Personal Branding, pt 3
How to write content for the right conversations
This is the final part of this mini-series.
If you want to write content that gets you closer to a job it has to support, contribute to and start conversations with the right people.
With that in mind, I’ve had a change of heart in this post.
I was going to share some content writers who I think nail personal branding; however, the problem is that all it does is reflect my own interests.
There is no one right way to write content on LinkedIn, and we all have different strengths and weaknesses, personalities and goals.
Some authors focus solely on thought leadership, some on selling, some on humour, some combining them in a variety of ways.
You can try and copy others, but isn’t it better to help you find your own rhythm, that works for you?
Today’s article is about these points:
finding content writers who may inspire you, and using that as a catalyst for your own words
the vulnerability of writing
how and why to write a flair post that promotes you
fine-tuning to form a habit
what else?
If you are new to this newsletter, don’t forget to check out the archive, and Part 1 & Part 2 of this mini-series.
finding content writers who may inspire you, and using that as a catalyst for your own words
There are broadly two ways to find writers that can seed your ideas for content.
Firstly, if you’re thinking about writing on LinkedIn, you are presumably already reading content.
What inspires you? What do you enjoy reading? Which authors resonate with your career, your values, your goals and the problems you solve?
When you read their content, do you engage and comment? Do you connect with them? Do you ask them who they recommend as writers in your field?
Secondly, look within.
What are the key criteria you want to be known for in your career?
Maybe it’s procurement or your CIPD membership. React or agile. “5 Whys” or Gemba.
If these are areas that interest you, use the LinkedIn search bar to find posts on these topics.
Now filter the results by ‘Posts’ and ‘Sort by’ latest
Read through the results both for posts that interest you personally, and those that have high engagement (less likely on a niche topic).
When you’ve found inspiring content, what next?
One first step in content creation is to respond to these posts with your own ideas. Less ‘Agree’ and more how you might respond in a real-life conversation on this topic.
Replying to other people’s posts is a great way to find your voice, particularly if they reply to your comment.
Like any skill, writing takes practice, and comments are a low-profile way of developing your tone.
If a comment sparks interest from other readers, it can be a great concept to build on as a post in its own right.
The other benefit of this kind of niche content is that those who engage are likely to have similar interests to you.
Make sure to read other comments and see if there are more conversations to be had.
Check out their profiles - do their interests and values reflect yours?
Great people to connect with, then DM to continue the conversation. Check out their posting history which will be available on their profile - there may well be a lot of interesting content to absorb.
With conversation comes content. Ideas and discussion that grow are a great way to share your voice.
Here’s a suggestion for how you can do this in practice:
Look for 5 posts daily that interest you professionally - manually, using a search, or checking what your valuable connections are up to
Engage and comment on each
Check out new authors’ profile - connect and follow their content, if you like what you see
On each post, look at who is engaging, and respond naturally.
Try to connect with 5 new relevant people from these interactions
Perhaps follow up with a message continuing the conversation
Take note of the most interesting conversations, and at the end of the week pick at least one to try and write your own posts
You don’t need to publish them if you aren’t comfortable - save for later if not
Personally, I’d avoid the viral content that combines relevance + relatability + entitlement + readability. These writers mainly aren’t interested in your engagement specifically, just the numbers.
You can see the truth of their words in how they respond in the comments sections.
the vulnerability of writing
You can be a content creator without ever publishing a post, if you continue conversations through comments, connections, DMs and real-life comms.
This avoids sticking your head above the parapets, and is low risk, but misses the gain of publishing your own content.
I know that some people are held back for fear of failure, and I can tell you that clicking “send” is always a high point of anxiety for me in sending these newsletters.
What’s the worst that can happen with a carefully thought-out post?
Tumbleweed?
If no one reads it, you can always try that post again later.
Disagreement?
Loads of people disagree on my posts - you’ll see from my comments, that I am always constructive in my dialogue and typically this supports the intent of my post.
Everyone has an opinion, and they are welcome to theirs - as long as it’s constructive there’s always a learning opportunity.
Trolls?
These people exist and will at some point rear their ugly heads. I imagine them naked on the Underground, which takes the sting out of their vitriol. I’m sure it’s their unhappiness that drives their behaviour too.
Marriage requests?
Unfortunately, dubious and toxic behaviour isn’t uncommon. I’m fortunate I’ve only come across a handful of loons in my time on LinkedIn, but you may well come across them.
Don’t be afraid to block and report, if you receive harmful messages.
As long as you are constructive in what you write, and you work to build a conversation, it’s unlikely anything bad will happen, while you open yourself up to the opportunity of new relevant people starting conversations with you:
hiring managers, recruiters, peers, fellow job seekers, and friendly strangers.
how and why to write a flair post that promotes you
If you only ever write one LinkedIn post, it can be the one that announces your availability to the world.
I’ve no doubt you’ve read the many posts highlighting that someone’s position has been made redundant / laid off, and that they are excited for the next challenge. Perhaps they are even grateful for the time they had with their now former employer.
These often get a ton of engagement, primarily from fellow job seekers, recruiters and friendly strangers.
If their real-life network sees this, they may not even be aware that person was soon to be available. In a lucky coincidence, they may even have a vacancy or know someone recruiting for a suitable role.
But when you read these posts yourself, what can you tell about that person’s credibility from what they’ve written, if all you have is the evidence of their words?
Writing a post that announces your availability is a good idea.
Writing something similar that highlights what you are looking for, your key strengths and how you can help - that’s a post you can take forward.
Because as well as announcing your availability, you’ll show people you don’t know what you are suited for, helping them potentially help you.
While people who check out your profile first, say if you’ve sent an application, may read that post in support of the other information they have. And you can share it in DMs with your real-life network when you catch up with them.
I’d write this post in the classic advertising framework - AIDA: attention interest desire action. It’s the basis of many adverts that influence you to buy.
Attention.
This is your elevator pitch to set the scene. It can be clever or to the point.
“Following the layoffs at ABC Corp I’m now available for my next HR Director challenge, where I can set the people strategy and help scale your business by hiring great people who will improve your bottom line”
Interest.
Highlight your key qualities, which make you stand out.
“I’m MBA and CIPD qualified, with experience growing venture backed Biotech companies as they commercialise, through workforce planning and fostering a great culture”.
Desire.
Turn the screw on what makes you great.
“At ABC corp, I was instrumental in growing their team from 50 people at R&D stage to 350 with a turnover of £110m, leading to the sale of the business to Evil Overlord ltd, who promptly scrapped my job”
Action.
Make it easy for them to contact you (although don’t include email addresses or websites in the post, which LinkedIn will penalise).
“Please get in touch if you know of a suitable role or agency. I’d be grateful if you could like, comment and share for your network”
In your own words, of course.
I helped one of my connections with her first flair post.
As someone who had low engagement (less than ten reactions and few comments per post), this form of flair post led to:
Impressions: 12128
Reactions: 106
Comments 39
Reposts: 13
Additional profile views since posting: 188
Additional connection requests since posting: 50
Within a week of posting.
You may think of this as a salesy approach (there’s nothing wrong with selling btw, it’s a noble art), but I look at it as raising awareness with your network, to help them help you. Few decent people will judge you for asking for help.
fine-tuning to form a habit
It’s a good idea to set a sustainable plan for content writing, which you can adjust on the fly.
Maybe it will look something like this:
Comment on 5 posts a day
Send 5 connection requests a day
DM 5 existing connections a day
Write 5 posts a month
Gamifying helps.
Expectation setting is a good idea too. I see many great writers get zero engagement and it takes time to build - LinkedIn is a hungry beast and penalises time away, especially early on.
But even if you have a long-term plan, posts that fly, such as a timely flair post (make sure to DM me if you write one), can galvanise you to write more.
While, there will be times you don’t have the motivation to write, in which case you can re-purpose your previous content.
If someone didn’t see your flair post, for example, the first time around, you’re helping them by re-posting. While those who have seen it will only be reminded of your availability.
Besides, few people remember or notice repeated content online. While, when you watch TV adverts, you’ll always enjoy seeing a good one again.
what else?
Writing content is, for me, a low-friction way of promoting yourself. From relationships I’ve started through content, I’ve been invited on podcasts, LinkedIn lives, and other marketing activities.
It’s led to many real-life conversations where I’ve been able to help employers and job seekers, including paid recruitment.
However, it is easy to get swept up in LinkedInnitis, where you do it for its own sake.
If you find you’re on LinkedIn because of how it makes you feel, it’s worth taking a step back and revisiting what you want to achieve.
LinkedIn is a business and wants to trap you into its platform - check out the Social Dilemma on Netflix for why and how this happens.
But if you keep intentional, it’s a wonderful marketing platform, research tool, and community. And something you can take advantage of.
That’s the end of this mini-series. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, or need some help writing content.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg
I haven't talked about audio or video much in this series.
Given branding is essentially what others experience of you, those are key elements.
However, they deserve their own article, because they are a different skill set to writing, and relate to other activities such as interviewing. That's for next time.