public worth around $23 billion. That number should sound familiar, as it is a mere $1 billion from?Snap’s own IPO value?set earlier this year.
To understand Google’s debut, we have to turn the clock back to 2003. Let’s go.
2003
Before its IPO, Microsoft and Google reportedly discussed doing something together. Details are vague, but?Ars Technica?published some interesting details in late 2003, the year preceding Google’s debut.
Leaning?on Ken Fisher’s?contemporaneous reporting, here are the words used to describe the potential for a Microsoft-Google link:
Sources are saying that?Microsoft was previously courting Google, pursuing options ranging from a kind of merger to an outright takeover. It appears that their overtures failed to materialize any deal, so now the Redmond will have to wait; Google?is?headed in the IPO direction, and if there’s a merger to be had, it’s likely going to be with a post-IPO Google.
The same?Ars Technica?piece goes on to report that, yes, Google “appear[ed] to be in preparation to convert to publicly-traded status,” a result that would be “huge.” That wound up being incredibly correct.
(For fun: In 2006, Microsoft launched Windows Live search. In 2007, it was renamed Live Search. It was later rebranded Bing in 2009.)
How close Google and Microsoft ever got to a deal is now immaterial, because, on April 29, 2004, Google?dropped its first S-1.
Google up close
The firm’s initial S-1 would later be supplemented with another quarter’s financial results as the IPO came together during 2004, but it’s worth noting that, in the original document, the company reported steep growth?and?growing GAAP profits.
The company’s later filings have an even fuller picture of that expansion, as they included the quarter ending June 30. Here’s?the full set of numbers:
As you can see, Google was growing at a tremendous clip, regarding its revenue and profit, when it filed. The firm’s first to second quarter sequential growth rate was just 7.5 percent, but the year-over-year comparison Google set in the second quarter of 2004 calculates to a 181.6 percent growth rate.
And as Google’s revenue grew, its net income grew, as well. In the first half of 2004, Google’s revenue totaled $1.351 billion, from $559.8 million in the first half of 2003. Profit grew to $143.0 million in the first two quarters?of 2004, from $58.9 million during the first six months of 2003.
(Keep in mind as we go on that Google winds up being worth?less?than Snap at its IPO.)
Google had something else at the time that we’d be remiss to mention before diving into the pricing saga that surrounded its IPO. The firm had a bucket of cash — nearly $550 million — and limited liabilities.
It isn’t hard to guess from the numbers that Google was growing quickly under its own steam — the search engine didn’t really need the IPO proceeds to fund its business. Doubling down on that point, the founders’ letter is illustrative again: “Google has had adequate cash to fund our business and has generated additional cash through operations.” Correct.
Pricing dance
What was Google worth? The final number was hard to uncover at the time it went public.
To wit, Google’s?first S-1?indicated that the firm wanted to raise as much as $2.72 billion in its IPO. Later?filings?pushed that number as high as $3.989 billion, a valuation that entailed a per-share price of $135.
Google’s IPO aspirations were eventually cut down to allow the firm to cross the finish line. The following?New York Times?passage?from July 27, 2004, describes the company’s mid-summer 2004 pricing moves:
The popular Internet search company, which is attempting to sell shares to the public in an unconventional auction, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it expected its shares to sell for $108 to $135 each.
That would value the company at $29 billion to $36 billion, putting its market value just below the $38 billion value of Yahoo, a larger and far more mature Internet company. The most valuable Internet company, eBay, is worth $49 billion.
This analysis is interesting for a few reasons:
A different era.
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Regardless, Google went public at $85 after cutting the number of shares offered to 19.6 million from nearly 25 million. The company’s valuation wound up at $23 billion.
Doing some quick math, at $23 billion, Google priced at a trailing revenue multiple of just over 10. That’s high by today’s SaaS standards (Google wasn’t SaaS as we think of it), but it becomes incredibly?cheap?by modern standards when you realize that you can calculate Google’s PE ratio at the time (around 120). It was already profitable, and profitable revenue is worth more than unprofitable revenue — all else being held equal.
Despite the fact that Google would have been wildly healthy by today’s standards, it isn’t hard to find naysayers from the time. This lede, for example,?sticks out:
Google said Wednesday it will go public at $85 a share, paving the way for the widely awaited but troubled stock offering to finally stumble to market on Thursday.
Good heavens, CNN Money!
The point, however, was that Google thought it was worth more than the market did at the time, hoping for that $135 per share and ending up with just $85. In the end, both parties were wrong. Google was likely cheap at $135 per share, the upper end of its highest range.
But IPOs are both magic and math, something that Google took to the next level with?how?it went public.
The Dutch auction
Google, not content to do things along normal lines, went public using a Dutch auction. If that sounds unfamiliar, don’t feel bad. Aside from Google, I can’t recall a company of real note that has used a similar process since.
And, as we’ll see, perhaps there’s a reason for that. Regardless, back in 2004, the company’s Dutch auction was big news. Forbes?quoted a money manager at the time?who called the choice “definitely the biggest story” of the IPO.
That wasn’t correct; the strength of Google’s core business was the biggest story, but the quote shows how odd Google’s call was at the time.
The?same Forbes piece?does a fine job detailing what a Dutch auction entails:
In a Dutch auction, a company reveals the maximum amount of shares being sold and sometimes a potential price for those shares. Investors then state the number of shares they want and at what price. Once a minimum clearing price is determined, investors who bid at least that price are awarded shares. If there are more bids than shares available, allotment is on a pro-rata basis–awarding a percent of actual shares available based on the percent bid for–or a maximum basis, which fills the maximum amount of smaller bids by setting an allocation for the largest bids.
As CNBC?noted in 2014, the model may “[t]ake the short-term gains away from Wall Street and big money and give at least some ownership” to regular people. However, Google’s use didn’t help Dutch auctions take off.
The CNBC piece makes two arguments that are persuasive as to why Dutch auctions didn’t pick up a host of fans following Google’s use. First, “[similar]?auctions are risky,” especially if you might need some help driving demand. That isn’t a problem for the hottest IPOs, but they make up only a fraction of the total.
The piece goes on to argue:
The second reason is that Google’s offering wasn’t a real auction, but more of a hybrid. After all, there was clearly enough investor demand to price the stock at closer to $100, because that’s where the stock opened, but at the last minute lead underwriters Morgan Stanley and?Credit Suisse?dropped it to $85. The low end of the expected range had been $108.
Still, after all the stress and pricing work was over, Google opened well and took off.
Hindsight is 20-20 (and very expensive)
Google had a good first day’s trading, bumping up 18 percent or so to just over $100 per share from its $85 starting point. The company’s all-time intraday low was $95.56, and its all-time lowest close was $100.01,?according to a 2008 report.
After finally getting its IPO out the door, Google did well, and it has continued to do little else. The firm is now worth around $650 billion, second only to Apple. But placing second out of the Big 5 wasn’t a sure bet back then.
“It’s still expensive at these levels,”
Janco’s Pyykkonen adds that he was hearing it was difficult for traders interested in short-selling Google to find shares to borrow from the banks and brokers involved in the Auction
according to the Poll on CNN / Money
85 % of more than 23,000 respondents said that they did not plan on buying shares of Google once it began trading.
What was Google's opening price when it first started trading stock in 2004?
$85 per share, The company incorporated a year later on September 7, 1998. Went public. Google went public on August 14, 2004. At the IPO, Google's founders offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of?$85 per share.
What happens if I buy a Google IPO?
The company went public at $85, sold 22.5 million shares and raised over $1.9 billion. Shares of Google rose 18.05% to $100.34 at the close on its IPO date. If you had been able to purchase Google's shares at $85, you would have acquired 12 shares, or $1,020 divided by $85, before the company split its stock.13-Aug-2015
When a company issues stock or shares to the public for the first time it is referred to as?
Initial public offering (IPO)?is when a company issues common stock or shares to the public for the first time. They are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking capital to increase and can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded.
Are both GOOG and googl splitting?
For the second time in its history Google's parent company, Alphabet (GOOGL) (GOOG), is set to split its stock. The 20-for-1 split means
Alphabet investors will receive an additional 19 shares for each one they already own.
Google stock class C trades at a slight discount to its class A counterpart, but the two prices often move in correlation. Since its creation, Google stock class C has been 'split'?once.
Is now a good time to buy stocks?
If you have a long-term investment outlook, the answer is “yes,” it is time to consider investing in the stock market. With the S&P 500 index down approximately 20% from its record highs, this is a good time to consider investing in stocks.
I work with several successful young professionals who have done well in the past decade – building careers and businesses that have generated substantial cash flow and are poised to build a sizable net worth through investing.?But they haven’t experienced a combination of such volatile events that the United States hasn’t seen in many years —?a bear stock market, falling prices for cryptocurrencies,?rising inflation (2022), skyrocketing prices for homes and gasoline and the war in Ukraine.
Many people in their 30s and 40s are now hesitant to invest new money in the stock market when they only see it dropping. While no one has a crystal ball, a buying opportunity does exist – under the right conditions. Remember, one of the oldest rules of investing is to buy when prices are low.
For those with cash to invest – either from a recent bonus, the sale of a rental property, an inheritance or just plain, steady savings – I ask them to answer three questions before deciding to invest new money in the stock market.
Is Your Emergency Fund Healthy??
It’s important to have at least three to six months of living expenses in savings. And even more money may be needed if you believe you may lose your job if the economy weakens or if your customers aren’t able to pay you.
No one wants to be forced to dip into their stock portfolio to pay for these expenses while the market could be moving lower. Since nearly everyone is?paying more each month for food, gasoline?and other essentials, scrutinize your budget to see what that monthly budget truly is now.
If?your emergency fund?is healthy and you are confident you can pay the bills for the next several months, a rising young professional with a 401(k) and other retirement plans should continue to deposit a percentage of their pay into these accounts.?If you are a business owner, now may be a good time to set up a retirement plan, if you haven’t already done so.
Do You Have Other Goals for Your Money?
A client asked me recently if the money they’ve socked away for a down payment on a house should instead be invested into the stock market.
In reality,?recessions are not uncommon. There have been 48 recessions in U.S. history and 15 recessions, including the Great Depression, in modern history. The most recent was a very short recession lasting from February 2020 until April 2020. While the technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP (gross domestic product), the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) looks at monthly data to evaluate contractions. This is important to note because we have actually had periods of slight GDP increases during even major recessions, such as 1973 through 1975.
Recessions since the Great Depression have lasted an average of 11 months. This is important, I think, because people often associate recessions with very long periods of a poor economy. Understanding that they last less than one year on average helps to put them into perspective.
Many investors also have trouble distinguishing the economy from the stock market. They incorrectly assume that if one is down, the other must be as well. While it is true that they often decline similarly, the stock markets typically recover faster than the economy itself.
By definition
we don’t know a recession has started until it’s already happened. Likewise, and this is really important, we don’t know a recovery until its already done either. It’s only after markets have continued to rise can we look back and pinpoint the low point of the market.
This is why it is so important not to try and time the market. You’ll never guess both the top and bottom of the market. This is crucial because an investor who invested in the S&P for the 20 years ending Dec. 31, 2020, would have averaged a total return of 7.47%. That same investor had they missed only the best 10 days out of 5,036 trading days in that time period would have only averaged 3.36%. If they missed the 20 best trading days, their return would drop to an average of 0.69%.
This cycle of getting out when things are bad, and then getting back in when you “feel better about things” is the reason investors who behave like this never make any money in the market.??
So, are we headed for a recession? While that is hard to guess, I am becoming increasingly more convinced that yes, we probably are. I do not think it will be a long or particularly deep one, but given the pace at which the Federal Reserve?is raising interest rates, (and will likely continue to do so) in an attempt to slow inflation, I think some sort of recession is imminent. With that said, we do not know if it will be narrow and long or deep and short.?
Alphabet announced on 1 February.2022 that its board of directors had approved and declared the stock split for the company's?Class A, Class B and Class C?shares.
Investors cheered the Google stock split news as Alphabet Class A shares surged over 7.5% on the following day later to see its best intraday gain of 2022
If I were to speculate about the timing of a possible recession, I would guess that it could happen in the first?or second?quarter of 2023. While I don’t believe that it will be a long recession, things could happen to make me change that viewpoint. There is still good news out there. including strong consumer demand, low unemployment, large corporate cash holdings, high savings rates, etc. These reasons lead me to believe that a future possible recession may not be as bad as many fear.
Regards,
Madhav Trivedi | India