Human Connection Driven LinkedIn Marketing For Entrepreneurs

LinkedIn can feel like a noisy room full of “experts,” automation, and awkward cold DMs. We want to cut through that with something more useful: what’s working right now when you’re a real person trying to grow a business, land better opportunities, or build a personal brand without turning into a corporate robot.

Shelby McFarland talks with LinkedIn specialist Katie Rasure about the surprising strategy that keeps paying off: human connection. We get into why giving away helpful information for free doesn’t scare off buyers, it attracts them. Katie shares how she leaned on LinkedIn after graduating during the pandemic, how consistency helped her get noticed, and how local networking events accelerated everything once she got out of her comfort zone. If you’ve ever hit a wall, burned out, or thought “I just want a simple job and to disappear for a while,” her path will feel familiar and encouraging.

Then we go practical: how to write LinkedIn posts that people actually read, why storytelling and “Facebook with a business twist” beats stiff professionalism, and how often to post without wrecking your sanity. We also unpack what to ignore: trend-chasing advice that mainly benefits big creators, overposting, and AI-driven outreach that kills trust. You’ll learn a cleaner approach to B2B prospecting on LinkedIn: comment with value, connect with intention, and message like a human. We even talk reposting, timing, and how to use scheduling without losing the engagement LinkedIn rewards.

Subscribe for more honest marketing conversations, share this with a friend who’s stuck on LinkedIn, and leave a review so more business owners can find us. What’s one LinkedIn change you’re going to try this week?

Order "Market Like a Boss" at www.shelbysmarketingbook.com

Transcript

0:00

Hey guys, what's up? It's Shelby, your favorite podcast host, the marketing broker. I'm here with my favorite LinkedIn specialist, Katie Razor. Hey girl, what's up? Hey guys. I'm so excited to have Katie with us today because she is amazing. We um I actually

Meeting A LinkedIn Creator In Real Life

0:18

creeped on her a lot on social media. I love telling this story. Yeah. It's kind of cringy on me, but also makes you seem like so much cooler. I love it. It's a fantastic story for me. So I followed her for a really long time on LinkedIn. She always gave great information for free. And you guys know that I talk about that. Marketing is awesome when we are giving our information for free. And then people, what? They want to follow us. They want to hire us. They want to do all the things. Then I saw her at a social network, like a social networking event. And I said, Oh my God, this girl actually lives by me. I was like, What? And so when I told her, I was like, I am such a fangirl right now. I cannot believe I'm meeting you in person and now we're friends. It was fantastic. It was one of the first times that anybody had come up to me and was like, Oh my gosh, I know you're from LinkedIn. Oh, you're amazing. I didn't think you were, I thought you were so much bigger. Like, I didn't realize you lived here. And I was like, Well, thank you. It was the whole awesome, I loved it so much. It was the entire great, greatest thing that I got from that networking event. Absolutely. And then it makes you feel like what I'm doing is actually working. Yeah, absolutely. And to your point, whenever you were talking about the free information, a lot of people think that if you put too much free information out there that they won't hire you. But the thing is they'll realize how much information you're giving them and then how much work it actually takes. And then they'll be like, okay, yeah, maybe I do need to hire this person. Yeah, and that's exactly what I've done with my book. I just spoke at a author summit, and it was like people were like, you just give your book away for free. I'm like, yeah. Because I want people to know like how much effort it takes to do your social media. Exactly. And that's why you should hire me. And also it makes you look better just because you're giving them away for free, and like people respect it and they think it's really fun. Because you did speak at um our Arkansas Women's Network event. Yes. And you gave those away and you signed them, and it was so lovely for everybody. And we loved hearing your story. And honestly, you've done a fantastic job marketing the book. I mean, just seeing how you've marketed the book makes me understand that you know exactly what you're doing. Well, thank you. Thank you. I'm paying her to do all this. No, she's saying, No, she's not. No, no, I really do appreciate that. That's very validating for sure. Because I like to educate on this podcast about the importance of marketing yourself, giving stuff away, um, making sure that you are practicing what you preach. And I have to practice what I preach. Obviously, you practice what you preach. Tell us a little bit about your story, how you got into LinkedIn, um, and then how like your, I guess, career in it has changed over the past couple years. Yeah, it's changed a lot. So I first got into LinkedIn because I graduated from college in December 2020. Oh. Now I was about to say, if you don't remember the mix of the most of the pandemic, so we couldn't go find jobs like normal people with going

Giving Free Value Without Fear

3:03

to internship like fairs and job fairs and things like that. Wasn't the same thing. So I knew from class that we'd use LinkedIn and I was like, okay, well, I need to use LinkedIn to find a job. Yeah. But I didn't do LinkedIn as the whole only using the job part, I used the entire platform because I was like, I'm really gonna get all of this and see what all I can use to have a edge to me. As because I hadn't had any internships that were like towards marketing because I graduated for marketing. Okay. And so I hadn't had any of those kinds of internships, but I had some, I done some work for local companies. And I thought, okay, well, I need to figure out how I can get an edge somehow. So I ended up using the platform a lot, figured out that if you are on the feed, on the LinkedIn home feed, you can kind of curate it to see the people you liked. And I wanted to do that to see people who were in marketing, so that way maybe they might like find something for me easier. And I ended up finding people from all over the world and really getting to be good friends with them. And I did find my dream job at the time, and I got that. So that was awesome because I was using LinkedIn more, yeah, and because I was also just persistent in being showing up and being there and letting them know that I wanted the job, yeah, which was a lot different than most people. But because of all that, I actually fell in love with LinkedIn and how wonderful and positive and supportive and also educational the platform is in general. And so I just stayed with it even after my job because I was doing LinkedIn posts, I was doing social media and handling accounts for people, and I was doing LinkedIn with things, but most of my job obviously was primarily towards like Instagram and Facebook because TikTok, I don't remember, TikTok was barely alive at that point. I mean, it had like kind of come out for personal uses like during COVID, but yeah, definitely not for businesses. Yeah, no, yeah, not until recently. So we um were focusing on all of that, and so I was still doing LinkedIn content at that point, but it was just for fun. Yeah. And I was trying to become a little bit of an influencer, but I wasn't really trying that hard. And then you were consistent. I was consistent. I think that's trying hard. That's true. Yes, that's true. Um, I was doing it just for the love of the game. Yes, but at that point, but then after a while, the atmosphere that I was working in wasn't really great, and I had decided that I needed to change, so I decided I was going to be an entrepreneur. And doing that was a bold decision. Absolutely. Um and

From Pandemic Grad To Dream Job

5:22

I just went for it and I ended up becoming a travel blogger because that was kind of so fun. Yeah, that was kind of like the big thing to do um back in the day for side hustles. Okay. Yeah, when blogging was still pretty. I don't know. I had a newborn back then, so I don't know. I didn't even know that was a thing. But I'm learning it. Side hustles. Love it. But um I had chosen to do it because my dad had to had been a travel blogger. Oh, cool. And he had died like that past year, which is one of the reasons why I decided to quit my job. Okay. So I decided to kind of pick up from him and actually try and do it. So if you don't know, travel blogging is extremely hard to do to make it profitable. And it's also a lot of people are doing it. Oh, not only that, yeah. But it's you have to be like back in the day at least, it was you had to be writing only for SEO purposes, like not for creative purposes, and you only had to be able like to do the ones that they wanted you to do that was like the least searchable, so that way you could be the top of the market. And I'm not like I wasn't into that. I wanted to do the places that I was going to, and I was going to a lot of international places at the time, so it really worked perfectly. How cool is that? Yeah, I thought it would. Did not. I did not like being put in a bubble for my writing. Okay. And so not only that, but because of some funds, like you can go, you have to get $100 to be able to take any money out of what you've earned. Oh. And I only made $25. Yeah. You're like, so I'm gonna need that other $75. Yeah, where's it at? And that didn't happen. Yeah. Because that is it's a way harder process than you think it is. Okay. Anyways, out of this long. Do not become a travel blogger. Not anymore we're learning. Lesson number one. If you're gonna do that, become more of a travel blogger at this point, guys. I think that's an easier access point. Yes. But you tried. I tried, I tried. Yeah, and then I went and full down, like had a major breakdown because everything in my life had also just kind of went fantastically and then collapsed all around me. And we've all been there. Yeah, yeah. And so I had to, I was gone into another state. I thought I was gonna move there, had to come back home. It was horrible for me. And then also because travel blogging wasn't working out, yeah. I just was giving up on life and decided to go back into corporate. But corporate was awful. Yeah. So I had trauma and PTSD from and I didn't know that I had PTSD for years because just the thought of going back into a corporate situation would give me like panic attacks. Jesus. It was that bad, yeah. Yeah. And I hadn't realized that until I was finally not having panic attacks from it. And I was like, oh my gosh, that actually was PTSD. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. But um, yeah, so that's how badly I didn't want to go back into a corporate situation. But I try to get back onto LinkedIn for getting another job as like a secretary or something that was like nine to five. I would not have to worry about. You don't have to do after hours. Yeah, and was not complicated in any means. And if I had to just up and leave like that, I was allowed to because who cares? Yes. You know? Yeah. You're like, I'm just a receptionist. Yeah, it doesn't matter. No, yeah, I'm not like light make it or break it kind of person in the company. Yeah. Um, and so I went back on there and kind of refound my love of LinkedIn again. Um, decided that no, like no one was giving me any kind of um the theater girl in me says callbacks. I got you. I love that. We're gonna start using that callback. Yeah, I never I call it follow-ups or like, could you just respond? I'm gonna need your callback. Thank you. I love it. Sorry, I just I was I love that I can't remember the word for it. No, yeah, no, interviews. They didn't ask me for any interviews. And so I found this virtual assistant position, and I was trying to get that, and then I realized like people were doing that for themselves. Yeah. And so I was like, maybe I can try entrepreneurism like again. And so I decided I was gonna be a virtual assistant, but this time I wasn't gonna just advertise myself on LinkedIn because yes, it works after a while, but it takes a minute for things to start working, and so I knew I wasn't gonna get anything like immediately. So I decided I was gonna have to get out of my comfort zone and go like to networking events around my local area, and that's kind of when everything in my life changed, is because I met so many people in the community, I met people who became my good close friends, my biggest supporters. I've met you and I also was doing LinkedIn as well, still doing that. But um, somewhere along the way, a friend had had me help her with her LinkedIn, and I was able to give her all this information, and she was like, You should get paid for doing this. Yeah. And so I was like, no, it's fine, like I don't really know that much. And heads up, you might know a lot more than you think you do because whatever you're interested in, whatever you're seeing day to day, and like what your content you're consuming, if it's kind of a hobby or a skill or a trade, like you might be way more expertise, you might have way more expertise in it than you realize because you just think it's normal for you. Right, and you're not giving yourself credit enough because other people are like, what do you mean you know that? Yeah, exactly. Like you just kind of assume because when you're in a world of people doing the same thing for so long, you think you're the one who isn't the expert at it. You think that this is just something everybody knows. And I found out that not a lot of people know about LinkedIn. Yeah. So I hosted a workshop and a lot of people came to that, and then ever since I had a lot more people asking me specifically for LinkedIn services. And I found out virtual assisting wasn't like enough to of problem solving and things to really engage me, and so I wasn't having a good time, and so people were asking for LinkedIn services, and I was having a good time doing that. That I just ended up becoming a LinkedIn specialist. I love this. That's the really long way about my story. No, I love your story so much. There's things that like really stick out to me. You know, you go through a hard change in your life, and I feel like a lot of us entrepreneurs have this same type of story. We have like uh a breakdown. God, how many

Entrepreneurship Detour And A Hard Reset

11:14

mental breakdowns have I had? Like, I can't even I don't even want to tell you. It's embarrassing, right? I'm pretty sure I had one like 30 days ago. So it's literally just 30 days ago. That's pretty impressive. It's been really great the last 30 days. I'm not gonna lie. Thank you so much. I um yeah, I appreciate my alone time with my vodka. No, I'm done. Okay, so but I love how like, or no, I don't love. So when you were having your mental breakdown, no, you told yourself, I just want to be a receptionist. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's something I can leave immediately if I need to. And we all get to that point. We're like, I just want to just be something that nobody sees. I want to disappear because that's where our mental state is at the time. But you pulled yourself out of that, which is amazing. Thank you. You pull yourself out of that in a way because you made yourself uncomfortable. And you know how I am about uncomfortableness. We love it. It's awkward, it's weird, and it makes us grow as a person. So I think when you pulled yourself out of that to start the LinkedIn stuff, to start even the virtual assisting, yeah. And you went and did networking events, and that's why it's important to network, but then also do your digital marketing. Yeah, absolutely. Right? I mean, that helps with your brand. Yeah. What do you say? Yeah, my biggest thing is that people buy from people, they don't buy from brands. Yes. And so because of that, you really want your biggest, honestly, anyone's biggest business strategy, growth, business growth strategy is human connection. Yes. Because the thing is it makes it so much easier because people are fighting for attention online because everybody is wanting attention online. That's where everybody's supposed to be going, that's where they're advertising, they're doing all these things. Yep. But as someone who worked in advertising and had social media clients for like 30 different companies at the same time, which is wow. It's like I'm out. Yes. Um, is uh you don't need to come work for us then? Thank you. I I am put those days in my past. I'm very happy about that. Um but I I do think that like people are just putting themselves out there and they're just putting themselves not really out there, putting their brands out there just for the attention, not for the real reasons of doing stuff. And there's not like strategy behind it. No, it's it's very difficult. And even like with our clients, it's hard to tell them like I am not your salesperson. Yeah, I'm your marketing person. I send people to your website, I send people your phone number, that's how I get them to you, but I cannot sell for you. No, yeah. Social media is there for validation, it's there for whenever I'm like, hey, you should haul her at Katie, she's a LinkedIn expert. And if they went to your LinkedIn and you have nothing posted, how awkward would that be? Oh, it would be awful. It would be like, like, hey, you should go to Shelby Digital Marketing. And I'm like, marketing broker has like nothing on our page because we've been too busy. Oh my god, that would be so awkward. I have turned down clients who wanted to work with me because they literally had no examples of their work online, and they had had work like I'm not even joking. There was a company that um had that was a video production company or whatever. Yeah, and the thing that I saw, the last thing that I saw that they had posted about themselves was from like 2009. Yeah. That's like pre-COVID. That's important. That's real bad. That's that's real bad. That's horrible. That's like, are they even still in business? Well, he was like, Hey, I want your help. And I was like, No, man, nothing, nothing about your website says what you do where you are. Locations are different in all of these different places. Yeah, yeah. You would have to go and completely restructure that entire thing. Yes, not just make it a well. I don't even believe that that seems like money laundering at that point. Like it's it's good, and if your vibe's that way, yeah, I can see that. Yeah, because I don't know, it's just like one of those things where you're like, if you're a video production company, you should put out reels, you should pick up and they're like real doing your job, yeah. And their reel that they did have was filled with stock images, right? Shut up. No, oh my god, sorry, this is a podcast. I just opened my eyes real big. It's like, oh my god, I was so it's speechless. Stock images, that is awful. Stock images in a reel of their footage that they've created. Yeah, no, I don't think so. I don't think they're real. Exactly. Which is why I was like, no, I'm good. I'm just gonna not even address this. Yeah. Because why would I? That's important

Networking Plus LinkedIn Builds Trust

15:24

of marketing, keeping up and things and having the attention still. Yeah. But to roundabout way of this, because this is gonna be a lot of like, here's the story, and then we're gonna have a like a roundabout. Absolutely. Just a little side part, and then we're gonna come back to it. But that's what we do here. Yeah. But my biggest thing is that you know, when you meet someone in person, you are much more likely to follow them on social media, to keep in contact. Yeah. So you're not fighting for that person's attention and hoping and praying that they'll not only see you, but want to follow you afterwards. Yes. And then hopefully maybe see your content here and there, even after you follow them. But when you're connected to a person in real life, you've already created that human connection that then makes them want to be curious about life and who you are on the internet. So who you are on the internet and who you talk about. So if you're talking about your company and showing that you've had a great company lifestyle, like the employees are fantastic, your boss is fantastic, what you do is something that you love. More people are willing to go to your company or to go to the company you work for first than someone who just is marketing and not doing anything else. Absolutely. I totally agree with that. Yeah, I love that. So, a lot of people that are listening to this podcast are entrepreneurs or business owners or they're in marketing themselves. So tell me, like maybe one or two, if three, whatever, your free information that you like to give out. Um, what are some things they can do on LinkedIn? I get this question all the time, so I'm so glad that we're doing this and I can refer to the podcast or whatever. So, what can they do on LinkedIn to really make themselves stay in a part outside of being consistent? I already preached that part. Yeah. So, like, what's the information they need to put out there? So, obviously, a lot of people think this is a misconception of LinkedIn. People think that it's a professional platform, and so they have to be professional about it. Yeah. And that is so not true. It's a very outdated statement. And a lot of people don't realize that because they don't curate their home feeds. Yes. Um, and because of that, they just either they put out random

Content That Fits LinkedIn Now

17:23

tidbits or facts or something about whatever they're selling for them. That's gonna get you absolutely nowhere. Yeah. But when you're talking about storytelling, talking about your personal content, your daily life in your work, kind of stories about how you've helped clients, or stories about times that you weren't able to help clients, but you could figure out some other way to do something for them, or even just failures. Yeah, they relate so well to everybody. I say that LinkedIn is basically like Facebook with a business twist. Love that. Yeah. So basically, whatever normal things you would post on Facebook. Not your food, not your food, unless it pertains to the story. I'm not even going to lie, there are girls who post their food pics from like what they had in the weekend, and they're always gorgeous food picks, and people follow. Okay. Well, my pictures are not that gorgeous of food. Oh, I don't have good pictures of food either. No. But I love that for them. Yeah. So I take that statement back. Yeah, so take the statement back. I'm telling you, man. Food pictures or what's up, the all on the book. Sometimes, honestly. And they kind of, those are the girls who relate themselves back to making them humanizing themselves and telling them, like, hey, this is the kind of things I do on the weekend for a break from my work life, so that way I can come back refreshed. I do love that. That's so that's the professional twist on Facebook. I love that. Yes. Is basically anything you would post on Facebook if you have a professional tie back into something business related or something professional, whatever it is, then it works. Yeah. Because you're still posting that human content, but you're relating it back to the platform. So that's one of the biggest things to do is just change your content style up to that. Also, don't overpost. A lot of people decide to overpost. There's people who I have now been introduced to this. Um, I'm not a fan of it, but I've been introduced to this as being a thing. You know the whole maxing movement that people are doing? Uh right? I'm a minimalist, so I really can't say I do not have anything great to say about maxing anything. I don't know. Besides maybe the weight at the gym. See, you can max weight at the gym. That's it. There you go. Periods. Yeah. That my thing is that like maxing, at least in what I've seen, I'm not gonna say everything because I don't know everything. I've only seen, like, I've only seen slash heard of the looks maxing and now LinkedIn maxing, apparently. It's a it's a whole thing on TikTok, yeah. People maxing a lot of things. Yeah, I just I don't really get it. It doesn't seem to be healthy, it seems to be the very much opposite. And it's also a lot of pressure on yourself. Yeah. If you're like, hey, let's max out and do this every day or whatever. Like, bro. Anyways, go back to what you're saying. So how many people, how many times should they be doing? It's like, yeah, the whole hustle broke culture is everything that I'm against. Yes, yes, yeah. But so basically anytime anywhere from three, I mean, you can do it as less as like one, as long as you're consistent, it's important. Yes, to five. So I used to post five days a week

Posting Frequency And Avoiding Burnout

20:04

when I was really trying to hit things. Of course, but I was burning out so hard. Yes. And the thing is is that apparently I saw somewhere back at the earlier at the beginning of this year. Now everybody posts their LinkedIn things of what they their trends are and whatever. But you know it's all different based on who you hear from and what they kind of find and what things and where they live. I've noticed like the different trends of like where people are living and how their economy is in that area. Yeah, definitely different. But a lot of people, like, well, not a lot of people, this one person was saying that the more you're posting, the less it's getting shown. Because there's more posts that it's trying to hit out, and not only that, because the more you're posting, the probably not as good of content that you're posting. Agreed. And so LinkedIn really wants good deep thought content. And so if you're posting, I post three times a week now because my mental health and sanity is much better when it comes to LinkedIn, and also because I've got better, more thoughtful posts. Well, your posts are longer too, yeah. Like in a good way. Yeah. Like people love to read on LinkedIn. Like if they're on LinkedIn, they love to read and you always have a story, a cute picture of you, or like wherever you're at, maybe coffee or whatever. So yeah, and that's also another important thing about content is when you're doing content on LinkedIn, do not follow the trends that everyone's saying you should follow. And I say that because after my multiple years of on the being one platform and watching all of these trends come and like go by, it just shows me time after time that the only thing that really works for those trends are the big influencers who are saying those trends work.

Ignore Trends And Pick A Lane

21:34

Like when video came around, it was a massive thing last year was video. Yes. Um, and a lot of people were trying to do it. But here's the thing when they were doing it and it was the lower people doing it, they were barely getting any views. Interesting. And at most, they were getting like 20 people liking the videos. And I don't even I don't go to LinkedIn for the videos. So now that they have so they have this kind of feed where it shows you videos, but they never Show any random videos. They always show the really popular creators. And that's why, and if you listen to any of the big popular creators' advice, they're always going to be telling. Now, some people are really good people to follow. Yeah. Um, but most of them are not great because they'll just sell you what LinkedIn is wanting to sell you. Also, what they can tell you is like, my biggest thing is people sell you hope. They don't really sell you reality. And a lot of the big LinkedIn people sell you hope. I've seen like something similar with that as well on TikTok right now. People are like, don't do what you're gonna do today. Yeah, do this trend instead. And I'm like, you're just doing that to get engagement. Like that trend's not actually gonna work. Like I've done it just to test it, because that's really what I do. So I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna test it. Nothing, it does not work. And so I feel like it's probably the same thing. They're like, oh, we're just doing this to get engagement, like comment or share it, or bookmark it, or whatever. And yeah, absolutely. And of course, because they're the big people, obviously they're gonna be like, Well, my rate's tripled or my engagement or whatever. It's because you're doing something brand new and you're the max influencer everyone's to follow. Yeah. So of course, people are going to want to follow your stuff. It's like multi-level marketing. And absolutely, yeah. And so people social media. So people ask me all the time, like, what should what kind of content should I do? And I'm like, whatever you do on LinkedIn, it's different than all the other social platforms. Because on LinkedIn, it wants to fit you in a category. Yeah. So when you experiment with multiple different kinds of content, whether it's video, graphics, um, regular posts with a selfie like I do, things like that, any kind of thing that you do, um, it won't know where to put you if you continuously do this. And so what I say is if you want to experiment at first to kind of see what your what your favorite type of content is, absolutely go ahead and do that. Right. But then when you figure it out, keep to it. Because then LinkedIn will be able to figure out where your target audience is for the people who like to follow those kinds of content. Right. So that's the biggest thing. And then also what I will say, the thing that's worked all throughout time of LinkedIn being of me being there, anyways, is what I do. So the written post with a selfie. Yes. And uh, a lot of people back in the day when the selfie thing first started, because when I was on LinkedIn, when I first joined LinkedIn, it was so much far back in the day that it was just all written posts. Interesting. I mean no graphics, no nothing. It was just written posts. So that was back in my day. So the selfie trend was new whenever I was there. Yeah. But the reason why we do selfie is because a lot of people were thinking, well, that's really vain, or you're, you know, they think it's unprofessional. There's a lot of unprofessional promise about it. Yeah, there was people saying that. But the thing is, it's non-unprofessional, it's actually really smart for your brand. Yeah. Because the reason why I do it is because people see my face. Yes. And they know it's my post. Yeah. And so I have a lot of people who, oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in a while. And if they pop back up on the feed, like uh, they know it's me. Yeah. And that's the whole point. It's just that people know it's my post and they'll know that, oh, I like that person, I want to read it. I mean, I literally recognized you at an in-person networking event because of your post, of your face. Absolutely. And then I it just happened again at your networking event. I know, yes, last week with one of your friends. Yes, he was like, Oh my god, this is a girl from LinkedIn. I was like, I know. Yeah, he said exactly the same things you did, which is hilarious. I love that for you though. That's so cool. Yeah, I know. But it obviously works because I've had it like not just you, but I've had other people do it over time as well. It does work, but it takes time. Oh, absolutely. It did not start off just like that. And yeah, honestly, I've gotten so much better because of networking. I've got more business because of networking, because then people, especially what I'm doing, there's nobody else that you know in the state that's a LinkedIn specialist. Nope. Or like, yeah. I'm not, I mean, I don't say I'm a LinkedIn specialist, absolutely not. I do all the other socials. Exactly. I just attempt LinkedIn. Yeah, that's what a lot of people do. But it get people get really curious about it. And so, because if I if it's just me, I'm gonna be honest, on LinkedIn, I don't get as much people asking help for LinkedIn. Right. But the only reason why is because there's a thousand other people doing exactly what I do, and most of the time for lower rates, or they have thousands more followers than I do. So they want to go with the people who have big professional, like I said, the influencers who have these courses and stuff that they want to follow those. Yes. So let's talk about messaging on LinkedIn and how we like prospect and stuff, because I run into that a lot, is whenever someone's trying to connect with me, and immediately after hitting the yes, it is because I haven't bedded them, which I should have, but it's always like

DMs, AI, And Real Prospecting

26:32

an immediate message. And I'll say I personally used to use an AI software that was a lot more human connected rather than like yes, you hit yes, and then I message you. It was okay, we've we're gonna like your post, we're gonna share something, we're gonna then connect with you, then a couple days later, we're gonna message you. Like it was kind of like a beta software I was using. Um, I didn't see really good return of investment with that. And I think it's because again, what I do is so personal, but there's a lot of bots and things. I don't I don't want to call them bots, but there's a lot of AI software being used on LinkedIn. So, what would you say to um people that are trying to get business on LinkedIn? You're business to business. Have to get down and dirty with it and be there yourself. Yeah, you just you there's no other real way. I've had I've seen people do stuff, I've had people do things like and I've done things myself. Yeah, and I am like if you talk to me, if you know me at all, Shelby knows I am human connection, everything about human connection. I I think AI is great for idea making and helping you figure things out within your business and kind of getting creative. I think that that and strategy, I think that that is fantastic. I do not want it for anything that's human to human. And I learned that. Yeah, I was like, I'm gonna try it, and then learned real fast that it was not what people were wanting. And the thing is that people on LinkedIn, it's the one platform that everybody gets bought, like AI, anything, like a meeting and even just human connection, but they're pushing in your face right in your inbox. And the thing is that one, if you are more active on your profile, those will stop. Absolutely. Because people will understand that you aren't just like easy to convince because you might open it up and be like, oh, maybe that would work. But you actually get to know people, and because of that, they're like, mmm, that's too hard. Right. So that's one thing, and that shocks a lot of people when I tell them that. And then two, what you were doing wasn't necessarily the wrong thing to do. I you do, you should like the person's post for sure. Right. But my biggest thing is leave a comment that's really valuable to whatever the post is and leave that comment and then follow that person and then hit the connect button. Like give them attention first. Absolutely. Then be like, okay, now I want you to do like what I want you to do. Sharing is also in the LinkedIn world, sharing is not really that helpful, honestly. I I tell people all this time, don't really repost anything because it doesn't do anything for you. And LinkedIn never pushes out reposts, like ever. I learned that at your little networking shop that we went to.

Comments Beat Reposts Every Time

29:06

Not little, it was a networking shop. Sorry. Your networking workshop that we went to, and because I I usually repost my business page post on there, and then you're like, Well, you need to leave a comment. And I'm like, oh, I don't want to relieve a thought with it. I just want to, but then I've noticed that I looked at the numbers after that. I went through the things of me reposting. I'm like, oh, every time I've said something, yeah, it at least gets action, but it doesn't get any action if I don't say anything with it. Yeah, and and whenever you do repost somebody, it goes straight to the post. It doesn't do anything for you. Yes. Yeah. So there's it's not like when you repost something. So that's why you need to put a con, like that's why you have to put uh thought something in it above hand, like repost with a thought. Yeah. Um, because then you're putting your more original thoughts into it, more experience into it, and then people are more likely to see it and look at it. And I also say that yes, you can do your businesses posts to kind of help things get seen a little bit, but and also do anything that has you in it. So if you spoke at an event or something, absolutely repost that. Or if you're, you know, about to speak in an event and it's the poster for it, absolutely do that. But if it's something that doesn't concern you whatsoever, just don't. Just don't. It's not. I like that. That's interesting. So just like repost things that maybe concern you, your company, your career, things like that. Yeah, I like that. As long as you put the thought with it. Yeah. But yeah, the thought with it. Make sure like that's super important. Um, also, another reposting thing that's great for you is reposting your own posts. Oh, like from your personal page. Yes. Okay. So, and it's great to do because there are different audiences all over the world. Like, there's a massive audience in Europe. Europe loves LinkedIn. It is a hub for LinkedIn. Okay. I am so jealous that I'm not there because they do so many LinkedIn events with influencers and like gatherings. It's insane. I know. Okay. London, massive area for it. Absolutely. Yeah. Love that. Yeah. And so because of that, you know, when we're posting, I post early in the morning to kind of get not only the people around here, but nationwide. Yeah. But if you repost around six hours to 12 hours later, you're gonna get a whole new audience, fresh eyes on that post. Absolutely. You don't have to re-that was the only thing that I say. Don't repost with thoughts on top of it, just repost it and then it'll get out to a new audience. But it's your post. So I don't necessarily know why LinkedIn also pushes it again, but you will get more likes on it. It might not be a lot depending on when you do it, but you'll get more likes. I mean, it's really worth a try, and I love to try things out like that. Like, what's the timing? When did I share this originally? What time did we schedule it for? Um, that

Reposting Your Own Posts For Reach

31:39

is so interesting. And for people that don't want to like sit there and do the post right then, LinkedIn has a scheduler now. You can schedule output. What do you suggest not doing that? Really? Yeah, I absolutely do. Because here's the biggest reason why is LinkedIn itself is a networking platform. Okay. And it's to its core and it stays true to its core, unlike some of the other platforms that are just kind of like we're gonna do whatever the money follows. Yeah. No, I'm not saying LinkedIn isn't going towards that way, it has been going towards that way for

Scheduling Posts And The LinkedIn Hour

32:07

maybe trying to push that premium, bruh. Oh, are you kidding me? Premium not worth it, by the way, unless you have company funds to just afford it and you have people to figure it out. Yeah. Because LinkedIn Premium is insanely complicated. Yeah. For no good reason. Right. And then not only that, but it doesn't always give you the good leads that you're thinking it's gonna, it's like a machine and it's weird. Exactly. And like all you have all these levers and pools and input data, and it's crazy. I tried it for like a week, and even I was like, I'm not, this is not it. No, so I always tell people don't get premium for that reason, and it's just too expensive. It's like a hundred dollars or more a month just for the good stuff. It is, whatever that good stuff is, whatever that good stuff is, and running ads is expensive too. Yeah, it's like $30 a click. I know it's crazy, it's insane. It is crazy, and it's just not really worth it when there's so much you can do for free. And there's short, there's shortcuts, hacks, and things that you can do it that is really not that big. It's more time involved, but you're gonna get more of a return on investment if you really put that time and care into it. But back to what you were scheduling. Scheduling. First, it's not scheduling. Yeah, yeah. So the reason why I say that is because it is a networking platform, which means LinkedIn wants you to engage with other people at the time of the of when you're posting. So I schedule mine because it makes it easier for my brain, but I'm there 15 minutes before my post goes out, and I'm there for like the rest of the hour after. I am so impressed with this. That is amazing. Yeah, so I that's my like every Monday through Wednesday schedule is I show up on the platform at 8, my post goes out at 8.15, and then I'm there till nine. Love this. Yeah, and so I engage with other people, I engage with comments that I've gotten from re different posts that I posted if I didn't go back to file, like do those that day. And honestly, it's better if you go back later in the day and engage more. I just don't always have the time to do that. But I always make sure to prioritize eight to nine as my LinkedIn hour, which is why on your calendar. Yeah, exactly. Which is why I tell people I can't meet with them till like 10, 10:30, depending on where we are. Love that. It's because I know I need time to get dressed like a normal human afterwards. Of course, yeah. Um, and a lot of people, whenever I tell them that, that they have to engage in order for it to actually get pushed out because people are seeing your content. Because when you leave comments, they're gonna want to follow you to your profile. Of course. If they've never seen you, and then there's your post and it's like brand new, and then they're gonna read whatever you've just written and they're gonna like and engage with it because you engage with their profile. Wow. So that's what the good people will do. It's what LinkedIn will do because it knows you're actually you're actively networking, you're actively supporting other people, you're using the platform as it's intended. Yeah. Now, you will have to, and I tell people this because they're always like, Well, that's too much time to spend. I don't have that much time in a day. And I'm like, you don't have to do the whole hour like I do. Yeah, I do it because it's my job. Well, yes. But yes, here's the thing. I know that you are scrolling social media all the time during the day. All day. It doesn't matter what you do for a job, you're always scrolling social. So, what are you gonna do? Are you going to spend all day scrolling social media for funsies and for like catching up with people and getting to see brand new content or funny things? Absolutely, you can still do that. But why don't you set aside time to actively do that on LinkedIn where you're also still seeing people's stories? Yeah, you're learning about things, you're getting to support each other. Also, LinkedIn is the most positive platform. I totally agree with this. Yes, and there's not political stuff usually, it's just business, it's just important. Yeah, it's it's informational and educational. I learned so much on LinkedIn. Yes, and the good people you follow will also share their failures and you'll feel more relatable as you won't feel so alone, no matter what you're doing, whether you're an employee, yeah, whether you're an entrepreneur or freelancer, it doesn't matter. Yeah. So the whole reason why I say that is you could be productive and actually be on social media for fun and to actually get forward and ahead in your career and get noticed and get opportunities. Like I just got a podcast that hopefully is coming out decently soon, yeah, just from posting on LinkedIn and getting an invite in my DMs to do a podcast. Awesome. Yeah. And then right after you give me this podcast opportunity, so I was like manifesting, exactly. Yes, yes. So it's it's not even like you may not be selling either for your company or for me. You could be an HR or something and not even have any reason to be on LinkedIn. And you can get those kinds of career opportunities, get asked to talk at places, get asked to do things, all because you're on this platform and you're engaging. Now, are you gonna be able to do that anywhere else? And you don't even necessarily have to post in order to get these opportunities because if you make friendships and relationships with these people so often, then more people get curious about who you are and what you're doing. Absolutely. So that's the whole thing. It's just it's like networking in person, you're just networking online and spending that time investing in yourself, basically, versus just being on social media for fun. So, and a lot of people when I tell that to them, they're like, uh Oh, they don't like it. No, they don't like it. People do not like it. But you have to do it because social media is engaging now, and if we're trying to use it as our brand, building our business, you have to be engaging on there no matter what. Absolutely. So it's just time well invested in yourself, and it still is fun to do, it's still a nice break for the brain. Absolutely, because you're not consuming crap. Yeah, it makes you feel like you're more knowledgeable in things. You're like, wow, there is positivity in the world, absolutely in business. Yes. Yes. Well, thank you so much. This has been amazing. You're amazing. Thank you. I love that we are connected in person now and not just on social media. Yes. Um, but we're gonna share this video on LinkedIn as well. I think that'd be super cool. So the full form video on LinkedIn. So if you're on LinkedIn watching this, leave us a little comment.

Closing And Listener Prompt

37:51

Yeah. Um, we would love to know what your thoughts are on LinkedIn, your experiences. Katie will ask her answer all the questions. She may ask some too, but she'll at least answer your questions. Um, we'll tag her on this post as well. Um, but again, thank you so much. This has been a great job, me. This has been fantastic. Yeah, and we'll probably do it again. I feel like this is definitely more than one time. All right, guys. I'll catch you on the next podcast episode. Bye. Bye.