44:5 Refocus on LinkedIn

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Welcome to season 44, episode five. The penultimate episode of this wonderful season. You are joined today by myself, Mr. Lee Matthew Jackson. And the wonderful hostess with the mostess…

Nicole Osborne:
Frau Nicole Osborne.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Folks, today we want to bust a few myths about LinkedIn. And this is going to focus very much, on my own journey with LinkedIn. When Nicole one day said to me, “Lee, you should be on LinkedIn.” And I said, “Don’t be stupid.” However, I did listen. So Nicole, I’m going to hand over to you.
So today, Nicole and I are going to share that conversation. Share that journey. And we’re going to drop seven tips at the very end of this episode, that are actionable. That you can do right now, to get restarted on LinkedIn if like me, you decided to abandon it. So without further ado, let’s get crack in.

Nicole Osborne:
Hey, Lee. I’m excitedly talking about LinkedIn today, because I talk to so many agency owners about LinkedIn. And I’ve got to be honest with you, there’s a lot of resistance. So Lee, I know about three months ago, I turn to you… Lee, you’ve got to do LinkedIn. This is really where it’s currently at. So many marketing opportunities for you.
You were a bit hesitant, right? What were your reservations actually, about using LinkedIn?

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Well after my eyes rolled to the back of my skull, after you said that… Because I’ve heard it so many times, you really must try LinkedIn. And I thought well, I’ve tried LinkedIn. It’s not really very social for a start off. It’s not like Facebook. On Facebook, I’ve made tonnes and tonnes of friends. On LinkedIn, my memory of it is that it’s not really very social. It’s just a place where everybody puts their CVs, and talks about themselves. I remember finding it very hard to use. It wasn’t very user friendly. I also knew Microsoft had bought it recently, so they were probably going through ruin it.
And one of my worst experiences of LinkedIn was just the amount of spam that I was getting. People adding me, and then trying to sell me podcast promotion and whatever else they wanted to try and sell me. Another thing about it… And I’m thinking, yeah but Nicole, I have tried it before. It didn’t get me the results. It didn’t get the brand awareness. My experience was, everyone was just talking about themselves. I found that draining. And I have honestly tried about six or seven times in the last 10 years, for both of my business on LinkedIn. So yeah, my eyes definitely rolled to the back of my head when you said that.

Nicole Osborne:
They totally did. Because we were on Zoom, and I could hear it, see it. All of it. Good news is that I love working with LinkedIn reluctant people, because I know it is good for people.
So, Lee… Okay. So let’s put ourselves in the shoes of our audience. So they’d probably be feeling exactly all the things you’ve just said.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Yes.

Nicole Osborne:
You’ve used LinkedIn now, for three months. What sort of things have surprised you?

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Well it’s actually easy to use, compared to what it used to be. And it is very social. I would say, it’s like a Facebook where people are actually friendly. I actually gave up on Facebook on… I think it was the 6th of January, in 2021. There was just so much hate, and I was just so done with it. And I gave up on social media altogether, for a good, long time.
I’ve eased back into Facebook for a while now, and found it’s still a nice enough place. But there’s still a lot of negativity. So I was really encouraged to jump into LinkedIn with a bit more of an open mind. Find people were friendly. People weren’t talking about themselves. They were sharing value, and we were engaging in some great conversations. I mean, I’ve got some great results as well. Do you want me to hit you with those?

Nicole Osborne:
Go on. Because, do you know… Agency owners are busy. There’s got to be some great results for them in it. So what did you find?

Lee Matthew Jackson:
So in three months, I have sole sponsorship for the podcast.

Nicole Osborne:
Woo-hoo.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Amazing. I’ve connected with a new co-host for an up and coming season, who has his own audience. So that’s going to be amazing. I get exposure to a brand new audience. We met yesterday, just to cross a few T’s and dot a few I’s and all that. To get everything ready. I’ve been connected with a whole lot of new influences in the agency space, that I had no idea existed.
I’ve had an increase in meetings for leads, which is fantastic. I’ve also been invited to speak at an event. So that gives me extra exposure again, to another new audience. I’ve also seen a increase in traffic that comes from LinkedIn. So when I look at Matomo, which is what we use for our analytics. Not Google, sorry.
And just to wrap all of that up, I’ve actually had a rather lot of fun. So yes, I was very sceptical. But in three months, we’ve… And I’ve not even had to do that much. I’ve not been on it every day. I’ve just done a few things, which we’re going to share at the end of this episode. And those are the results we’re getting. So that’s really encouraging, and I’ve had an awful lot of fun. And I admit now, you were right. I was wrong Okay.

Nicole Osborne:
I’m giggling so much, because I have seen you really blossom on LinkedIn. And it’s only taken your mindset, just a few tweaks about how you approach it. I’ve had a couple of agency owners like me like no, Nicole. We can’t do LinkedIn. I have Hassa in the US. She’s one of my Wunderstars and… She’s only been active for a month, and she’s had a really cool couple of podcast invites through. Which help her for a better audience. Someone in the UK, absolute doesn’t like LinkedIn. Had a really cool project. So it’s worth bearing with it.
Just to round up that positive experience you had… And I’m not surprised that you had it. What I love about LinkedIn… And I know, I’m a little bit biassed. I teach people about social media. And how they can share their voice, to land better clients. But people on LinkedIn are in a business frame of mind.
So when you then post something about the service you sell or how you’ve helped a past client, it doesn’t feel like you’re interacting anything. Because, they’re on there to do business. So I love that, first of all. The other thing which I think worked really well for you as well, is the organic reach you can get when you do it well. So when you post your… When you draft your posts in a certain way… And I know we’re going to share a tip about that. When you comment on people, when you’re thoughtful, your posts can be seen by a huge group of people if you do it right. Which is brilliant for your reach. And as you said, you can generate leads in this really gentle way. It’s not like cold calling. You contact someone like, look. You’ve never heard about me, buy my website.
You can comment on someone’s post. You can open a conversation in Messenger. You can ask some good questions. You can say, “Hey, would you perhaps like some tips on your website?” If that person then says yes, you can get in touch.
And really position yourself as a valuable, helpful expert. And Lee, just the final point on there, a lot of the other platforms you have to really pay to be seen. You have to put a lot, in terms of your production values. On LinkedIn, you can quite easily have success. If you can create a website, if you can do an SEO campaign, you can definitely do LinkedIn.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Absolutely.

Nicole Osborne:
I’m so pleased you bought into it, and you are a LinkedIn champion now as well. And I really hope our audience reconsiders it. So Lee, should we share some fantastic tips then? Seven easy tips for LinkedIn then? Just to really… We’re assuming everyone is ready now, to reconsider LinkedIn again. But really, how should they be doing that?

Lee Matthew Jackson:
We should. And folks, I’ve actually only applied about five of these. And I’m seeing good results. So if you only do a couple of these in the next few weeks, that’s already a good start. Remember, this episode is about actionable advice. Small, achievable actions that you can get on with. So pick what you can out of these seven, and get crack-a-lacking. And then just build on from there, and see where you are in three months.
And before we do jump into these, in three months time if you remember this episode and you have seen results, come back to this episode, trailblazer.fm. And comment. Let us know how it went. Share us your LinkedIn profile. Let’s get connected as well, which is going to be pretty cool. So let’s jump into number one, Nicole.

Nicole Osborne:
First of all, as if anything when you start something new, sit back. Ask yourself, why do you actually want to do this? What do you want to get out of LinkedIn? Do you want to post on LinkedIn to win more business? To show off your expertise? To stay top of mind with your favourite clients? Sit back and really think about why you’re doing this. Because you will realise then, that it’s probably worth investing some time in it. Because, you have a really good rational. Lee, I don’t know. Do you remember back, why you started doing it?

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Absolutely.

Nicole Osborne:
Please don’t say, just because I said you have to do it.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
No. So for me, I wanted to broaden my reach. I wanted more people to be aware of Trailblazer FM as a brand. That’s for the podcast, the blog. And for the YouTube channel.
And I also wanted to make some connections so that I can improve the content, and get access to a wider audience. And I shared right at the beginning of this episode, didn’t I? Quite a few of those have already happened, within the space of three months.

Nicole Osborne:
It’s amazing. You’ve done a really good job, Lee. And you haven’t held back. Okay. So you were quite clear on then, who you want to get noticed by. And I would definitely say that as a second tip, it’s really important that you consider… You know now, what you want to get out of it. But who do you want to get noticed by? Because, what you want to do… It’s a bit like coming up with the SEO strategy for your agency website. You want to make sure that you add relevant keywords which describe your areas of expertise and who you can help the most, in your about section. Which is basically, your free advertising space on LinkedIn. But also, in your headline. And the headline is the bit which comes up first of all, right under your picture. So you want to think, how can I add some keywords here to be found? And also, what kind of conversation openers can I add?
Because, it’s a little bit like… You want to think, how can you make it easier for someone to reach out to you? So I have a silly thing on mine. It says basically, that I love German bread. And I have that in there because it’s like, what? Are you from Germany? Yes. I am from Germany.
I know Carl, fantastic agency owner. Cargo design. He’s got in there, that he loves guitars. And how many guitars he owns. Because, it’s something to show your personality. So show your personality, show how you can help. That’s for your about section, and your headline. So that’s our second tip.
Lee, and I think you’ve already done that. I know we will do a little bit more work on your sections on that, to really maximise those.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh yeah. I’ve definitely not maximised those at all. Which is fine. I did have a little bit of fun with the about me, at one point. Sharing the drink I like, and stuff like that. I’ve written this… Hang on. The host of the Trailblazer FM podcast YouTube channel, and the agency transformation event. He’s gained worldwide renown in the WordPress community, and creative industry. Oh my gosh. I thought that was just so cool. But probably a little bit too formal. Yeah. This definitely needs a little bit of work.

Nicole Osborne:
When you write it, also add how you help your audience. So what’s a really good hook for your potential audience? So I guess for a potential sponsor it would be, would you like to get in front of many happy agency owners in my Trailblazer community? It’s probably not the best way to write it, but the point I’m making is that you want to bring your audience in straight away. And I love… You used to have in there, about the dad dancing. Right? Because, that’s a little bit funny. Makes you a little bit more approachable. So you can see –

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Oh, I certainly did. And that will come back.

Nicole Osborne:
Fantastic. Everyone, you’ve heard it here first on the podcast.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
But I haven’t focused… And that was the point. These are seven tips. Apply them all, I’m sure you’ll find much more success than I have. But again, I’ve only applied a few of these. I chose a few that I could do, and I’m seeing results. So don’t force yourself to do everything straight away. Don’t run before you can walk. Just easy yourself in. And speaking of that, number three.

Nicole Osborne:
Number three is one of my favourites. It’s actually to connect with your existing clients. So reach out to them by email, look them up on LinkedIn. Because, you want to stay in touch with them. You want to see what they’re posting. And this way, you can comment on what they’re saying. They can comment on what you’re saying. And for both of you, it really benefits your network.
Now for most people where you think, oh my God. I definitely want to see straight away, what they’re posting about, there is a little hot tip as well. You can now press a notification bell. So a little bit like when you’re on YouTube. You subscribe to a channel, and you press the notification bell. So when there’s a new episode, you find out about it. It’s exactly how it works on LinkedIn. So you press the bell, someone posts. And you will find them in your notification. So you can then say something helpful and engaging, about what they’re posting. Which is really good for relationship building.
So it’s about connecting with your clients. And also looking at people on the platform, who are interesting to you. And whose networks you think would benefit you as well. So I would say definitely as part of your LinkedIn routine, make the connecting with the right people a regular part of it. But it doesn’t have to be scientific. Start off with your clients, start off with your colleagues. Start off with people you’ve worked with in the past. Start off with people you know, from Facebook groups.
Do you know what I love about LinkedIn? Is I think often in the agency world, we’re very much in our Facebook groups, talking to peers. And that’s fantastic. It’s really valuable. We learn, we share. We grow together. LinkedIn is fantastic for reaching a new audience, whilst they’re thinking about business. So I’d definitely say, connect with some people you would also love to work with. So that was my third point, Lee.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Number four.

Nicole Osborne:
So actually, we’re staying at our comfort zone here. Because we’re already all great on Facebook groups, right? We love our Facebook groups. Now there are also fantastic groups on LinkedIn, where you can actually connect with your peers. Sometimes, that can help you to get more business. You can exchange experiences.
But also, join LinkedIn groups which are relevant for your target audience. So let’s say, if you specialise in working in the accountancy sectors with bookkeepers, there’s so many groups on LinkedIn where bookkeepers come together. And you can be the helpful person who talks about digital marketing. As the fourth step, check out a few LinkedIn groups. And just see how you can utilise those.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Can I throw something into that, actually?

Nicole Osborne:
Of course.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Because if you now think, oh. I’ve got to go and join a group. And I’ve got to start actually saying things, that actually can build up a little bit of resistance. And I’ve got to admit, I have joined those groups. I am in the events groups, but I’m lurking. And what I’m doing is instead of being proactive because I just don’t have the time right now, and I will at some point. I am though, still getting the benefit of… Well, two things. Number one is learning what my industry is talking about, and what’s really important to them. Because that’s then guiding the content that we create, and the products that we create.
But secondly also, I can see people that are worth connecting with. Of which I am doing. So I’m not really contributing right now, to the group. But at least by being in there, I can see what’s going on. I’m learning. And I can connect with a few people. And when I’ve got the bandwidth, I will definitely then start to connect with people. So if you were listening to that just then and thinking, oh. That sounds like too much work. Don’t worry, ease yourself in. This entire series is about easing yourself into things, and doing things slow and steady.

Nicole Osborne:
Absolutely. And the nice thing is when you’re with someone in a group, as you said, you can connect with them. Because… We said earlier on, LinkedIn can be a bit spammy. And it can be. There is no way around it. It can be. You’ve just got to make sure that you’re not one of these spammers.
But how nice is it to say, “Hey Lee. I want to connect with you. We are part of this group. Loved seeing your post.” That’s quite a nice… Hey, I’m interested. I’ve listened to what you’ve done. Let’s connect. It’s not salesy, it’s not spammy.
Do you know why I like using LinkedIn groups? And it really is only a couple for me. It’s because it makes me go onto LinkedIn with this positive frame of mind, because I know these people by now. They know me, we support each other. But it’s of course, about finding those kind of groups. So I absolutely agree with you. Let’s not make it overwhelming.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Number five.

Nicole Osborne:
So number five, really easy one. As you would always encourage your clients to update their website, I am now going to encourage you together with Lee, to go onto LinkedIn and update your contact details. What you need to do, you’re going to need to go on your profile. There’s a little icon with a pen. Which is pretty much, gets you to anywhere where you can update things. So click on the pen, and your contact details come up. So you can add your website address, you can add your Twitter account, your email address. You can also add additional website addresses. For example, if you have a lead magnet for your agency, you can put this in the contact details.
Also, as a specific link in the top section of LinkedIn if you have a creator mode. So really make good use of that, because you want to make sure that people know who to email, where else to check you out. Or perhaps, a link to your portfolio. So if there’s only one thing you do from today’s episode, go and check out your contact details, to really make sure that you never really miss any leads from LinkedIn.
Also, go back into your about section. Because this is again, where you talk about who you help, why you are a bit different. Give them a reason to get in touch, and then add your email address there.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
We want to get traffic.

Nicole Osborne:
Okay.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Number six, if you’re brave.

Nicole Osborne:
We are talking to me here. And I’m all about helping you to stand out, and being that little bit braver. Do you know, Lee… Very quick tip to us. So when… The quick line I have in my head at the moment, oh Nicole, just skip to the good part. If you’re worried about something you think you can’t do it. And what will people think? Just skip to the confident part, and just do it.
So let’s do this for this one. Add a video cover story to your LinkedIn profile. Because I know in the past, we just had the picture. And that needed to be approachable, and smiling into the camera. And that’s all still true. But now, you can also add a video story. So you can briefly say, “Hi. I am Lee. Come and check out my podcast. If you want to talk about dad dancing, get in touch.” Much nicer and more human approach, isn’t it?
So use that function. You can also record a quick audio message just to say, “Hi. I’m Lee. Get in touch.” And also, use your pronouns. So all the tools LinkedIn has… And annoyingly it, updates it all the time. Just use them really, to stand out. And make your profile more interesting than your competitor’s profile.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Folks don’t worry, I have not added… You know I have a YouTube channel. I don’t mind being in front of camera and that, but I have not done any of that yet. It’s on the list, believe you me. But if you’re feeling particularly brave today, why not go and test that and see how it works? Again, let us know over on Trailblazer FM. And finally, number seven.

Nicole Osborne:
So we are talking to a German person here, so I had to bring it something about productivity. Because I know Lee, you are busy. I know our audience is busy with client work.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
How stereotypical. I am disappointed in you.

Nicole Osborne:
I know. Sorry. So what I invite our audience to do… And I never pronounce this really well. Is to batch your content. So don’t just post one thing. Actually, just create a range of 4, 5, 6 posts. And if you then go and post twice a week, you don’t have to worry about it any longer. You can just grab your idea, perhaps tweak it a little bit at the time of posting. But it’s so much nicer for creativity, when you’re in that head space. I’m giving myself a bit of time here, to come up with six LinkedIn posts. So that for the next three weeks, I’m absolutely sorted.
And how do you make this happen? Create some time for it in your diary. And I know this is the obvious thing to say, but I see this so many times when we have new marketing goals we want to try out. Unless there’s a slot for it dedicated to it in our diary, which we are going to use for it, it’s not going to happen. So all the small actions, even where they won’t take you long, make some time for in your diary.
So perhaps with LinkedIn, you can start off with two half an hour slots a week. Perhaps once a month, you have a session where you create all your content. And we are going to show you actually in the resource section, what kind of posts work, what templates to copy to make that really easy for you. So Lee, have got some time slot for LinkedIn work in your diary yet?

Lee Matthew Jackson:
No. I have been repurposing what I do with the Facebook group. So everyone knows I took a good, long break from social media. Including the Facebook group. And Facebook absolutely penalised me for that. However, what I realised is if regularly post content that is engaging in the Facebook group, then that’s going to improve the algorithm there for the Facebook group. And get people talking again.
But equally, what’s working in the Facebook group seems to be working very well on LinkedIn as well. Because it’s that thought provoking, personal post. With a bit of an ask saying, “Hey, what’s your opinion?” And getting people involved in the conversation.
So that’s certainly worked for me. Both on the Facebook group, which is scheduled. I do a little bit each week on that. So I’m doubling up at the moment. And then I will be over time, as I see more and more the value of LinkedIn, committing more and more time. But I’m very much about small, steady steps. I don’t want to overwhelm myself, becoming the LinkedIn king. As it were, within three months. I will schedule something at some point. There you go. This is probably the most honest LinkedIn advice podcast, anyone’s ever heard. Because the host is clearly admitting that he’s not putting all of his efforts into it whatsoever, but he is certainly enjoying the benefits and the results.

Nicole Osborne:
We’ve had some great results. Actually, one thing I just want to say, LinkedIn is putting so much effort into showing us that it is a more sociable platform. That we don’t have to have everything absolutely perfect. They want to see the human side. They have a funny reaction now. They’re encouraging people to do audio events, to go live on the platform.
I know these are all quite advanced things, but it’s the unpolished approach. See what works for you, and what works for your audience. And I have confidence, you will see some good results quite soon. Which will encourage you to perhaps invest a little bit more time into LinkedIn.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
So folks, be sure to check out trailblazer.fm. You can connect with both Nicole and I. We will put links to our profiles. We would love to connect with you. Also, look at the resources. There is an entire playlist of LinkedIn advice from Nicole, which you can go ahead and check out on YouTube. But also, you can check out her blog post on LinkedIn profile tips. So be sure to head on over to the show notes, and get access to all of that. Whilst you’re there, please do comment. Tell us what tip you really resonated with, from this episode. And what small, achievable action you are going to apply in your agency.
Before we go folks, be sure to check out the event. We are finally, after two and a half years, meeting in person again for Agency Transformation Live 2022. That will be on the 10th of November.
Nicole will be speaking. So you get to hang out with both of us legends, in person. There is also, for anyone who’s interested, a open bar from 4:45 in the evening. Where we all just get to chat. I’m not paying for everyone’s pints though, so don’t get too excited. You have to buy your own. But we are at least going to get some real good education, and some good social time as well. That’s going to be at Kettering Park Hotel, here in the UK, agency transformation.live. Link is in the show notes. It would be amazing to see you there. So with that said, all that’s left for me to say is goodbye.

Nicole Osborne:
Wunderbar.

Lee Matthew Jackson:
Cheerio.