I met with 350+ CEOs this year to discuss their strategy on LinkedIn. One of the most common things they say is: I don’t know what to talk about on social media.

Behind this common statement often lies:

1. A fear of saying the wrong thing and being canceled

2. A genuine confusion about what original perspective they have to offer

3. A lack of time to reflect on their unique point of view

Here are a few questions I tend to ask to get to the root of their content strategy on LinkedIn.

#1: The dinner party test

If you were at dinner with 12 of your clients and key prospects, would you talk about your family?

I’ve asked this question a few hundred times this year. I’d say the answer is 60/40, with a small majority of CEOs being open to talking about their family.

There is no right answer. But that answer does inform our approach to LinkedIn. If you would talk about [insert your topic here] at a client dinner party, you should absolutely talk about it on LinkedIn. If not… stay away from it on social media.

I have had clients who cater to a religious customer base. As a result, on LinkedIn they tied many of their posts back to their religious views. While I wouldn’t advise this for the majority of my clients, it made perfect sense for this client.

We all vary in our comfort level on social media. But when it comes to whether or not to discuss your:

• Family

• Personal life

• Hobbies

• Sports

• Political views

• Religious views

the Dinner Party test is a quick way to gauge the level of appropriateness for LinkedIn.

#2: Record your sales calls

If, like me, you end up on Zoom quite a bit, use a free tool like Otter.ai to record and transcribe your conversation with clients and prospects.

I’ve found that I often say the same things over and over again. When I consult with a prospect, I often share the same stories, statistics, and observations. By transcribing these live conversations, it’s easier for me to see the topics that come up often (and even easier to write a LinkedIn post using that transcript).

This same approach can be used for team meetings, a key note presentation, a podcast, or a meeting with your advisors.

For some reason, when pressed for topics, many executives clam up. However, if we can observe what they naturally repeat, often, it becomes easier to recognize their unique points of view that we can share on LinkedIn.

#3: Ask your team

I love when I meet with our client and they bring along a few team members. This gives me a completely different view on our client as a leader.

What are stories you’ve heard [insert the client’s name] often?

What are some [insert the client’s name]-isms?

Every time, the team members laugh and rattle off a whole host of anecdotes, quotes, and stories. Nearly every time, these come as a surprise to our client. The client wouldn’t have thought to bring this up… but it’s very clear to their team.

#4: Look at your post performance

I know this one is obvious, but it amazes me how often I see people posting content - consistently - that does not get any attention whatsoever.

I met with one prospect who records a video every single day with an insight. Even though the videos are about one minute long, it still takes time to think of what to say, record the video, do some light editing, and post the video.

Without exception, the videos were getting 1-2 likes.

Don’t get me wrong: LinkedIn is a compound game and it takes time to grow an audience.

However, if your audience consistently is NOT responding to a topic… take the hint!

Here’s another example: I LOVE personal development work. Mindfulness, therapy, Men’s Groups… these are a big part of my life.

So, I’ve tried writing about those on LinkedIn. But I paid attention and came to the unfortunate conclusion: no one cares about this part of my life. So I stopped posting about that as a topic.

That’s ok. I have plenty of other areas to add value. The posts where I share my insights on building my team & culture do really well, so I talk about that much more often.

Listen to your audience. If they don’t value your insights on a topic… find a different topic where they DO value your insights!

Where to go from here?

LinkedIn is a very forgiving medium. The biggest risk is to not take action at all.

Based on this, I’d recommend you spend no more than 15 minutes reflecting on the four steps above. Jot down some topics. Write some posts. See how it works.

This will be my final newsletter for the year as we head into the holidays.

Thank you for subscribing, and if you know of anyone else who would benefit from this information, please send this to them.

And, if you have extra time over the holidays, here are a few resources I’ve written that may be helpful as well:

1. The State of LinkedIn

2. The Data Behind LinkedIn's Algorithm Change

3. Best Practices for LinkedIn Company Pages

Lastly, if you’re a leader looking to become a thought leader on LinkedIn, sign up for a consultation. On the call, I can share specific advice based on your situation, and see if we’re a good fit to work together. You can sign up for a consultation here: https://calendly.com/justin-nassiri/executive-presence-30-minute-meeting

Have a great rest of the year, and I’m excited to see you all in 2024!

Best,
Justin

Justin M. Nassiri | Founder & CEO
M: 650.353.1138 | E: [email protected]
250 Fillmore St Suite 150, Denver, CO 80206
www.ExecutivePresence.io

Executive Presence specializes in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.