Episode 178: LinkedIn Activities You Need to Use the Mobile App For (and 1 You Can’t)

Bob Woods  00:00

Greetings, Everyone and Welcome to Making Sales Social Live, brought to you by social sales link. I’m Bob Woods and I’m joined by fellow LinkedIn and social selling professional who’s also known as the LinkedIn whisperer, Brynne Tillman. Brynne, how’re you doing?

Brynne Tillman  00:16

I’m Good, Bob. How are you today?

Bob Woods  00:19

Doing fantastic. Fantastic. 

Intro  00:23

Welcome to Making Sales Social Live, as we share LinkedIn, and social selling training strategies and tips that will have an immediate impact on your business. Join Brynne Tillman, and me Bob Woods every week, Making Sales Social Live. This is the recorded version of our weekly Making Sales Social Live show. 

Bob Woods  00:46

So, talk a little bit about mobile 57% of LinkedIn users and that’s an old statistic, but I can’t find a new one. But at least let’s just say at the very least 57% of LinkedIn users come to the platform from their smartphones. So like I said, older statistics, but considering that LinkedIn has more than 900 members worldwide, that’s a lot. 

Brynne Tillman  01:08

900 million.

Bob Woods  01:11

Million, I just say 900. There’s a bit more 900 million needed in users. Yes, exactly. Thank you, Dr. Evil. LinkedIn is a mobile app that is a very valuable resource especially for those in sales and social selling, as among many, many, many other things that lets us stay in touch with our own LinkedIn connections, day and night. So, a real old GE kind of sales question, but I think it’ll get us into the topic of how much do you love mobile brands?

Brynne Tillman  01:47

Love the unmute button. Yeah, So you know, I’m on mobile all the time. Personally, you know, we’re teaching LinkedIn on the desktop, but I’m gonna say most of my personal engagement is from mobile, I love the ease of scrolling through mobile or even engaging on connections and requests. And you know, I’m doing it while I’m online at the grocery store and I’m using it when I’m sitting at the doctor’s office, Right? It’s just so convenient and I really love it. So, let’s talk about some of the things that can only be done on mobile, not on desktop.

Bob Woods  02:32

Exactly. Because there are some exclusive quote-unquote features that can only be done on mobile. Number one, recording name pronunciations. So, this one is really interesting, because this is actually used by the end user, quote, unquote. So, in other words, people who are looking at your profile, they can actually hear your name pronunciation, on mobile and on desktop. But the only way for you to get it into LinkedIn is to actually do it on mobile, you can’t like, upload a file from a desktop, you have to do it on mobile.

Brynne Tillman  03:09

Yeah, and it’s a really simple click to record. So, it’s name pronunciation. So, that should be pretty easy. Brynne Tillman. But you actually get 10 seconds. So, think about what is your like, tagline that you want to add to the end of your name, it is an opportunity to get your message beyond in another form on LinkedIn. So, from the LinkedIn app, just record and consider going even beyond your name, but that’s great.

Bob Woods  03:41

Yeah. The one thing that I do like to add though is when it comes to these types of features, where we kind of take things a step beyond, always do the original intent of the feature though. So I mean, even though my name is Bob woods, one of the easiest names probably on the planet to do. I say my name at the very beginning, because that’s what it’s there for – it’s about name pronunciation. So if you’re going to use this feature, like we’re talking about, no matter how easy your name is, always say your name first and then add your tagline on.

Brynne Tillman  04:14

Exactly! Perfect. What’s number two?

Bob Woods  04:17

Number two, is uploading your cover story video to your profile. So, this is specifically for the cover story. In other words, this isn’t for posts or whatever, because you can use whatever platform to do that. This is specifically talking about the cover story.

Brynne Tillman  04:35

So behind your headshot, you have the ability to upload a video. This is a LinkedIn video used to be called a cover story. So if you look for it, it’s now a LinkedIn video, I believe, but it’s this video that when you get to someone’s profile that has it if you’ve never seen it before, there’s a little purple ring and you can count to three seconds and then the video will start behind it.

So, this is a great way to engage with your audience for them to see you as the human being that you are. Usually you can only record it on your mobile and upload it, but you can actually record it somewhere else, even if you wanted it edited, and then download it on your phone and then upload it. But I believe and I’m going to change mine out soon. I believe this should be more casual. 

I don’t think this should be a highly edited video, because I think this is the opportunity where people can kind of get a taste of who you are organically, authentically. Now, the one thing that Bob and I talk about a lot is, although they will tell you it’s 30 seconds, make it 29 seconds, because at 30 seconds, if you do 30.01 seconds, it is rejected. So, to make sure that your video is uploaded appropriately and you don’t have to go back and edit over and over again. Make it 29 seconds.

Bob Woods  06:02

Yeah, so that part is really important. I also like what Brynne just said about the more casual part. So, we always tell people to think of LinkedIn as like a networking opportunity. When you go up and meet someone for the first time are they going to have flashy graphics in front of them? Are they going to have stuff going on around them and things like that? No, it’s just going to be a one to one conversation, same type of thing, except with a video.

Brynne Tillman  06:27

I love that.  I’m gonna steal that.

Bob Woods  06:29

Absolutely feel more than free. So, number three is creating a photo carousel. So, there’s a thing here in that you can upload multiple photos to LinkedIn desktop, and it becomes a collage.

Brynne Tillman  06:45

No, It becomes a carousel.

Bob Woods  06:29

That’s right, you see this? This is why we’re doing it by rewind a little bit creating a photo collage on mobile, which is different from a carousel on desktop. 

Brynne Tillman  06:59

Correct. So on the desktop, Yeah, You got it! Yeah, So proud of you, Bob woods. See how easy it was to pronounce his name. Anyway, so if you upload 345 different photos on the desktop, it becomes a carousel where you can click through. If you upload those same images or photos from your phone, it creates a collage where you can have four or five or six sort of in one place. 

So, it’s a very different experience for your viewer. There are many times where I want the carousel to happen and I’ll tell you the pros of that the longer someone is clicking through and on your post, the more algorithm love it gets. If it’s just one collage, they’re going to be on it for less time. 

The con is most people won’t see all of those pictures, if it’s in a collage people will get them all in one shot so you guys can play with what works better for you. But if you want the collage upload on mobile, if you want the carousel, upload on desktop.

Bob Woods  08:04

Some forms of content that you do might be better as a collage and other forms might be better as a carousel, you know, you just got to test it out and just see which one works, especially if you’re uploading different kinds of categories for lack of a better phrase of content. So speaking of content, let’s talk about number four and that’s using post templates.

Brynne Tillman  08:26

Oh, yeah, And I have a bonus one I forgot about, Right? Yeah, No, it’s not even there. On the list. So, post templates. You know, on Facebook, when you go to post something, you can change the background color. So you know, it’s sort of this template, you can do that on mobile on LinkedIn and is not available on the desktop. 

But if you want to go in, there’s a little looks like a little collage purple Template button on your mobile when you go to share a post and you can choose a pretty background where you can just add you’re saying, normally we use Canva to make those but this is really simple to do. Yeah. Can I go to my bonus? Oh, do you want to add to that, and then I’ll go to my bonus.

Bob Woods  09:10

No, I was just gonna say if you’re terrible at graphics and yet you want that type of look to it, and you don’t want to delve into Canva. And I mean, I use Canva too, but trust me, I get what you’re feeling. That’s how you do it. Really simple.

Brynne Tillman  09:25

It’s just simple if you just have a phrase, it’s great and I love it’s very easy to use. Alright, here’s my bonus that we forgot to put on the list, Bob sending video messages to that’s a big one. So on LinkedIn mobile, if you go down to the message and you click on the little paper clip and then video and you go into selfie mode.

You can send a personalized video to any one of your first-degree connections. This is all only available on mobile but they receive it everywhere they receive it on their desktop or their mobile, but you can only send it from mobile. And we have seen over a 90% success in responses when it comes to using video. So, that’s your 4.5.

Bob Woods  10:15

Yeah, Exactly and, you know, I can hear some people say, Well, you know, can you do this? There’s this on the desktop and then do this, this and this and then send it technically, yeah, you can. But guess what, you have to do that. 

This, this and this, and then this, this and this, and then that this, whereas on mobile? Yeah, Hold the damn camera in front of your piehole. Yeah, hit record, you do your message and you send it. It’s easy peasy. Really, really simple to do. Just use mobile.

Brynne Tillman  10:44

Yeah, it really isn’t. There’s no third party. It’s native. Yeah, right? and so they click it, they don’t leave it plays inside of their inbox, and you get a great higher response rate. So, what can’t you do on mobile, Bob woods?  

Bob Woods  11:00

One thing that you can’t do, and you know, there’s probably others, I’m not sure. But this is the most obvious one and this one is actually a biggie, responding to invitations to connect, that don’t have a message included with them. So, in other words, if someone wants to connect with you, but they have not included a message with that connection request, big one.

Brynne Tillman  11:21

So this is a big one, right? There are three kinds of connectors. There’s the LinkedIn open network that accepts everybody. There’s the purists that only accept people that they know. And then there’s the networker. And the networker may not accept everyone and say, Hey, let’s go to lunch. 

But they want to continue the conversation to figure out if they want to accept the connection requests. So, you can reply to anyone on the desktop, anyone? Even if they didn’t send you a message, you can reply with a message. You know, thanks, Bob, for your invitation to connect. Typically, I only connect with people. I’ve had conversations where I’ve engaged with, can I ask how you found me? 

Maybe you come back and you’re like, Oh, God, are hoods that I should connect with you? And I go, okay, Gardiner says it, we’re going to do that right. So absolutely. Bob, right. So we can have this conversation prior to connecting mobile, However, you can only reply, if they sent an initial message. There is no message, there’s only a reply. So, if they just click to connect with you, you either accept or decline or ignore on mobile, whereas on desktop, you could have sent a message to them.

Bob Woods  12:35

Yeah. And that’s a reply without accepting and, and yeah, so so for those, you just wait until you get in front of your desktop, and then you deal with it at that point.

Brynne Tillman  12:43

So mobile, we’re all on it. We’re all using it. Now. You have a couple of insider tips on what it does that your desktop. Oh, can I share one more thing before we bring it in for a landing?

Bob Woods  12:55

Oh, my God. Yeah, of course. 

Brynne Tillman  12:59

Oh, thanks. So, when you are on LinkedIn, if you see a green dot at the bottom right-hand side of a profile picture there on desktop, if currently in LinkedIn, on desktop, if you see the green button with a white circle in the middle there on mobile, I’m going to share why I think this is really important. If they’re on mobile, they’re probably not in work mode. 

This is an opportunity. If you reach out and have a message, there’s a high likelihood of them responding right there. And then if they’re on desktop, they’re more likely to be in work mode and may not respond. Right.

Bob Woods  13:36

So, very, very important point. So, we’re gonna wrap this up in a very high note on that one. So thanks again, for joining us on making sales social live. If you’re with us live on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook or Twitter right now, we do this every week. So, keep an eye out for our live sessions. If you’re listening to us on our podcast right now, so in other words recorded and you haven’t subscribed already, go ahead and hit that subscribe follow button. 

If you’d like more information on our podcast, go to socialsaleslink.com/podcast. We do two shows weekly, we do the live one. And then we also have our making sales social interview series where we talk with leaders and experts in sales, marketing, business, and many many more areas. So when you’re out and about, be sure to make your sales, 

Brynne Tillman  14:26

Social. 

Bob Woods 14:27

Thanks, everybody. Have a great day. Bye Bye. 

Outro 14:30

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