Like all social media platforms, LinkedIn is constantly evolving, with new updates and features being released all of the time.
Positioned as being ‘the world’s largest professional network’, the site currently has millions of users worldwide, making it an invaluable marketing tool.
The key to getting more from the site is keeping tabs on the latest LinkedIn updates, which can be easier said than done when you’re focused on the day-to-day of running your business or delivering your work. Fortunately for you, that’s where our account manager, Ann Haagensen, who regularly delivers LinkedIn training for our clients, comes in.
She’s reviewed the LinkedIn landscape and recapped the biggest updates worth thinking about now. And here they are…
5 of the Latest LinkedIn Updates
Make a note of these developments and incorporate them into your LinkedIn activity over the coming weeks and months as much as you possibly can.
- Automated video captions
As we all know, video marketing is a force in itself to be reckoned with, so it makes sense for LinkedIn to build on the use of video content by automatically generating video captions.
The move is aimed at improving video accessibility across the site and supports sound-off viewing, which is becoming more frequently used. Don’t worry, you can tweak the captions before your files go live. It’s just that you’ll be presented with a ready-made set of captions to work with after uploading your videos, which is quicker and easier than working from scratch.
- More detailed competitor analytics
LinkedIn has revamped its competitor analytics dashboard to make it easier for us all to see how we’re doing compared to our competitors.
You can see your dashboard via your desktop or app and use it to get access to:
- Follower metrics – view all-time follower and new follower figures gained within a specified time range
- Total post and total engagement metrics – view organic content metrics for company pages within a specified time range
- Trending competitor posts – analyse the top trending original posts created by your competitors within the past 30 days. Data is refreshed daily
- B2B product search updates
A more recent LinkedIn addition, Product Pages are aimed at making it easier for companies to get their products in front of potential buyers within the platform. As you can probably imagine, there are thousands of B2B products on the site, and this list is being added to every single day.
LinkedIn members can explore the pages via the search function. Exploring these products is set to get even easier, with LinkedIn recently introducing a product category filter to create more of a personalised experience.
- Post scheduling functionality
The ability to schedule your LinkedIn posts within the site is finally here for some people! If you’re one of the users that has been selected to trial this new function, you can schedule your content by:
- Writing your post.
- Clicking on the clock symbol that’s next to the ‘post’ button.
- Selecting the date and time you’d like your post to appear.
- Clicking ‘next’.
- Hitting ‘schedule’ and you’re all done!
You can also view all of your scheduled posts at a glance too. Thank you, LinkedIn!
5. More focused job search options
LinkedIn is currently working behind the scenes to provide a more bespoke job search service by introducing personalised job collections. These suggestions are being mainly trialled in the US, but there is some evidence of it starting to trickle through for UK users.
For instance, we searched for ‘digital marketing’ jobs within all filters category and see there’s an option to show all green jobs.
What does this mean for employers? It’s much easier for potential employees to find out about you and your vacancies based on your field of expertise.
Is LinkedIn Free to Use?
Yes, basic LinkedIn memberships are free. They can be used to create a profile, find and make connections, request and provide recommendations, receive messages from other users and save up to three searches.
There are also several Premium subscriptions, which are paid-for services. They include Sales Navigator and Premium Career. For more information about these options and what they do, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a545596/difference-between-free-linkedin-and-premium-linkedin-accounts?lang=en
What Are the 3 Benefits of Using LinkedIn for Businesses?
The benefits of being on LinkedIn are widespread for companies sector-wide. More notably, being on the platform enables businesses to:
- Ramp up their brand presence – by creating company and individual profiles that share consistent key messages and reinforce the reasons to choose the company over the competition.
Note: Simply creating a profile isn’t enough. Building a strong LinkedIn brand presence involves making sure everybody company-wide is regularly posting, reposting and commenting on relevant information and updates.
- Build authority and trust – LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for helping position individuals as thought leaders within their field. From a top level perspective, this can be achieved by creating posts that focus on key topical issues and producing more in-depth articles and newsletters.
Note: Don’t just create posts and articles for the sake of it. Think about your target audience and if the insight you are sharing is relevant to them.
- Form valuable connections – one of LinkedIn’s biggest plus points is the ability to connect with your contacts, old and new, regardless of where they are in the world (providing they are a LinkedIn user). What’s more, you can continuously search the platform to reach new prospects or potential employees. The opportunities to connect are limitless, and so too are the lead gen possibilities.
Note: Only forge connections with people you know or are relevant to you to avoid being penalised by LinkedIn’s algorithms and build a genuine LinkedIn community. For more best practice guidance read this.
How Should a Beginner Use LinkedIn?
By populating your profile as much as you possibly can. This involves creating a profile page and completing all of the sections, searching for contacts (and importing email contacts if you have them), joining relevant groups and contributing to key conversations. Once you’ve mastered these foundations, layer up your activity by posting regular updates and articles.
While LinkedIn may be a tried-and-tested platform, it’s rapidly evolving, and so too are the opportunities for companies to stand out from the crowd and generate new business.
If you have any queries, would like to get started with LinkedIn or want to boost your current activity, speak to us today. We’re a B2B digital marketing agency in Birmingham that’s helped countless clients ramp up their LinkedIn ROI and would love to help you achieve the same results too.
About the author
Ann is our internal dictionary and grammarian. She ensures that we produce copy that sparkles and conveys messages that convert prospects to ambassadors. Ann helps clients reach their goals with calculated communications. She is a master when it comes to branding and messaging, and most significantly, how to seamlessly convey both on all marketing platforms, including social media platforms like LinkedIn.
For more LinkedIn insight from Ann or to find out more about her training sessions, get in touch.
