As you have probably noticed by now, LinkedIn has introduced a new round of changes that may affect both the design of our profiles and our performance. The best way to make the most of this professional Social Network is to be aware of these LinkedIn changes and stay up on its latest developments.

This post may seem a bit long, so take your time! Make yourself a cup of coffee; I’ll be here waiting for you!

Ready? Let’s dig in then!

First things first… General insights

As you can see, there are more than 347 million users on LinkedIn, among which we can find companies and professionals. We have to pay special attention to young professionals and recent graduates, as it is the sector that has increased the most during the last years. As you can see, LinkedIn is a potential source of clients and an important tool to network with colleagues.

Then, why do I keep seeing people complaining and saying that it’s not worth it?

People tend to think that social media network means money and revenue. I don’t think it is like this; at least as simple as this. People tend to give LinkedIn a try, they don’t see any progress and they give up on it. However, I think that we should use LinkedIn in a smart way. It’s not a tool to generate more money, but a tool to showcase your abilities and attract potential clients.

Probably you’re not going to see a progress just by joining this social network. However, if you design a smart strategy and make strategic connections, it could be the best way to start being seen by potential clients.

[Tweet “Networking is marketing. Marketing yourself, marketing your uniqueness, marketing what you stand for.”]

We also need to take into consideration that…

Although LinkedIn ranks the third among the most important social networks, it‘s not used as the rest of them.  As you can see, not everyone uses it on a daily basis. This is a very important aspect to bear in mind when planning our strategy.

Visibility – what’s going on?

Maybe you all have noticed that with the new round of LinkedIn changes, your posts and status updates aren’t as visible as they were before. In my case, this is what happened since these LinkedIn changes were implemented in my profile:

Before this new round of changes, each of my status updates was seen by at least a couple of thousand people –even more if any of these people liked it or commented on it. Now they are only seen by 9 or 10 people. So, what happened?

LinkedIn has changed the way that our feeds work. They all are now set in a way so you can see “top” posts first, instead of the most recent ones. This was changed by LinkedIn and was implemented in every profile. I don’t know you, but when I login, I want to see the freshest content that my colleagues have posted.

Fortunately, this can be easily changed. Although it could be a bit tricky if you don’t know how to do it.

If you click the three dots just below your profile information, you will be able to change it.

The fact that LinkedIn now decides for you is one of the factors that made us loose visibility on this social network. Now, in order to gain visibility and appear in the feeds of your colleagues, you need to have as many likes and comments as possible so your update may be considered as a “top” post.

And why have this new [and annoying] Linked change been implemented?

Nobody knows… But my theory: they want to promote its relatively new publishing platform. That’s also why you are now getting notification from people that posted new content directly on this platform.

Another feature that we need to bear in mind!

LinkedIn changes – what else has changed?

The first thing we have to be aware of is that LinkedIn is a business at the end of the day. So the new round of changes has been designed with the purpose of increasing its revenue. I think that by now, everyone can see these new LinkedIn changes in their profiles, but as these changes don’t roll out to everyone at the same time; it’s possible that some people may not know what I am talking about.

• Pricing plan for premium members. Here you can find a great article that sums up every change that concerns prices.
• Add media. Now you can add presentations, videos, and documents to your profile and you can embed media from up to 300 different platforms. Here you can check the whole list of platforms.
• New statistics: A new ranking that compares your performance with your connections. A good to analyse your progress and establish monthly objectives.

• Blogging platform. As I said, the importance of this new platform embedded on LinkedIn is increasing. It is taking over status updates and each post is indexed separately, so you can also be found easily by potential clients.
• Keep in touch box. This makes easier the interaction with your network.

• Searches. LinkedIn has established the limit of X number of searches per month. As I said, they want to maximize its revenue by encouraging people to go premium. However, do not panic. You can also search pages and people on LinkedIn through Google. You just have to use the command: site:https://Linkedin.com/pub/

For example: “sworn translator” site:https://Linkedin.com/pub/

What about you? Have you noticed more LinkedIn changes? Are you already using any of the new features?

Do you want to connect on LinkedIn?

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