I’m not great at social media. Actually, that’s a ridiculous understatement. I’m terrible, probably because I don’t like it. Pitching into an actual black hole would be a lot more rewarding than pitching into a virtual one. But at some point last year, I started to realize that one platform could make a lot of sense. The one billion+ professionals on LinkedIn are exactly the audience I need for my Boost Your Business with a Book e-course.
I know enough about social media to realize that you can’t barge in like a salesperson peddling your wares. You have to establish relationships or a following, or at least feed the machine with a steady stream of posts that will attract notice and, potentially, sharing.
I also knew enough to realize that I had no idea of what I was doing on LinkedIn and was not even beginning to leverage the network correctly. So, I did what I suggest people trying to write a book do. I hired a coach.
After giving me the most elementary of basics, which I needed, my LinkedIn coach, Shelley Kay, had me revamp my profile. She made sure my headshot popped by having me give it a bright background. Then she had me revise everything from my banner to my hashtags. I created three features, including a sales pitch for my Boost Your Business with a Book e-course and a Calendly link for a 30-minute free consult.
We moved from there to having me write posts. A lot of posts. Enough so we could start to see what people reacted to. Not surprisingly, just like most audiences, they responded to the stories, whether they were about me, my work, or my clients. Fortunately, they also liked eye-catching photos with unexpected connections back to writing, creativity, and more.
I’m still not super comfortable with selling myself, even in an authentic way, in my posts and my responses to others’ posts, but I’ll have plenty of time to practice using Shelley’s suggestions. I have even further to go when it comes to direct messaging, which feels like cold calling. We’ll see if I pull that off.
To be honest, I may not need to. My investment in hiring a LinkedIn coach is already paying off, since two folks interested in my writing coach services have already reached out after seeing my profile. One wasn’t ready to commit, but he’s a headhunter so there’s always a chance that meeting could lead to something totally unexpected. In the meantime, I’ve started working with a local physician’s assistant who has been writing various drafts of her enormous novel for years. Bright, warm, energetic, and funny, she has quickly become one of my favorite writing coach clients.
Have I mastered LinkedIn? Hell no. I’ve got a long way to go. But my profile and my posts now provide a solid sense of who I am, how I work, and why someone might want to at least have a chat about the possibilities. That works for me.
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