Aug. 24, 2024

Massive Career Benefits of Mastering LinkedIn and Personal Branding. And How to Win by Bring a Friend First

Massive Career Benefits of Mastering LinkedIn and Personal Branding.  And How to Win by Bring a Friend First

In this episode, Eric welcomes Sandra Long, a renowned LinkedIn and personal branding expert and author of two books on the subjects. Sandra shares her journey from B2B sales and leadership to becoming a LinkedIn consultant over the past 11 years. She discusses comprehensive strategies for optimizing LinkedIn profiles, building a personal brand, and the importance of building trust and relationships.

Sandra offers practical tips from her books, including the use of the services page, customizing profile activity sections, and focusing on being a friend first. She highlights real-life success stories of clients who have benefited from enhanced LinkedIn profiles. The conversation concludes with insights on why personal branding is essential for career and business growth in today's trust-deficient world.

Get Sandra's books on LinkedIn and Personal Branding on her web site
https://www.postroadconsulting.com/tools-and-resources/books

00:00 Introduction to LinkedIn Mastery and Personal Branding

00:25 Meet Sandra: LinkedIn and Personal Branding Expert

02:08 Success Stories: Real-Life LinkedIn Transformations

04:48 The Importance of a Strong LinkedIn Profile

06:05 Is Personal Branding Worth It?

16:01 Top Tips for LinkedIn Success

18:32 The Bigger Picture: Personal Branding Beyond LinkedIn


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Chapters

00:00 - Maximizing LinkedIn and Personal Branding

10:03 - Building Relationships on LinkedIn

Transcript
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00:00:00.059 --> 00:00:13.273
Today we are talking about mastering LinkedIn and personal branding, and we have a great guest to help us talk through this an author of two books on those topics.

00:00:13.273 --> 00:00:15.204
Sandra, welcome to the show.

00:00:15.204 --> 00:00:33.966
Hey, Eric, Great to be here, You've been working on these topics of LinkedIn and personal branding for years and you are a leading expert in it, so I wanted you to join us and talk a little bit about first who you are, what you do and the books that you've written.

00:00:34.006 --> 00:00:34.670
Thanks very much.

00:00:34.670 --> 00:00:35.735
I'm in my second career.

00:00:35.735 --> 00:00:46.399
My first career was B2B sales and leadership and then 11 years ago I started helping people with LinkedIn and I've been doing that ever since and it's been great.

00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:57.055
I work with clients, organizations of all sizes and a lot of times helping leaders, helping employees really maximize their opportunities with LinkedIn.

00:00:57.055 --> 00:01:08.180
And then the books I started with the LinkedIn for Personal Branding was my first major book and that's a pretty comprehensive book about that topic with my first major book and that's a pretty comprehensive book about that topic.

00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:12.984
And then this year came out with a shorter book just really about profile, with sort of my 67 top tips.

00:01:12.984 --> 00:01:16.093
So it's been a lot of fun and I love meeting people from around the world because of my books.

00:01:17.221 --> 00:01:32.628
And that's exactly why I wanted to have you on the show and we'll get into this is 67 tips on LinkedIn and personal branding leads you to the conclusion that this isn't quite as simple as it appears on the surface, but is definitely worth it.

00:01:32.628 --> 00:01:43.983
And one of the things when I talk to people about mastering LinkedIn and personal branding is that a lot of people ask me is it worth it?

00:01:43.983 --> 00:01:45.507
Do you get great results?

00:01:45.507 --> 00:01:51.588
And a lot of people vindicate they want to do it, but they're not sure where to start.

00:01:51.588 --> 00:01:59.762
That's where I think your tips come in, but a lot of people also are just unsure, really, of the benefit of it, so we're ready to be inspired.

00:01:59.762 --> 00:02:07.234
Maybe you can share what sort of success you've been able to help your clients achieve.

00:02:08.020 --> 00:02:08.260
Great.

00:02:08.260 --> 00:02:10.425
I'll give you three quick snippet stories.

00:02:10.425 --> 00:02:17.545
The first one actually was in the beginning of my journey on LinkedIn or as an advisor consultant.

00:02:17.545 --> 00:02:30.266
I had a friend of mine who was an attorney, who he knew I was helping people with LinkedIn and he called me in a panic because his name is Al he's in Connecticut.

00:02:30.266 --> 00:02:49.109
He called me in a panic because he had, you know, he was trying to grow his legal practice law practice and he had a wonderful potential referral partner who said they wanted to introduce him to all these other businesses for his legal services, but she refused to do it because she didn't like his LinkedIn profile.

00:02:49.109 --> 00:02:49.991
She wouldn't refer him.

00:02:49.991 --> 00:02:51.683
She's I'm embarrassed to refer you.

00:02:51.683 --> 00:02:54.132
That was just that one start off story.

00:02:54.132 --> 00:02:57.542
That was in the beginning of me doing this.

00:02:57.842 --> 00:03:18.772
And most recently I had someone who hired me because of something on my profile and this was a company that's in Serbia and they wanted me to help them use LinkedIn for their employees and it's really funny because they picked up on what I would call something that's really related to your brand voice.

00:03:18.772 --> 00:03:42.542
To me, the personal brand on LinkedIn isn't just where do I work and where do I go to school, but it's that intangible, that personal element that maybe your values or your vision, and one of the things I have part of everything I do is my philosophy, which is be the friend first, meaning come on to LinkedIn, but be there to serve others, to help others, to show gratitude and anyway.

00:03:42.542 --> 00:03:52.003
So I described that in my about section and they looked at other people that do LinkedIn and they picked me because of my brand voice, what I talk about, what's important to me.

00:03:52.003 --> 00:03:53.830
So that just happened recently.

00:03:53.830 --> 00:03:59.247
So when you think about all the clients I've worked with, success means a lot of things, eric.

00:03:59.388 --> 00:04:00.390
It could be getting a job.

00:04:00.390 --> 00:04:06.901
It could be hiring people because we also help recruiters and hiring managers appeal to job seekers.

00:04:06.901 --> 00:04:08.545
It could be making a sale.

00:04:08.545 --> 00:04:10.350
It could be getting on a podcast.

00:04:10.350 --> 00:04:12.705
It could be getting a speaking gig.

00:04:12.705 --> 00:04:14.955
It could be asking to write in a column.

00:04:14.955 --> 00:04:19.148
All of those things happen because you're discovered on LinkedIn.

00:04:19.148 --> 00:04:27.831
I have a lot of clients that help me with their senior executives and one company that I've been working with in the healthcare space.

00:04:27.831 --> 00:04:34.127
We've done a lot of profiles for their senior people and now they have it part of their onboarding.

00:04:34.127 --> 00:04:42.588
They want, when they hire someone in a senior role, they want them to reflect the company, the combination of the personal and the company brand.

00:04:42.588 --> 00:04:43.572
It should work together.

00:04:43.572 --> 00:04:44.845
So we help with that.

00:04:44.845 --> 00:04:46.524
So there's so many stories.

00:04:46.524 --> 00:04:47.307
It's a lot of fun.

00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:56.146
Yeah, I think marketers are often charged with helping build the brand of executives at the company they're at.

00:04:56.146 --> 00:05:06.788
This is everything from getting them keynote speeches to featured in Forbes magazine to getting on podcasts and building up their social media presence.

00:05:06.788 --> 00:05:19.581
It seems like at every one of the 10 tech companies that I've been the marketing leader at, that's been the job of the marketing team is to make the CEO and the others on the executive team look great.

00:05:19.581 --> 00:05:23.704
Unfortunately, I think that's not quite as easy as it sounds.

00:05:23.704 --> 00:05:25.244
There's a lot of work that goes.

00:05:25.244 --> 00:06:05.009
Have great profiles, they don't have a good headshot, they don't have a good headline, they don't have a good about section, they don't have any endorsements on there, and so I think that could lead to that feeling of I'd love to endorse you because I know in real life you're a great resource, but online that isn't coming through resource, but online that isn't coming through.

00:06:05.190 --> 00:06:08.915
My next question is personal branding worth it?

00:06:08.915 --> 00:06:42.331
We have these great examples of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and billionaires who have built amazing personal brands and driven their companies forward with their personal brand, and even, I would say, at the not quite billionaire level not quite there yet billionaire level you have a lot of people who are authors and speakers and have YouTube channels or podcasts that have hundreds of thousands of people listening and have big followings, even on LinkedIn.

00:06:42.331 --> 00:06:56.269
So I think there's lots of examples there of people who are doing it, but still a lot of people are still hesitant and saying should I invest the time and effort in personal branding and making myself look great?

00:06:56.269 --> 00:06:58.012
How would you answer that question?

00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:02.911
You mentioned a lot of ideas in terms of how to grow your personal brand.

00:07:02.911 --> 00:07:10.831
Whether it's doing a TEDx talk or being on podcasts, writing books, the beauty of LinkedIn is that it complements all of those things.

00:07:10.831 --> 00:07:14.708
That is where everything comes together, because that's where your connections are.

00:07:14.708 --> 00:07:22.401
So I think, when I talk to people that are working on any one of those things, I always ask where does the LinkedIn piece come in?

00:07:22.401 --> 00:07:33.589
Because that's really how you're going to amplify any of that other thought leadership that you're doing, including writing, blogging, any of that thing, any of those things and I feel like it's not just your profile.

00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:40.511
The content is so huge and even just the commenting Commenting for me has been absolutely gold.

00:07:40.511 --> 00:07:42.144
I've been invited to be on podcasts.

00:07:42.144 --> 00:07:43.692
I've been hired to do training.

00:07:43.692 --> 00:07:54.665
I've had people seeking me out, really because I try not to do just simple comment, but be thoughtful, have advice, have something where then they're interested in.

00:07:54.706 --> 00:07:59.081
Then coming to your profile, so what does success look like?

00:07:59.081 --> 00:08:09.305
I think a lot of people count connections or followers and it's a data point, but it's probably not the best indicator of if you really have built a great personal brand.

00:08:09.305 --> 00:08:12.173
My question is what does success look like?

00:08:12.173 --> 00:08:14.084
How would you define it?

00:08:14.084 --> 00:08:18.783
And I know you said that people do have a lot of different outcomes that they want, and I agree with that.

00:08:18.783 --> 00:08:27.004
I'm just curious, broadly, if people have a good personal brand, what are their characteristics of that that you've seen across your clients?

00:08:28.086 --> 00:08:29.947
Yeah, it does depend on what they're trying to do.

00:08:29.947 --> 00:08:53.706
If they are trying to become known for their podcast or their book or whatever, it depends what they're trying to be known for, but in general it's leading to conversations related to the opportunities that they're seeking on their stage.

00:08:53.706 --> 00:08:55.150
If I want to have my book have more visibility, then that's what I want.

00:08:55.150 --> 00:08:56.054
I want people to post about my book.

00:08:56.054 --> 00:09:05.148
So it depends on where you're at, but it's generally showing interest and I'm a big believer that we don't just come on LinkedIn and expect that everyone's going to show interest in us.

00:09:05.148 --> 00:09:07.634
We have to show interest in others.

00:09:07.634 --> 00:09:13.047
It gets back to Dale Carnegie 1936, how to win friends and influence people is.

00:09:13.047 --> 00:09:16.830
Showing interest in others is how people become interested in us.

00:09:16.830 --> 00:09:20.873
So that's part of the philosophy, that's the underpinning of what I talk about with.

00:09:20.873 --> 00:09:30.318
Be the Friend First is focus on others and share your expertise, share your thought leadership, and that's how that comes around to you.

00:09:31.539 --> 00:09:34.981
I think that's great and I'm curious.

00:09:34.981 --> 00:09:46.153
It seems like it's hard for a lot of people to create their own profile, their own personal brand and talk about themselves.

00:09:46.153 --> 00:09:54.052
Sometimes a lot of people have described it to me that when you're inside the box, it's hard to read the label on the outside.

00:09:54.052 --> 00:10:00.937
Yeah, how hard is it for people to create a great profile and a great brand for themselves?

00:10:00.937 --> 00:10:08.278
Do a lot of people need help to do that, because the self-reflection part is hard, or summarizing yourself is hard.

00:10:08.278 --> 00:10:09.038
What have you seen?

00:10:10.186 --> 00:10:11.753
I've seen everything, eric.

00:10:11.753 --> 00:10:15.850
I've seen people that have read my book and that's all they need.

00:10:15.850 --> 00:10:17.739
They just get ideas and inspiration.

00:10:17.739 --> 00:10:18.724
They go and they go do it.

00:10:18.724 --> 00:10:26.066
I've seen other people reach out to me or when say I get it, but I can't see myself the way I need to see myself.

00:10:26.066 --> 00:10:27.489
I need help, and when.

00:10:27.489 --> 00:10:28.852
So we have all kinds of questions.

00:10:28.852 --> 00:10:36.635
We ask them to help get the ball rolling in terms of how they can position themselves and how they see themselves, and it's really surprising.

00:10:36.635 --> 00:10:39.988
I always ask people how do you feel about writing?

00:10:39.988 --> 00:10:41.471
And it doesn't.

00:10:41.471 --> 00:10:45.385
Some people who love to write, they can take this and do it.

00:10:45.385 --> 00:10:51.976
And other people they're great writers but they still struggle with how do I position myself in my writing.

00:10:53.058 --> 00:10:59.238
Yeah, what percentage of people do you think have a good profile on LinkedIn?

00:10:59.985 --> 00:11:06.918
I'm pretty particular, so I would say a low percentage, but it's definitely getting better.

00:11:06.918 --> 00:11:10.913
I think definitely it's improved over the 11 years that I've been teaching this.

00:11:10.913 --> 00:11:13.710
I looked at your profile and do you want me to tell you my?

00:11:13.710 --> 00:11:15.434
You did a great job on your profile.

00:11:15.434 --> 00:11:19.793
Do you want me to tell you one of my favorite parts of your profile, which will probably surprise you, eric?

00:11:19.793 --> 00:11:20.956
Yes, please.

00:11:20.956 --> 00:11:23.828
All right, you'll never guess this.

00:11:23.828 --> 00:11:27.046
I love that you've given so many recommendations to other people.

00:11:28.609 --> 00:11:29.831
Yeah, I love to do that for people.

00:11:29.831 --> 00:11:43.845
I've been a marketing leader for a long time and I've had a lot of really great teams and whenever people ask me to do it, I do it, and I've even made an effort in the past to do it for people when they haven't asked me, particularly when people have gone above and beyond.

00:11:43.845 --> 00:12:05.048
So I think the endorsements thing on LinkedIn is huge because it's public and you wouldn't say something publicly if it wasn't true, Whereas in reference calls people might say something that is helpful to someone even if they believe it's not true, because they're not putting their reputation on the line publicly with it.

00:12:05.048 --> 00:12:07.333
But I think LinkedIn does a great job of.

00:12:07.333 --> 00:12:20.918
If you put an endorsement there online and it's on someone else's profile with your name next to it, it's probably true, and the beauty of it is those written recommendations that you write are on their profile and on your profile.

00:12:21.565 --> 00:12:38.894
So when I'm looking at a leader and I look at a lot of leader profiles and oftentimes I'll see a big mismatch or unbalance in that they've got, they've received, 25 recommendations and they've written one and I feel like what kind of a leader is that?

00:12:38.894 --> 00:12:40.628
You've hired people, you've led teams.

00:12:40.628 --> 00:12:50.389
So from a leadership perspective and from a be the friend first perspective, that's why I love when I saw that about your profile, I loved your profile, but that was my favorite part.

00:12:51.410 --> 00:12:52.735
I feel like I should actually do more.

00:12:52.735 --> 00:12:53.677
You've inspired me.

00:12:53.677 --> 00:13:01.693
I feel like I should do more because, in thinking it through as you bring it up, I'm like I should do more, like I've had so many great people on my teams.

00:13:01.693 --> 00:13:07.398
I should just go do more unsolicited because I've gotten the privilege of working with so many great people.

00:13:08.264 --> 00:13:09.905
And one last piece on the recommendations.

00:13:09.905 --> 00:13:22.913
One of the things I did, which was a blast in March I took a week Actually the whole month I did Be the Friend First, and one week was on unsolicited recommendations, and each day I wrote a recommendation and then I posted about it and that was really fun.

00:13:22.913 --> 00:13:24.534
So yeah, you're doing great.

00:13:25.075 --> 00:13:28.037
Would you say it's a minority percentage of people that have a good profile?

00:13:28.037 --> 00:13:29.918
Is it less than 50%?

00:13:30.138 --> 00:13:30.538
Minority.

00:13:30.538 --> 00:13:48.566
Yeah, the other thing about it is you create a profile, you spend the time and things change If your profile is two years old, three years old, no-transcript talk to a little bit about.

00:13:48.826 --> 00:13:51.999
Talk a little bit about your strategy with be the friend.

00:13:51.999 --> 00:13:52.279
First.

00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:53.985
Just a little bit more detail on that.

00:13:55.311 --> 00:14:04.488
So it all came out because I was, you know, teaching LinkedIn and I, in the early days I had people saying to me oh, I've got this great profile, but why don't I have a job?

00:14:04.488 --> 00:14:06.618
Or I got this great profile, why don't I have sales?

00:14:06.618 --> 00:14:09.183
Why don't I have people falling all over me?

00:14:09.183 --> 00:14:09.826
And I would.

00:14:09.826 --> 00:14:10.868
I was teaching them.

00:14:10.868 --> 00:14:13.953
You need to build a relationship.

00:14:13.953 --> 00:14:14.600
You need to.

00:14:15.484 --> 00:14:18.171
You don't just come on and expect people are going to post about you.

00:14:18.171 --> 00:14:21.087
They're going to refer you, they're going to introduce you.

00:14:21.087 --> 00:14:21.850
What are you doing?

00:14:21.850 --> 00:14:25.902
It's the same thing if you go to an event, you go to a networking event or you go to a party.

00:14:25.902 --> 00:14:29.840
You don't just come in and expect that everyone's going to do everything for you.

00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:31.548
Just come in and expect that everyone's going to do everything for you.

00:14:31.548 --> 00:14:36.168
Come in and you try to be friendly and you try to learn about the person and you like ask the questions and how can I help you?

00:14:36.168 --> 00:14:37.323
And you do the.

00:14:37.323 --> 00:14:38.609
It's the same thing online.

00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:41.285
You want to show gratitude, post.

00:14:41.285 --> 00:14:43.350
You know, anytime there's great news.

00:14:43.350 --> 00:14:44.392
That's a great reason.

00:14:44.392 --> 00:14:47.990
To post, like we're talking about the recommendations, is a great thing to do.

00:14:47.990 --> 00:14:51.085
If you believe in that person, why not say it.

00:14:51.085 --> 00:14:53.809
You can endorse them, you can mention them.

00:14:53.809 --> 00:15:02.260
Your friends that write a book, your friends that are on a podcast, do a post about that.

00:15:02.260 --> 00:15:11.966
What you learned so all that stuff is be the friend first, and to me it's a philosophy that is comfortable, versus going online and just expecting things or starting pitching people which I'll never do or using automation.

00:15:11.966 --> 00:15:16.374
I'm more about the relationship building and it's worked.

00:15:16.374 --> 00:15:23.865
It works for me and people reach out to me all the time, partly because they've read it on my profile or partly because they've seen what I do.

00:15:23.865 --> 00:15:27.866
I comment and I'm showing gratitude and every client I put a post about how great my client is.

00:15:27.866 --> 00:15:28.369
That's something I do.

00:15:28.369 --> 00:15:30.158
I put a post about how great my client is.

00:15:31.861 --> 00:15:34.533
That's something I do.

00:15:34.533 --> 00:15:37.846
It's about building relationships, not just hacking the algorithm, right?

00:15:38.568 --> 00:15:39.250
Yeah, oh yeah.

00:15:39.250 --> 00:15:40.725
People say they get on.

00:15:40.725 --> 00:15:42.907
That's a great point you just said, eric.

00:15:42.907 --> 00:15:46.125
The question I'll get is they call me.

00:15:46.125 --> 00:15:48.629
I want to talk to you about the LinkedIn algorithm.

00:15:48.629 --> 00:15:55.889
I'm like, okay, yes, but it's reorienting the thinking and the mindset to be more relationship-based.

00:15:58.583 --> 00:16:01.285
So I'm going to link to both of your books and your website in the show notes.

00:16:01.285 --> 00:16:27.186
I think people should study both of the books carefully, because winning on LinkedIn is a complex overall project, but I'm going to put you on the spot and ask you to share, perhaps out of the 67 tips in your latest book for LinkedIn, what are your top three that drive the most results for people and or are your favorite?

00:16:28.509 --> 00:16:32.788
Oh, wow, okay, One of them I'll mention is using the services page.

00:16:32.788 --> 00:16:34.825
A lot of people don't use the services page.

00:16:34.825 --> 00:16:50.225
So if you're a marketing professional, for example, and you're offering marketing services using that services page, I was just hired by a CEO in California to help with his company and his personal brand and he came to me from the services page.

00:16:50.225 --> 00:16:56.955
So people are doing searches, not just people searches, not just company searches, they're doing services searches.

00:16:56.955 --> 00:17:05.142
So you want to come up?

00:17:05.142 --> 00:17:05.765
That was tip number 26,.

00:17:05.765 --> 00:17:08.057
I believe I would say the Be the Friend First is one of my tips which we've talked about pretty extensively.

00:17:08.057 --> 00:17:08.398
That's tip 60.

00:17:08.419 --> 00:17:12.170
One of my other favorites is the activity page on your profile.

00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:24.501
So you, if you look at your profile, there in there is your activity page and you can pick posts, comments, newsletter, video, documents, right, and you can do that when you go to look at someone's profile.

00:17:24.501 --> 00:17:30.925
But a lot of people don't realize that if you use that edit pencil, you can position what you want.

00:17:30.925 --> 00:17:38.583
So I used to have posts I think that's the default and I switched it over to my newsletter and the whole image is amazingly amazing.

00:17:38.583 --> 00:17:41.811
So if you're using these things or if you're a commenter but you're not.

00:17:41.811 --> 00:17:42.781
You don't post.

00:17:42.781 --> 00:17:44.567
You want to switch that to comment.

00:17:44.567 --> 00:17:46.571
You want to highlight what's important.

00:17:46.571 --> 00:17:51.651
If you love video, put the video, so that's really a big part of your profile that a lot of people miss.

00:17:57.980 --> 00:17:59.041
Have you seen that section I'm talking about, eric?

00:17:59.041 --> 00:17:59.281
Yeah, I have.

00:17:59.281 --> 00:18:10.664
I haven't delved deeply into the understanding, the customization of how it works, but I do post and I comment and I put videos and I recently launched a newsletter highlighting the best moments on the podcast.

00:18:10.664 --> 00:18:18.614
And I recently launched a newsletter highlighting the best moments on the podcast and I've noticed that it is a big section pretty close to the top of the page, so definitely worth customizing.

00:18:18.614 --> 00:18:19.615
I love that tip.

00:18:20.415 --> 00:18:21.156
Yeah, so take a look.

00:18:21.156 --> 00:18:27.807
In fact, you might change it over time, like this month it might be you want to focus on your newsletter and next month it's more on video or something.

00:18:27.807 --> 00:18:33.622
You have a lot of choices which will look great on your profile more on video or something you have a lot of choices which will look great on your profile.

00:18:33.642 --> 00:18:51.094
So, zooming out just for a minute before we finish up on the topic of overall personal branding what do you tell your clients about personal branding overall outside of LinkedIn, the importance of it, why they should do it and how to build a great one?

00:18:51.094 --> 00:18:57.238
I know people have different goals but, broadly speaking, what's your elevator pitch on why it's worth the time?

00:18:58.019 --> 00:19:18.040
If you feel that your business or career is impacted by your brand or your network, then there's no question that this is something that you need to do, and I think the big issue that we've seen over the last several years is a trust element, and trust has gone increasingly down.

00:19:18.040 --> 00:19:21.570
If you look at the Edelman trust barometer, the world does not no longer trust.

00:19:21.570 --> 00:19:27.491
We don't trust politicians and ads and CEOs and salespeople and lawyers, and people don't trust.

00:19:27.491 --> 00:19:28.461
They trust their friends.

00:19:28.461 --> 00:19:40.843
And when you're online, you have a chance to build trust, and so that's the big opportunity is building trust and credibility, and so it's a waste if you're not doing that.

00:19:40.863 --> 00:19:42.667
Because people are coming, you get referred.

00:19:42.667 --> 00:19:46.426
People are going to look you up just because you want to get those referrals.

00:19:46.426 --> 00:19:48.471
That's key, but they're going to look.

00:19:48.471 --> 00:19:51.605
Or if you make a phone call or an email, they're going to look at your online presence.

00:19:51.605 --> 00:19:54.269
Just validate Do I believe this person?

00:19:54.269 --> 00:19:55.291
Does it make sense?

00:19:55.291 --> 00:19:58.462
Do they have the goods that I'm interested in?

00:19:58.462 --> 00:20:02.131
I think it's become a mandatory, foundational piece.

00:20:02.131 --> 00:20:07.771
I know people say it's work, but it's to me, if you don't do this, you're not even at the starting gate.

00:20:08.980 --> 00:20:10.306
Yeah, I agree a hundred percent%.

00:20:10.306 --> 00:20:16.566
I think trustworthiness and credibility underlie your reputation.

00:20:16.566 --> 00:20:24.948
If people can't trust you, if they don't see you as credible, then you probably can't have a great personal brand.

00:20:24.948 --> 00:20:37.768
And some of the things that you've shared, some of the tips you've shared be the friend first and be generous with sharing advice and content with others.

00:20:37.768 --> 00:20:48.311
Taking sort of a a servant, sort of leadership approach is a great way to build trust and credibility, right I I agree completely.

00:20:48.532 --> 00:20:49.253
Yeah, and it's fun.

00:20:49.253 --> 00:20:53.250
It's fun and it feels good and it's you can build a lot of business from it.

00:20:53.250 --> 00:20:53.771
Yeah.

00:20:54.441 --> 00:21:00.570
Any final thoughts about mastering LinkedIn or personal branding that I didn't ask you wanted to share?

00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:05.327
Just spend the time on it, just maybe put it into your calendar.

00:21:05.327 --> 00:21:09.867
If you're someone who's brand new at it, you got to start somewhere and start with your profile.

00:21:09.867 --> 00:21:11.923
But there's a lot of help out there.

00:21:11.923 --> 00:21:17.929
I hope you'll look at my books, but there's a lot of other help and you can look at Eric's profile and you can look at other people's profile in the marketing world.

00:21:17.929 --> 00:21:23.068
It's worth it and it can mean a lot to building your business and your career.

00:21:24.352 --> 00:21:24.732
All right.

00:21:24.732 --> 00:21:27.101
Thank you very much for being with us today, Sandra.

00:21:27.101 --> 00:21:29.423
I'm linking to your books and your website in the show notes.

00:21:29.423 --> 00:21:31.544
Everyone check those out, please.

00:21:31.544 --> 00:21:36.086
Thank you very much for being with us today and sharing your stories and these insights.

00:21:36.086 --> 00:21:36.747
We appreciate it.

00:21:37.900 --> 00:21:38.748
Thanks, Eric.