We spent too much time on LinkedIn this week...

Hey y’all it’s us again! (John and Alec). It’s been a busy 7 days for us (Alec made a big announcement- congrats dude!) but we still had time to keep an eye out for some gems on LinkedIn and even roll out a new section for The Break Room- let us know what y’all think!

MVP (Most Vulnerable Poster)

If you use LinkedIn daily, chances are you recognize the guy in this picture. For those of you living under a proverbial social media rock, it’s Darren McKee. Darren is the GOAT on LinkedIn for a wide array of reasons, but chief among them is how truly vulnerable he is. He may be crushing it now, but he tells great stories of starting with nothing working in a mail room and betting on himself over and over again. It would take too long to list every reason Darren is great, but here’s a few things everyone can learn from him: 

• Be friendly: It doesn’t take long to feel like Darren is a friend, even if he just replies to your comment on one of his posts! In a digital world that can feel very fake, Darren builds rapport in seconds and makes everyone who interacts w/him feel like a friend. People buy from people they like, so it’s no surprise Darren has built a massive empire this way

• Add value: Darren shares the journey he’s on very authentically, including tactics that work for him. He has a knack for giving tips that ultimately result in giving you a preview of the cohort program he sells, but he just does it because that’s what he genuinely believes in and if he closes a sell in the process…bonus!

• Have fun: Whether it’s rocking his trademark backwards hat or openly asking brands to buy him basketball tickets, Darren has a GOOD time on LinkedIn and it shows. People are clearly looking for a little fun in their daily content so it’s no surprise over 100k people are drawn to Darren’s content!

What’s working (or not?!)

Alright gang, it turns out so many companies are robots on LI that we gave up even trying to find ones who weren’t 😅 . So for the next few weeks, we’re trying out a new section where we do “micro-interviews” with folks who are using LinkedIn consistently to see how it’s going! What seems to be working? What’s not? For our first victim (I mean guest!) I asked our very own Alec, what’s crackin? Here’s what Alec had to share from his recent efforts on LinkedIn:

What’s working:

• Consistency, consistency, and if all else fails…consistency: LinkedIn remains tricky to “figure out” but Alec shared something a lot of folks are noticing- the only sure fire way to learn and grow on LinkedIn is to show up daily!

• Don’t sweat the outcome: Part of staying consistent is knowing LinkedIn can be a bit unpredictable- don’t sweat the “vanity metrics” and just keep sharing authentically every day!

What’s NOT working:

• Overthinking how to go “viral”: There’s no telling what’s going to go viral, but it’s easy to waste time trying!

• Overanalyzing a post before sending it out: A lot of times, the best posts are the ones that took the least time to write- spending too much time on a post before sending it out is a time suck that doesn’t help with results 😅

Oddest thing we saw this week

As Alec shared above, it is nearly impossible to figure out what will go “viral” on LinkedIn these days, and the above is no exception to that rule! Neil is a copywriter with a following on LinkedIn that wouldn’t turn any heads, and the post before the one above literally got ZERO likes. But he came across a wildly underpaid role and let the brand know what he thought and BAM, the thing went to the moon. John commented on this post and the comment alone got 15,000 IMPRESSIONS! Very weird indeed and a great lesson that you never know what your next post will do, so keep posting and keep engaging!

Parting thoughts: Do the hard thing first: Procrastination- we all are guilty of it from time to time. There’s something on your desk right now that you’re putting off, maybe you’ve been avoiding it for a while now. Get it done! Letting things linger can prevent your next great idea from breaking through the noise, so knock out the hard thing(s) and leave yourself some space to create!

Have an amazing week y’all!

Alec and John