Informed: the podcast for LinkedIn® users

A change from the normal format this week as I interview the team behind Autopilot for LinkedIn. A system that allows you to view multiple profiles automatically.On the call are Scott Offord and Philip CardwellI have been using Autopilot for about 10 weeks now and i have been really impressed with the resultsIt is really important to note that using Autopilot is NOT just about getting profile views, this is merely an indication of potential. In order to make your profile views count you need the following;A strong profile picture that grabs the viewers eyeA clear and focused headline - this may change depending on who you are viewing.A targeted advanced search of your prospects that has been saved.Follow up with prospects who view you back with an introduction, not a sales pitch.Connect once contact has been made.Because Autopilot views more profiles than possible on a free account you will need to upgrade your LinkedIn account to a Business Plus premium account (you may have the option of a free months trial).Like most systems, Autopilot can be misused but if you focus on the above points I am convinced you will see great results.Using Autopilot can benefit your business but it is also a very powerful tool for jobseekers, check out this case study that Scott mentions in the interview.I appreciate that this episode could be be interpreted as an 'advertorial' for Autopilot for LinkedIn but nothing could be further from the truth, I approached Scott and Philip because I wanted you to know more about this. That is why I am posting a general link to Autopilot as well as my affiliate link which will pay me a small commission (at no extra cost to you)You can take a free 15 day trial of autopilot and then decide if you wish to continue using the product, for me it was a 'no brainer'!Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

NewsGroup Managers can now send unlimited messages to their members in the 'participants' section.LinkedIn release information from their economic graph regarding job migration.LinkedIn joins up with that famous 'great leader'(?) Alex Ferguson to find great British business leaders (and help promote Ferguson's book!).Blabbing with Blam.im. Krishna De has created some excellent instructional videos on blabbing here.You can now buy .grip domains but LinkedIn.gripe is not available.SSI update, I think that to improve my 'Engage with Insights' score the following four areas are importantStatus updates and published postsComments and likes of both the aboveDiscussion activity in groupsInMail response ratesCommentaryWhat is a connection and does this change over time? The following post from a senior executive at Facebook got me thinking.Is trimming your connections a good idea? I can see how it would help with engagement and that is a very important aspect of using LinkedIn but it would also reduce your opportunity for introductions. What do you think? Ping me your thoughts at mark@linkedinformed.com.Here a classic example of the lowering of standards on LinkedIn. Should company profiles like this be permitted on a B2B professional network? (explicit warning)QuestionI have two profiles on LinkedIn, the one I don't use only has three connections. How can I close this account?ANS = see below, you go to your settings under the 'Account' tabMy question for you;How many 'Interesting' quotes did I get away with?Thanks for voting for the show.If you haven't yet you can do so by clicking on the image belowMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

Is this the end for Google Plus?LinkedIn Publishing now available for Portuguese speakersPublishing soon to cover other languages starting with French & GermanPresumably this provides opportunities for new INfluencers?Group discussions seem to be getting more likes. Have you noticed a difference?Finally the biggest news of all this week is that this show has been shortlisted in the management and marketing category at this years UK Podcasters awards! Thank you to everyone who nominated the show, I am really excited and honoured to be in the top three in this highly competitive category.Now I need you to VOTE for the show to see if we can win! Please click on the image below to register your vote for the show....just imagine if we won?!CommentarySocial selling Index is now available for all of use, just click here to see yoursWhat is the social selling index?Is this just a ploy to get people to buy LinkedIn Sales Navigator?QuestionThanks to Gary Stockton for sending is his voicemail this week with a question regarding the time lag with notifications on the iPad app.You can leave your own voicemail questions by clicking on the yellow 'ask me a question' link on the right of this page.I put Gary's question to the test and found the same lag as seen below. From left to right are the desktop, phone and iPad notifications taken within seconds of each other showing the iPad app to be behind the other twoMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

LinkedIn's U-turn on connections.Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

News    China passes 10 million LinkedIn members    Google+ share link disappears from published posts    There is a bug with skill endorsements    You can no longer download your connections! Well you can but it comes as part of the archive and takes a couple of days to arrive.    New LinkedIn Slideshare lead generation feature    Slideshare presentations are appearing in some channelsCommentary    LinkedIn ads could work if you combine them with Google re-marketing.....and you have a decent budget!    Lottery ticket updates have no place on LinkedIn    How often do females get harassed on Linkedin? This is the blog post I refer to.    Keeping your profile up to date. These politicians show varying levels of accuracy        Jo Swinson - good work, lots of information and fully up to date        Esther McVey - Not updated at all.        Frank Roy - not much information to start with but it has been updated    Lynda.com advertise their courses in Linkedin Pulse.....and manage to get into a channel!Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

NewsAustralian politician suffers extortion attempt via LinkedIn from a fake anti child trafficking advocateThe best LinkedIn profile pictures are "slightly happy" This subject was also covered in my other podcast WinbussinesIn I was sexually harassed on LinkedIn and it made me question the site's credibility...not me, that's the title of the article I referred to! I also mentioned the website socialcreeps.comCommentaryPositivity works!  I am a great believer in the power of engagement on LinkedIn. Too many people post updates that receive no comments or further interaction but it has been an observation of mine that when you do engage on other people's posts you often attract negative comments and people even start to attack you!People become very brave online and are often unnecessarily rude, something they would be highly unlikely to do to your face! I see this on a regular basis and find it quite depressing because all this does is discourage people from engagement.When commenting on LinkedIn keep your comments positive, encouraging as well as challenging if necessary but never stray into an argument or points scoring. This reflects very badly on you.Don't feed the trolls! People that regularly post negative comments do so because they enjoy winding people up. Don't give them the airtime and just ignore their comments. Here are my tips to get more views of your status updates;Always post image updates with a link rather than text updates with a link.Pick a suitable image that has bright colours.Make sure the image file has a suitable name (this will be seen!)Always ask a question to encourage engagementReply to comments including quoting the person by name to encourage the conversation to continue. Keep asking questions!Make sure your settings allow anyone (public) to see it.Timing is critical. Find out (by trial and error) when your audience are most likely to respond and stick to that time.Topical subjects work - think about how a recent news headline could be applied to your business ie Zayn leaving One Direction = How to cope when a key member of your team leaves.Comparison questions are most powerful in terms of engagement but they need to be relevant so you can't do it all the timeMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

News    Two new LinkedIn apps are rumoured to be in the works. A new Groups app and one called 'LookUp'.    Instant messaging may finally be coming to LinkedIn!    LinkedIn's new marketing podcast    Check out the LinkedIn profiles of your website visitors with this hack. Disclaimer - Do this at your own risk, I'm giving it a try on a dummy account and will report back next week.    Over 1 million users are now publishing on LinkedIn    How being a 'hot girl' on LinkedIn attracts attention.    The Prophet Chrome extension has been working really well.    You can now add any skills you want, including made up silly ones!    This podcast has been running for 18 months now and over that time we have built a strong community of loyal listeners and followers. I really enjoy collating all the weekly news, thinking of interesting topics, interviewing guests and getting your feedback (typing up the show notes is less thrilling but I console myself that the alternative would be writing a longer blog post every week!).    I really hope you enjoy the podcast and get real value from it every week.    The show has now been nominated for an award at this years New Media Europe conference held in Manchester on the 12/13th September and I would massively appreciate it if you would vote and nominate LinkedInformed for a prize.Question    Why do people who don't really know me endorse my skills?        ANS = Some people do it because they believe they are helping you although I suspect most people simply endorse because they are asked to and they figure it isn't going to do any harm. In truth skill endorsements add little value to a profile because they have been so misused by most people.Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

Plenty to talk about in this week's show from Web clippers and extensions to LinkedIn admitting they too hate quiz updates!NewsLynda.com shareholders cash in on LinkedIn takeover and cause LinkedIn's share price to fall.Evernote updates its web clipper allowing very useful integration with LinkedIn profiles.LinkedIn are now ranked as the 2nd largest job board in the world....even though they are not a job board!LinkedIn wins case against Irish domain registrant.Searching a connections connections is now back! You now can also search the shared connections of a 2nd tier.3rd tier connections can now be saved to contacts.You can now follow anyone from the front page of their profile (see below)Interesting interview with LinkedIn's VP of Engineering. In this piece he reveals that LinkedIn do not look kindly on quizzes and other Facebook type posts (as discussed last week). See clip below and you can read the whole article here.Questions 1.      Sanity check: I got really excited about the tag system at the bottom of the LinkedIn blogs – thinking I could choose what channels I might get into … but I noticed that the tag options don’t match the channels! Am I correct in thinking that the tags don’t feed directly into channels, but are, in fact, just subsections/buckets from which some posts might be chosen to go into a channel (based on the LI algorithm and editors)? 2.      Question: I would love to post a blog on LinkedIn re ‘How to blog on LinkedIn’ summarising everything I’ve found – but there don’t seem to be any posts like that on LI. Do you think the LI editors would frown on/penalise a blog that actually gave people info into best LI blogging practices – not just headlines & writing – but info into the algorithm/best ways to post etc? ANS= Sanity check - You are correct. The tags merely help the algorithm pick up the relevance of a post but by no means guarantee that it will appear in a channel, keywords also help but I also believe there is some human involvement in deciding channel content (I suspect it is approval rather than selection). Question - LinkedIn have no problem with this sort of content and there is even a relevant 'LinkedIn tips' channel for it!  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/channel/linkedintipsMentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

News    LinkedIn have a private 'invite only' bug bounty program.    LinkedIn's 'Member first' focus apparently boosts satisfaction and engagement - really?    LinkedIn appoint a new Chief Marketing Officer.    Economic graph projects are appearing all over the world    LinkedIn IT department in top 10 places to work    There is a better way to search a connections connects, it's not a complete workaround as you can't search keywords but you can filter. All is explained in the video below.CommentaryWhere is the Line? I asked subscribers to my LinkedIn updates service the following question;Where's the line?LinkedIn status updates and posts have definitely changed over the last couple of years. What was once a place where we only saw serious topics we now see puppies, quizzes, cars for sale and even naked women (I'm not kidding!)I'm in favour of LinkedIn being inclusive, I really don't buy into the idea of it only being for a certain 'type' of professional.Why is it OK for a recruiter to post a vacancy but not OK for a car salesman to post a picture of the latest used Range Rover they have on their forecourt?Surely both have the right to 'do business' on LinkedIn?Is it OK to post a funny picture? Maybe not, I guess everyone has their own idea on where the line is and that's what I want to hear from you about.Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.

News    Measuring Gender Diversity with LinkedIn Data    LinkedIn's weird names for software. An explanation.    Have you taken up the offer of a free trial of Lynda.com?    Viveka Von Rosen's excellent article on LinkedIn mobile    LinkedIn's economic graph comes to Manchester in an attempt to bridge the skills gap. This is also an interesting Q&A from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority perspective.Commentary    This week I take a look at LinkedIn's new revamped Pulse mobile app. Are LinkedIn at last starting to get the hang of mobile apps? You can view my video review belowQuestionsThis week I have a question for you! Although the above post/comments are funny there is a more serious point that I believe is worth discussing in next weeks episode.    Should LinkedIn just be about 'serious business topics?    Is it becoming more like Facebook and is that a bad thing?    Where do you draw the line on 'appropriateness' or does anything go? Mentioned in this episode:This show was created by the original host of the show, Mark Williams.