How to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Consulting Business Featuring Marc Halpert
LinkedIn trainer Marc Halpert helps consultants and professional service professionals build their thought leadership with LinkedIn.
In todays’ episode of Smashing the Plateau, you will learn how to be viewed on LinkedIn as a resource providing high-quality, consistent ideas to your audience.
Marc and I discuss:
- How to increase your revenue [03:02]
- How often you should update your profile [07:28]
- How to get people to see your posts [09:40]
- Quantity vs. structure in your activity [13:19]
- Using non-text content [22:58]
- Marc’s vision for LinkedIn [26:11]
Marc W. Halpert is a self-described “multi-preneur.” Since leaving the corporate finance world in 2001, Marc has started 3 companies, all of which he still operates.
In 2010, Marc started his third concurrent company, connect2collaborate, to spread his LinkedIn and networking evangelism to train and coach others. In all his LinkedIn training and coaching, he offers professionals the opportunity to better explain their brand and positioning on their LinkedIn profile pages: who they really are and why them vs. the competition.
For several months, Marc ranked among the top 5 list for fastest growth in number of followers among global LinkedIn coaches and trainers (#1 in August 2020!). He attributes that standing to consistently high-quality curated material and original thought leadership he shares daily on LinkedIn.
As a personal LinkedIn coach, he advises and mentors professionals to tell “why they do what they do” (not “what”) as he works with them to renovate their LinkedIn personal and company profiles.
As a LinkedIn trainer, Marc has been recognized as a high-energy speaker at national and regional Conferences, instructor to sales/marketing and HR/training departments at large and small professional service firms and businesses, and trainer in specialized groups of professionals such as associations.
Marc is a frequent podcast guest, has authored numerous articles on the latest LinkedIn techniques for self-branding in national publications, both in paper and online. He blogs every business day with a LinkedIn Nugget.
His book, LinkedIn Marketing Strategies for Law and Professional Practices (2021 second edition, American Bar Association), helps all types of professionals learn to better market themselves using the tools in LinkedIn.
Learn more about Marc at https://connect2collaborate.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/marchalpert/, https://twitter.com/marchalpert, and https://www.facebook.com/connecttwocollaborate
Transcript
So you want to go to the majority who will understand business related aspects of what you have to say about, you have to be a thought leader.
Marc Halpert:You have to either have your own independent, unique thoughts that are so completely different than everything else they're reading.
Marc Halpert:Or you have to find what other people are saying, like in a magazine, a newspaper article, anything online, and you have to look at it, read it and interpret it through your own professional lens.
David Shriner-Cahn:Welcome to Smashing the Plateau.
David Shriner-Cahn:We help consultants, coaches, entrepreneurs, and small business owners build their business after a long career as an employed professional.
David Shriner-Cahn:We believe you should be able to do what you love and get paid what you're worth, consistently.
David Shriner-Cahn:I'm your host, David Shriner-Cahn.
David Shriner-Cahn:Today, on Smashing the Plateau I'm speaking with LinkedIn coach Marc Halpert speaking with LinkedIn coach Marc Halpert . Marc helps consultants and professional service professionals build their thought leadership with LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:In today's episode, you will learn how to be viewed on LinkedIn as a resource, providing high quality, consistent ideas to your audience.
David Shriner-Cahn:Stay with us to hear all the details.
David Shriner-Cahn:Do you struggle to take consistent action on things like improving your LinkedIn presence?
David Shriner-Cahn:How do you feel about your business building progress?
David Shriner-Cahn:Would you like to be part of a structured, supportive process to help you implement ideas that you know will help you move the needle toward your goals.
David Shriner-Cahn:As a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll have access to a structured process for growth.
David Shriner-Cahn:You'll also be a member of a community that is built to be a safe, caring place where inclusive, direct, active, and empowering conversations are welcome.
David Shriner-Cahn:Inside the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll find a range of tools and resources to support you as an entrepreneur, access to experts and answers to your burning questions.
David Shriner-Cahn:If you're committed to getting your consulting, coaching, or small business to grow on your own terms so that you can deliver great results to your ideal clients while supporting the lifestyle you want, and you don't want to do it alone, apply to become a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community.
David Shriner-Cahn:Learn more at smashingtheplateau.com.
David Shriner-Cahn:Now let's welcome Marc Halpert.
David Shriner-Cahn:Marc is a self-described multi entrepreneur since leaving the corporate finance world in 2001, Marc has started three companies, all of which he still operates.
David Shriner-Cahn:Marc, welcome back to the show.
Marc Halpert:Nice to be back.
Marc Halpert:How many years has it been?
David Shriner-Cahn:since you've been on?
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah.
David Shriner-Cahn:good question.
David Shriner-Cahn:And I think you've been on more than once.
Marc Halpert:Probably I don't.
Marc Halpert:That's good.
Marc Halpert:Is I come back where this quality is.
Marc Halpert:That's all,
David Shriner-Cahn:you're very kind.
David Shriner-Cahn:Anyway.
David Shriner-Cahn:As a multi- entrepreneur, you are, multi-talented one of your talents and your specialties is LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:And for our audience, one of the most common questions I hear about social media and LinkedIn in particular is how can I increase my revenue?
David Shriner-Cahn:With LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:And these are, I'm thinking about consultants, professional service providers, people who are mostly selling themselves and mostly they are the business.
Marc Halpert:All right.
Marc Halpert:first I'll say I am not an employee of LinkedIn, so I gotta throw that out there.
Marc Halpert:I will say things that probably are somewhat non-conservative.
Marc Halpert:So anyway, LinkedIn changes all the.
Marc Halpert:Let's just face it.
Marc Halpert:It does.
Marc Halpert:It changed twice last week.
Marc Halpert:Pretty interesting new things I threw on there.
Marc Halpert:New bells and whistles, not a sea change, but enough to make use of LinkedIn, something you have to be on top of all the time.
Marc Halpert:If you're not keeping up with it, your profile's not keeping up, with the rest of the platform, but it's not keeping up with you because you are constantly changing and you have to keep that profile, reflecting you in every shape and form you morph into.
Marc Halpert:And we're all changing.
Marc Halpert:Let's think about two and a half years ago, we never knew a pandemic was coming and we all have a different approach to business now, as a result of surviving through the pandemic.
Marc Halpert:So you have to be able to speak to the audience, which means.
Marc Halpert:You have to know why you do what you do.
Marc Halpert:And I probably said this on a previous broadcast.
Marc Halpert:I've been harping on this for years, and I'm amazed at how many people can't express, why they are better, different, smarter than the competition.
Marc Halpert:That's vital.
Marc Halpert:That means you have to take a total inventory of everything you're all about and take an inventory of everything your competition's all about.
Marc Halpert:And you have to figure out where you can do that much better so that you rise to the top of mind.
Marc Halpert:When somebody says, Hey, I need an entrepreneur who does this?
Marc Halpert:Can you refer me to somebody?
Marc Halpert:Revenue opportunity.
Marc Halpert:Number one.
Marc Halpert:You have to be top of mind, ping on the radar screen of the memory of the person being asked.
Marc Halpert:How do you do that?
Marc Halpert:And I'll just keep going until you ask me another question.
Marc Halpert:you go this way by being constantly relevant and interesting in the things you post on LinkedIn.
Marc Halpert:Because that's your distribution.
Marc Halpert:If I post something today, David, since you and I are connected, you'll see what I post.
Marc Halpert:And everybody you are connected to will see what I post and everybody I'm connected to, of course will see what I'm posting and they'll share it on.
Marc Halpert:And it goes on and on.
Marc Halpert:It goes, we used to call viral, we can't say that anymore.
David Shriner-Cahn:No, it's has a negative connotation.
Marc Halpert:Has a negative connotation.
Marc Halpert:We used to wanna go viral.
Marc Halpert:Remember those whole days,
David Shriner-Cahn:but we know what it means.
David Shriner-Cahn:Now we know very well what it means.
David Shriner-Cahn:So what does that tell you?
David Shriner-Cahn:You need to do it means that if your post goes viral and somebody comes back and looks at your profile, are they getting your personality, your intellectual capability, how you can help them achieve a better why they do what they do, which means you have to be telling why you do what you.
David Shriner-Cahn:let me stop you there and ask you, Marc.
David Shriner-Cahn:Why do you do what you.
Marc Halpert:My, why is I am entirely 110% client centric.
Marc Halpert:My clients get me every day, all day, anytime they need me for whatever they need, that is in my expertise area, which means I will answer a question.
Marc Halpert:Somebody call me up and say, Hey, I don't know how to do this on LinkedIn.
Marc Halpert:That's a.
Marc Halpert:What to do, that's LinkedIn for dumies.
Marc Halpert:Okay.
Marc Halpert:They're not dumies, but this is I can hold your hand and I can tell you where to click and where to click and where to click, and then you'll get to where you wanna do.
Marc Halpert:I always add what I call a dollop of marketing on top of that.
Marc Halpert:Hey Ann, Hey, you can use that thing that you just learned how to do.
Marc Halpert:Let's talk about two or three ways you can do that.
Marc Halpert:So I'm always giving of my understanding and my ability to make my client, my prospect.
Marc Halpert:Achieve that, which they cannot achieve.
Marc Halpert:So my why is to help other people do their, why amazingly more amazing than the competition.
David Shriner-Cahn:Now, you mentioned that it's really important to keep your profile up to date.
David Shriner-Cahn:How often do you suggest people revise their.
Marc Halpert:I tell all my clients put it on their calendar once a quarter, you don't have to revise it completely soup to nuts.
Marc Halpert:You can go into and say,, I could say this a little bit better, or this didn't quite pan out the way I expected it to.
Marc Halpert:I can change those words around a little bit, because LinkedIn is not about your past.
Marc Halpert:That's done.
Marc Halpert:It's over.
Marc Halpert:That's your resume.
Marc Halpert:That's your obituary.
Marc Halpert:As I like to say, your obituary can be written very nicely over your resume, cuz it's all past tense.
Marc Halpert:LinkedIn is how.
Marc Halpert:You bring to the table today, that what you learned in your past and why clients want to follow you into the future.
Marc Halpert:You guiding them based upon your past, contributing to your present, indicating your future is a continuum.
Marc Halpert:And when people understand you have the experience in your past for today, and you're so on top of what's going on today, that you will, by definition.
Marc Halpert:Adapt and adopt the new things coming in the future.
Marc Halpert:They hang on.
Marc Halpert:They wanna ride that coattail.
Marc Halpert:And you have to say that you have to be comfortable enough to say that.
Marc Halpert:And I'm amazed that the number of attorneys and accountants and architects and anybody as an entrepreneur, I ask them, why do you do what you do?
Marc Halpert:And they look at me like, I don't know, because my father was a lawyer.
Marc Halpert:I get that a lot or it's all I could figure out to do when I went to graduate school.
Marc Halpert:Can't tell you how many times I hear that too.
Marc Halpert:It's frightening.
Marc Halpert:But when you find somebody who left corporate, as I.
Marc Halpert:Never look back 20 years ago and said, I'll never go back into an environment like that.
Marc Halpert:My future is based upon the things I learned in my past, what I bring to the table today and how I can learn and improve upon them as the world changes.
David Shriner-Cahn:once a quarter is certainly doable in terms of reviewing your profile and looking at what needs to be updated.
David Shriner-Cahn:That seems totally reasonable.
David Shriner-Cahn:I love what you said about having to stay top of mind and also being relevant and interesting.
David Shriner-Cahn:One of the questions I hear a lot is how do I get people to see my posts?
David Shriner-Cahn:And I would say.
David Shriner-Cahn:Can you talk a little bit about the actual numbers and also talk a little bit about the quality.
Marc Halpert:First of all, there's 815 million people on LinkedIn around the world.
Marc Halpert:On what?
Marc Halpert:15, 20 different time zones all around the world.
Marc Halpert:Alright.
Marc Halpert:Don't try to time it.
Marc Halpert:First of all, you're never gonna hit everybody.
Marc Halpert:It's impossible.
Marc Halpert:Alright.
Marc Halpert:They don't all speak your language.
Marc Halpert:Get through that they don't understand your industry, your jargon, the acronyms you use.
Marc Halpert:So you want to go to the majority who will understand business related aspects of what you have to say about, you have to be a thought leader.
Marc Halpert:You have to either have your own independent, unique thoughts that are so completely different than everything else they're reading.
Marc Halpert:Or you have to find what other people are saying, like in a magazine, a newspaper article, anything online, and you have to look at it, read it and interpret it through your own professional lens.
Marc Halpert:When you do that and you put your concepts out there on a consistent, reliable basis.
Marc Halpert:People will want to read you.
Marc Halpert:It's who's your favorite opinion?
Marc Halpert:Op-ed writer in the New York times.
Marc Halpert:You read them every time they appear, because you found that you have a unique connection to them.
Marc Halpert:You wanna be one of those thought leaders.
Marc Halpert:You wanna be bringing constant new blood out to the market to show the market.
Marc Halpert:You are on top of all this stuff.
Marc Halpert:How do you do that?
Marc Halpert:You post about it.
Marc Halpert:You put a pith.
Marc Halpert:Introduction.
Marc Halpert:I found this article to be so compelling, especially the section about, and while I like what the author said about this, and you can do this once in a while.
Marc Halpert:I don't necessarily agree with that.
Marc Halpert:And here's why it's okay to be professionally different, but mostly you have to bring them.
Marc Halpert:Because not everybody reads the New York times.
Marc Halpert:I know there's a shock for the New York audience, but I've had so many people say to me from South Africa, or I don't know anywhere in Europe, I don't read the New York times.
Marc Halpert:Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Marc Halpert:It's available to them.
Marc Halpert:All they have to do is go online, but not everybody reads everything.
Marc Halpert:I don't read this south African newspaper.
Marc Halpert:So let's, let's be honest here when you continuously bring something interesting where you're bringing your either same industry readers or people outside your industry, reading you to a higher level, the appreciation factor kicks in the warmth of the heartstrings comes back and people convers.
Marc Halpert:Thank you, David for posting that I really appreciated that.
Marc Halpert:And David, what you do is you say, what Marc did you appreciate the most?
Marc Halpert:So instead of these stupid thumbs up and clapping hands that we get all these emojis on LinkedIn, which tell you nothing about why the people clap their hands or gave the thumbs up.
Marc Halpert:Use words, folks.
Marc Halpert:I one man, crusade against emojis.
Marc Halpert:Tell me why you like something.
Marc Halpert:What does that do?
Marc Halpert:It makes me feel good that I help my audience, but it also tells me what else.
Marc Halpert:They're finding interesting that I can be ready and attuned to and put out there for them in the future to get it out there.
Marc Halpert:That
David Shriner-Cahn:helps a lot with context about quality.
David Shriner-Cahn:Can we talk a little bit?
David Shriner-Cahn:Quantity and structure.
David Shriner-Cahn:I'd love to hear your thoughts about how often you think consultants and others that are selling their professional services should be active on LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:How frequently, how much time per day, per week, per month.
David Shriner-Cahn:And what, besides updating your profile once a quarter.
David Shriner-Cahn:There are a lot of different ways you can use LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:So what should you actually do, but let's just start with the activity.
David Shriner-Cahn:Like when should you be on LinkedIn?
David Shriner-Cahn:How much time should you spend there?
David Shriner-Cahn:And then what should
Marc Halpert:you.
Marc Halpert:There's no way to answer it.
Marc Halpert:There's no way to quantify it.
Marc Halpert:What timeframe, seven to 9:00 AM?
Marc Halpert:No, whenever you have something important to say, whenever you read something, no matter what time you read it, you should be commenting on it.
Marc Halpert:As soon as you have an opinion about it.
Marc Halpert:I will often read something in the evening and put it out there just because why should I make people who are in Europe?
Marc Halpert:Wait for me to wake up the next morning and put it out there.
Marc Halpert:Why not just put it out there?
Marc Halpert:So when you are incented to put something out there that you really appreciate, that you think is important, that's the time to put it.
Marc Halpert:How frequently, as often as you have something important to say, but.
Marc Halpert:There is a number you have to at least have something once a week.
Marc Halpert:You have to have something to say once a week, or else you're sitting in a very small room, you must be sitting in your prison cell.
Marc Halpert:If you have nothing to commit to the market once a week, at least sometimes I will post once a day.
Marc Halpert:As I write a blog.
Marc Halpert:It appears at 8:00 AM every morning.
Marc Halpert:So I'm at least once.
Marc Halpert:And it appears and goes right into LinkedIn, every single
Marc Halpert:business
David Shriner-Cahn:day.
David Shriner-Cahn:That's something that you're doing consistently based on a schedule versus when you feel like you have something important
Marc Halpert:to say, but that's not the only time during the day.
Marc Halpert:I will say something some days I'm out there, seven, eight times a day.
Marc Halpert:If I have something important or interesting to say, that's not every.
Marc Halpert:Sometimes on Saturday or Sunday, I'll put something a little bit light, a little feature oriented that I read in a newspaper or a magazine or whatever, something, I think interesting.
Marc Halpert:Something a little humorous.
Marc Halpert:I like to have a little fun once in a while.
Marc Halpert:I think everybody does.
Marc Halpert:This is not just the wall street journal.
Marc Halpert:This is everybody's interest.
Marc Halpert:Everybody's here to share the common condition we need as entrepreneurs or as purveyors of intellectual capability.
Marc Halpert:That's lawyers, accountants, whatever you wanna be, you have to have something interesting to bring attention to you.
Marc Halpert:You will be forgotten if you are absent, you will petrify.
Marc Halpert:If you haven't put something on there at least once every couple of weeks, because who remembers a name that flashed across your screen?
Marc Halpert:Once every two weeks, nobody.
Marc Halpert:No, but no, but even if you're connected to them, you will also ruin your reputation.
Marc Halpert:If you post everywhere, you are having business breakfast, business, lunch, business, dinner, five days, a.
Marc Halpert:That's just not what this is all about.
Marc Halpert:Don't tell me how busy you are or how well fed you are.
Marc Halpert:Tell me what you're working with.
Marc Halpert:What are you working on?
Marc Halpert:What are you finding?
Marc Halpert:Interesting.
Marc Halpert:What trends are you following?
Marc Halpert:What things are you seeing that are bringing you to a higher level and bringing me with you to that higher level of knowledge?
Marc Halpert:How long does that take, as long as it takes folks now, how do you take each post and make each post resonate better?
Marc Halpert:You use hashtags in the posts and you can use at signs and tag people at David Schreiner con I thought this article would be really interesting you to you knowing you have an interest in.
Marc Halpert:I hope you'll comment on it.
Marc Halpert:So you even ask for a call to action at the end of the post.
Marc Halpert:Otherwise it sits on the wall, sticks on the wall and stays there until somebody peels it off.
Marc Halpert:And that wall doesn't stay up very long because a snowflake in a snowstorm, everything you post gets buried under everybody else's stuff.
Marc Halpert:So the way to unbury it is to use hashtags so that people who follow those hashtag.
Marc Halpert:Also begin to follow you because you are appearing on their screens and they don't even know you, or you would use invoke their name by using that sign in front of their name.
Marc Halpert:Then they feel almost obligated to respond.
Marc Halpert:So's a little bit of psychology.
Marc Halpert:Everybody wants to feel important.
Marc Halpert:Everybody wants to feel called on, and everybody wants to read and learn from the ones who are relevant, reliable, and consistent.
Marc Halpert:and what
David Shriner-Cahn:do you, if you're tagging somebody and hoping that they respond and you'd like them to respond, but you're not sure that they've even been notified, even though you have tagged them using the LinkedIn at the outside on LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:Is there something else you can do to prompt them to respond?
Marc Halpert:Sure.
Marc Halpert:Absolutely.
Marc Halpert:Every time I meet somebody who I really respect intellectual.
Marc Halpert:In the conversation while I'm getting to know them to connect to them.
Marc Halpert:Cause I always talk to people before I connect to them.
Marc Halpert:I just don't accept a connection.
Marc Halpert:Willy nilly, I'll say at the end of the phone call, really enjoy talking to you.
Marc Halpert:David really hope that we will be able to converse on LinkedIn together.
Marc Halpert:So do me a favor and I'll respond.
Marc Halpert:I'll reciprocate to you every time I put a post on LinkedIn, if you think it's worthy of your comment, please comment.
Marc Halpert:And David I'll do the same for.
Marc Halpert:Is that a deal you feel honored, hopefully complimented I've gotten your permission, your buy in your opt in, and I'm gonna do it.
Marc Halpert:And I do this with people all over the world, and I'm getting a global perspective that I never had before because I've expanded my horizons and it's absolutely fascinating.
Marc Halpert:And everybody they know now sees me and they wanna know more about me.
Marc Halpert:They approach me or they might just start following me or they might be commenting.
Marc Halpert:So there's a guy in Belgium, a guy in South Africa, this, a guy in Belgium every morning.
Marc Halpert:He puts something out.
Marc Halpert:I give him a comment.
Marc Halpert:He comments back.
Marc Halpert:I comment to him, this guy in Virginia, he's a lawyer.
Marc Halpert:He's talking about the law now.
Marc Halpert:I'm not a lawyer, but that's my market.
Marc Halpert:I do a lot of work with lawyers as professional practitioners using LinkedIn and they don't use it well.
Marc Halpert:So I've got a giant market out there.
Marc Halpert:He was my client.
Marc Halpert:And he said, Marc, how do I get traction?
Marc Halpert:And I said to him, you put my name on your intelligent posts.
Marc Halpert:I guarantee you I'll give you back an intelligent comment.
Marc Halpert:You give me back an intelligent comment to my comment.
Marc Halpert:Conversation will go from there and it did.
Marc Halpert:And he's a believer.
Marc Halpert:He does it every morning.
David Shriner-Cahn:We've talked a lot about the spontaneity nature of these conversations and the communication on LinkedIn.
David Shriner-Cahn:We also spoke a little bit about the fact that you have a planned set of posts that go out.
David Shriner-Cahn:How much in advance do you think about what is gonna be planned and how do you set out the structure to get the plan post out?
David Shriner-Cahn:That's an area.
David Shriner-Cahn:A lot of people struggle
Marc Halpert:with it.
Marc Halpert:Shouldn't be so hard.
Marc Halpert:Let me tell you, it was at first.
Marc Halpert:But you learn, first of all, I learned that I love to.
Marc Halpert:It's fun.
Marc Halpert:And I like to write about stuff that comes across my screen and I see it all.
Marc Halpert:Let me tell you, I see it all.
Marc Halpert:And I just did one the other day, what not to do on LinkedIn today, and it was just such an abomination that this person did came across my screen.
Marc Halpert:Typical stuff.
Marc Halpert:You get it.
Marc Halpert:I get it all the time.
Marc Halpert:Hi, I'm your new best friend?
Marc Halpert:I've got this amazing service for you.
Marc Halpert:Would you please connect with me so I can tell you all about it?
Marc Halpert:No, I don't really care.
Marc Halpert:Because you haven't even researched who I am and whether I need your pro your product or your service.
Marc Halpert:And it was so off the mark that basically I sanitized it was her message.
Marc Halpert:And I made it my blog post because it was terrible.
Marc Halpert:What not to do on LinkedIn, man, did that hit a cause we all get this nuisance stuff and this is not what LinkedIn is meant to be.
Marc Halpert:It's not Facebook, it's not Twitter.
Marc Halpert:You're not throwing it out there and hoping it.
Marc Halpert:what I do is I write on either Saturday morning, 6:00 AM.
Marc Halpert:I'm down in my office writing cause I'm fresh, I'm clean, I'm clear.
Marc Halpert:Or Sunday morning I write five blog posts in advance a week.
Marc Halpert:I let 'em sit on WordPress and I meter them in.
Marc Halpert:I just say, I want this on Monday at eight, this Tuesday, Wednesday on.
Marc Halpert:And, but I always have the ability to pull it back and put it into the following week.
Marc Halpert:If something really compelling like this, what not to do.
Marc Halpert:Example comes and it just pushes everything aside.
Marc Halpert:And that's fine.
Marc Halpert:So I like to let people know, you can expect to hear from me at 8:00 AM, every business morning with a tidbit, I call them nuggets of what I think are effective ideas to make you do better.
Marc Halpert:I've written 2300 blog posts right now.
Marc Halpert:I've got a massive library of this stuff and I do draw upon old items and I do revive them because I think sometimes there is good to bring back the old stuff from before and remind people that I've written about this before.
Marc Halpert:So it's very easy.
Marc Halpert:You can subscribe or you can just look for me on LinkedIn.
Marc Halpert:It's gonna be on my Facebook business page.
Marc Halpert:It's gonna be on my Twitter, feed it.
Marc Halpert:It goes all over places because WordPress lets you put it into all your social media at the time and date that you wanted.
Marc Halpert:That's so easy.
Marc Halpert:It's so easy.
Marc Halpert:It is pretty,
David Shriner-Cahn:it's pretty easy.
David Shriner-Cahn:So thank you for sharing that.
David Shriner-Cahn:Cause again, it's an area that a lot of people struggle.
David Shriner-Cahn:Now you like to write, as you've mentioned, and we've talked about things that are mostly text based and you can insert non-text items in LinkedIn, what do you do?
David Shriner-Cahn:That's non-text
Marc Halpert:based.
Marc Halpert:I went for a long spate of doing only video blocks.
Marc Halpert:No, one' reading them.
Marc Halpert:They had no, they had a very low open rate.
Marc Halpert:So I stopped.
Marc Halpert:I haven't done that recently, but it was before I think it was in the early days of the pandemic.
Marc Halpert:I think people were just basically overwhelmed with too much video to watch.
Marc Halpert:I like at least a really good rich graphic on every blog post that I write.
Marc Halpert:I just don't slap up words.
Marc Halpert:I have a picture, a graphic, sometimes they're videos that compliment what I'm saying, but don't exactly hit it.
Marc Halpert:So there's a thought process.
Marc Halpert:wonder why he put that?
Marc Halpert:Oh, I see.
Marc Halpert:As he got to the end of the blog post, he developed that theme a little bit.
Marc Halpert:I like to make color action, whatever, go I've used two animations.
Marc Halpert:I had two animations done from my business.
Marc Halpert:People love them.
Marc Halpert:these are cartoons that an animator did for me, really simple stuff voiced over by either me or by clients who volunteered to voice over for me, where they said how I really helped them, whatever it was.
Marc Halpert:I send that as an email ahead, before I have a conversation with somebody to qualify them for my services and they get visually and they say that was so much fun.
Marc Halpert:I watched it four times.
Marc Halpert:Bingo.
Marc Halpert:That's exactly what I want to.
Marc Halpert:Because no one gets anything.
Marc Halpert:Once they have to see it at least twice or three or four times once in a while, but okay.
Marc Halpert:Let, 'em get a different nuance every time they look at it and they'll, I'll walk into a room or we don't do that anymore.
Marc Halpert:My name will be out there and somebody will call me goes, aren't you the animation guy?
Marc Halpert:Didn't you put that a animate.
Marc Halpert:So yeah, it's working.
Marc Halpert:It's so different.
Marc Halpert:I don't know if many people using animation.
Marc Halpert:So graph videos, graphics, whatever, put a putting YouTube up there.
Marc Halpert:you mentioned before other ways to use LinkedIn to give yourself credence about what you do say you have an article published or you're quoted in a book, or you wrote a.
Marc Halpert:Wow.
Marc Halpert:Good for you.
Marc Halpert:Okay.
Marc Halpert:So you put a post up there and like the snowflake and the snowstorm.
Marc Halpert:I was saying before the post is gone tomorrow, it's gone in an hour, right?
Marc Halpert:Ha but what do you make a featured pain on your featured section of your.
Marc Halpert:Profile and you make that book or article or video, whatever it is, one of the first featured sections.
Marc Halpert:So when somebody comes to your profile and they're scanning down, there's that featured section, they don't have to go search for the post and you put it in your publication section.
Marc Halpert:So you memorialized that they're forever and ever.
Marc Halpert:So I've two books under my belt, one books, and second edition loving it.
Marc Halpert:I'm on podcast.
Marc Halpert:This will be.
Marc Halpert:Post featured publication, as soon as this comes up, like you said
David Shriner-Cahn:in July.
David Shriner-Cahn:Sounds good.
David Shriner-Cahn:But Marc, you clearly used LinkedIn in lots of ways that many people don't.
David Shriner-Cahn:Where would you love to see the platform go in the future?
David Shriner-Cahn:I
Marc Halpert:would like to see the platform think less like a job board and be more of a water cooler, conversational place.
Marc Halpert:For the global community, they're getting there.
Marc Halpert:They're trying, but LinkedIn's run by a lot of really young people and they just don't see the way this old guy sees it.
Marc Halpert:So I don't know.
Marc Halpert:I'm a little bit on the out sometimes, but I think some of the things they add.
Marc Halpert:Are great, like that bell that they added couple of weeks ago.
Marc Halpert:If you, if I look on your profile and I click your bell, that means I don't have to wait for the algorithm to send me every one of your posts.
Marc Halpert:I'm gonna get your post right away.
Marc Halpert:Everybody, whoever you like to read, go ring their bell on their PO on their profile.
Marc Halpert:this other stuff they've done that I think is I like polls.
Marc Halpert:I've had it with poles.
Marc Halpert:I can't stand the poles anymore.
Marc Halpert:there was one woman who did, what do you like on your hamburger, mustard or ketchup?
Marc Halpert:No lie.
Marc Halpert:And I went Baer.
Marc Halpert:I couldn't stand it any longer.
Marc Halpert:This is not what we're here to do.
Marc Halpert:Folks go to Facebook.
Marc Halpert:So there, there are people who take the next shiny penny and that's all they do.
Marc Halpert:And they just drive it into the ground.
Marc Halpert:I would like LinkedIn to be able to be a little smarter about how they roll this stuff out.
Marc Halpert:Just don't throw it out there.
Marc Halpert:Give some guidance, give some examples, tell people best practices, ask LinkedIn coaches, how do you do, engage with us cuz we're out there doing your work for you.
Marc Halpert:It's like we're giving them free advertisement.
Marc Halpert:I don't know.
Marc Halpert:I'm a rah.
Marc Halpert:I've always been a cheerleader.
Marc Halpert:I love.
Marc Halpert:What they do.
Marc Halpert:I love the concept because it allowed me to come outta my shell, allows all the people I coach to come outta their shell, especially boomers, especially people, boomers who have been pushed out of a job or left the job, took the early buyout and suddenly they're on the street and they say, oh my God, I haven't looked for a job in 30 years.
Marc Halpert:I don't know what to do.
Marc Halpert:folks, go get your LinkedIn polished, go get that ready.
Marc Halpert:Cuz that's the first place HR looks.
Marc Halpert:They don't look at resumes anymore.
Marc Halpert:No one reads resumes so that you wanna tell your story, tell your career narrative, tell us why you do what you do on LinkedIn.
Marc Halpert:Get into the head of the interviewer.
David Shriner-Cahn:And if you're building your business as a consultant, Same thing.
David Shriner-Cahn:Absolutely.
David Shriner-Cahn:You don't have to build a website, but you do need a LinkedIn profile.
David Shriner-Cahn:If you
Marc Halpert:don't have a LinkedIn profile, you don't exist in today's business.
Marc Halpert:Pretty much.
Marc Halpert:we talk all day
David Shriner-Cahn:yes, no.
David Shriner-Cahn:I love this.
David Shriner-Cahn:This is great.
David Shriner-Cahn:I wanna thank you so much for coming back to, and specifically spending this episode talking just about LinkedIn, cuz I know in the past we've talked about other things, including LinkedIn, but this has been great.
David Shriner-Cahn:So if somebody wants to go deeper with anything that we've talked about or.
David Shriner-Cahn:Get in touch with you.
David Shriner-Cahn:Check you out.
David Shriner-Cahn:Where do they go?
Marc Halpert:Hey guests, LinkedIn.
Marc Halpert:Okay.
Marc Halpert:linkedin.com/in/marchalpert, M A R C H A L P E R T.
Marc Halpert:Or you can go to Connect to Collaborate.
Marc Halpert:That's my company name.
Marc Halpert:That's my website.
Marc Halpert:And you can subscribe to my blog.
Marc Halpert:It doesn't cost you a dime and you get some, I think some pretty good stuff every morning at 8am.
Marc Halpert:And you can set your watch to it cuz it's coming every morning at 8:00 AM.
Marc Halpert:Every business morning, I should say.
David Shriner-Cahn:Sounds great.
David Shriner-Cahn:My guest today has been LinkedIn coach Marc Halpert.
David Shriner-Cahn:Thank you again, Marc for joining us.
Marc Halpert:Thanks so much, David.
Marc Halpert:I'm glad we'll be back.
Marc Halpert:When
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About the author, David Shriner-Cahn
David is the podcast host and community builder behind Smashing the Plateau, an online platform offering resources, accountability, and camaraderie to high-performing professionals who are making the leap from the corporate career track to entrepreneurial business ownership.