92. LinkedIn Makeover w/ Donna Serdula: The Truth About Engagement & SOAR Methodology

Welcome to part three of our personal and professional branding series on LinkedIn with Donna Serdula, world-renowned LinkedIn expert. 

In the previous episode, we delve deep to understand the balance between passive and active engagement on LinkedIn, especially when you're first starting out. We talk about how to advertise your product or service (or yourself) on LinkedIn, without turning it into a sales platform. 

In this final episode, we cover...

• How engagement on LinkedIn goes beyond visible metrics like likes, comments, and follows.
• How LinkedIn is not just a platform for presence; active engagement and participation are crucial.
• Networking in-person and on LinkedIn -- shared similarities and differences
• How a strong LinkedIn profile can passively attract opportunities, but how active engagement amplifies success
• How LinkedIn is not just a sales platform
• "Lurkers" on LinkedIn 
• Having clear purpose on LinkedIn, guiding your actions and content.

Donna Serdula is the founder and president of Vision Board Media, a professional branding company that helps individuals and companies tell their unique stories on LinkedIn and beyond.  Bringing dynamic brand storytelling to the masses and empowering people to dream big – that’s the ink in her pen. It's her Website LinkedIn-Makeover.com where she and her team of over 20 writers and coaches help people collide with opportunity and transform their lives via future-forward career branding.

She has authored two editions of LinkedIn Profile Optimization FOR DUMMIES. She's shared her LinkedIn expertise at global conferences, presented keynotes and workshops, and featured on a number of high-profile news outlets.

Find Donna's website here and Donna's Linkedin here.

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Transcript

0:01

Welcome to part three of our illuminating LinkedIn series with the expert herself, Donna Sardula. This episode brings a whole other level of insights about how to use LinkedIn effectively for founders, business owners, entrepreneurs, looking to sell themselves. Stay tuned for the end where we debrief some exclusive tips that Donna shared with us off air. The truth about engagement on LinkedIn, how to measure it, and how likes and comments don't tell the full story. You don't want to miss this. Welcome to Upskill Talks, I'm your host, Michelle Shaw, lead Upskill at Upskill Community. Upskill Talks is a podcast for leaders, leaders who are actively seeking innovative and creative ways to interact. Lead themselves and others in every episode through real life stories and enlightening conversations, we will explore the challenges and opportunities real leaders face in today's everchanging workplace. We will present you with real strategies. For you to leverage your soft skills and produce transformative results. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Let us begin. So just being on LinkedIn does not mean you're networking or that you are participating in this professional community in any meaningful way. And so I wanted you to touch on that a little bit more because there are a lot of found people who say, yes, I'm on LinkedIn. Okay. I'm on LinkedIn. That means I'm done. Box checked. I'm good to go. How do you address that? I agree with you completely. In fact, I'm, I'm thinking about, um, late last year, I was invited to a, a Christmas party and it was a, it was a professional company Christmas party and I walk into this huge room and there's all these people and they're, they're drinks in their hand and they're in little clicky groups. And there were a lot of people who never ventured out of those groups. And there were even a few people that were really shy and they were as close hugging, basically hugging the walls and they weren't venturing out because it was scary, you know, for an introverted person, especially it's, it's never easy to walk into a room like that. Um, but it's not much different. Really? Because you walk in, do you have something to say? Do you have people to meet? Are you going to introduce other people? You know, it's, it's not that you went to the networking event. That doesn't mean anything. But did you engage? And did you give of yourself? And did you have fun? And did you make friends? And did you add, add some value? Did you make people smile? That's, that, it's the activity that matters more than just the mere presence. And I'm glad you use that an in person, a metaphor example, because the, the, the things that we know and understand when we are on the ground in person, sometimes we don't translate them to the same expectations for activity and for interaction in an online space. It's like, for instance, we have business meetings or classrooms in higher ed, for instance, where Transcribed If you were attending in person, you certainly are going to show up and present yourself. But since you're online, then you turn off the cameras because you are not really there. And so that the, the protocols that are governing how we conduct ourselves in person, we're not necessarily translating them to the online environment and still expecting the same outcomes. So I'm really, really keen. I'm very happy that you touched on the fact that. It's the same way in person. Like you go and just click and just stay with those few people and not venture out. Similarly, you go, you set up your profile and connect with the five people, you know, the 30 people, you know, and don't go outside of that. And everything you need to do on LinkedIn, you go into that same. Um, group and you'd never you never look at anyone outside of that group, but that that's not what networking is it does. And, you know, it calls on us to expand to just go outside of the comfort zone and take a little bit more out of it. I think it's also worth noting that there is there is some. Ability to be passive on LinkedIn, you have a strong, you have a strong profile, you know, you've, you've, you make sure it's up to date recruiters will certainly reach out other opportunities may intersect you and, and you can have some success on LinkedIn without. a huge push of activity. But at the same time, if you want more, if, if you want to aim higher, if you want to go further, yes, you could, you know, do it the passive way, but it's so much easier and so much more fun when you do engage. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to ask the question now specifically to founders, people who are starting up their businesses and they want to engage more meaningfully on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is not a sales platform where you go and pitch your business every day, but they have businesses to pitch. They want people to learn about their businesses. They want people to learn about them, their product, their service, whatever. How do you link use LinkedIn effectively that you're, as we talked about earlier, you're not showing up just to shout out loud what you do, but to be part of the community and organically share who you are, what your business does, what you offer whilst networking, contributing to community thought, leadership, and all of that. In, in some ways, the, the, the concepts are still very much the same. It's, it's having that strong profile. Mm-hmm. it's, it's utilizing LinkedIn, you know, as, as a, as a means to find your audience. It's, it's utilizing the search. It's, it's saying, all right, who, who matches, you know, my, my target audience, uh, it, it's, it's finding ways to follow them and add to their conversations. It's, it's, it's not just, you know, let me go in there and sell or let me aim low and wide. But, you know, LinkedIn can be that conduit. It could be the conduit that where you can find That audience, it could be the conduit where you can follow them. They'll follow you. And when you start to maybe not to sell your product, but answer questions, give a deeper understanding of, of, of how you're helping and how your, your tools could be used for the good, for, for productivity or, you know, whatever it might be, people take notice. And again, we always, what the whole idea here is to have those conversations. It's, it's to get people to, to respond and when they respond, you respond back, good things happen. Yes. And then I heard you talk earlier and then your audience, your users, your customers find you. If you're in the right place, doing the right things and they come and find, yeah, yeah. And so, um, one thing I know, I know you provide a lot of help on matters concerning LinkedIn, how we do this. Do you want to share a little bit about exactly what you do, how you do what you do and what offerings you have that, um, users, listeners can, can participate in, can engage with. You know, so, so few people invest in their, their, their themselves, their brand, their career. And, and that it's something that I don't think we're taught in school. And I think a lot of our parents didn't really say, Hey, there's people that you can work with who are really good at writing and can help tell your story and can help you see your accomplishments and your, your strengths and your abilities. But we are here to help. We are here to help professionals and entrepreneurs and executives and students. And it's, it is hard, you know, to sit down and to say, all right, I'm going to write a LinkedIn profile. People think it's something they can knock off in five minutes. And that's not the situation. If this is going to be your professional manifesto, gotta do some strategy. We really gotta think about yourself and who you are, your positioning, who your target audience is, what they need to know. There's a lot that goes into this. Especially if it's going to be successful and it's going to convert. And so, that's, that's why I have My website linkedin makeover. com. Tons of free tools. I have LinkedIn post ideas. I have formatting engines. I've got a LinkedIn headline generator. Tons of free stuff. But, you know, we also have the ability to help you write that LinkedIn profile, the ability to write your resume, cover letters, bios, all of those things that people struggle with. But those are the things that will, that will help you get further. Faster and further in your career, if done well, and you know what Donna, I think that's you're really addressing a really serious need. Sometimes that business owners, busy executives don't realize because we're really good at what we do, but not necessarily good at articulating what we do. And a lot of business owners, a lot of founders, they're really good at coming up with ideas or going out and marketing their business, but they are not as good at telling their story. And so they under sell themselves because they don't have supports like the supports that you offer to support them, to ask the right questions, to tease out that information and to package it in a way that really articulates their value proposition effectively. I think there's a really important need. For, for what you do. And you need to be talking to a high level person who can understand your business and understand where you've been and, and why it matters and, and, and you know how it's differentiated from all of the other people that are out there. So it is important that this isn't something that, ah, I'll just get a fiver and have someone do who never graduated high school. You need someone who really can interface with you at the right level and tell that very high level story. And, and to challenge you by asking the kinds of questions that you haven't yet thought about to really send you back to reflect and dig a little bit deeper to rethink or to reevaluate and to come again and strengthen what you already know and about your offering and package it in appropriate ways. So, yes, I really do believe that everyone has their strengths and a lot of us as business leaders, our strength is not in marketing. Ourselves is that marketing it's in delivering like content or training or whether it's technology or whatever it is that we do, that's where our strength lies. And, you know, we definitely should partner with people who have other strengths than that strength could be to make us look better. So really appreciate what you do. Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Yes. And so I'm going to ask you Donna to give your final words and I'm looking now in the final analysis at the more senior executives, more senior leaders at the company level. How can we leverage LinkedIn at the larger organizational level to support goals and roles? I, I'm going to say this, and that is definitely look, you know, as, as that senior leader, look at yourself, look at how you are portraying yourself and, and what you're putting out there. So many people are looking at you as that guiding force. But then look at the company and see how the company is, is posting and broadcasting its own message. And then how does it, how does it cascade through? The organization, you know, if you are having trouble recruiting the right types of talent. How, how are your people portraying themselves on LinkedIn? Did they do the simplest, the simplest thing, which is probably grab their old out of date resume and copied and pasted in there. And so most of the employees look like maybe they're looking for other opportunities. That's not helping. That's not helping. You want your, your employees to be brand ambassadors. You want them to be advocates and you want them to look good, not because you want them poached. But because you know that when they look good, you're going to attract the best clients and prospects and job candidates and partnerships and investors. So, so definitely as those who are leaders. Don't just stop at yourself, but, but look and see how are the employees defining themselves? And are they weaving their own brand with the company message? Because that's something that is really important. And when done right, it really will provide so much. Fabulous. Fabulous. All right, Donna. So I'm going to give you Your chance to do a final wrap up, quick overview of all that we've said here, parting words for our listeners, what is it that they need to leave with if they've forgotten everything we've talked about so far, don't forget this. What is it? You know, I, I would say I've mentioned it without stating it, but my, my methodology, I call it SOAR and you know, SOAR stands for strategize, know your goal. Know your target audience. Then optimize. Make sure your profile, your company page, your employees, all of them are optimized and, and they're goal oriented and they're telling a story and they're engaging. You wanna amplify. You need to have that network. You need to be consistently connecting, but also following, and then you wanna relate. Once you have those things, that foundation in place, get on LinkedIn, scroll through, enjoy, post, comment, have fun. And when you're doing that, you're doing it consistently. Amazing things happen. Opportunity does indeed drop in your lap. Uh huh. And that's why we're here. And Donna, I have to share this with you. That SOAR, your methodology is actually our coaching methodology as well. The same acronym. We use the same acronym. Great minds think alike. We use the same acronym. It means a different thing. But the same acronym walks through our inclusive leadership coaching methodology. Looking at the self, looking at others. And the organization looking at actions and accountability and looking at reflectiveness and results. So that's the, we're using the same acronym. Totally different meanings, but it gets you to a point of success. And yes, and they can definitely speak to each other because the goal is to soar on LinkedIn or soaring your leadership and that's where we are going to bring our conversation to a close. And that wraps up our conversation with LinkedIn expert, Donna Sardula. But before we go, I wanted to share with you one of the most important truths about engagement on LinkedIn that Donna shared with us off air, off camera, that we thought was really important to include in this conversation. So many people get engagement wrong on LinkedIn. Donna shared with us the truth about engagement that yes, engagement is important, but it's not the end all be all, at least not in the way that we usually measure it through likes comments and follows or connections. Numbers don't always tell the full story. Actually, sometimes they camouflage it. A post can have hundreds of likes, but if it doesn't align with your goals, it's not really successful. On the other hand, a post with fewer likes or comments might have prompted someone to reach out privately for a job offer or a partnership opportunity. And that is how we measure true engagement and true success. To bring this concept to life, I want to share with you a story from our lead upskiller, Michelle Shaw. Michelle shared that once, she made a post on LinkedIn that, on the surface, didn't seem to garner much attention. There weren't that many likes, and there weren't that many comments, it could have easily been dismissed as an unsuccessful post. But, here's a twist. A couple weeks later, she received a private message from a prominent business leader who had seen the post. This led to a meaningful conversation that began to forge a connection that led to future collaboration. And a relationship. This critical engagement and this relationship that was developed from this connection wasn't reflected in the numbers. It wasn't reflected in a like or a follow or a comment. But it held incredible value. And it underscores the point that engagement is not just about public interactions that people see. Let's also talk about lurkers. These are individuals who consume content but don't necessarily like comment or share. If you have a business page, You likely have many more lurkers than you would imagine. Business pages are notorious for getting less engagement than personal pages, but that doesn't mean that you're not getting noticed and that your page is not doing the job that it's supposed to, which is communicating the value of what you do. As Michelle pointed out, these lurkers may reach out to privately connect. They're quietly engaged, and they might go to your website. They might find you through LinkedIn, even if they're not liking directly on the platform. It's not always visible. Sometimes, the most significant engagement and connection occurs behind the scenes, in private messages. So it's important to know your goal, for why are you on LinkedIn? Your purpose should guide your actions Are you trying to network? Are you trying to find a job or promote a business? That is your foundation. That is your guiding light for which way to go and what content to put out on your LinkedIn. Thank you for tuning in to this series on everything to do with LinkedIn. You can find Donna's contact information and website in the podcast description. We are so excited to announce that next week, Upskill Live will be turning into a pitch den for founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, business leaders, and anybody looking to pitch themselves and network. You have the chance to come on, pitch yourself or your company, critique other founders pitches, learn in a collaborative way and meet like minded leaders looking to upskill. Please check the description for more information thank you for listening to this episode of Upskill Talks. We bring you new episodes every Monday. Please take a moment to subscribe. Leave a five star rating and a written review at Apple Podcast or follow us on Spotify, Google podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Don't forget to share Upskill talks with other leaders like yourself, so they too may gain the skills and insights to produce amazing results. Please go to upskill community.com to review show notes, and learn how you can join a community of leaders from across the globe. Collaborating to lead in a more meaningful and impactful way. I'm your host, Michelle Shaw, and again, thank you for joining me on this episode of Upscale Talks.