Revolutionize Your LinkedIn Presence: Storytelling, Engagement Strategies, and Personal Branding with Donna Serdula

What if I told you that you could revolutionize your LinkedIn game with just a few simple strategies? Get ready to unlock the full potential of your LinkedIn presence as I sit down with Donna Serdula, founder, and president of Vision Board Media, to explore the power of storytelling and how to make the most of this professional platform.

Donna shares her personal story and insights on the art of public speaking, reminding us that connecting with a small audience can be just as impactful as larger events. We dive into effective posting strategies on LinkedIn, like crafting longer posts to activate the 'See more' link, and engaging your audience by asking questions and responding to comments. You won't want to miss Donna's thoughts on video versus written content and the secret weapon of including a selfie with your posts!

Lastly, we discuss Donna's work with Vision Board Media, where she helps people write their LinkedIn profiles and bring dynamic brand storytelling to life. With a sneak peek at her website, InstantProfile.io, and her own LinkedIn profile, Donna invites you to reach out with any questions and elevate your LinkedIn game. Join us for this enlightening and inspiring conversation that will leave you ready to conquer your LinkedIn world!

NOTABLE QUOTES
[06:26] "Whenever more than one person can hear you, that's public speaking." – Philip 
[06:50] "[LinkedIn] was one of the very few places where a person could go and really control how others perceive them." – Donna
[09:06] "We help people tell their story in a way that attracts the right types of opportunity." – Donna
[11:52] "No matter what platform, what business, any relationship you have, you have to be consistent in some way, shape, or form." – Philip
[15:00] "Make sure that when you post, you post in a manner that it's not all about you. It's about helping people. It's about adding value. It's about educating. It's giving. It's being motivational or inspiring." – Donna
[18:26] "Simply by liking or commenting, you are, in a way, posting. You are expanding your footprint. You're getting seen by more people." – Donna
[20:00] "Have a strong network. Connect, connect, connect!" – Donna
[27:19] "Telling your story—telling about your personality—is really what differentiates you as a small business owner from these large corporations, as well as other small business owners that do the same things that you do." – Philip
[30:24] "Posts where you put a picture of yourself...do well because people want to connect, they want to see you." – Donna
[32:04] "You have value." – Donna

RESOURCES
Donna
Website: https://www.linkedin-makeover.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todonna/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donnaserdula/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnaserdula/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/donnaserdula 

Philip
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamphilipsessions/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipsessions
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-sessions-b2986563/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealphilipsessions

Transcript

Philip Sessions: 0:16

Have you wanted to know the power of storytelling and LinkedIn? Have you been telling yourself that you need to get on LinkedIn? Well, today's your day to be able to figure that out. What's up, guys? This is Phillip Sessions, your public speaking and communication coach, and I'm here with Donna Sardula. She 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, donna. Welcome to the show.

Donna Serdula: 0:56

Phillip, thank you so much for having me.

Philip Sessions: 0:58

Yeah, i'm so excited to have you on. In all my circles everybody's like, oh, i got to get on LinkedIn more, i got to do more on LinkedIn And so having the opportunity to have you on I think is an amazing thing that we can come in and talk about LinkedIn. But before we go into that, i do want us to go a little bit more into the personal side of you, because let's get to know Donna as the person, not as the business owner, first.

Donna Serdula: 1:24

So personally, i live in Bucks County, pennsylvania, which is a beautiful, very historic little area here. It's just north of Philadelphia. I am married, been married for about 10 years, almost 10 years now. We recently moved back to this area. We had been living in New Jersey, so I'm happy to be back. I've got two sons. The youngest is seven, soon to be eight, and my oldest is 10. Going to be 10. No, he's nine, going to be 10. Oh, my goodness gracious. And I also have two stepdaughters from my husband's previous marriage and they are 21 and 25. So I've got two kids on, you know, like kids on different ends of the spectrum. I work from home and I just I love what I do. It really gives us the ability to have a lot of freedom and a lot of. You know I live a really good life.

Philip Sessions: 2:23

I love that. You know, working from home is definitely a powerful thing, because then obviously you can go work on the road if you decide to go on a road trip or anything like that, but it's a really cool thing, especially with technology that allows us to do that. So thanks for telling us a little bit about yourself from a personal perspective. I do want to go and ask our first question that I always like to ask, and that is what is your definition of public speaking?

Donna Serdula: 2:46

You know, my definition of public speaking is being able to get in front of an audience, and that audience can be huge, but it can also be very small. You know, i think public speaking you need to be able to communicate clearly, effectively, with impact, and you need to be able to do that with a very small audience or a very large audience, and it could be, you know, one or two or three people at the very least, and it can go much bigger than that But it's really about being able to get up and clearly state, you know, whatever it is, that you're trying to communicate.

Philip Sessions: 3:26

Yes, and I agree with that. Like we talked a little bit offline, there's all sorts of different definitions when it comes to that, and most people think that it's about getting on a stage in front of thousands of people, otherwise you're not public speaking, when really, by true definition, it's whenever more than one person can hear you That's public speaking.

Donna Serdula: 3:46

And I grew my business through public speaking And even earlier in my career I was always somehow thrust into those situations where I had to communicate in front of people. So when I started my business, it was really to use public speaking as a way to educate and market. You know the business, it made perfect sense And you know I look back during, you know all the many different speaking gigs that I've had, And one of one that will always, will always sort of like sit there in my brain as being like one of the most enjoyable was it was at a restaurant And this, this very small group, brought me in And it was like sort of like a long table, There was less than 10 people there And they put up a projector on the wall of the restaurant. They ordered food and we sat there and I presented And we all ate and drank And it was magical, to say the least.

Donna Serdula: 4:57

And I mean, who would ever think a public speaking, you're at a restaurant, sitting at a table with a projector behind you, But it was, it was, it was. It was really truly a fun, different experience And the people really enjoyed it. So you know, there you have it. It could be, it could look like anything.

Philip Sessions: 5:16

Oh yeah, i like those smaller events myself as well. I know that wasn't necessarily an event per se, but just smaller occasions like that where you go and speak to a smaller audience Cause you can really connect with 10 people. It's really hard to connect with a hundred or a thousand And you're never, ever going to connect with every single person either. That's one thing we forget to realize. When it's 10 people, you might be able to work the whole room and connect with every single person. Even then you may not, and that's okay if you don't, because you're not for everybody. But, yeah, once you get to those bigger rooms, you're really not going to connect with them, cause usually they're out there in the audience, they're in seats. You're not able to actually have that kind of almost one-on-one interaction or really make eye contact with them. Let's get a really long speech. It'd be a really long speech to make eye contact, eye contact.

Donna Serdula: 6:05

It would be bizarre too, cause you have to like to probably do it systematically, Yeah.

Philip Sessions: 6:10

Yeah, so up one row and then back down. Yeah, that'd be really weird. People would be like what are you doing?

Donna Serdula: 6:18

Not even paying attention to what you're saying anymore, exactly.

Philip Sessions: 6:23

So let's let's transition over here to to LinkedIn. So this is one thing that I think we see different things, or at least I'm hearing different things So this might be great for you to hear my perspective on this. I mean, you're obviously an expert in it And well, maybe, before we go into that, give me like a high level view of your thoughts on LinkedIn and how you help people with LinkedIn.

Donna Serdula: 6:47

How do I help people with LinkedIn? So I discovered gosh years ago. I mean, i started my business in 2009. So I mean I've been doing this for a very long time, but I realized very early on the potential of LinkedIn because it was one of the very few places where a person could go and really control how others perceive them, because that LinkedIn profile is so robust and there's so much information that you could put in there, and people like to do business with people, so they want to know who are you Like, who's this person I'm going to be meeting with or talking to or hiring or whatever it might be?

Donna Serdula: 7:28

And so the LinkedIn profile is this, it's this fabulous place to learn more. The problem becomes I say to you, philip, i need you to write about yourself in a narrative form. I need you to talk all about yourself and tell me who you are and your value and your background and your story and your strengths and your accomplishments, and I want you to cater it to your audience and your goals. Like most people at that point just become paralyzed because it's hard to write about yourself.

Donna Serdula: 8:02

It's hard to write period. For most people, the vast majority, it's hard to write period, but then you put in write about yourself and it's impossible. It's impossible The word procrasticlaning comes to mind where you will do anything, any odious task, before you sit down and write about yourself. So here we have this situation where business owners, entrepreneurs, professionals, executives, job seekers recognize that this is a place where they can tell their story, and if they tell their story in the right way, opportunities will just collide with them. But you have to write about yourself. It's not the easiest platform. It's rather complex. How do you tap into it in the right way? Not in an obnoxious way, because we've all seen those people down, hit poorly And we do not want to tip those scales. So what do you do? Well, you turn to an expert. You have to, and we have a big team now and we're writers, we're branding specialists And we help people tell their story in a way that attracts the right types of opportunities.

Philip Sessions: 9:27

But I thought LinkedIn was just all about resume. All you do is go on there and just get a job, or maybe you'll talk about what you do in your industry Not even what you do in the industry. Just talk about industry highlights and new and upcoming things. Is that not what it is?

Donna Serdula: 9:44

No, and that's one of the biggest misconceptions and it's always been that way. It's always been that way. I'm not gonna. You know, it's a great place for job search, it's a great place to recruit talent, but it's also a place to network, and the network piece is the really big piece of it. It's the place where you tell your story. It's the place where you join in with your network and you converse and you engage and you interact, and that's where it's almost like going to a networking event, but you can do it in your pajamas. You know, you don't have to get out the door, you can just simply pull it up on your phone, on your smartphone, you scroll through, you can, and that's the other thing.

Donna Serdula: 10:30

A lot of people think oh, you know, at one time it was just purely the profile And that was beautiful, phillip. I mean, it was beautiful. When it was just the profile, it was a passive way of being very successful. Now LinkedIn wants, doesn't just want you to rely solely on the profile. Now you need to engage, now you've got to chime in, and that's a good thing, because that's that's the networking component. You know, you can't go to a networking event and stand in the quarter and talk to nobody Or, for that matter, hire someone to go and talk for you. It doesn't work either. I mean you've got to open up, be vulnerable, share you know and get a little loud. And so that's the newsfeed aspect, that's the LinkedIn feed, and that's just simply scrolling through, adding some comments, adding, you know, maybe posting a little bit, but people will notice, they'll take, they'll see you, and it's a great way to get remembered. It's just a great way to market yourself in a very subtle, organic, natural type of way.

Philip Sessions: 11:34

And is there like kind of a strategy behind that? And they're like with TikTok, for instance, they you hear things like oh, post six times a day. I feel that LinkedIn is not favorable of six posts a day. I don't really.

Donna Serdula: 11:48

I don't know, I don't want to post six times a day.

Philip Sessions: 11:49

I I guess content creators that's all they do. They can do six times a day. I could at least right now could not do that. But what? what's kind of a good best rule of thumb or best practice when it comes to posting consistently? Because obviously consistency is very important. No matter what platform, what business, any relationship you have, you have to be consistent in some way, shape or form. So what's what's that kind of pattern for LinkedIn that you found is probably been the best?

Donna Serdula: 12:19

So what I've found is this, and and thank goodness for this Everyone can take sort of a deep breath at this point, like just sigh, when I say you do not need to post every day, you don't need to post multiple times a day. If you can post once a week, that would be fabulous. If you can post once every two weeks, hey, i'll take it. I'll take it, that's fine, that works. Just just choose your frequency and and do that consistently. So if it's once a week, once every two weeks, just make sure that you're doing it consistently. If you can do it more than once a week, that's great too.

Donna Serdula: 12:59

I don't want to give you the impression that it's only once a week. If you could do it every day, go right ahead, go right ahead. But let's be, let's get real. We're business owners, right, we've got clients and prospects and opportunities and just we have our business to run. It's not easy to post every single day. It's just not, it's not going to happen. But with that said, i don't because you can't post every day, it does not mean that you get off LinkedIn. It just simply means choose what, what, what that frequency is. And if it's three times a week, great. If it's twice a week, great. If it's once a week, fabulous. But just stick with it.

Philip Sessions: 13:43

Yeah, and I agree there. I know different platforms, like I said, have different ways of doing that, what they seem to like more. I feel that LinkedIn and YouTube are probably the ones that things stay a lot more active and live YouTube obviously kind of is there forever. If you search properly, you're going to see something from two, three, 10 years ago, however long ago. But LinkedIn also, i've noticed that I'll have stuff that's like a week or two weeks old Also and it gets a like or a comment. I'm like, where'd that come from? I'm not used to that with Facebook and Instagram and and TikTok, where if I post it maybe it'll get an engagement tomorrow, unless if it has hundreds of likes and comments and stuff like that, it's never really usually more than a couple of days out. It probably dies off.

Donna Serdula: 14:33

Yeah, it's very true what you just stated. It's absolutely true. You can, and to test it, anyone can just go to LinkedIn and pull up that LinkedIn feed And that first post you're going to see it could be a few hours old. It could be a few days old, right? And that's because when, when you do look at your LinkedIn feed, it's not chronological, it's by popularity, and you know what.

Donna Serdula: 14:56

What's going to make a post do well, in the LinkedIn realm engagement, you can put out a post and and you can start getting eyeballs. You know people can start to view it, but if they don't react to it, it's it's just going to go away, it's just not going to get the legs that it needs to be seen by a lot of people. So you want to make sure that when you, when you do post not if you post, but when you post you want to post in a manner that it's not all about you. It's not all about, you know, selling something, but it's about helping people. It's about adding value, it's about educating, it's it's giving advice, it's it's being helpful, it's being motivational or inspiring. You know that's what you want to be really focused in on. It's about helping other people And then what you also want to make sure is that when you post, you want to post in a manner where you allow LinkedIn to really understand that it's good content.

Donna Serdula: 15:53

And one of the ways to do that is, if you make your post a little bit longer so that the, so that it it truncates you see that C more link. You know how. Sometimes you see a full post, but other times, in order to see the complete post, you have to hit that little C more. If you hit the C more link, that immediately tells LinkedIn Oh, there's something good here that people are clicking C more. So even without any likes or without any comments, you're already.

Donna Serdula: 16:17

Your readership is, is, is communicating that, hey, this is, there's something good here. So that type of a link is a good thing, to have that C more. The other thing is you want to ask for engagement, so you want to say things like what do you think? Or ask them some type of a question Do you also believe that the future of SAS is in whatever? but like, ask that question and say something like I'll meet you in the comments And then, when people do respond to your posts, reply right, yeah, you know, because you wouldn't go to a networking event and ask a question and then disappear. You'd be there, you know, interacting and and posts that do really well have that back and forth conversational aspect taking place.

Philip Sessions: 17:08

Yeah, i like that. I think that's true. It's funny. You bring up the whole networking thing because, yeah, if you just went up you ask a question hey, what do you do for business? And then they answer and you just you just take off from the world. That's super awkward And it really is the same thing.

Philip Sessions: 17:23

And now you don't need to be waiting for that comment to be able to comment back. But you should comment back, and I see so many people well, they where they do get comments and it's not like a oh cool or thanks for sharing. It's actual like engagement, like more than that. That's obviously engagement too. But they're actually asking a question back or they're giving a lot of detail and that is hit like or they'll put a little like fist emoji, like go, go, respond to them. They're taking that time. Clearly they're somewhat interested And even if maybe they're not a potential client for you, they probably have a friend that does, and LinkedIn is great about doing that And so so, like someone's post, you're not even connected with that person, but because the person you're connected with liked this other person's posts, this third party.

Philip Sessions: 18:11

Now, all of a sudden, you're seeing their posts too, which is an awesome thing about LinkedIn which really you summed it up with it's a networking thing. It really truly is a networking platform at the end of the day, cause that's that's how I get connected with people. I don't just go meet every single person. I now know I've been connected through somebody else, and so LinkedIn seems to do that, not all the time, but sometimes with people's posts and everything.

Donna Serdula: 18:34

Yeah, Yeah, It's, it's, it's so true. And you, you, you stated something that I think is really, really important And that is, you know, simply by liking or commenting, you are, in a way, posting because LinkedIn is taking that and sending it out, potentially to some people within your network that they think would be interested. So, you know, I said post once a day, not once a day, I said post once a week, post once a week. The other days scroll through the feed and and and comment once or twice. You know, like that's a good way of engaging And simply by doing that, you are expanding your footprint, you're getting seen by more people. You are essentially posting because that is going to be spotlighted on several accounts and people will see your name and it's that drip feed marketing that you know we always strive for, it's that always being top of the, where you know, top of the mind, aware, And it's it's going to give you that in a in a very easy to handle type of way.

Philip Sessions: 20:27

And I want to ask this question because I've tried to do that. while I scroll through the LinkedIn feed and I see basically nothing or ends up being about the same things I've already seen And this may be the same day where I'm looking at trying to scroll through, hoping that something else updates what are some ways that we could make sure that our feed is a little bit more active? Is some of the stuff? it's either one I'm probably just following some of the wrong people because it's not of an interest to me, or two, it's just I'm not following people that are really that engaging or posting a lot. So what are some things we could do to make sure our feed is pretty active?

Donna Serdula: 21:02

So one one you need to have a strong network. You need to have a strong network Even now. It's been I mean, i've been LinkedIn's been around since 2003. I mean, it's like 20 years And yet, at the same time, it's it's hard for people to to reach out and connect. You know, it still feels a little weird, and so there's some people who have these like ginormous, ginormous networks of everybody and their brother, and then there's a vast majority have very small networks, you know, and it might be maybe a hundred people, maybe a little less, maybe just a little bit more. But you know, you really do want to make sure that you're connecting with everybody. Connect, connect, connect, not not when I say everybody, everybody in your life, everybody in your circle, everyone within your sphere, those are the people that you want to connect with. And then you want to follow those people. So that would be number two. So one is connect to follow. Follow those people who are loud in your industry, who are the movers and shakers, who are the thought leaders. Figure out who they are and and and and follow them.

Donna Serdula: 22:15

The third thing you want to do is think in terms of hashtags and figure out which hashtags are the ones that your target audience most likely is following or paying attention to. I find that within the LinkedIn realm, it's the broader, more general hashtags that perform well. So if you do marketing tips, not that great, but if you just do marketing, you got like a million people following that one. So figure out those hashtags and follow those hashtags. How many do you want to follow? Follow 10, maybe follow 20 if you want to, but at least follow some. I find that very few people follow any hashtags, but following a hashtag is a great way. That's. The other thing you can do is if you've looked at your feed and there's nothing good happening and you've hit refresh and there's still nothing good happening, hop into a hashtag feed and go through that And you may find that that's where the gold is.

Philip Sessions: 23:16

Yeah, i'm going to have to go and do that one for sure. Definitely I need to go follow some more people. As I was asking the question. Of course, i answer it for myself in my head. But, yes, definitely go follow more people, but then also following those hashtags. I like that. I've heard of that before. I've never really done it. I've seen it more on LinkedIn and everything and LinkedIn. I'm okay with that. I'll leave that alone there, but I'll definitely go do that. So I appreciate that. Now I want to go in because you mentioned which is kind of strange for a lot of people So you're supposed to talk about yourself, but of course you don't want to just talk about yourself, to talk about your business, because then it sounds like oh, i'm great, look how great I am, look at what I'm doing, it's all about me, me, me. So how do we talk in a way where we talk about ourselves but we tell that story and we talk to that audience that we're trying to engage with and bring on as potential clients?

Donna Serdula: 24:15

Yeah, it is a hard balance to strike, and know that going right up front. Don't think that this is easy. Don't think that you're going to write your profile in five, 10, 15 minutes. It takes time And it's also something that should be changing. So it's not like you do it once, 10 years ago and you're good to go. It's something that you do need to keep going in there and iterating and working on and improving and realigning and recalibrating to your needs and who you are today or where you want to go.

Donna Serdula: 24:47

I think the first thing and this is something I recognize with, i see it a lot with your type of your audience business owners and entrepreneurs And that is they define themselves through just their business And they'll say I don't want to talk about myself, i just want to talk about the business, and their profile has nothing about them, it's all about the business And in some ways it feels natural, it feels better, but you're missing an opportunity because people can go to your company page to learn about your company. They've come to your profile to learn about you And so in this situation, you do want to talk about yourself. You just don't want to talk about it in a in an obnoxious type of way. So how do you do that? The way you do that is well, first you've got to figure out your strategy on LinkedIn.

Donna Serdula: 25:41

Why are you on LinkedIn? Are you on it for job search? Are you on it for reputation management? Are you on it because you want to be seen as a thought leader? Are you on it for did I already say reputation management? It's early.

Philip Sessions: 25:54

I can't remember So.

Donna Serdula: 25:58

But figure out why you're on LinkedIn. Is it to showcase your expertise? You know, like what? why are you on? That's the first part. Then you want to think in terms of your, your target audience. Right, you're not writing to everybody, even though anybody, anybody can see this. Not everybody is your target audience. Who do you want to to read this And who do you want to cater the language to? So it could be meeting planners, it could be event you know planners. It could be your clients, potential prospects. Maybe you're looking for investors, maybe you're looking for partners, maybe you're hiring, and and so it's really job candidates.

Donna Serdula: 26:41

But figure out who that target audience is, and then you have to ask yourself what do they need to know about you And what do you? what are you open to sharing? Once, once you have that, then it starts to become a little easier, because before it was like it was like just write about yourself, that's like impossible. But now you have an idea. All right, this is, this is. You know, these are the things that they often ask me. So I know that this is important, this is, this is something that I like to share, that I feel is important for my target audience to know about me.

Donna Serdula: 27:12

And then you want to go from the top to the bottom. There's the headline, there's the about section And then there's your experiences. You know, the about section is really where you open up and you say this is who I am, this is what I do, this is how I help, this is how it's, this is how it, how I differentiate myself. This is why I'm a different person from other people, this is what I stand for, this is why all of this matters. Those are the types of questions you really want to be thinking about as, as you shape that narrative And then, and then you go through your, your, your trajectory, you know where you've been, because we didn't just, you know, appear out of nowhere, right?

Donna Serdula: 27:54

I mean, we've had experiences that have shaped us. Maybe they're really different, but that's okay. It's okay that you've had pivots and you've had changes. We just don't want to spend a lot of time talking about things in the past that you don't want to do again, but it's it's worth mentioning to show how, how it has fueled you through your career and has made you different and made you you.

Philip Sessions: 28:16

Yeah, it gives you that background too, when you talk about that and everything, versus just completely leaving that out, and I'm curious your thoughts on this. But to me, telling your story, telling about your personality, is really what differentiates you as a, as a small business owner, from these large corporations, as well as other small business owners that do the same things that you do. What are your thoughts on?

Donna Serdula: 28:42

that. Well, i, i absolutely I mean you've you've hit the nail on the head right there. And here's the other thing right, if, if, if you want to become a public speaker, you have to be able to speak, which means you have to be able to write and tell your story. So, if, if, if you're saying, hey, i want to get up on that stage or I want to get in front of some people and I want to talk about who I am and what I do and how I help, and you know, whatever that topic is, that you've got in your back pocket And a meeting planner looks at your profile and it's empty or it's not even telling an engaging story. What does that say? Nothing good.

Philip Sessions: 29:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're exactly right on that, wow. And I want to ask one last question here on LinkedIn, and then we'll get to our final question, and that is video or written content. Which one is better, or should we do both, both?

Donna Serdula: 29:40

Both You know and I do love video content. I love producing video content, i do. I enjoy turning on that camera and powering up the sure mic And, to me, i enjoy it. But it's also something that I've worked really hard to do And it's something that, even when I do produce a piece, it's something that I spend a lot of time on. And why do I say that? Because I feel that there's a lot of people out there going oh, you got to produce video content, you got to produce video content. But if you're not comfortable, if you don't have the right equipment, if it doesn't come natural and you're doing it and it doesn't work, you're not going to connect. So make that decision. You say you know what? Yeah, i can produce video content. I have what I know what I need to do and I have the ability to do it and I enjoy doing it. Do it. But at the same time, if it's not something that's easy, if it's not something that now you have an audience that wants to do speaking engagement, so one would assume that it should, but it still may not, because it's a different animal completely, really, from getting up on stage, so no, and make that decision. Don't feel like you're being pushed into it. You decide if it's something that you want to do Right now.

Donna Serdula: 31:02

Video content is OK. It gets a lot of engagement. It doesn't get a lot of views, but engagement's great. The text writing the narrative that still works great And it still seems that the longer posts are doing very well. Include a selfie Oh, it feels so weird and awkward, i think, especially for men. It's a little different. For women, for men it's weird. I think it is. But somehow these posts where you put a picture of yourself, they do well. Why? Because they connect, they want to see you And that little profile picture isn't enough to truly look into your soul. So use a picture. That's a great way of getting a little bit more engagement, getting a little bit more oomph out of your post.

Philip Sessions: 31:50

Yeah, i agree there. I like that what you said there. And I was curious with the video content. I still do feel like the text content if you will, long form text content, it does do better overall than video. Yeah, for obviously my industry it's important to have the video to show people. Hey, i can actually speak a little bit. May not be the best speaker in the world out there, but hey, i'm speaking, i'm showing you that I'm doing it, trying to put proof in the pudding kind of concept there. So I appreciate sharing that and everything that you've shared so far. But I do want to go to our last question And that is if you can only share one message for the rest of your life, what would that message be? I know I'm hitting you deep here.

Philip Sessions: 32:31

But yeah, you pick one, that's all you get.

Donna Serdula: 32:37

You know what? I'm not prepared for that question, but I'm going to tell you what my soul just said to me, and that is and I think it's what I'm doing now, right, because people call me and they really struggle. You know, like, what are my strengths And how do I position myself And how do I get in front of people And how do I transition in my career, how do I? you know whether it's in business or a corporate world, and I feel that my real message is you have value. You have value as a human being. You have a story to tell And I want you to tell it, because when you own your story and when you tell it clearly and you can communicate that value, good things happen, because now people know who you are and what you need and how they can help you. If you don't say it, if you don't claim it, if you don't own it, nothing happens.

Philip Sessions: 33:38

Wow, that's a beautiful message right there And I love that you're already living that out. There's a lot of people when they answer that question that they're not living it out yet. They want to get there. That's something that they're working towards, but that's awesome that you're already living that out.

Donna Serdula: 33:53

Thank you, thank you And what it is. It's the absolute core. We all see this. We're writing LinkedIn profiles or, oh, we're writing resumes, we're helping people blog and post more effectively, but the truth is you have to keep dialing in, drilling in, and the core is you have value, you have value And let's communicate that.

Donna Serdula: 34:23

Let's put it out there So you can collide with opportunities, so you can collide with the right people and you can have amazing experiences and opportunities. So you can then take that message and communicate it out to others as well.

Philip Sessions: 34:39

Man. it's so powerful there, And the more value you see in yourself, the more value others will see in you too.

Donna Serdula: 34:46

Yeah, you got it.

Philip Sessions: 34:48

Yeah, it's an endless cycle.

Donna Serdula: 34:49

You know that fist emoji.

Philip Sessions: 34:51

Right, so you can just give me the fist emoji or a little, a little, i don't know a firework thing or something. But yeah, donna, this has been amazing. I appreciate all the value that you brought in teaching us so much about LinkedIn And know there's so many people that need to know more about that. It's a powerful platform, even in the. Even though it's 20 years old, there's still not a lot of people on there, which is crazy, because I always think, oh, it's not that old in comparison like Facebook, but it's actually quite older.

Donna Serdula: 35:21

It's older than Facebook.

Philip Sessions: 35:22

Yeah, which is crazy. It just took longer to pick up steam. But, donna, if people want to reach out to you to get to know you more, where can they go?

Donna Serdula: 35:33

They could visit my website, linkedon-makeovercom. That's where we write. We help people write their LinkedIn profiles. I also have instantprofileio and that's using AI to generate a profile for you, and you can always, of course, always visit my profile, donna Serdula, on LinkedIn and connect with me. Follow me, message me. I'm here, i love to talk to people, so if anyone's listening and they have a question, absolutely feel free to give me a call.

Philip Sessions: 36:06

Awesome. Well, donna, thanks again for coming on. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you.