MSMP 93: Jonathan Baldock on LinkedIn Tips

Mads Singers Management Podcast

LinkedIn continues to be an even more relevant part of networking and sales and it’s not often that you can speak with someone who’s been on the inside of that company, helping businesses use the platform to get outstanding results in recruiting and sales.

My guest for this episode of the Mads Singers Management Podcast, Jonathan Baldock, is one of those insiders. Based in Toronto, Jonathan spent a decade helping LI’s largest global customers with their recruitment goals as well as advising on social sharing and employee advocacy.

With 700+ million members, LinkedIn can be a loud place. But throughout our conversation, Jonathan kept noting that it wasn’t about reaching everyone: it was about the share of voice in your industry. Share of voice refers to conversations in your industry and what your footprint is within those conversations (and looking to increase them). Jonathan likened the share of voice to two car dealerships that are side-by-side. One has three cars and the other has 100. They can both sell you cars, but one definitely looks more attractive at first glance.

You don’t increase the share of voice by simply sharing content about how awesome your business is (and how you need to buy from us NOW). Here are two wonderful tips Jonathan shared:

• Get buy-in from your employees. If you take a company with 50 employees, they will have, on average, 800 followers. An average person may have 800 connections on LinkedIn. When one of your employees shares a job opportunity, or a thought leadership post, or an article from your company, they have the potential to reach many times the number of your company’s followers.
• Use a 3/2/1 ratio for every 6 pieces of content you are sharing:
  • 3 pieces of thought leadership
  • 2 industry-specific pieces
  • 1 piece about your company

Jonathan stressed the importance of not worrying about winning a share of voice for all of LI, but again, just within the important scope of your clients and prospective clients. LI is, after all, primarily a B2B platform.

I shared with him my own pet peeve of seeing people tag dozens of people in posts. Jonathan agreed that this not only wasn’t effective but was likely to lead to your getting unfollowed (unsurprisingly!). Best practice? Tagging one, maybe two people, and using one, maybe two hashtags in your posts.

LinkedIn definitely feels like a black box to many of us, but after this episode, you’ll feel that it’s less mysterious! Enjoy.

Key Learning Points:

1. Jonathan shares some tips for building your LinkedIn company page - 5:04

2. Jonathan discusses the importance of posting and sharing content in driving interest - 7:00

3. Jonathan offers some best practices for sharing on LinkedIn - 27:20

4. Jonathan notes the importance of focusing on your clients and prospective clients (vs. the whole world) - 29:15

5. Mads shares a pet peeve: tagging a bunch of people in a LinkedIn post - 31:07

Resources Mentioned:

LinkedIn Sales Blog

LinkedIn Marketing Blog

LinkedIn Talent Acquisition Blog

Connect with Jonathan Baldock

LinkedIn