I Spent A Day Using LinkedIn Learning

On Wednesday, 20 May 2020, I decided I was going to spend the day taking LinkedIn Learning courses. This was in view of the abundant free time I had due to my employment-seeking status (still accurate at the time of writing) and because I felt the ingratiating need to be productive.

I opened a new browser window, signed into LinkedIn Learning and promptly realised I only had access to it because of my organisation (I’m still a university student). I felt a minor rush of gratefulness for the access as I had mistakenly thought it was an open platform and relief that I thought of doing this while I still had the access (and time). I also wondered “Why isn’t LinkedIn Learning an open platform?” but chose to move on to more pressing matters.

In total, I spent about 6 hours, including breaks, on the following 6 courses.

• Social Media Marketing: Strategy and Optimisation by Martin Waxman

• Social Media Marketing Tips by Carlos Gil

• Learning Canva by Marley Jaxx

• Storytelling for Social Media using Adobe Spark Video by Ashley Kennedy

• Marketing to Generation Z by Jonah Stillman and David Stillman (this one didn’t give me the option to share that I’d completed it on my profile)

• Learn Social Media Monitoring by Martin Waxman

Why these courses? Well, I just went with the first few recommended to me by the LinkedIn Learning platform itself.

It was in the middle of my second course when the idea to write about my LinkedIn Learning experience struck me. Given my adequate writing skills and tendency to have an opinion about many things, I figured I could up the value of my time spent to include not just the learnt skills but also a published article to flesh out my portfolio.

It was also at this point I realised I already knew a considerable portion of what was being taught simply because I am an avid social media user and (somewhat) manage a social media account that is not my own (i.e. for an organisation). For example,

• Instagram is an almost exclusively visual platform – the visual aesthetic of the posts is very important.

• There has to be a specific purpose and tone for each social media platform you use and for each type of content produced (e.g. IG stories vs posts vs IGTV).

• Consistency is key when it comes to the feel and visual style of the content, as well as posting schedule.

• Plan ahead! Create a content calendar you can maintain and possibly hand over to another person whenever necessary.

• Canva in general – I use this for anything and everything I need to do that requires a visual design so I’m pretty familiar with its functions and features.

However, I did gain valuable insight about a business’s perspective (e.g. “Think from your customers’ points of view – find out what platforms they use and/ or who they engage with”) and that “an influencer doesn’t have to be internet-famous”, it can be anyone with the potential to influence others about your company/ product/ service (e.g. “a person that liked/ reviewed your product and promoted it without compensation”). There were many other useful tips but I’m not going to list them all here as it would probably be a disservice to the LinkedIn Learning authors.

Overall, here’s what I liked about my LinkedIn Learning experience.

• The exercise files included in some courses – these, especially the templates, are extremely helpful!

• The adjustable playback speed – this was set at (at least) x1.5 for all the courses I took because I wanted to be more time-efficient and I’ve found that I process information better when people speak faster. (Is this a Gen Z thing?)

• The keyword-searchable transcript – kudos to the person that came up with this unique function!

And here’s what I think can be improved.

• A list of links mentioned during the course could be provided in the description box. I know the links pop up in the videos themselves, but I prefer having them all in one place for me to refer to later on.

• The categorisation of the courses could be more specific? The courses I took were labelled either “Beginner”, “Intermediate” or “General”. Perhaps in the initial search, the visible course description could state whether the tools taught use the free version or require the paid version. This would be particularly useful for people like me who want to learn the skills but do not have the (institution-sponsored) financial resources to pay for advanced tools.

Alright, that’s all from me as I’m off to take more LinkedIn Learning courses (and apply for more summer job positions). If you’ve read up till here, thank you so much for sticking with me and I hope I’ve earned the pleasure of your time!

Cover image originally from here, by artist Derplan13 - I just added a filter.