LinkedIn new features include significant changes to LinkedIn audio events, the introduction of LinkedIn Accelerate - AI ad campaigns, the option for Premium users to have rotating profile banners, and the ability to boost personal posts.
Today's episode is sponsored by Metricool. Make sure to register for a FREE Metricool account today. Use Code MICHELLE30 to try any Premium Plan FREE for 30 days. https://i.mtr.cool/NEDXVZ
Key moments in this episode:
00:00 Introduction
01:41 New LinkedIn Features Overview
04:08 Changes to LinkedIn Audio Events
07:49 LinkedIn Accelerate: AI-Powered Ad Campaigns
09:13 Rotating Banners for Premium Accounts
13:06 Boosting Personal Posts on LinkedIn
15:16 Wrap up
ABOUT MICHELLE J RAYMOND
Michelle J Raymond is an international LinkedIn™️ B2B Growth Coach. To continue the conversation, connect with Michelle on LinkedIn™️ and let her know you are part of the community of podcast listeners.
Connect with Michelle J Raymond on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellejraymond/
B2B Growth Co offers LinkedIn™️ Training for teams to build personal and business brands and a LinkedIn™️ Profile Recharge service for Founders/CEOs.
Book a free intro call to learn more - https://calendly.com/michelle-j-raymond/book-an-intro-call-15mins
Social Media for B2B Growth Podcast is a fully accessible podcast. Audio, Video, Transcript and guest details are available on our podcast website - https://socialmediaforb2bgrowthpodcast.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@MichelleJRaymond
#LinkedIn #LinkedInNewFeatures #B2BMarketing
00:00:00
Michelle J Raymond: It might be the end of the year, but LinkedIn
00:00:02
are still dropping new features.
00:00:03
So let's take one last look for 2024.
00:00:24
G'day everyone, it is coach Michelle J Raymond, and I am still coming down off my high from having
00:00:31
spoken to Chris Do and Ann Handley over the last few episodes who were on my podcast bucket list.
00:00:39
So now I can tick them off for this year.
00:00:41
And I'm kind of wondering, who should I add back onto that list for 2025?
00:00:46
So if you've got any recommendations, be sure to reach out to me on LinkedIn or drop a comment on
00:00:52
the platform and let me know who is it that should be back on my podcast bucket list, because it was
00:00:58
just so awesome especially, Ann I look up to her.
00:01:01
Hopefully one day when I grow up, I'm going to be a keynote speaker and really follow in
00:01:06
her footsteps because as she said, It would be great to have more female speakers out there.
00:01:12
So if you're thinking about becoming a speaker in 2025 and got some questions about
00:01:17
it, reach out to me, let's have a chat.
00:01:19
I'm happy to share the experiences that I've had, what I've learned in my short
00:01:25
time that I've started doing this and how beginning on a podcast actually really helps.
00:01:30
So I'd love to help people.
00:01:32
I'd love to pay it forward.
00:01:33
I'd love to make that happen next year.
00:01:41
In this week's episode, we're going to be talking about the new features that LinkedIn have dropped.
00:01:46
They drop lots and lots of little features all the time.
00:01:49
And I am not here to tell you, hey, they changed a font or the edge of the
00:01:54
picture now is rounded, not square.
00:01:57
They're not the kinds of changes that we're going to be discussing today, but there are
00:02:01
some key changes, which I think are actually signaling what we should expect for 2025.
00:02:08
And it's been kind of interesting for me.
00:02:11
I'm still weighing up how I feel about these.
00:02:13
And as always drop it in the comments and let me know what you think
00:02:17
about each of these new features.
00:02:19
Before we go into the new features, here's a quick word about our fabulous sponsors, Metricool.
00:04:08
Let's start with the first change, which I think is a pretty big shift on LinkedIn's side, and
00:04:14
that is the changes to LinkedIn audio events.
00:04:17
So once upon a time, you could go into LinkedIn, create an audio event.
00:04:22
You didn't need any third party tools and the audience would sit there, they could participate.
00:04:27
You could bring them up on stage really easily.
00:04:30
Fast forward to December and now LinkedIn have changed things.
00:04:34
Effectively I think they've pretty much pulled the plug on all things, LinkedIn audio.
00:04:40
Yes.
00:04:41
You still create the event on LinkedIn and choose linkedIn audio as the event type.
00:04:47
So that part stays the same, but no longer do we have the tools within LinkedIn itself.
00:04:52
You need a third party software, i.
00:04:56
e.
00:04:56
the streaming software is the same as what you use for LinkedIn live.
00:05:00
And you need to connect that back to your event.
00:05:03
So that means now for most people, you're going to need a subscription to tools like
00:05:08
StreamYard, which I use, which I'll drop the details in the show notes, if you're looking
00:05:13
to try it out and looking for a small discount.
00:05:15
It's an affiliate link.
00:05:16
So I'll share that with you.
00:05:17
So on the upside of now moving this off LinkedIn and onto the third parties,
00:05:22
these sessions can now be recorded.
00:05:25
So you can repurpose that replay a lot easier without some of the, you know, kind
00:05:29
of crazy workarounds that people figured out in the background with the audio events.
00:05:34
On the downside though, it's no longer as easy for someone that's in the audience to raise
00:05:40
their hand and say, bring me up on stage.
00:05:42
Bring me into that conversation.
00:05:44
What happens is you need to share a link.
00:05:47
They log into StreamYard, come behind the scenes and join the conversation that way.
00:05:51
And from everything I've heard from my friend, John Lacey, about how that event
00:05:54
runs effectively, it's just your video camera's turned off in the background.
00:05:59
If I have a think about this and I'm LinkedIn, it totally makes sense.
00:06:03
I don't think that there's enough reward for effort when it comes to LinkedIn audio events.
00:06:09
And that's not to say that there are people out there that love them.
00:06:13
They love attending.
00:06:14
They love running them.
00:06:15
And they don't have a place on LinkedIn land.
00:06:18
But if I'm looking at that and thinking, how can I monetise it if I'm LinkedIn?
00:06:23
There's not too many answers that I come up with.
00:06:26
So it's not their expertise.
00:06:28
They've said point blank that they want to be an AI first company.
00:06:33
And if you've got limited resources or need to focus your attention on where you think
00:06:38
you're going to get the biggest return.
00:06:40
Then you're going to put your money every day of the week on AI and not on LinkedIn audio events.
00:06:45
So that's the first change that we've got.
00:06:47
Me personally, I'm not really a big fan of audio events in general.
00:06:51
I did a lot of time on Clubhouse.
00:06:54
So when I think about this change, it doesn't immediately impact me.
00:06:58
And as with every change that happens on LinkedIn, there are lots of smart people around the world
00:07:02
that will be trying out this new format using the various streaming services to figure out the best
00:07:08
ways to get the most out of these audio events.
00:07:10
So I will keep an eye across what's being reported out there.
00:07:14
Friends like John Lacey, Lynnaire Johnston, they're fans of that format.
00:07:18
So I'll keep an eye on what they're reporting back as the best practices
00:07:22
and come back to you listeners.
00:07:46
Let's get into the second big change that's coming through.
00:07:49
And I mentioned that LinkedIn is focusing on being an AI first company.
00:07:54
And this only impacts people that are running LinkedIn ads.
00:07:58
It's called LinkedIn Accelerate.
00:08:00
Effectively LinkedIn Accelerate is here to maximise your campaign results by using AI.
00:08:07
So it's going to help you with targeting.
00:08:09
It will help you with creative with bidding and can automate a lot of that campaign setup.
00:08:15
Sounds too good to be true.
00:08:17
When it comes to the LinkedIn Accelerate program, I'm a bit of a skeptic that this
00:08:22
is the be all and end all that's going to help you get more ROI on your ad spend.
00:08:27
I don't understand how LinkedIn would really want you to spend less and get more.
00:08:33
So I'll keep in touch with AJ Wilcox, see what he has to say in the new year.
00:08:38
But, you know, again, it signals to us where's the future of LinkedIn
00:08:44
going lots and lots of AI tools, tips.
00:08:47
You see it over on your profile now.
00:08:49
It wants to help you write direct messages.
00:08:52
It wants to help you write posts, write your About section.
00:08:56
So it's popping up everywhere and it's linked back to Premium accounts.
00:09:01
You're going to hear a theme run through as I talk about these different features.
00:09:06
So see if you can spot what it is.
00:09:13
Let's look at our third new feature that's come through in this quarter that I think is kind
00:09:18
of cool and certainly generating a lot of buzz over on LinkedIn land about how people might
00:09:24
use this particular feature more creatively.
00:09:28
So when you go to your LinkedIn profile, there's a banner that sits at the top, AKA your cover image.
00:09:34
And I kind of like to think about that as the billboard for your LinkedIn profile.
00:09:39
So it's your opportunity to really put up in lights what you do, who you do it for,
00:09:45
or show off a bit of your personality.
00:09:47
Now, currently you can only have one option, but those with a Premium account now have the
00:09:52
option to have up to five different banners.
00:09:55
Each of those will rotate after around three seconds.
00:09:59
So say for instance, you wanted to promote different parts of
00:10:02
your business or different offers.
00:10:04
You will be able to do that.
00:10:06
Now for a lot of people on LinkedIn out there, and certainly the profiles that I'm rewriting on
00:10:10
behalf of other people, quite often, this is an area that's ignored and it's a missed opportunity.
00:10:17
Do I think that everybody is going to go to the effort of putting five up there when it's hard
00:10:22
enough to get a lot of people to just put one?
00:10:24
No, I don't.
00:10:25
But I think again, that it presents us with some cool opportunities
00:10:29
that we can change these things.
00:10:31
Now, for those of you who are wondering, is it coming to LinkedIn Company Pages?
00:10:35
Yes, it is.
00:10:36
And I'm very confident that it will be part of the paid subscription.
00:10:41
So the Company Page Premium option over on LinkedIn Company Pages.
00:10:46
So here we are, it's obvious dangling the carrot to try and get more
00:10:50
people to pay to play on LinkedIn.
00:10:54
These features are here to entice more people to pay for Premium accounts on their personal
00:11:00
profiles and also on the Company Page.
00:11:02
So if I'm LinkedIn, this is a massive opportunity for them to do more revenue raising.
00:11:08
And if I'm them, I'm all for it.
00:11:10
I've got a YouTube video that I did a little while back cause everybody used to ask me,
00:11:15
Michelle, should I have a free account, a Premium account, or a sales navigator account?
00:11:20
And for a long time, I would have come back to you and said, just go with the free account.
00:11:25
You can do more than enough with that free account to get you out of trouble for most people.
00:11:30
And only when you come up against some of the roadblocks, should you consider
00:11:34
paying for your LinkedIn account.
00:11:36
Now that has massively shifted in this year.
00:11:39
Now there are lots of, lots of little roadblocks or restrictions, or, you
00:11:43
know, is it the carrot or the stick?
00:11:45
I don't know which way, but there's also other options to upgrade some of the features
00:11:50
on your profile by paying for Premium.
00:11:53
So at least now there really is a difference in value for money between
00:11:56
the free account and the paid account, which I think is a good idea by LinkedIn.
00:12:01
I mean, realistically, we've had a great run on LinkedIn for over 20 years with not
00:12:07
having to pay for a lot of these kind of features and functions and not having to pay
00:12:12
to play for But I'm again, a little skeptical.
00:12:16
I just wonder how far this will go.
00:12:19
I wonder where LinkedIn sees the line is drawn for these paid accounts and where it's
00:12:26
drawn for people that want to start out on LinkedIn and trial those free accounts first,
00:12:32
and then figure out where things are at.
00:12:34
So it'll be interesting to see, but for me, just another sign pay to play in 2025.
00:13:06
The last release that I want to talk about, I think is a fundamental shift
00:13:11
in how LinkedIn will run in 2025.
00:13:15
It is a feature that has been on other social platforms forever and a day.
00:13:19
LinkedIn are just very late to this party.
00:13:21
We've had a really good run.
00:13:24
I have to say, I'm personally hesitant about the future of the platform based
00:13:28
on this new feature that's coming.
00:13:30
And the new feature is that you can now boost personal posts.
00:13:36
That's right.
00:13:36
You can pay money to make your individual posts be seen by more people.
00:13:42
So to a targeted audience.
00:13:44
I know that when I've spoken to LinkedIn ads experts, like AJ Wilcox, when we talk
00:13:50
about boosted posts over on the Company Page, he is absolutely against them.
00:13:55
They're a waste of your money and a really great donation to LinkedIn.
00:13:59
I'm super skeptical, but I expect the same to come from the other side of things.
00:14:05
I expect that this is going to be a huge moneymaker for LinkedIn and really not
00:14:10
deliver the returns that people would expect.
00:14:13
But also for those people who are out there that think you can pay to play and skip the
00:14:17
part where we have to build relationships, understand what content resonates with our
00:14:22
target audience, learn the language that you should use to really get their attention.
00:14:27
A bad post that you pay money to show to more people is still a bad post.
00:14:31
So I don't think it's the silver bullet that people might think that it is.
00:14:36
I just really hope that it just doesn't create a class system on LinkedIn.
00:14:41
Those with money, those without, because there are a lot of people that are just getting a
00:14:46
little bit over LinkedIn as we go into the end of the year of those people that are kind of, you
00:14:52
know, gaming the system is how I would call it.
00:14:54
All of you in engagement pods, I'm talking about you specifically.
00:14:58
So where will boosted posts end up?
00:15:01
Will January bring us a whole new level of optimism and enthusiasm
00:15:06
as we start out the new year?
00:15:08
Or will all of these pay to play features really change the feeling of LinkedIn?
00:15:13
Not for the better will we see a lot of pushback.
00:15:16
The way I look at things at the end of the day, LinkedIn will always change.
00:15:20
It is their sandpit.
00:15:21
We choose to play in it.
00:15:22
So the only real questions that we need to figure out is what are the things that we need to do to
00:15:29
learn how to do better, to speak to our buyers, to generate more opportunities and grow our business.
00:15:35
And if the rules of the game have changed, we need to change with it.
00:15:39
There's no point fighting it.
00:15:40
It's not a game that we can change the rules on.
00:15:42
So until next week, listeners cheers.
Related Episodes
LinkedIn Commenting - Too Much or Not Enough?
Tune in to learn how to leverage comments to build your brand and grow your business on LinkedIn. Bonus - Three advanced commenting techniques. Key moments in this episode - 00:00 The Power of LinkedIn Comments 00:54 From Comment to International Speaker 01:58 Commenting on LinkedIn 02:33 How...
LinkedIn New Features - The 6 Most Important Ones
Do you find it tough to keep up with LinkedIn's updates? Good news - this episode powers through six key LinkedIn updates every B2B Marketer needs to know. Key moments in this episode - 00:00 Introduction to LinkedIn Changes 00:44 Six Key LinkedIn Changes Overview 02:41 LinkedI...
Why Your LinkedIn Company Page Gets No Engagement And How to Fix It
We can't just blame the LinkedIn algorithm for poor Company Page engagement rates. Let's explore content fails and strategies on how to fix these common mistakes for your Company Page. If you are a LinkedIn Company Page admin or B2B Marketer this episode is a must listen for your B2B brand. Key mom...