Blaze Your Own Trail - LinkedIn Profile Tips (#1 is a must!) with Jordan Mendoza

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, Jordan here again, and I'm so excited about the topic that we're going to be diving into over the next several weeks because it's a topic that is near and dear to my heart. It's added so much value to my business. And that topic, guys, is LinkedIn. And it doesn't matter whether you are an executive in corporate. It doesn't matter whether you are a student. It doesn't matter if you are a founder of a startup, LinkedIn, is a place that you should be. And I want to really share with you guys a few reasons why I'm so bullish on the platform and kind of how I got my start in even putting out content on the platform. So in 2019, I actually started trying to find a social media platform that I could get our associates and corporate engaged on. It was actually a goal from my former boss. And so I had scoured the internet for platforms.

Starting point is 00:01:02 You know, I went on Facebook and said, maybe Facebook groups could be the thing. And that wasn't the thing. And I went on Snapchat and couldn't figure that platform out and went to Twitter. And there wasn't really engaging for what we were looking for. And then I kind of stumbled upon LinkedIn. And I don't know if you remember LinkedIn in 2019, but this is actually when video just started to come out.

Starting point is 00:01:30 And so I started seeing people, creators, putting out video content. And there wasn't that many at the time because you had to have beta access at that moment. And so I started seeing content and I started seeing some creators that I really started to resonate with. I started to resonate with what they were putting out, the type of content. It was positive. It was motivating. And there was one guy who really ended up being a mentor for me and someone that saw some things to me I didn't see in myself. His name is Brian Shulman.

Starting point is 00:02:05 And people know him as kind of the godfather of LinkedIn. He was one of the first people to get access to video. He had a record for the longest LinkedIn live when he had beta access to that. And he's someone that really taught me and paved the way and showed me, you know, hey, if you want to go from here to hear, here, here's what you need to do. And it was actually more simple than you all would think. And so in 2019, I think it was in April, somewhere around there, maybe, maybe May I was traveling. And I was up in Boston. I was sitting in my hotel room. This was probably nine o'clock Eastern. And something just gave me the courage to reach out. And I reached out. And he said, hey, yeah, I'd love to chat.

Starting point is 00:02:50 We can jump on a call and I jumped on a call with him and he started asking me questions and started learning about some of the experience that I had. So what were my goals, things like that? And he on that call, he looked me in my face was the FaceTime call and he said, you know, you've got an incredible story that more people need to hear and one day you're going to have a brand bigger than me. And he said that to me and for some reason I believed him, you know. And then the other thing that he said is when you're creating content, I want you to try to focus on inspiring just one person a day. Okay, because if you can inspire one person a day through your content, that's 365 people a year. And if you continue to do the math on that, man, there's some huge impact that you can create. And so, you know, I said, you know what, I'm going to, I'm going to do this.

Starting point is 00:03:43 I'm going to muster up the courage. And I did have a lot of imposter syndrome at the time. I was like, you know, I'm going to do this. I'm going to muster up the courage. I'm going to start putting out some videos on LinkedIn. And then all of a sudden I was like, well, A, who's going to watch this? Who's going to care about what I have to say? Like, who am I?

Starting point is 00:04:01 I don't have a college degree. I don't have this. I don't have that. And I started to kind of almost take myself out of the equation. But I'm glad that I didn't. And so I decided one day to post a video. And it's so ironic what this video was about considering what my business. is and how I help business owners all around the world now.

Starting point is 00:04:21 But I did probably about 12 different takes because I kept hating what I look like, hating what I sounded like. And eventually I decided to post this video. And in the video, I actually said, does anyone know how to create social media content or does anyone out there do social media management? And, you know, you fast forward from 2019 to now, that's, what I do and what I help people with. So it's pretty funny and ironic that that was my first video and that wasn't even,

Starting point is 00:04:55 you know, something I was thinking I would ever be involved in down the road. And the video went on to get about five views and all of them were me because I kept going back and watching it over and over and over again, you know. But the thing that I did after that was I continued to show up and I continued to share things that I had information. I would share sales tips. I would share motivational quotes. And I would, you know, I didn't know who I was speaking to, but I was hoping that I could just impact one. And that's really when everything changed.

Starting point is 00:05:27 And before I knew it, you know, fast forward to December of 2019, went from 7,000 connections to now 20,000 people were following me on this business platform. And I'll be honest, it was very overwhelming. I was like, where did these people come from? You know, what is it that they're interested in? And so I had to really start to reverse engineer. What were the action steps that I took to actually build this audience? Because this just didn't happen by mistake. There was a process.

Starting point is 00:05:58 And so that's what I actually want to share with you all the day is what are some of the initial tips or steps that I took to build an audience of now 60,000 plus and 18,000 folks that are reading my and subscribe to my newsletter. and serving clients all over the world and teaching and showing other people how to do what I've done. So let's get started. If you guys do not have a pen, a piece of paper or a notepad, make sure you guys go grab one because these tips are going to help move the needle for you. All right? So tip number one, you want to look at your profile and you want to go from top to bottom into each section and optimist.

Starting point is 00:06:44 each section. Okay. And for time's sake, we don't have time to go into all of the sections today, but the good news is, is we are going to do a series on this, like I mentioned in the beginning. So over the next several weeks, by the end of it, you are going to know how to actually optimize your LinkedIn profile, which is going to increase organic views. It's going to actually get people to where you want them to go. It's going to be able to help you tell your story and share your journey that wants people to learn more about you.

Starting point is 00:07:20 Okay. So get that pen handy. Tip number one, okay, is you want to look at your banner image. Okay. Some of you that are seeing me on video and hearing these words, your banner image is either gray or blue because it's the one that LinkedIn gives out for free. And if that's you, that's okay, because that used to be me too. I used to have that same banner. And when I first changed it out, because I was working in corporate, I tried to think, like, how do I put something up that I like?

Starting point is 00:07:51 The corporate won't mind that maybe could encourage someone. And so I think the very first one I changed it to was like a motivational quote. So if you're a corporate person and you got a side hustle and corporate might get a little mad if you start putting and marketing your business, that's one kind of a little pro tip that you can use. If you're a student, you know, put maybe some things that you're interested in, you know, at least change the color of it, maybe a quote, something like that. And then if you're a business owner, you want that banner image to basically explain exactly who you are, what you do. You want to have some type of call to action of what you want them to do next written on there. So maybe it's, hey, connect with me. Maybe it's book a call.

Starting point is 00:08:36 Maybe it's subscribe to my newsletter. That should be there. There should be a photo of you on there as well. And then if you have a logo for your company, I usually recommend top left having the logo over there. Okay. And that's how your banner should be structured. And the thing about a banner, guys, is it's not just a banner. This is a billboard.

Starting point is 00:08:58 Okay. And if you wanted a billboard in New York City, in any major city, a monthly investment for a billboard, it costs a lot. And the thing is, LinkedIn actually gives you guys yours for free. So tip one, get that banner dialed in, make sure that it clearly explains who you are, what you do, tells people what you want them to do next, and also has some good branding for you. Okay. All right. Hopefully this is adding value so far.

Starting point is 00:09:27 We're going to jump into tip number two. Okay, tip number two, guys, this is all about your actual profile photo, okay? your photo should look like you today. Okay, so we don't want, you know, pre-COVID photos where, you know, you had a suit and tie on and now you're wearing t-shirts and in hoodies for work because you're working remote. So we want the true depiction of you and what you actually look like today. It's so important because most of the time now we're going to be connecting virtually before we actually meet in person. And when you connect virtually, they're actually going to see what you look like. today and especially if you go into an in-person meeting. So let's get rid of the cap and gowns.

Starting point is 00:10:11 Let's get rid of the suit and ties if you're not wearing those anymore. And let's just get a true picture of you. Okay. If you want to do that professionally, do it professionally. If you want to do that because you got a phone that's like a professional camera, then do that. It's truly up to you, but just make sure that it actually looks like you today. Super important. I'm so excited about the next episode where we're actually going to dive into the next part of your profile, which is the headline text. And so I'm going to give you, you know, how it should be structured, why it should be structured that way. I'm going to give you some SEO tips, some call to action tips.

Starting point is 00:10:51 And they are going to really help change the game when it comes to you being found, whether that's by an employer, whether that's by a collaborator, a potential partner, an investor, you know, whatever your goals are. So I hope you guys got value out of today's episode. We shared a couple different tips on how you can start optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Until next time, see you later.

Blaze Your Own Trail - LinkedIn Profile Tips (#1 is a must!) with Jordan Mendoza

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