- 6 weeks ago
Everyone says to “build your personal brand,” but how do you actually do that on LinkedIn? In this episode, Jason talks with Laura Lorenzetti, Senior Director and Executive Editor at LinkedIn News, about what really works and what doesn’t. They walk through how to create content that sparks conversation and build a repeatable strategy for growing your personal brand. Along the way, they bust some common LinkedIn myths, and Laura shares when the perfect time to post on LinkedIn really is. Whether you're growing a business or a career, this is how to make LinkedIn work for you.
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00:00What is your expertise and those kind of that nugget that you always want to build around?
00:04I think that's something that you can kind of consistently know that you can turn back to.
00:07There's a term, right? Trust is consistency over time. So when people know what Jason is,
00:12they know what I'm going to get from Jason. They make sure that they get the latest thing. They're
00:16following your newsletter. They're opening your newsletter. It's that idea of when they know what
00:20they're going to get from you, there's that trust and there's the consistency of them turning to you
00:25for that expertise over time. Running a business means solving problems. I tell you how the smartest
00:33entrepreneurs do it. Hi, I'm Jason Pfeiffer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, and this
00:37is Problem Solvers. If you want to build a business or build your career, here is a problem. You are
00:49finite. You only have so many hours in the day. There are only so many people you can talk with.
00:54There are only so many places you can be, but you know what is not finite? Content. Your content.
01:00Your content can be everywhere all the time, reaching people when you sleep. Content is
01:07scalable in a way that you are not, and that is the reason to build a personal brand. But the
01:13question is, how do you do it? I have been posting every day on LinkedIn for years, and building a
01:18personal brand on LinkedIn has been transformative for my work, my career. And now people ask,
01:24me all the time, how are you doing it? How are you building that personal brand on LinkedIn?
01:29I have thoughts, but also I have a secret weapon, which is that I get to talk to people at
01:34LinkedIn,
01:35and they tell me what's working, and how LinkedIn is prioritizing different kinds of content.
01:41And that has helped me so much, and I am excited to share that with you today, because I am
01:46not just
01:46doing this alone. I am in conversation with Laura Lorenzetti, the Executive Editor at LinkedIn.
01:51We are talking today about how to build your personal brand on LinkedIn and why it matters.
01:55Laura, thank you so much for doing this with me.
01:58It is a delight to be here. It's a topic that is close to my heart.
02:03Awesome. Me too. All right. So here's what we're going to talk about on this video. We're going to
02:07talk about how to define that personal brand of yours, how to find things to say, which I think
02:14always worries people, and then also how to reach the right people, which really means understanding
02:19LinkedIn and the algorithm and the structure that we're operating in. And then, fun, at the end,
02:25we're going to talk about some of the major myths and questions that people have about personal brand
02:30building on LinkedIn. So, Laura, you ready?
02:33Let's do it.
02:34All right. So number one is how to define... Well, wait. Actually, let me back up. We should talk about,
02:40Laura, before we even get into that, why this matters. Like, I said it a little bit,
02:45that content is scalable in a way that you're not. But, you know, business is ever-changing,
02:50ever-shifting. Why does this matter?
02:54Yeah. I think for a long time, if you built a business, you cared about the business brand,
02:58right? You were like, oh, I need marketing. I need PR. And everybody who started a business did
03:02that, right? But we're in a new era where people want to hear from people and that the faces behind
03:07the business are the business. And that's what people are looking towards. That's what they care
03:11about. They want to hear from, right? There is this new trend towards authenticity where people
03:17want to know the truth. They want to know what's behind it. And what we see is that at every
03:23level,
03:24whether you're Sundar Pichai of the CEO of Google all the way down to an entrepreneur starting their
03:28business, is that when they log on, when they start their profile, the amount of engagement they get
03:34per post still outweighs what people engage with from companies because of that authenticity,
03:40because of the person that is behind that business. And I think this is super important
03:45for anybody right now, is that if you, whether you're building a business or just building your
03:49career, you are your brand and you need to be able to bring that to the forefront so that people
03:55trust you and that they're following you for your expertise. I love that you said that word
04:00trust. Here's what I have found to be the most important formula for building a personal brand.
04:06It is this. Content builds trust, trust builds relationships, and then relationships convert.
04:12That's the reason to do this, right? 100%. I love that you start with trust because
04:18this is where it all is. People want to get your authenticity. They want to get who you are. They
04:22want to hear the truth from you. But that comes from your own voice. It comes from who you are.
04:27And the more people see you, the more they engage with you, the more they understand what you care
04:32about and can connect with you. And that gets your message across. And just like you said,
04:36that stays out there. That circulates for a long time. We often hear from creators that a post that
04:43they did three months ago all of a sudden just got new engagement because the reality is when people
04:48trust you and they trust your expertise, they'll seek that out again and start to share that and
04:52use that and reference it. And knowledge, when you share it, stays consistently there on the
04:57platform. And it's a great resource. Also, when you are sharing that kind of stuff and you're
05:04sharing it repetitively, it creates signal out of noise. I think people are afraid to be repetitive
05:12on LinkedIn, to be sharing the same kinds of ideas, to be returning to the same messages.
05:18But I say, don't be afraid of being repetitive because the thing is, people aren't focused on your
05:23content, the way that you're focused on your content. People are seeing lots of stuff in a feed
05:29every day. A bunch of it is going to be noise to them. And if you have a meaningful idea
05:33and you're
05:33able to consistently share versions of it, what you're really doing is you're training people to
05:39recognize that you are a valuable voice. You're creating signal in the noise.
05:44I love the idea of consistency here. And I think most managers know if you've taken a management
05:49training, they'll say, you need to repeat the idea back to your employee three times before they pay
05:54attention, right? Like the idea being that the first time you hear an idea, you kind of check it off,
05:59but you forget it again. The second time you start to pay attention, the third time you start to click
06:02in and remember it. I think this idea of having consistency in what you talk about is a good thing.
06:07And people shouldn't be afraid of that because a lot of times it's still, it takes a couple times to
06:13stick with people. And the more that you are associated with an idea and expertise, the better.
06:18You can go deeper into that. And I wouldn't be afraid of repeating because people don't see
06:23every single post. You might be on vacation. You might come back the next week, but people still
06:28get value out of that and they get value out of another way of phrasing it or a new context
06:32or a
06:33new example that adds on to that expertise. Yeah. You know, that's actually something I do all the
06:38time. In fact, as we're taping today, I did it today, which is that I will regularly go back
06:44through my top performing posts and find something that did really well nine months ago and then just
06:50rework it slightly. I'll read it and I'll say, oh, that actually sparks a slightly different idea,
06:54but I'm posting 90% the same material, but it was nine months ago. It gets great engagement.
07:00Never does somebody say, hey, wait a second, you posted that nine months ago. Instead, people love it.
07:04100%. There's knowledge and examples and learnings that are evergreen, but when they're rephrased,
07:12when they're refreshed, when they're new in your feed, people can engage with that again. They can
07:15have a new conversation and make new connections and bring that to the forefront of the now because
07:20there's learnings that are just really become more resonant over time even.
07:24Mm-hmm. Okay. So Laura, let's start getting tactical now. I had promised we're going to talk
07:31about where to start on defining your personal brand and then how to find the right things to say
07:36and then how to actually reach the right people. So let's start at the beginning of that, which is
07:42figuring out where to start for someone who is totally new to this, who understands, they've heard
07:50us, they've heard other people say, this is really important. They say, okay, I get it,
07:54but where do I actually start to do this? Where do they start?
07:59Yes. So one is I would start with your profile. Make sure it's up to date. Make sure there's a
08:07little bit of summary, but also really pay attention to the headline you put for yourself
08:10because if you pay attention on LinkedIn, that headline is what follows your content. And a lot
08:14of people, if people don't know you right now, they'll look at your name, then they'll look at your
08:17headline and they'll match that to what you're saying. They're kind of within that context,
08:22trying to understand your credibility and your expertise. So the more you are thoughtful about
08:26how that headline reflects that credibility and expertise of what you want to speak to,
08:30the better. It's going to give that context in real time. Secondly.
08:35Yeah. Okay. Before you go, let me just, let's just kind of give an example of what you're talking
08:39about. So I'll see a lot of people, instead of just sharing CEO of blank company or whatever,
08:45they'll say, I help people do whatever. They're, they're, they're, they're almost benefit statements
08:51to explain their value. Yeah, exactly. And there's a few ways you can do it, right? Like
08:55if you're CEO of Google done, just put that as your headline. You're good to go. If you're somebody
09:00who, you know, you're an AI consultant or a management consultant, being more descriptive about
09:05that value and your expertise is helpful because people may not immediately know you, but when they
09:11see, when they describe that benefit statement of what you're doing, the value you add and where
09:15that expertise is coming from, the more they can say, okay, great. I have the context. Now I'm
09:20going to re now I want to connect into the content because I believe this person, I trust this person.
09:24So take that seriously, craft it, be very thoughtful about that headline. That's going to follow you
09:30around, create three pillars. And one pillar is what you do. You're probably an expert. And I think
09:36Jason, you're a journalist, you're in media, you're an expert in that. But second is what the subject
09:42matter that you're an expertise in, right? Entrepreneurship, media, trends in media,
09:47trends in entrepreneurship. But there's also a third piece that everybody has, which is the softer
09:50side of things. Whether it's you're a manager or you're a parent and how do you do the work-life
09:56balance. I think this idea of from what you do, what you're an expert in to how you do the
10:00work,
10:01all three of these things matter. And all of your content should be a mix of, of these pieces
10:06because they are both your expertise, your hard knowledge, but also who you are. And it helps
10:10people feel connected to you over time. I think balancing that is really important as you grow
10:15your content calendar, if you will. Yeah, I, I agree. Here's, here's how I've come to think of
10:22what you just said there. When people build a personal brand, they often are emphasizing the wrong
10:31word. They think about personal, but it's not about being personal. It's actually about being
10:37a brand. If you think about what a brand is, a brand is three things. A brand is simple,
10:42a brand is repeatable, and a brand is scalable. And if you were to try to be a human version
10:48of
10:48that, then what you're really thinking about is who am I to my professional audience? That's being
10:54simple. And then repeatable is like, what do I have to say that I can say over and over again?
10:59And then scalable is how do I reach the most correct people with my content? And if you start
11:07to think of it like that, then it, then it shoves out all of this stuff that people often associate
11:11with personal brands. Nobody cares what you had for breakfast. Nobody cares about your vacation.
11:17What they care about is what you have to say that's super relevant to them. And so that focusing
11:24exercise of making yourself simple, repeatable, and scalable turns you into a brand that's
11:29just as resonant as Coca-Cola. People understand what Coca-Cola is. They need to understand what
11:34you are just as fast. Definitely. And I think this idea of making sure you bring your authenticity
11:41into that, right? Nobody wants to hear a marketing advertisement, but the more you bring your authentic
11:47voice into that of like, okay, here's where my, my brand is, but here's what it means coming from me
11:54and how that sounds different and how that, um, how you share it is different than what you would
11:59from a company page, right? You're bringing yourself into that brand. And I think that's where you really
12:03hit that sweet spot. Value is not in virality. And I think people sometimes just want the likes
12:09because it does feel good. There's a little bit of an, you know, an ego, but the reality is,
12:14and what I talk about a lot on LinkedIn is that pay attention to the who, like, who do you
12:19really care
12:19about? Because you might not care about the third 300 likes. You probably only care about those 100
12:26or 10 or 20, because if you reach the right people, that's transformative for your business. And that's
12:32why, that's why a lot of creators are here, right? Because they want to make sure that they're getting
12:37the right business prospects. They're getting the right career opportunities. Well, I think that
12:41transitions us nicely into the next subject, which is how to find the right things to say. So let's say
12:48that, you know, what you just said there, Laura, which is to look at who is consuming your content,
12:56who's looking at your profile. Are they in the right industries? Are they holding the right titles?
13:00That is controllable in a way, right? You can control who you're reaching. And the way that
13:05you're going to do that is by writing relevant content that's going to reach the people who you
13:11want to reach. So unpack for me what strategies people should be thinking about as they craft content
13:18that's actually going to hit their target. That's a great question. I think there's a few
13:22ways to, a few buckets to think about. I think is, one is a lot of what we talked about
13:29earlier,
13:29which is kind of these repeatable things. So like having the insights that you know are relevant to
13:34your company, your work, your career, that you can kind of reshape, share new examples around,
13:39expand on. So what is that? What is your expertise and those kind of that nugget that you always want
13:45to
13:45build around? I think that's something that you can kind of consistently know that you can turn back
13:49to. I think secondly, there is always an area where of news and the ability to put news in
13:57context for people, the ability to add your layer within the news of what, hey, here's what it means.
14:03Here's how to stop and think about this. I think tariffs has been one of the biggest one that we've
14:07seen creators and business people say like, here's how I'm thinking about it. Here's how I'm weighing in.
14:11Because when you're helping other leaders put that news in context, you are helping them, right?
14:18You're helping other leaders to say like, oh, that's really, I didn't think about that. Maybe I should
14:22consider that aspect of the tariff or maybe I should consider doing this with my business as I try to
14:27adapt. That really puts that real-time nature in there for people to turn to you. And then the third
14:33is
14:33the ability to also share behind the scenes. Let people in to what it's like to do your work or
14:41build
14:41your business. And I think having that personal bit within the mix helps people to say, remind who you
14:48are. Keep it in the professional space. But this idea of giving like a glimpse behind the scenes is
14:54really helpful for people.
14:56I think that distinction is really important. Who you are, but within the professional space.
15:00That reminds me of a concept that has been really transformative to me, which is this.
15:07If you're worried about how to present yourself on social media, then don't put yourself on social
15:17media. Instead, create a 5% character of yourself and put that on social media instead. That is how I
15:24think everybody should frame themselves. When you put all of you out on social media, it is big and
15:31messy. You're a whole complex person and there's a lot to share and say, but there's 5% of you
15:36that's
15:36super relevant to your audience. 5% of you that is just extremely confident about the insights into
15:44what professionals who you want to reach need to know. And once you think, okay, what 5% of me
15:53and
15:53my knowledge is most relevant to that audience, then you can start to also think, well, okay,
15:58if I'm going to play a character that is hyper-focused and relevant to my audience, then what does that
16:03character sound like? What does that character have to say? How does that character present? Is that
16:11character always enthusiastic? Is that character a real talker? Is that character long-winded? Is that
16:16character short and punchy and funny? I have spent a long time thinking about how I present as a version
16:24of myself that isn't all of me, but is the relevant part of me that an audience of professionals can
16:31connect to and rely upon. And once I figured that out for myself, I realized how scalable it was because
16:37that 5% character is now the person who also shows up on videos like this one, or the 5
16:42% character is
16:43also the one who shows up on stage when I give keynotes. And once you define your 5% character,
16:49it also helps you make decisions. So for example, my 5% character I've decided is always optimistic
16:56and useful. And that means that sometimes I see things that I might want to complain about on
17:02LinkedIn or something that someone did wrong that I would like to call out, but I say, wait a second,
17:07that's not what the 5% character would do. The 5% character would instead find something that
17:11someone did that went right and explain why it was so smart. And that creates this consistency
17:17that also then builds the relationships because people know that you're going to be steady and
17:22reliable. They always know what to expect from you. And I think that that ultimately helps create the
17:30bonds that turn into business. I love that. I think there's a term, right? Trust is consistency over
17:36time. So when people know what Jason is, they know what I'm going to get from Jason. I'm going
17:42to get a straight talking, enthusiastic, great advice. They trust you and they continue to look
17:48for you in their feed, right? They make sure that they get the latest thing. They're following your
17:52newsletter. They're opening your newsletter. It's that idea of when they know what they're going to
17:56get from you, there's that trust and there's the consistency of them turning to you for that
18:02expertise over time. Yeah. Another thing that I do a lot, which I want to share with you and see
18:08what
18:09you think is I think about what, you know, when people are building their personal brands, they
18:15often ask, where do ideas come from? How do I find the things that I'm going to say? And I
18:21have found
18:22for me, the most valuable source of ideas is real life in the moment. It is conversations that I'm having
18:32with people where maybe somebody asks me for advice, or maybe I'm just talking with another
18:35entrepreneur and we're spitballing ideas and I will say something or they will say something. And both
18:41of us go, oh, that's a great idea. And I think too many people just let those ideas pass and
18:47they
18:48forget them. And I have trained myself to always write them down. So the second that something pops
18:54out of my mouth, that's useful to someone else. Or the second that someone says something to me
18:58that makes me think, I grab my phone, I open up my notes app, and I just jot it down
19:03really fast.
19:04And then tomorrow, when I sit down at the table in the morning and think, what am I going to
19:10post
19:10on LinkedIn today? I look back at those notes often and I say, ah, that is great content. So capturing
19:17ideas in real life requires a habit of writing it down in the moment. But what you will end up
19:25with
19:25is a catalog of great ideas that can produce content for months and years.
19:30It's a brilliant tip. Because at the end of the day, when you're sitting at your own desk,
19:34that's not when you have the ideas. You're wrapped up in things. You're finishing an email. It's in
19:38conversation usually that the best ideas start to percolate for you. But the minute you walk away,
19:44other things start to take over. I love the idea of like, in the moment, how do I take that
19:48note?
19:48How do I write it down, jot it enough to remember it? I sometimes do that too, even in my,
19:53you can do draft posts in LinkedIn. You can just like, I'll just write a sentence in a draft and
19:57kind of plug it away there and come back to it. And it's there for me if I need it.
20:02But I think
20:02that's really smart. I also think, don't be afraid to see what other people in your industry
20:07and niche are talking about. You can also respond. You can also build on ideas. And I think this idea
20:13of everyone's starting a conversation and it's great when communities come in and continue to build
20:20on that conversation. And we shouldn't be afraid of that. Reference it. Give that person credit.
20:24Build on that idea. Add your examples. Because this is all communities that are sharing their
20:30knowledge and sharing their ideas together. Laura, everyone wants to know, what does the
20:35LinkedIn algorithm actually preference? What content actually gets rewarded on LinkedIn? What is the
20:43answer to that? First and foremost, we at LinkedIn care about value. I care about every single person
20:51logging on and getting value out of LinkedIn every single day. And that starts in the feed. That starts
20:57with how we're giving you the right content. So we are looking for how are people sharing knowledge?
21:01How are people sharing unique insights? And most importantly, how are they starting meaningful
21:07conversations with their community? So the post is just the beginning. It's the way that people come
21:13in and add their ideas on top. And so the idea being share what you know, share insights, and start
21:19that
21:19conversation with your community. And that's what you're going to see a lot more because we want to make
21:23sure that that knowledge that you have is reaching the entire community because that's when real economic
21:28opportunity happens. What I have heard from other conversations with your team is building off of what you just
21:37said is that the LinkedIn algorithm is trained to recognize unique knowledge and advice that is
21:43built off of your personal expertise. And that to me was really clarifying because on other platforms,
21:50what's rewarded is just the ability to grab an eyeball as fast as possible. So videos with just a
21:57really good hook will then spread far and wide. But I know that LinkedIn doesn't actually want people to try
22:05to
22:05game for virality because that is the opposite of thoughtful conversation. So instead, you're really
22:12training the algorithms on recognizing is somebody saying something that is distinctive and unique and
22:18drawn from their own personal professional experience and expertise. And I have found the way in which to
22:26apply that is to take things that are grabby, frankly. So let's say an image of a really smart ad
22:38and that's going to get
22:39people's attention. And maybe on another platform, the image of that ad by itself would be the thing that would
22:45propel a post. But that doesn't work on LinkedIn. Instead, I've got to pair it with really smart insight about
22:52why that ad
22:53works and what kind of marketing insight that ad is representative of. And it's that thing that drives
23:01the comments on my post, which then amplifies it to other people. Am I understanding that right?
23:06Absolutely. It's that insight. It's that like unique take of knowledge that's helping other people,
23:12that's giving them the context that they need to be better at what they're doing. That's what our algorithm
23:17really rewards. There's a few other things that starting the conversation does matter. And so the way
23:23you're engaging your community, the way you're asking them to add to this idea, that's also really
23:27going to help. And another thing you're going to see within our algorithm is content tends to last
23:31a little longer. You'll see your likes and your comments continue over several days versus other
23:38platforms. You'll usually peak and fade pretty quickly. And that's intentional because if there's
23:43really good knowledge, that will continue to spread and add value to people over time.
23:49Yeah, I noticed that a lot, actually. Maybe you can break this down for me. I just posted something
23:54last week, for example. And by the end of the day, I'd say maybe it had 50,000 impressions. And
24:03I thought,
24:04well, I guess that one did okay. But then the next day, it got up to 100. And now it's
24:09at about
24:10400,000 to 500,000 impressions. And so what I'm seeing is a building of audience over time. So is
24:18this what we should normally be thinking about and expecting? And is there a way to, I don't want to
24:25say game for that, but is there a way to be thinking about what content is going to have that
24:29long tail? It's a good question. There's no secret sauce here. Sometimes you will get that burst pretty
24:35quickly. And then it will continue to then grow kind of slowly over time. Sometimes it'll be a
24:40small climb. I've seen both happen. There's no secret to the algorithm in this. It's really about
24:46the content. And it's really about the community engaging with it. So when you share great knowledge,
24:50it can be a slow burn where people add to it, people reshare it, and that grows over time.
24:54It could also be a situation where you're sharing a really great timely insight. And it goes,
24:59you know, like hotcakes and it kind of speeds off. Both are great. Neither are better than another,
25:07but this idea, it all comes back to the knowledge. It all comes back to the value of what you're
25:11putting
25:11there. And over time, you're going to see that that pays off and continues to kind of grow your content.
25:17So here's a hot take on how to build the perfect LinkedIn post. I want to know what you think
25:22about it.
25:22This is the system that I have put together. To build an amazing LinkedIn post that's going to grab
25:29a lot of attention, you need to build a attention funnel for each post. And that means that you have
25:35to think about three things in a particular order. And here they are. The first is just how to grab
25:41attention, which can be an arresting image. Maybe that's of you, or maybe that's of something that
25:48you're writing about, but it's got to grab people's attention fast. Then you have to signal
25:52who this post is for. So in the first few words that you write, you have to be acknowledging in
25:59some way, your audience by sharing something that's going to say, this is a, this is for
26:03marketers. This is for people who are interested in retail. This is for whatever the words that
26:07you're using immediately have to identify who you are targeting. And then the third thing that you have
26:13to do is that you have to signal the value that's to come. An example of this might be that
26:18I might
26:18write a post about a really smart advertisement that I saw. So the image is going to be that
26:23advertisement and I'm going to put a little caption on top of it, which I just build in
26:27Canva. So now that is immediately grabbing someone's attention. Oh, that looks like an
26:31interesting ad and it's about whatever. Then the next thing that I'm going to, then the hook that
26:35I'm going to write is going to start by saying this ad got 15 million views on YouTube. Now
26:43immediately that is signaling interest to people who are interested in marketing or social reach
26:48or something. And then the next part of what I'm going to write is by following the number one
26:54rule of marketing against a competitor or something like that. And now that's promising
26:58the value to come saying, this is what I'm going to tell you. What do you think?
27:02I think that's it. I, and I love the, how much you emphasize that hook and you talk about
27:07the visual nature of the hook and the text nature of the hook, because that's, that's what stops
27:12people. That stops the scroll, right? And you need something that we talk a little bit of like,
27:18start your post in the middle and not literally, but you know what I'm saying? The hook is like,
27:22what's the most interesting part of your post? Put it at the top, stop people and then explain
27:27that, right? Then get into the, the, so what of it. And it's exactly what you said, like hook the
27:32people, tell them what you're going to the payoff here and then get them into it because you need to
27:38stop the scroll, but then you need the payoff, right? Cause that's, what's going to get the like,
27:42Oh man, that was awesome. That was super smart. Let me like that. Let me share that. Let me
27:46comment on that. And I also highly recommend ask your, ask your community at the end, right?
27:52Actually invite them into the comments. And I think that can help to kind of hook them,
27:56deliver, and then bring that conversation piece around. Can you tell me about some of the trends
28:01that you're seeing right now about what's performing really well, just in terms of either
28:05structure of posts or kind of image? Yeah. So I think text and image is still just such a good
28:12pairing. Um, I think it stands out. It stops people. Also video people really need to consider
28:19how they're sharing information. Video video views are up 36% year over year. People are just
28:24really, really hungry to get context and information and the professional context on video. And I think
28:30what's so unique about LinkedIn in this context is it's two minutes well spent. It may not be as
28:36entertaining, but you're going to get really awesome value. I've been using it a lot for great
28:41news analysis. Um, I follow some really interesting journalists and reporters and the way that they're
28:47breaking down this professional news is awesome. I'm seeing it from entrepreneurs. I'm seeing it from
28:51people sharing leadership takes. It's just a really powerful medium where you can kind of do a little
28:57bit more of a sit back. I do it a lot when I'm commuting, but it's a really powerful part
29:01of your
29:01creation portfolio. Um, let's now move into myths and questions. Yeah. What are the things that people
29:10most are asking you? I'm going to tell you the first one that people ask me all the time,
29:15and I am excited to hear your answer, which is this. Can people include links in their post?
29:25The short answer is yes, obviously use links where they're relevant. The long answer
29:31is that there is a perception among people that, Oh, are you trying to sell me something? What is
29:37that link? So there's a little bit of psychology in it, but in terms of the actual algorithm,
29:43there's not a problem, but you need to follow the post best practices that we talked about earlier,
29:49hook them, get them in, get them to know what matters, deliver value. And if there's a link that
29:54goes deeper or, you know, it gives them more context, it's totally fine to add. But I think no matter
29:59what, you got to focus on the knowledge that you're leading into with that link.
30:03People worry that they can't include a link in a post because it will depress the reach. But
30:08actually the real problem is that when people include links in posts, typically they're writing
30:14a post that is just trying to get people to click the link. And that's not an interesting post. It
30:19doesn't share any kind of knowledge and advice. It doesn't drive any kind of comments. And therefore,
30:24of course, people are not going to engage with that post. And therefore that post is not going to reach
30:28lots of people. But if you write great content that stands by itself in a post, and then you happen
30:34to
30:34throw a link in there, it is not going to impact the reach of that post at all. Is that
30:39right?
30:40You explained it perfectly. Links in themselves, there's nothing wrong with it. Our algorithm is
30:46really focusing on the content and the value that's being shared in the post. And what we have found too
30:51from talking to creators is if you are writing great knowledge in that post, people are also more
30:56like to be interested in, oh, what else can I get? What's more that I can get if I go
31:00to that link?
31:01But if there's not that context and there's not that trust that you're going to give me really
31:06meaningful knowledge, it's just not as likely that people are going to engage with the post and click
31:10the link. So it really comes back to the core tenets of creating really helpful knowledge-based
31:16content. Awesome. Okay. Let's lightning round a few others here. People always ask,
31:22did LinkedIn just change the algorithm to make it harder to reach people? What's the answer?
31:27No. Short answer. It's all about knowledge and value. It gets back to what we talked about. It's
31:33really about how are you bringing your unique insights? How are you engaging the community?
31:37How are you starting those conversations? And that's what gets valued in the feed.
31:42What's the deal with LinkedIn's hashtags? Do I need them?
31:47Hashtags are nice to have. They are not a need to have. I think a lot of the algorithms now
31:51are
31:52super smart in how they're understanding the actual content of the post and able to match that with the
31:58ways of people are engaging with other content. So hashtags can be helpful in terms of like a signal
32:05to members when they're looking for things. But don't muddy your posts. Don't use too many.
32:11And it's okay if you don't use them. If I tag somebody in a post, does it matter if they
32:18engage
32:18or not? There is a myth that if I tag someone in a post and they don't engage in the
32:23post,
32:24then the post will actually depress reach because it is invalidated by the person that I tagged.
32:31Does that matter at all? I would say tag people when it's relevant. Tag people if you're talking about
32:37them. Tag people if you feel like this is relevant to them. It does not affect your post if they
32:42engage or not. But ultimately, you want to be respectful of how you're bringing people into
32:46the conversation, how you're referencing them. But it's a great thing to use. It's a great thing to
32:51do to make sure people are connecting with you, connecting across the site and being tagged into
32:55what is relevant for them. When I post, who actually sees my content? Is it going to reach all of
33:02my
33:02followers? Ultimately, it's about the value, right? And it's also the complexity of the feed.
33:09So everything each day is based on what's going on, where your followers are, and the complexity of
33:16what they need to see that day. So the answer is your followers are likely to see it, but they
33:22may
33:22not necessarily see it based on when they log on and how they log on. Well, that makes me think
33:28of
33:28another one. Is there a perfect time to post on LinkedIn? You'll see the reports that on Tuesdays
33:36at 8.45 a.m. Eastern is the perfect time. Is there actually a perfect time? There's no one perfect
33:42time,
33:43but there are trends. And so I would say, generally speaking, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday mornings tend
33:50to do slightly better. I would say Friday afternoon is really not the time to do it. But a lot
33:57of these
33:58are anecdotal because, again, it depends on your own followers too, right? It depends on where your
34:03audience is when they're logging on. These are generalities, but it's really going to be specific
34:08to how you've built up your followers and your audience too. Can I build an audience by leaving
34:15comments? Do comments actually drive people back to me? Yes. I love that you asked this. I really
34:21encourage people, people who are afraid to start getting, start doing their own content. I tell them
34:26to just go start commenting, start doing meaty comments on other people's posts because it's such
34:31a powerful way to build up your own audience. And it's a powerful way to get seen by people who
34:36are
34:36outside of your community, right? When you leave a really smart additional context on somebody's idea,
34:41people are, people see you, people who may not have known about you. And it's, it's a really
34:45powerful mechanism to help community and to build up your own audience. Laura, let me just put it back
34:53to you now. Are there any major questions or myths that you hear all the time that we should clarify
34:59right now? Yes. Oh man. You really touched on a lot of them. I think everything's become so polished
35:07with AI content and that people are starting to wonder like, well, am I hearing you or am I just
35:13hearing regurgitated chat GPT? And Stephen Barlow is saying sometimes he adds typos into his posts
35:21purposefully because it's that human touch to say, I wrote this, I did this, that brings that trust
35:27element back. And I think that's so interesting that as we get into this world of generative AI becomes
35:33much more common and people use it in good ways, people are also going to be looking for authentic
35:39voice and signals that they're getting your idea and not just an idea that they could have turned
35:44to chat GPT for. And I think that's going to become really important. And I think that's going to be
35:48true in posts, but it's going to be true in comments too, where the way that you comment and the
35:53way you
35:53gauge with community is as holistically important in that context. That is super interesting. And also,
36:00Laura, brings us right back to the beginning of our conversation, because you said, and you're right,
36:06people connect with people, not with brands. And also people connect with people, not with AI.
36:11And so in a ever more digitized world where AI can sound ever more human, the thing that's going to
36:21matter is our ability to put ourselves and our human selves out and build those human connections. And
36:28we'll find interesting new ways to do that. Right now, maybe it's inserting typos, but tomorrow it's
36:35something else. And it's ultimately all about making sure that you're constantly thinking about
36:39how do I put me, the real human with my real human ideas and experiences out there, because that is
36:46the
36:46thing that's going to connect with people. And that's the thing that is unreplicatable in any other
36:52way. That's exactly it. And ultimately, that's what the algorithm and the community rewards.
36:57That's what makes it work. Well, Laura Lorenzetti, executive editor at LinkedIn, thank you so much
37:05for spending time with us today and for unpacking what goes into the perfect LinkedIn personal brand.
37:12So great to chat with you, Jason.
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