How to Become a LinkedIn Influencer in 6 Months - LinkedIn Post Tips ft. Lisa Lang

To LinkedIn Live. YouTube Live of Self made millennial. I'm Madeline Mann, and I'm here today with Lisa Lang. So today we're talking about how Lisa got onto LinkedIn. She had kind of a sleepy, sleepy profile. Wasn't really using LinkedIn much, and she's a lawyer. And what she ended up doing is she joined my program, LinkedIn for Thought Leaders. She started implementing these approaches and ultimately started ramping up to millions and millions of views on her posts, getting thousands of followers. She became a book author, appeared on lots of podcasts, received an inbound job offer, and has been on so many LinkedIn lives, and her life has been transformed in a lot of ways. So, Lisa, thanks so much for. For coming on the channel.

Well, thank you for inviting me.

Yes. So I want to give a little bit of a teaser here before we kind of go back to the beginning and really see how you were able to make this transformation. I know your mother calls you the Kim Kardashian of LinkedIn. Can you tell us why she came up with that title?

Yeah, she just. It was funny because I would show her. Yeah, know, like you said, it was a sleepy view thing, and, you know, nobody was paying attention to me. And then there was this one post in particular that just kept. I kept getting more and more people, and I showed it to her, and she was like, oh, my God, you're like. Like, I don't know. Kim Kardashian of, like, LinkedIn. Like, okay, no, I don't. I would go that far. It just happened to hit a chord with a certain post I did.

That's so funny.

Yeah.

Kim Kardashian, you're everywhere. Everyone knows your name, too. Good. I love that story. Well, let's. Let's take it back. Let's take it back to before you joined LinkedIn for thought leaders program, before you became the Kim Kardashian of LinkedIn, of Lawyers. What were you doing on LinkedIn?

Like everybody else, just parking my resume there and not doing much with it at all.

Yeah, you're just kind of, you know, just put where you worked, what you did, maybe a little bit. And. And where were you at in your life that, like, what. What were. What was kind of going on for you?

Yeah, so immediately before, well, even like two or three years, I guess, before I took the Thought leader class, I was at a public university in Kentucky, and. Good job, enjoyed my job. No reason to go on to LinkedIn, but. But I do make sure that the. The resume is up to date, and I would Go on occasionally. And, and I don't even think I scrolled through any of the content. I mean, it was just a matter of there is the resume there, can it be seen? And is everything updated?

Right. And so what then made you want to join the program? To completely escalate?

Because I don't think you joined the program to land a job, and I don't think you had any sort of thought leadership already started. So what was that trigger for you?

So, you know, as a lawyer, we've been kind of trained to be afraid of social media, because especially when you're in litigation, you troll social media to find people posting things that helps you in your case. And so you see all sorts of things where people inadvertently do or say things that, that will help you in your case. And so LinkedIn and social media was not something I was really comfortable with, but I transitioned to working at a university. And the thing about working at a university is you're dealing with younger people and their lives completely revolve around social media. So before every semester, our president does what we call an encampment, and he does some kind of professional development for everyone. And so the professional development we had immediately prior to me starting your class was actually on the appropriate use of social media, because it was basically like, listen, this is the way we reach our students. So yes, faculty and staff, we do want you to use LinkedIn and all other social medias for the purpose of being able to provide, promote the university, promote what we're doing, and be able to reach out to students because they don't even read emails. I mean, it's, it's the Instagram, it's the Twitter, it's all of these other, these other social media things. And so anyway, he did this professional development, and at the beginning of it, he had a contest where he told everybody to get whatever social media account you have and to post about the, about our professional development. And then whoever got the most likes, shares, reactions, comments within the time period we were doing the encampment would win a prize. And so I'm like, okay, only social media I really have is my LinkedIn account. So I went in and did something on social media. Yeah, like two, two views. I mean, no, no, no reactions, nothing. And so it was at that point, because you're a lawyer, I don't really interact with students. But the one thing that I thought that I could do was use LinkedIn to help promote our students and.

Our faculty. But what I learned really quickly after that presentation was that you can't just jump on and then have people look at it. Because you're right, you know, when you said I went essentially from zero views to a lot more than that, I thought I could just jump on and I could post something like a celebratory post about something a faculty member done or an award a student got. But I was getting like nothing. And so that's what prompted me to look into doing your course was because I wanted to have a way to positively impact my university. And as an in house counsel, my thought was it's not really that I'm trying to promote myself in my business. I'm trying to promote my, my employer's business essentially.

Right. And I, Lisa, this is something that I feel like happens for so many people is folks on LinkedIn are beating the drum saying, hey, you should show up on LinkedIn, you should post, it's great. And then people do it and they're like, no one saw this, 12 people saw this and the only person who likes that was my great aunt or whatnot. Right. And you feel like, what am I putting this effort in for? And it can be extremely discouraging. But you're absolutely right. And as you learned, there's a recipe for success. There's a reason why certain people are getting like you, hundreds of likes on posts, getting lots of engagement. There is a formula. And I just think that it's. Yeah, but it can be so discouraging if you don't know that.

Oh, absolutely. And it does take work. I mean it really does. And sometimes it's hard at first. And I'll tell you, when I did my first post, it scared the crud out of me. I mean, because putting your first post out there, I mean, even if it is something as nebulous as congratulations to somebody, you know, I just, I'm an introverted heart and so putting it on scared me to death. And so I put it on and then I deleted LinkedIn off my phone and didn't look at it for two days because I was mortified. And I thought, oh God, now before it was I can't get anyone to see it. And then it was, oh God, what if somebody does see it?

Yeah, exactly. And I think so many people face that and they're thinking, what will my family and friends think? What will my former co workers think? Did I say something wrong? Am I going to seem like a phony? And how did you, how did you get past that?

So, you know, I think that LinkedIn can potentially be really good for introverts because you're not looking out at a sea of faces. And so as I started to post things, I got positive comments from people that I knew. And so it was almost like I was texting. It was like I was messaging somebody. And so they were very positive comments. And so I built it up over time because of the positive comments that I were. I was getting. It felt less and less scary.

Yes. And I do talk a lot about this in my LinkedIn masterclass of really starting off those first few posts, getting over that hump. So I will put it on the screen. For those of you who want to come to this free class, you can head to that link. And I think I linked it in the description as well. But yes, it really is. It's amazing because once you see that there's this great feedback, you're posting in the right manner, and then you're also then getting in front of the right people. What I loved about your strategy, and we'll get to it in a minute, but the fact that you targeted lawyers and you're really able to use the strategies to make sure you found that target audience.

It really is. You start then building these relationships so much faster.

I wanted to tell you, I remember the first coaching call we had with the group and. And Andrea, we were all like, oh, we're not getting any views. She posted a cat video or a cat post, and it was like, oh, my God, it's gone viral. And everybody was like, we're not posting stuff that we felt was substantive or about our work. And she posted a cat video and just. It exploded.

Oh, my gosh. I remember that. That was too funny. Oh, man. And so what was it like for you going through the program?

So I thought it was really great. I kind of liken it to when I was taking the bar exam. I took the Barbary, and it. We had a workbook. And what they told us at the beginning is, while we can't guarantee you results, we can tell you that statistically we found if you do exactly what we tell you in the exact manner that you do it, you will pass the bar. And I felt the same way about your course.

It was so well laid out. The workbook was wonderful, and I did it exactly like you told me to, and I filled it out at each step.

And slowly, over time, it started to build so I could see results tied to what I was doing in the book. And I do remember I jumped ahead a few because I got excited, because I was like, oh, this is working. And then I jumped ahead and it was like, okay, yeah, no, and it kind of fell flat. And I thought, okay, I'm going to go back and I'm going to do it exactly in the order that you suggested. And it really worked.

That is, you are definitely someone who followed each step to a T, which is that, that's the thing you need to do on LinkedIn is you need to follow the system. You need to know exactly the five triggers of virality, the exact things that you need to cause someone to stop comment, engage, build relationships. And it is a formula. Right? Like, I think you bring a lot of creativity into your posts and your perspectives, and then you supplement that with a strategy. It's just, it's beautiful. And so how did your perspective of LinkedIn change after you started approaching it this way?

So, you know, where the moment where it really changed for me was there is a lawyer that has, that has turned into a salesman. His name is Alex Sue Su. And he posted phenomenal posts. I mean, they just really resonated with me. And it was that moment that. And I saw how many people were responding to him. And so I made a comment and I don't know what got into me that day, but was about a very personal post, about an experience. And Alex actually reached out after and he said, oh, my gosh, that comment that you made on my post, he's like, that resonated with so many people. And he said, you don't know, you. You don't realize how popular your comment was. And so he was the one who, who encouraged me to start posting. And so that's when I kind of stepped out and thought, you know, I am starting to be able to get some traction. I'm starting to get connections, I'm going to start posting and I really can.

Broaden out my network and I may actually be able to use this for something more. And at some point, based on things I was reading, I'll be honest, right now, I don't spend as much time promoting my employer. Now I actually spend time.

With my thought leadership. And what I learned was that I think it's important that especially general counsels, we get so wrapped up in our identity as being with our employer that we forget that we are individuals and, and that, you know, your employer may have you as an employee today, but like with the pandemic, you could lose your day, your job tomorrow. And so what I really began to think about is that locally I had gotten a lot of my jobs based on people I knew and based on referrals and references and so I was at a point in my career where I felt like I needed to let people know who I was outside of my small geographical region. And so all of a sudden it then occurred to me, I need to have a brand as a lawyer and there's nothing wrong with me creating my own personal brand. And I do post occasionally, you know, celebratory posts about the people at the university, but I also post a lot with and promote myself as a thought leader in the legal field.

This is so cool because at the beginning you said the thing that was the catalyst was you promoting the university, which is great and a lot of people do that. But what I have seen from you as well is, yeah, this evolution of you. You are a brand now, Lisa. Like people know who you are and you also got a job opportunity. You were not a job seeker when you started this journey, but you got a job opportunity because of this thought leadership.

Yeah, I've actually gotten a few at least emails that asking me if I would be interesting, interested in applying and I'm happy with where I'm at. And so I did. Just out of curiosity, I am a recent empty nester and I thought, you know what, wouldn't it be cool if I relocated to another area just because I want to and just, just to get a new job? And coincidentally, that job opportunity was right before the pandemic. And so I am super so glad that I decided not to do it because I just found out that my, my son's wife was about ready to have a baby. And then I was like, okay, yeah, no, I need to stay in Kentucky. So that was, that was good timing.

Yes. What you're doing is there's power in giving yourself options. That's what you've done. You've set yourself up. You now have different job options. You have, you know, and also I think one of the things that's been interesting and I don't know, I don't know if this is something you've been doing, but now that you've built this audience of lawyers, let's say you did have to go on the job market reaching out to some one of those people who then already followed you already hit connect. If you reach out to them, it's no longer a cold message. It's no longer you saying, hi, I'm Lisa. Here's a bit about me. They go, oh, hi Lisa, of course I know you. I loved your posts the other day. You're great. And so now you are again at this elevated position of you're Kind of setting the standards. And also all of the. I would actually love to talk about what are some of the coolest opportunities that have happened since, you know, taking LinkedIn for thought leaders, building this thought leadership. What are some of the things that have come from it that have been cool and unexpected?

Yeah. You know, and so I think part of it is because the pandemic happened. And right before the pandemic happened, when I was on LinkedIn, I was having difficulty finding lawyers. And so I think what I was really posting about more was like, leadership. And I was on occasion posting things that related to lawyers. But I commented on a post. It was an article that was written about mothers who were lawyers. It was an article post in Mother's Esquire, and it was from a Claire Parsons, who is also an education lawyer in Kentucky. And so I connected with her and she became a follower and she started watching my posts. And not too long after that, she reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in joining a networking group of lady lawyers. And I thought, oh, my God, finally lawyers. Somebody that I have, you know, some connection with. So, anyway, I joined the group, and we were about halfway through the pandemic. We probably had about 50 people in the group. And what was so awesome about that group is we really helped support and lifted each other up through that process. So it was really helpful from a social, emotional standpoint, because everybody was going through job loss, having to let people go. There was just all sorts of things that were happening. But so in the middle of all of that, we. We started messaging each other and we were talking about, you know, wouldn't it be really cool if we wrote a book? And we. It was Sherry Belize who had mentioned the fact that there was a book called the Decameron that had been written in the 1300s, I think, about the bubonic plague. And a whole bunch of young people went to the country and told each other stories about what they. Their life and what they've been through. And they each wrote a chapter. So we went ahead and we did that. And as a result of that, we actually did write a book. And so I cannot. I would never have imagined in a million years that I would have ever written a book. And, you know, I think that book has. Has opened a lot of doorways. It will be self published, and all proceeds goes to the National Women's Law Center. But the whole point of the book was not to make money. It's almost like virtual calling cards. It talks about who we are, what we do and what we represent. So that was probably the absolute coolest of all the things that I have done so far with this.

And I think a lot of times people are unclear when we say you need to network, you need to get out there, you need to meet people. Use LinkedIn. This is what we're talking about when we say that you're posting on LinkedIn. You found your tribe, you built these authentic relationships. This opportunity to become an author came through that. And the thing is, is that you could be the best in your profession, so good at what you do, but if people don't know that you exist, those opportunities won't come your way. And so that's what I love about what you've done, is that you have kind of put yourself out there. And when you put yourself out there, it attracts those like minded people, it attracts those people who, who then gravitate towards you and you can build something great. I just thought that was the coolest when that came out. And so what advice do you have to folks who want to get started with this thought leadership on LinkedIn?

You know, I really do think that, like you said, there is a recipe for success. And, and I think that if you're going to do it, you need to figure out how it is that it works. So that's one. And then like with your course, part of what we had to do it was not just understanding the mechanics of how it works in the algorithm and building relationships, but it's also about figuring out what your why is, why are you doing what you're doing? And honestly, it took me a while to figure out why am I doing what I'm doing. And like we talked about, it transitioned over time and, and so I think that if you begin to figure out how LinkedIn works, figure out what it is that you want to be known for, who it is you want to be known by. Then it helps you with your posting and then you have to be consistent. And I post every day, not everybody does that. You don't have to do it and still get good results. But I find that consistency is important and especially because of the algorithm. And it's not a heavy lift for me because I do it in the morning right before work and I've got people I know who are on LinkedIn at the same time. And those people are not only people from the us What I really love is I've got global.

Connections and so I know people who may be in Australia or who are in Great Britain, who it may also be a Great time for posting. So I have. I have a community of lawyers that are on during the time I post. And so I post consistently every day at the same time. And I even find that sometimes my post. My profile views go up during a period when I'm not posting a lot because they're confused about why they don't see a post. They go to my profile to look at my post to see where I'm at.

That's so funny. Like, where's. Where's my daily dose of Lisa?

What's going on?

I do it, too.

There's other people. I'm like, wait, this is. I love this content. Why don't I see it today?

Yes. Yes. And so you've really built up that audience. People can know that you'll show up at a certain time every day. I do something very similar. It's. I mean, it's both. So that you can keep consistent. Because, you know, showing up the same time every day, it helps us as humans to just make sure it's a habit. But then also, you're right. My audience knows when to look for my videos or for my posts and all of that, because we're making it a habit. And. Exactly. Then the profile views go up. Where's Lisa? Too good. So I. This has been so great, Lisa. I feel like there's just so much more to come for you. And just. I loved chatting with you a few weeks ago when you were just saying that you. You feel like you're such an introvert or you are an introvert, but that you. When I was like, hey, you want to come on this live? You're like, I've been doing so many lives. I've been doing so many podcasts. I am so comfortable at this point, which is such a transformation. So I just. For everyone watching. Let me see. I'm seeing. I'm looking to see if there's any.

There's a lot of cool comments here. Wow, that's amazing. She stopped promoting her employer and focus on building herself as a brand, says Ms. Noni. Yes, that is such a. Such a good point. So that really stood out to folks.

Marissa says the posts that get me the most hits are food pics, while the smart, brief postings get little. Okay, got it. That's too funny. It's too funny how sometimes those. Yeah, those dog pictures or those food pictures.

And I just saw. If I can give a shout out. Hi, Flo. Flo just messaged. She said that she checks when I don't post every day. So she told me she was gonna be watching this live.

Amazing. And so, so for anyone watching who wants to come to the master class, it's, it's free. So I will talk more at the class there about the LinkedIn for thought leaders program, if you want to join that. But I also just give a ton of other context and tips and really a lot of these things that can get you started right away posting on LinkedIn. So I will link that on the screen and in the comments so that you all can take advantage of it. Well, Lisa, where can we find you?

So, today I just launched a website, and it's ww.comlawyerlisalang.com.

Or you can find me on LinkedIn. Just search for Lisa Lang.

Love it. All right, Lisa, I'm going to send you away with a WiFi high five. WiFi high five.