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
Jan 19, 2019 • 56min
Increase Your Visibility With Effective Posting
Welcome to a new episode, this week is very different as the majority of this show will be dedicated to a talk that I'm giving this week on LinkedIn visibility and posting techniques. But first I wanted to highlight three posts that each deserve a special mention, all for different reasons. Go to http://linkedinformed.com/episode236/ for the moreMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Jan 12, 2019 • 58min
The Empathy Episode
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great break over the Christmas holiday. I had an ‘enjoyable at times and stressful at times’ break and as I decided to completely switch off from all work matters, it has been a busy last 2 weeks catching up on everything. The main subject this week is empathy. If you are a long time listener then you may recall that I covered this previously in episode 122. I’m aware that many of you have only started listening to the show more recently and many don’t listen to every episode so I decided to cover it again…mainly because it is such an important subject! More of that later….. Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week Lessons from my Linkedin experiment 2018 The Contrepreneur interview with Mike Winnet LinkedIn Censored A Pro-Democracy Activist’s Profile In China LinkedIn now requires phone number verification for all users in China Facebook investigates ‘deceptive’ election operation backed by Reid Hoffman For more, go to http://linkedinformed.com/episode235Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Dec 17, 2018 • 56min
Christmas 2018
Welcome to the Christmas edition of the podcast. This will be the last episode this year so let me wish you all a fantastic Christmas break and an exciting a prosperous new year. Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week For the rest of the notes go to http://linkedinformed.com/episode234/Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Dec 8, 2018 • 55min
Planning for 2019
Welcome to episode 233 and this week I’m looking forward and planning for next year. What is your plan for LinkedIn next year? Hopefully, I can stimulate a few ideas for you in this episode. Before that though….. Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week. I was fascinated to see this post go viral this week. It’s not applicable for post of the week because I don’t think it’s an especially great video post but it is worth examing why it went viral. To read more go to http://linkedinformed.com/episode233/Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Dec 1, 2018 • 1h
LinkedIn Communication
Welcome to episode 232. This week the focus is all about my favourite subject….communication. If there is one aspect of using LinkedIn that fascinates me the most, it’s the art of communicating effectively. It’s also one area that most people get wrong according to my homepage feed and probably yours too! So you can imagine how excited I was when I recently met Kim Arnold, a communications and marketing expert! So this weeks episode is focussed on a chat I recently had with Kim about how we communicate on LinkedIn and how we could do it better! but first….. Interesting Stuff I Saw This Week Microsoft And LinkedIn Can Revolutionize Retail! LinkedIn Crossed the Privacy Line with Targeted Facebook Advertising The State of LinkedIn Profiles Today & Making Yours Even Stronger Mike Winnet does it again and gets more comments on this spoof copy post!Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Nov 23, 2018 • 1h 6min
Posting for Engagement
Whilst the title for this episode is about posting, I actually have two main topics to cover this week. Posting for Engagement – A case study A closer look at new LinkedIn Events I also have a ‘not’ post of the week as well as a post of the week! In addition, we cover the following; LinkedIn Stories New Boolean operators UK top voices Three new features LinkedIn Live video rumours Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Nov 17, 2018 • 42min
New LinkedIn Pages
Welcome to the 230th episode. This week I cover; LinkedIn Events Do pods violate the user agreement? LinkedIn Top Voices 2018 Several new features Rumour - LinkedIn Stories! LinkedIn Pages Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Nov 3, 2018 • 1h 5min
Feed Ranking Model – What It Means To You.
Welcome back to another show. This week I’m chatting with Andy Foote about the talk given by a LinkedIn executive called ‘creator-side optimization and incentives in social networks’. This was a very interesting a quite revealing insight into how LinkedIn adjusted their algorithm earlier this year to counter what they described as a ‘perverse incentive’ where superstar content producers were being given too much visibility on our homepage feedsMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Oct 27, 2018 • 56min
Change x 9!
LinkedIn is changing rapidly! This week I focus on 9 important changes LinkedIn have made since the last episode. New design for WVYP Articles saving on desktop Group posting from Homepage New free premium trial offer Articles 'series' pilot scheme New setting to make 'Follow' the default on your profile LinkedIn update 'Feed ranking optimization' Less information on LinkedIn emails Pilot test for the reintroduction of LinkedIn events feature More information at http://linkedinformed.com/episode228Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
Oct 13, 2018 • 1h 7min
LinkedIn In A Corporate World
This week I interview Kurt Shaver from Vengreso about the challenges of social selling and using LinkedIn in a corporate environmentMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.
