There is a vast amount of LinkedIn Training courses you can find online. Presented in a wide variety of formats. You can ask google for LinkedIn training and you will find countless videos, news articles, and programmes ready to be delivered. But, what makes a training programme, workshop, or power hour the right fit for you? Here are a few things you should be looking for…
The Content of The Training
Overall, LinkedIn Training is more of a topic than a definitive title for a training course or workshop. There are so many different Questions that come into play…
- What do you want to achieve?
- What do you already know about LinkedIn?
- How do you usually learn?
When you look for LinkedIn Training you’ll already have what you want to achieve in your mind. Maybe you want more views, engagement or leads for your sales. Or you find yourself wishing to get more out of LinkedIn so you want to run through the best way to use the tools.
Match Up Your Goals
Multiple different businesses use LinkedIn and it has a lot of different uses. Marketers would use LinkedIn for brand awareness, lead generation and developing a place within a market. Whereas a recruiter would be using LinkedIn to find and place suitable candidates for companies. There are a lot of different uses for LinkedIn, so you need to ensure your goals align with the training course.
An all-encompassing course may run through the basics, but leave you wondering what you can actually put into action. Of course, if you don’t really know what you want, take a look around or talk with a training provider about what they’ve done for past clients. You’ll soon be directed to a programme or workshop that is set to deliver on those goals. That is if the provider really is the right fit for you.
Who is the Training Provider?
The person in charge of getting you from A to B on LinkedIn is the most important person for you at that moment. So, you need to know everything about them and trust they can deliver for you. A lot of companies are built from their CEOs, but most of the time you’ll see that the training delivered was marketed and packaged by your favourite influencer, but provided by another company.
Some LinkedIn Training courses are all digital. If you’re looking for a coach to guide you through the finer details make sure you’re able to get in touch with your providers and check if they provide ongoing support. Most offer an introductory session and weekly coaching, but a lot are simple pre-recorded digital training courses.
Actionable Advice
Keep a key eye on what you can achieve in the timescale given. If you’ve been promised to 10X your business in 5 days, you’ll need to know all the steps to get there. Not ideals or the right mindset, actually steps you need to take.
Focusing on the mindset is one aspect of a LinkedIn Training session, but being in the right frame of mind won’t land you sales. You need focused action which doesn’t rely on ideals and the student simply figuring it out for themselves through sheer determination.
An example of this would be…
- Using a tool to create content.
- Deconstructing your content to find out what is and isn’t working.
- Revamping your message for a better call-to-action.
Credited Trainers
CPD Accredited companies will have their training courses vetted for the content and value provided. Which ensures that the activities reach the required Continuing Professional Development standards and benchmarks. Training courses with these accreditations will have logos present on their marketing materials, so look out for these logos and conduct some research on the accreditation company. Most are used within the education sector and you can find full lists of recognized higher education accreditation organisations online.
Return on Investment
Knowledge is power. It’s a cliche saying, but there are millions of businesses out there that leverage what they know. When you’re looking at a LinkedIn Training provider you need to have a clear idea of where you’ll be left once the pencils are down. Social Media platforms change all the time and some training sessions will be out of date in a couple of years’ time depending on how the platform has shifted. This is worth noting if you’re solely looking for tools, automation platforms and quick fixes.
If you’ve been taught to post a certain piece of content at a certain time and add that to an automated engagement tool you’ll have some success. But, a list of problems once LinkedIn has moved on. Then your training won’t be worth the weight in gold as it previously was.
Being Consistent
This is a free piece of advice that every LinkedIn training course, workshop or programme will give you. You have to implement and keep at it. You won’t know if your training was worth it, or if you’ve really taken onboard the advice if you don’t put it into practice. LinkedIn isn’t a one-and-done platform. You need to keep at it. Keep growing, posting and developing on the platform and you’ll find success.
