00:00The opportunity to be able to get in front of the right people at the right time, it's
00:04absolutely something that is going to be completely transformative for your business.
00:12I'm Alison LaForgia, the Managing Editor of HousingWire's Content Studio, and I am talking
00:18to Dan Smakaska.
00:20And he is the LinkedIn guru himself, and we're going to talk to him a little bit today about
00:26the importance of social media.
00:27So Dan, I have seen this conversation had many times.
00:33So I want to start with something that I feel is very important.
00:37Why should people get started today with their social presence?
00:41Well, I mean, so it's always, it's always like what I tell people is, do you want to have
00:49a business that makes money and drives revenue?
00:53Do you want to be known and trusted at scale?
00:56And if you do want those things, then that's why you should get started with social.
00:59So it's not, we think of social media as like this, we just scroll and click and consume.
01:05And I think for a lot of people, especially people who are in either the sales side of
01:11things or the brand building side of things, it's like, this gives you the opportunity that
01:15really nothing else gives you.
01:17And that's like the ability to scale trust and to scale relationships.
01:21And so it's just, it's the most valuable thing that you could do for you and for your business.
01:25So you mentioned brand.
01:27Let's dig in a little bit more there.
01:29What is the importance of having a personal brand outside of what you do at your company?
01:34People want to work with people.
01:37They don't want to work with companies.
01:38And so if you think about the personal side of things, you think about like what your relationship
01:44is with a company versus a person, you find a person you like, you want to do business
01:49with them because there's a connection there in some way.
01:52Right.
01:53And so the, the opportunity is to be able to put yourself out there in a way that resonates
02:00with people.
02:01The cool thing is that a lot of people don't understand is that a lot of executives I say
02:05don't understand is that like when you elevate the brand of the person, the reality is that
02:11the, the brand itself elevates.
02:13Okay.
02:15So let's talk about a misconception.
02:17What is the biggest misconception that you think people have about getting started building
02:21their personal brand and their social media?
02:24I love it.
02:24I love it.
02:25The biggest misconception is that you think that you have to do content.
02:29Okay.
02:31Most people think you have to create content in order to like be successful on social media.
02:36And to be clear, like I'm a social selling guy, uh, social media, as far as like a,
02:41uh, uh, consuming content.
02:44That's not what we're talking about.
02:45We're talking about how like you can build a, uh, social media like presence that generates
02:49revenue.
02:50And so as far as that goes, like the opportunity to be able to get in front of the right people
02:55at the right time, it's, it's, it's absolutely something that is going to be completely like
03:00transformative for your business.
03:02So, um, I just, I just think that there's a lot of, of misunderstanding of how, um, how it
03:10really truly works.
03:12And the way that it works is that you understand that there's an audience who needs something
03:17and you are there to be able to like fulfill that gap and fulfill that pain point.
03:22And so it's, the opportunity is just endless.
03:26So it seems like there's a really big opportunity and it seems like there's a lot of importance
03:30in building up that personal brand, not just for yourself, but also for the consumer and
03:35gaining some of that trust there.
03:36So what would you say to someone who's hesitant to get started?
03:40They're usually hesitant to get started because of the content piece.
03:43Like we just talked about the engagement side of thing is like the opportunity to just be
03:48yourself and to like connect with somebody, um, on a like one-to-one level.
03:53Right.
03:54So like we're talking about, you create content.
03:58That's really scary to do to put yourself out there.
04:01What's not really scary to do is to go and like somebody's post, to go in and comment on
04:06somebody's post.
04:07It could be as simple as like great posts, right?
04:11Like appreciate what you're doing for the industry.
04:13Appreciate what you're doing for our community, whatever it is.
04:16Um, that piece is so much more powerful than the content.
04:20I tell people all the time, it's like, do you, if you, if you had to like, tell me create
04:26content or engage, like, and when I say engage, I mean like network and be a, like, be a human
04:32to another human and like build that relationship every single time I'm going to tell you to
04:37go out and engage and network.
04:39And so take the pressure off yourself.
04:41You don't have to create like the best content in the world.
04:44You just have to get out there and meet people and build relationships, be authentic, be
04:49yourself, jump in the DMs, don't sell them, don't sell them.
04:55And, uh, and just, just be yourself.
04:56And it absolutely doing that by itself will, will take you from not being known on social
05:04media to being loved and appreciated and respected.
05:09All right, Dan, thank you so much for letting me pick your brain tonight.
05:12Where can our audience go if they're interested in learning more information about getting started
05:17or developing their presence?
05:18So, so what I would say is like, find me on LinkedIn, say, Hey, I saw you on the housing
05:24wire end.
05:26Why don't you come just DM me and just say, I want to learn more about LinkedIn.
05:32And then I'll give you a bunch of resources, a bunch of like insights on how to utilize this
05:37product, um, this platform.
05:38And, uh, and, uh, and literally with nothing, no strings attached, um, give you your resources
05:45to be able to do it.
05:46So what I've learned is that people don't know where to start.
05:51So if they have somebody that can help them, like just give them insights and answer questions,
05:55that is a huge deal.
05:57And so just DM me on LinkedIn, find me on LinkedIn.
06:00And then I'll help you get started.
06:02Dan, thank you so much for joining me today.
06:04Have a great rest of your night.
06:05Absolutely.
06:05Appreciate it.
