Scale Up Strategies: The Business Podcast for Coaches, Consultants, and Speakers
We're your hosts and Business Coaching experts Mary Fain Brandt and Laura Bashore
We’re sharing all our mistakes and insider tips from our 20+ years in business and
how we successfully scaled up our businesses without losing our minds or our husbands.
Sure you can piece it together and try to DIY your way to success
OR
you can listen to us every week and learn the shortcuts because we promise there
are some.
Scale Up Strategies: The Business Podcast for Coaches, Consultants, and Speakers
Harness LinkedIn for Business Growth: Unlocking New Features and Strategies for Scale
Unlock the secrets to harnessing LinkedIn's full potential for business growth as your hosts, Mary Fain Brandt and Laura Bashore, guide you through the platform's newest features and strategic approaches to scale your reach. Can vertical video feeds really revolutionize your engagement? We reveal how a friend skyrocketed to 200,000 views by making the most of these tools and share expert tips on crafting content that captures attention, even in silent mode. Discover how to easily manage the nuisance of unsolicited pitches and keep your LinkedIn inbox a space for meaningful communication.
Engage with power and precision by learning the art of thoughtful commenting and personalized interactions on LinkedIn. We'll show you how strategic comments can generate organic leads and why newsletters are your secret weapon for reaching key professional roles like CEOs and hiring managers. Forget AI-generated fluff—authenticity is your ticket to genuine connections. Whether you're steering your LinkedIn strategy solo or considering outsourcing, we offer insights to boost your networking and communication. Elevate your LinkedIn game and watch your professional connections flourish.
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In this episode. The question is is LinkedIn still a thing? Should you still be using it for your business? Laura and I are going to answer that question, so tune in and listen up. You're listening to Scale Up Strategies, the business growth podcast for coaches, consultants and speakers. We're your hosts and business coach experts Mary Fane Grant and Laura Bay Shore.
Speaker 2:We're sharing all our insider tips from 20 plus years in business, including how we successfully scaled our businesses without losing our minds or our husbands.
Speaker 1:Sure, you can piece it together and try to DIY your way to success. Or you can listen to us every week and learn the shortcuts, because we promise they're really awesome, so grab your favorite cup of coffee, tune in and let's start the show, Laura is it wrong that I'm already thinking about Christmas and what I'm baking?
Speaker 1:I am so in the holiday mode right now. I've got my baking list. I've actually already bought 80% of the stuff I need for baking and my house is half now. I've got my baking list. I've actually already bought 80% of the stuff I need for baking and my house is half decorated. I just want to dive all in to Christmas.
Speaker 2:Well, I have to say I'm not shocked. That is a common theme, an annual common theme with you, Mary. So it's more like hey, can you just send me your Christmas list again, Because the other year when you did that with your menu it was quite helpful when I was hosting. So I'm all. If you've got that down already, I'm up for taking it. I don't have the Christmas stuff up yet, but I'm sure it will be soon, because my kids keep pressing for it to come earlier and earlier. But I'm still a Thanksgiving person, so I don't do it until December 1st.
Speaker 2:I love me some of that, but Christmas is a great time to reflect, be with family and think about what you have going on in the future. And I think that kind of leads into what we're talking about today, because I know we hear a lot about. Linkedin is something of the past, it's so last year or what are we doing with it now? And I think we need to kind of share with our audience. You know what's working and what isn't working with LinkedIn.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I'm all people are still coming. Is LinkedIn still a thing? Does it really work? Still coming? Is LinkedIn still a thing? Does it really work? And I think the quick, short answer is yes, it works. You have to put in the time. Just creating a profile is like step one of the, you know, five-step plan on using LinkedIn. But LinkedIn is definitely still a thing in 2024 and going into 2025. But some things have changed, and good things. Um, one of the things is they have a vertical video or a video feed now. So video they've tried that before and it didn't really work well on LinkedIn, but I think that I think they've. I think they've got it down. Um, I was scrolling my. Once you click on one video, you can scroll, just like you do on Instagram, and I was scrolling through to see what type of videos were that people were posting and there's all different types, you know from educational training, but the vertical video feed is amazing. My friend, doreen, got early access. She got 200,000 views on her vertical videos.
Speaker 2:Wow. So if you're not taking advantage of that, you're missing out.
Speaker 1:Jump in? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Especially if you're already respected on LinkedIn and already have some type of a presence like why would you not want to utilize this? And I'm saying that to myself, so keep an eye out.
Speaker 1:So vertical videos and we use CapCut and I say we cause she uses it too. You use CapCut to make those. So it was really easy, because one of the things with the vertical videos and you guys know that I think it's like 80% of people watch videos on LinkedIn with a sound off, so you need to have the captions and you need that displayed over the entire video. So do vertical videos, use CapCut. Do a series like Laura five networking tips, and you would do one a day and drop those on LinkedIn. That'd be so easy you could. Yeah, well, stick with me. I've got all kinds of creative ideas in this head, but I just want to say that LinkedIn is still working at. But let's start with the elephant in the room, laura. The pitch slaps in the DMS. Oh my gosh, I know, I know why people still do this. I'm just like stop.
Speaker 2:Well, and the thing is, is that so people who are newer to LinkedIn are just getting into it? They get onto the platform, they have that happen and then they're like they're so turned off by it, you know. And then they figure I don't want to use LinkedIn, it's not for my business, like I, you know. But it's just like with anything else. You got to drown out the noise. I don't even respond to these things anymore, I just delete them and move on.
Speaker 1:I move them into the other. So in your DMS and your inbox you have focus those are people that you want to have a conversation with, and then you have the other, and so you can train LinkedIn, right, oh, this type of messages just automatically goes to other. Exactly, I don't even want to see them. So you know, people have bad training. This is how they do sales. They're just going to DM you know a hundred people a week and see what fish bites, and so you can't. Here's the thing. You can't control that. You can't control how you react and what you do about it. So just ignore them, like you said, delete them, move them to other.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you're right. You know, before I go to ignoring them, they do move into an others folder. I completely forgot that step too. So you can train it, and you can train your LinkedIn to behave in the way you want it to. So that's a good point.
Speaker 1:You know the. The other question and this has been the age old debate how many times should I post on LinkedIn?
Speaker 2:on your personal profile.
Speaker 1:They say, like once a day, on a company page you can post multiple times a day and it doesn't affect the algorithm. So but the thing with the once a day, some people say yes, yes, that's okay. And then some people say no, because it doesn't give a chance for your other posts. Like, if you post and I post four times a week, like easily, sometimes five, because I have a lot to say and a lot to share, and there are other people that post every day and I don't think that's wrong. I think you have to find a cadence that works for you. So if twice a week is all you can do, be consistent with that. Don't compare yourself with other people like myself and other LinkedIn trainers that are posting like five times a week well, and you know there's a good balance to it, right?
Speaker 2:so I think when we're talking about what we're posting or how many times we're posting, if you're adding value, then it's okay that it happens in one day that you're making two posts right, it's something you really have to think about that. But if you're just sales hosting absolutely not People are not going to engage with you and you're going to start showing up in less feeds. So that's where you need to figure that piece out. What value are you adding? And be clear about it. My children children right now are learning how to write a hook. Okay, one's in second grade and he's just a little bit more advanced in his writing and my fourth grader they're both working on learning how to write a hook.
Speaker 1:So now I'm just working on it with them.
Speaker 2:I'm like this is a great refresher. I need help on my hooks. Let's all sit down and do this together. You know so be engaging at the beginning. Don't let people have to search through to find out what your point is. Hit them and then go. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Regarding posting more than once a day on your personal profile, you can do that, but they do say like you don't want to post something at eight, and then you have another thought or idea and at nine o'clock you're posting.
Speaker 1:So if you do one in the morning and then one in the afternoon, and I think you know if you have something valuable to say, by all means like post five times a week. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But when you you know people are just getting started, they see other people posting like on Instagram. You post every day, multiple times a day. Linkedin is not Instagram. You don't have to do that. You have to add value.
Speaker 1:And, speaking of what's working, commenting on LinkedIn is still it's an engagement game and it is working. That's where people see your name, they see your headline and I think being valuable and contributing by commenting on other people's posts is probably one of the best things that you can do Absolutely One of the best things. They say that you should comment three times more than you post. So for me, I need to get in there and comment a lot more because I post so much. Uh, and that's just an algorithm thing and we can't you know we can't fix the algorithm, we can't change the algorithm. So these people that complain about algorithms on all the social media posts, we're not in control of that.
Speaker 1:So instead of putting your energy into arguing and complaining, learn how to work with the algorithm right.
Speaker 2:And more so. Just learn how to work with the platform itself, so who is going to be the audience, and then tailor what you're talking about to speak directly to them. You're going to get more engagement in that way. Like you mentioned about the comments, I always share with people who are just getting started or who are just starting to utilize it for organic leads and authority as an expert in their field Commenting. Commenting is the best way because I've had people reach out to me and become clients of mine just based off of a comment. I've had people also become business partners just based off of a comment. So I always say put a timer on, especially now that vertical videos are a thing, so you don't fall down the rabbit hole, right. So I put on a timer for 30 minutes. Now that's not when I am creating content for it, but when I am going in and doing comments. Timer is 30 minutes. What am I finding? How can I add value to it? And that keeps it so that it's not overwhelming, and I do that four times a week.
Speaker 1:That is perfect. I love that. And to add on to the commenting strategy instead of just commenting on things in your feed and people you know, are you strategically looking for your clients on LinkedIn, your partners, the people that can become referral partners? What are their titles? What are the industries? Search for those on LinkedIn and go find their content and start commenting on it and then send them a connection request if it's appropriate, if it's the right fit Very good.
Speaker 2:Show them some engagement so they see the value. Because, you know, for a long time we were saying I don't accept requests if there's no message. But now that LinkedIn has changed and not everybody has the capability to send a message, I'm going to retract a little bit of that, and I love what you're putting out here right here. This is how people can get around that loop. If I've seen that you've done some thoughtful engagement with me, I'm going to give that more of a look, right, so that's such a smart tip. I love that.
Speaker 1:Well, and as we're talking about comments and we're both certified AI consultants and I love me some AI the AI generated comments in my opinion they're so bad.
Speaker 2:Now having said that.
Speaker 1:But if you're not used to commenting on LinkedIn and you need a little help, a little nudge it can give you an idea of what you might say, but you need to. You know it just picks the wrong things. In my opinion, it's not good and it might change in a year and maybe it's a tool. I always say it's a tool to get you started on how to comment or into the habit of commenting. If you're like I don't even know how to reply, maybe use a comment generator to get started, but you need to personalize it and I've done that. I'll be like I have no idea what to say and I'll use my comment generator. I'm like, okay, I like this point. Okay, yes, I can touch on that, but at the end of the day, you can tell when a comment is written by AI. I have someone in my, I have a couple of people in my network and, bless their heart, they comment a lot on my stuff, but it's AI.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the thing is too, is think about who you're trying to connect with.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, if you're trying to get in the door somewhere, you better put some thought and effort into that, and if you're trying to connect with somebody who's in the AI space and you're going to use a generic AI generator where, like, you have not prompted it to sound, like you have your personality back you up Again, you're just wasting your time because we're going to look at it and be like, okay, that's because you're not adding value. The value is actually the connection on LinkedIn. So I agree with you, mary, at least where AI is that right now? Where that AI generator is that right now? It's not worth your time. You're going to think you did something, but you didn't. All you did was spam people. It's the same type of thing. You're just spamming them because LinkedIn is about connecting. So it's different. It's not about mass like Instagram and there's nothing against Instagram, but it is a different way of communicating and you have to understand the platforms that you're working with.
Speaker 1:Now, I still believe that LinkedIn is a great platform to build your business network on. That's what I use it for. I still think there's so much value because you can unlike Instagram, facebook you can really target the CEOs, the CFOs the CMOs.
Speaker 1:You can really target the C-suite, the business developers, the salespeople, maybe that you wanna get in front of, or the hiring managers, the training managers. You can really dive deep, dive deep on your strategy on LinkedIn and who you're trying to connect with. So I still feel, but you've got to learn how to do that appropriately and sometimes you do need to outsource and have someone do that as a busy business owner yourself. But you can pre approve the list Like here's who I'm targeting and I just want to comment and then send them a connection request. You know, what else is working really well is newsletters, so I just did.
Speaker 1:I just did that talk to the Marriott and I said for all the groups that I trained, I'm like newsletters. You can showcase your staff, you can showcase an event, you can showcase your hotel. It's a different way to get in front of your audience. And newsletters are great because when someone subscribes to your newsletter on LinkedIn, it goes to their email.
Speaker 1:So they're not searching Our posts get lost on LinkedIn, right Even their email, so they're not searching Our posts. Get lost on LinkedIn, right Even posts for like people I'm following, like sometimes I'll see your post. I'm like, oh darn, and that was like two days ago, right, I know, yeah, but a newsletter shows up in your inbox and that's where you can really educate your audience, inspire them. You know, mine's basically AI, ai news, ai tools, our podcast. I share our podcast in it, so I think I have my toolkit and someone signed up for video via my newsletter, which was pretty cool. They're not overwhelming and you can create a template using AI so that you can make it even, you know, more streamlined. Do you have your newsletter up on LinkedIn?
Speaker 2:yeah, I have two, so I have one for each of my businesses and I love that they go directly into the feeds and I do see engagement back from it. Um, and, like you said, it's a way where you can communicate kind of like in a more conversational way in a long form and show them multiple things that you're doing or multiple things that you want to communicate, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, and what you said, you have two because you have two different businesses and that's the key People don't understand. You can have multiple newsletters to speak to your different businesses, your different industries, your different audience. So I think that is a missed opportunity. On LinkedIn, I love that. I love that you have two. You know what else I've seen is I've seen some really great featured sections and I've seen is I've seen some really great featured sections and I've seen people that just don't have them at all, and I think that's a big missed opportunity because you can spotlight you know where you're speaking testimonials, launches, piece of content that you want a little more engagement because it lives above the fold. Because it lives above the fold. So I and I have to be honest, like I, I think I updated mine maybe a month ago and I put some case studies there, right, so I don't I think people use that featured section and then they forget about it and they don't go back and update it.
Speaker 2:They're like it's been set for a year. I'm featuring all of this and and as I say that I do have some stuff that's been up there for a while but you also can rearrange the order, so you should do that so something that I have up there it's really just to show like a partnership or something that is something that will catch eye and that should stay up there, or like an article on me, or how you and I got the top 15 LinkedIn experts in both of our cities.
Speaker 2:So I got San Diego and you got yeah, or you got Phoenix and we were like, oh yay, like we'll leave it up there, why not? That's awesome, you know so there's a place for it.
Speaker 1:There's a place for it. But, yeah, I think that people don't utilize the featured section enough and they don't update it. And speaking of updating, I feel like people need to go back and look at their profile. It might be time to update it. It's not a set it and forget it. You are involving as a person, as a business owner. You're getting new trainings, new certifications, you're speaking, maybe you have new services, a new membership, a new launch, and I feel like people don't go and spend that time on LinkedIn to update their about section, their headline, their banner, and I think you know, at the very least every year, you should update it at least once a year year.
Speaker 2:You should update it at least once a year, I agree, so you'll be happy. I finally updated my profile, like. So. It was like a work in progress, like whatever. I'm just like placeholders, so my about section is updated to where I like. It is working for me again now and it makes sense because, as I was shifting things in my businesses, it was like okay, I couldn't figure out how to fit the things here so that they seemed appropriate, but now they do. But I need to do my banner now it's banner time.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at yours right now. Yeah, your banner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my banner is two years old. The banner's two years old, yeah, so time to update the banner. But what's funny is to most people they'd be like, oh, that's awesome. And that's me. I'm like, oh, gotta work on that now. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I think that LinkedIn still works. You've got to put the time in. You've got to be. When there's new features released, jump on them and try them, because you're a beta tester. And did you know that when LinkedIn releases something new, like vertical videos, and you get to beta test that, that it actually pushes that up in the algorithm Because they want to see how well it's performing, they want to get feedback right, and so when you have that opportunity to test out a new feature, jump on it, run to it and test it out. You will be rewarded.
Speaker 1:So update your profiles, you guys. Update the featured section. Start a newsletter if you haven't. If you have multiple businesses, start one for both of your businesses. Start doing the videos they're short videos like 90 seconds, 30 seconds to 90 seconds and start doing those. Pick a series. Train on something networking or, if you're a business coach maybe you're a life coach talk about you know, the questions that you're always asked or the problems that your clients tend to have. You can actually share that in a series of the vertical videos.
Speaker 2:I think that is an excellent tip and a place for us to leave it. The one last thing that I will add, in kind of tailors onto what you were saying right there, mary, which is you want to get the most out of LinkedIn. Think about how you're serving your audience. So it's not what you were saying right there, mary, which is you want to get the most out of LinkedIn. Think about how you're serving your audience. So it's not what you want to say, right, it is what your audience needs and wants to hear.
Speaker 2:So we hope that this helped you kind of figure out how to dive back into LinkedIn or refresh your LinkedIn strategy. Yes, this is such an important piece of your business. Just make sure that you evolve with the platform as it evolves and as your business evolves. We want to thank our listeners here and encourage you to rate our podcast Subscribe, if you haven't already, but I'm sure you have and, since you're such a fan of ours and subscriber, share this out. Share this out with at least three people that you know, because that will help us to expand who we're able to serve, who we're able to help. And so it all works in a cyclical method.
Speaker 1:Go look at your profiles. Yeah, some new stuff. Freshen those up and if you need help, Laura and I both are profile writers and LinkedIn strategists, so feel free to reach out to either of us.
Speaker 2:So until next time, you guys, here's to good coffee, great conversations and even greater success.
Speaker 1:Ciao, ciao. If you enjoyed the podcast, show us some love. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast, and if you have any feedback, go ahead and share that with us too, because we want to hear from you. Until then, stay focused, stay motivated and stay caffeinated.
