Time for another speaker, and it's the awesome Kevin D Turner. He's coming from Texas to speak onstage in Birmingham at UpLift Live about advanced LinkedIn strategies.
TRANSCRIPT
I'm one of those that I believe that artificial intelligence can be an incredible muse but it's never going to be a complete artist.
Welcome back to the UpLift Live podcast. This is John Espirian from the Mission Control team for UpLift Live, which is the UK's first LinkedIn-focused conference for LinkedIn specialists, power users and enthusiasts.
OK, time for another speaker, and this time we're heading to Texas to talk with one of the absolute top names of LinkedIn: Kevin D Turner. He has phenomenal knowledge of so many aspects of LinkedIn, and he is a number one person for staying on top of new features and changes.
Let's hop aboard and get to the interview with Kevin!
Kevin D Turner, welcome to the UpLift Live conference podcast.
Thank you so much for being here.
Tell everyone a little bit about who Kevin D Turner is.
How did you get involved in LinkedIn? And what do you know about LinkedIn anyway? I first want to say thank you for having me here.
It's an honour.
I love what you're doing with UpLift Live.
I think it's going to be incredible.
And I'm excited to be there, not just to present but to learn and listen and connect with everybody else who is presenting there, because they're all incredible.
And they see things in different ways.
And that, to me, is really exciting.
You know, so for me, it's a learning experience as well, as well as a sharing experience.
Personally, I've been involved with LinkedIn since 2005.
Actually, it may have been earlier, but I think I set up an account and then forgot how to log in.
I was in that first 2 million, right, got the little letter from LinkedIn that said thank you for being in the first group.
Been very active ever since.
And it has actually helped me in my, I guess, career, in the sense, I've had 6 pivots in my career, each one I made choices.
And about halfway through that career, LinkedIn came into effect, right.
And I started to rebrand myself on LinkedIn when I was ready for these pivots.
And it allowed me to do that.
And that to me was fascinating.
The other component of that, I had done a lot of international business.
I've actually lived in several countries, I've done business in 140 countries, and I had these connections.
And before LinkedIn, it was very difficult to stay connected, right, emails, you know, this was, you know, prior to all this advanced conferencing that you could do, LinkedIn became that connection.
It allowed me to keep contact with all those people.
So, I became very active.
And that, to me, was a connectivity, and I truly believe that this is the platform for networking.
And networking always beats not working, right, whether you're looking for a job or it's just that next opportunity, if you're not talking to people, if you're not out there finding out what they need, what you can help them with what you need, what they can help you with, if you're not doing that, then you're really kind of behind the 8 ball, right? You're always then trying to find something, whereas those things will find you if you network.
And that's one of the most incredible, I think, features of LinkedIn, right, that nobody talks about as a feature.
But it's that ability to network on a global scale, on a mass scale, and on a personal scale.
And you and I have met through LinkedIn.
So, this event will be our time to actually like real life meet, right? I don't even know how tall you are.
And all these things, you know.
So, that, to me, is incredible.
And it's even more exciting.
And we build everything here on LinkedIn together, you know, in that sense of that relationship.
And I think, to me, that's the best part about being here.
Yeah, fantastic.
And I am so grateful for having the LinkedIn platform for meeting people around the world.
And I certainly wouldn't have met the likes of you without this kind of connection platform, it is fantastic for that.
What we haven't said anything about is the fact that you're now probably the most known person on LinkedIn with regards to sharing new features about the platform.
So, you're a personal brand strategist.
But you always come to mind whenever something changes, or something is new on LinkedIn.
And I do wonder whether you sleep at times, because you're sharing so much good value stuff.
Now, one of the challenges we have in a podcast several months ahead of time is that there's no way you can predict what LinkedIn is going to do several months down the line.
But maybe you could tell us something about where you think LinkedIn is going, or maybe how many new features have we even seen in 2023? And how many do you think we might see in the next coming year? What do you think, Kevin? I'll cover all that.
But first thing I want to say is, I can't do this alone.
It takes a tribe I always say you know of eagle-eye and sharing hearts.
People come to me because they know I'm going to share that I'm going to give them credit in the process.
And we come together.
Without that I couldn't do it.
I used to do it when LinkedIn would have 40 features a year.
That was easy, right? No biggie.
And everybody kind of knew.
Now, with the pace that they are implementing these new features.
I couldn't do it all by myself.
So, I have to give credit.
I know you're even in there a couple of times for discovering things in the wild.
We call it captured in the wild.
That's how it works.
And that's one of the things if you learn on LinkedIn that you don't have to compete, you can collaborate, even if you're doing the exact same thing.
We're looking at a global market.
Yeah.
And the opportunity is there.
So, that's the thing that drives me.
Now, LinkedIn itself, I really think there's going to be a lot more AI involved in LinkedIn.
And there's a plus and a minus to that, right? I'm one of those that I believe that artificial intelligence can be an incredible muse but it's never going to be a complete artist.
And people need to realise that and it can also be the worst muse, right? Like any muse can be, it could get you in trouble really quickly.
And it is your name, your brand, be careful.
But LinkedIn is going to start implementing a lot more AI.
And they're going to position it towards Premium as they as they have been doing.
And that's because LinkedIn isn't really a social good site.
We get social good from it, but it's a business.
And they've realised, we've got to start adding things to Premium.
So, we're going to see a lot more Premium additions that we don't see anywhere else, and a lot more AI into Premium, because that seems to be where they're placing it.
So, that to me is a big change.
How many we've had this a year, so far, we're sitting at about 127 new LinkedIn features.
And a couple dozen changes, because I don't even call some of these things are changes, they might be changing in wording.
You know, those are just changes.
These are real, actual features.
And they're coming.
And I've got another 4 or 5 this week that we're trying to get in there and define because often somebody will find something and goes, this looks different.
And we got to research it, is it really different? Because there's so much going on.
And then you got to figure out, what does it mean? What are the impacts? What does it look like? How do we capture it? And then begin to share the process, and at the same time help people manage the frustration of I don't have it yet.
And sometimes I don't have it yet, right? You might have it, you know, all different people may have it at different times.
That's just part of the process.
But when we share in this sense, we give everybody a little bit of empowerment.
You know, they know what's coming.
They know how to plan, they know how to explain, they don't get in front of people and present and get embarrassed because something, what is that, right? Or where did that go? They shouldn't have that knowledge.
And to me, I just I love being in part of that process.
And I can't take credit for it.
But I definitely like to be there.
Yeah, fantastic.
And one of the great things about getting together in a room is that first of all, that will beat the whole AI thing, because we'll be actually, you know, hugging in the same room.
But also it'll give us a bit more time where we're not just talking about here's a load of new features, but also some strategic chat about, why is any of this relevant? What do you really need to know to change in your business to make use of this new thing, or this thing that's changed? So, all of that strategic chat will be happening in Birmingham on Thursday, 21 March 2024.
It's in Birmingham, UK, you can buy a ticket now.
And it's uplift-live.com If you want to come and see one of the absolute apex operators of LinkedIn talking in Kevin D Turner, come and join us.
We've got 6 other speakers as well as Kevin, it's going to be the first event of its type in the UK, probably one of the first in the world.
And if you've ever been to a marketing conference before where LinkedIn has been a bit of an afterthought, it's the whole show here.
So, you're really going to come away with some great takeaways.
Kevin, I can't wait to meet you.
It's going to be a real honour to share a stage with you.
Can't wait for you to be there.
Thank you for being part of UpLift Live.
And we will see you in Birmingham in March.
Cheers.
Fantastic.
Take care!
Great stuff as always with Kevin. He's a legend and I can't wait to meet him. And we can't wait to bring you more speakers soon!
If you're ready to get onboard, grab yourself a ticket to UpLift Live at uplift-live.com – and if you know anyone else who'd be interested in an advanced conference about LinkedIn, tell them about this podcast and how to get a ticket!
Lift-off is coming soon, so thanks for listening and stick with us as we prepare for launch.
This is Mission Control … over and out.
UpLift Live Mission Control
TICKETS: uplift-live.com
QUESTIONS/FEEDBACK: john@uplift-live.com