The Uncommon Leader Podcast

Leveraging Social Media for Powerful Business Growth with Katie McKiever

• John Gallagher

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What if you could turn your social media presence into a powerful tool for business growth and thought leadership? Today’s episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast promises just that. We're thrilled to have Katie McKiever, a seasoned social media communications consultant, share her journey and expertise. From the early days of Facebook business pages to the sophisticated personal branding opportunities on LinkedIn, Katie provides valuable insights and actionable tips for optimizing your social media profiles, engaging effectively with content, and maintaining a consistent posting schedule.

Katie underscores the game-changing potential of personal branding over corporate branding, particularly on LinkedIn. She introduces the 3-2-1-go framework, a simple yet effective strategy to help anyone kickstart their LinkedIn presence. By focusing on three types of posts, engaging twice a week, and committing to one platform for three months, listeners can break down the process into manageable steps. We also address a common concern: the fear of employees going rogue online. Katie highlights how empowering employees to represent your brand can significantly amplify overall brand visibility and engagement, offering strategic advantages that far outweigh the risks.

To wrap up, Katie shares a poignant childhood story that fueled her passion for helping others, adding a deeply personal touch to our conversation. Her narrative not only enriches the episode but also emphasizes the importance of authentic connections. As we conclude this enriching conversation, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Katie for her invaluable insights and to our listeners for tuning in. Remember to share this episode with friends and colleagues who might benefit from our discussion and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform to help others discover our community of uncommon leaders. Let's continue to foster growth and champion excellence together!

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Speaker 1:

Everything you have is ready at your fingertips and you can get started today, because what you're going to learn as you do this 3-2-1-go framework, you're going to start learning how, what people resonate with and what people engage with, and you're going to conversations or relationships that are going to start from this, that are going to stay with you and lead to bigger and better.

Speaker 2:

Hey, uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader podcast and I'm your host, john Gallagher. Today, I've got a really cool conversation with Katie McKeever, a social media communications consultant, who is here to share her insights on leveraging social media for thought leadership and business growth. In our conversation today, katie dives into a fascinating journey of discovering the power of social media, starting from the early days of Facebook business pages. She emphasizes the importance of individuals representing their brand online, especially on platform like LinkedIn, and shares actionable tips for optimizing your profile, engaging with other content and posting consistently. So get ready, uncommon Leaders, because this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable advice that you won't want to miss. Let's get started. Katie McKeever, welcome to the Uncommon Leader podcast. It's great to have you on the show and I can't wait to chat with you today. How are you doing?

Speaker 1:

Oh, I'm great. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and ready to dive in on all the topics we have planned for today. I'm excited.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's a topic I've been wanting to chat about on the podcast, and I know the listeners are going to find value in it. Before we jump there, I'll start you off, though, with the first question. I always ask my first time guest, and that's to ask you to tell a story from your childhood that still impacts who you are today, as a person or as a leader.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, this one, yeah, this one took a while to kind of get to, but I appreciate the question. And so it brought me to middle school and a moment where I was the new kid at this middle school. Moved from a different city, new city, new school, I'm the new girl in class and you know I had weren't really making many friends, wasn't really making any friends. And then I got called down to the principal's office randomly one day and I remember walking in and there was a another person sitting there that looked my age and I didn't know her and the principal, you know, sat me down. I was so confused and I was like what, what did I do? I'm brand new here and it was newer, it was earlier in the year, uh, and the principal asked me and said introduced me to the this new student of another fellow new student. You know, I was just a few months into the school year but she was brand new, like I think that was her first day, and she was like Katie, we have a new student here and she was a foreign student, she did not speak English at all, and she said Katie, I know you were a new student here and still are, and I just wanted to ask if you would kind of be someone that this student could be, you know, could know and you could befriend and help around the school. And I will tell you, I can still remember that feeling of, and we became friendly and I helped her and just I mean just a really condense of story.

Speaker 1:

I just remember the feeling of somebody else seeing a something in you and kind of giving you power to do something, with that Meaning I was the new girl, but that was an advantage. I was walking around the school like this is a disadvantage Girls weren't talking to me, I was not making friends. It was a tough time. I, you know, later made many friends, of course, but it was a tough go there at the beginning and I was thinking, you know, walking around, like woe is me, what's going on? And here, you know the principal. I felt like, oh my gosh, the principal saw this in me, knew I could like do this and help somebody else. So that, oh, such a moment of and carried through.

Speaker 1:

As you know, you asked that question and I had to think on that. It truly carries through of me wanting to help other people and that's everything to me, of me wanting to help other people and that's everything to me of me wanting to help somebody else that I have unique skills to do, and this is like. All I want to give to other people is the empowerment to do that is your unique skills, like where you are in your unique situation. And you might not see that as a moment for opportunity, but truly it is.

Speaker 1:

I didn't see it as a moment for opportunity, but somebody else did, took me, gave me the opportunity to help somebody else with that too, and we became friends, we hung out. I kind of showed her around even though I was still figuring out too, but I had an advantage of at least speaking the language, figuring out too, but I had an advantage of at least speaking the language and knowing what you know, kind of having that, that sympathy, that empathy of I know what it feels like to be new. Of course I could, you know, get understand her and where I could really help her. So that was just like such a moment of of of connecting to what I love doing and that is truly helping somebody that I know I have unique skills to help.

Speaker 2:

So I so appreciate. First of all, I love middle school stories like that in terms of how we didn't know, and that's that's part of the question is that it digs us back into something like where did I find you know the skill to do what I have? And we usually find it somewhere around that fifth or sixth grade. You know Rory Vaden, we have the common connection in Brand Builders Group. We're most powerfully positioned to help the people that we used to be. You're with a brand new student, but in the case of you know the work that you do today and we're going to jump into that. You know you are able to help people be seen who may not be seen right now, in terms of helping them learn how to do that and get their message out there and be heard in terms of what's happening. I think that's really cool and I appreciate what you have to say.

Speaker 2:

With regards to helping somebody out, you go from the brand new person to really the experienced person, what they saw in that. So congratulations to you. I love the through line, love working our way through that, and that leads in actually to our conversation and why you're here today to talk about let's use the term high-level social media and what that means. So your title is social media and communications consultant, if you will, katie McKeever LLC. You own your own business, which is really cool. What in the world does a social media communications consultant do?

Speaker 1:

Well, it helps people and brands tell their stories and use digital tools that are free to all of us to connect with other people. And I'm just I mean, another through line for me is just people. I have touched media in all different ways and when social media came along, I was like, oh, this is my direct connection. I've been in radio news magazine print, my direct connection, I've been a radio news magazine print and so I just love people and and the humanity of connecting and so you know, and those are all different, with podcasting, like these are all ways to get and communicate to people. And then when social media came along, I was like, oh, this is a direct connection, I can have this one-to-one. Yeah, it's not in real life, but this is like at scale. I can find people, find audiences, connect with them, tell engaging information, valuable information, and get that direct feedback.

Speaker 1:

So that's what I gravitated toward when social media came along as an opportunity for helping people. So I quickly learned it, continue to learn it. Of course it's always changing, but really what it comes down to is brands and individuals being able to connect with people in a way that's human, that's engaging, that's valuable, that's helping and you get to offer up something and have people stumble upon it or find it, and then they're connected with you. I mean, it's incredible. It's what we do when we walk into a networking group, it's what we do when we walk into any room, but this is on a digital platform and at scale and being able to find people that we can truly and uniquely help.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I appreciate that and I'm going to actually go a little bit deeper there on the catalyst that it was. I've heard the expression that people the two most important days in a person's life are the day they were born and the day that they figured out why they were born, and I sense that there's a piece of the story you mentioned. When social media came around, you're like wow, there's a moment that says I can actually help others do this as well. Was there a specific moment? Was it Facebook? Was it before that? Was it something like that that said, yeah, I can do this.

Speaker 1:

Oh, absolutely it was Facebook. When Facebook made the shift from just being a platform for college students to connect and then when it became, when Facebook first offered up company pages to businesses, that's where it was. I was in a marketing and sales role at a company at the time and pages became a thing for Facebook through Facebook for businesses. I was like this is it. I love everything about this. I am creating this Facebook page for this company I'm currently at and I'm gonna learn this thing, and I was just obsessed ever since with all the different platforms emerging after that and becoming opportunities for people and brands to connect with others. But that was the moment is when pages came along and Facebook started offering that and businesses could directly connect to their consumers. I mean, it was incredible.

Speaker 2:

I was probably a slow adopter. I'm a late adopter on many of those things and I'm sure I was, but I know when. I first probably can remember my first Facebook post and I remember the picture that I was it was a Halloween picture of the family that we took. It was the first thing that I posted on Facebook years ago, so that was 16 years ago 17 years ago now in terms of posting that. So Facebook kind of has that feeling of the people that you used to know. But when we're really talking about leadership here and what you do today in terms of consulting and coaching leaders individual leaders as well as organizations on their social media strategy, you've coached as folks are journeying down that path to utilization of social media as a leader, and maybe organizations as well.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm. Well, social media, from a thought leadership standpoint, is so powerful. I mean, we know that. But there's a few barriers and really I come at it from two different ways. Barriers and really I come at it from two different ways. You know, I help companies and brands position themselves and also help position their people. So the power is in the people, truly is. We want a one-for-one connection, we want a face. We you know it's really hard to connect with a logo. There's, like you know, there's there's this bit of being removed from a brand initially. So really, when, when social media platforms and and I like to lean into LinkedIn from a thought leadership standpoint and LinkedIn really gives value and additional push to the person, to the personal profile versus the business and the brand profile, so those two things need to work together for an overall brand really to shine online. So that's where I come in. Is I kind of bridge the gap between, maybe some thought leaders that you have in your operation, like you have some people that are the movers and shakers, the ones that lead internally, lead externally, or you know, the ones that go speak at the conferences, represent your brand, the ones that you know are going into the networking events, like you know who those people are, but, you know, maybe they haven't accessed LinkedIn in a way that really lets them shine online. They're doing great in representing you in real life and in-person opportunities, but there is a huge opportunity for you to let them kind of go and do and represent online, and LinkedIn is a great, it's the perfect place for that. And then also, at the same time, you need to have your brand representation, your brand page, humming along and all of that intersecting and strategically working together so that it can kind of just lift all the time, you know, lift all the ships there and make it all strategic and work for the brand as a whole.

Speaker 1:

So, when it comes to a barrier standpoint, though, is that you know, traditionally social media from a business standpoint, like that's, you know, a social media manager role, a social media team position you know set up, that's been in the works, like those are roles that are established. I think just more and more, what's emerging is these opportunities for individuals to take on social media for themselves and to represent a personal brand online, and businesses just haven't caught up. Especially large organizations just really haven't caught up with that idea of allowing and kind of empowering their people to represent themselves in a professional way, but on their own channels. So you know, you have social media teams and social media managers represent a brand, putting out great content and doing all that work. All that engagement work, all that, all that thought leadership from a brand work, all that you know marketing and communications and and all of that like that's great. But you have the most powerful opportunity in your people and allowing for your people to get on to platforms and empower them to help tell your story too. And I will tell you. You know I have so many statistics from LinkedIn that and I have done this work for multiple organizations to help.

Speaker 1:

Employee advocacy is what it's called. It's helping your employees become the advocates for your brand and LinkedIn and every social media platform it gives preferential treatment to the personal profile. So if you have your people and your individuals out there representing you on LinkedIn, they are getting widespread engagement, widespread reach, just inherently because they are an individual profile and every platform wants individuals and users representing themselves. They need the people there, they need the individuals there. They need that kind of one-to-one engagement. They need these thought leaders to rise up the ranks, because that keeps people there.

Speaker 1:

Nobody wants a platform that's just brands kind of spewing their marketing all the time.

Speaker 1:

They need the real humans behind these brands and that's what I advocate for businesses to do is to empower their people, empower their leaders to represent their brands professionally.

Speaker 1:

And you can do these in safer ways, because the barriers come up when brands are scared of that. What if somebody goes rogue and starts talking about something and that's like a crisis situation starts talking about something, and that's like a crisis situation. I have been in those time and time again of you know you have to kind of reel back some things that you know some employees might be doing online. I get that Social media can be a scary place, but a place to kind of dip your toe into this is LinkedIn, because Business Insider has said that LinkedIn is the safest platform and I see CEOs and executives and C-suite and leaders across the board feel safe on LinkedIn and feel like they can voice their thoughts on business insights. It's so powerful to do that and so empowering your individuals and thought leaders to do that and to feel okay doing that is really a place you need to lean into and try to get to, and that's what I help businesses do because the opportunity is massive.

Speaker 2:

Love that Look and I'm so glad you shared that as that barrier, that fear inside of the brands, inside of the businesses, for their individuals to talk as well, if you will, and one of the ones that hadn't hit me before really was afraid that they will go rogue and say some things as a representative of the brand and cause some challenges down the road. So there certainly would have to be some at least equipping them with the proper activity and learning to do that. But the second, you know and I've heard that fear before and let me know if you think this is or not is that well, they'll build their own personal brand and then they'll leave and they'll take those individuals with them. Have you seen that before in terms of fear in organizations?

Speaker 1:

The fear is, yeah, the rogue employee. And to combat that, it's really just making sure you have a strong social media policy, make sure you and I've done this so many times you just have to button up the social media policy. You got to make sure it's communicated and circulated and everybody understands what they're signing up for, and so you just need to have those kind of checks and balances in place. Great, that's one. Then jumping over to the thought of oh well, then if we let them kind of build themselves up, we know they're amazing. We don't want other people to see how amazing they are Like this, this is we have, I. I cannot stand behind this, like I am so against that frame of mind because, truly, if you have such a star, let the star shine and what happens happens like we can't. We can't control anybody, we can't control what might not happen, what might happen in the future, but please, let your star shine. Wherever they may be. It just makes you look good, great. So if they do move on, amazing.

Speaker 1:

You were in their roster, so that, just like. So there is still a tie to you being part of that growth and you were there at the inflection point, so amazing, like, how great of a pat on the back of a brand could that be Of? Like you know we helped, you know we were part of this growth and I think it's just this, the kind of scarcity versus abundance mentality that you know so much of of, like you know, being being having our own, you know businesses and working in that space. Like you know, if you're too tight to the chest and, like, just you know, can't let your people do and shine, then it just, I think that says way more about your culture internally than it does about what may happen in the future. And that's just a tough spot to be in, because there is enough out here for everybody. There's enough for that person to represent you and themselves and that to be just a really cohesive magic balance.

Speaker 1:

And I guarantee if they're that much of a star, you're that fearful, they'll figure it out for themselves anyway and you will be able to have any insight into what they're doing. If you can make this a partnership. I've seen this work so brilliantly well If you know that person is showing maybe some propensity to want to get out there and talk about things and share insight. Like they're brilliant. You saw their brilliance. You hired them for their brilliance and their expertise and then if you could kind of help hey, they're going to build their profiles anyway, they're gonna build their personal brand anyway then let's partner and let's like really speak to them on a regular basis and connect with them and show them kind of what more is great about our brand, so they can help kind of share that message too, alongside with building themselves up as a personal brand. Everybody wins if you allow for it to happen. Truly everybody wins. It brings you up and it and it builds them up as well.

Speaker 2:

Hey listeners, I want to take a quick moment to share something special with you. Many of the topics and discussions we have on this podcast are areas where I provide coaching and consulting services for individuals and organizations. If you've been inspired by our conversation and are seeking a catalyst for change in your own life or within your team, I invite you to visit coachjohngallaghercom forward slash free call to sign up for a free coaching call with me. It's an opportunity for us to connect, discuss your unique challenges and explore how coaching or consulting can benefit you and your team. Okay, let's get back to the show. Excellent, Well, again, and I think the data shows you talked about the LinkedIn data A that the LinkedIn algorithms prefer the individual to the brand platform in terms of making sure that it becomes visible.

Speaker 2:

And then there's data out there that shows, from a connection, that business-to to business standpoint is that they want to do business with people and not necessarily with the brand, and they want to know that they're talking to individuals and who's a part of it. And really great. I've seen some reports on that as well. So let's get real tactical then. How do you actually get started with that thought leadership approach? And let's say, let's stay on LinkedIn in terms of how you get folks started yeah, and, and I kind of I have a framework for how this works.

Speaker 1:

If somebody's just truly ready to get started and they're like, okay, what is my next step? This is it, and and this is, while this could be for the beginner like you you have your LinkedIn account. Maybe you haven't logged in in in a while and you need to freshen up your profile. Great, Go ahead and do that. Make sure your profile picture is up to date and it looks professional. You have a banner image. These are kind of all the basics of optimizing your profile, because you do want yourself to be represented well when somebody finds you on LinkedIn. So, just make sure you've updated your profile and you have your about section updated and you have your current experience there. And then, if you just have those basics underway, then great, this is your next step. So you're like, okay, I wanna start using actively using LinkedIn, and to do that, I have a three, two, one go framework and this is how I break it down for people and this I do wanna go framework and this is how I break it down for people and this I do want to preface this. This is strategic. It might seem kind of, you know, it might seem kind of very simplified, but that's that's by nature, Cause I want people to take action with this and a lot of social media and personal brand work is truly just doing, taking action and doing. And I think we get in this thought of, like you know, oh, I'm scared, oh, my colleagues are going to start seeing me posting, and that's absolutely one of fear that comes up for people. Or, oh, you know, I don't, how is this going to be seen? Or or am I going to say the wrong thing? Or how do I like seen, or am I going to say the wrong thing? Or how do I like, do I just start? And the answer is yes. So this is how you start. 3-2-1-go framework is you're doing. You're rotating through three types of posts and I'm going to tell you what those types of posts are and exactly what they are. And, again, they are strategic. That's the three and I'll come back to that.

Speaker 1:

The two is two times of engagement. So I think people think of social media and having a personal brand as the proactive posting and you're just out there, you know, putting out content, and that's very scary and a heavy lift for people sometimes when they're first getting started. So I like to really push engagement just as much, because this needs to work together and engagement means liking, commenting, connecting, sharing other people's content. So do not miss out on this engagement part. So that two for engagement is two times of engagement per week. You're just getting started and you're blocking out 15 minutes, I say on a Monday morning and a Friday morning. You're blocking out two 15 minute chunks in your week to go onto LinkedIn and engage, Scroll through your feed and find those opportunities and things that jump out at you of like, oh, that's a former colleague posting about their new job Congratulations, and you're, you know, messaging congratulations in the comments, Just getting in the rhythm of going online and engaging. So that's the two two 15 minute chunks each week.

Speaker 1:

And then the one is one platform. You're focusing on one platform. We're talking about LinkedIn right now, but I just like to make it very simplified because people get overwhelmed by all the platforms and LinkedIn is a great place where we're talking about personal branding and professionalism. So that's locked up. Here is LinkedIn, that one platform, and you need to stick with your one platform. Yes, you might want to bring in your Instagram account. You might want to bring in your TikTok account. You might want to bring in your YouTube or your Facebook there are all tons of other platforms but focus on one and stick to that for three months, because I need you to lock in and exercise that content and that social media muscle for a consistent amount of time before you even think about that other platform, because you will get overwhelmed so quickly that you will just back away from all of it. So you need to stick to one for at least three months, and in this instance, LinkedIn, before you even think about moving into another platform or bringing on another one. And then the go of the 3-2-1-go framework is go get out and do it. Geo means go get out and actually do it. So let's just really quickly bring it back to that three of the 3-2-1 and those three posts that you are posting and rotating through.

Speaker 1:

Linkedin has a statistic, has a data point that says if you post once a week, if you are a personal brand or personal profile and you post once a week, you get four times more profile views than someone who doesn't. And I will tell you, the vast majority of LinkedIn users don't post at all Like you are in the top, you know, top percent of people If you do one post at all in your whole LinkedIn. You know experience. So just by doing one post a week, this is very manageable. You all I just want to make sure everyone listening understands that this is manageable. I'm going to make it manageable for you. So just one post a week is going to give you four times more profile views. So just take that for what it can be. So you're rotating through these three posts, one a week at minimum, and if you can consistently keep up with that for three months, then you are solid gold.

Speaker 1:

So one of these posts, the first one being, is you are posting about something that you learned, and again, this might sound very simple, but let me tell you why this is strategic. We are constantly learning. If you're in a professional industry of any kind, you are constantly learning something. You are constantly reading something, You're constantly listening to something. You always have something new and new to you in your head, or something you find interesting in your head that relates to your industry or relates to your business, and I like to prescribe these posts as stuff that's already in you, already in your head. You're not coming up with net new stuff. You got to go research something and find all this stuff. No, this is all stuff you have ready at your fingertips in your brain, between your two ears right now.

Speaker 1:

So that first post is something you learned this week and what you are doing that podcast you listen to, that radio interview you listen to in your commute into work. That book that you are reading by that author, thought leader, any of those that quote from what podcast that you're listening to this one right here. You pull out that piece, you take a picture of the book cover, you screenshot that podcast that you're listening to at the moment and that is the visual of your post A. You are posting what you learned from that book, from that podcast, from that radio interview, from that media clip, and you're posting why that resonated with you, what insight that gave you to your industry, what you know, what was the takeaway for you? We can all do this. We're smart people but what you're also doing is something that is the strategic part of this. Not only are you giving people in your audience you know, maybe you're just now building an audience who knows how many people are going to see this, I don't know but you're giving people insight into you and stuff for them to connect with. Oh, you know, I read that book too. You know that's the kind of stuff that starts happening. Oh, I listened to that podcast too. Amazing, and these new people have these new connection points with you.

Speaker 1:

But where the strategic part comes is all of these elements, all of these things have an author, a podcast host, have a journalist that wrote it, and you are finding somebody affiliated with that content and you are tagging them in your post and what that does is that just opens up that opportunity for your posts to get seen by more people and very strategic people. If you are a listener of a big podcast and you tag the host or the media outlet that puts that out, there is somebody on the other end of that account that sees that notification that so-and-so just tagged our account and they go and check you out. Like, there are very lovely moments that come out of this. I've done this time and time again on Instagram per se Instagram stories. I've tagged a podcast and they will share it. They will share it to their Instagram stories.

Speaker 1:

This has happened on LinkedIn. They will share it to their Instagram stories. This has happened on LinkedIn. I've seen it so many times where that gives that author or that journalist an opportunity to share that post or to send you a message saying thanks or to comment. Oh, thanks for listening, Thanks for reading. This just opens up your content to more and more eyeballs and more and more people and to help with relationship building. So that's your first post, something you learned and you're tagging people strategically.

Speaker 2:

Yes, All right, let me jump in on that real quick, because I love that. I mean, look, the framework is so simple Three, two, one go and then the three types. You're talking about that, something that you learned. You mentioned the screenshot, so if it's a link, do you leave links out of that? Or you strictly go with photos and go with that, or what are your thoughts on what's in the post?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what's in the post is copy one to four sentences, like you're not writing your next book here. We just need a little bit of insight. One to four sentences is amazing, short and sweet and just right to the point. And you don't have to have a visual. We're talking about LinkedIn. You can do copy, only tag your person, thank them for writing it, thank them for reading. You know all that and you're out the door, or and.

Speaker 1:

But if you want to, you know, kind of bump up that opportunity there of eyeballs and visuals and eye-catching elements, then yes, it is maybe just one picture or a screenshot of some kind and that represents the picture. But if it is a link to a media outlet or some type of article in Forbes, you know whatever that's related to your takeaway, then I would include it either in the caption or in the comment of that LinkedIn post. Either way, just include you know what, what, that, what that piece of content is, and have that be the opportunity. But LinkedIn is unique in a way in that you are able to utilize pictures, videos and links in your post.

Speaker 2:

Perfect. Thank you, alrighty, keep going. Sorry, I wanted to check it out, thank you.

Speaker 1:

All right, we got the something you learned. That's the first one, and then here's your next week's post. The number two it's you something you teach, something you want others to know. So if you are a service provider of some kind or you have something to sell, this is where you can kind of lean into that and and really show off something you teach, something you want Like.

Speaker 1:

These are the moments of in your industry, when you see something I see this all the time on social media where you know you have these kind of gurus's a moment for you to lean into, of like oh, this is what I want somebody to know right now, because I know this is a value add I can give somebody of like you know a thing that they don't understand about my industry, that I can really speak to and give insight into. Or it's a moment of hey, I have the service. I just helped a client do this last week and I would love to help you with the service. I just helped a client do this last week and I would love to help you with the same. So this is kind of that opportunity of celebrating something that you want to teach somebody, or celebrating a service that you offer and that, again, that can be a picture. You know, the visual can be a picture, a video of you talking to camera and telling somebody about what you do and why you do it and the story behind it. But, yeah, just telling people something you teach and what you wish they knew about your industry or what you want people to know out there in the world. That's the number two. So that's the second, that's the second post, that's your second week's post, and the third one is something that you are proud of and this is in your professional life.

Speaker 1:

This is the moment where you can really lean into your team, your internal. You know your award, you know, or your team's awards, or you know something that you all you know, a recognition of some kind or a goal that you hit, or all kinds of things here. And where this opens up opportunity for too, is you bringing other, tagging other people that were a part of that work, or tagging you know other industries or businesses that were a part of that too. Or you know, or you were at a conference and got to speak at something and it's a picture of you up on stage and you tagging that conference or who put on that conference. You tagging other speakers too.

Speaker 1:

So, just thinking through and rotating through these three posts week after week after week and I'm not saying this is your strategy forever, but this is a way, like a prescribed way, that you can get started. It's right in your head, everything you have is ready at your fingertips and you can get started today with any of these posts and just rotate them through, because what you're going to learn as you do this three, two, one go framework you're going to start learning how, what people resonate with and what people engage with, and you're going to conversations or relationships are going to start from this that are going to stay with you and lead to bigger and better. So you just have to get out and take action and do something, and then the next will come.

Speaker 2:

Love that. Get out and do that. Katie, I feel like you've shared the secret sauce, so I'm curious because, again, you consult others and teach them to do this. Do you have a success story of an ABC organization slash leadership team that has been especially impactful for you and your work that you've shared as a proud moment in your life?

Speaker 1:

A client sent me a really nice message after a call we had recently and he works in government a type of government role, without kind of giving away more details on my teachings and said that he filled up his pipeline his sales pipeline more for one hour call that we had than he had in his whole prior year. So 2023 was less of a year and with one of our hour calls he was able to fill his sales pipeline with that work and starting, that engagement and getting to people on LinkedIn and starting and proactively connecting, proactively talking, proactively engaging and finding people on LinkedIn. He was able to fill his pipeline that represented more than all of the prior first year. It was incredible to hear that and I just want everyone to walk away with this.

Speaker 1:

Thought about LinkedIn in particular is that you are one click away from any major decision maker at a company. Linkedin is where the players go. It's the only platform where people are walking into it or logging onto it with business money transactions in mind. No other platform do people do that. No other place online, digitally, can you get that. So please use that to its entirety that you can get directly to anybody, any decision maker in an industry that you need to, and that's what I helped him do, and he was able to, just within a matter of months, be good for his entire year, which was incredible to hear, but it really drove home the fact that people just want to connect with people, and that's where professionals connect.

Speaker 2:

Love that, katie. I'm sure that was one of your third types that you posted in that success story. That had to go on and I appreciate you sharing that. I'm curious like we've talked about LinkedIn, so let's keep the focus there and maybe like two parts of this question. One is again in your business. It's your task to stay ahead of others. So how do you stay in tune with the trends that are going on? What are some disciplines that you use to stay in tune? And then, secondly, what are some of the trends Anything new popping up on that LinkedIn world? Maybe it's newsletters or something different that you see coming up that could be impactful for other leaders.

Speaker 1:

Yeah well, yeah, I'm just chronically online. Yeah well, yeah, I'm just chronically online. I just always am connected with the people who kind of give the regular updates on social media platforms and their updates and their regular tweaks, and, um, I have a weekly newsletter where I kind of give that update to people too and and cause I know it's overwhelming. So that's what I love doing and I keep up with that already, just because I do follow the people who actually do these updates. Um, so that's exciting me and I like to kind of help other people with that.

Speaker 1:

But from a from a kind of what's new right now in a LinkedIn standpoint, I do find you hit it Newsletters number one. Absolutely, newsletters are just continuing to be a cool feature that LinkedIn offers and in emerge, continuing to be a cool feature that LinkedIn offers and continuing to be an emerging feature. And I look at the trends within the platforms. So meaning I look to see what all the platforms are giving resources behind or what they're continuing to update, and if they and this has been a trend with LinkedIn is that they continue to put resources behind newsletters, they continue the newsletter feature and product they continue to put, give updates to it, which tells me and gives me great indication that this is a sustained model for them and that newsletters are going to be here for a while and that newsletters will continue to trend up as an opportunity for personal brands and businesses to use and connect with our audience in a more long form way, which I find really exciting, because social media can be just such a fly by night thing, a quick you know, get those kind of you know kind of just snackable, digestible, quick wins of a post-out. But LinkedIn gives the opportunity for the longer form stuff.

Speaker 1:

And another one is just the continuous iteration of LinkedIn as a news hub, which is really exciting to me too, given my media background and news background, because once Elon took over Twitter, now X, that kind of went away for a lot of journalists and that kind of went away for a lot of reporters. They kind of shied away from being on that platform and the trends and the news even though I think that's kind of coming back a little bit for X. But a lot of that came over to LinkedIn, which was really cool. And LinkedIn continues to build their news department and their editorial team and I've connected with many of them and you know because when you go into LinkedIn, they have a LinkedIn news section and you get trending topics and this is specific to business. So anytime you see those headlines and that trend, you know that LinkedIn news section there.

Speaker 1:

Um, that's giving you an indication of what LinkedIn is kind of leaning toward that day and maybe that's a that's an insight into what you want to talk about that day on LinkedIn as well. But that gives me, um, that just lets me know that they are continuing to want to talk about that day on LinkedIn as well. But that gives me that just lets me know that they are continuing to want to pull users onto the platform and these movers and shakers and higher leader professionals, because that content hub that LinkedIn is becoming from a new standpoint, that keeps the timeliness, that keeps the nowness and people wanting to log on and see what is new and different and what's trending right now. So that timeliness hook from a LinkedIn standpoint keeps the freshness and the people coming back. So I think that will continue to be a trend of being able to kind of get that insight of what are business people talking about right now.

Speaker 2:

Okay, very cool, all right. So we're recording this on a Friday hashtag follow Friday. Who's your number one follow on LinkedIn that you would suggest to others?

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, I think, why am I Sarah Blake Lee? I think I'm saying that correctly. She was the former Skims founder and she is on LinkedIn and has such a fun I mean she's amazing like built this giant business and has since stepped away from it, but she has such a refreshing presence on LinkedIn that I find just kind of cuts through the noise and cuts kind of through the kind of professional robotic talk that you can kind of find on LinkedIn some and she just brings a personality and presence that I again I just find really, really refreshing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but that's the fun of LinkedIn and social media is finding those fun people that you look up to, that you are inspired by, and getting inspired by their content.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, Katie. What a conversation. This has been so cool. I know I've gone way over on time and I could keep talking to you for an hour. I think we're going to have to follow up and do another episode just to keep going on this topic of what we continue to learn. But I want folks to be able to contact you. You shared a lot of information today. I want folks to stay in contact. How do they get in touch with you? Tell us, Tell me about your newsletter, where they can find that and where they can find more information about you.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's great. Thank you for the opportunity and yes, yes, I do have a weekly newsletter, completely free. I send it out every week and it's my digital baby. I call it. If you go to socialmedianewstoyusecom, you could subscribe there and what I do is I send out the latest platform updates every week and they're really tailored toward thought leaders and what business leaders can use in their own personal social media use.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. I will make sure to put the link to that in the show notes as well so that folks can get to it, including your LinkedIn profile. So, katie, what a fun conversation. I appreciate the time that you've invested with the listeners of the Uncommon Leader podcast. I know they're going to find so much value in what you provided today. I know I did and I'll be in touch as well. I want to ask you kind of finish you up with the same question that I always finish my first time guests with. To really have impact, I'm going to give you a billboard. You can put it anywhere you want to. Might be South Charlotte, where you're from there, or might be somewhere else. You're from there or might be somewhere else, but what's the message you're going to put on that billboard and why?

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, it's three words. It's find your joy, it's find the why find your joy, really connect with that and make this existence wholehearted and mean something for you, Katie.

Speaker 2:

thank you so much. That's been so much fun to have a conversation with you. I wish you the best in your future and I hope we can stay in touch.

Speaker 1:

Same to you. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found value in this episode, I encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues or anyone else who could benefit from the insights and inspiration we've shared. Also, if you have a moment, I'd greatly appreciate if you could leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback not only helps us to improve, but it also helps others discover the podcast and join our growing community of uncommon leaders. Until next time, go and grow champions.