#098 - How to Boost Your Brand’s Visibility on LinkedIn with Leilani Wells

Show Notes

When it comes to building your business brand on social, no other platform is quite as supportive as LinkedIn. Which is why it’s so important for people to find your company page. Knowing how to increase the likelihood of prospective customers and business referrals discovering your company page, is critical. To find out what DIY techniques small business owners can use to raise their brand’s awareness and get seen, co-hosts Nola Boea and Lori Vajda talked to visibility expert Leilani Wells.

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In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• Which tips and hacks will help you convey a strong business LinkedIn profile.
• How your cover picture can be a factor in positively increasing your company’s first impression to visitors.
• The recommended number of weekly posts you need to help raise awareness.  

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:
(04:12:11) The three missed opportunities solopreneurs make, when it comes to LinkedIn?. 
(7:53.03) Should you have a personal and a company page on LinkedIn? What about if your business is new?
(11:41:23) This is a little know technique so you, as a solopreneur, can bring value through your brand on LinkedIn.
(20:13:29) Easy ways for business owners to humanize their brand in order to reach and connect with their target audience.

Connect with Leilani Wells

• https://www.leilaniwells.com
• https://www.facebook.com/lani.m.wells
• https://www.pinterest.com/leilanimedia/_created
• Instagram, Twitter and TikTok: @LeilaniMWells

​Resources 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Nola: If you struggle with increasing your business' visibility on LinkedIn, and you wonder what it takes to create engaging content on the platform, stay tuned friends, because we are talking to a visibility expert and brand manager who specializes in helping solopreneurs and small business owners create social posts that gets seen and raise your visibility. She's here today to talk specifically about getting seen on LinkedIn.

[00:00:24] Announcer: You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where times strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week.

[00:00:35] Lori: The goal of social media posts, regardless of the platform, is to produce content that sparks conversation, not just comments.
Conversations are what increases your brand's visibility and engagement with current and prospective buyers, which is a key goal for content in general. So how do you create the kind of messaging that actually stops target audiences from scrolling right past your LinkedIn post? Well friends, our guest today is here to share her wisdom, experience and expertise. Meet Liani Wells, a visibility coach with a passion for helping entrepreneurs get seen.

[00:01:14] Nola: Known for her unique ability to tap into the talents and strengths of her clients, Leilani Well's passion is helping purpose driven entrepreneurs. Combining her social media, business and intuitive skills, Lelani masterfully identifies an individual's potential and then guides them to fulfill it by showing them how to amplify and share their unique gifts within the world of social media and online marketing. Leilani is a mom, author, business owner, coach, and philanthropist. Welcome back Leilani.

[00:01:47] Leilani: Thank you. Thank you for having me again. Woo.

[00:01:51] Nola: So glad to have you back. You first appeared on our podcast in episode 96, where you shared your insights on the importance of viewing social platforms as a way to increase a brand's visibility. And in this episode, we'll be focusing on LinkedIn. Before we explore the ways brands can increase their visibility on LinkedIn, could you tell us why you believe it's important as an entrepreneur for your business to have an engaging social presence in the first place?

[00:02:21] Leilani: Absolutely. And by the way, thanks for having me again, again.

[00:02:27] Nola: We love it.

[00:02:27] Lori: We're excited that you're here. Yeah. You shared a ton of information the last time you were here and we know this is gonna be no different.

[00:02:35] Leilani: Thank you. I appreciate that so much. And I'll say in regard to LinkedIn, which by the way, so your audience knows, I am loving LinkedIn so much right now. I think LinkedIn is underrated because people don't understand it, a lot of people, and that is perfect. Because there's like still prime real estate to be had there, and it's amazing. So in answer to what you're asking of why it's important to have a social media presence there, is because when you have a social media presence on LinkedIn, people are seeing it as your resume. It's in a form of credibility. That's what it is. So even, okay. Yeah. So I think I shared a little bit on the last episode about when years ago, when I just had it as prime real estate, I took up space on having an optimized profile there. I had just contact information, just all the basic things in place. And then also they can see me on video through a YouTube video I had linked up there. And so what happened was I was able to get booked for a major speaking engagement and multiple things came out of that with that person who found me there, even though I was not fully active there. And it's because that's a place for people to see you as a credible person in your industry there, if you are optimizing yourself on LinkedIn.

[00:03:58] Lori: Cool. One of the biggest challenges for any small business or business owner is getting the word out. You wanna gain traction with your target audience and your current audience. From your perspective, what are the three missed opportunities solopreneurs make, when it comes to LinkedIn?

[00:04:18] Leilani: I would say number one, they are not optimizing their bio on there. Their top real estate at the very beginning. So, like for instance, there are a couple simple things that they can do. Have a nice banner on there that says what you do, what services you offer on there with a picture of yourself on the right side of it. Three bullet points, keep it simple, easy-peasy or logo or something. Have that banner say like what's in it for them to follow you. Not how special you are and all your accolades, but everything that you're posting up there should be what I call WIIFM from my sales experience is What's In It For Me is what everyone's always thinking.

And so think about it, put that up there. The next thing is, put a cover story, which is that like 15 second, 30-second video, where you're talking to people inside your profile pic. So what I love to do is put my cell phone out and just have nature in the background and speak to them. I'm your friend. And why I say I have nature in the background, and this is key, if anyone is listening to this with a pen and paper, write this down, remember it, etch it to your memory. People have been stressed out for the past few years, then they're on their devices so much. And they're craving that grounded feeling that nature, that Mother Nature brings to them. So I like to incorporate nature into my videos, any chance I get. And so that's in the cover story. we talked about having a great profile pic, and then if you go right beneath that, you'll see that if you have Creator Mode, you can put some hashtags for relevancy. You can add another thing for WIIFM, where that top tagline, a lot of people like to just put something that is about them. Again, accolades. When really that sentence, when you comment on anybody's post that first sentence can tell people what you do it for them. So if they're reading a comment you put on someone's post, they can, without even going to your page, see if they want to go to your page, cuz they can be like, oh, Leilani works with coaches to get them seen. I can literally say there, "I get you seen and help you get clients." And they're like, oh, let me click on her page. Instead of I went to college and got my degree and this and that. And then the next thing is, that a lot of people are not using, is, there's a little speaker where you can put your name, pronunciation there and people can play it. So they don't feel, when they reach out to you in the direct messages, if they wanna leave you a voice note or they wanna talk to you, they don't feel weird mispronouncing your name. And it doesn't matter if your name is Joe or Susie, and everybody knows. You can do something fun, cuz that's another opportunity to say something about what you offer.

[00:06:56] Lori: I feel like those were all tips that I did not know. I have been on your LinkedIn page. So I saw the video, but it never occurred to me to actually do it. A matter of fact, that was like one of those moments where I was like, how does she do that? But now you've shared that. So that's an epiphany. And then that whole first line? Brilliant.

[00:07:20] Leilani: Thank you.

[00:07:26] Lori: When you think about it from, What's In It For Me, that whole other way to reframe it is for the person you're talking to. That's awesome.

[00:07:36] Leilani: Yeah. I mean, our brains are on overload. like, why am I gonna follow you?

[00:07:41] Nola: So, you've talked about how any professional or any business owner can go in and optimize their personal LinkedIn profile. What do they do with a business page, business profile. Should they have one, shouldn't they, is there like a correct way to have their personal and their company both on LinkedIn?

[00:08:00] Leilani: I love that question because it's not a one size fits all when you are just starting out and you don't have bandwidth to do every single thing available, then it does not pertain to you to add on something. I always talk to everyone about this when I talk about social media, because I noticed in the years that I'm doing this, a lot of people overwhelm themselves and they do nothing at all because of it, because there are so many experts talking about all the things that you should do without reminding people that they just need to do something. So I'm here to say, yes, that's great. Have a business page. I have a business page. That being said, most people do not come to me, from my business page. They like me, so they hire me. But your logo, I don't know about your logo. I don't know what your logo is gonna do for me. You know what I mean? Absolutely. I can't be friends with a logo.

[00:08:58] Lori: What you're saying is you're giving people a taste of what it would be like to work with you. You're maximizing that. So, if video is available, use video as part of your profile. If your face is available to show people your personality, or whatever that kind of style is, you want it to be professional, but you also wanna balance that with showing them, here's my personality. And I love the fact that you can be professional about starting your side business or launching a business on your own professional page before starting a company page. It's all about time and not stressing

[00:09:39] Leilani: Yeah. And with the word professional, too, what's really cool is it's getting this like reframe. And I feel like, what is professional? To me, it's that I can depend on you. And that's all it is to me now. Is that you care and I can depend on you. It's not what it was 10 years ago to me, where I have to do it the way it was done before women had businesses where it was all about, oh, men wear business coats. So I have to wear business coat, cuz I look professional in a pants suit and all this stuff. It's like when I show up, I think about it like this. My sisters, well actually five sisters, okay. But the point is, I love them all and if they were to come to me for something they know it's gonna get done for them. And I know that vice versa. And so if I talk to my audience and let them see me in a way that's close and normal and natural, instead of putting up some sort of facade that we think is deemed professional, then it actually separates me from them more. And that's why with LinkedIn you see people coming out there being more of themselves. And there's this idea that people feel, I don't know if I wanna be on LinkedIn because it's so stuffy or this or that, or you have to do things a certain way. And yes, it is a little bit more of a higher expectation of certain things on there. There's a higher level of income that people are making on LinkedIn. They're people that are ready to do business. So they're not upset at you for talking to them in the DMs. They're ready to talk business. They're putting out posts that are relevant and give value. They don't just post their food for no reason. That being said, you can post your food on LinkedIn. You just wanna put a point there for people to really gain something. Professional is whatever gives value. And that pertains to LinkedIn too. Now you can bring your personality to the platform.

[00:11:41] Nola: How does a solopreneur bring value through their brand on LinkedIn?

[00:11:48] Leilani: Well, my favorite is video. My favorite is always video because really it takes a lot of work to be clearer with our words than it does with our energy and our vibe. When people see our body language and all the things, it gets to the point, cuts to the chase faster. Um, you can also put more stuff in a caption when you add it. So my favorite, it's like, just get out there and put video everywhere. And don't complicate it as well. Like don't say, well, it has to have fancy background, like Leilani, you know, or it has to have spliced a certain way or whatever. Literally, if you are talking to them on video, they can feel your energy more. They can see your body language. They can see if you're genuine or if you really know your stuff. They know that wow, she's confident or, oh, my gosh, she's scared. Sometimes you can hear people's voice shaking, cuz they're forcing themselves to show up on video and I'm like, wow, that person is so brave. And I watched them even more cause they're doing it and their voice is shaking and they're showing up. You see all this stuff. So that's my favorite.

[00:12:48] Nola:
Because you did say here's how you can put up your profile and make it such that people can see what you do for them. And I was just wondering, there's the profile, and then there are posts. How do you elevate your brand? How do you enhance your brand through LinkedIn? I mean, or do you

[00:13:08] Lori: Well, you kinda bring up a point, Nola. I think I had mentioned once that someone had told me LinkedIn is far more professional, serious. So, if you want people to notice you try adding your personality in the form of humor, because that's not something you see a lot of. So when it happens, it's novel. And in the way that Leilani, you talked about, you're gonna show pictures of your food, you wanna make that connection to whatever the philosophy is or the point that you're trying to make, that it's not just pictures of your food, but there's a connection to it. There's maybe a metaphor to it or something that you're using to launch that idea forward. So I was wondering if there were, Nola said, if there were other ways that you can show up and you were talking about using video as a way to do that because you don't see that a lot, either.

[00:14:01] Leilani: Well, so here are some things that are happening with LinkedIn right now. It has very strong, organic reach. It's just people aren't using the paid advertising there all the time. They are on Facebook and Instagram to be seen, even with TikTok. All these other platforms are just taking the money, taking the money, taking the money to get people seen. And with LinkedIn, you can literally get seen and your organic reach can go so far. So it's just absurd to me when we pick ourselves apart by not saying us, we, but anybody. Why? We have an opportunity here on a platform where people have the most money they're making and they're ready to spend it.

The other thing I'll share as far as things on LinkedIn that are doing well, if you are a listener that is more comfortable and advanced with trying things, is carousel posts, and you can go on Canva and do the PDF and pop it in there. And carousel posts are a really, really great way to get seen on there and have people engage as well as video, having a newsletter with articles that you're doing. I do a biweekly newsletter in there and I'm gaining tons of subscribers every single day on there, just through the platform.

[00:15:16] Lori: You post your newsletter on there?

[00:15:18] Leilani: Yes. I share the newsletter in a post. So, I have a LinkedIn newsletter and I put articles in there twice a month. It's going to email all the subscribers and let them know, Hey, she got a newsletter. They can click through their email or they can find it on LinkedIn. And then I also share the post that I have a newsletter. So new people who didn't know I had one can now subscribe. Like just today alone, I think I gained 100 subscribers to the newsletter in one day.

[00:15:46] Nola: Wow.

[00:15:47] Lori: Wow.

[00:15:48] Nola: I didn't know you could do that.

[00:15:51] Lori: I didn't either. Well, this is why you're here, right? Exactly. Yeah. You have the information. One of the things I think we are challenged with is, how do you balance an authentic voice with professionalism? Making your post personal. And I'll give you an example. I was talking with a professional who does trainings, and one of the things that he discovered is rather than write in paragraph, he writes in sentences. And he said, the reason he writes in sentences is because one, it's easy to read. I can read the whole sentence. I tells me right then and there, if I wanna read the next sentence. Two, it requires people who are interested to slow down and scroll. Which is necessary from an analytics standpoint on LinkedIn. Do you have any other suggestions for how people can balance what we think of as being an authentic professional voice and themselves?

[00:16:53] Leilani: Yeah. I say don't balance it at all. I say, put yourself out there. What do you really feel? And so I'll take the word authentic. A lot of times when we say authentic, people think the opposite, we're not being authentic, that we're being inauthentic. And for me, the issue I have with that is, even though it's not true, certain words trigger thoughts. And so like, for instance, if I say I'm a single mom, I know some people's mind go, oh, so I like to say I'm a solo parent. And people are like, oh, she's a solo parent. That there's things that make our mind shift. And so for me, I am a layered person. As we all are.

[00:17:36] Lori: Okay. What does that mean?

[00:17:37] Leilani: that means, there's different sides to us. So for instance, we've been taught to brand and niche, which I am not against. I know that works for a lot of people, but I'm against it for me. Okay. And here's why. Because I won't be put in a box. One day, I have a strong opinion. It might set people off, trigger some people, whatever. Because they may come from a belief system that if we don't believe the same thing, that your excommunicated outta my life. And that really makes 'em upset. And, and then, oh, she put a funny post yesterday. I literally show my full, all-over-the-place, Gemini self to everybody, confuse the crap out of them and then bring them back to base. That's what I think that we all should be acting like, because if you're friends with me and I'm friends with you, you get to see my layers. If I really care about you and you really care about me, you're gonna show up on my bad days and my good days, my funny side, my crying side, my this side, my that side. So for me to say that in order for you to digest me, I have to do this way all the time and be structured and professional, I'm not ever gonna be authentic because I'm not showing you myself. I'm, I'm filtering it in some way. I'm filtering that authenticity. It's not true authenticity. And it takes time to cut back the layers. I'm still doing it. The layers of the filters, I mean. Cuz it takes trust. Especially to be so public with your first self cuz the older we get we've experienced trauma and all these things. It's like I can't show all these sides to all these strangers. I can't even show all these sides to my own family or my dearest friends all the time. So it takes a lot. But I fully and truly believe that the more that we are able to get to the next level and the next level and the next level, it inspires people watching us be fully expressed. And they become like, oh, I, I have permission to be that expressed. This is great. And I have faith in my intelligent audience. I know they're smart individuals, to distinguish that I sell something and what I sell and how I can help them. If one day I'm making them laugh, one day I'm making them cry, one day I'm making them angry and think, should I unfollow her? I don't know. I think that they're smart enough to understand that I am a visibility coach and I will show up with you and do a great job and serve you if I'm not always cookie cutter, every day.

[00:19:58] Lori: I think that's terrific. Actually

[00:20:01] Nola: It's an authentic answer.

[00:20:03] Lori: Absolutely. This has been truly helpful and an insightful discussion. But before you go, can you give us one or two tips for how a business owner can humanize their brand in order to reach and connect with their target audience?

[00:20:21] Leilani: Yes. Okay. Number one, vulnerability. And when I say that, I don't mean pull out your screen and start crying and taking photos of yourself. It just means anything that you have filtered. It can be that, maybe do you have some hidden talent that you haven't shown. And you're like, oh, I can share that with someone today. And they may think it's weird, cuz it's not what I was doing the past two years. But like for instance, I fire spin. So I put up a video.

Lori Wait, wait, you fire spin?

Leilani Not every day. It's random. there's but yes. What is fire spin? So they're called poi chains. And years ago, when I was 18 or 19, I went to Burning Man Festival and saw someone fire spinning. And I was like, I wanna learn to do that. And I wound up meeting someone where I used to work and she did that and she showed me how to do it.

[00:21:12] Lori: We should go to look on her on the LinkedIn profile for that. But that just sounded cool in and of itself. So yeah, I got sidetracked.

[00:21:20] Leilani: It's no, you're totally fine. It's fun. It's awesome. No, and then one day I popped up a video of me doing it and it wasn't something somebody had associated with me because they saw me a certain way.
That's why we do these things. It's not that we are trying to like stereotype people or whatever. So it takes you as a business owner guiding yourself to be uncomfortable every day and do something that stretches you past that whole survival thing. Okay. I put someone in a box, they put me in a box. What's outside of the box that they put me in. That's another layer to myself. Let's make a post about it that's entertaining because people are picking up their phones, not to hear your spiel or hear all your accolades, their picking up their phone to be entertained. Once you entertain them and become their friend, that's when they want to buy from you.

[00:22:13] Lori: I love that. This is fantastic. You have shown up delightful. And I really feel like you've given people a way to get a sense of what it would be like to work with you. And I especially love that you're not cookie cutter. I have a philosophy that you have to know what the rules are before you can break. You can't just break them willy-nilly. And I feel like that's what you are doing. You know what the rules are because you refer to them, used to be this way. We do it now this way. Or I do it this way. So it says, I know what the expectation was. I'm breaking that expectation.

[00:22:54] Leilani: I became an entrepreneur cuz I don't like rules.

[00:22:58] Lori: I resisted doing the entrepreneur because people told me that I don't like following rules and I wanted to prove that they were wrong, that I could follow them. Until I couldn't. I really can't. I am the person who asks a lot of questions. And what I found is people in a position of authority took that as challenging them. And I thought, I wanna know what the rationale is to do it this way. So I love that.

[00:23:29] Nola: Thank you Leilani for being our guest. If someone wants to learn more about you or your programs, where should listeners go or how can they connect with you?

[00:23:38] Leilani: Thank you so much for asking. And before I say that, I just wanna thank you ladies so much. This has just been so much fun, just like the last time. I appreciate it. I love this. I had a great time. So thank you.

[00:23:52] Lori: And we had a great time with you being here. Yeah. It's that balance between having fun and learning at the same time?

[00:24:00] Leilani: It's the best way to learn, right? Have a good time. I love it. Yeah. By the way, I love connecting. So I hope, listeners, if anything resonated or felt fun or good for you, that you do connect with me and you can connect with me any way that works for you. But however, if you want to like find my links and go and find me with ease, you can go to @LeilaniMWells at Instagram and the direct messages, and you can also go there and look at my links above and click there. And you can find me everywhere through that whole stream card right there. It's kind of like a little website, my website right now. That's Leilani wells.com. If you wanna go to my website, and also, let me repeat the handle again to find me it's L E I L A N I M Wells. And that's my handle on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram, but you can find me everywhere.

[00:24:56] Nola: Fantastic. Well, friends, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope it makes all the difference in you getting started on your business so you can create your best and most exciting life. If you found the information shared here today, helpful. Let us know by posting here where you're listening or on our Facebook page,

[00:25:12] Lori: Not sure how to turn your ID into a profitable side business? Contact us at stickybrandlab.com/contact. We'd be happy to help you.

[00:25:22] Nola: Be sure to come back next Tuesday and every Tuesday for another informative, inspiring and motivating episode. And remember. Action creates results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day. Small steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]

Nola: Not just. Okay. As you were way to increase

[00:25:48] Leilani: This is what happens when you do two podcasts in a row after we've all been gone traveling.

[00:25:52] Lori: Yes.

[00:25:53] Nola: Yeah.