How LinkedIn became sexy

It was late last year when Jamana Mahajan a homemaker residing in Ujjain Madhya Pradesh launched Satvic Foods On the launch day she shared her story on LinkedIn about how she got married in 1989 had her son a year later and dedicated herself to taking care of her family until the year 2021ldquoIn all these years I have always wanted to do something of my own Something that has my identity my touch My family has always supported me but I wanted to stand on my own feet One night before my 57th birthday I was discussing one of my wishes with my son One thing led to another and the next morning he went ahead and registered Satvic Foodsrdquo read her post which got over 22000 reactions and almost 200 repostsGauri Das senior HR professionalldquoHer story reached 25 million users and by the end of the day it was covered in three major news publicationsrdquo says her son authorwriter Viraj 30 Something which would demand a public relations team and significant marketing muscle was achieved unintentionally though through a post on LinkedIn ldquoThere was a time when people would use LinkedIn to get jobs but these days people share their personal storiesrdquo he says adding that many people have been vocal about their sexuality on the platform a marker of good change he thinks about something that was for long considered a taboo in the professional spaceLike Viraj other users too have noticed that the platform is now encouraging the sharing of life lessons And itrsquos a relief for some that it doesnrsquot have to be in the format of Reels Last month a young mother shared a post about being fired by Twitter while she was on maternity leave A father of two spoke about losing four members of his family to COVID asking for a less stressful role at work seeking counselling and trying to be a good single parent to his children A young divorced woman talking about how she asks those who reach out to her to give more time to their marriage unless it is toxic and why this doesnrsquot make her hypocriteJamana Mahajanrsquos story of how she spent almost three decades as a homemaker before she decided to launch her own company reached 25 million users and made it to three major news publicationsWhile LinkedIn was once a platform where recruiters would post job openings and applicants would go looking for them it has become way more and the numbers prove itmdashQ3 of 2021 saw 774 million users and Q3 of 2022 has 850 million users When it comes to India says LinkedIn the base grew by over 50 per cent with 96 million usersldquoToday we get as much traffic from members of tier 2 and tier 3 as we get from tier 1 city professionals This shift has been the result of our focused strategy on making LinkedIn accessible and approachable In December 2021 we launched LinkedIn in Hindi which opened it up to 600 million Hindi speaking creatorsrdquo says a spokespersonVarun Duggirala Viraj Mahajan Ramveer Tanwar Ajay Datta and Mrinil Mathur RajwanildquoIt is not just a place where people come for jobs It is a place where people share knowledge a place where professionals have equitable access to ideas insights and inspiration that can unlock a world of opportunity through various mediums like pictures text articles videos etc operating in a safe and trustworthy space to express themselvesrdquo says Ajay Datta Head of Product LinkedIn India adding ldquoWhat differentiates us is the value that our members find in the time they spend on LinkedIn where they gain new perspective get information that helps them do their job well and feel inspired about whatrsquos ahead in the world of workrdquoLinkedIn was always a place for professionals to progress their career which hasnrsquot changed but what has changed is that it is has gone into a community space where people share values and experiences and human skills are under the spotlight says Andheribased Varun Duggirala an author and entrepreneur who cofounded The Glitch a creative agency with which it executed campaigns like FindTheBalance which aimed at provoking honest conversations about the struggle to achieve a worklife balance while working from home during the pandemic ldquoLinkedIn has worked on its marketing and communications It has gone from hiring and finding the next best job to showcasing the individual tapping into not just their professional growth but also the personal growth and looking at the individualrsquos journey from a humane lensrdquo adds DuggiralaAgrees Breach Candybased Krusha Sahjwani Malkani who is Asia head of an employee advocacy software Sociabble ldquoLinkedIn has evolved as a platform and is more about building a personal brand It is not only your resume but the content that you are creating that leads to jobs and also side hustlesrdquoMalkani 30 who has 26000 followers started experimenting with the platform during the lockdown ldquoI am a writer who showcased my work across a variety of platforms I would fashion them content accordingly While Instagram would work for lifestyle stories LinkedIn would be about content that was more professional But during the early days of the pandemic I made an Instagramlike post for LinkedIn and it worked so there was clearly a demand for itrdquo says Malkani ldquoIt was during the two years when work and home merged that people really started embracing vulnerable posts It is no longer about lsquoI ace this jobrsquo or lsquoI earned that titlersquo I also want to read what a day of a working mother looks likerdquoTalking about features Malkani adds that the platform is becoming more creatorfriendly ldquoEven in the last few weeks it has come up with features like captions for videos As a creator if I put up a video it automatically adds captions for me which is something that a creator needs Similarly they are rolling out a feature that will allow you to schedule your posts as wellrdquoCreator is a word that emerged again and again during the search and writing of this story and it is something that LinkedIn is invested in greatly ldquoContent from professionals drives consumption and consumers end up spending more time on platforms This is the precise reason why they have gone bullish on LinkedIn for creators programmerdquo says Mrinil Mathur Rajwani managing partner at Social Samosa Network which maps Indiarsquos social media developmentsIn February this year as part of the global 25 million investment in creators LinkedIn launched Creator Accelerator Program in India giving 200 individuals access to their 10week incubator programme as well as additional resources and guidance from mentors to help them grow on the platformldquoIt provided a roadmap for professionals to express themselves and build personal brands that would inspire other professionals to consume and createrdquo says Rajwani When asked whether the platform which was once popular among B2B marketers before they migrated to Instagram is attracting them back Rajwani says ldquoLinkedIn is still very relevant for B2B marketers If they have moved to Instagram itrsquos just for scale at a lower cost The salience and precision LinkedIn drives is parallel to none Of late the platform has been offering great reach and engagement to professionals who are creatingcontent consistentlyrdquoHowever while some have been making efforts to become creators on this platform some became one by accident Like Ramveer Tanwar A resident of Dadha a village in Gautam Buddha Nagar district Uttar Pradesh Tanwar who is an engineer by qualification quit his full time job in 2018 to do what he wantedmdashprotect the environment He would use Facebook to spread awareness until he was nudged by his friends to join LinkedIn in late 2019ldquoI would make the same post on LinkedIn as I was making on Facebook slowly it started getting good traction Then in October last year I posted a before and after photo of a pond that I was working on to improve and it reached about 35 million people Some news channels reached out to me They visited the pond and interviewed me The next day Sonu Sood featured me on his special programme on a news channel The following Sunday I was part of PM Narendra Modirsquos Mann Ki Baatrdquo says Tanwar who has about 35000 followers on the platform LinkedIn he says has helped him expand his work from one district to six districts ldquoFrom Gautam Buddha Nagar I am now working in districts of Karnataka Uttarakhand Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan as well Delhirdquo he says When asked how the platform has evolved Tanwar says that he has no clue ldquoI only come to the platform to post and reply to the messagesrdquoNavi Mumbaibased Gauri Das vice president and head of human resources at India Factoring and Finance Solutions Private Limited is an active LinkedIn user and has as many as 52442 followers It is about personal branding while staying authentic says Das ldquoThe platform has now touched every part of an employeersquos life cycle whether it is recruitment or development and learning As HR personnel we are also creating brand ambassadors When people quit and move on they talk about their experience of working at a company and in a way they act as brand ambassadorsrdquoIf you arenrsquot thinking about putting yourself there yet Das recommends that you do ldquoIt is not about bragging but telling people who you are at the corerdquo she says adding that the only tip that works is being authenticThe platform however has not been spared criticism When it comes to drawbacks Viraj Mahajan who is actively involved in mentoring young writers says that the platform is increasingly seeing people with barely any experience conducting paid webinars and there is no way to verify someonersquos claims whether it is about their education or experience ldquoLinkedIn users have been complaining about reading fake stories Plagiarism is rampant too and quite a few believe that LinkedIn is the new Facebookrdquo says Social Samosarsquos Rajwani adding ldquoAll of this is true but there are a lot of merits to the platform that beat these flawsrdquoLinkedIn Dos and DonrsquotsDos1 Be consistent whether you want to post once or thrice a week2 Content is kingmdashfind your niche and build your audience3 Use audiovisual toolsmdashpolls images video it will make your reach betterDonrsquots1 Donrsquot badmouth your employers customers or vendors2 Donrsquot touch anything that is controversial HR personnel are watching you3 Donrsquot copy and paste content always credit the source