Informed: the podcast for LinkedIn® users
John Espirian
"Informed" is for you if you'd like to understand more about how LinkedIn works so that you can be an effective user of the platform.
It's hard to know whom to believe with so many self-appointed gurus out there telling you the latest hacks for going viral and earning 7-figure deals. And even LinkedIn's own publications often don't speak to the reality of using the platform.
But for those who see past superficial promises and sanitised reports, this podcast provides evidence and thoughtful opinion. With a track record of more than 10 years of sensible, no-nonsense advice about honest best practice for LinkedIn, Informed is a trusted source of insight by many thousands of regular listeners.
The show was created by Mark Williams, who's affectionately known as "Mr LinkedIn". Mark retired in late 2025 and handed over the reins of the show to John Espirian, the relentlessly helpful® LinkedIn nerd. John is a LinkedIn trainer and consultant, the founder of the Espresso+ community, the creator of the UpLift Live conference (the UK's original event dedicated to LinkedIn best practice), and the author of the personal branding handbook Content DNA.
John's reputation is for getting to the point and for not being a salesy douche canoe, so you can expect short, sharp episodes with zero ads or sponsored slots. This also is NOT an interview show, so if you've read this far then please don't pitch yourself for a guest appearance. However, you're welcome to get in touch if you have a LinkedIn question you'd like John to cover on the show. (To do that, search for the "Informed podcast" company page on LinkedIn and send a message.)
This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the LinkedIn® corporation. John Espirian is an independent trainer and does not work for LinkedIn® – while it would be great to have LinkedIn's endorsement, the show's independence from the corporation means you, the listener, are never fed an airbrushed political spiel.
It's hard to know whom to believe with so many self-appointed gurus out there telling you the latest hacks for going viral and earning 7-figure deals. And even LinkedIn's own publications often don't speak to the reality of using the platform.
But for those who see past superficial promises and sanitised reports, this podcast provides evidence and thoughtful opinion. With a track record of more than 10 years of sensible, no-nonsense advice about honest best practice for LinkedIn, Informed is a trusted source of insight by many thousands of regular listeners.
The show was created by Mark Williams, who's affectionately known as "Mr LinkedIn". Mark retired in late 2025 and handed over the reins of the show to John Espirian, the relentlessly helpful® LinkedIn nerd. John is a LinkedIn trainer and consultant, the founder of the Espresso+ community, the creator of the UpLift Live conference (the UK's original event dedicated to LinkedIn best practice), and the author of the personal branding handbook Content DNA.
John's reputation is for getting to the point and for not being a salesy douche canoe, so you can expect short, sharp episodes with zero ads or sponsored slots. This also is NOT an interview show, so if you've read this far then please don't pitch yourself for a guest appearance. However, you're welcome to get in touch if you have a LinkedIn question you'd like John to cover on the show. (To do that, search for the "Informed podcast" company page on LinkedIn and send a message.)
This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the LinkedIn® corporation. John Espirian is an independent trainer and does not work for LinkedIn® – while it would be great to have LinkedIn's endorsement, the show's independence from the corporation means you, the listener, are never fed an airbrushed political spiel.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 24, 2019 • 1h
Engaging Your Followers
Welcome to episode 259. It’s great to have followers but to increase the visibility of our posts we need to get more of them to engage. This isn’t just about what we write but also about how we treat our followers, especially new ones! This week my main focus is on my new (and not fully tested) engagement blueprint. I have covered elements of it before but the extra part that I want to focus on in this episode techniques to get our followers more engagement.Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Aug 10, 2019 • 1h 3min
Likes vs Comments
Welcome to episode 258. We all know that post engagement is crucial for you to become visible on LinkedIn but not all ‘engagement’ types are equal. We know shares are pretty useless to you but what about Likes and Comments. Which one is best? Following some interesting research I saw this week, I thought that would be an interesting topic to explore.Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Aug 3, 2019 • 60min
Where is all the great content?
Welcome to episode 257 where this week I want to cover a really important aspect of using LinkedIn in a productive and successful way… finding great content! As usual with LinkedIn, we have an algorithm that makes choices (often the wrong ones) for us but we can take actions to help us find and engage with the best content. Also covered in this episode; Main LinkedIn automation bot recommends it’s users to stop using it before their accounts get closed down! Another story about a fake account, easily created due to poor LinkedIn design that was used to con financial journalists A LinkedIn bug that allowed a fake job to be posted – CEO of Google! LinkedIn will be moving its servers to the cloud! Why is your post trending and is it something to celebrate? What exactly is a ‘Top’ comment? Do hashtags in comments count? Post of the week. A video post with over 350 Likes, 200 comments and over 17,000 views Question – Can you see the activity from someone from when they were blocked (after you unblock them) Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jul 27, 2019 • 1h 5min
Should You Connect With Competitors?
Welcome to this weeks digest of all things LinkedIn. Today I want to address and issue which has always been a tricky question for LinkedIn users to answer…Should you connect to competitors? More of that later but first….. Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week LinkedIn Member number exceeds 645 million Iran-Linked APT34 Invites Victims to LinkedIn for Fresh Malware Infections Help clients discover your services with a new feature on LinkedIn For the full show notes go to https://linkedinformed.com/episode256/Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jul 20, 2019 • 1h 2min
Neuroscience and LinkedIn
Welcome to a new episode and it’s great to be back after a wonderfully relaxing week away in the truly stunning Swiss alps. 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…..Go to https://linkedinformed.com/episode255/ Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jul 6, 2019 • 58min
LinkedIn Invitation Tsunami!
You open your laptop (or pick up your phone) in the morning, fire up LinkedIn and then notice this…… Wait….that’s not 2 invitations, it’s 2000! Where did they all of a sudden come from? This week I’m investigating what I call the LinkedIn Invitation Tsunami. What is it, why does it happen and what you should do if it happens to you. But first….. Go to https://linkedinformed.com/episode254 for the restMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jun 29, 2019 • 60min
Feeds Get More Personal
Apparently, at LinkedIn they have a saying; “People You Know, Talking About Things You Care About.” And so they have announced that they have been adjusting our feed algorithm to give us exactly that. More at https://linkedinformed.com/episode253Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jun 22, 2019 • 1h 4min
LinkedIn Articles with John Espirian
Welcome to episode 252. I thought it was about time we revisited Articles this week. I’m not the most prolific article writer so I thought I would ask, fan of the show and business copywriting expert, John Espirian onto the show. In our chat, I ask John about what to write about, how often to do it and how long an article should be. John talks about styles of writing, how to stimulate ideas and how to best repurpose blog pieces as LinkedIn articles For more go to linkedinformed.com/episode252Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jun 15, 2019 • 1h 4min
Scheduling LinkedIn Posts
Covered in this show; A brief history of LinkedIn Ads Can you have too many followers Do paid followers have any benefit? Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets New invitation feature (coming soon) Scheduling posts - is it worth bothering? Post of the week Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jun 8, 2019 • 1h 1min
Can You Spot A Fake Profile?
Welcome to another episode and a bit of a landmark really, our 250th one! Thank you so much to everyone that subscribes, listens and/or reads the show notes. I consider it a real privilege to host and produce the show and I’ve had such an amazing time putting together all 250 of them! Items in this show; 4:44 - Interesting stuff I saw this week 17:07 LinkedIn Updates 29:07 Can you spot a fake profile 51:46 Post of the week 56:06 AFQ - questionMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
