Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: LinkedIn is more than a place to post a resume or keep up with your former co workers. For an insurance agent or financial advisor, it can be another place for prospects, partners and professional connections to find you. But that's only if your profile is giving them something worth finding. Jo, let's first establish why does LinkedIn matter to agents and advisors?
[00:00:22] Speaker B: If you think about all the channels that you can go on, on the Internet, so you think about all the social media channels, all the places where people you know can go and hang out, and LinkedIn is the only one where you come in with a mindset of being professional. Like it's a business professional mindset that you come in there with and everybody there has the, the exact same mindset. And so it's not like Facebook where you never quite know what you might get over there from your friends and family. Or entertainment wise, you pretty much know what you're going to get from LinkedIn and what to expect when you're on that channel.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: There are many ways for prospects to find and learn about an agent or advisor. Traditional search we have AI now and of course social media. So where do you see LinkedIn fitting into an agent's overall marketing strategy? How much focus should they put behind LinkedIn?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Well, your marketing strategy should include all the channels. So it shouldn't just be search engines, it shouldn't just be AI, it shouldn't just be one social media channel, it should be all of them. It's all of those channels that bring it all together into your online presence, is what you're building. And LinkedIn is a credibility source. So you have your website to help you build credibility, you have other channels, you have YouTube, you have all these other channels. LinkedIn is your professional credibility source. That's where people can go and see where you've been, where you're headed. But it's all about you as a professional. It's not about your personal life as much. And so that's where that one's critical. Even more when you look at the results and how it shows up on, on the Google search results and if somebody's googling your name, those LinkedIn profiles will show up there. And AI is pulling LinkedIn more and more. So even if you're leaving comments on LinkedIn, AI is pulling that into their results. So yes, it is definitely a critical piece now. And I think people just have to have the right expectations of what it is and how to utilize it.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: And that's what we're talking about today is discovery, how you can increase Your chances of showing up when a prospect comes to look for your help. And when we talk about optimizing LinkedIn for discovery, there's, you know, a lot of ways you could approach it. But just generally speaking, what are we talking about when we say we're optimizing for discovery?
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Well, there's different ways that you can optimize it. So you have, in my opinion, the first half is optimizing it for the keywords and optimizing it for what people may search. And so it could be, if you're in the industry and you sell Medicare, it could be utilizing Medicare keywords and making sure that it's known in there that you are a Medicare agent. If you sell life insurance, again, it's utilizing those keywords, it's making sure that you're very clear, and it's those SEO tactics that you're applying to that social media platform that now, once you have it to where people can find you. The second half of it is making sure that when people do find your page, they know exactly what it is that you do. You make it very clear from the very beginning, this is who I help and this is how I do it. And so that it's two, to me, it's it. Both of those are equally important. Make sure that you're searchable, make sure that you're showing up in those results. But even more important, once people find your page, make sure there is no confusion over who it is or what you do.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: What do you think is some of the biggest missed opportunities based off of what you just said, when it comes to an agent being on LinkedIn? Because I, I would imagine that some of what we're talking about could be new information for, for those listening. So what do you see? As are some of the most common
[00:03:27] Speaker B: pitfalls, I think some people treat it as just a resume or a job finder. And so they go in there and they, they put what they want their, maybe their potential employer to see where. I think that's definitely a downfall. I think how you should look at it is what do you want your client to see? What do you want potential partners to see? And that will relate to anybody who's looking to hire you in that industry. So don't, don't just go about it and look at it as, hey, I need to make myself look as good as possible here. It's not about that. It's about making sure that you're providing value to anybody that you could be partnering with and don't have a siloed Mindset of just recruiters. It's not just recruiters, it's business partners. You know, in the industry we're in, in health and wealth, it's carrier partners, it's people that we go to events with, it's agents, it's advisors.
There's so many people that we could connect with in our industry that aren't necessarily just our clients.
And that's where people have to keep in mind that it's a professional network for whoever it is that you may be working with.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: And it's a professional network that you often can't get anywhere else. I mean, what room are you going to be in to be exposed to everybody that you just listed and anybody that might be able to also benefit your business? It's very rare. And so LinkedIn serves as that meeting space for professionals and networking opportunities. But before anybody reads one of your posts or decides to connect with you, there's a good chance that they are going to look at your profile. And in just a few seconds, that profile has to, as you mentioned, be crystal clear on what you do, who you help and how you help them. So what should someone be able to understand as soon as they come across somebody's LinkedIn profile?
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Well, I think you said it yourself as making sure that your headline is there and it says exactly who it is that you help. You know, I, I help young families find, find the, you know, the, the life insurance product that fits their needs. Whatever it is, this is how I do it, making sure. So if you're looking at your profile overall, you've got your headline, you put your description in there, your cover photo. To me, that's one of the most underutilized areas where that is prime real estate up there, where you can do a very visually appealing graphic to where you can throw a quote in there of exactly who it is that you help and what it is that you do.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Let's start talking about the profile photo, Jo, because we've established we need to use keywords and we need to optimize certain text on our profile. But what role does a profile photo play?
[00:05:45] Speaker B: It, it really does play a very critical role because it is the, the part that people see to see exactly who you are. And the more that you can take that profile photo and use it in other places, you have to keep in mind that frequency helps people. So people tend to look a little different in photos. Like depending on this, the set that you're in or how you know the lighting is or whatever, the more consistent you can have one photo that you show in multiple spots, the more people will, will recognize that photo and recognize that it's you. So an example would be, is making sure that you have a profile photo that is a good headshot of. You don't have something where you're way back and, and you can't really see who you are. You want it up in front. You want to make sure that you are framed and that you're centered. The more contrast color that you can use from your background to, to you, that's even better. So you can pop off that page and then the more that you can use that. Prof.
In other areas, we use ours. So I use the same profile photo. For any webinars that we do, any podcasts that we do, I use the same photo. If I'm going to events, whatever it is, I always use the same photo. And the reason I do that is because when I'm, when I'm at those events and I meet people, I want them to see that photo and then see it on my LinkedIn profile and be like, oh, yeah, that's her. Like, yep, I'm, I'm at the right profile. Cause there may be a lot of Jo Barkers out there, I don't know, but that type of consistency helps you a lot when people can recognize you.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: I also think that recency matters here.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yes, it does.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Because as much as I'd like to think that I look the same as 25 as I do today, you know, that'd be great. But let's call a spade a spade. We get older, our appearance changes. If you're using a headshot that's over a decade old, it might be time to freshen that up. So because you want people to recognize you.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Exactly. You want to give them confidence that it's you. You know, you don't want to put any friction we talk about all the time, don't put any friction in the way the moment somebody looks at it and it's like, oh, I don't know, like they're going to hesitate to send you a connection request where you don't, that you want them to know, hey, this is me. Go ahead, send me a connection request. And it's a professional profile where, you know, you can interact.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Now, this is new to the marketing landscape, Jo, but, you know, we start to see AI generated imagery more and more.
How, what, what are your thoughts on, like, using an AI generated photo as like a headshot or something like that?
[00:07:51] Speaker B: You know, I've, I've seen some really good ones out There, there really are some very good ones out there where I'm like, hey, kudos to you. That drew my eye.
The thing I would say is just make sure that it does look like you. And, you know, and to me, you can always test things. I personally like to keep a professional headshot there and again, I like to utilize it in other spots where some people prefer a more Fun and engaging LinkedIn. It's your profile. I mean, ultimately it's your profile and it's going to match your personality of who you are, and that's what sets you apart. So to me, if that's, if that's something that you enjoy and it's something that, that speaks to you, go for it. Who am I to say that you shouldn't? But if you're looking for best practices, best practices is to use the professional headshot and making sure that your centered well.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: And if it's working for you, if the data is telling you to do more of that, then, then you absolutely should. So to, to your point, it, it should work as long as it's what your audience is resonating with and it makes sense for your brand and business. Jo, let's talk about what to post on LinkedIn. We've talked about ways you can optimize your profile, but your content can also get you discovered.
Oftentimes the shelf life of a post can help you get discovered for weeks after you post it. What are some best practices when it comes to content on LinkedIn?
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Yeah, you don't want your LinkedIn page to be stale. You know, the last thing you want to do is go months and months and months without a post. Or there's a lot of people who haven't posted in years. Even just putting out one post every week or even every other week at least shows that you're on there and that you're active and that, and that you're, you know, you're active on that platform. And comments, you know, comments is the other area where I think people don't take enough advantage of it. So if I was just getting started, and I was starting all over and I was starting a LinkedIn page for the very first time, I would go on there. I would join any groups or, you know, attach myself to my employer. I would go and find my coworkers and become friends with them. I would then do my first post of who I am, what it is that I do, and why I, you know, why I got into this industry. And then I would go around and I would comment on other People's posts. And I would do one post a week and five comments a week and I would start in that process and I would keep doing that until I, you know, until I was able to scale that and maybe do 2 and 10.
And eventually you might get to a, to a day where you're able to do, okay, two or three posts a week. And now every day I leave five to ten comments. What's important with the algorithm on LinkedIn is don't confuse the algorithm if you're there for a purpose in a professional network. So for us we're, we're marketing in the health and wealth space. Don't go on there and don't be hanging out in realtor spots and talking about selling homes. It has nothing to do with what it is that you do and who you're trying to connect with. And every time you do that and you, you veer off on conversations, you're confusing the algorithm. So the more you can stay on point and realize this is a professional network and you're there for that purpose and you can stay on point of, you know, building your personal brand is what we supposed about building your personal brand, brand building your marketing and then go leave comments on people that are also talking about that. It will help and then it will help you connect with people that have the same interests as you.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: And we have an in the news section on the Amerilife Marketing mentors website. And for weeks, Jo, it feels like we've been report that LinkedIn is constantly changing its algorithm and it's constantly changing the user experience because of the rise of AI generated content. LinkedIn as we mentioned, is a credibility platform and AI has the possibility of endangering some of that credibility. So LinkedIn has done a lot of work to stamp out any AI slop as it's known and highlight relevant content that feels like it's coming from a person.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: I bring that up because as you've mentioned, comments have become one of those signals to the algorithm that are really, really powerful. And the more that you engage within your community and share your expertise beyond just your own feed and your own profile, it really seems to get a lot of traction. And, and so the more that you can post that, that real world experience and your own unique take on things, the better likelihood you'll have to show up on LinkedIn because that the content that it's looking for and pay attention
[00:11:51] Speaker B: to your comments as you're leaving them. So as you leave those comments, you'll see later that you can go back and see how many people viewed your comment that was on that post. That's all great intel. And you can see what's resonating and what's not. And that's, it's a good guide. So, you know, especially if you have premium and you can see all of those insights within the platform, use that. You know, one thing we know about people who are on LinkedIn, they don't always like, they don't always comment, they don't always engage. But we know they're reading and we know they're scrolling and LinkedIn's watching that. It's watching to see, you know, when the person's scrolling, where they're stopping and where they're spending their time. When people hit that read More button, it knows that it's monitoring all of that and that's how the engagement is it, you know, gives you credit for your engagement and people who engage with your post. So don't get frustrated if you're missing a like or you're missing, you know, you're not getting the comments that you want. You're most likely getting the impressions.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: And that's what this is about. This is, this is about discovery. Honestly, Jo, we could do a whole episode talking just about engagement and why it's important to social media strategies, but today we're talking about discovery. And LinkedIn is such a great, powerful way to get discovered despite, as you mentioned, maybe not getting those visible engagement signals because of the way it distributes content. And it often distributes content far beyond who you're following because algorithms these days are based off of what you're interested in and what you've interacted with in the past. Do you have anything to add to that?
[00:13:15] Speaker B: No, I think it's a great time for anybody, especially even if you don't have a Large following on LinkedIn. This is a perfect time for everybody to get engaged because whether you have two followers, 200 followers or 2,000 followers, if you're, if you're in, if you're engaging with other people, you're leaving comments and you're putting out posts that people want to engage with, it is, like you said, it's an interest based algorithm. Right now, whoever it believes that would be of interest to, it's going to share that. That is an incredible time. So it doesn't matter. It's not just going to be the two people you're connected to. You could share it with 200 people and somebody that's connected to 2,000 people. Maybe if it's not interesting, it's only going to connect to 20 people. It's a whole new game for everybody. And it's a good opportunity now more than ever. It's about being valuable, about providing value and providing things that are actually of interest to the people that you want to connect with.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: And the benefits of what we're talking about today do extend beyond the LinkedIn platform itself. It can, we've talked about this, how a solid LinkedIn profile adds to a more holistic picture of who you are and your credibility.
And, and that's really the foundation of everything that we talked about is your credibility and your trust. And so showing up on a platform where trust is everything, it can, it can't hurt you. It can only help you and, and you reach the right people. Jo, any final thoughts today?
[00:14:34] Speaker B: No. If you're not on LinkedIn, get over there. If you need any help setting it up. It's one of my favorite channels to hang out on, so please reach out to us, let us know. But it's definitely, it's the only place online that is 100% for business networking, socially. That's, that's where it's at. And that's where we should be.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: That's where you should be. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. If you found today valuable, then be sure to subscribe to the Amer Life Marketing Mentors podcast right here on YouTube. For Jo Barker, I'm David Belleville, and we'll see you next time. Time.
