Is LinkedIn a platform you're utilizing for your business? There are so many different ways you can take advantage of the platform. It's perfect for connecting and building relationships, even if you aren't creating original content.

What you'll learn:

→ why being authentic and YOU is critical on LinkedIn.
→ understanding your client to make the right choices.
→ the power of your profile.
→ how LinkedIn hits where you feel most comfortable.

Want to skip ahead? Here are key takeaways:

[6:45] Know who you are and what your values are. This helps you attract the right people. It also helps you know what to put into your profile.
[8:31] Know who your client is. If you don't know who they are then you don't know who to build relationships with. It helps with your connections, the content you create and how you utilize the tools LinkedIn has.
[16:18] Your profile can be more powerful than your website. If people are searching for you on Google, your LinkedIn profile will probably show up before your website. This is why it is critical to have your profile updated and in alginment with who you are trying to attract and who you're looking to connect with.
[27:38] LinkedIn has opportunity for you no matter how you like to engage and interact. You can go live on video or audio, you can create articles or newsletters, you can post in the feed, you can DM. One or all is totally fine and its a great place to just do what you feel most comfortable with.

Full Transcript

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Okay, raise your hands who here is on LinkedIn? And maybe you're on but you're not super active. Or maybe you just don't know how to use the platform? Well, LinkedIn has been one of the things that I have been really excited about, because of all the different ways that I can research people that I can engage with people that I can interact. And it's just a little bit more fun for me. Plus, it's one of the few platforms that still has some pretty decent organic reach. So you know, I'm checking it out. If you haven't been on LinkedIn for a while, or if you have a profile, but you haven't been maximizing it. This is the episode for you.

Jen Corcoran, a multi award winning and accredited LinkedIn trainer and strategist, she helps introverted, empathetic and highly sensitive female entrepreneurs attract their ideal client to reach that next level of revenue. Without paid ads, or spammy, cold outreach. Her approach is unique as she incorporates human design into her LinkedIn consultancy that each client gets the best advice according to their personality, energy and goals. She has such good feedback and ideas for how to get involved in LinkedIn, how to get started, how to make the most of it. And so you're not saying yourself three, six months a year from now going oh, doesn't work for me, because it can work for you. If you work it and do it right. And it's not hard. I think you'll appreciate her advice and the approach that she takes with her LinkedIn strategies.

So we're gonna get into this episode, and she's going to share a bunch of ways for you to get involved and engaged in LinkedIn, and the ways that it makes the most sense for you and your personality, and ways that you can bring your team on board for success all around.

But before we get into it, this episode is brought to you by our digital marketing therapy sessions. After you listen to this episode, if you're thinking about it, and you want some support in creating value driven content, and understanding how you can use this in conjunction with some of the other content and copy that you're creating book, 30 minutes with me, at https://thefirstclick.net/officehours, we'll walk through it together and get you going on your LinkedIn way. You want to talk about anything else, it doesn't matter. We're here for you for those 30 minutes to really support you in your digital marketing journey. So again, https://thefirstclick.net/officehours. Let's get into the episode.

[INTRO] You're listening to the digital marketing therapy podcast. I'm your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern. And each week, I bring you tips from myself and other experts, as well as hot seats with small business owners and entrepreneurs to demystify digital marketing and get you on your way to generating more leads and growing your business.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Hey, everybody, please join me in welcoming Jen Corcoran to the podcast. Jen. Thanks for being here.

[Jen Corcoran] Thanks for having me, Sammy. It's great. It's always great to chat with you.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yeah, I have been really doubling down on LinkedIn lately and trying to learn all the things which is how I got connected to you. Thank goodness, I have learned so much from you already. Today's episode is going to be fantastic. But before we jump into some tangible things people can do to take advantage. Why? Why LinkedIn? Why is it the platform you love so much?

[Jen Corcoran] I just I just think my people are on it. I've always loved it from the minute I joined to incorporate the conversation was just different, a bit more elevated. And for me, I've never thought of LinkedIn as social media, I've always thought of it as a social network. So as an introvert, I've always been drawn to it because I think in corporate I was in a team of very extroverted sales, man. So when I went to LinkedIn, I could get my voice in the room, and I could build my network in my way. So I think as an introvert, I just fell in love with it in the corporate space. And now as a business owner, it's the same, I can go on there and I can network in my pajamas, from the comfort of my home, I don't need to be in Paris, and I can do my time on my watch. And I can connect with amazing people around the world. So I'm not just limited to my immediate geography. So yeah, the fact that it's the largest network in the world, I can do it from anywhere, and just the conversations intelligent and if you follow the right people, then not all you have to know to follow. But yeah, you can meet some amazing people. I've had friends I you know, I've really good friends that I've met on LinkedIn as well in collaborations and partnerships. And like you said, we've met and now I'm on your podcast. So there's so many amazing people and so many ways you can collaborate if you dig into it.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yeah, and we met because I did a post on LinkedIn saying I'm looking looking for somebody who knows LinkedIn, too, you know, be on my podcast and help you know, with some of the other things we're doing and a good colleague of mine recommended you and so it was like, such an easy like, Yep, okay, let's go like we You know, mind you up for the podcasts, we hadn't even really had a conversation before that. But it's kind of like you said that relationship building of when you're working with people that you trust, and they can refer people on LinkedIn, it makes that decision to connect and have conversation so much easier.

[Jen Corcoran] Yeah, I think it's an amazing platform for any kind of referrals, like amazing whether it's been tagged on the home feed, like that was the case for us, or in DMS, the way you do an email introduction, and like Sammy, Meet Mary. It's the exact same and the DM. I think it's great if you can lean in to your network and then tap into theirs. So it's a lot bigger than your immediate, like, I think a lot of people are like, oh, I want to go 200 connections, but I'm like, Well, why don't you lean into them, then you might get exposure to 10,000 people, and it just kind of goes on and on and on. And I've never had to go past my second degree network, because there's always somebody that you know, there's only one person away. So they're only like an introduction away. And this often is just a case of asking, just asking, Can you introduce me to that person then? Yeah, it's amazing.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yeah. And speaking of worldwide connections, you're in Dublin, right?

[Jen Corcoran] No, I'm glad. So that applies, right. But I'm based in Devon in the UK. So southwest of the UK, which is similar to Dublin in vibe. So you're right, you're right.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] And I'm in Minnesota in the US. So just more reason to just embrace the worldwide connectivity of LinkedIn. So let's jump into because I think at some point, we've all had a profile, maybe we've done some things on LinkedIn, we've kind of come and gone. So if we're like, Okay, we're ready. Like, we're going to start to do more with LinkedIn, what are maybe your three places that you want people to start?

[Jen Corcoran] Yeah, and it's not going to be what people expect, that's going to come out of my mouth here. So the first one is to really know yourself, know who you are, because so many people come on to LinkedIn, and they don't. So they don't know their personal values. They don't know what they stand for. They don't know if they've got a business, they don't know their business values, they don't know their mission, they don't know their purpose. And then it's really hard to showcase who they are in their entirety and attract the right people without having that bit of you. Because a lot of people, they don't put any of them in the profile. And I just you can't connect, it's too generic. It's too vanilla, even though I love vanilla ice cream. But you know what I mean, it's like, it's too bland. And it's got to that stage where you know, Simon Sinek says, an old people buy people, it's not just if they buy your why it's not just a case of you having a product or a service, they will buy into the reason that you're doing it. So you have to get comfortable with sharing yourself and sharing your story. And my experiences, you only get comfortable, the more personal development you do. And whether it's coaching or reading books or digging deeper, you know, into your values or to know all the hypnosis, walking meditation, but the more you understand yourself, that is step one, because for me, when I work with people on LinkedIn, a lot of come just for the strategy. But to get LinkedIn working, it's a combination really of mindset, which is the personal development, and then energy No, and how much any energy you've got. And then the strategy and your work the three together. So definitely, the first step is know yourself. And then the second step is, know your client, know your ideal customer and know why you're there and do your research. Because a lot of people come on, and they don't do any research. So they don't have the customer in mind and their profile or their content. And that's why it's bomb. And really, it's just falling flat. So you need to know, like any website, because it is a website, and it is a search engine, you need to know the right keywords for SEO, so that you're going to show up, and you need to speak the language of your ideal client as well. You know, I think a lot of people, they think they know what their ideal audience want, but they position it in a way that just doesn't resonate. So you need to go out and talk to your audience. You need to ideally get the resume or a phone and get their words and then say their words back to them because that's what cuts through. As opposed to you think it out. I think this is what they need, or getting a copywriter and that copywriter doesn't understand your audience either. So it's still a bit bland. So it's really do your research. Not enough people know who they are, or do their research. And then the next the third is optimize your profile based on wanting to Yeah, it's not what you expect.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] But I think it's brilliant because you're really laying the foundation for success because I think a lot of times we on any social platform. We get excited about the vanity metrics like Oh, so many people saw my post or so many people are connected to me but like You can have 10s of 1000s of people connected to you. But if they're not the right person, yeah, it doesn't matter. And you know, on the flip side, you could have 50 people that are connected to you, but they're all the right people, and they're going to convert so much better. So I think that's just such a great way to reframe how, how we show up. And I also love showing up as yourself. Because I think that also makes it easier to create the content, right? Because you don't have to, like try to put yourself in this box.

[Jen Corcoran] Yeah, yeah, honestly, most of my clients have got mindset issues, they're really afraid to 100% put themselves out there, and I'll hold my hands up. And this might sound crazy as a LinkedIn trainer. But I got into my head as well, because I was reflecting. And when I was in corporate, I wouldn't I learned LinkedIn and studied it and just got into it. I was like, super free and 100% on there, because I wasn't the LinkedIn training. And I had to practice on a mission. And my mission at the time was, I was a personal assistant. And I was really sick of their perception of PAs just being T and typing, because I'm a grad. And I know lots of amazing graduates and, you know, pas with Masters who speak five languages who are running companies. So I was kind of mission led, and started champion pas around the world. So I had lots of fun. And it wasn't about me, I took like Gen out of the equation, and it was just about my purpose. And then when I got into business, and then you know, I'm helping people to get out of their head, I got into my head, but I was like, Oh, I'm a LinkedIn trainer now and I have to stay professional. So I would say up until this week, and it might sound surprising because I'm five and a half years in business. I was like 70% myself on my in my content, because I was only really showing the trainer side of me like the educate, inform. I wasn't showing the consultant side of me, which can be a little bit bitchy, a little bit cruel. But it's like tough love. Yeah, I actually for Halloween this week, just went crazy. And just brought the whole 100% of me out and did a kind of a wicked newsletter about truths on LinkedIn calling people out for their LinkedIn horrors. And I went live and I it was like, 100% me. And I have to say it was the most fun I ever had. And I think that's what's missing from LinkedIn, because people aren't being themselves, and then they're not having fun. And I think when you have fun, very easy, and since I've done that live, I've probably had 10 sales calls booked in, and five people at least messaged me saying they want to work with me, because it really resonated and it really cut true.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Because yeah, you found your people because you're gone.

[Jen Corcoran] And I repelled one. I had one lady on my email list come out to me and say that she she didn't like my I'm gonna quote and you're not gonna like this, either. My American style. Voting I was, and I was like, Well, I'm not American. And I was actually I was quite complimented because I thought, well, Americans are better at tooting their horn than Irish people or British people. So I was like, I have arrived. And I was like, please subscribe, I just talk because that's the way content is you're going to attract the right and repel the wrong and I think we're a lot of us are in our heads and we're afraid of repelling people. But at the end of the day, you only like you said, it's better to have 50 quality people, then 5000 of the wrong people. And actually, it was quite freeing. When I got that email from her. I was delighted and I was doing the right thing. The right thing. Yeah, you can't be too sensitive. Like I probably a few years ago, I would have been and I would have been like, Oh my God, I've offended that lady. But at the end of the day, like my newsletter was to my audience at large. It wasn't just to her, she took it as a personal, I don't even know the lady. So it was like, you can't, you can't you know, in life, people will like you and people won't like you. And that's just the way it is you can't control other people's perception of you. So why not just be 100 tight you. I was always 100% me in the DMS. I'll just caveat that and I was always 100% in the in the comments. But for some reason, I was like, putting on my professional Jennifer hat the whole time. And then in the DMS I was Jen and then on Halloween, I brought out Jenny and love it.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Um, if we think about like then optimizing our profile, like letting our personality show like if people are like, well, I don't know how to do that, you know, should they just come look at your profile on LinkedIn? Like how do they think like, what would they want to take so that they can show up as themselves and be more authentic and

[Jen Corcoran] my profile, like everyone is different and everybody will have a different audience. So some people might be completely b2b, which will be a bit more formal. And depending on the industry as well, some industries will be way more formal than others. Like for example, marketing is going to be way more relaxed than maybe compliance, you don't really know your audience and tailor accordingly. Like, there's definitely certain things everyone can do. So, you know, speak to a consultant, speak to a trainer, learn the basics of the tack of your profile, I like a pass like a consultant will drag it out of you, a trainer won't, a train, like the trainer side of me, will teach you about the different sections of the profile and give you advice of what you do. But a consultant, the consultant side of me will drag out the about section and the headline and the direction. And I do that to like onboarding forums asking questions, because some people, they just can't articulate it. And then when you ask them the questions, I'm a bit like that I'm built to respond, if you ask me a question, I can go on and on and on. But if I have to just stand up, I get a bit blocked. So for me that that onboarding questionnaire, all the gold comes out, I've always laughed, and I get it back, because I'm like, there's none of this in your profile. Yeah, I would just say talk to an expert. And don't be don't feel like you're a failure, if you have to talk to a LinkedIn trainer or LinkedIn, who told him because we're not all good at the same thing. And if I need like, bookkeeping or accounting help, I don't try to fudge it, I go to my lady. And it's the similar for any industry, I think there's a lot of perception of, oh, with social media, it's easy. And it's not easy to position on your LinkedIn. And it's, it's equally as important as a website, because it's that URL link that's out there in the world. And if you Google, anyone, your LinkedIn profile will come up above your website. So if you don't impress someone in your profile, they're never going to get to your website. So it's it's the number one personal branding platform in the world now as well, LinkedIn. So it's massively changed over the last 20 years is not just an online jobs board. Yes, you can get jobs. It's amazing. But you can also find, you know, partners and collaborations you can, there's so many business owners on there as well. You can find people with your podcast, people or people for your blog. Like it, there's so many amazing people on there. And the great news is, you're in control, you are in control of your personal brand and your business brand. So you can position yourself whatever way you want. I think a lot of people get stressed, and then they forget that they're in control. You're in. That's what I loved as an interviewer. I was like, Oh, I can position myself the way I want to. And that's it. And it's for me, it's amazing as an introvert because people look at that first. And then when they get on a zoom with me, they feel like they know me. And it's like, yeah, it's fast track and the relationship is just, it's just working for you. 24/7. So it's so worth putting in the time and doing it right, because a LinkedIn profile is very different to an Insta Bio.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yeah, 100%. I think said, I like what you said that social media is not easy, because I do agree like the easy part of social media, or any social platform is showing up and just posting. Yeah. And like saying, Okay, well, I did it. I did LinkedIn, I showed up and I posted. But LinkedIn has grown so much and has changed and added so many features. So like we have our bio done, and we're like, okay, yeah, and we weren't take advantage of the profile are of our of our platform. What are maybe three things that we want to do, let's like either not I know, you've talked about you don't even need to post necessarily on LinkedIn. But how do we get past that emotional mindset piece of like, well, I posted on LinkedIn and nothing happened. So therefore the platform doesn't work. Like what

[Jen Corcoran] it's a bit like, because a lot of people say that, to me, LinkedIn doesn't work. And I've posted but it's like, you know, you have to be consistent, but it has to be consistent quality. And a lot of people just post and it's not good. It's not good content. So consistently, bad content is consistently bad content consistently, profile is consistently bad profile. And consistently, bad. DMS are consistently by dm, so you need to have quality. So you need to speak to a content writer or a LinkedIn consultant it to make sure it's quality, because a lot of people post for the sake of posting, but it just doesn't, it doesn't resonate, because it's not good content. So yeah, you need to get your content good first before you post and I wouldn't even go straight to post and I would focus number one on building your network, thinking to yourself, who do I want to connect to it? What is my purpose, and then being strategic? Because a lot of people sit back and are passive, and they let other people shape their network coming to them? Should I accept should I ignore? And then they've got this network that they didn't intentionally seek out and it's like, I really liked LinkedIn. And it's like, well, what is the prize? You've allowed all these people in and you haven't sought them out? So I would say number one, you know, do like I said, do your research and go and find your people. So because when you're connecting with the right people, it doesn't feel achy. So you can connect to up to 100 people a week. I'm not saying you have Do but if you wanted to, you could add 5000 connections a year. So you can build your network slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly. So that's the first thing have the network because if you if you don't have a network and you're posting content, nobody's seeing it isn't great.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Or if you have the right content, but you have the wrong network, it's not gonna connect well, right, because you're not talking to the right people

[Jen Corcoran] or people, you know. Exactly. So I definitely think, find the right people and explore other features. Don't be afraid to go into the DMS. So many people are afraid to go into the DMS because they think it's spammy. Just be yourself like and don't sell like that's, there's a lot of bad practices out there. You should never sell in the first message. And you you don't have to tell anyone what you do. It's like Miko, and I generally have a LinkedIn trainer. If that's not obvious, from your profile, your profile needs work, you don't. So always go in from the intention of a place of giving. Yeah, the way to kind of link to get LinkedIn work in is always be putting the other person first. Yeah, realizing when you are sending a DM, what's in it for them, because you're interrupting their day. So you don't want it to be, you know, here's my blog, unless it's a really good blog, or lessons blog, it's going to change their life, or make them laugh, or whatever. And don't presume they want your stuff because it's far more impactful. If you go in and you say something about their profile their content, and say, you know, anything human, that's how you're going to start the conversation off easily. So I would always like make people feel special. It's the same as if you meet someone in real life. Any networking event, you could go into a face to face event, and you'll have the hardcore salespeople, show business cards in your faces and boring you to death over what they do. And you haven't even asked, it's so boring. But if you flip that around, and you stop that, and you just ask questions, don't ask a whole litany of it inane questions, there are people out there constantly just asking questions, and you're like, Ah, just look at my profile, you know, that, you know, you don't need to say to people, what do you do just look at their profile, look at their content and just make a comment, you know about it. Oh, I love that when your profile, you said this, I love to connect, or I read when your recent posts. And I really I saw when your comments, I love that you said XYZ ad, you will stand out so much, you'll stand out over 99.9% of people on LinkedIn, because most people want to fast track. And they've heard Oh, it's good for sales good for getting a job good for getting clients. So if you take that few seconds to comment on something, you're you're in now you're starting to have a real conversation, and just see where it goes. Like not everything has to be about a sale. Initially, it's just about connecting. And, you know, you never know people come to me and they've been connected to me for a week and they want my help or three months, it could be three years, you can't fast track relationship building, people have to be ready for what you have to have that quick conversation about sales. Other than that, it's about getting to know them. And if you get to know them as a genuine human being and you show interest, you're really you are gonna fast track the conversation you are gonna get zoom much quicker. And if you're just engaging as human being that's where yeah, that's where the magic lies. And I think so many people are afraid and are they're going in with their copy and paste messages, and then they're getting no response. And, and rightly so because that's kind of somebody said it the other day, and I laugh, they were like that. So 2020 is you need to really bring yourself to the table, I'm on one way I do. And some other fellow introverts today might like to do it is audio voice notes. Amazing, you know, very hard to ignore somebody's audio voice though, on LinkedIn. Whereas you could put the same information in a written message and it would just be ignored. So do try them out. You can also send video messages and DMS, I only do videos with my clients because I don't want to scare people know me, or is the pressure of having the perfect hair and the makeup. So I'm like audio is enough. They can just hear my voice. And you'll be surprised I'm nine out of 10 people say to me, Oh, I didn't know you could do audio voice notes. So you start to have a little conversation and you can do the same and say yeah, it's on here. Try it out, do one back to me. And you're kind of starting from that place of giving. You're telling them about new feature and you're helping them to use it. So even if you don't get to the part of the conversation you want. You've started from a place of giving and they they will remember you positively it's like

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] well, I want to I want to call out and highlight a couple things that you said. So the first being like what I also love about audio is it's for me it's super easy. So like if you're in the carpool lane waiting to pick up your kid or whatever, like it's easy to just pop in a quick audio note if you're you know in line at the fast food line, whatever Ever, like, it's so easy to just pop those in really fast? Yeah. But also people get that personal connection because they're hearing your voice, right. It's why I like to podcast over blog because like, I feel like you're connecting to me on a on a different level. So I think that's really important. But the other piece two that I want people to really pay attention to with this long term conversation. Number one, there's lurkers, like you said, sometimes three years later, they come to you. The lurkers are amazing, because when they do pull the trigger, they pull the trigger fast, and they're ready to go. But also, you never know where a conversation is going to lead to. So you might start having a conversation with somebody, and they might not be the right fit for you. But because you're genuine and you're a good person and you're providing value, they're more likely then to refer you to the people in their network that are a better fit.

[Jen Corcoran] Yeah. And I think if you're someone who struggles with the DMS and you like, you really don't know what to say, just remember you are in control. It's like your profile. So you are in control. So drop some serendipity hooks, think what do you want to talk about? Whether it's Thanksgiving or Halloween or whatever, just drop some things in there. I always put in little hooks like, you know, I'm gonna have my Halloween lives your your reference in Halloween, and you can say I love Halloween Do you like just just be a human being don't be afraid to not you don't have to be super professional in the DMS. Obviously, you don't want to go crazy, but just connect on a human level. You know, talk about the weather, talk about the traffic, talk about whatever, because it's that's how you start a conversation the same way you would in real life. You don't go straight in I do these isolates. You say, Oh, how did you get here? Or whatever? Or did you get a drink? You know, you just have a general chitchat to warm up. And that's due in the DMS you need to warm up.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] What? Nope, I agree. Okay, so you've talked about the DMS, I know that you really feel strongly that that's where the magic happens on LinkedIn. But there are some other really awesome features that people probably are unaware of two of the ones that I know I'm going to be playing with a lot more. And then in the near future, our audio, live audio, and video. So there's great ways to show up. I mean, and you can write articles, which is not anything new. So I think what's super, what I think is super cool about the platform is just like you're saying how you can show up in how you want to show up. Like there's ways for us all to show up in where we feel most comfortable.

[Jen Corcoran] Exactly. So exactly whether you're a visual or auditory or you know, be fair written for him. Just do what feels right for you. If you're someone that cringes at the type of video, don't do video. If you love writing, write, you know, if you love like podcasts, boys, check out audio rooms, they're they're amazing. So don't feel like boxed in that you have to do a certain thing. It's about finding what works for you. Because there's about 14 different ways you can post at the moment on LinkedIn doesn't mean you have to post in the you know, in the 15, or the 14 ways. It's about, you know, you could choose one thing and just do well, you could be an amazing videographer, it's all videos, you could be an amazing writer. It's either or long form copy or all Shoreham for copy. You could be a photographer or someone who has amazing visuals, and it's always a visual. And that's it. And that's what you become known for. So less is more like you know, quality over quantity and do what feels easy. And what feels fun, because then it's easy to replicate. There's no point doing a video and then getting traumatized and going, I'm not going back. Again, I hate LinkedIn. And you're like, Wow, you could have been right in you could have been, you know, do what you like. So do like lean into it and stay in your lane don't like you know sidetrack looking at other people, you'll get impostor syndrome if they've got a different personality type. And it's always the case, it's always either somebody who's a totally different personality type towards, or they're like 510 20 years down the line in their career or business. So definitely stay in your lane, because it's all about you. It's your network is your network. This is your LinkedIn, you are in control. You can have a small network or as big a network, you can put in as little or as much time as you want. But the main thing is you are in control. And when you kind of own that, and you might even want to just put it in your calendar, like for 10 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, and just like control your energy and control your time, then it's fun. It's only if you get sucked in and you're wasting time and you're not seeing results that you'll be like, Oh, this isn't work, but it does work. It's just about being you and that's the biggest draw and doing your research. That's another massive struggle my clients. And it's like once you do all that. They work for LinkedIn, but they work for any platform. Anything in business, you know, who you are and who your client is?

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Well, and so kind of one last question before we wrap this up is and tying on to that is, if you have a team, is it worth it to kind of strategize with your team, and maybe different, like different parts of your company are showing up in different ways, so you can also maximise on the best apps

[Jen Corcoran] of yours. Yeah, I think it's really sensible to have a conversation with different team members and see what their personality is and who feels comfortable what somebody in the team may be amazing video. So let them roll with it. Somebody may be amazing, the articles, let them write the long form articles, somebody might be great with visuals, so somebody might be comfortable just to go into the DMS and somebody might be great at posting the actual thing or commenting. So I think that's a great idea. Because you can't just presume that all employees or all team members are going to want to go gung ho, they're not, it's not going to feel comfortable for them. So let them do what feels good for them. And even if you know, if they don't all do stuff or post, it's not the end of the world, as long as they've got a good profile, they're representing the team and the company in the best way. So that's the bare minimum is get everybody on brand, you know, have consistent kind of positioning and branding in terms of the company banner, or the look of their headshots, or maybe a little tagline on the headline, you can still show up and represent your company with a really strong profile. So yeah, I think it's a great idea to lean in. And not just say you must all share from the company page. And it's the best content is actually when the team members are able to make it themselves, you know, it's going to be far more impactful, because people buy people over the company. And that's why on LinkedIn, you'll find you'll always get way more followers on your personal profile than your company page, because we're just naturally more interested in human beings. And yeah, you kind of it feels more genuine. If, for example, if a company says they're hiring, and they're amazing, but if actually one of the employees says, you know, they're amazing, I think EULA Packard did a study and they said it was like seven or eight times more effective from the employee than the actual company. So

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] I believe that because why would a company come up and be like, we're hiring, and we don't really take care of our employees. Like they're not there. Of course, they're gonna say they're amazing. Somebody who works there says that then it's like, okay, well, if they, you know,

[Jen Corcoran] it's a no brainer to get like ambassadors, and I let them, let them run free, if they're good. Like, they should be chatting to the comms team, the social media team and collaborating with them. And they should be tapping into their staff and like fully, fully supporting them and fully boosting them and giving them LinkedIn training. And yeah, yeah, like, definitely, because they're the best ambassadors they could ever have. And it's free, it's free, they don't have to.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] I know we all love that. Well, Jen, if you are going to kind of leave any last words of wisdom for people that are starting to go into LinkedIn, you know, kind of what would you want to share with them?

[Jen Corcoran] I would say that there's massive advantage on that platform. It's been around 20 years, but so many people have got blocks. And just think of it as a communication tool. It can help you so much in your career, your business and your life, if you're brave enough to put yourself out there. And I'm telling everyone listening, you're all good enough. All of my clients are blokes. And it's like you're all good enough, you don't have to be an innovative tote leader to be on LinkedIn, you just have to show up as yourself. So just believe that and go on with that intention. And start dipping your toe in the water when it comes to you know, sending DMS doing content, leaving comments. And it's like a muscle the more you do it, the easier it'll become. Because at the moment, there's roughly only two 2% posting content 10% commenting and 90% hiding. So I don't want you to be the hiders I want you to be in the top 10% and potentially the top 2% And just know that the 90% The main reason they're not doing it is because they've got mindset blocks. So they're thinking they're not good enough or they do have something interesting to say. And you do you have your unique perspective. And if you don't want to do content you have to support or others go and comment because you might be more of a natural commenter and have something to say that way. And you can get noticed from comments even people see your headshot your headline, people get leads from just commenting people get headhunted from commenting. You know, I get people reaching out like because comments, you can kind of be a bit more free in a comment than in your own content. Ya know, just Yeah, lean into the fact that you are good enough. And it's it there's a man Some organic reach, it's not always going to be free, it's going to be paid to play the way Facebook went. So take advantage now, because the younger generation who I teach, I do University workshops, as you know, as well as like female entrepreneurs, and I'm telling you, they're super excited generation Zed, and they are coming and they're allowed, you know, even more noise out there, and you're gonna be hiding even more. So try and channel some of that young student energy about LinkedIn. And yeah, get excited, because it is an amazing platform. And it's just there for you at your fingertips. And you can have the edge or all of your capacitors if you're just brave enough to show up and be you. Hello, that

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] is such a great space to end this episode on. Jen, if people want to learn more about you, and connect with you, how do they do that?

[Jen Corcoran] So obviously, I'm on LinkedIn, Jen Corcoran, or come to my website, I've got like free resources on there, lots of training. So it's www.my, super connector.co.uk. And yeah, just explore all my favorite resources, you'll see my YouTube you'll see blogs. And yeah, you'll learn all about me, and you'll see the link to my LinkedIn as well. So

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] awesome. And we will also connect all of those in the show notes for this episode at https://thefirstclick.net/187. Jen, thank you so much for being here today. I learned a lot. And I'm still like super inspired to like jump into all of the things LinkedIn.

[Jen Corcoran] Thank you. I know it. I am passionate. And I'm like, passionate for you and your industry to learn more about it. Because I know there are some lovely industries that are like fundraising and you know, doing nice things. And we need to get those voices out there or LinkedIn. We don't want it to be all the hustle high.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yeah, no. All right. Well, you heard it here. Get out there on LinkedIn, start to change the narrative and let's let's do more. Good. Well, thank you, Jen, so much for being here.

[Jen Corcoran] My pleasure. Thanks for having me Sami.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Okay, so are you not energized to get onto LinkedIn? I am I'm so excited. It's going to be awesome. So make sure you message me Sami, S A M S dash Bedell, B as in boy E, D as in dog, E ll dash Mulhern M U L H E R N DM me on LinkedIn. I want to see your profile. Let's connect. Let's let's learn from each other. Let's connect with each other. Let's have conversation. I'd also appreciate it if you would subscribe. Wherever you listen. We are releasing new episodes every Tuesday and there's video versions as well on youtube https://youtube.com/digitalmarketingtherapy , or you can go to https://thefirstclick.net/youtube , whatever you prefer. Don't forget we'll have shownotes resources and all the links available for you at https://thefirstclick.net/187  Thank you so much for listening and I will see you in the next one.