Read The Transcript

Transcript
[0:00] But I'm like I went in before I was out. Yeah.

[0:03] We are live on the pirate broadcast. Thank you so much for being here Brad. I am excited. Yeah.

[0:10] This is exciting so it's it's live it's streaming to a couple of platforms YouTube and linked in life.
And also Facebook. So now if we work backwards we're both unliked in here.
Yeah. I love the platform. I've been here since 2005.
It's been you know going through its iterations and I was actually at an event last night talking to somebody and say Well is it linked in just like for job seekers.

[0:44] Maybe you could jump into that and DL that myth for us today.

[0:48] Common misconception Lincoln is not for job seekers and I actually came across some data awhile back from LinkedIn,
that showed that the highest proportion of people who are using LinkedIn are actually using it for professional networking business development branding and the highest group wasn't even job seekers.
I mean there's certain things certainly some Job Search Applications as a part of the network but you're missing a whole huge community of people if you're not using LinkedIn because of that concern.

[1:19] I. I totally agree with you in the.
And also I think the job search process is evolving.
Yeah I heard in an interview the other day with the co-founder of drift which is a startup that you know helps people message.

[1:36] It's a messaging tool that you can use online. Yeah. And he was saying I'm sorry about that.
I said Create with you the most active people that you look for in your employment are folio are people that are already working.
Yeah. And you and you you network with them you connect with them you find out what they're looking for and you write it for them and you ask them to come on board. Absolutely not.

[2:05] It's just one of those things that you just have to evolve into and understand that relationships and building a community around your cause or your goals or your mission is important for us.
It's it's really part of the equation. And I just.
I just wanted to dive into that a little bit. And first I want to ask. You know.

[2:26] Miller marketing. No you're you're in the Detroit arena.
What are you doing. How long have you been here. And just a little bit about you.

[2:37] Sure. Yeah. Awesome thanks. So yeah I've been on my own now for about two years.
I've always been in marketing throughout my career so kind of built up a career as a marketer. Got a knack for digital.
Actually my Lincoln story starts. I joined the network in 2006 and when I was looking to make a job change it was two thousand eight which was the height of the recession worst time to think about making a job change.
But I kind of hit the proverbial glass ceiling if you will. I knew it wasn't going up anymore my company so I needed to make a move and I vowed that to do the monster and had jobs because it was just a black hole.

[3:15] There was lonely people looking at the time. So I kind of stepped up my efforts on LinkedIn and found a position made a direct connection with the hiring manager and the rest is history.
So I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for LinkedIn because that has opened so many doors for me in terms of gaining social media experience building a part of the marketing background I had and then I started just developing an app for you know,
sharing what I knew with others and helping and coaching and training and doing,
presentations and webinars and one day I was kind of ready for what was next.
The universe gave me a little nudge forward and I was thinking about as I was looking for another full time position I actually started getting asked from people my network hey Rhonda since you have some time.
Can you help me with my LinkedIn and can you help me with my social media.
Can you help my company with marketing and then you know I just kind of took a step back and I said Well hold on here I'm not even really trying to find these opportunities.
What if I put effort into this and kind of ramped up this Mellor marketing thing that I had started out.
And here we are today. And on the call with you today.

[4:20] So fantastic good. I'm so glad you're here and I'm so.
I'm excited that we connected online as well because one of the things that I love to do with pirate broadcast is highlight people that are doing interesting things interesting people doing interesting things.
Then the reality is is that we all have a gift to share and we all have a knack for something.
And I believe that if we can highlight it in a way that others can see what we're doing expose it to a new audience of sort.
You know we're still on a linked in however my audience may not be the same audience is looking at your feeds right.

[4:57] Absolutely. And I was curious how you came up with that name Pirate broadcast. I was going to ask you about that.

[5:03] That's that's actually a story so,
I'll tell you the short version of the story. So I actually I actually got an advertising in eighty five and radio television broadcasting you know all of parts of media and,
you know there used to have pirate broadcasting offshore.
So it wasn't regulated by the FCC FFA.

[5:29] OK. And I went broke.

[5:32] So it's like you know you had power requirements if you're on the US and things like that.
And so I didn't have linked in live so I was broke.
I was streaming to YouTube and then taking that link and putting it on LinkedIn.
Awesome because I kept applying for late in life. Is that why I need money. Why do I need to apply that one.
OK. After applying a couple of times I didn't get it so I'm just going to start pirate broadcast and that was that was a shout out to Roger Wilkerson and Bobby the bear.
That was a conversation we had and that erupted from the pirate broadcast. So here we are today.

[6:13] That's awesome. So I've got I've applied a few times. Burlington live and I haven't gotten accepted yet.
You know the first time they they sent me then the nice you know it's not you it's us.

[6:24] However we're being very selective. Don't call us we'll call you if we change our mind.
And then I put in part again and stone silence and I put in another time and I'm like Okay now I'm just gonna hang out and wait until they roll it out to some more people like that's.

[6:40] The thing the thing that you might want to try is just well they send you that message message just go back.
Just keep going back. I mean here's the thing.

[6:53] So there's some statistics saying that linked in lie in the longer format content isn't necessarily gaining as much traction as a lot of people anticipated.
Now one would argue that back and forth however.
You know you have to take the content because my analytics is that.
It has about a 24 hour window. And then then the.
View dies. OK. So if you can get it going in 24 hours and get a new audience in it and then it's all about engagement after the fact.

[7:31] Sorry. Now do you watch your comments during the session or you kind of wait until after.

[7:36] Well let's talk about that. I give I give shout outs to everybody because you know here today as an example Marine thank you so much for being here Celeste.
Seth Phillip Jordan. Joe,
Cheri Rachel. Jay Andrews is here.
Rachel Beck you're awesome. And it's just a matter of,
seeing these people in here and Seth is here and.
But it's hard for me to have a conversation and type.

[8:13] Right. Right. Because there's a delay too right.

[8:15] In terms of the delay. Yes.

[8:18] Your credit and the thought that I said and the response that I had in the in the stream may not be at the same time.
So then I have to go back after the fact and then respond to the people in the feed.
And it's not exact. I actually did a tutorial.

[8:34] Brenda I was going to ask you because it sounds like you've got great knowledge to share on this.

[8:40] So I I've been I started podcasting and probably I don't know years ago.
Yeah I used to run radio stations in Houston too. So.

[8:53] Yeah. So you can hear and I got I got some background.

[8:56] And I've been in technology I've been in technology since 90 to 91.
Like that. So the the reality is is that we all have a gift and we all have a message and we can all share this message and getting people like you on here,
changes the conversation because when you change the conversation and you have a new perspective about what we're talking about with the subject,
it just allows people to see a different perspective. All right absolutely.
So let's let's dive in a little bit because you've been training linked in for a while you've been helping a lot of people,
we all know that there are elements in the profile and it used to be like MCO related right now are more.
It's a little it's evolving. So wherever you be wherever you see the big changes take place in the in the profiles.
What you need to do with their profiles to engage or actually initiate a conversation.
That's really what it's about it for me anyway.
It's not about the numbers as much as about how can I engage.

[10:05] Absolutely. And I guess the biggest piece of advice I would offer is you have to kind of think about your profile from two perspectives. One is the human being perspective.
You know who you know really thinking about when you're working and writing your profile. Who is your ideal target audience.
That's who you're writing your profile for. You're not writing it for the world.
You know if you're not looking for a job don't write it as if it's the same thing as a resume and you're really writing it for who is your ideal ideal target audience and that's who you're talking to and every area your profile.
The other element is kind of you're writing it for a computer you know you are writing it in some aspects for the algorithm because you want to come up in searches for the right key words and phrases you want to make sure that you're filling out every area of your profile because that helps you to come up and more searches.
But you kind of have to balance the computer and the technology element together.
You know even then it's not like a set it and forget it. I mean I was even thinking today gosh I've got to look back on my profile because I'm working on some new things and I want to make sure I've addressed that in my about statement.

[11:05] Yeah yeah. And I.

[11:09] And I'm way overdue on my profile. My profile as well things.
You know things evolve. And yeah like I've helped a lot of startups get started.
You know strategy in building a better profile and doing some tech in the back end.
And now I'm doing because anytime you change your.
Your title. Yeah. And you share with your audience. You get a little more visibility do you.

[11:37] Yeah. Well if you change your headline if you give yourself a promotion then it goes out as a broadcast update.
If you're just tweaking the headline you know once upon a time like anytime you made a change anywhere in your profile Wellington would set up broadcasts everywhere. Yeah.
Last updated his photo Russ updated his experience Russ and it was kind of annoying. So now they're what they have now.
The only things they put out there is you know if you if you add a new position if you gain a promotion you know there's education updates if you're completing a degree starting a degree.
So there's really many of the fields that they used to broadcast out a little bit lighter but I think the way it works is if you give yourself a promotion job title change then it does broadcast out that you'll be referring to is called headline.

[12:27] And just to point that out it's not job title.
It really should be a headline written field. You know add a little bit of different information adjectives keyword phrases and the advice I give to people is this you know do a search.
So let's say for example I was looking to hire Arlington coach.
I would type in the search by Arlington coach and then think about the search results. What you see in the search results.
The only thing we see we see the headshot photo the person's name their headline and then there's some other stuff like the area there in common caption but we kind of ignore that.
So as we're scrolling from the top of the list to the bottom the headline is the one thing that's differentiating that person from the next person from the next person.
So if I just had linked in coach link to an item comparing Lincoln coach and ABC Company Lincoln coach at x y z company it doesn't differentiate me but my headline I have something like I help people unlock the power of LinkedIn and then linked in coach trainer.
So you know how to do it. It helps to differentiate you and then when you're coming up in search results you increase your odds of that person's going to click on your name to go to your profile.

[13:34] You want to create. I equate that area of your profile almost the same way that I look at subject lines in email right.
Because the goal is to tweak it to the point where they're curious enough to click.
Absolutely. Create the curiosity for the click. Yeah. In that way they can go in and see a little more.
So what you have and see what you've done cetera et etc..
So going down that list and then the about you mentioned the about Yeah I've noticed that it's evolved over the years it's like you know Brenda does this.
She's this way. You know it's in third person and now it's it's changed and evolved.
What What tips can you share what nuggets of knowledge.

[14:23] Let me let me let things not to do because I think sometimes those are even more like the what you do type of thing. So what not to do.
Right. Don't do this don't help don't write your about statement in third person.
Brenda is an experienced marketing coach who helps people unlock the power of link. Then you want to use a much more personal first person language.
I believe in the power of LinkedIn and helping people unlock its potential you know more a first person approach.

[14:52] I don't think like the fact that only three lines of your about statement show in the desktop and in the mobile view and in fact if you're watching this broadcast either library playback,
I want you to look at your profile afterwards in desktop you and mobile view side by side look at your about statement but do not click on Seymour because most people will not click on and see more.
I'm telling you guys the hard truth people will but only if you capture their attention.
OK. So if you're not getting to the point quick enough if it's not compelling if it's not interesting you lost them and they're gonna click away.
We're not going to see more and don't not maximize the real estate for the first few lines I'm kind of mixing I don't what they do here,
but that is because we can only view three lines don't add in a line break in between your first and your second sentence because then you've,
you've lost some of that real estate that is so content down to four.
Right. Right. You want to kind of messed everything up is as tight as you can in the first three lines and then.
Add line breaks and make it skim the ball in marketing terms we call it short snack level chunks of copy.
So knowing long paragraphs where it's like reading War and Peace.
You know you want to easy to skim through especially on mobile.

[16:10] I mean mobile becoming such a big part of our society. And you know you're carrying around a phone all day.

[16:18] And I love it. I hate it. Yes. And I love it because it's very accessible and I just get super excited about the whole fact that you know I can I can start a podcast on my phone right now.
Today more thing isn't it. Yeah. I mean we're doing a lot I think of this. Brenda.
I mean we are on a live broadcast. You're in Detroit.
I'm in Phoenix now and we are sharing this information with people around the world. Right.
It's amazing. And we didn't have a producer we don't have NBC we don't have anybody that's out there working with you a hair and makeup crew behind you.

[16:56] You know not that I wouldn't be looking at other men in our hair. OK. My coffee's getting low.

[17:05] Too.

[17:08] However the the beauty of it is that it works.

[17:12] It seems like it's always on and there's lots of noise and lots of activity lots of things that are taking place and that's why.

[17:21] That's why I think it's so important to build relationships. And that's what I love about Lincoln is the opportunity to build relationships.
And I've been linked in live events I've been to you know meet ups with people that have I've met on linked in for the first time and I feel like I walk in the room and I know everybody.

[17:39] Yeah. I mean you're the kind of person if I saw you in person even before today's broadcast the movie had some message rings and exchange and I just immediately I like your personality I just feel like we must really wow and,
you're the kind of person that I think you're your kind of giving it forward type of person relationship builder and we're able to build those relationships with people online so that when we do meet in person it's not like we're starting off from zero or know we,
kind of feel like we already know you pretty well. It's like oh yes we're ready. Can I get your autograph.

[18:08] Yeah. My my I am who I am and it's just like I have the complete transparency it's like I'm here and I'm there and I'm the same person.
So yeah yeah but that's the beauty of it. That's what I love about it. That's what it treat me about it.
So we go through the profile we've done the profile thing.
What are the confusing things you know that I really it kind of bugs me a little bit.
You know the messaging Yeah. You know the whole messaging piece. How do you how do you approach that.
Yeah about individual messages to users or in the individual ask for back and forth because you know sometimes I see him sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I can tag people in you know you know like if I want to introduce somebody to someone else.
Sometimes like I do at you know Brenda.
And it doesn't show up you know how sometimes it.

[19:12] Yeah. So it's not just you I mean there's the interesting thing about in and kind of think about it this way.
A lot of websites will go down for maintenance and then they'll come back up. Lincoln never has any downtime.
So if you're experiencing a hiccup.
My friend Jeff Jeff Yang he calls them gremlins.
He's in the Columbus Ohio area and I kind of like to use the analogy like if you've ever had an earthquake happen right before the earthquake happens.
The pets run around the house like your dogs and cats go crazy.
And then like 10 seconds later the earthquake starts shuddering and it's it's kind of the same thing I'm linked in.
Like when you're experiencing a hiccup attacks not working notifications aren't working tags where they are and then they're gone.
It's probably because Lincoln was working through some changes in that that hiccup occurred right in the middle of those changes.
So then you'll notice Lincoln has changed a little bit that navigation is different or are there some features that either exist now or went away afterwards but it's not you.
And they don't they don't tell us. They don't say Hey we're gonna be having no updates you know Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m.
Eastern so you may not want to post anything.
It's just more it happens in the middle of it and I mean my work around there is try it again you know give it five minutes if it doesn't work if you're in Chrome go in Internet Explorer.
Sometimes that fixes the issue and it's an issue.
Just try it again another hour or two later and it usually corrects itself.

[20:41] Yeah it's well it's amazing number one that it even works. Yeah.
You know knowing you know knowing how computers operate.
Yeah it's it's a monumental task to have six million people on a platform that continues to operate and that that we can livestream on and every right.
Oh yeah. Not a big not a big issue.
The other thing that is is somewhat frustrating at times and I'm not going to you know I'm not complaining. I'm coming from a place of gratitude.
I just want people to understand that because a lot of people don't understand it.
There's no you know to the degree that you do. And I just want to just have this information shared because you're you're familiar with it. Sure.
And so you know like when I went live the first time my profile abuse went up drastically. All really.
Yeah. And then he took that I took the weekend off.
And I've been doing it for probably 10 days and then all of a sudden they dropped like a third set off at this point.

[21:49] Back in like August September. Yeah because minecraft 2 and there's actually something kind of interesting that happened back then too.
It was a little bit under the radar but I did hear some rumblings you know she wrote about him right.
And she was once upon a time on that list that I put out that linked in rock star lists and I have a cap which is one hundred thousand so once you get to that level my point of view is you really don't need the benefit of this list anymore because you're your.
You're wrapping up there and she is you know steadily I think she was around eighty thousand follow a marker so when she first got added issue is like adding more and more people more and more followers all the time and her followers were like jumping up by five and ten thousand,
and she's always been very gracious replying on the thread and at one point I messaged sort of like wow you're almost at one hundred thousand.
I want to let her know you're no longer gonna be on the list but not because I don't love the work that you're doing but because you're you're kind of capped out and.
And she said hey I've actually heard there's a bunch of fake accounts that are being created and linked in and I've contacted them.
And then a week or so after that I think she posted and said that you know the picking up counts have been cleared out and and actually went through and they purged a bunch of fake accounts.

[23:01] And I think what was happening is companies were creating fake,
LinkedIn accounts so that those people could go and follow your page updates and make comments and things like that which helps jumpstart the algorithm so they were creating fake engagement essentially and links and kind of cracked down on that and took a lot of those accounts out.
So I mean if you're experiencing the same kind of dip in profile views and it was right around August September when all of this happened and I don't think it's you and I I think it's there was a surge in some,
instances of was efforts there.
And now we're kind of back down to I mean in mine my my my profile use has ended up.
But they were steadily increasing increasing increasing and then they kind of plateaued and I can't figure out I'm like What am I doing differently am I doing something wrong. No.
That a lot of these fake accounts aren't there anymore. So you know now we're having to really focus on the genuine engagement. So yeah.

[24:02] Yeah. And I I I wasn't worried about it because I,
historically don't chase the numbers as much as I as I want to create the value and continue to add the value into the equation because I think that's the best,
that's the best way to actually absolutely build encourage others to do well right.

[24:27] And I think then the numbers are helpful because they can help us to establish some benchmarks and the data tells a story because if we're posting something and we get no engagement OK that means it's not really interesting and we've got to shift our progress.
But I agree with you I think you know chasing after followers I mean I could increase my followers just by sending out hundreds of invitations every day.
But I want to. I want to increase my network with the right type of people to connect.

[24:53] Well firstly it's just you know artificially inflating those Well what are the big challenges I've had over my entire career is that I have a lot of interest you know,
my diversity in my my resumé is pretty extreme you know from firemen to a farmer.
So it's it's really it's really depends on what project I'm working on.
Determine you know who the audience is.
And so crafting the audience and the messages is a little more difficult.
At times. I'm not gonna say it's impossible it's just a little more difficult. So.
You know growing numbers organically in relationships and engagement and encouraging others to do well as is been productive for me you know.
And so hopefully that's.

[25:45] Kind of bullet proof on the algorithm anything the algorithm is good again.

[25:50] It's worth getting an album is essentially trying to promote and reward genuine engagement but there are unfortunately people out there that are trying to game the system you know whether it's creating a pad or are other techniques to kind of work around.
But it does come back to kind of trying to understand what it is that Lincoln is rewarding in terms of behavior activity engagement,
and really that's based on what your network is doing in terms of how they're responding to posts and things. So yeah.

[26:23] What do you think it rewards value. That's the way I look at it. It's the rewards value so if you put a value out.
You might get a reward. Yeah absolutely. Yeah. So.
So you you you brought up your list. Yeah.
I love your list. I loved your work that you're doing and the the the content you capture like that.
That feels to me like a lot of effort. And you said that it's not that much effort.
Yeah well it's the truth. I mean now that it's up it's really not.

[26:56] I mean it's probably about an hour a week to to obtain the data drop it in the chart do the calculations or create the images.
I it's I mean I work fast and I have the templates that are already in place. You know what.
What's of a system and I have processes lots more time consuming and and it's it's not a negative thing it's actually a positive thing was more time consuming as the engagement after I post it.
I watch and I watch your comments and I'm replying back with comments I'm answering questions you know and as every person.

[27:31] If the people on the list are commenting on their thanking me I want to acknowledge them and say you're welcome in some ways I'm like How do I do this you know what am I really going to do.
But I originally started this and it's what it's called I call it the miller marketing Winton rockstars so.

[27:45] Mueller marketing it's me it's not LinkedIn it's not the Forbes Fortune 500 list it's just me and it started I was inspired by John Experian who he is a heavy Eglinton user coaches a technical copywriter based in the UK,
and he was reporting on his post data and different things and I and I kind of kind of started thinking well what if I track other people that are really racking it I'm like ten who have great posts getting good network engagement.

[28:12] I started this and it was probably actually is about a year ago now.
I started just in an Excel spreadsheet listing out the people that I was watching and linked in that I thought were doing a really great job and they had either huge followings or I knew them and I really like the work they were doing and that was last November ish.
I started the list and then march. I'm like What if I publish this and put this on LinkedIn.
I wonder if people would be interested in this and the way I sort the list is by total number of followers.
But then week over week I look at who's kind of the capitalists and that's the person who has the highest percentage increase in followers,
so it increase so not just the people that are have you know three hundred thousand dollars at the top and 300 at the bottom but it's who's growing at a higher rate week over week which,
is a portion of new connections but also people that are visiting your front profile and clicking on follow.
So I put it out in March and I tagged the people I think at the time I think I tag the top 10 people in the list and I was tracking around 100 people or so and I got a really nice response back from the people that were in the top 10.
But then you know others were like wow this is really fascinating. Thank you because I don't think this exists and LinkedIn doesn't put out a list.

[29:25] You know they've got hazards that is so true and I just have to applaud you for doing the work and the effort and I think it's fascinating and I'm you know,
I'm one that I noticed the numbers because if I if I'm not putting out the value I want to change up what I'm putting out because yeah you know things change topics change.
However the the beauty of it is is that you can actually see also who's doing great work right.
And you can go connect with them and it's and it's really it's really easy and it's really simple. Thank you so much for doing.
Doing it I love the work that you're doing on that and so I wanted to bring you on the show today and and connect with you on a deeper level and make sure that we understand that we have resources here on LinkedIn. We have.
Wonderful people doing amazing things. And I just put you in that category. So thank you so much for being here.

[30:20] Thank you. No it's really just an honor to be on with you and a ticket to chat with you a little bit more too because I think like we've had sharp messaging the exchanges like that here and there and I love your your catchphrases.

[30:32] What is it. My my health or was it free. Kindness is cool.

[30:35] Kindness it's cool I love it and yesterday I think what you posted about this video going up today and Shelly reply back and she's like all two of my favorite people I'm like well of course Shelly knows Ross you know.
I think you have that that personality that attracts those type of people to you meaning the people that kind of believe in the same philosophies and values that you do too and,
you know I don't know you got to be kind of selective about the entries you doing because you could be doing these things all they want to do in your business but for the right people the people like you I love doing these things to you because they,
I like adding to that conversation and being a part of a community that. Thank you.

[31:10] Well you know we're all so busy and everything you know in our lives and taking the time out to do this is is an honor and a privilege to be able to highlight you and get to know you better.

[31:21] So I thank you for doing that. And it seems like our time is just like I was looking at the clock here while it's about a half hour.

[31:30] It has been half hour and I like to keep these shows about half hour because just you know it makes sense and it's if I believe the consistency,
longer term over time will be be the deciding factor in sticking around.

[31:48] Right.

[31:49] So yeah. And people know what to expect they're going to come in and get a half hour versus is it going to be an hour and 20 minutes today or what's happening here.

[31:57] What's your risk going to bring to the table today. I rebroadcast.
Going to do today. Yeah that's kind of the thought the thought process had it.

[32:06] You know because it's just taping and radio you know you expect a certain show at a certain time and it's just it's just I think a good practice.

[32:15] So we'll see if you see how it unfolds.

[32:18] Well now that I know to these are these are every what is today Wednesday. Tuesday is Wednesday the 30th. So it's every Wednesday at this time right.
So it's every day Monday through Friday 7:00 every day eve and claps.

[32:29] Well I will make sure that weekends I do take the weekends off.
And I still clock in a couple of two minutes here and there. So I'll be the two minute tips. OK. Thank you so much.

[32:41] Keep my phone nearby and during those times like a watch your other live broadcast.

[32:46] And so as you know. Thank you so much for being here Brenda kindness is cool.
Smiles are free and you enjoy the day. Thank you guys. Have a good one as well.