LinkedIn Trifecta: How to Brand, Market and Sell Yourself Authentically on LinkedIn - April 2024 Ep 88

Have you ever felt like your LinkedIn profile is more of a stiff suit than a true reflection of who you are? Join the LinkedIn "Trifecta" for our monthly chat.

Featuring Michelle J Raymond, Michelle B Griffin, and Brenda Meller, we share techniques to help you learn how to properly Brand, Market, and Sell Yourself on LinkedIn.

Together, we dissect the noise of AI-generated content and offer up our personal stories as a testament to the fact that real connections stem from real people. We delve into the concept of a "digital twin" and how aligning your online presence with your real-life identity isn't just good practice; it's essential to stand out in today's digital crowd.

Watch the playback on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/events/7177786274332725248/ 

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15 LinkedIn Profile Tips for Coaches and Consultants

FREE Download at mellermarketing.com/list

This checklist provides 15 quick and easy ways to update your LinkedIn profile TODAY and help generate more leads for your coaching / consulting business.

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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.

Visit mellermarketing.com

Let's connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendameller
(click MORE to invite me to connect and mention you listened to my podcast)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:00

Welcome everybody to this month's April LinkedIn Trifecta Talks. I'm your host, michelle Griffin, michelle B Griffin, the Baron, therapist and Founder of Stand Up Media, stand Up Women Media, and I'm so happy to be back with the crew. So I'm going to go ahead and introduce and I'm going to say Michelle J Raymond and then Brenda Meller.

Speaker 2: 1:23

Hey everyone. It's a very good morning from Sydney, Australia, and it is bright and early Thanks to daylight savings, so I'm a little just still waking up here at 630 am, so I hope there's some other Aussies and people from this part of the world that join us. But who am I? I love selling on LinkedIn. I am the person that loves to build a brand that stands out Ultimately. I can't wait to have this conversation and answer questions today. Have a month off and see what happens.

Speaker 3: 1:53

See, I was hoping again, like you guys, would both be smooth and then I could go yeah, just what they said Because I'm at the end of my workday. This is like the last thing for me before I'm done for the night, and I'm enjoying my green apple Gatorade by the way, fabulous flavor green apple Gatorade, if you haven't tried it yet. And yeah, brenda Meller, I am that LinkedIn coach that loves pie. I'm going to try that out for my intro today. I specialize in working with individuals who are solopreneurs, as well as job seekers, people who are looking for a new job and employees of companies, because I do train teams on the power of LinkedIn, and I'm delighted to be here with both of you today.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Thank you. I didn't formally introduce myself, other than I'm the brand therapist and the founder of Standout Women, and I help women experts go from expert to visible brand authority with personal branding, linkedin visibility and PR. And so today, this is what LinkedIn Trifecta Talks is all about. We bring our combined experience and expertise in the way that we use LinkedIn. I posted about that today, and this month's subject is all about digital. You, michelle, coined the brilliant term a while ago called digital twin. I always try to attribute it to you because I think that's brilliant, but it's about.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Today's topic is how to brand, market and sell yourself authentically on LinkedIn. Michelle and I are LinkedIn Branding Show podcast. We've had a few episodes recently, but we really need to go back and, especially in the age of AI, to get really genuine, and so this is an open call for us to just chat like we do best. So, michelle, where are we headed right now? What is the current state? I know there's a lot of noise and a lot of AI out there, so how do we start fresh and build that foundation to be really genuine?

Speaker 2: 3:47

build that foundation to be really genuine. Oh, and please embrace the genuine, because it's getting a little shady out there on LinkedIn land. For me it is. I'm getting swamped by AI comments and it is driving the bananas and I think we said on the podcast, michelle, that I call it. It's like having mosquitoes. You're having a good time at a barbecue with some friends or having friends over by the pool and then all of a sudden you're just swatting things and they buzz in your ear and you can't seem to ignore it. That's what's going on for me, and company pages are doing it too.

Speaker 2: 4:14

I've had so many people reach out and say how do we stop this? Because it's not as easy to block company page comments. Yeah, it's no fun, but to explain to people what digital twin is or how I see that digital twin is, the problem that I see when people reach out to me is they're like I'm not into LinkedIn, it's a drain, it's a bore. I find it really overwhelming. If someone starts saying these kinds of things to me, then typically what I find out is they're being a LinkedIn version of themselves, the version where they think they should show up in a certain way and once upon a time that might've been suits and boots and these days it's a lot more casual. But they still think I have to be this square box version of myself and not maybe express some of the creativity or fun side.

Speaker 2: 4:59

Or maybe you're really technical I don't really mind what the other sides are but when you start trying to be something other than just who you are and I'd say that's a spectrum, because you get more comfortable doing that over time, but, yeah, the more that I think you actually it's Shrek. This is where I get my marketing tips from cartoons but ultimately it is peeling back those layers and letting us see you, so that the online version of you is your digital twin. There's no difference if we were to meet, like when we had the show off in March, because we all got to meet, we didn't go hang on Brenda's not really like Brenda is when we're on LinkedIn, because that would have been bad.

Speaker 3: 5:41

I like. Brenda in person than I am online.

Speaker 1: 5:43

I actually like Brenda in person even more. She's hilarious. I don't like you now, but you take it to a whole nother level. You were so fun and you were just cracking us up with all your stuff. Remember the pose by the chair with the pie. She's hilarious. You all need to meet Brenda and Michelle in person someday. It's a great thing, it's good.

Speaker 2: 6:01

The only thing that I would say to that is wow, michelle's not as tall as what I thought, damn. The only thing that you can say okay, it's sometimes a little tricky to convey that, but everything else around, who you are, what you stand for, your values, these kinds of things are really easy to show. So, brenda, I'm sure you've got some thoughts on this as well.

Speaker 3: 6:21

Yeah, you know what, when you were talking about AI and swatting mosquitoes, I found there's a really effective technique and I've started doing this. And there's one person I'm not going to name them by names, but he's got a pretty big LinkedIn presence and I've noticed he started to comment on my post recently, but they very much seem like an AI generated response. They do not seem authentic at all. What I've started to do is respond and I call him out on. It Sounds like this is an AI generated response, is it?

Speaker 3: 6:51

And he never replies back to say no, it's not, Because if you were called out on using AI and you're not using AI, you'd be like of course not, it's me, you would do that, but if you're using AI, I don't know what happens. Do the AI systems notify you that someone commented back, or does it just go into a black hole and you don't see it?

Speaker 1: 7:12

We should test that. We should test that. Guess what I'm going to call it out on my post today, talking about how we met, Someone put a post and it said powered by X, Y, A, I, whatever the company I'm like are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You're going to do that. It's even going to put a little powered by AI. That's all new time low.

Speaker 1: 7:32

So that was so fitting for today's comment topic, rather because AI is a great tool and I don't want to talk about it the whole time, but we really need genuine connection here and that's how you're going to really build your brand. You're going to sell more, market more and just win on LinkedIn. It's just about having a conversation and I want people to get back. Sometimes it's just good to get back to old school. Right, we have enough technology. Let's get back to the old fashioned. Can we just leave a comment? Can we just talk to people without this power technology? And I think on the flip side, that will actually help you stand out more in the sea of trying to get it's not about the quantity, it's the quality people. So let's remember that.

Speaker 1: 8:15

But in the case of what we do best in our perspective areas I really want to hit home on that I talked about in this post to set this up, the digital excuse me, the twin engines your profile and your presence. So, Michelle and Brenda, let's talk about how we can be more genuine in those first, in the profile, let's give people some actual tips and relating to all about being digitally you. So, Brenda, I'm going to start with you. Go back to you.

Speaker 3: 8:42

So I'm going to start with something which might be a little bit surprising. Linkedin is a professional networking site, but I want to challenge our audience to look at your profile right now and find something that is not professional on your profile. That shows a little bit of your personality, not like unprofessional, but what I'm saying is a little bit of your personality someplace in your profile, whether it's at the end of your headline and you say dog mom like rescue dog mom, like I have it in mind, or someplace in your profile whether it's at the end of your headline and you say dog mom like rescue dog mom, like I have at mind, or someplace in the bottom of your about statement. Maybe you talk about some personal goals, some life goals, some things you enjoy doing in terms of hobbies in your spare time or something.

Speaker 3: 9:16

But I think that helps to humanize us, because this can be a bit of a stodgy platform sometimes and a lot of people play it safe and they stay very close to the lanes and not going beyond company description and information. But I think sometimes if you want to connect with people on a human to human level, sometimes adding a little bit of that personal element into your profile can help you. So I want to challenge those that are listening, whether you're watching live or in playback look at your profile and look and see. Have you put anything in your profile that's personal, that pulls back that professional exterior and that reveals to us who you are as a real life, human being? A little bit does help to humanize you.

Speaker 1: 9:56

I love that. I love that I have 80s music fanatic on mine because my brand's all about being fun and vibe. But on my about section my website I have a lot of those personal. I should bring some of my about section, so thank you for that. About section is a good place too. So, Michelle, what's your tip? To be more relatably and digitally? You on the profile.

Speaker 2: 10:19

I was thinking about exactly that, the about section. So I've been writing a lot of profiles at the moment for different companies I'm working with a lot of profiles at the moment for different companies I'm working with. But a new client reached out last night and specifically came back and said look, I've paid somebody else to help me do my profile and I like it and it's done well and probably done professionally and probably ticks the boxes, but it doesn't feel like me. And she reached out because she's like Michelle, when you show up on LinkedIn, I call things as I see it.

Speaker 2: 10:51

Sometimes I get a bit fiery, Sometimes I really care about stuff, Sometimes I'm laughing, I make a fool of myself. It's a little bit of everything, depending what day it is and maybe what side of the bed I wake up on. But ultimately she could see that everything that I say and everything that I do is an expression of who I actually am. If you meet me face to face or we have a conversation, the best compliment you can give me is oh my God, you're just like online, you're no different, and that's the ultimate goal for me.

Speaker 2: 11:20

So we're rewriting the about section together to give it the feel, so that when you read it, you go oh my God, that's me, yes, that's what I want to get across. And you get excited when that's what I discovered about why I like writing LinkedIn profiles for people, which is something I never in a million years thought I would actually have. Those words come out of my mouth Turns out, when you get them right and the person sees themselves, the audience will read and feel them, not just know them, but actually get a vibe for who they are. Then everyone's excited. Everyone can move forward so that when visitors come to these profiles they know they're in the right place. They're like yes, that's my person, Rather than just being textbook, carbon copy versions of everybody else Again own that lane, own your lane.

Speaker 2: 12:13

Yeah, bring it back to that digital twin concept. There's no difference, whereas I think when you're that professional version, that LinkedIn version, it's not bad, it's not wrong, it's just it could be better.

Speaker 1: 12:24

Yeah, I love that. If you're watching or listening, either live in the replay, tell us where you're calling from or you're listening from, and we'd love to hear your tip. Share your profile tip and how you be genuinely you, the digital you, the one that when we met you, if we meet you on the street, we're like oh, you're just like you are in LinkedIn. That's the highest compliment ever. I'd love to know your tips. Share it here and we'll put this up. I want to shout out to everyone who's commented Jihan Rose, craig, everyone Thank you so much for being here. We so appreciate it and those listening on the replay definitely share your tip because we want to hear it.

Speaker 1: 12:58

So what is mine, ladies? My tip, especially when we are having now AI comments, ai content, heads up if you write Embark or Unleash a lot in your profile or, excuse me, in your content, I feel like that's a red flag. Like I feel like if you're going to write a post authentically, don't use Embark. I was laughing with one of my clients. I don't think I ever use Embark, okay, so that's a red flag.

Speaker 3: 13:23

But we're embarrassing. That's coming up a lot in AI.

Speaker 1: 13:26

Oh my God, yes, oh my gosh, yes, and I'm like I am not going to embark on a road. Anyway, I could get. I'll get off my soapbox. Here's what I'm thinking, because information is a commodity. Now we want the real.

Speaker 1: 13:40

You tell us about your stories, your health, not so much how to content, but how I do it, and you really want to amp it up. Put more videos. Now I know what you're going to say, michelle. I hate videos. Guess what I do too. I am not good at recording videos, but I am good at talking on video. So you can take some clips, like from Zoom or this, and then you can use, like Opusai, a good AI tool, and it'll just clip it and you can have little snippets, the little slices and the seasonings of you and we need put that in your content, season it up with it, because that way we really get to know you and you're just sitting there talking when it's filming, so you're not scared. It's the real. You and I think we're going to need more video. There's that video feed they talk about. That's coming in the works. I do not.

Speaker 2: 14:23

Yeah, I can't wait to see that. Is it actually out that far? Brenda, what do you think? What's your take? You've got it. I haven't got the app. Can you explain it to people? What's coming?

Speaker 3: 14:31

I'm in Fight Club and we're not supposed to talk about it if we're part of the beta test. But you know what.

Speaker 2: 14:45

It doesn't tell us about it, so it's our very own version of TikTok on LinkedIn.

Speaker 3: 14:51

Here's my take on it, and I might be entirely wrong, or I might be entirely right. Linkedin is trying to be like TikTok Now. Remember when LinkedIn tried to be like Instagram stories and that didn't work.

Speaker 3: 15:02

You know, why it didn't work? Because people didn't like the fact that things disappeared in 24 hours. Linkedin is a professional networking site. We like to be able to find things later, because I think the latest date I saw was like 49% of us go on LinkedIn once a month or more. Now that means 51% of it of its members don't even go on once a month. So when we come on, we want to be able to find things. Linkedin is like a resource library, where things are stored and they don't disappear. So my own take on this is I don't think the video is going to work, because there is a portion of the audience that doesn't like video, nor do they like swiping up and watching a bunch of videos sequentially, one after another. I personally would like to see LinkedIn being LinkedIn better instead of.

Speaker 3: 15:46

LinkedIn being TikTok. That's what I think I don't know.

Speaker 2: 15:50

I remember when they first they were going to do a discovery tab, and this is going back probably 18 months ago that they said this is what the discovery tab would be, and it had newsletters and had these events and something else.

Speaker 2: 16:04

I forget what the third thing was, but something like that, and I loved that idea because then I thought it's a mixture of different things. You've got a new chance of being discovered. I love the idea that you've got a new space that's not going to be as crowded, because we can't just keep jamming everything into the home feed. So I like that, but I can't wait for the comments everywhere. This isn't TikTok. We'll leave the this isn't Facebook behind. It'll be like this isn't TikTok.

Speaker 2: 16:34

I don't know how I feel about it. I've heard lots of people complain. It's a separate feed. For me, personally, I love that idea Cause I'm like, oh my God, finally, maybe if I take this on, I get to stand out, because not everyone's going to do it and it'll be a hype for the first, however long, when it launches and it'll wear off a little bit. But yeah, I'm curious to see. But I'm disappointed that it doesn't have events and newsletters, because I go hard on those kinds of things and I think they offer a lot more value. But given LinkedIn's 65% 25 to 34 year olds, that's what they're comfortable with and I really would like to see those reels creators and top creators come across and bring some creativity to LinkedIn. That's what I am excited for if we get to see that.

Speaker 1: 17:16

That's a lot of work but we'll see. But I think the jury's out, we'll see. But for those who do that, I say do it and do it well and own it. And if you're a writer, own it. If you're an audio person, own it. You got to own what works for you, the digital you, so that you don't feel forced and you don't feel uncomfortable. So LinkedIn gives us truly so many options to be our digital self. But that's the cue. Be you and not AI's version of you, the Q be you and not AI's version of you.

Speaker 1: 17:44

I personally am going to get on a soapbox and say I cannot stand AI generated graphics. I can't stand them. I absolutely just want to see a picture of someone. I think they just give me the heat. I don't know I'm the only person who just feels like we're losing all of humanity. I love AI as a tool to help me with productivity, but when it replaces ourselves and our writing it, just I don't know. It makes me a little bit sad. And our writing it just I don't know. It makes me a little bit sad. But I'll get off that soapbox and we'll move on to something else. Now we're going to talk about your presence. Now, when we call our presence, michelle and I have an episode dropping in two days all about your LinkedIn presence, michelle. This great analogy she said when she was in Vegas years ago she got to drive a Lamborghini and she calls your profile your excuse. Yeah, profile, it's all maxed out a Lamborghini. And just say it real quick, because you say it best on this analogy.

Speaker 2: 18:29

Yeah, and can I tell you, if you ever get the chance, to go to Vegas and go and drive one of the race cars around the racetracks? It's expensive, but it is worth every single cent. It is the best experience I've had in my life. It was so amazing. But what's that got to do with LinkedIn?

Speaker 2: 18:48

What I say to people is, when you invest in updating your LinkedIn profile, then and you've got it all humming and we fix it from top to bottom your banner's rocking your headline, your photo, your about section, all your work experience is complete you end up you've got the Lamborghini right. But most people have the Lamborghini, they don't drive it, they leave it parked in the garage, and so what I mean by this is you've got to take it for a spin. You've got to get out there in the comments, you've got to send some direct messages and have conversations, do a post here and there. Maybe you're not comfortable doing it all the time. Totally get it, but there are so many other actions, like coming to this event, commenting, asking a question. Don't just go and update your profile and then leave it sitting in the garage gathering dust. This isn't a collector's item. This is something that's going to be far more fun if you take it for a drive. So that's what I share about.

Speaker 1: 19:40

But yeah, I highly recommend the experience on LinkedIn and off LinkedIn. Exactly, they're the twin engines to really help you be more authentic in your branding, your marketing and your selling aspects. So I feel like we jumped ahead on the presence part, because I think right now I'm just stirred up by all these AI comments, but there's got to be more tips. Brenda, we're going to share it to you what's your number one tip to be really genuine in your presence on LinkedIn?

Speaker 3: 20:10

Don't use AI, even like. Sometimes LinkedIn will offer you prompts and responding. I like to think of those as that's a starter. But think if you're standing next to the person, in front of the person, with the person, what would you say to them? You'd be more genuine and authentic with that. What would I say if I were standing next to you? That's what I would say in my response, and it's okay to use some of your personality. A lot of times I'll do this and my response is back to people. I'll answer professionally, but then I'll put a little side in parentheses, or I'll make a small joke off to the side, or I'll be like was that just me?

Speaker 1: 20:43

thinking that?

Speaker 3: 20:44

No, nobody else. And I think it helps to show that you are a human being, especially in this day and age of AI and things like that. But we're trying to build relationships with people and we do that by being authentic in our responses. So, again, try to imagine you're standing next to them when you're responding. And then the second part is don't be afraid to have some personality, because if I were in person, I might make a joke, as I'm having a conversation with you as well. So don't be afraid to do that. I think it's perfectly fine to do.

Speaker 1: 21:15

And I'm the kind of person that I have a lot of energy. Michelle and I are both extroverts and I think I do my best work in person. That's why I want to have more in-person stuff, and so, for me, I need to get on events. That's why I really push a lot of events, host them, guest on them, linkedin, audio, linkedin lives. I'm saying to get on video because I feel like my true personality comes out and I equated to back in working in B2B professional services, insurance and legal for years, so it took me probably three years to really peel back the layers. That's how long it took. So hopefully people can peel back more. But this is a blessing. Now we want to see you, we want the casual you. So I think this is your permission slip if you're looking for it, to say, yeah, this is actually what people want to see. This is what helps make you stand out and people really relate to you. So that's my best tip on that mindset aspect. So, michelle, would you add something?

Speaker 2: 22:12

No, I just think, look, we give all of these tips and people are at all kind of stages of learning to drive a car. Let's say, if we're going with this analogy a little bit further, shout out to Susie and you can see Susie's personality in her profile photo with the hat Like, just it can be little things, it doesn't need to be something crazy. We're not asking people who aren't comfortable or who wouldn't to just go crazy over the top. But if there's pieces of you, it could be like Brenda's dog is always she always makes like a shows up in some content here and there, but ultimately, just find a little piece of you that we can see. And you're still professional. It's not I don't want to know your deep, dark secrets.

Speaker 2: 22:52

I often feel pretty uncomfortable when people disclose a lot of stuff on LinkedIn. I'm like, okay, I don't know what to do with that, but I appreciate like they're comfortable with it and that's why I'd say it's a spectrum. But for me it's just try something new. Just try something that you weren't brave enough to do yesterday and give it a go today, because I promise you, the only difference between maybe where you're feeling you're at now and where we're at is. We just tried more things for longer periods of time and we had to feel uncomfortable or scared or nervous or fearful in some cases.

Speaker 2: 23:27

There's probably been times where we're like should we do this? I don't know what will people think. We have those voices in our head just like everyone else, but we tried it and realized nothing actually happens. We actually get better at what we do and people appreciate us. Having a go and that's a real Australian saying have a go, and I hope that translates across to the US. I love that. I know that not often some of the things I say do translate, but yeah, have a go is an Aussie mentality and so I hope that I can send that across to the US people.

Speaker 1: 24:00

I'm going to put that in the Own your Lane book, Michelle. That matches really well. I love my Australian side story.

Speaker 3: 24:06

You just reminded me of something when you said the voices in your head. Back years and years ago and when I work for an ad agency, a vendor called me and I said who are you calling from? And they said the voices in your head, like that was the name of the company, but they were a voiceover company, so it was a really clever name the Voices in your Head. But imagine me, the office worker. I'm like who are you calling Frank? And they're like the Voices in your Head and I'm like hang on.

Speaker 2: 24:33

Can you see what's going on?

Speaker 1: 24:36

Today they probably could. No, that's funny. No, that's why I have. If you're watching this frame behind me, if you can read it, it says put yourself out there. That's essentially what I had to drag myself after being on the sidelines for nine months and wanting it, and back three years ago I made myself post every day. I don't recommend it, but it really helped me. Every day get one little action closer so that it never gets 100% over the fear.

Speaker 1: 25:01

But you're like, oh, who cares? You never take anything personally. Half the time you can blame it on LinkedIn's algorithm. Doesn't see anything. Now it's not you, it's the algorithm, but we won't talk about that. But just getting out there and showing us, I call that being professional. Michelle, I love how you said that being personable and professional, because I still think you need to have some expertise If, and professional because I still think you need to have some expertise If you're in business and that's your goal. We want to know what you're known for and what you do. But sprinkle it in season yourself in, michelle. You do a good job with that. I see Dixie Poe shows up a lot and Pepper shows up a lot. Now I guess I need to get my cats in here or something.

Speaker 2: 25:40

The interesting thing when I was doing my speaker diary series, when I went to social media marketing world and I was sharing all kinds of stuff, like from the fragrance I pack, that gives me confidence when I speak, to my shoes, to oh my God, I've got to leave my dog behind for a few weeks to all of these like little moments, my content. And I'm going to talk about impressions because that's what we get measured on and it's something that other people can relate to. And it doesn't matter what the number is. But it started like at normally I'll talk in actual numbers so it gives people something to go by. But normally one of my posts will be probably two and a half thousand impressions and has been like that for probably the best part of 10 years. I have some winners, I have some losers, but on average it sits there Over probably November, december, january it halved and some days not even.

Speaker 2: 26:28

It was probably more like a quarter, probably 500 to a thousand impressions. And I was like, oh my God, what is going on here? And I know I wasn't alone, but I like to normalize these things so people can see right. So it drops down to that and I'm trying things and I'm like what is going on and sometimes there's things you can't control. On LinkedIn they might be tweaking something in the background. It's not you, it's them. And then ultimately, when I was doing that speaker series a lot more kind of personal content, how I felt about things then all of a sudden people could relate to that a lot more. They were engaging a lot more, and then my numbers doubled from the original. They were probably averaging around 5,000 impressions for that three weeks. When we met up, when I was at the conference, people were really cheering me on that whole time.

Speaker 2: 27:17

And so it was a lesson for me, because sometimes you can get stuck in the rut and sometimes you just this is what I talk about and this is how I do it, and I always do it this way. But it was a reminder for me to just try some different things sometimes, and for me it was just giving people the behind the curtain tour. The wizard of Oz show us what's behind the curtain and they could see what's it like to be a speaker going to an international event and come with me, be a part of that. If you are building a new business, try the same thing. You don't have to wait till it's built to then come and join.

Speaker 2: 27:51

Say I am building this. Here's what's going on for me today. I'm struggling with this. I'm having a ton of fun with this. I just learned this. These are lots of ways that we can start trying different things and just going along that personal strip a little bit more than just always. Sometimes I walk the line of I don't want to feel like the LinkedIn help section. I want to be me, I want to have some fun and I want to help people about LinkedIn.

Speaker 1: 28:15

You can do both. Yeah, I love that. You know who's doing a really good job of that right now is our friend, jillian Whitney. He's over in the UK and she spoke at John's conference, uplift Live but now she's doing her LinkedIn lives all about giving you behind the scenes where she's traveling, interviewing people. So that's really fascinating and I think our brains think why would anyone care and why do you think? Now, when you think about it, put it this way why do we watch reality TV shows? We are so fascinating. It's human nature to be fascinating, but other people are doing right, so just think of that. They do care. The thing that you put out there is so unique. No one else is doing it and it is really interesting to us for the right people. So keep sprinkling it in, seasoning it in. You do a good job of that with peppers and snow angels, brenda, and all the snow you have in Detroit. I'm so sorry, but it's fun.

Speaker 1: 29:08

So as we wrap up the last 15 minutes, I first want to say everyone thank you for watching live and in the replay. We're not done yet, but tell us where you're calling from Calling from, watching from. Calling from. I think we're going to call into into or something, and what is your tip? Now we've talked about profile. Tell us what your tip is for presence to be really authentic, genuine and to really help you build the brand, to market and brand and sell yourself better.

Speaker 1: 29:35

What are you doing now, or what are you not doing, or what do you see? That's just no. So we want to hear your tips because I think you want to the three of us learn from everyone else and enjoy all your comments as much as what we're talking about here. But as we go over through our last section of our show, let's look ahead to what do you foresee is what we're going to need to really ramp up, being more digitally you in the next, let's say, 90 days, because we're in a new quarter and I want to know your best tips, michelle, from the company page side, specifically on what is it going to take? I think company pages.

Speaker 2: 30:12

We just need to see some faces and this is my public service announcement every time faces, and this is my public service announcement every time. Can we please just ditch the stock images of one of every person, of every color, age, shape, size, standing around one laptop in a boardroom? Please, can we stop? That is my begging. How can you replace that? Just grab your phone and take photos of things around the office, around the factory, around wherever the people are out and about, meeting people. That's what we want to see, that's what people care about, and you then earn the opportunity as well to talk about your products and services and also share about your knowledge of the industry.

Speaker 2: 30:48

But we don't always have to do it stuck in corporate land, and I'm having some interesting conversations with some clients, all kinds of different shapes and size clients but ultimately, with all of them, the advice has been the same Like, we need to see you, and by the you I mean your business. Who is it that makes up that business? What makes you different? And the mistake that they've made, I've discovered is they do their research on LinkedIn. Tap, tap. Let's go and see what our competitors are doing.

Speaker 2: 31:17

Okay, who's got the most company page followers? Okay, we'll go to that one. Let's just copy what they do, but put our branding on it and our words, and that's where it comes tumbling down very quickly. And for me it's just no, if they're doing that, you do the opposite, zig, when they zag, because if you just copy them, you look like you're copying them and there's no prizes for second, as my mom always told me which is not great advice.

Speaker 1: 31:48

Your mom's a smart lady.

Speaker 3: 31:48

You quote her a lot. I love that she has all those great quotes and Michelle you said it right.

Speaker 1: 31:51

Okay, no stock photography and no AI photography. That's even worse.

Speaker 2: 31:57

The AI one. I can see what people are trying to do. If you want to have some fun and experiment with it, but yeah, look, it's just if strip back the branding and it's funny I keep saying to some of my clients and brenda, you can probably talk to this. There's what's great from a marketing perspective and branding and what you're trying to build, and then on the other side, there's what works on social. And sometimes those two things don't align.

Speaker 1: 32:25

Exactly so, Brenda. In your space where you use LinkedIn and your expert area, what are you seeing and we really need to be looking out for in the next 90 days, to be more genuine, real, relatable?

Speaker 3: 32:37

You know what you want to hear. Something. That's really funny because Michelle Raymond and I used to do a monthly LinkedIn company pages event. So anytime I'm on with you, it's like the Pavlogs dog. You know what I'm going to say, right? Anytime I'm on a session with you, I look to see how many page invitation credits do I have remaining and I issue them. So right now, when at the beginning of the call, I was at 218. I'm down to 185 now. So I've been.

Speaker 3: 33:05

But in the next 90 days, you can grow your company page followers and even though there's a lot of negative things we hear about company pages not getting reach and things like that, michelle Raymond, and I think, michelle Griffin, you probably share this philosophy as well, but in that company pages are a destination and Michelle calls it your greatest hits list. If you get people over to your page, your posts aren't competing with everybody else in the homepage and I think using the page invitation credits it's not something new, but I feel like it's something we need to remind people about that. You get these invitation credits every 30 days and right now we're at April 9th. If you were to issue 10 invitations for the next 25 days, you'll use all 250. Now you can do them in batches if you want, issue more of them at a time, but not every one of those 250 people will accept them. Some will right away and some will look at it and they'll go.

Speaker 3: 33:58

Oh, brenda Mellor invited me to follow Mellor Marketing. It's Mellor Marketing. I'm doing the dog head tilt. Did you notice that? What's Mellor Marketing? And they go over to your page and then what happens is a couple of things. They're poking around and they're receptive and open because they've taken the action to go to your company page. Right, they're not leaving in LinkedIn. So they're they're guards, not, oh, I can't leave. Like, they're in LinkedIn still, and they're reading through about your company. They might go oh, I know she does LinkedIn team training. And then they see some of your recent posts and you've got some featured FAQs or some articles that you've done or other things, and they're like, oh, this is good, I didn't know she did these things. So now we're using this as an opportunity to educate them.

Speaker 3: 34:43

So I think, using the invitation credits in conjunction with posting regularly on your company page. I always tell people you should be posting a minimum once a month. Even better would be like once a week and then, once you're over 500 or 1000 followers and you're getting regular engagement a couple times a week and increase the frequency gradually. But don't forget your company page, nor don't neglect it either. Show the page some love and the page can be supportive, whether you're a large organization and looking to generate more brand awareness, or you're self-employed, like all of we are, and you're looking to generate more leads for your business. So just don't neglect it and maybe I can help to plant the seed for all of you. Anytime you see the three of us together, look and see how many page invitation credits you have and maybe do a little bit of multitasking. As you're listening to our conversation today, whittle away at those invitation connections, invite people to follow your page so that you're multitasking and building up your followership at the same time.

Speaker 1: 35:36

I love that you both covered the business branding, company branding side. I'll hit my tip and then we're going to close out with some good things on what's next. So, from a personal branding side, you work with women and really helping them build LinkedIn visibility is what I really say I do. I use it as a tool and a platform to generate thought, leadership, branding, media opportunities, all those things. So really start thinking of your profile as your personal brand website. I'm starting to really say that to drive home how important it is.

Speaker 1: 36:06

All right, that starts with kind of having a foundational strategy on who you are before you start doing that, but really pay attention to it and it is a place for people checking you out, Even if you're not posting a lot commenting.

Speaker 1: 36:18

Keeping up that activity section is really important going to events, just getting on the radar, but just making sure it's completely optimized head to toe so that you're maximizing all the nooks and crannies where you can be seen and be visible and all the things you're doing are not undersold and undervalued, because it is a tool. When people Google you and they will, it comes up at the top, and so you definitely want to be completely really strategic and foundational on who you are, what you stand for and what you're known for, so you can keep reaching the right people and industry opportunities. So that's my number one thing. So if you haven't looked at your profile in a while, check it out, and we're always the three of us posting great tips about that in our respective areas. Now this is the part we're going to like. Brenda Miller has the best analogies. My brain thinks in analogies and I remember your knowledge of Michelle the Lamborghini, Brenda the deli cheese you know I'm going to say about the cheese counter yeah, you say it best.

Speaker 3: 37:18

You say it best, go for it. Now I'm going to show, tell you the pie equivalent, because people are always like don't you have a pie analogy? I'm going to change to a pie analogy today. Grand traverse pie company is a bakery that's here in metro detroit. They're based out of traverse city that's where the name comes from and they used to have a location near me that I would go to regular. It's closed during the pandemic. Unfortunately, their other locations are still open, but when you walked into the location they would have this is a pie bakery.

Speaker 3: 37:43

They would have little Dixie cups of pie samples and they would cut up one pie for the day and there would be little Dixie cups of samples and you get a free sample of pie, like a little bite-sized sample of pie. Now, if you wanted a whole slice of pie or whole pie to take home, you couldn't get that for free. So I want everyone who's watching this event today whether you're watching in live or in playback later I want you to think about. This is your free sample from the three of us, and we are all self-employed, which means we no longer earn a paycheck from organizations every two weeks. We have to. We find our work and we get paid when our clients pay us for work. So don't be shy about reaching out to us and saying hey, I really love that free sample of LinkedIn advice that you gave us during the call. Could you help me, Could you help my company and start that conversation? Because, yeah, the deli, or the pie counter, so to speak, is open for all of us. We're here to serve.

Speaker 1: 38:36

Isn't that the best analogy ever? You guys are the best. So, with that being said, I'm going to let Brenda catch a breath a second and tell us what she's got coming up. I'm excited to be a part of one of the big things she's got this Saturday, and then we'll hit Michelle and then me, and then we are going to be telling you about next month. So, brenda, let's tell them about all the things you've got, especially Saturday's event.

Speaker 3: 38:59

Yeah, I'm going to actually only focus on Saturday because I know marketing perspective is really best to give people one action item, one thing to walk away with. If I give people too much, I'm worried they might be overwhelmed. So you can go to my profile or my company page and learn more about my products and services if you're interested. But I want to talk about this upcoming event that I pulled together. I'm calling it a shift live-a-thon. I used to host these on LinkedIn, but we've had some issues with LinkedIn going live on StreamYard with multiple people and at one point I had my account restricted Not that I was doing anything wrong, but LinkedIn thought I was using automation because I was opening profiles too quickly or something.

Speaker 3: 39:35

So I take my ball. If they don't want me to play ball, I'm like just stream yard. On the stream yard, we're doing a live-a-thon event and I've invited 19 business, marketing and career experts to come and join me and the event is a free live webinar. You can learn more about it by going to mellormarketingcom slash shift and it's for individuals who are considering making this shift from employee to solopreneur. So if you're interested in coming out and joining us, it'll be this Saturday, april 13th from 10 am to 2 pm Eastern time, and when you register, if you're in a different time zone, it'll convert that for you.

Speaker 3: 40:16

But I've got a variety of individuals who will be doing solo talks and then Michelle will be on a panel and we have some panel discussions throughout the day as well, and it's really going to be a great event, not just for individuals who are thinking about making the shift, but if you're already self-employed and you're looking for some tips and insights, I want to encourage you to check it out. So again, the website is mellormarketingcom. Slash shift. And Michelle Griffin, I'm delighted to have you coming out and joining, and Michelle Rehman, I will definitely be inviting you to a future event in the series as well.

Speaker 2: 40:48

It is all good. I'm always here whenever you're ready. It sounds like a fabulous event. It has my stamp of approval. You should go and check it out, because I know the events that Brenda puts on they are always amazing.

Speaker 2: 41:01

You'll probably be scratching your head going why am I not paying thousands of dollars for this? Very confident that's the feeling you'll walk away with. So, yeah, so good luck with all of that. And, yeah, I hope it's fabulous. And there's no gremlins Tech gremlins are the killer of fun when it comes to this but yeah. So what am I working on right now? I'm still committed to helping people take those steps to actually go.

Speaker 2: 41:27

How do I stop underselling myself on LinkedIn? I have a profile that really reflects what you do, who you do it for and why it matters, and really capturing the full essence of you. Combine that with a framework for okay, let's take that Lamborghini for a spin. As to continue that analogy, how do you get active on LinkedIn? What things should you be doing, what should you pay attention to and maybe, what things should you be ignoring on LinkedIn Because they're not going to help you grow your business? I help people by rewriting LinkedIn profiles or training them on how to have a framework that sells ultimately. So, yeah, they're my two favorite things. And, yeah, if I can help anyone reach out, yeah, it's been cool.

Speaker 1: 42:12

Oh, I love it both and I'm really excited to join you on Saturday, brenda, and not just because I'm speaking, but I attended your last one and they are top notch. I sat most of my Saturday and watched. That's how good they are. Like I'm watching on a Saturday, so good, so definitely the link is right there. So what am I working on other than getting really heavy into my book Own your Lane book, which is coming out October 15th almost six months Super excited. You'll be way hearing more about that soon.

Speaker 1: 42:39

I am just loving my one-on-one work with my women experts who are. I'm helping them either leave corporate or really grow their expert business and I'm taking them on a journey. I am using my framework, my Own your Lane brand GPS, and I am crafting their entire roadmap to get out there with a personal brand, with their LinkedIn visibility and their PR strategy, and they absolutely love the transformation. So that has just been my pure joy when I morphed in from that coaching program to a 30 day launch your brand accelerator and it's just really made my work just so fulfilling to a whole nother level because I'm helping women launch their brands and their PR strategy in 30 days. So that's what I love doing. You'll find me most days doing other than being on events and podcasting, of course, and writing and participating events for Brenda, which I love being a part of, and these keeping it now in our 45 minutes. We will be back next month, brenda. What is the date you are hosting next? I believe correct. I have this spreadsheet.

Speaker 3: 43:41

I was looking it up before the call and I should have had it handy. I want to say the second Tuesday of the month, so I have us down for Tuesday, may 14th, 6 to 7 pm.

Speaker 1: 43:52

Eastern time. So we'll be back in another LinkedIn Live 45-minute session with our full personalities, our expertise and our three zones of genius how we use LinkedIn to help you all win on LinkedIn and that's our pure pleasure. We love doing this. You can go back in my post today to really hear our backstory and how we met and what we are really are a power team to do these things and it's just been tremendous. So I thank you both for sharing this space with me and lending your time and just supporting me in every single way. It means a lot. Thank you, and for those watching and listening live in the replay, we thank you for spending your time with us.

Speaker 1: 44:26

If you have any more questions, put them in the LinkedIn comments. We'll do our best to get back to you and just register for Brenda's event if that's something that is a fit for you, and just keep on putting yourself out there. So, with that being said, I think we are going to close out and any last quick 20 seconds say goodbyes or just have a great day everyone. All right, we're done and we will see you all next week. Take care everyone. Bye, bye.