Social for Growth: Accountability, Trends and a few tips for LinkedIn

Hello,

And welcome to issue number 20 of my LinkedIn Newsletter.

January is traditionally a time for reviewing, planning and trying to create new habits. But old habits can be hard to break without a plan!

In this month's newsletter, I will be sharing.

• My tips to keep yourself accountable and stay on track with your social media and general marketing.?
• What you need to think about before you jump into the latest marketing trend.
• How to go live on LinkedIn and make that live go the extra mile
• Why the term 'personal branding' needs a reframe

Some tips for keeping yourself accountable

If you are already slipping back into old habits when it comes to marketing your business, then try the following:

??Make a plan you can stick to:?A realistic plan for you might be to do less rather than more.?

??Treat yourself like a client: Put non-negotiable time in your diary to do your marketing and ensure it's part of your work time rather than over the weekend.?

??Tell people what you plan to do:?You are more likely to get it done if it's out in the World.

??Set small but achievable goals:?10 minutes a day can make all the difference.?

??Find an accountability partner: Having?someone you can trust to check in with regularly will help you stay focused.

??Celebrate:?You stayed on track. That's worth celebrating.

If you are still struggling to stick to your plan. Ask yourself the following questions.

??Am I doing too much?

??Why am I doing this?

??Do I need to change anything to ensure this is sustainable for me right now?

A few simple changes will help you to stay on top!!

What you need to think about before jumping into the latest marketing trends…

Social media has its trends, much like fashion, furniture, and travel, and it can be tempting to get shiny object syndrome and jump on the trends bandwagon.

It's tempting to embrace new social media trends, particularly when it comes down to content types and new platforms - and it seems as if everyone else is doing it.

But It's important to remember that trends come and go, and that trend might not serve you or your business well. So, before you throw everything at threads, start producing YouTube shorts and develop a strategy for 'Be real'.

Make sure you understand the following:

??Where your audience is online

??What their challenges are

??What type of content do they like to consume

??What are your objectives for social media

You need to understand the answers to those questions to avoid putting a lot of time and effort into something that might alienate rather than attract your audience.

So, make sure you lay a solid foundation and do your research first. It will serve you much better in the long run, and then you can choose the trends that are right for you.

LinkedIn Live Tips??

Going live on LinkedIn or any other social media platform is a great way to connect with your audience.

Connections build conversation, and live videos will help people see and get to know the real you. But it can be pretty daunting - after all, most of us aren't fans of being in front of the camera.

If you are thinking about going live on LinkedIn, here are some things to consider and some valuable tips:

1) Creator mode: To go live, you must be in creator mode. It's free, and you can switch to it in your profile. Creator mode also unlocks many other valuable features, but only use it if you plan on regularly creating content.??

2) Collaboration is key: Find someone to talk to about a subject that is interesting to your audience and relevant to your business. You can go it alone, but it's much easier to manage, less daunting, and more likely that you will connect with your audience if you have someone to talk to. Collaboration is vital to success on social media.??

3) Marketing your live:?Videos are an excellent way to generate much content quickly, but they do take time! So make sure you take the time to let people know when it is happening, the purpose, and what they will get from it.???

Setting your live-up as a LinkedIn event is a great way to do this. Here are some of the benefits:

• Your live will appear as a post in your newsfeed and show up when people search for similar events or content.?
• You can also feature your guest speakers; they'll. They'll get a notification that the event is live and can share it with their network.
• It's easy to invite your contacts and get people to register. This way, you can see who registers and what type of people might be interested in your event!
• You can use the event link to promote your life by Sharing a link on your other social media platforms and adding it to your email signature. Include it as part of your email marketing, adding a link on your website if you are planning in advance.

4) Be Prepared: I always find the key to doing live video and not getting nervous is to prepare, but not too much - you don't want to sound like you're reading from a script. (This is one of the reasons why it's good to get other people involved so you can bounce ideas off each other).??

Create a document with the topics you want to cover, including any subheaders under those, and research your topic. The amount of prep you do is up to you!

5) Check the tech:??Unlike Facebook or Instagram, you can't just hit a 'go live' button on LinkedIn. Instead, you must use a third-party tool to connect to the platform and go live via that platform.???

I've tried a few, and my go-to is Streamyard. It has a wide range of features; the only drawback is that the free version won't keep a recording of your videos to use elsewhere (not great for content repurposing).

Before you go live, check your microphone and camera, declutter your background and ensure you don't have anything to distract you.

Then, check via LinkedIn that you are live (The last one might just be me being paranoid!! But I was once 14 minutes in before I realised there was an epic tech fail and a whole bunch of people telling me it wasn't working).

6) During the live:?My top tip is to be yourself and try to enjoy it!!?

• Make sure you introduce yourself and the purpose of the conversation.
• Leave time to answer any questions in the comments
• Summarise your key points at the end.
• Stick to the time you allocated, or you may get cut off.

It's also a good idea to go through the comments afterwards and respond to them - this way, you can understand what was helpful to your audience and answer any other questions.?

7) Make your live go that extra mile:?Firstly, you have a golden opportunity to create new connections and reach out to the existing ones! Those who registered or watched the live - were interested in the content.???

Do take the time to reach out to everyone who attended, connect with them and thank them for their interest. This can also be an excellent way to gather feedback on your topic and the format.?

Your live will remain in your LinkedIn newsfeed for a long time. Make sure you capitalise on this by adding it to your features section.

The content from your live is also ripe for repurposing elsewhere. You can:

1. Upload the video to other social media platforms to spread the word.
2. Upload it to YouTube - to help increase your discoverability.
3. Embed the lives into your website and showcase your knowledge and expertise, creating more traffic to your website.
4. Edit the video and make a series of short snippets for other social media posts.
5. Transcribe the audio and upload it as a blog to your website.
6. Break the key points into a series of social media posts, emails or even individual blog headers.
7. Use the questions and comments you were asked as prompts for social media posts, email or blog topics.
8. Reshare the live later on in your social media and email marketing.

And finally remember to have fun with it!!

Why the term personal branding needs a reframe

Firstly, I advocate for building your professional reputation and help people do so. If your business is you, you are the face of it, and you need people to know you, trust you, and understand the transformation you offer. And why you are different from 'Claire the Coach', who lives down the road and seems to do the same thing as you.

If you are employed but client-facing, you embody what people think about the business you work for and are a crucial factor in their decision to do business with you and your company.?

But the term personal branding feels icky, narcissistic and probably not very you at all.?

I have heard the following in the past week:

'I am not a commodity'

'I don't like blowing my own trumpet.'

'I'm NOT perfect or polished; I am just me.'

By calling it personal branding, we are making it sound like a big, scary thing that feels like a massive project that doesn't really reflect who you are and how you help your clients.?

In contrast, when we talk to people about building their professional reputation, they understand, nod and ask how to do that. That is still personal branding, but it sounds friendly, not quite so scary and a little less personal.

The truth is we all have a 'personal brand'; it's simply another term for your reputation - what people think of you and what they might say about you to others. It already exists, but often unintentionally, so the problem here is really the terminology.?

If the term personal branding creates a barrier for you in your marketing. Then remove it from your vocabulary, call it something else and think - what am I known for, and how does this help people?

If you want to hear more about why I am not a fan of personal branding and how you can focus on telling your professional story, grab a cuppa and tune into my latest LinkedIn live with the awesome creative copywriter - Mel Barfield - you can find the link here. We also share some ideas on how to use the stories from your career to build your professional brand and make it seem a little less personal.?

Thanks for reading…

I'm Mel, a social media and email marketing strategist, trainer and consultant. I help businesses and individuals just like you develop and implement practical strategies that fit with the time, money and resources you have available.

I do this through training, coaching and strategic development to support you in the way you need.

I'm also a small business owner and mum to two gorgeous kids - so I know all too well the challenges we face!

If you would like to learn more about how I can help you develop practical strategies that can move your business forward, please send me a DM or email me at [email protected], and we can chat.

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Mel x