How to "Brave up" on LinkedIn to grow your success, reach and influence

Hello, everybody. Interesting how every time I start this, I'm upside down. Don't know why, but here we are. I'm Kathy Caprino. Welcome to my Brave Up Tuesday Facebook Live. Happy that you're here today. I want to chat about. Let me get my glasses so I can see. Sorry about that. So I can see. Comments. I want to chat about braving up on LinkedIn. What does that mean? Well, I'll tell you all about what I mean. I'm on LinkedIn in a big way, something like 260,000 followers now. I adore LinkedIn with 450 million people on LinkedIn right now, it's an incredibly powerful tool. And I believe that anybody in a professional, professional arena, most people anyway, will benefit in a great way if they're on LinkedIn in, in a bigger way than they are today. And what happens is, because I hear from so many people, either from my Forbes blog or on LinkedIn, I get a chance to look at hundreds of LinkedIn profiles. You know, I think I get maybe something like 30 or 40 requests a day. So I'm looking at, to link in and connect. I'm looking at profiles kind of non stop and I am seeing some very common, I'm going to call them blunders, mistakes, challenges, problems, things that people aren't doing as well as they could do to. Number one, develop a bigger tribe. Number two, expand their reach. Number three, connect with opportunities that are really going to make them happy. Number four, have more success in even interviewing and certainly finding jobs and matching with jobs that they're going to love. And if they're in the entrepreneurial arena, we all know we need people to expand our success. We can't do this by ourselves. So for entrepreneurs, small business owners, career coaches, consultants, LinkedIn is an amazingly powerful tool and we need to use it. So a few things I want to start with. I feel that how we do LinkedIn is how we do life. I really mean that. How we do LinkedIn is how we do life. So there is a few things that I can see in your profile in maybe three minutes that you don't know. I can see other people are seeing it too. And you want to be aware of this. So let me start off by some of the biggest blunders I see. The first thing is this. If I go to your profile and I don't see a picture, if I see a headline, that's just your job title. And I'm going to talk about that in a little more depth. If you haven't filled out Any of your summary or your position descriptions and what you've done to me, you are either hiding or you're not jazzed about what you're doing. So I'm gonna be. I don't mean to be harsh, I don't mean to be snarky, but I'm gonna tell you how it, how it appears if with 450 million people on this platform, it doesn't excite you to write about yourself. I really believe you're not excited about what you're doing in the professional world. And I'd rather see you not have a profile at all than have it completely blank with one person as a connection, because it really isn't what you want to put forward. So let me break it down to some of the bare essentials and foundations, but also a little more of the in depth how we operate on LinkedIn to build a tribe, to attract opportunities that we're going to love. So. So the very first thing is your picture. Now, you could talk to 50 other LinkedIn gurus, and I'm not a LinkedIn guru, I'm someone who has used it extensively. I think I've mentioned LinkedIn itself came with a film crew of 12 and filmed a video of my work. I think it was two years ago because a post of mine went viral. I think it's got 3 million views now when they first opening, opened the publishing platform. So I wouldn't say I spend every waking minute looking at how to optimize LinkedIn, but I would say that I've used it extensively from that perspective. Here's what I'm sharing the picture. First of all, it's interesting to me how challenging choosing the right photo is for a lot of people. But what we need to remember is it's not Facebook, so it's a professional. Think about it as when people look at you, it's like you're going for an interview. They are scrutinizing. They're scrutinizing and they're seeing, is this a good fit? So you don't want to be in your bathing suit. You want, you don't want to be showing too much anything. It's professional. And I also find it interesting. I think it's a metaphor. Some people have other people in the photo or they're kind of cropped out. What I would say to you is, this is your time to shine. This is your profile. Make it about you, with you. Get someone to take a beautiful picture of you. It doesn't have to cost anything. It could be a Great shot from your, you know, camera phone, but make it face forward, big smile, not a snarky expression because you wouldn't believe how that's such a turn off. You know, if we're getting a snarly, nasty expression, think about here's, here's one tip. Whatever you put out there in the world will come back to you. You will attract more of something. So if you're looking unhappy, if you're looking disgruntled, you're just going to attract it back and you don't want that. So big front forward, you know, great smile. It doesn't have to be boring and corporate. You can make it creative. But understand that what you put out there is what you are going to attract back and you are going to attract people that resonate with what you're putting out there. Okay? The second thing is this, the tagline under your name. This is blunder number one. Don't make it your job title. Do not make it your job title. Why? You are much more than your job. You are much more than your job. I'm repeating these things because it's so important. You know, I see from a lot of perspectives you are more than your job. First of all, I see people who've been at Fortune 100 companies or Fortune 500 companies for 10 years and, and they get laid off and they're over 50 and they're devastated and they don't have a network and they don't have a tribe and they really don't know what they stand for and they don't know how to talk about it. So if you just indicate to the world to 450 million people that you are just your job, then when you lose your job, you lose your identity. Really, it goes very deep. So what I'd love you to think about is everything you have ever been in the professional world. Who you are, what you stand for, what you do at the highest level and who you do it for. That's what should be in your tagline, your headline. So if you look at mine, for instance, and use mine, Kathy Caprino, as an example, I say I think it's now Brave up expert, women's career coach, speaker, writer, leadership trainer, dedicated to women worldwide. So what do you know by that? I made up the term brave up because, you know, man up is a term we use. But what about half the population who's not a man? It's about mustering the courage and the commitment and the perseverance and the tenacity and the confidence to pursue what you want. So brave up to me is the essence of what I'm helping people do. So that's why I've got it there. Some people, you know, I've had people write me, what does that really mean? I'm really interested in learning more. Yay. If brave up is a term that makes people think and makes people reach out to me and say, I don't know what that is, but I want it, it's doing the right thing, right? And I also talk about being a writer, speaker and a trainer because those are my various professional identities, all about helping women advance worldwide. So who are you now? Many people, thousands of people over the years have said, I don't really know who I am professionally. I really have no idea. So what I'd ask you to do, and I'm going to link to it. Below this video I have an 11 page career path assessment. It's questions I wish someone had asked me 30 years ago and if I had answered them, I would not have made the mistakes I made. Really. So sign up for that. Sign up for my newsletter. You'll get that and fill it out incredibly honestly. Don't skim through it. Don't take one hour. It's deep and it helps you look at every job you ever had. What you loved, what you hated, what you never want to do again, what you want to bring forward. You know, the greatest accomplishments, the greatest challenges. It asks you, your values and your personality and the legacy you want to leave behind. Fill out this career path assessment. Then you're going to have a much deeper sense of who you really are in the professional world. So here's another thing. You might be doing a job that 50% of it you like and the other 50% you hate. Don't talk about the stuff you hate because again, remember what you put out in the world you will attract more of. So you know, part of your work is P and L management and you hate it. Don't emphasize that because you're just, you're just gonna get another job that does that. Emphasize the things that you love, Even if they're 10 to 20% of what your job is, emphasize it. Blow it up there on LinkedIn for us to read and tell us why you're so passionate about it. You've got to know how to tell a compelling story about who you really are. So. So that's a key to how to write the tagline. Then let's talk about the summary. And I want to tell you, my awesome friend William arruda, who's a LinkedIn expert and a personal branding guru wrote for my community, bless his soul, an amazing guide, the ultimate guide to writing the perfect LinkedIn summary. So I'll link to that down below. You can sign up for that. But what I see, the blunder I see so often is the way people see summarize in their summary section. The way they summarize themselves is either incredibly boring and flat. And talks about tasks that they've done, but nothing about outcomes that they've delivered, things that they're passionate about, what they stand for in the professional world. The other challenge with the summary is some people have done a motley variety of things and to look at the listing, it kind of doesn't make sense. Or for instance, there's been a long gap. Some people have taken some long time out of the workforce. Well, your summary has to explain you. It has to talk about you in the highest level. And I don't mean lie, I don't mean fake it, I don't mean embellish. But it has to tell a really powerful, compelling story that makes us say, wow, I really want to learn more about this person. So definitely download the LinkedIn guide that I'm going to offer below this video and follow what William suggests. If the summary of you is boring, lackluster, just about facts and just about tasks that you've done, it's not doing you a service. You're going to lose people. All right, let me talk to about. When you list your job functions, so many people leave it blank. They just list the title or they do what we've done on resumes, which is a mistake on the resume as well. Responsible for overseeing, you know, three business segments worth 100 million in revenue. That tells me very, very little. Okay, you had a high level job. We need to know much more than that. In what way were you responsible of all the things you had to do? What are you most proud of? Like I remember in my last VP job, I oversaw two business units and there were lots of things going on with those business units. Some of the programs we had were going defunct. So I revitalized, helped with a huge team, of course, revitalize or one program had lost a lot of its major client support. So the key job was getting more clients. Look at everything you've done and what stands out the most, how you did it in a way no one else would do it and why it matters to you. So again, if I'm looking at your profile and you have nothing under each of your jobs, what do you think? That says, it says either nothing I did was interesting or I didn't like it or I don't even have the energy to write about it. Am I making sense? I would love, you know, give me a thumbs up if I'm making sense. Write a question if you need some help. Let me help you. So another thing is a lot of people's summaries or descriptions, again feature facts and not the needles that you moved. So it's the outcomes people really care about. So, you know, if you revitalized a fading business, gained 10 new clients worth $10 million, even if it's a much smaller scale than that, you improved processes that save 20%. Absolutely. Talk about the outcomes and where you can talk. Use metrics. Oops, let me turn my phone down. Hang on, hang on. Don't go away. There we go. Sorry, sorry about that. All right. Metrics. Use them. Why? Because we have to. It helps us to have an understanding of this in which you worked the sphere of your influence. And don't get nervous, you know, if your sphere was small, that's okay. But give us a sense of if you, if you brought in new clients, what did that mean for the business? Did it turn it around? What was the revenue? What was the percent change? Any metrics that are going to help us understand your sphere of influence. Okay. Another thing that I see people, it's a blunder, they're not doing it well is the idea of endorsements and testimonials. So of course there's two kinds. One is endorsing someone for their skill set. And so for every person you go into your profile. Oh, and I need to share this. There is a setting in your settings functionality where you can turn off, allowing other people to see what you're changing in your profile. And that's really important. You want to turn that off so that people aren't going to get updates. Kathy Caprio changed her title. Kathy Caprino changed, you know, her description. You don't want that. You don't want people to be unless you do. But most people want to make those tweaks and not have it broadcasted every time. So make sure you turn that setting to off. Alright, where are we? Endorsements and testimonials. Okay. Within your profile you are able to set up a certain number. I think it's 20 skills, what you are skilled at. And you know what, I see this too. I know a lot of people and I see that they've listed skills. Sorry, popped off. And now I'm back on again. I hope List the ones that are core to you. Don't embellish. Don't say you're great at accounting when you're not. Don't say you're great at social media when you barely know how to do it. Don't do that always. We want to be incredibly authentic and we want to honor how we're great and how we are of service. So indicate those 20 skills, right? And then what you want to do is give to other people first. And I don't mean fakely, I don't mean inauthentically, I mean find 50 people that you would want to endorse. And you know, often it runs at the top of your, your screen so you can see people and you can endorse them right there and you can keep going and keep clicking and endorsing. Go and find 50 people that, that have made a difference in your life and endorse them for skills. Most likely they'll endorse you back, but even not, you've done a random act of kindness and that will change your day and that will change your week. So endorse other people. Also there's the testimonial function where they're written testimonials and those are more powerful because we get to see the real flavor of what you've done for other people. I feel the best way to get them is write them for other people. And I'm going to link to you a Forbes post I wrote with exact language also for asking for testimonials so you can read that. It's the Forbes post about the three top blunders I see in mid career professionals on LinkedIn. But basically you're gonna reach out to say 10 people who you love and you know love you back, respect you, admire you, appreciate you, honor you. And you could say something like, hi, Sally, you know, I've been so happy to see your success and progress at Microsoft. You know, really so great, so great to see that. You know, Sally, I'm reaching out right now because I'm building up my LinkedIn profile and, and would love to expand my reach and outreach. And I remember so fondly that the, the work we did together or the job we had together or the project we worked on together and I'm hoping that you would be open to writing a few words of testimonial about your experience working with me. Thank you so very much. And I'm thrilled to reciprocate. There's one way to do it. I know it's hard. I remember the first Time I sent my first request, it took me, you know, forever to press the button send. But when you do, it is so, so life changing. Eye opening to see what people really think about you that you really, really never knew. So find 50 people, click on their, endorse their skills. Do that this week. Find 10 people or 50 people that you love that you know, return the respect and admiration and ask them for a testimonial and give them a testimonial. Two other things. There are a lot of different tools on LinkedIn. You can search for people, you can search for jobs, you can search for job titles. There are groups to join. Join every group that you can. I think for me there's a limit of 50. I'm not sure for your profile level. Join them and follow them and add to the discussions. So the third big piece here is thought leadership. No longer are the days that you're good at your job. You're good at being a director of marketing or VP of finance. That's okay that you're in a silo and that's all right. You really today, if you want to expand your opportunities, expand your reach, expand the number of people who know of you so that you can enlarge your opportunities, it's important for you to show that you have thought leadership, that you are not just going in every day and doing a job, or not just in your home office sitting at the computer. But you're thinking, thinking. You're thinking about your role, you're thinking about your field, you're thinking about the impact you're making. You're thinking about other people's impact on you. When you're talking about it, you're leading with your thought. You can do that in so many ways. But first of all, I believe most of us on LinkedIn now are able to post. They can use the platform to post. Use it, use it now. I don't say just throw something up there just to get your name out. It's important that you do it thoughtfully and you think about. Here's another thing. What you post and what you write about should be your sweet spot that you want to attract more of. So I have a client, for instance, who's an amazing PR maven and she had wanted to write something that was way out of. We call it the swim lane or your sweet spot. That isn't a great idea because really you're investing time in writing and you want to attract back attention and interested parties in topics that are going to move you forward the most. So choose five Topics that you care about that are in your sweet spot, that you have something to say about and write a thousand words. The research shows that on LinkedIn posts, 1500 words seem to get the most attention. Start, start sharing your thought leadership. If that scares you, start writing in words. Start a blog and do it for six months just privately between you and you. And then get an editor or someone who you know is a great writer and have them look at, you know, the first few pieces that you want to publish, get out there. The second thing is, well, we talked about that, didn't we? Groups, Start a discussion. In your group, show your thought leadership by asking a question that is going to generate some very rich discussion. One tip about that, a lot of people simply share their posts from LinkedIn or post from elsewhere as a discussion. That doesn't work as well. Basically you're advertising your post and that that isn't a discussion. So what you want to do is come up with a question that is going to be self sufficient in generating thought and discussion and conversation. And yes, hopefully they'll click over to your post to learn more. But your discussion isn't all about me, me, me, see me, me, me. It's asking a question and stimulating discussion that's going to be helpful in and of itself and hopefully people will say, wow, I kind of like what she was asking, what she was sharing. Let me check her post. So the top blunders, I'm going to repeat them. Don't make your headline, your tagline, your job title. You are more than that. You are more than that. You've been working a lot of years. Some of you are just starting out. Who are you? What do you want to be known for and what do you want to attract the picture? Don't make it off to the side. That's very telling, right? Don't make it unprofessional. It's really you presenting yourself to 450 million people. How do you want to come across, right? The summary, make it a cohesive story that ties together. I don't think I mentioned this. If you've done very disparate things, it's going to be disconnected and jarring. Wrap it up together. Make a cohesive story about how all of those jobs, how you're connecting the dots now. You know, it may have looked different, but all of those jobs had one thing in common. This. Help us understand who you are and what you've been working towards and striving towards all these years that you're working and finally build your tribe. There. Share your thought leadership, get endorsements, ask and give endorsements, ask for and give testimonials. Build your tribe there. It's so empowering. And I promise you when you commit some time to this again, how you do LinkedIn is how you do work. If you really can't bear it, I think it's really telling. And I'd ask you to look at what might be holding me back from sharing who I really am at the highest version of myself on LinkedIn and connect with me on LinkedIn. Please do indicate you know, I watched your Facebook Live video, it was helpful. Or indicate something. Oh, that's another thing. Finally, and we're at the end of our time when you reach out to people, write a handcrafted invitation, not the generic you know, I'd like to connect with you on LinkedIn. Write something. Kathy, I watched your Facebook post and it really your Facebook Live and it really resonated with me or I found that healing circle call very helpful. Tell me why you want to connect with me. Yeah, it's work. All of this is work. But it's work so well, so generative. You're going to get back connections and opportunities and maybe even job postings or introductions that are potentially going to be game changers for you on LinkedIn. For me, I've gotten everything from amazing new mentors and sponsors and ambassadors to new money making ventures, new projects, new programs. It's all out there for you. I hope you'll, hope you'll join me there, let me know how you're doing and I hope this is helpful. Don't forget to click the links below on a few helpful tools that I hope will move you forward. Hope that was helpful. Thanks everybody and I'll see you next week for Brave Up Tuesday. Bye. It.