Roadblocks to LinkedIn Success: Linked Summit Recap with Michelle J Raymond

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Michelle J Raymond: In this episode, I'm going to answer the three questions I was asked most at the

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Linked Summit in Denmark, which I think highlight the three biggest roadblocks for businesses

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leveraging LinkedIn for business growth.

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I'm back in the office this week, listeners.

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I hope you didn't miss me too much.

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I travelled to the other side of the world to Denmark of all places for the Linked

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Summit to be a guest international speaker, which was such an amazing experience.

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I have to say Mette and her team really organized event that has left an imprint on me.

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There was something, you know, kind of special about this event.

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We had around 600 attendees, 450 coming live, 150 watching online.

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And then we also had over 35 speakers, some of which were international, like myself.

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My only regret from the whole experience is that I never learned how to speak

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Danish because I would have loved to experience all of the other speakers.

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So I met people like Richard Moore, Richard van der Blom, Jasmin Alić, Ivana

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Todorovic uh, who else did we meet?

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Mark Williams was there, plus all of the local Danish people that had attended.

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I met so many new friends that were locals.

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Shout out to anyone that might be new podcast listener from the land of Denmark.

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It was just one of those things that is going to be a moment in my career that I pinch

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myself and say, Did that really just happen?

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Did the power of LinkedIn get me from four years ago, talking about Company

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Pages to now being on an international stage for the second time this year?

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I'm telling you people, anything is possible.

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But during the event, I was asked lots and lots of questions.

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I was there to speak about Company Pages, decoding them for business growth.

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And it was, You know, something that every time I speak about Company

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Pages, I'm not going to lie listeners.

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What I actually think when I'm about to walk into that room is why would

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anyone want to know about Company Pages?

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They're the kind of uncool cousin when it comes to LinkedIn, but honestly, The room was packed.

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I got the highest rated feedback on the whole thing.

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And it just reaffirmed for me just how important Pages are as part of

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a business strategy on LinkedIn.

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And I got asked lots and lots of questions, both, in that session, I did

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a second session, which was a Q & A plus people that I was just networking with.

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So I thought that I would share with all of you, the three questions that I got

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asked, which I think caused the biggest roadblocks in most businesses that are

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looking to leverage LinkedIn to grow.

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So would you like to know what those three questions are?

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Stick around and I'll let you know.

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Let's dive into the very first question that get asked.

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So imagine that I've just finished presenting.

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And then later on during the day, my friend Richard van der Blom is on stage.

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And in this particular case, the question that I got asked was Michelle, I really loved your

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presentation this morning and I just went and watched Richard's presentation and he said some

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things which were, you know, kind of contradictory or different to what you'd presented.

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And so now I'm a bit confused.

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Which should I follow?

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Who is right?

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Great question, Right?

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Now, the answer to that question is probably more important.

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The answer to that question from my perspective and Richard's perspective, because I

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know he spoke about this as well, is that there is no one size fits all on LinkedIn.

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There is never a prescription that thou shalt follow what I say, and you will get

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the perfect results for your business.

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None of us know what your goals are, your resources, your experience, what

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your audience enjoys, maybe what they don't like is equally as important.

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And from that perspective, you might also be starting out or really experienced.

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There's so many variables, which when it comes to LinkedIn strategies, we need

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to stop and look at all of these things.

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So you need to attend events like this, or as you're scrolling on

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LinkedIn, I want you to question things.

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I want you to not just take things on face value.

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And think, how could this work for my business?

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Would it work for my business?

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What kinds of people are interacting?

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Is the person that's saying, this is the only way to do LinkedIn.

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If they're saying that, listeners, please turn around and run the other way.

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And if I do the same thing, I want you to run the other way from me as well, because it's

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so disheartening for me right now on LinkedIn, that there are people that have A huge amount

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of followers that have gamed the system.

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That is they've used engagement pods.

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They've bought followers.

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They buy viral templates, which copy other people's works.

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There's so much of that goes on.

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And then they try and tell people on LinkedIn, this is the way that I achieved

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it, and they, omit to tell everyone all of those things that they've done.

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And this is what is really frustrating me right now.

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And disheartening, like I just said, because you show up, you think if you follow

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what they do, you don't get those same results and you're left scratching your

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head going, but they said it would work.

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I get people that have invested significant amounts of money with some of these

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people and they've followed it to the letter and it hasn't worked for them.

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And I feel really sorry for them because it's done in good faith.

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And I don't think the onus is back on you, but I think it really highlights the fact

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that it doesn't matter who you follow on LinkedIn, whether it's myself, whether it's

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Richard, whether it's the other Richard, whether it's anyone else in your network,

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always take everything with a grain of salt.

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And I want you to question it.

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And I want you to trial things and experiment and say, does that work for my business or not?

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If it doesn't work, bench it.

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It is totally fine as part of the big experiment to learn the things that don't work.

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These things are equally as important as the things that do work.

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And especially when it comes to Company Pages.

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They are one of the hardest parts of LinkedIn to get going.

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So make sure that you're having some fun, get creative.

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When was the last time you tried something a little bit different?

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And this is what I tried to get across in my speech at the summit was it's

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time people to try some new things.

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If you're stuck in a rut, especially for your Page, mix it up a little bit and see maybe

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that's what you need for your Page to start getting more followers and more engagement.

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So what was the second question that I got asked?

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I'll let you know after this short break.

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the second question that I got asked was.

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Someone that came up to me in the break and we were just having good old chats and the

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question eventually came out that it was a person that was, I'm estimating was probably

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late twenties, early thirties, somewhere around that age group and has done a lot of work

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creating content for the business' Company Page, which involves lots and lots of research.

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And this marketing manager had the concern that while she understands the importance

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of building a personal brand for herself.

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In the industry, which she comes from, which is financial and, you know, a lot of people

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have been in that industry or leading the industry have been in it for a very long time.

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And she's relatively new.

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She didn't think that she would have a voice on LinkedIn.

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And your employees are going through exactly the same thing.

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Before they create content, even if they think it's a good idea, our brains go into

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all the reasons why we shouldn't do it.

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And this thing is something that I spent a lot of time talking to this lady.

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And I really hope that I have inspired her because on LinkedIn, there is a space for everybody.

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Everybody has a voice.

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Everybody is unique and we bring fresh perspectives.

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Now imagine if she could be the person in that financial industry

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that leads the way for younger people.

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What she thought was because everyone else was not like her ie, they were all older, more

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experienced that it was a bad thing for her.

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Whereas I was jumping up and down for her.

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And she was like, Michelle, why are you so excited?

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And I'm like, because you stand out, we spend all our time trying to find ways

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to stand out in amongst these crowds and you automatically already have that.

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So look at it as your advantage.

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And not a disadvantage.

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And I saw that light bulb go off.

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And I am saying this to all of those listeners out here who might be starting out in their

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career, who are looking at other subject matter experts within their business and thinking,

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maybe there's not really a place for me here.

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Maybe I should leave it to those people?

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My guidance to you is no, get started now.

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Start building your brand.

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There's a place for everybody on LinkedIn.

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That brings us to the third and final question that I think also underpins a lot of the

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conversations that are going on within B2B businesses, looking to leverage LinkedIn to grow.

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And that is Michelle, we've got our employee Advocacy team and I'm responsible for the Page.

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And the employee Advocacy team thinks that we're almost in competition with each other.

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And I see this all the time.

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This is not something new or unique, but it is a conversation that I want to start having

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with people that listen to this podcast.

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It happens all the time that we hear the news that says Company Page reach

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is down, you no longer see posts.

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So therefore why bother with Company Pages?

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And, you know, that's the thing that comes up for me all the time.

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So the latest trend on LinkedIn is get your employees active, make sure that

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they're creating their personal brand, make sure that they're posting content.

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And it sounds so easy, but the reality of this is it is far harder to make that happen.

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Now, the other thing that I would say is we talk employee Advocacy as being a standalone product

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and, you know, the Company Page being standalone.

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Where's the teamwork?

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What is it that you can do to have conversations that bring the two projects in alignment?

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It's no different to, I listened to Laura Erdem's presentation at the summit,

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and she was talking about the magic that happens when you align sales and marketing.

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Imagine if you could align employee Advocacy and Page Advocacy.

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What is Page Advocacy?

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Well, glad you asked.

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Page Advocacy is where you can use the Page to support your employees.

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So the Page could like and comment on their posts.

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The Page can repost their individual personal posts.

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The Page can do all kinds of things to support employees.

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Imagine how that employee feels when the Page is there supporting them, acknowledging, and

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you're all working to go in the one direction.

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So rather than say it has to be either or.

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Hey, you know what, have your cake and eat it too.

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It's entirely possible.

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And the companies that really get this are the ones that have so much success on LinkedIn.

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Why?

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Because they're not fighting each other.

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They're literally just going every action we take as a business is in service of our ideal client

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with a goal in mind that we're trying to reach.

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And the more we all pull in that same direction, rather than pushing and pulling

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against each other, the more that those results are going to come through quickly.

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So these things are at the core of what I think needs to happen more on LinkedIn.

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To wrap it up, let's have a look at what are the actionable tips that I would give people.

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When you're scrolling LinkedIn and you see some latest trends or new advice, or,

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you know, something that's gained some traction because it's quite popular and

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tells you thou shalt do this on LinkedIn.

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Your job listeners is to stop, have a look at it and think, how does that apply to my business?

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I can tell you worrying about whether hashtags are working or not working right now, does not make

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one bit of difference for your posts if you don't have a strategy, if you haven't done your customer

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research, and if you don't know the goals for the business and align your LinkedIn strategy to that.

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It is going to make no difference understanding the algorithm if you don't

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understand where you're trying to get to.

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So take a moment and read it and go, okay, that's nice.

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But how does it apply back to my business?

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And always be in the mode of questioning what you read because newsflash, not

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everything you read on LinkedIn is true.

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I know who would have thought, right?

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So the other thing that I want you to do is if you are trying to get employees

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to be active on the platform, understand that if you have a young team, They are

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trying to find their place in the world.

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They are starting out in their career and they will need additional support

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to come and support them to find their voice on a professional platform.

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LinkedIn can be quite intimidating.

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It's a professional platform and it seems like everybody knows what they're doing and

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everybody's already got something to say.

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Reminding people that nine out of 10 people will never post content on LinkedIn.

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That is how intimidating LinkedIn can be for your employees.

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So think about that.

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What additional support can you give these younger team members to encourage them to create content,

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not just once, but sustainably over the long term.

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It is not as simple as just give them training and they'll be fine.

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Quite often, what will go a long way is CEOs, managers, business leaders.

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If you see a young person in your business that is out creating content, be the

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first person to like, and comment.

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Be the first person that is acknowledging them when you see them in the office.

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All these things make a difference.

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And the last thing, probably the most important thing before we wrap up this episode is that you

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must find a way to bring the whole team together.

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From CEOs, to marketing, to sales, even customer service teams, your

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quality teams, your technical teams.

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It is about bringing everybody together and you can start off small and work your way up.

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But there is no point in having one department going one way.

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Another department going another way and setting up an internal competition.

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That is not the name of the game.

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That to me says fundamentally, you are so busy that you are focused on making your own

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business sound good, that you've lost sight in being in service to your ideal customer.

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Those businesses that understand that all the actions on LinkedIn are in service of

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your ideal customer and looking for those opportunities are the ones that win on LinkedIn.

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Don't forget if you're looking for a speaker for your event, whether it's local or international,

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or maybe just a guest on your podcast, I'm always open to ideas and collaborations.

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So reach out to me on LinkedIn.

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Details are always in the show notes and let's see what we can make happen until next week, cheers.