Here’s the origin story of Executive Presence. It actually came out of a previous company of mine called Captivate.ai.

The premise of Captivate.ai? Turn a single podcast into a month of social media content: Instagram reels, Youtube clips, blog posts, LinkedIn posts, Facebook graphics, etc.

While that ultimately led me to start EP, the foundational element of Captivate remains true: you can harvest an immense amount of content from longer form content.

In today’s newsletter, I want to talk about how you can use any long form content (podcast, webinar, keynote speech, etc) to create compelling LinkedIn posts.

The starting point

Regardless of what sort of long form content you use, it starts by getting a text transcript. I’m a big fan of Otter.ai, which offers a free (and extremely quick) way to turn any video or audio file into text. While it may only be 80-90% accurate, for our purpose, that’s more than good enough.

Finding the statue in the stone

Michelangelo famously said, ““The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

The same is true of your LinkedIn posts. When you take this approach, the key won’t be adding content, but rather subtracting it.

Here’s an example from a recent interview I was part of:

At first glance, I feel like I’ve probably got 70% of a post here, and 150% of the words I actually need. To get to my final output, I’ll need to trim this down quite a bit, but also add in a few elements.

Specifically, I want to spend the most time thinking about (a) the hook (the first line that will surprise people enough to stop and click “see more”, and (b) the landing (that final sentence that spoon feeds my audience).

Often times in podcasts or webinars, you’ll need to write that one from scratch. However, in this case, I think I’ve got a pretty good hook:

I love working with CEOs, but I've been forced to stop working with them.

Note, in this case, I swapped out a few words: “forced to expand beyond that” turned into “forced to stop working with them.” I made that switch because the first version felt too soft and too long. I’m hoping in this change to lure people into thinking the wrong thing: I got a cease and desist letter, I gave up on this market, something in my personal life is conflicting me out.

I can pull a line straight out of the transcript for my next sentence:

Not because I’ve run out of CEOs.

I’d then do what I (unflatteringly) think of as a skin graft. I’m going to create a new sentence not in the transcript to bridge the gap.

Not because I’ve run out of CEOs. Far from it.

In my early days of EP, when I was doing all the client interviewing and writing, I’d use black to denote what came from a transcript directly and purple to show where I added in words of my own.

I’ll pull one more line from the transcript:

Instead, the CEOs are asking us to work with more members of their team.

That sentence is pretty representitve: I’ve changed 2 words out of 14 - that’s 14%. A whopping 86% of that sentence was lifted straight from the podcast.

Here’s what this post looks like so far:

I love working with CEOs, but I've been forced to stop working with them.

Not because I’ve run out of CEOs. Far from it.

Instead, the CEOs are asking us to work with more members of their team.

Yes, this still takes time. It often feels like I’m putting together a puzzle. However, I still find this 1,000X easier than staring at a blank page, trying to construct a post from scratch.

Most people - the overwhelming majority - find it easier to talk than to write. This approach takes advantage of that fact.

In elementary school, I remember reading in awe about how Native Americans used every last piece of a buffalo - the tongue as a brush, the hide as a coat, the stomach as a balloon (it was a loooooong time ago, but I’m pretty sure that’s true).

When I piece together posts from podcasts, I like to think of myself the same way: I’m making use of every last piece of the buffalo. The podcast is playing its role as long form content, but I’m going through and wringing out every last piece of value from that podcast by harvesting LinkedIn posts.

Bringing it all together

Growing an audience on LinkedIn is not for the faint of heart. It takes consistency, consistency, and when you’re done with that, more consistency. Most people lose steam after a month or two when, in truth, you need a year or two to pick up.

So a simple hack like taking a podcast, webinar, or keynote and using it to create 20+ posts can buy you another month or two.

Question? Let me know. I read each and every response to this newsletter.

And, if you’re an executive looking to leverage your network to build your company, reach out as well. We’d love to see if there’s an opportunity to work together.

See you next week,
Justin

P.S. Do you know someone who would benefit from our service? We’ve just launched a new Referral Program: send a client our way, and you’ll get up to $2,500 as a way of thanking you. AND, they’ll get $500 off their first invoice.

Interested? You can generate your own referral link here.

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.