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Hello there, friends.
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Today's episode was inspired by a Facebook comment that I saw on a post that was asking about where to get started with LinkedIn.
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And in my most recent solo episode podcast, I did break down where I would start if I was just, you know, approaching LinkedIn for the first time.
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But this actually isn't this kind of episode.
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What it is is really a response to the comment on Facebook, which did say they should uh go to LinkedIn and utilize some of the fantastic resources already available on the platform to learn how to set up and run the company page.
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Now, what I would say is, first of all, like I had mentioned in my previous episode, which you can go and listen to if you haven't yet, is you really need to nail down and understand what your main goal is for utilizing LinkedIn in the first place.
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Because based on what your goal is, the company page may not be the right place to start.
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And the reason why is because people connect with people.
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People don't connect with a brand and they don't connect with a logo.
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And you could argue that people do connect with a brand, but what they're really actually connecting with are the values and mission of the brand that is brought forward by the people.
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And those people help bring a value to life and they demonstrate it.
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So you don't just necessarily connect with the logo and you don't necessarily connect with the updates, but you can connect on the bigger mission of what they're doing.
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So if you were just getting started on LinkedIn, I would really lean into first and foremost your personal profile.
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And I think oftentimes we want to lean more into the company page, especially if you're a business owner, because it feels sometimes safer.
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We feel like we can maybe hide behind the company page.
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It feels like we can be more serious or more professional on the quote unquote professional platform, the professional networking platform.
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And you might also be thinking, well, I'm using LinkedIn for my business, and so therefore I should use my company page.
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Now, based on how many people you have on your team, there's a time when you want to be leaning into your personal profile and a time you want to be leaning into your company page.
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So if you are a solo team, or if there's really only two or three of you, your first and top foremost priority should be your personal profile.
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And you claim the company page so that no one else can take that name.
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You claim it so that you can have links on there, you have a website, um, it looks legitimate on your own profile.
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You know, when you update your work experience, you have a nice graphic that's associated with the workplace instead of those silhouetted gray buildings.
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But the driving factor for making connections and doing business will come from the personal profile.
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So if you are a small team, you want to lean into getting recognized and known for who you are and what you put out on your personal profile.
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So apart from even going through like profile optimization and what that looks like and what that means, you should be really utilizing your own personal platform to vocalize and publicize the offer that you have available to your network.
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And people will connect you with your service once they recognize your name and they feel like they get to know you.
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Now, I would say as you as your team starts to grow, the company page is therefore worthwhile to share what you are doing on a larger level.
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So because there's more people involved, there's more projects going on, there's more behind the scenes, there it's more intricate, and there's more that you can speak to as a team and instead of speaking to as an individual.
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But that give being said, you still, you know, the company page is one page, and the individuals that make up your company and that make up your team are more than one.
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There's multiple people.
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And so you still want to be encouraging them to be publishing on their own personal profile, but then also having content that's engaging enough on the company page that would encourage your employees and your team members and your staff to share that content on their own personal profile.
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So when you do approach uh putting content out on the company page, the whole goal is that it's easy to consume, even if it's still quote unquote professional.
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Sometimes we make this really easy mistake of assuming that professional has to be boring.
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And it does not have to be boring.
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You can share uh industry insights, you can share the progress that you're making, you can share updates and transitions that are happening in a way that is engaging simply by providing context and allowing an opportunity for people to interact with the greater story that's being told.
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When we remove all of the information that just tells us a little bit more of the who, what, when, where, why, and like the outcome or the impact of what it is that we're doing,
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that's when we lose our readers and it's not even necessarily exciting to share, unless they feel like they're sharing maybe out of obligation.
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So you can use that company page to track the progress and ongoing happenings of what you know what's happening both um internally within the organization and then also externally on a larger scale of what is the direction that the industry is going in, what do people know, how you know, how are we approaching this, what's our perspective, what are what are the moves that we are making in um strategically in order to be in line with what the request, you know, the demand and request is that's out there in the world, and keeping your audience up to date so they feel like they are a part of the story as well.
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And that's a whole set of content and you know category by itself.
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But then the individual people on their personal profiles are the ones that get to exponentially expand the reach of this story and really make a much greater impact.
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And so it just goes back to the point that you still want to understand and invest in building out, creating, and sharing on your own personal profile.
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So if you are getting started, um, especially as a small business owner, you you really don't need to spend time creating content for a company page or optimizing your company page.
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And there might be people out there who disagree with me, but I will say I, you know, me along with many other LinkedIn uh content creators, but also people who strategically use LinkedIn as their main lead generation source for their business, don't regularly share from the company page, but it's ultimately the personal profile because when you send that connection request message, it's gonna be from a personal profile, not from the company page.
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Or when you send a message after being connected and you want to, you know, book uh a phone call or a Zoom call or even meet up in person again, you're doing it from the personal profile, you're not doing it from the company page.
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And there's so many ways that you can demonstrate your legitimacy that goes beyond a company page, just having that even claimed, right?
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A lot of that will be with your own activity.
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Are you showing up?
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It will be about how you talk about certain things.
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Are you speaking about it from a place of authority and experience or and you know, and offering value to your audience?
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And then also, can I find you anywhere else?
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Right?
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It's not just the company page, but do you have a website?
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Do you have other social media handles?
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Do you have a Substack or a blog?
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Or, you know, what are the other is there anywhere else that I can find you?
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And that will really support and legitimize your presence of a personal profile beyond the company page.
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So if you are looking for insights or you know, support on using your own personal profile, I have an awesome resource, it's for free.
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Just download it and it walks you through the different parts of your profile and what you should pay attention to, what's most important.
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Um, it helps you optimize it.
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Again, optimization will all be based on what your goals are.
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Um, optimization will look a little different for someone who's currently seeking a new role compared to someone who's a business owner, right?
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Or maybe someone who's using LinkedIn for more of a passion project than they are for their nine to five.
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So it's not, it's not, I don't necessarily call it an optimization uh resource because it's I just call it the LinkedIn Foundations because it covers your profile, about section, and even touches a little bit about content.
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So I'll drop that resource for you in the link.
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But then the greatest thing, one of the greatest ways to show that you are active, apart from commenting on other people's content or possibly re-sharing other people's posts, is becoming a content creator yourself, which doesn't mean you need to become a LinkedIn influencer, but it does mean you are able to show up and you know, throw down into a post your own thoughts, your own experiences, your own learnings, and feel comfortable and confident putting that out there in order to add to the conversation and show that you're here, you're relevant, and you're open to speak with someone.
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Like let's have a conversation, let's talk, let's take the next steps in doing business together.
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So if you need help with content creation as well, drop me a message, connect with me on LinkedIn, I have lots of other resources, and also help people do this for them because creating content is a time investment.
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And if you're gonna do it, you want to be in it for the long haul because it really can feel like a marathon, and it is because you want to show people that you're reliable and that you're consistent.
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Not to be confused with constant, you don't have to be sharing constantly, but you people want to know that if they come across you or if they're looking at your profile or if they're gonna refer you, right, and check back in.
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They want to see that you're still there, you're still active, and they can rely on you as a valuable resource.
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So lean in to your own personal profile.
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Don't hide behind the company page and let people get to know you for who you are.