5 Huge Opportunities LinkedIn Gave Me

“What has Social Media done for you?”

It’s a question so many ask

And my answer always is EVERYTHING

But Social Media isn’t this one size fits all beast, the same as traditional marketing isn’t a one sized fits all beast

So in our latest blog I wanted to explain the 5 Huge Opportunities LinkedIn Gave Me

1. BBC
Way back in 2012 I was privileged to be selected as one of the 8000 torchbearers for the London 2012 Olympic Games

It was a wonderful experience which saw me run in front of 25,000 people, appear on BBC Breakfast TV to 1.5 million people and to celebrate the great work I’d done in organising All Ages Gigs For Teenagers in South Manchester

It was also the intersection of my final career move from the music industry to social media marketing

During my run I’d connected on LinkedIn with an event organiser at the Buxton leg of the Olympic Torch Relay

Little did I know that years later in 2016 that same event organiser would be working at the BBC, had been watching what I’d been posting on LinkedIn and would ask me to come and work as a social media trainer in the BBC at Media City

It led me to working here in Salford / Manchester and across the UK in London, Scotland and Ireland

If that connection had never happened on LinkedIn in 2012, then this fantastic opportunity would not have come about

2. LinkedIn Local
LinkedIn Local is a global movement taking in 200 cities worldwide

It was impossible to miss if you were on LinkedIn as the movement just grew and grew from very humble beginnings to something much larger

I always believe that if you don’t ask you don’t get and when I connected with the UK lead for LinkedIn Local I asked are there plans to launch a Manchester chapter of the LinkedIn Local concept

At that moment I never imagined I’d be launching LinkedIn Local in Manchester with 3 other great people – Kirsty, Amanda and Mark

I’ve been networking for 8 years now at various groups such as 4Networking, FSB, the local chamber and several local networking groups

LinkedIn Local felt different. The buzz in the room was electric as 200 people had booked in advance

I like to describe LinkedIn Local as the modern version of the Tweet Up – a chance to bring people together

3. Unparalleled Testimonial Strategy
Back when I started my business I could have collected my Testimonials in various places

Facebook, Google, Email

I opted with LinkedIn to really build an unparalleled testimonial strategy

For those that aren’t aware: LinkedIn Testimonials are the 2nd Most Trusted Form of Testimonial – with the only method beating it to the top slot being a video testimonial

LinkedIn testimonials just felt right. It’s a business platform full of serious businesses. It’s the place for me

To date I have 265+ LinkedIn Testimonials

Those testimonials have opened doors time and time and time again

If you were choosing a Social Media Trainer or Manager for your business – which would you go for?

One with 265+ Testimonials or one with a handful

4. Reach of Over 100,000 On Individual Posts
I’ve always been a Twitter fanboy

If I didn’t run a business, Twitter would be the platform I spent most of my “social” time on

It’s a platform to chat about what is going on here and now and it is possible to reach large numbers of people on Twitter with one tweet

But for consistent reach on serious business posts it’s LinkedIn every time

I consider a post on LinkedIn to be a personal failure if it doesn’t reach over 2000 people. A moderate success if it reaches over 10,000 people

However my best performing post has reach in excess of 100,000 people

It was a post that goes to heart of what we deliver every day – it was a question about education

You can view the post here https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6367339758355574784

5. Higher Income Generating Revenue than Any Other Social Network
Most of you reading this will be business owners, senior managers or staff who just wish their boss would take social media seriously