In today’s fast-paced digital world, your online presence can make or break your career. LinkedIn, once simply a platform for job seekers, has evolved into a dynamic networking hub that is essential for professionals in every industry. In our latest podcast episode, we’re diving deep into the world of LinkedIn branding with Lorraine K. Lee, a LinkedIn Top Voice, content strategist, and editorial leader with over 300,000 followers. Lorraine’s insights will help you harness the full potential of LinkedIn to build a powerful personal brand and boost your career prospects.
Lorraine’s journey to becoming a LinkedIn influencer is rooted in her extensive experience in the tech industry. As the founding editor of Prezi and a recognized virtual speaker, she’s seen firsthand how LinkedIn has transformed from a job-search tool into a space where professionals can build genuine relationships, share their expertise, and establish themselves as thought leaders. This episode is packed with tips for anyone looking to take their LinkedIn game to the next level, whether you’re job hunting, looking to grow your business, or simply hoping to enhance your professional network.
One of the key takeaways from this episode is the importance of optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Lorraine discusses how a polished, attention-grabbing profile is not just about listing job titles and skills. It’s about crafting a narrative that tells your story, showcases your expertise, and reflects your personality. From your headline to your background photo, every element of your profile is a chance to communicate your professional brand. Lorraine offers actionable advice on how to make these sections stand out, emphasizing that even small changes can yield big results in terms of visibility and engagement.
But creating a standout profile is just the beginning. Lorraine stresses that building a strong LinkedIn presence also requires active engagement within the community. In the past, LinkedIn was primarily a platform for job hunting, but it has now evolved into a vibrant space for professional conversations and networking. Lorraine encourages listeners to engage with others, share meaningful content, and interact authentically. She explains how engaging in discussions, commenting thoughtfully on posts, and sharing your own insights can help you become a recognized figure in your field and expand your influence on the platform.
One of the most common mistakes professionals make on LinkedIn, Lorraine points out, is failing to optimize their headline. Your headline is often the first thing people see when they come across your profile, so it’s essential to make it count. Instead of just listing your job title, Lorraine advises turning your headline into a value proposition that communicates who you are, what you do, and how you help others. A compelling headline should speak to your audience’s needs and interests while highlighting your unique strengths and expertise.
In addition to your headline, Lorraine talks about the significance of your LinkedIn background photo. While this is often overlooked, it’s an important part of your profile’s visual identity. Lorraine shares some creative ideas for choosing a background photo that aligns with your personal brand. Whether it’s an image of you in action at a conference, a snapshot of your team, or a visual that reflects your industry or passions, your background photo should reinforce the message you want to convey to your audience.
Another critical element of LinkedIn branding is consistency. Lorraine emphasizes that your activity on LinkedIn should align with the image you want to project. That means sharing regular, relevant content that showcases your expertise, insights, and professional journey. She also highlights the importance of being authentic in your posts. In a world full of polished, corporate messaging, authenticity can help you stand out and connect with others on a deeper level. Whether you’re sharing personal experiences or offering advice, being genuine in your communication is key to building trust and engagement.
Creating engaging content is something Lorraine has mastered over the years, and she’s eager to share her strategies for doing so. In the episode, she discusses how to craft posts that resonate with your audience. She stresses the importance of storytelling, using personal anecdotes, and offering actionable takeaways in your posts. Content that educates, inspires, or entertains is more likely to be shared and spark conversations, helping you to grow your network and strengthen your personal brand. Lorraine also shares tips on when to post, how to time your content for maximum engagement, and the role of visuals in making your posts more eye-catching.
Building authentic relationships on LinkedIn is another area where Lorraine offers invaluable advice. She explains that LinkedIn is not just about collecting connections—it’s about cultivating meaningful interactions. Instead of simply sending connection requests, Lorraine recommends taking the time to personalize your messages and engage with others in a genuine way. Commenting on posts, congratulating people on their achievements, and offering support to others are all great ways to nurture professional relationships and create a network that’s truly valuable.
As we wrap up this enlightening episode, Lorraine reminds listeners that LinkedIn is not just a platform for passive self-promotion; it’s a community where professionals can learn from each other, collaborate, and support one another. Building a strong LinkedIn presence requires consistency, authenticity, and engagement. By following Lorraine’s practical tips, you can unlock the full potential of LinkedIn to advance your career and establish yourself as a trusted expert in your field.
If you’re ready to take your LinkedIn presence to the next level, this episode is a must-listen. Lorraine K. Lee’s advice is both practical and inspiring, offering actionable steps you can implement immediately to enhance your profile, expand your network, and build your personal brand on LinkedIn. Tune in now, and get ready to transform your professional presence in the digital age!
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3BML16dgSXkkfiVQyNJuUI
YouTube: https://youtu.be/GW3W66JhIpQ
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Lorraine: LinkedIn actually recommends four times a week if you are a newer creator. And I think they recommend that again for the consistency piece, but also to get people used to the fact that you are posting and that they can expect to hear things from you, right? If you post one post and someone sees it, but they feel like it’s a one off, they’re probably not going to follow you.
Right. But if you’re trying, if you’re doing it regularly and they realize, Oh, Mary’s posting three times a week and I like her stuff. Okay. I’m going to follow or connect with her. So I think that’s, that’s sort of. Where that recommendation comes from.
[00:00:30] Mary: Before we start the show, I have a quick question for you.
Is your resume stuck in the rejection pile? At Resume Assassin, I create powerful resumes that showcase your skills, experience, and achievements, getting you noticed by recruiters. I’ll also optimize your LinkedIn profile, transforming it into Welcome to resume [00:01:00] assassin presents recruiting insider, where I create a safe space to have candid conversations with recruiters and LinkedIn thought leaders.
This podcast promises to inform, entertain, and inspire. Lorraine Lee, welcome to Recruiting Insider. Thank you so much for having me, Mary. I’m really excited. It’s a pleasure. Lorraine is a global keynote speaker and instructor for Stanford Continuing Studies and LinkedIn Learning. She works with Fortune 100 organizations, global teams, and individuals to teach them how to supercharge their professional presence.
Lorraine is recognized as a LinkedIn top voice. and has more than 300, 000 followers on LinkedIn and 10 years of experience leading editorial teams at top tech firms. She was named a top virtual speaker by ReadWrite, a top 15 LinkedIn [00:02:00] expert in San Francisco by Influence Digest, and Lorraine was a founding editor at Prezi.
Slide share and LinkedIn and has been featured in publications, including read, write, and entrepreneur today. I’m so excited to discuss supercharging your professional presence on LinkedIn. So LinkedIn has become, I mean, really much more than a job search site, right. You know, and it’s got more than 1 billion users and, you know, it seems like new features are being launched almost every single day.
Like I just saw it. This new gaming feature, which is really cool, which I subscribe to. Okay, nice. You know, and it can be super difficult though to know exactly where to start and where to stand out, right? So let’s just kind of jump right into it. Many of our listeners are, you know, they’re trying to build that strong personal brand on LinkedIn.
You know, whether they’re building a business or [00:03:00] searching for jobs. What are some key strategies that they could use to optimize their profile so that they can appear in more search results?
[00:03:10] Lorraine: Well, I love the thing you said before about how LinkedIn is not just a job site. So I think the first thing for Listeners is just to be aware of that, right?
The platform is really transformed to be focused on, as I like to say, uh, content, community and conversations. And so just seeing that there is such big opportunity out there besides, you know, logging on just when you need a job, I think is the first piece. Now, as you said, the profile is really foundational.
And so you want to tackle that first, get that right before you start doing all the other kind of fancy things that you can do on LinkedIn. So when it comes to your profile, there are. Three things that come to mind for me that are super important. So the first one is your headline. And a lot of people, when they are thinking about their headline, they are thinking just about their current job, right?
So I am a [00:04:00] marketer at company or I’m, uh, a data scientist at company, but we are all much more than our jobs. Of course, it’s important to mention our roles, but there are other things we do in our day to day. Or there are things that we have done in the past that might be important. And to your point, like if you are looking for a job or looking to kind of meet with like minded people, your headline, uh, impacts search results.
So LinkedIn has 220, it gives you 220 characters to fill out. So that’s, I mean, that’s a lot of space. And so I want. Um, you just start thinking about, okay, yes, I can include my role in company, but what are those keywords and things that I want to be discovered for? So just think of the headline as sort of just optimizing a LinkedIn search, sort of like Google search, but LinkedIn search.
The second thing that I think a lot of people miss, uh, out on is the background photo. And it is, I always say it’s like the billboards here at LinkedIn. Like literally, it’s the biggest piece of real estate, it’s at the [00:05:00] top. And so many people, they either just use the default LinkedIn one, which is like, Like nothing, it’s just some sort of design or they’re like adding, um, like a nature photo or something like that, but it doesn’t tell me anything about you.
Right? Like those, those sort of stock photos are very generic or if you’re not putting anything, it just looks like you don’t care about your LinkedIn presence. And so background photos, I would say are another really big opportunity area that a lot of people miss out on. And then the third thing I would say is, uh, probably, gosh, there’s so many things you can, you can do, but probably, I mean, again, if we’re just looking at kind of the top part of your profile, which is what’s going to make the first impression, uh, your profile photo, uh, a lot of people, uh, have photos that are too far away or that don’t look good.
quite professional, or there’s like other people in the, in the pictures, you know, like cropped out. And so I think having a nice and clear profile picture, [00:06:00] and that doesn’t mean you have to go into a studio, like a photo studio to take your picture. You can take it on a cell phone. Portrait mode looks really nice, uh, in different settings.
So just, just experiment, but we want to see you smiling. We want to see you, uh, we want to see your face. So like, don’t, don’t be too far away. Zoom in on your face. Um, and those are It’s going to be really critical to creating that first strong impression.
[00:06:21] Mary: Yeah, those are great tips. And, and they’re easy, they can be implemented today too, right?
And I think that a lot of people don’t really take a, step back and think about their headline, you know, like you said, they, they may just say, you know, I’m a people leader or this is my title at this company, you know, like you said, but there’s a lot more that you really could say with your headline. And with so many characters, you can show, you know, the impact even that you’ve made on within your career, within your current company or, or throughout the entire trajectory of your career.
And I think, you know, Yeah, absolutely. And I think you’re right too, with that, that the background photo too, is really important because that can [00:07:00] really start to communicate your personal brand and, you know, the value proposition, what you bring to the table, how are you, how are you unique, you know, what, who are you, you know, that’s a great way.
And it’s, it’s a first impression too, you know, like you said, it’s that billboard, um, so it’s a, it’s a great way to start thinking about your personal brand and how to communicate that.
[00:07:21] Lorraine: Yeah.
[00:07:22] Mary: So I guess along those lines then, I’m curious, you know, how could we better communicate our value proposition and really accurately represent who we are?
[00:07:33] Lorraine: I think when it comes to our value prop or a personal brand, um, it just, again, I keep always going back to mindset, but the first thing is to realize that We all have a personal brand and whether you are proactive about it or sort of leave it to chance or just, you know, not, not really thinking about it, you still have one.
And so the first thing is to realize that, uh, you have control over it. So [00:08:00] I often sometimes call it career brand because I feel like personal brands, sometimes people have negative connotations to that, but career brand, we all are trying to grow in our careers or reach certain goals, right? So just knowing that you can be.
Uh, proactive about it and that you can sort of inform those conversations that happen about you when you are not in the room Or that help you, you know, stay top of mind when you’re posting on linkedin That’s a really important piece I just want to set the stage for uh in terms of just how you think about it and you know one of the things exercise that I like to do when I go into companies and do trainings on the Concept of building a brand at work is to write down, uh, adjectives for how you would currently describe yourself or how coworkers might describe you.
And then it’s a very simple exercise. And then you think about, okay, what are the adjectives or ways that I would want people to describe me in the future? And I think a lot of people when I do this exercise, they’re like, oh, I don’t actually. Know how people the [00:09:00] first prompt to be, oh, I should start talking to people and figuring that out.
Yeah. Um, but if you do know how you currently are being seen, it’s just a good thought exercise to think, okay, what is the value I provide? How do people describe me? What is the impression I leave behind? What is my reputation? Right? Career brand is essentially reputation. Uh, and then. As you think about, okay, this is what I want in the future.
That helps you figure out the steps you need to take or the classes you need to take or the mentors you need to get to sort of help you shift over to that ideal future state. Um, but to your point, you know, just starting off, what is my value prop now? How do people currently see me? Um, that is a really great exercise.
And then, uh, if you don’t have the answer, talk to 10 to 15 colleagues, your manager, and even friends and family, I think is a helpful starting point.
[00:09:44] Mary: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you know, and I’ve, I’ve never really gone through an exercise like that, and I bet a lot of people haven’t either, you know, like, what, what am I really communicating to people?
You know, what are those adjectives that really describe me? [00:10:00] And I think that I could probably think of a few for myself, but if I think about, How would other people describe me? Like you said, I’d probably be like, I really have no idea. So just something as simple as starting a conversation with your colleagues with your, you know, talk to your significant other or you know anybody else in your family and see how they would describe you and they probably would give you some insights that you’re like I wouldn’t have thought about that myself, you know, so I think that that’s That’s amazing advice, you know, and I was thinking about, you know, how I’ve been on LinkedIn since 2008 and I really didn’t start posting any content at all until this year.
Okay. And really, yeah, I mean I’m kicking myself for not, Doing it and for waiting for so long, you know, because there there’s a lot that I feel like there was a lot that was holding me back and it’s I think that a lot of people can probably relate like, you know people literally I’ve seen posts where people are like I was shaking before I [00:11:00] Hit the post button right because it’s that personal you’re you’re getting personal on A platform that originally, you know, was maybe more intended for, you know, job searching and it can be intimidating.
It can be embarrassing. There can be some, you know, shame that’s attached to it for putting yourself out there, especially when you’re like me, when you’re just, you know, a very reserved person and you have a hard time letting other people in.
[00:11:22] Lorraine: Yeah.
[00:11:23] Mary: So what are some best practices or maybe, you know, frame frameworks or something like that for creating engaging LinkedIn content that really does actually resonate with your target audience?
[00:11:35] Lorraine: Well, first I just want to say, Mary, like you are doing a great job on LinkedIn. I’m seeing your comments like, um, so for just starting this year, I feel like you’re very engaged and just really leaning in. So that’s, that’s awesome to see. Cause to your point, it can be a very nerve wracking thing. It’s again, tied, tied to our professional identity.
And I think the first thing I would say is that is a completely normal feeling. So I was a founding [00:12:00] editor at LinkedIn. I worked there for six years and even I. Was always very nervous. Yeah. It wasn’t even like my own original thought. It was posting content that I was, you know, a video series I was posting for LinkedIn, for example.
Um, so just know that even the people at LinkedIn get nervous. So it is a normal feeling, I think, just to, just to keep that in mind. It’s, you know, you’re not alone. Um, the second thing I would say is. I think consistency is a really important first step because it is scary and you are likely not going to get a ton of engagement to start.
People are not used to seeing you out there. They’re not sure who you are, like what your voice is, what you stand for. And I find that a lot of people drop off. Uh, they can stay consistent with it for a little bit, but it is, it’s hard, right? It’s, it’s, it’s. It’s you creating content and having to come up with ideas.
So really staying consistent with it. And when I say consistent, I don’t mean. Publish four times a week. Like that’s, that’s going to [00:13:00] make you burn out so fast. I always like to say, um, set the bar really low. So even publishing once a month, like, right. Like, you know, start with that and you’re probably going to realize, okay, once a month, no big deal.
Let me try twice a month. And you stay consistent with that and you just build up over time. So I think that is going to be really key to helping you. Be more comfortable because you do need sort of, it’s like any sport or new skill. You need the reps to get comfortable and to, uh, really find your way.
And so that’s going to be a key piece over time that will get you engagement. If you can stay consistent with it. The second thing I would say is quality over quantity. There’s a lot of algorithm reports and people sharing LinkedIn hacks. And there might be, you know, some, um, value and like, you know, they’re, they’re taking a bunch of data.
Maybe there’s an insight here and there that actually is like, okay, maybe the algorithm does seem to like this. But I always say don’t write for the algorithm, uh, write your personal stories, [00:14:00] With authenticity, share who you are, provide helpful information because the algorithm inherently Again, if you’re following me on LinkedIn Algorithm is literally like the definition of it is to learn and to change and to adapt And so it’s there’s no point in chasing it.
It’s just it’s It’s something you can’t win, and, and you don’t want to win it, like it’s not about being viral, it’s about finding the audience that you can build relationships with, um, finding people who can maybe, you know, depending on what your goals are, if you’re a business owner who might become a client one day, right?
Just the vanity metrics are not really something that I think anyone should be chasing. And then, the third thing I would say is that you don’t have to post content right away to be creating content. So, as I said, Mary, like, something you do really well is you comment a lot, and you provide helpful content and information in your comments.
And I always say that, um, comments are a really nice, um, Sort of lower stakes, [00:15:00] lower pressure way to get active on LinkedIn, to get involved on LinkedIn, because it’s not a unique post coming out from your, your profile, but getting your name out there, you’re connecting with people. Uh, people will come to recognize your name.
You’ll grow your follower count that way. And so that’s another really, um, really great way to just get started. If you’re feeling a little bit nervous and I’m not sure if you started off with comments and then posted or like what the order was for things. I’d love to hear. Yeah,
[00:15:27] Mary: I mean, I think I started out with commenting on other people’s posts, right?
And then, you know, for me, I wanted to figure out what is my voice because, you know, I write resumes, but I’m so passionate about the job search process as a whole. So I didn’t want to feel like I was, you Pigeonholing myself into one specific topic. And so for me, it’s never been about chasing the algorithm because I completely agree that, of course, consistency is, is key, [00:16:00] but also it’s that quality over the quantity.
You know, and I see so many people on LinkedIn who, they just post maybe a two or three sentence word. Response and it just provides no value at all. So I don’t know
[00:16:14] Lorraine: anything new about you through that. Yeah,
[00:16:15] Mary: exactly. Right. So, I mean, I, the only way that you’re here speaking with us today is probably I would imagine is because, you know, I, I took some time to think about what you were posting to relate to you, to, you know, to comment on some of your posts in a really meaningful way.
And that’s really important to me. It’s, you know, it’s about choosing some of the maybe top. content creators on LinkedIn following their posts and then Creating those really insightful and engaging comments, you know before you even start creating your own content And that was something that was really important.
And then after I did that I did figure out well, you know I need to be creating my own content as well. That’s also really important to really [00:17:00] You know, start to become a little more personable to create content that could, you know, maybe attract a wider audience and relate to people on a different level.
And so, you know, the only way forward in my mind was to start posting content, even if it was outside of my comfort zone.
[00:17:18] Lorraine: Yeah.
[00:17:18] Mary: And so when I first started, I, I started pushing out as much. content as I possibly could, you know, and it was like a waste of time, honestly, in the beginning, you know, I, I realized that LinkedIn is, it’s different than like, uh, you know, uh, Instagram or, you know, TikTok where maybe four posts, four original posts is going to be favorable.
So, and I know you kind of already touched on this, but maybe you can go just a little bit deeper.
[00:17:48] Lorraine: How
[00:17:49] Mary: often should. We be posting on LinkedIn. I mean, and, and even, you know, even further, what are maybe some time saving tips for generating that consistent content?
[00:17:59] Lorraine: Yeah. So, [00:18:00] uh, LinkedIn actually recommends four times a week if you are a newer creator.
And I think they recommend that again for the consistency piece, but also to get people used to the fact that you are posting and that they can expect to hear things from you. Right. If you post one post and someone sees it. But they feel like it’s a one off. They’re probably not going to follow you.
Right. But if you’re trying, if you’re doing it regularly and they realize, Oh, Mary’s posting three times a week and I like her stuff. Okay. I’m going to follow or connect with her. So I think that’s, that’s sort of the thing. Where that recommendation comes from. I think that can still be a lot for someone who also has a full time job and they’re not necessarily trying to become, you know, a content creator or influencer.
Uh, it’s a great goal to strive for. Uh, again, I would say consistency is the first part. So whatever you decide, stick with that. But I think, you know, if you want to say top of mind with your audience, like Two to three times a week, I would say, is a nice goal to shoot for. Um, and what was the other part of your question?[00:19:00]
And maybe some
[00:19:00] Mary: time saving tips. Oh yes, time saving tips, yes.
[00:19:03] Lorraine: Um, so one thing that I did, When I had a full time job is I would sit down every Sunday and say, okay, let me come up with four to five posts ideas for the week. And I do not recommend that because it’s the weekend. And you think you have all this time.
It’s the weekend. I sit down, I’m tired. It’s Sunday from whatever I did. Over the weekend and then you have to just quickly come up with a few ideas Otherwise, you don’t want to be sitting there for hours. So you’re just coming up and just writing whatever comes to mind It’s not always going to be the highest quality.
So something I shifted and changed once I started my own business is that I Would sit down for you know, a few hours once a month and then plan out the content For the whole month. And so I have a content calendar, I have everything planned out, I have a Google Doc where I have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I have themes for the day, for example, uh, Wednesday might be like Wednesday work tips, uh, Mondays [00:20:00] I was at some point, you know, publishing a lot of my LinkedIn learning courses, promoting those, Friday, free resource Friday, So it helps keep you on track.
It gives you some structure and then planning ahead of time and just get, we’re just really getting in that mindset and focusing on it at one time versus breaking it up over different parts throughout your week. When things get really busy, I think is probably one of the biggest time saving hacks. That I have had and then using a scheduling tool to plan it ahead of time.
So I use a tool called Taplio. Sometimes I use the LinkedIn scheduler. So those are, you know, helpful, helpful, uh, tools that you can use to sort of expedite or just organize your, uh, publishing schedule a little bit better.
[00:20:38] Mary: I tried to schedule some posts in advance. And so I, I was like two months out, I’d scheduled, you know, I was like, yes, I scheduled two months out.
And then I was like, I realized that the, the algorithm doesn’t like websites. Right. And so I’d, I’d posted my website because I had seen a bunch of people doing that on LinkedIn. So I was like, Oh, that’s a good [00:21:00] idea. You know, this is where you can reach me. And so then I was like, don’t do what I did, you know, or you have to then go back and, and reschedule all of those posts on LinkedIn.
So yeah. It’s, but I mean, I think that you’re absolutely right if you can find some time saving tips and once you kind of get in the groove and figure out, you know, what you should post about some different topics, schedule those in advance and that can definitely save a lot of time. And the other thing that I’ve done is just created a Google doc where I just kind of brain dump.
So if I’m listening to a podcast or, you know, if I hear something and I’m like, Oh, I love that, I’m going to write it down and maybe this will be a post, you know, for, for the future.
[00:21:39] Lorraine: Oh my gosh, yeah, once you start writing, ideas just come, like, you’re just, everything before you’re like, oh, that’s an idea, that’s an idea, so.
Yeah,
[00:21:46] Mary: yeah. So you have a
[00:21:47] Lorraine: central spot for that, yeah.
[00:21:49] Mary: For sure.
[00:21:50] Lorraine: Yeah. Yeah. And I would say too, like, I Sometimes I’ve planned out a little bit more than advance than a month in advance as well. I will say I think a month is a good sort of [00:22:00] timeframe just because to your point, like things will come up. Maybe you have a speaking event or a great idea came up or, you know, You see something trending and you want to get on that quickly.
So I think, uh, it’s good to also sort of stay agile and, and, and incorporate things as they come up. So about a month, that’s a good amount of time. Otherwise, you know, you’re going to have to start moving things and shifting things and it becomes a little bit unwieldy. Yeah.
[00:22:24] Mary: Yeah. If I, I scheduled every single day out and then I was like, Oh, I really want to talk about this, but now I already have a post.
So this is kind of a buzzword I think on LinkedIn right now, but I want to dive into it just a little bit, because I think that it’s. Actually, probably game changing when you use it in the right way. So the idea, and you already kind of alluded to it, but the idea is, you know, being authentic, right? So building those bridges instead of building walls, essentially.
How can we use LinkedIn to build authentic relationships and really expand our professional [00:23:00] network in a genuine way?
[00:23:02] Lorraine: I think the first step, and this is a hard part, is sharing your story. And when I. started posting on LinkedIn, or I guess after I left LinkedIn and I had to figure out what is my voice, I would post a lot of very, um, tactical, sort of utilitarian posts.
So I divide content into three main buckets of personal, educational, professional. So personal, you’re obviously sharing some sort of experience, educational, educational, how to do something or teaching someone a skill. And then professional is going to be more industry trends, things that are Things that are happening in the news, like future of work, things that you might comment on.
And so I leaned very much on the educational, which is not a bad thing. And I have a lot of things that I want to teach others. But when I started adding in more of that personal, that is really when I, again, found my voice a little bit more outside of, you know, being a LinkedIn employee found my voice.
And also, uh, just connected with more people, more people reaching out, resonating [00:24:00] with my content, engaging with my content. Uh, especially when I talk about things like my layoff or me being an introvert, like people really love that because that’s a personal story and it’s me sharing a challenge or me sharing an experience that they have gone through as well.
And so I think being open to sharing that I think is key. I know a lot of people sometimes get nervous thinking, Oh, I. You know, what do I have to share that’s different from someone else? Or I’m early in my career. I don’t have anything to teach someone, but. Something I say is that there’s always going to be someone who’s talking about what you are talking about on LinkedIn.
I mean, it’s just the way of the world, right? There’s always going to be quote unquote competition out there, but we all have something that’s unique to us, right? Like I can be an introvert. Someone else can be an introvert. We’re just going to have different stories and experiences and ways of talking about it and ways of approaching it.
And just to remember that and know that you do have a unique story and you do [00:25:00] have A unique way of sharing things. And hopefully that can give someone some confidence when it comes time to be more authentic and to, to get your voice out there. And I think once you start doing it and you’ve seen, uh, you start seeing people resonate with it, that also gives you more confidence to continue doing at least that’s what happened with me.
So I think that can be really helpful in sort of finding your voice, getting comfortable, sharing your voice.
[00:25:24] Mary: Yeah. I’ve, I’ve kind of gotten stuck in the, or at least originally when I started posting, I got stuck in. Posting the educational piece because I thought, you know, Hey, this is a comfortable way to start.
Yeah, it is. Yeah. It’s so much more comfortable. You don’t have to really dive in and disclose anything too personal, you know, but I, a conversation that I had recently, I learned that just because you’re going a little bit deeper. in conversation doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to reveal your deepest darkest secrets.
You know, you can relate to people. It’s a
[00:25:59] Lorraine: [00:26:00] professional platform. Yeah,
[00:26:01] Mary: exactly. It’s still a professional platform, you know, but there are ways, like you said, that you can share some of that personal piece and really start to relate to people. on a completely different level. And I can imagine if I couldn’t get brave enough to do that and anybody else, you know, your, your content would start to, you know, take off a little bit more because people can actually relate to that because it’s real.
It’s real life.
[00:26:28] Lorraine: Yeah. People connect with people, right? So when you can show who you are, uh, yeah, it, it’ll just have, you’ll see many benefits and just more connections, more quality connections, more opportunities, a lot, a lot of good stuff.
[00:26:41] Mary: Yeah, yeah, and you mentioned this already as well, but it’s, you know, it’s another issue that’s frustrating for a lot of people is that lack of engagement right away.
And, and I saw that too, you know, when I first started posting and I really messed it up [00:27:00] because I was just using chat GPT, right. When I started posting and not putting any, I was like, I’m just going to put as much educational content out. As I possibly can. And then it was like, just feels like you’re spinning your wheels because people don’t relate to that.
Right. You need to humanize it. You can use chat GPT to, to think about ideas and whatnot. But, you know, for me, I was like, I, I am a better writer when I’m really think, sit down and think about communicating, okay, what’s going on inside of my head and more people are probably going to relate to that. So, you know, personally, I have spent hours creating, you know, original content and really getting no engagement at first.
And like you said, a lot of people can probably relate to that. What are some strategies to encourage that engagement with your content?
[00:27:48] Lorraine: The main thing I would say is to always have some sort of CTA or action at the end, or just, you know, some, somewhere throughout your post. Maybe it’s usually at the end for me.
Because [00:28:00] a lot of people still don’t know sort of the rules to engage on LinkedIn. So I’ve had people who say, have said to me before, Oh, I have seen other people post and I have something to say, but I don’t know them and I don’t want to be weird, just popping into their comments and they haven’t actually invited me in.
So I think that is a really important thing. Just having some sort of question. Do you agree? What would you add to this list? Do you disagree? What has your experience been like? Anything that shows that, okay, I’m open to hearing from people who I haven’t actually met before, I think that’s really important.
And then I think another important thing that people So keep in mind is when, when you do get that comment or that engagement is to respond and reply and interact, don’t just leave a comment sitting there, uh, create some conversations and back and forth. So I think as a general rule of thumb, I know we were talking about algorithm hacks and things like that.
As a general rule of thumb, LinkedIn is great. A platform, as I said [00:29:00] before, they want the conversations, they want the community. So comments are a good indicator that, and back and forth comments specifically, are a good indicator that, okay, this post is resonating, there’s conversation happening, people are connecting.
I think, you know. It’s an algorithm purpose. That’s great. But also for your relationship goals, that is going to be key to showing people that they’re not just commenting and it’s a black hole, black abyss. And they’re like, did this person see it? Like, as you start responding, people are going to be more inclined to jump in again and to continue jumping in.
And then you develop a relationship and rapport that way. And maybe that eventually leads to a call, right? Like Mary, you commented on, on my. post a lot and then now we’re on a podcast together and I’m sure we’ll be keeping in touch and there might and then our networks will just, you know, things get More interwoven, and then you comment on my things, and then your network sees it, and then I comment on your things, et cetera, so it sort of grows that way, but it’s really about, uh, yeah, engaging, uh, and then also inviting [00:30:00] in that engagement.
[00:30:01] Mary: Yeah, I love the idea of a call to action, because I think that a lot of people do forget about that, you know, and I’ll see, I can see that they’re, you know, That some of my posts do get a lot of impressions and I’m like, why aren’t you people liking it or commenting on it? You know, and maybe, you know, having a better call to action would be something that you could implement to really boost that engagement.
So we’ve talked a little bit already about the personalizing, the stories that we post on LinkedIn. Could you give an example of, you know, how you highlight your own personal brand or maybe even a specific post that just performed really well and why you think that is?
[00:30:43] Lorraine: I think my posts, my, my most recent posts around introversion have done really well, and I feel like they have done well because it’s usually a combination of me touching on [00:31:00] maybe a challenge or misconception that introverts face, so I think emotionally there’s like that connection there.
And then I always try to. show maybe how that thing isn’t true or just have like a positive spin or just showing my experience at like how I’ve been able to sort of leverage it. So it’s like, it’s like misconception. And then, Oh, how this is actually like a strength. And so I feel like that probably touches on something that many introverts feel emotionally.
Um, and so again, I think that that’s why it resonates. And. Yeah, so I would say it’s just, yeah, touch, really touching it on like a, a human emotion and then also having a positive perspective and, and like an uplifting one, I think people appreciate as well. So, and of course not everything has to be positive.
Like I’ve talked about my layoff before and haven’t necessarily had a, you know, [00:32:00] positive sort of spin on it and just like kind of keeping it real. But, uh, I think for the introversion posts, um, that, that is an example of ones that are really resonated and the reason why I think they, they might have.
Yeah.
[00:32:13] Mary: Yeah, I think that any, any type of personal post or something, anything that really creates some sort of an emotion can get, you know, that engaged response, whether it’s a positive emotion or a negative emotion, people connect to that on another level.
[00:32:27] Lorraine: Yeah. Yeah. And I see posts about like return to work or rather remote work or both remote work or return to work and return to office rather.
And I mean, those are people get fired up, right? Because people have strong opinions on topics like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it doesn’t have to be something about your personality necessarily, but it can be just anything that people have an opinion on. It’s good to try to take a stance. Where you can on LinkedIn, uh, if you’re trying to get again, more engagement, more people are contributing, agreeing or disagreeing.[00:33:00]
[00:33:01] Mary: Yeah. And so, you know, like I mentioned, Earlier, I guess, you know, at the beginning of our conversation, how LinkedIn has kind of evolved over time. And originally it seemed to me to be a platform for job seekers, but, you know, like we said, it’s really changed a lot over the years and I work with a lot of executive level clients and recently they’ve come to me to optimize their profile and many of them having.
Employers that are encouraging them to jump on and post, right. And they’re really hesitant to do it. Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s amazing. And I think that a lot of people don’t really understand the power of LinkedIn, especially if you don’t spend a lot of time on there and, you know, so their employers want them to talk about, you know, their, their companies, right.
Highlights, new products, feature releases, news, everything like that. And they just. Don’t know where to start. How can a seasoned professional like that use LinkedIn to really stay relevant in their field, share their expertise and establish themselves as a thought leader?
[00:33:58] Lorraine: So the first thing I would say is [00:34:00] I love that the companies are supporting, supporting their employees because I feel like that’s just a big game changer.
I always say that most forward thinking companies are the ones that realize that LinkedIn is very valuable. And just because your employee is posting on LinkedIn doesn’t mean they’re looking for another job. So nothing to be nervous about. Um, so I think that’s, that’s really great. I would say when posting on LinkedIn and you mentioned the company wants them to start promoting, um, launches and things like that, probably want to keep those sort of promotional posts to like 25 percent of your content.
Because if people know that all you do is talk about the company or talk about the new product launches, uh, it gets kind of tiring after a while, right? No one likes to be kind of promoted to all the time. Uh, I talked earlier about when you’re coming up with your content calendar, figuring out what you’re talking about each day.
Uh, and I think that Advice rings true in terms of thought leadership and sort of your areas of expertise. So if you are an executive leader, as you said, what are the topics that you’re [00:35:00] really passionate about speaking on? What do people turn to you for? And ideally what kind of aligns with the company.
So if you are a chief people officer, for example, you know, one, one day we’ll probably maybe want to be something around company culture. Another day might be around, uh, talking about. Maybe you’re like, you love giving, uh, well talking about feedback and like performance reviews, that could be another area of expertise.
Another could be even just like leading teams. Like you have a big team. How can we create collaborative teams? So it’s about the combination of your passion, your expertise. And then of course it has to sort of make sense, uh, with the company to, uh, well, it doesn’t have to, but I think probably as an executive, there’s going to be some alignment there wanting to make sure, uh, yeah, it makes sense there, but that’s how I would start thinking about it.
[00:35:49] Mary: Yeah, wonderful. So what are the top three things that our listeners should do this week to supercharge their professional presence on LinkedIn?
[00:35:59] Lorraine: Yes, so, [00:36:00] um, I would say Optimize your profile. So go through it all make sure it’s representing you in the best way And I think you wouldn’t we didn’t touch on this yet, but You know, when I talk about presence, I mean it in both senses of the word.
So, presence, I think when people usually talk about it, it’s more traditional. Things like executive presence, how others see you. Presence in terms of where others see you is also really important. Uh, so where, where are you being seen, right? What is your presence when we are not Face to face with someone.
And so LinkedIn is, of course, a big piece of that. It’s the virtual office. It’s going to be where a lot of people look first to decide, is this person legit? Like, who are they? What’s, what are they about? Um, so just being aware that presence is holistically all of these things. Um, so I think, uh, working on your headline or sorry, excuse me, working on your whole profile first is going to be key.
I would, Probably start commenting next once you have the profile down and then I would start [00:37:00] thinking about what your, what your areas of expertise are, right? And I think thinking through, uh, you can think about some of what we talked about before, the current and future, like the adjectives that describe you that can also help inform maybe the content that you’re going to be writing about.
But I think, uh, and again, you don’t have to jump in this week and start posting, but just starting to think about it and just like noodle on it and start. Maybe observing people on the platform, uh, and seeing how they do it. I think that’s a great first step.
[00:37:28] Mary: What are you working on right now and
[00:37:29] Lorraine: where can we find you
[00:37:30] Mary: online?
[00:37:31] Lorraine: Yeah, so definitely, uh, you can find me on linkedin. I hope that all your listeners will add me there and follow me Um, so it’s at lorrainecailey And my website also lorrainecailey. com. I have some free resources on there as well, including actually Background photo templates. So for the non designers in the group, such as myself, kind of fill in the missing information and yeah, and update your LinkedIn that way.
Um, and then I, you know, I continue to speak and train, uh, on topics like [00:38:00] LinkedIn and as well as other career leadership management topics. So if anyone’s interested in bringing me in as a speaker. speaker, trainer, um, don’t hesitate to reach out. And then I also do, um, some consulting. And then, uh, as you said, I teach LinkedIn learning.
I also have a Stanford continuing studies course coming out this fall around the art of public speaking. So, uh, if anyone’s interested in learning more there, uh, you can, you can learn with me and I’ll be teaching a class there.
[00:38:25] Mary: Wonderful. Everybody follow Lorraine on LinkedIn. She’s a must follow. Well, thank you so much for coming on today.
It’s been a pleasure.
[00:38:31] Lorraine: Thanks
[00:38:34] Mary: for listening! I will be releasing episodes every Monday, so be sure to subscribe on the platform that you are watching this, give it a five star review, and we’ll see you next time!