Native video on LinkedIn has become a hot topic. These days it's common for social media gurus and marketing experts to extol the virtues of video for sharing your brand message and engaging your audience. And with LinkedIn Live still early in its roll-out, video promises to continue to grow in prominence. But if you aren't an influencer with a boatload of followers, is it really worth the time and attention we’re giving it? This is an especially important question for salespeople and other non-marketers who want to engage with their network. With limited time and resources, they have to ensure that they are getting the best bang for … [Read more...]
3 Ways to Share Professional LinkedIn Posts (Without Boring People About Your Company)
updated January 2022 One of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make when sharing content on social media - especially LinkedIn - is that they only talk about their company or what they are selling. At first blush this makes sense, but translate it to an offline experience: What do you think of salespeople who only talk about their company and give you a sales pitch every time you see them? At best you try to avoid them, and at worst you are actively annoyed by them. Should you share information about what you are selling on LinkedIn? Sure, but sparingly. Mix it up with other content. Topics that Engage Your Professional … [Read more...]
How to Best Share the Multitudes Within You
I had a bit of an existential crisis recently. OK, maybe "crisis" is a little heavy-handed, but it was definitely a bit of a conundrum. For the past ten months, I've been working on a side project: a book of haiku. I'm trying to get back to my poetry-writing (I used to slam poetry here in Chicago) and I'm writing one poem a day. I've written over 300 and I want to release them as a book after collecting a year's worth. The working title is: five seven five: a daily glimpse of Chicago life seen through haiku But what to call my book isn't the quandary. It's what to call myself on the cover. Personal Brand: Expansive or … [Read more...]
5 Steps that Will Make You More Approachable On LinkedIn
We've all experienced the online narcissist. The person who is constantly sharing what they are working on, where they are going, who they are going there with, and what they are eating when they get there. And we think, "I'm so glad that I'm not like them!" I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are. It's not always as extreme, but when I look at how professionals use digital platforms for business purposes, I find they do the exact same thing. Salespeople brag about how good they are at hitting quota and the features of what they sell. Executives have lists of their companies' accomplishments and their rise through the … [Read more...]
4 Simple Questions That Will Help You Plant a Flag in Your Niche
It’s hard to stand out in our noisy world. People are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of messages a day and yours will easily get lost in the shuffle. It’s important to create a strong personal brand that your networking partners can associate with you. I call it “planting a flag”. If you can’t be clear about what you do and why you are good at what you do, there’s no way that your network will be able to connect you with opportunities and resources. Your message will degrade every time it’s passed along (like the children’s game Telephone), so the more clarity you create from the start, the stronger and more lasting your message … [Read more...]
How to Lose Friends and Kill Your Influence By Sharing Political Posts
Do you remember the last time you saw a social media post about an opposing political viewpoint? Your face probably got a little red. You immediately thought of a response that included a few choice four-letter words. Maybe it was a meme lampooning your candidate or the link to the ultra-extreme political blog from your sworn enemies. Well, it's going to happen more and more as we go through this election year. I'm going to try to convince you to break the cycle and not post about politics on social media. This is especially true when you are on platforms where you connect with people from the professional parts of your life. That … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Destroy Your LinkedIn Likability
"Should I put my weekly Dungeons & Dragons group on my LinkedIn profile? That question came up in a workshop I was running for a sales team at a large business technology firm. We had been discussing the creation of an authentic personal brand online by bringing the human element into the LinkedIn profile. People want to connect with other people online, not brands or companies, so it makes sense to humanize yourself beyond just your resume bullet points. Look at Your Message from the Receiver's Perspective So the D&D question came up. After the chuckles from his co-workers subsided, I pondered his question. It was … [Read more...]