Mastering LinkedIn: Building Your Personal Brand as a Startup Founder

Summary

In this insightful webinar, marketing expert Timothy Davidson shares valuable tips on building a strong personal brand for startup founders on LinkedIn. He emphasizes the importance of a unique point of view, engaging with industry influencers, and creating diverse content types to resonate with the audience. By outlining a three-month roadmap, Davidson encourages founders to start small, learn from feedback, and gradually increase their online presence to drive business growth and open new opportunities.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Building a personal brand on LinkedIn is crucial for startup founders, executives, and anyone whose buyers or investors are on the platform.
• 🚀 LinkedIn is the primary B2B social network where most of your customers and investors are likely to be active.
• 🔍 Having a strong personal brand provides credibility, social proof, and opens doors that you didn't know were possible.
• 📈 Creating a unique point of view for your personal brand is essential; people buy different, not 'best'.
• 💡 Follow industry leaders and influencers to gain insights, ideas, and engage with their content for mutual benefit.
• 🛠 Optimize your LinkedIn profile to accurately represent your personal brand and make a strong first impression.
• 🎯 Start by posting once or twice a week and engage with your community to build relationships and gather feedback.
• 📊 Focus on creating a mix of content types, including personal stories, informational insights, and edutainment.
• 📈 Evaluate your content strategy every month to understand what works and what doesn't, and adjust accordingly.
• 🚦 Don't be afraid to start and accept that your initial content may not be perfect; it's a learning process.
• 🌐 Consider posting in one language initially and leverage LinkedIn's translation feature for a broader reach.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the event discussed in the transcript?

The main focus of the event is on how to build a personal link and team brand as a startup founder on LinkedIn.

Who is the speaker at the event?

The speaker at the event is Timothy Davidson, the marketing director at Directive, a performance marketing agency for software companies.

What is the significance of building a personal brand on LinkedIn for startup founders?

Building a personal brand on LinkedIn is significant for startup founders as it helps in establishing credibility, social proof, and opens doors to new opportunities. It can also drive revenue and help in engaging with the community and potential investors.

What are the three big buckets of content that a startup founder should create on LinkedIn?

The three big buckets of content include personal stories, informational content, and edutainment (educational content mixed with entertainment).

What is the recommended frequency for posting content on LinkedIn during the initial stages?

During the initial stages, it is recommended to post content once to twice a week while focusing on engaging with the community and influencers.

How can startup founders find content ideas and inspiration on LinkedIn?

Startup founders can find content ideas and inspiration by following industry leaders and influencers, engaging with their content, and observing what resonates with the audience.

What is the importance of optimizing your LinkedIn profile when building a personal brand?

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile is crucial as it serves as a snapshot of who you are and what you stand for. It helps in converting viewers into connections and provides a clear understanding of your point of view and value proposition.

Why is engagement important when building a personal brand on LinkedIn?

Engagement is important because it not only helps in building relationships with influencers and buyers but also trains the LinkedIn algorithm, potentially increasing the reach of your content.

What should startup founders do if they are unsure about what type of content to create?

If unsure, startup founders should experiment with different types of content such as videos, text posts, and images to see what works best for them and their audience. They should also consider their comfort level and the return on investment for each content type.

How does Timothy Davidson suggest evaluating the effectiveness of your LinkedIn content?

Timothy Davidson suggests evaluating the effectiveness of your content by looking at the engagement and feedback received, and then iterating based on what works and what doesn't. This involves a continuous process of trial and improvement.

What is the recommended approach for handling the challenge of not wanting to be repetitive when posting about your product?

To avoid repetition, one can focus on sharing different types of content such as personal stories, industry insights, and lessons learned from failures, rather than just product-specific information.

Outlines

00:00

🎤 Introduction and Event Overview

The script begins with a welcoming introduction by Amilia, a content manager and founder at an unspecified institute. She sets the stage for the event focused on building personal and team brands as startup founders. Amilia introduces the concept of a global audience and encourages participants to share their locations in the chat. She also highlights the importance of the Q&A session, where participants can post questions for the speaker, and mentions the use of emojis for real-time feedback during the presentation. Additionally, a poll is introduced to gauge the main challenges in building a personal brand on LinkedIn, with the options being time, lack of content ideas, or not knowing where and how to start.

05:01

🌐 The Importance of Personal Branding on LinkedIn

The speaker, Timothy Davidson, a marketing director at Directive, emphasizes the significance of personal branding on LinkedIn, especially for founders and executives. He notes that LinkedIn is the primary platform where buyers and investors are active, making it crucial for personal branding. Timothy shares his experience in building his personal brand, which has significantly contributed to his company's revenue and opened new opportunities. He also discusses the importance of having a unique point of view and standing out in the market, rather than just being the 'best', which is a subjective term.

10:02

🚀 Strategies for Building a Personal Brand

Timothy delves into strategies for building a personal brand, starting with the importance of setting foundational elements like optimizing one's LinkedIn profile. He suggests following industry leaders and engaging with their content for inspiration and relationship building. Timothy also talks about the need to create unique and valuable content that resonates with one's audience. He shares his personal approach of creating a folder to track influential profiles and engage with their posts. Additionally, he touches on the power of personal stories and the benefits of using video content to connect with the audience on a more personal level.

15:04

📈 Types of Content and Engagement Strategies

The speaker outlines different types of content that can be effective on LinkedIn, including personal stories, informational content, and edutainment. He suggests a mix of content types to cater to various audience preferences and to stand out in the feed. Timothy also discusses the importance of engagement, both in creating content and interacting with others' posts. He provides a three-month roadmap for building a personal brand, starting with optimizing the profile and engaging with influencers, increasing posting frequency in the second month, and evaluating content performance in the third month.

20:05

💡 Addressing Common Challenges and Q&A

Timothy addresses common challenges faced by startup founders in building their personal brands, such as dealing with complex industries and creating engaging content without being repetitive. He suggests using personal experiences and failures as content, which can be relatable and valuable to the audience. The session concludes with a Q&A segment where Timothy answers questions about managing multiple LinkedIn profiles, the balance between followers and connections, and the strategy for posting company updates versus personal updates. He also discusses the impact of reposting content and the potential of posting in multiple languages.

25:06

🤝 Closing Remarks and Networking

The event wraps up with closing remarks from both Amilia and Timothy. They encourage attendees to follow and connect with Timothy on LinkedIn for further questions and engagement. Amilia also promotes the event's newsletter and looks forward to future events. Timothy offers to answer any remaining questions via direct messages on LinkedIn, emphasizing the value of networking and continued learning in personal branding and professional development.

Keywords

💡Personal Brand

A personal brand refers to the unique set of values, experiences, and perceptions that an individual projects to others, particularly online. In the context of the video, building a personal brand on LinkedIn is crucial for startup founders and executives as it helps establish credibility, opens doors, and can significantly influence business opportunities and revenue generation.

💡LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that is predominantly used for B2B connections, job searches, and content sharing. It is the focus of the video as the primary channel for building and enhancing personal brands, especially for startup founders and executives looking to expand their professional network and influence.

💡Content Creation

Content creation involves the process of producing and sharing various forms of content online to engage and inform an audience. In the video, content creation is a key strategy for building a personal brand on LinkedIn, with the speaker advocating for a mix of personal stories, informational insights, and edutainment to resonate with different types of followers.

💡Engagement

Engagement refers to the interactions and communications that individuals have with others on social media platforms, such as commenting, liking, and sharing posts. In the video, engagement is highlighted as a critical component of personal branding on LinkedIn, as it helps build relationships, gain insights, and increase the visibility of one's content.

💡Networking

Networking involves building and maintaining professional relationships to advance one's career or business. The video underscores the value of networking on LinkedIn, where connecting with the right people can lead to business opportunities, partnerships, and increased brand visibility.

💡Marketing

Marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services, including market research, advertising, and branding strategies. In the video, marketing is discussed in the context of personal branding, where individuals use LinkedIn as a platform to market themselves and their businesses.

💡Startup Founder

A startup founder is an individual who establishes a new business venture, often taking on the role of CEO or a key decision-maker within the company. The video is specifically targeted at startup founders, offering advice on how to use LinkedIn to build their personal brand and support their business growth.

💡Profile Optimization

Profile optimization refers to the process of enhancing one's LinkedIn profile to make it more appealing and effective in conveying personal brand and professional achievements. This includes selecting appropriate images, crafting a compelling headline, and highlighting relevant experiences and skills.

💡Influencers

Influencers are individuals who have a significant following and can affect the opinions and decisions of others, often due to their expertise or popularity in a particular field. In the video, engaging with influencers is presented as a strategy for startup founders to increase their brand visibility and learn from industry leaders.

💡Q&A Session

A Q&A session is an interactive period where participants can ask questions and receive answers from an expert or panel. In the video, a Q&A session is part of the event format, allowing attendees to engage with the speaker and get their specific questions about personal branding on LinkedIn answered.

Highlights

The importance of building a personal brand on LinkedIn for startup founders, executives, and anyone whose buyers or investors are on the platform.

LinkedIn being the largest professional network and the primary platform for B2B interactions.

The significance of having a unique point of view that differentiates you from competitors and resonates with your audience.

The strategy of following industry leaders and influencers to gain insights and engagement opportunities.

The value of engaging with influencers' content by commenting to get visibility among your target audience.

The importance of optimizing your LinkedIn profile to effectively communicate your personal brand and value proposition.

The three types of content recommended for startup founders: personal stories, informational content, and edutainment.

The suggestion to start by posting once or twice a week and increasing frequency over time.

The recommendation to evaluate the effectiveness of your content strategy after three months and adjust accordingly.

The advice to not be afraid of starting and to accept that initial content may not be perfect.

The benefit of using video content for personal branding as it allows for better connection and authenticity.

The strategy of engaging with enterprise decision-makers by providing deep value and impact through content.

The preference for having different pages under one profile for business and personal branding.

The approach to posting about personal stories and failures as a way to connect with the audience beyond product promotion.

The distinction between followers and connections on LinkedIn, with a preference for followers due to the platform's connection limit.

The recommendation to post from your personal account rather than the company page for better reach.

The strategy for reposting content by adding your own thoughts and insights, making it a new post for better reach.

The consideration of posting in one language initially and utilizing LinkedIn's translation feature for broader reach.

Transcripts

hello everybody Welcome to our event

today on how to build your personal link

team brand as a startup founder today my

name is Amilia and I am a content

manager at fi and founder Institute for

those who are joining for first time is

the the largest uh world's largest preed

accelerator uh today we have invited a

very interesting marketing expert but

before or we invite him on stage uh I

just uh want to know more about you and

where are you joining we usually have a

very Global audience and it's really fun

and curious to know where are you today

at this moment uh you can uh put your

answer in the

chat so we have people from Vancouver

Switzerland Germany

Morocco

Colorado that's great and at uh this

moment we have a few

hundred and uh uh more about the

platform uh you found the chat and

you're using it already but we also have

this Q&A session which is very important

please post your your uh questions for

our speaker today there so we can find

them easily and bring them on stage and

he can answer uh you also have uh the

Emoji reactions under the screen down

and they're very useful while he's

speaking he will you know your feedback

uh and uh your emotions and your opinion

about what he thinking what is

interesting for you so please uh don't

hesitate to use them as

well uh also to get to know you even

better uh we have created a poll related

to our topic today and I'm going to

bring that on stage right now

our question for you today is what is

holding you back from building your

personal brand on

LinkedIn is that time or you don't know

what to talk about or you don't know

where and how to

start you can vote until the end of the

webinar for now

um I don't know if

uh if you can see

it's uh the results

um I don't know how to start is has the

most votes almost half I'm going to hide

this from the stage uh for now and we

can see this results later

again it's about equal actually I don't

know what to talk about uh and I have

time okay uh about the agenda today

today uh our speaker is going to present

for about 20 30 minutes then we're going

to engage in a Q&A session with your

questions and after that you can join uh

our networking Lou on air meet you will

see tables that you can join and we'll

be there uh Our Guest will be there

maybe if he has time to join us and you

can give us your feedback and you can

connect to each other at the lunch and

so now we can bring on stage Timothy our

guest speaker today is Timothy Davidson

he's a marketing director at

directive he can uh talk more

about what he's doing and introduce

himself he's already on stage actually

hi Tim welcome hey hi thanks for having

me hi all um yeah like like mentioned uh

I'm the director of marketing at a

company called directive uh it's a

performance marketing agency uh for

software companies um I actually grew up

in uh so it's mostly B2B um I started

off on the client side uh which gave me

a lot of I worked with a lot of Founders

a lot of uh marketing heads

specifically you know and one thing I

did find you know especially with

LinkedIn uh for B2B it was a huge driver

Revenue um and when they paired you know

if the CEO or someone had a personal

brand it really helped out a lot more

there too um and then even just in the

last three and a half years I've also

built my own personal brand uh on

LinkedIn uh which has helped drive a lot

of revenue for uh the company directive

uh but also just opportunities for

myself um that I just didn't even know

were possible I'm very excited to be

here thank you for uh thank you for

having

me

thanks a lot Timothy for introducing

yourself uh I'm GNA be off stage now and

floor is yours see you in a

bit

awesome thank you yes I'm going start

right here let's go

here all right can you see my uh

screen make sure that's right

all right

perfect yes like we mentioned talking

about growing your personal brand on

LinkedIn um I think it's so so so

important especially for Founders uh

Executives pretty much anyone uh that

also have very use specific use cases

where you're uh your buyers or the

people you want like your investors

aren't what but for the most part

investors your buyers are on LinkedIn

it's just it can vary you know industry

to Industry and who you're talking to um

and growing your personal brand is just

going to be a huge huge uh benefit on

LinkedIn for

you uh I know I already mentioned a

little bit here uh but just who am I um

you can if you you know your computer

you want to look at my LinkedIn um you

can scan the QR code there but it'll

give you kind of insight um more

insights on the content create the the

you know my profile things like that it

will kind of go through on some

optimizations and things that I've

learned across along the way um but I've

been in marketing for most of my life uh

it's it's just to me the most

interesting thing has been uh how

building my own personal brand has been

a big benefit for the company but also

myself um being on both sides of

sponsorships being on both sides of just

you know having sales calls because

someone is talking about uh

me or because they saw me on LinkedIn

they come to our company so just it's

such a big benefit

and outside of you know time it is free

in the sense of linkedin's a free

platform to create content engage with

the community things like

that I see the QR is disabled

um oops I'll actually put the

uh the link in the chat

here all right yeah so why build a

personal brand and why should you build

it on LinkedIn uh personal brand I mean

as Founders you all know how it's your

reputation and that opens up so much

doors and that helps you know retain

clients but also just bringing new

customers Word of Mouth it really

extends Word of Mouth um but having a

strong personal brand really just gives

you credibility social proof and just

opens doors that you didn't know were

possible the cool thing is nowadays you

can do that at scale everyone's always

had a personal brand it's just now

you're doing it at scale uh because of

social media now why

LinkedIn because LinkedIn is the only

pretty much the only B2B social

network um but also you're for the most

part your buyers are there um as a

startup founder an

executive

LinkedIn is going to be the big place

there uh it's going to have where your

customers are your investors feure

employees um but even more importantly

the there's still a big opportunity

there and you can't say that for every

other platform uh you know all the other

ones yeah there is still obviously some

opportunities but LinkedIn has a lot of

opportunity can start today and really

start to see that cont of traction

pretty early on which is going to help

you keep going

now before we kind of go into like what

you know how do you create content on

how do you engage with the community

there's

some foundations you should set first uh

on the poll is like yeah I don't know

how to start and I know the other one

was um you know you know what to

say the thing about building a personal

brand as you know as a Founder is for

your company um you need to create a

unique point of view I've been doing

this long enough work a bunch of

companies I've company directive worked

with hundreds of software companies and

I've been on both sides of it where I've

worked with them a lot um and one thing

I've definitely noticed is people buy

different not best that's because best

is you know it's a subjective kind of

term but also it's hard to explain

you're the best everyone says they're

number one rated and things like that

but people will buy different or

verticalized or they want something

that's going to stick out because if

you're not different you're going to be

commodity and then it just ends up being

a you know a price War which is not good

and that this is very important for your

personal brand as

well with your personal

brand you need to you need something to

say you need something that people

actually give a crap about you need

something that's going to help you uh be

known for something um we've seen

examples of this with companies uh and

personal Brands U and a lot of these

companies here gong sixense drift they

all have actually people that had big

personal brands from there and it kind

of goes hand in hand um Kong started

Revenue intelligence six cense created

the dark funnel uh drift started

conversational marketing all things that

they were known for and the people

behind it like so for drift Dave Gart

was uh and he's still very big right now

but he was kind of the face of drift um

and he helped create conversational

marketing um he has a different point of

view now because he's not no longer at

drift

but these kind of point of views these

things that make people care about you

and your company are very important and

and it's definitely something

to create first um and it doesn't have

to be groundbreaking doesn't have to be

you know completely Against the Grain

but if you are just going with the grain

if you're just saying the same thing

everyone else is it's just you're not

going to stick

out the other thing um especially

earlier on when I was doing this

creating this or creating my personal

brand one thing you're going to want to

do is follow leaders in your

space and so I'm just G to stop sharing

for a second I want to show you

something

uh so what I actually ended up doing

early

on was creating a folder on uh of links

of people in my space of Prof Linkin

profiles in my space that I would check

every other day every day um and so like

I mentioned Dave Gerhart from drift like

he was one of those people I would go to

his profile every day or every other day

and just look at what content he's

putting out so there on one hand I was

looking at it for ideas or just to see

what kind of content was

working but on the other hand you can

also engage with in the comments because

these influencers in your space whoever

the people your buyers look up

to these people you want to one build

relationships with because you can do

you know you create content with them

you can do things with them there might

be partnership opportunities but you can

also it's also that com those comment

sections are going to be gold because

that's where your buyers are going to be

and

so engaging with these kind of

influencers is going to help

get you in front of them and your buyers

and the other side benefit here is as

you can see right here with this this

comment if you comment on someone's post

you'll you'll actually end up getting a

lot of views from that which going to

come back to your profile which is going

to help you un get you know innovate on

ideas Test new ideas kind of point of

views um as you can see here this one

got like 18 engagements and that's just

engagement it's not views there's going

to be a lot more than that uh but those

Comon sections of your buyers are going

to be very critical to start building

those relationships to

start uh start building those

relationships you can engage and find

content ideas as well because you'll

also see in

here look at all these comments that

we're not responded to and there'll be

questions in there and that's going to

give you ideas of maybe content to

create things to answer in videos or or

or picture or uh content um but it's

just going to give you more market

research than just trying to do it on

your

own so you know early on especially I

would

definitely look to see find these

influencers uh in your space and then

daily or every other day every other

week and try to learn from them but also

engaged with them early on it's going to

be a big benefit uh to you um and you

know just to your to your buyers as

well the other there's one more

foundational thing here which

is your profile so I'm going to share my

I'm actually going to walk you through

my profile real

quick and we'll just talk about some of

the things here so you'll end up seeing

when when you're creating a bunch of

content and you're building a personal

brand on LinkedIn people will come back

to your profile they're going to click

on your profile and they're going to

come to it it's a snapshot in time right

someone clicks on it this is the

snapshot they're going to see all these

things matter your profile picture you

at least just have a profile you don't

really need to go crazy there but the

the background image here I'm not saying

mine's perfect at all mine has a lot of

flaws but it does portray the kind of

point of view have the things I want to

talk about the things I'm talking about

and it gives kind of you know things

they they can go from as well like as

you can see like they have the link here

you can go to the website the contact if

all that stuff matters having all this

filled out the right company the you

know what you're talking about this can

you can actually change these hashtags

your title that people are going to see

within the

feed the background image here um even

doing like the featured stuff you can

put content there you can put like um

you can do some certain pieces of work

you've done all that stuff matters the

about section

because creating content and all that is

great and and people are going to see

that but they're also going to click on

your profile and see what you're about

and that's going to help convert those

people from the personal brand to your

uh your

business so now that we have the kind of

foundation set here we're going to dive

a little deeper into you know what is

that next step

here all right so back to the

presentation so there's two sides when

you're on LinkedIn uh of creating

content engaging there's two sides of

building your personal brand which is

creating content engaging and the

engagement part so there's most people

just think of it oh yeah I'm just going

to con create content and just post post

post you need to do that but you also

need to engage with your buyers you need

to engage in the community like I

mentioned uh those influencers comment

on those those posts because that's

going to get you more views it's going

to also train the LinkedIn

algorithm people they we call is like

warming it up so a lot of times actually

people will like comment on other posts

other people's posts for 15 times before

posting something because I don't really

have good data on this but it it does

feel like you get a lot more reach

because linkedin's making it LinkedIn

likes that you're engaging the community

um but it also just going to give you

those insights that we talked about it's

going to give you more um ideas and just

Community engagement it's just you're

talking to your buyers every day on

LinkedIn by doing this

so you need to you need to do both sides

and and later in this presentation I'll

walk you through kind of like a

three-month kind of road map um and

you'll see where the engagement really

does come into it but commenting liking

and post mapping out those influencers

so you can again gauge those and you

could build those relationships that way

those things are all very

important and so once you once you start

you know doing something like

that engaging creating

content we now need to understand what

type of content to

create um as a

Founder there's probably three big

buckets that you can you should do um

and I think you should do all of them

but you want to find your kind of

Cornerstone one first

um and then you know layer in the other

ones as well but you should do all of

them because your buyers consume content

want to find different things um based

on type of content so you should have

all of them um but you obviously you

should just start with one uh when

you're starting off um but we have

personal stories this is probably one of

the Staples for a Founder in my opinion

I again I work at directive we run a lot

of ads for companies and one of the

biggest driving one of those the best

ads I've seen that works just time and

time again is the it's called the

founder

story and it's literally the founders

story because they're usually in the

shoes of the buyer as they're buying and

it just it it's it speaks to your buyer

um and it works wonders on LinkedIn as

well because people can resonate with

that especially if you were your buyer

and that's why you started your company

if that's why you're the founder that's

why you're doing these what you're doing

now uh these personal

stories not only you know could drive

business and things things like that but

they also just connect with your the the

audience your and the people you're

trying to talk

to and then so that's more of like if

you think about it that's more of like

an emotional kind of connection that's

more of um and it also just gives you

more content because a lot of times like

documenting it's kind of like the the

story it's the you know here's where we

were and then you know we went here's

the trials and tribulations then you

kind of how you want and that type of

thing and there's the informational so

maybe it's like stats insights um cont

content that can make your audience

better uh so I've seen you see this all

the time with different ways of doing it

U actually let me show you some examples

here so one example here is uh this

company called

lavender it's an email AI

tool

and something I really like when they do

is they have this mix and we're talking

about the uh informational stuff here

but they have

content that's very informational that's

stuff that you can basically

use uh right

away so here's like an email framework

that they have here this is content that

is very just informational great for

their buyers uh and their their Founders

and all that they their people their

company posts all this too so they're

also building their personal Brands then

obviously they have a mix of you know

entertainment and stuff like that but

like data stats things that make your

buyers

better uh is going to

be very

helpful uh to give that information

Insight but you don't need to do that

every single time you you can layer that

in because then you also have maybe

something like an

edutainment uh and and again I think

having all of these is important because

your buyers need a mix and you know your

audience needs a mix um but just an

example from my standpoint here just

from me I do a lot of

videos and a lot of times I'll do

edutainment in the sense

of you know it's education with

entertainment

[Music]

um so this is just like one

series been creating but it's kind of

like

a how you

know is actually a bad example but there

is like a it's like a skit and so there

but we're also Ed entertaining at the

same

time that's where the edutainment part

comes in um the people I see that have

the biggest personal Brands they usually

have a mix uh because you need that it

also shows off your personality as

well

and then within that there's a type of

content so there's video text post

images and you can even do like polls

and things like that again I do think

you need a mix but I would look at one

for your

the the content you're going to do the

most of uh because it's easiest for you

or the best return on investment for you

me I found it to be video and I actually

think most Founders should look at video

you can just use your phone doesn't need

to be

crazy because what it does is

it lets

people connect with you better because

they can actually understand your

mannerism they can understand you know

your tone of voice and and like when you

meet them in person they'll actually

like feel like they'll know who you are

because you are on video and and in

LinkedIn there's not a lot of that not a

lot of video

so you can actually stick out as well

then there's text posts again I think

you should sprinkle it in uh text posts

are usually the easiest and you can

obviously just write it out that way

[Music]

um I most people do that and that's

that's great but it is very common um

which means it's not g to stick out as

much but they also do perform very well

so obviously you know it has to depend

on you know your personality your time

you know all those factors um but I what

I would say is you should sprinkle in

all of them and there's images again

it's literally just going to be a text

post but with an image and the image can

stick out especially if it it's like a

data point stat uh it definitely can

help uh stick out in the

feed now mentioned three-month kind of

road

map I know one of the hardest parts uh

is going to

be just starting everyone kind of

struggles here myself included I I took

you know years and years of on and off

until I started build my personal brand

um so I do kind of go back and forth

sometimes because uh I do think it's

very important just to start but I also

think you do need to lay the ground work

you talk about the profile optimization

and things like that um but in the first

month

um start you know as soon as possible I

optimize your profile to make sure it's

you know set up right and make make sure

so when someone comes to it they can

understand your point of view um

understand who you are what your company

is or what you know why they should care

about

you uh follow those uh influencers I

talked about the people in your space um

create a folder uh with like you know

maybe five to 10 of those links and just

and just follow them so that you

can look for inspiration ideas but also

uh engage engage engage engage I think

it's very important you start building

those relationships and you'll start

um engaging those those buyers as

well and I would just because when

you're starting and I don't want you to

get overwhelmed I would start posting

maybe once to twice a week and then the

rest of it engaging because the

engagement commenting all those things

like that that'll also help

you uh get ideas of things to

post or create content

for and then the second month I want you

to continue all the other things the

engagement the community stuff uh but

then start posting a little bit more

three to four times a week uh you want

to ramp that up a little bit by that

time you should have more ideas and

things to talk about you should have

more ideas of

uh because you you should have more

ideas of things to talk about because

you're looking at those uh influencers

you're looking at the other people that

are uh creating their personal brand and

and you're kind of getting ideas that

way and then the third

month you want to evaluate a little bit

you want to keep going keep creating

that content keep engaging but you want

to take a step back and understand what

content what kind of comments what

things that you're looking at just like

you do with your product with with your

company just understand what is working

what's not um so you can do more of

what's actually working what's and stop

doing what's not uh so whether whether

that is video versus text and you're

seeing a lot more text posts do well

maybe you shouldn't do video and not

video is not for everyone I know I

mentioned like I think it is important

but maybe it's not for you uh and

obviously vice versa um but I know

people a lot of people have a hard time

starting or don't know what to talk

about or they just don't know they're

kind of scared because they're trying

kind of scared of the feedback the truth

is if you don't start you're never going

to do it uh because like me like every

single other person the first 10 pieces

of content you create uh they're going

to suck are gonna suck and but that's

how you get better uh because you'll get

the feedback or you won't get the

feedback which means it didn't do well

um and then you can iterate from there

um and if people and if it's something

that's that bad no one's going to see it

so there's no reason not to just start

and and start creating

content

and like like I mentioned just get

started today and you'll see what

happens I mean you'll you'll innovate

your founder right you're you're ahead

of something you know you're for the

most of us are startup

Founders just like everything um

you will innovate on it um but building

a person brand on LinkedIn is going to

be very very helpful for whatever your

Endeavor um whether it's the correct the

current one or even later um

it's very very

helpful so I'm just going to scroll

through uh that's actually end of the

presentation but I going to scroll

through some of the comments see if uh

there's any questions I can

answer

all

right right I believe there's going to

be recording this session I know there's

a couple questions there

um if not uh whatever I can do I can

send this I'll uh yeah I can definitely

download the the slide that I and get it

to everyone if that's

possible

um

oh

okay

H

vol

uh there's a question working with

complex vertical Industries and domains

Enterprises decis Enterprise decision

makers are looking for deep value and

impact and content how do I factor that

in yeah I think that's I think that's

why you have all those uh different

kinds of content you know you have the

informational you have the entainment

and then you have like the the founder

story there um or the personal

story I think that's why you have all

those um

people I think one of the things things

that people think too much about is uh

yes they are Enterprise decision makers

maybe they're a little bit more

technical still people that's where the

edutainment comes in right that everyone

still likes dogs and cats and has kids

and or doesn't um or they you know they

still like they're they are personable

uh so I think having all those factors

into it so they can Peak to their their

technical side with the informational

side of it but also just you know the

the personable side with the

entertainment or get you know so you can

actually teach someone but also you know

keep them uh engaged in that way as

well thank you Timothy for this amazing

valuable tips with examples and very

actionable

advice uh we're gonna I'm gonna help

with the questions now okay or first if

you want we can look again uh at that

pole um because it's interesting to see

people's barriers do you see the results

on stage can you see

them I can't see them now no uh well the

main barrier is uh that U our startup

Founders don't know how to

start then they don't know what to talk

about and um third one is

time uh just uh interesting information

to

know and we can jump into the Q&A

session we have a lot of very

interesting practical

questions and I like all of them but uh

let's see the ones that are voted uh

that have the most

votes I will show this on stage so this

is a question from Leia H

Barcelona uh is it good to have

different pages under the same unique

profile for instance a page of my

business and page of me as an artist all

under my main profile or better to have

different profiles for different

targets yeah I would

say so from the business side I would

just keep it all on one business page um

you can actually in LinkedIn you can

have so if the one way you could do like

you still have one business page but you

could actually do products they have

products now where you can actually do

like different products So in theory um

if you have different targets um so like

an example would be like you know

software for um you know this industry

or software for this industry you could

technically make it different products

in there um but I I I actually think you

shouldn't spread it out um i' I'd rather

you have it all under one business page

um for the personal side of it your

personal profile I think

is going to be your best bet I wouldn't

create like a an artist main profile um

there's not much for LinkedIn at least

there's not many benefits to it I'd

rather I think it's much better um

because of the reach just have it on

your personal

profile so there are different options

thanks liar for that

help next

question it's hard to post twice a week

information about your product are you

get exhaust it and don't want to be

repetitive how to handle challenge like

this yeah I I think that's actually

completely right uh they can get

exhausted that's why I think uh where I

mentioned the um the founder kind of

story the personal stories I think you

know as a CEO I think there's a lot of

um things you can talk about on you know

how you got to where your your company

is now or how you you know got to the

point of what your product is now or the

TR you know some even like the failures

I think something very underrated

actually is the failures of a company um

because people are people they

understand you know not everything's

good um I think there's a there's a

story to be had about like what failed

or what um things you innovated on um or

just how you got to where you are now or

you know what did you have problems with

hiring there there's a lot of stories

you can to be had that are similar to

your business or like they kind of Go

Side hand in hand but they're not

specifically about your product um and I

think com people buyers want to know

more about your product and I think or

not sorry yes about your product but

more about your business and I think

that helps them buy your

product nice storytelling is always

great

advice um we have many more so we can

just briefly go through them is it

better to to have followers or

connections this is a that's a great

question um I would say connections so

actually if you connect with someone in

LinkedIn it automatically uh makes it a

follower so you get you actually get a

connection and a follower um the only

way to unfollow is like someone would

actually have to go in and say like

unfollow but still still stay

connected I think

they I actually don't see a big

difference the only thing would say that

is different is once you when you are

building your personal brand it ends up

being easier to follow someone so if you

you're scrolling through the feed and

you see someone's content and you like

like it like you just like you're just

you actually like read it and you're

like you really like it not like

actually click like but then there's a

follow button on the on the top uh so as

you start growing your personal brand

you'll get more followers because of

that um and I think then there's also so

actually the answer is probably

followers because there's also a

connection uh limit LinkedIn Cuts you

off at a certain

point and you can just uh not get the

connection right yeah yeah exactly you

can have unlimited followers but uh you

do get limited on the

connections okay uh next

question how should you post for your

company as opposed to you the founder

when you're maintaining both that's

similar to previous a little so I've

actually

found it better to post from your

personal than your company page um just

because so I would prioritize your

personal rather than your company page

um just

because LinkedIn limits the reach for

company Pages compared to your personal

by a lot um I've I've tested like the

same exact content and you can get 10x

in the same so directives personal page

or company page page has more followers

than me I think it's like like 18,000 I

have about

14,000 I I can create the same exact

content post at the same time and my

page would get like 10x 20x to reach

than the company page um so I would do

that first um I would prioritize the

personal because that'll you you see it

time and time again uh company Pages end

up getting a lot of followers from the

personal from the founders or from or

sorry compy Pages get a lot of followers

even if they don't post on the company

page just because of the personal

profiles that are driving all the the um

people to those

pages all

right um okay how

about reposting is it better to repost

with equivalent to a brand to a brand

new

post um oh brand new thought

uh i' I've only done this a little bit

time a couple times but um yeah just

reposting

someone's I think I understand what

you're if I understand this correctly

you're reposting someone's content you

see in the feed um if you do that you

don't get much reach I think it's like

from what I understand it's it's like

10% of what you could if you actually

like take that content or even just

screenshot it with your phone and tag

the person or the company whoever posted

it and then put your own thoughts on it

you'll get a lot more reach that way so

I I would do it that way

more is this an equivalent to your own

post with your thoughts that is not a

repost yeah because it it would actually

technically be a new

post so if you took if you're like

putting your thoughts on a post instead

of just like reposting it and just

saying like oh nice but actually like um

taking that that whatever that was and

putting your own thoughts on it your own

unique point of view on it that ends up

being a brand new post it's kind of like

a reaction or or something like that um

and you can actually those thing

actually work pretty

well okay so it's worth taking the

effort uh let's have

one one or two more

MH uh we talk about the covering me

okay this

one Su Technical and

non-technical Technical and non-

Technical Founders employ the same

personal branding

strategies ail yeah I think I think

you'll have

different I mean everyone's approach is

going to be a little different um based

on your

personality I would still I think the

the same uh Concepts still work and then

you you'll have to adjust based on um

you know what you are more comfortable

or what you like to talk about um that's

that's where I think it would adjust the

most I think the same approach with

pretty much all of it you know the

profile oranization following the the

the people um creating the content maybe

you know maybe you don't like to do

video and that's great we just do more

text post and more or images with with

more um you know cont like that um so I

think most of the concepts still apply

it's just where your personality lies um

and you know obviously technical

non-technical Founders are are have

different personalities so I think

that's where the uh the adjustment would

be but I think the

concepts should still apply to

both thanks and

another similar

question does it make sense to post in

two languages I want to start selling in

Switzerland and then in other countries

English would be the best one to post

but not always people understand English

so I go both in German and

English yeah this is a good good

question I would at at the start I would

probably stick with

one um because if you do scroll through

Linkedin it will give you an option to

like say see

translation um I know those aren't the

best so but I

would I don't I think it would dilute I

don't really know the answer the exact

answer on this because I think but I do

think if LinkedIn if you post the same

thing on LinkedIn at the same time um

just one you know one's in different

language I think LinkedIn would hamper

uh the reach You' get

unfortunately

yes it's a bit tricky well thanks uh

we're going to wrap it up now with the

Q&A session because our attendees keep

on posting new questions but please uh

follow Timothy connect to him uh talk to

him you have also the sites and the

video recording from today in your inbox

uh in 48 hours you will have all his

contacts so follow connect to him and

also follow uh fi our event sign up for

the news letter and have a good day or

good night whatever in the world you are

in the moment and see you soon see you

at our next event thanks a lot Timothy

if you want

to last words before you

go uh this was great yeah but yeah if uh

if you have any other questions just DM

me on LinkedIn um this was this is

awesome appreciate

it thank you thanks a lot see you soon

bye and see you guys in the networking

Lounge