How AI and LinkedIn Tools Fuel Business Growth with Shannon Kuykendall

Brett Deister: 00:00:12

Mm, that's good.

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And welcome to a new episode of

Digital Coffee Marketing Brew,

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and I'm your host, Brett Deister.

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And this week we're

gonna be talking about.

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Mostly about LinkedIn, maybe a little

bit about small businesses, because

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everybody needs to know how to do

that better, especially LinkedIn.

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I always feel like it's the long forgotten

social media of the professional side

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that doesn't really get utilized as well.

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But with me, I have Shannon

here and she is an inspiring.

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Female entrepreneur to

empower female founders.

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She's also founder of the link her in LLC

in Chin Hope's, bridge gaps between small

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business owners and their marketing needs.

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She's also LinkedIn expert and trainer,

lead generation strategist, and a

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digital marketing partner, which is

the perfect mix for this, for any

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startup, plus this episode as well.

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So welcome to the show, Shannon.

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Shannon Kuykendall: Thank you Brett.

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Thank you for having me.

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Brett Deister: Of course.

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And the first question I ask all my guests

is, are you a coffee or tea drinker?

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Shannon Kuykendall: I am

a coffee drinker for sure.

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Brett Deister: Yes.

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Do you have an, do you have

any like specific coffees that

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you actually like to drink?

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Anything at all?

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Yeah,

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Shannon Kuykendall: it's the it's

actually a Mexican brand of coffee that's

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really it's in a yellow can, and of

course, I can't remember the name of it.

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Right off the top of my head, but it's

nice and strong, which is what I like.

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And then I'll add a little bit of

chai spice mix to it and heavy cream.

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That's how I like my coffee.

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Brett Deister: Got you.

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No worries.

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I gave a brief summary of your expertise.

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Could you give the listeners a

little bit more about what you do?

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Shannon Kuykendall: Absolutely.

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I've been in business for 18 years,

18 plus, and I provide content

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creation and lead generation services

specifically focused on LinkedIn.

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And so I help be businesses find

ways to leverage that so that

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they can stand out and shine.

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Brett Deister: Got you.

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So LinkedIn what's new in LinkedIn 2024.

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I feel like I've tested

out their premium feature.

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Now.

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They're all about ai.

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Is that like the major thing

that's going on with this

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where it's like AI everywhere.

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Shannon Kuykendall: Yeah, no

they, their AI still needs

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work, so I would not use it.

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I would continue to use

chat, GPT or Jasper ai.

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There are some really great tools out

there that are up to date with regard

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to 2024, which is what you want.

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And then actually the newest thing

just got notice of it yesterday.

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So about two years ago, LinkedIn

rolled out what's called creator mode.

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And creator mode was

meant for the creators.

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And so they were able to see

their KPIs and analytics on

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how their content's performing.

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And actually one of my lead gen

questions when I do outreach is,

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do you have creator mode turned on?

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They are basically getting

rid of the feature.

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Everybody will have access to creator mode

now, so it doesn't matter whether you turn

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it on, you will no longer need hashtags.

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Which LinkedIn came late to the

hashtag game anyway, and they never,

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ever really figured out how to

really optimize them for people.

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So you don't really need

hashtags on your posts.

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They're not gonna, they're

not doing you any favors.

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They're also not doing you any

favors, but you don't need 'em.

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So everybody will get access to that.

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And then they're gonna be moving the

about section up front and center.

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So you've got your above the fold

and then right underneath it will

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be your about, which I really like.

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I appreciate that because the about

section, which is what I tell people

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should be, if you're doing lead

generation and you're looking for

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clients, your about section should

be a representation of your website.

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Brett Deister: Got you.

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And I've tried it out a little bit,

but those questions that the, that

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AI asked for you to be like experts

in are those good to do as well?

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I try to do 'em every once in a while,

but I don't try to go crazy with them.

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What do you think about those?

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Shannon Kuykendall: So the

LinkedIn top voices, I.

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So how people are getting to be a top

voice is they'll go, they provide their

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information and then they send a link to

all of their friends to like their co what

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their addition was to that ai invitation.

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And that's how they're getting

the LinkedIn top voices.

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I personally, it's not.

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It does not generate income for me.

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I like to do income producing activities

on LinkedIn, and so being a LinkedIn

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top voice and then asking all my

connections to bump me up just is

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not a good use of my time nor theirs.

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So it's not something I chase, but

if it's something that other people

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wanna chase more power to you those.

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Little yellow notices that you're

a top voice do not last forever.

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And you have to keep the

activity up in order to keep it

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Brett Deister: gotcha.

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Is it good for like people just starting

out or anything like that, trying to build

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that expertise or knowhow or is it just

like a waste of mostly a waste of time?

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Shannon Kuykendall: I personally

think it's a waste of time.

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Honestly, if you're just getting

started out, you're not like you're

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gonna hear crickets for a while.

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LinkedIn really requires a very one

patience, but you need to be consistent

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and you need to be persistent with it.

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What I typically will tell

my clients, pick a schedule

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and stick to that schedule.

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You don't have to post content every day.

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I don't personally think that the

LinkedIn top voices, if you're

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just getting started, is going

to really make you stand out.

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I.

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Brett Deister: And so what

specifically should they actually

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be doing if they want to build maybe

their personal side of LinkedIn?

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Should they post some content?

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Should they comment on

other people's stuff?

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Should they find connections

relevant to them and not spam?

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'cause like I get like podcasts

producers all the time and annoys

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the living daylights outta me.

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Shannon Kuykendall: It's because they're

not approaching you in the correct way.

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The way that I look at it when

you're just getting started it is

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again, it's about the consistency.

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You want to do a combination

of one, you're providing value.

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All right.

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The second is you wanna tell stories.

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If you're an entrepreneur, the road to

being an entrepreneur isn't very easy.

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There's a lot of ups and downs.

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Write about your experience 'cause

people are interested in that.

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And then throw in some promotional.

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Don't be afraid to promote,

but don't promote every day.

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All right?

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Because then people are

gonna become tone deaf to it.

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So value, personal story promotion.

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Everything should be a reflection

of your brand voice and who

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you're targeting on LinkedIn.

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So that's the other thing

too, is make sure you've got

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your foundational work done.

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Like you've got your brand message,

you've got your brand voice, as

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well as who is your target audience.

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So that way you're not just

throwing spaghetti to the wall

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and hoping that it sticks.

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Brett Deister: And finding those new

connections, like I said before, I get

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those annoying podcast producers or I

get the Upwork people, or I get people

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trying to sell me something and I'm

like, I don't even know you that well.

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How?

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Why?

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Why are you selling me all of a sudden

for no reason other than I should pay

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you because you reached out to me.

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Shannon Kuykendall: And they didn't

nurture the relationship with you.

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They, when you're re when you're

connecting with somebody, you

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should not be pitching your

services right out the gate.

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That's just really unprofessional.

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You've gotta think of LinkedIn

as like you're actually at

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a physical networking event.

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When you go to a networking

event, I'm gonna say, hi, Brett,

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tell me about your business.

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I'm not gonna tell you about myself.

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I'm gonna wait for you to ask.

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But I'm gonna try and think of

questions to keep you talking.

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All right?

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And that's how people should

be approaching their outreach

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on LinkedIn, all right?

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Ask a question and then wait,

don't send me 10 messages right

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in a row or day after day.

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'cause one, I'm gonna block you

and chances are I'm also gonna

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report that you're spamming people.

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'cause that's essentially

what you're doing.

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Wait for the response.

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All right.

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It's like the person who sends you a

text and they send you 10 texts before

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you can even respond to the first one.

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Don't do that.

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Wait for the reply, and if

they don't reply, move on.

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Brett Deister: Even a little bit,

we found each other on Pod Match.

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Even sometimes I get people, like

guests like, oh, I see a message

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and I haven't gotten to it yet.

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Then all of a sudden I get an email.

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Then all of a sudden I get a LinkedIn

message and I'm like, whoa, let

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me like give me time to respond.

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Like you can't just come at me

with full force and think it's oh

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my gosh, I never saw you before.

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Like I should.

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Book you as a guest because you're

bugging the living daylights out of me.

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How is it measured?

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Is it like, Hey, I like for said my thing.

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Hey, I met you on Pod Match.

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It'd be great to have a

LinkedIn connection so we could

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share our content together.

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Would be something like that like

fosters a relationship other than,

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Hey, I really wanna be a guest.

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Hey, I really wanna be a guest.

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Hey, I really wanna be a guest.

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I'm like, okay, I don't

really want you to be a guest.

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And I have denied one person

before because of that.

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Shannon Kuykendall: Because

they're a little too hungry.

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All right.

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It's, it's the analogy that a lot

of marketers use about the first

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date and going from the first

date to getting married, or not

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even dating at all kind of thing.

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It's that analogy.

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It's when you send your first message,

you shouldn't be pitching anything.

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All right.

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It should be very genuine and

it should allow the fostering.

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I know that my very first message when

I reach out to connect with people,

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but the thing is I'm doing activities

before I even reach out to connect.

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I'm letting people know that I'm

around without being intrusive.

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I'm viewing their content,

I'm engaging with their posts.

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I'm viewing their profile, and all

of these are things that LinkedIn

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will notify them that I'm doing

before I ever send them a message.

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Then when I do send them a

connection invitation message, it's

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really just Hey, we're founders.

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Let's support each other.

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Let's lift each other up.

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And then I wait two to three weeks

before I send my next message.

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And then my next message is a question.

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So I do LinkedIn work, so the questions

I'm asking my audience are things

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that are relevant to LinkedIn, do

you have creator mode turned on?

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Are you posting content regularly?

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Those are really simple questions to

answer, and I get engagement that way,

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and I'm fostering that engagement because

a conversation typically starts and

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then I can share more information with

them about ways to leverage LinkedIn.

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And not once do I ever say

Hey, book a call with me.

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All right.

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There's plenty of opportunity

for them to do that because

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LinkedIn has request services.

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It has visit my website, it'll,

and those are premium features.

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There's plenty of, there's plenty of ways

to get people to do what you want them

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to do without bugging them and basically

saying, come work with me, book a call.

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You don't have to do that.

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Brett Deister: Got you.

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So I.

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Is getting the LinkedIn premium like

really important for LinkedIn users?

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Because I know they do

have additional features.

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Is it that important or should we,

or is it okay to not use it and

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make, maybe weigh it out to see

if you're actually gonna use this?

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'cause it is expensive.

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It's not cheap.

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LinkedIn premium.

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Shannon Kuykendall: Yeah it's a

hundred dollars investment a month.

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But for me, it's worth it.

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If you're doing any form of

outreach, cold or warm outreach, I

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highly recommend that you get it.

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'cause if you don't, if you use

the free version of LinkedIn,

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LinkedIn's gonna come in and say,

Hey, I'm gonna shut your account

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down, because I see weird activity.

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All right.

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You really don't want to be doing any cold

outreach on a free LinkedIn account and.

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This is carrying over

from last year LinkedIn.

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LinkedIn is really honing in on

giving people who are paying for a

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subscription, a lot more bells and

whistles for us to do outreach because it.

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It though, it looks at us as okay, we're

not gonna bite the hand that feeds us.

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So you've gotta take those

things into consideration.

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Are you willing to risk

getting your account shut down

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because you don't wanna invest?

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And they do have a premium version, which

also has some capabilities and tools,

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which is only about like $70 a month.

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But that's, if you're choosing to use

the free version and you wanna do the

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outreach, then you are putting yourself at

risk for getting your account shut down.

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And LinkedIn.

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LinkedIn has no problem saying, Nope, you

can't have your account back, and then

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you've gotta start over from scratch.

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Brett Deister: Got you.

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So for outreach, like how do you

do that with a cold outreach?

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Maybe you do, you have a LinkedIn premium

that has the sales navigator or whatever.

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So how would you approach

somebody from that cold email?

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Because.

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You are eventually gonna have to do it.

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You can't just not cold email

somebody or cold message somebody.

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So how do you do it properly where

they just don't ignore you and then

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you think, oh, I should do it again

just to remind them that I'm here.

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Shannon Kuykendall: So what I typically

do is I'll think about the different

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pain points that I know that my ideal

audience are dealing with when it

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comes to LinkedIn, and that's what I

focus on and I keep my messages short.

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All right?

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And that's where the asking

of a question comes in.

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And you're gonna ask the question

so that it's not a yes or no.

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They're gonna give you a little

bit of an explanation, and it

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really is just that simple.

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All right?

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If you go in and you say, hi, my

name is, this is what I do, this is

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my business, and blah, blah, blah.

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Me me.

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Nobody cares.

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And you're going to annoy them all, right?

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They're not gonna respond like

you, like right out the gate.

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You basically severed that

relationship because that's how

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you approached it, all right?

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When it comes to LinkedIn, you need

to be intentional and the approach

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needs to be holistic, all right?

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Like you've gotta really be thinking about

who it is that you're reaching out to.

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Brett Deister: Gotcha.

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So

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let's say you try to do that

and still nothing should you

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remind them with the email?

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'cause sometimes people just forget.

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Sometimes it's oh, I remember that, and

then I forget, and then I'm like, oh wait.

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Where was that?

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Should you like, maybe a week

later or something like that.

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Remind them.

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Is that okay to do?

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Just in case they may have forgotten.

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I.

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Shannon Kuykendall: The best practice

would be to wait at least two weeks.

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All right?

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Don't pile one message because when you

send a message, you wanna give them at

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least 48 hours to respond, all right?

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Then you're gonna wait at least

10 to 14 days before you send a

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follow up, and what I typically

will do is I'll ask a different

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question for a different pain point.

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And then my campaigns usually

are about four to five messages.

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So by the time, so if they've gotten

to the end of my campaign and haven't

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engaged in all, then I push because by

then they have seen my content in my feed.

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They've likely engaged with it.

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They just may not be interested

in the direct messages, which some

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people aren't, and that's fine.

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But by the end of my campaign, it's very

much a Hey, this is what I can do for you.

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Please book a call.

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But yeah, that, but they don't

get that message for probably

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a good month and a half.

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Brett Deister: Got you.

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And then for small businesses,

is it required to actually have

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a business page on LinkedIn?

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I know like we all talk about

like the personal page and how.

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You need to curate your personal page.

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: 00:16:15

What about the business page?

321

: 00:16:15

Because it is something LinkedIn

tries to work on to make it useful,

322

: 00:16:20

but not everybody tries to use it.

323

: 00:16:23

Shannon Kuykendall: Yeah, it's

so in the past I was I don't

324

: 00:16:26

even know why they have it.

325

: 00:16:28

It's pretty much useless.

326

: 00:16:29

Like they don't drive traffic to it.

327

: 00:16:31

Like you could put a post

up and hear crickets.

328

: 00:16:34

They are working on that.

329

: 00:16:36

I have over the last four or five

months been not only posting on my

330

: 00:16:41

personal profile, but I'm also posting

on my business and I am, over time, I

331

: 00:16:46

am getting people to engage with that,

so they're getting better about it.

332

: 00:16:50

The big thing is that I see people do

is they'll create, or they'll have their

333

: 00:16:55

profile and they put in their business

information, but it's not connected.

334

: 00:17:00

All right.

335

: 00:17:01

You need to create a business page

and then connect it to your personal

336

: 00:17:06

page so that everything stands out.

337

: 00:17:08

There are also areas where if you've

got case studies, put those case

338

: 00:17:13

studies up there, front and center.

339

: 00:17:14

I have certifications from digital

marketers, so my digital marketing

340

: 00:17:18

certifications are right there featured.

341

: 00:17:20

Think of the stuff that you've done.

342

: 00:17:22

Make sure that you're

showcasing it on your profile.

343

: 00:17:26

And again, like your business, page

two should also be a reflection

344

: 00:17:30

of your website so that everything

is cohesive, brand cohesive.

345

: 00:17:37

Sorry about Chico by the way.

346

: 00:17:39

He seems to like to do this

whenever I'm on a podcast.

347

: 00:17:41

Brett Deister: So my dogs like

scratch and make noise too.

348

: 00:17:45

So we both got dog problems, but

in ways let's content, content

349

: 00:17:51

is the other side of LinkedIn.

350

: 00:17:53

If you don't have content, then

nobody really cares about what you do.

351

: 00:17:56

I've seen that the carousels

work the best on LinkedIn.

352

: 00:18:00

The carousel pictures?

353

: 00:18:01

Right now?

354

: 00:18:02

Yeah.

355

: 00:18:02

Right Now, is there other content they

should be focusing on, or should they just

356

: 00:18:07

stick to the carousel picture content and

then not do video, not do anything else?

357

: 00:18:12

Just the carousel picture content,

358

: 00:18:15

Shannon Kuykendall: Video

actually still works the best.

359

: 00:18:17

It still gets more attention.

360

: 00:18:19

All right.

361

: 00:18:20

I think last year the focus became on

carousels because the year prior to

362

: 00:18:24

that, it was so video focused, and so

LinkedIn was balancing out the feed.

363

: 00:18:29

So

364

: 00:18:32

what I've been playing around

with are no images altogether.

365

: 00:18:35

It's just good content.

366

: 00:18:36

I get a lot of, I get a, my

engagement and my impressions

367

: 00:18:40

are much higher without an image.

368

: 00:18:43

So if you're a business

looking for more clients.

369

: 00:18:47

I recommend doing video, keeping it short.

370

: 00:18:50

Or if you've been on a podcast,

do a restream of the podcast in

371

: 00:18:54

your feed, doing things like that

because that does and carousels.

372

: 00:18:58

The thing with about carousels is,

yeah, they're great and you can

373

: 00:19:02

download those, but the problem is.

374

: 00:19:05

They take more time to consume than a

video does or reading long form content.

375

: 00:19:11

And I personally just don't have

the time to sit there and scan

376

: 00:19:16

through 32 pages of your content.

377

: 00:19:19

And I don't think most people do.

378

: 00:19:21

So their popular also, the time it

takes for you to create that slideshow

379

: 00:19:28

or if you're paying someone to do it.

380

: 00:19:30

All right?

381

: 00:19:31

That is it?

382

: 00:19:31

Is it generating income for you?

383

: 00:19:33

And that's, I think that's what some

PE people need to think about is

384

: 00:19:37

gener income generating activities.

385

: 00:19:41

Brett Deister: Does this talk about

all industries or just some industries?

386

: 00:19:44

Because I'm pretty sure other

content plays with other things,

387

: 00:19:48

like for example, podcasts.

388

: 00:19:49

Obviously video would be the best

because that's all I really, that's

389

: 00:19:52

all I really got because audio doesn't

really play as well with it, but.

390

: 00:19:58

What, let's say B2B would B2B be

better for the pictures or the case

391

: 00:20:02

studies or the picture carousels?

392

: 00:20:06

Shannon Kuykendall: So B2B,

which is primarily what LinkedIn

393

: 00:20:09

is the carousels will be fine.

394

: 00:20:12

But it doesn't have to be everything.

395

: 00:20:15

Your content just should be

really well-rounded, all right.

396

: 00:20:18

And offering value if.

397

: 00:20:21

I know that personal pro

like pictures worked.

398

: 00:20:25

I did a bunch of travel for a

couple years, and so I've been

399

: 00:20:28

using my travel pictures but it

doesn't relate to my content.

400

: 00:20:33

All right?

401

: 00:20:33

And for me, and I.

402

: 00:20:35

For, so for me, it's just

I did it, it works well.

403

: 00:20:39

You can do it too, but I think

that's gonna change eventually.

404

: 00:20:42

I think that LinkedIn's gonna get sick

of seeing that after a while, and they're

405

: 00:20:46

gonna want either images that relate to

the content you're posting or a video

406

: 00:20:51

or the you got, there's the polls.

407

: 00:20:54

And then the live events.

408

: 00:20:57

So it just, it, I think it just

really depends also, when it comes

409

: 00:21:01

to producing content, produce

content that feels good to you.

410

: 00:21:05

All right?

411

: 00:21:05

If you want to do the carousels and

that's all you wanna do, then do that.

412

: 00:21:10

There's nothing wrong with it.

413

: 00:21:11

It's just really about what does

your audience want from you?

414

: 00:21:14

What's getting you engagement?

415

: 00:21:16

What's getting people to hit your

calendar link and book a call with you?

416

: 00:21:21

Brett Deister: And then on the video side,

should they be doing live streaming or

417

: 00:21:25

should they just do the produced content

or the Yeah, produce content first

418

: 00:21:30

because live streaming is a little bit

different beast than it is with doing

419

: 00:21:35

a recorded and then editing it out.

420

: 00:21:37

Plus you can only do 15 minutes

of video on LinkedIn anyways.

421

: 00:21:42

Shannon Kuykendall: So if

you do if you have restream.

422

: 00:21:45

And you upload a video to Restream

and set it to go live, it will

423

: 00:21:50

actually play the entire video.

424

: 00:21:53

And I have put up 37 minute videos.

425

: 00:21:55

I think you get up to an

hour when you do it that way.

426

: 00:21:59

All right.

427

: 00:21:59

So I've been playing around with, I'm

still playing around with it and I

428

: 00:22:02

still have stuff to learn about it.

429

: 00:22:04

But if you're doing a live stream,

like something like this, then.

430

: 00:22:09

Bring on a guest, have a q and a and get,

because as soon as you, as soon as you go

431

: 00:22:16

live, it sends a notification to all of

your first connections to come and watch.

432

: 00:22:22

So you have that audience

with you right there.

433

: 00:22:24

And then with a restream of a

video, it's a little bit different.

434

: 00:22:28

You have to invite people as it's

playing because it's not live.

435

: 00:22:35

Brett Deister: So if it's truly live,

they, everybody gets a notification

436

: 00:22:40

as long as you're connected with them.

437

: 00:22:41

If it's not live, but it's live,

I'll just put in quotation marks

438

: 00:22:46

live, then it's more of you have

to convince people to watch it.

439

: 00:22:50

Is that what I'm saying?

440

: 00:22:52

Shannon Kuykendall: Yeah, you've

gotta, you've gotta manually send

441

: 00:22:54

out that notification or boost the

post because it comes up as a post.

442

: 00:23:00

So you would essentially wanna

boost the post so that the people,

443

: 00:23:03

and it's so that it starts to get

impressions and that LinkedIn will

444

: 00:23:06

serve it in the feed, but that's how

you get past that 15 minute video.

445

: 00:23:15

Brett Deister: Maybe people are, don't

really know what to post or they're

446

: 00:23:18

having trouble writing the post.

447

: 00:23:20

Should they be using like

chat, CPT, Bard or Gemini?

448

: 00:23:23

I think Google's changing the name again.

449

: 00:23:25

Gronk is another one.

450

: 00:23:26

Perplexity.

451

: 00:23:27

There's a ton of 'em, but should they be

using one of those to help them write?

452

: 00:23:30

And then obviously you should probably

look through it and then go, okay,

453

: 00:23:34

I want to change a little bit of it.

454

: 00:23:37

Shannon Kuykendall: One of the cool

things that chat GPT has, I use

455

: 00:23:41

Jasper ai but I have a friend who uses

primarily Chat GPT, and he's really

456

: 00:23:46

honed in on it, is he is able to upload.

457

: 00:23:50

Any sort of content that he's written

over the last few years so that

458

: 00:23:54

it, so that chat, GPT gets his tone

of voice, gets his writing style.

459

: 00:24:00

All right, so that's probably

the first thing you wanna do.

460

: 00:24:03

Gather up the stuff that's really good.

461

: 00:24:05

Upload it so that the tool, the AI

tool you're using has your tone of

462

: 00:24:09

voice and then you're gonna start going

through the prompts and saying, okay.

463

: 00:24:14

Give me a list of 10 topics to

talk about related to my industry.

464

: 00:24:19

It'll give you 10 topics.

465

: 00:24:21

It gives you a blurb about each.

466

: 00:24:23

You're just gonna grab one of those

and you're gonna expand on it.

467

: 00:24:25

And yeah, you're gonna always wanna edit.

468

: 00:24:28

I use a tool called Grammarly

and it has a plagiarism.

469

: 00:24:32

Tracker in it, so everything that gets

written for me that aft and I'll go in and

470

: 00:24:37

make my edits, but I run it through the

plagiarism tracker just to make sure that

471

: 00:24:42

the content that I'm posting is original.

472

: 00:24:45

You wanna be able to take

advantage of those tools, but ai,

473

: 00:24:49

AI is a productivity time saver.

474

: 00:24:52

Like it's one of the best hacks out there.

475

: 00:24:55

And if you're not taking if you're

still in that space where you're

476

: 00:24:57

scared about ai, don't be, because

ai, the way that we're using it in

477

: 00:25:02

business is a productivity tool.

478

: 00:25:05

All right.

479

: 00:25:06

It's saving us time so that we can get

our content out there, we can get it

480

: 00:25:10

posted, and we can move on with the rest

of our day and take care of our clients.

481

: 00:25:14

But the content, the way that I look

at with lead generation and content

482

: 00:25:18

creation on LinkedIn lead generation

is you're taking from LinkedIn.

483

: 00:25:23

Content creation is

your giving to LinkedIn.

484

: 00:25:26

It's the reciprocity and the two

have to play together in order for

485

: 00:25:30

your efforts to be effective and

for you to continue to bring in

486

: 00:25:35

new clients and grow your business.

487

: 00:25:40

Gotcha.

488

: 00:25:42

Brett Deister: So WW with that does

the person you're talking about that

489

: 00:25:46

uses chat, JPT, do they use the.

490

: 00:25:48

The payment one with Che GPT Ford

to upload a lot of that stuff.

491

: 00:25:52

'cause there is a free version.

492

: 00:25:53

And so I don't want to confuse people and

be like, oh, I could do all this stuff.

493

: 00:25:56

It's

494

: 00:25:56

Shannon Kuykendall: you've

gotta make the investment.

495

: 00:25:58

If you're not willing to make

investments into your business, if

496

: 00:26:02

you look at everything as, oh, this is

so expensive, or, why do I need this?

497

: 00:26:06

You're one, you've, you're in the wrong

mindset, first of all, and you need to

498

: 00:26:11

change the way you think about it, because

a business requires investment to grow.

499

: 00:26:17

All right?

500

: 00:26:18

Are there tools out there that you,

that will help with that, that aren't

501

: 00:26:21

as expensive as some of the other ones?

502

: 00:26:23

Yeah, it just requires some research.

503

: 00:26:26

All right.

504

: 00:26:26

To find those tools.

505

: 00:26:28

Like I actually just put

in my course on Canva.

506

: 00:26:34

I literally created course

webpage using Canva.

507

: 00:26:37

It's hosted by Canva and I've got

an email drip campaign to manage

508

: 00:26:42

my course, and I did that because.

509

: 00:26:45

I didn't wanna pay a hundred dollars

a month for my course, which is

510

: 00:26:48

brand new and doesn't quite have

the people in it to support that a

511

: 00:26:53

hundred dollars a month investment.

512

: 00:26:56

This way, I'm saving myself money.

513

: 00:26:57

So there are ways that you can get

around that, but a lot of it is get the

514

: 00:27:02

right mindset with that and make the

investments to improve your business.

515

: 00:27:08

Brett Deister: So what do you see

for future trends for LinkedIn?

516

: 00:27:10

Do you see more videos being uploaded?

517

: 00:27:13

Do you see the callback

to more written content?

518

: 00:27:16

Because that's how all

social media was started.

519

: 00:27:18

You had a picture, you have picture

albums, but everything was written.

520

: 00:27:22

There was no videos except for YouTube

that eventually came, but even then, it

521

: 00:27:26

was still for most, was mostly written.

522

: 00:27:28

Do you see that callback?

523

: 00:27:30

Do you see pictures, carousels being.

524

: 00:27:32

Somewhat popular but not as popular.

525

: 00:27:34

Do you see just live streaming,

just exploding on LinkedIn

526

: 00:27:37

because they are trying to heavily

probably promote that more.

527

: 00:27:41

Shannon Kuykendall: I think we're gonna

see a combination of all of it this year.

528

: 00:27:45

Last year was the focus on the carousels

and the year before that it was video.

529

: 00:27:51

This year we're gonna see all of it.

530

: 00:27:53

I think that with the changes that

LinkedIn is making, they're really

531

: 00:27:56

gonna optimize the platform so

that no matter what kind of content

532

: 00:28:00

you produce, it's gonna get the

eyes that you want it to have.

533

: 00:28:05

And that's a pretty big thing.

534

: 00:28:06

It, they're basically making it an

even playing field with regard to

535

: 00:28:10

getting impressions and for them

to serve your post up in the feed.

536

: 00:28:15

And again, it just comes back to what

are you more comfortable with or, are you

537

: 00:28:20

more comfortable with short form content

that offers a punch and some value?

538

: 00:28:25

Are you more in just the long form?

539

: 00:28:26

Do you wanna create the slides?

540

: 00:28:28

It really is up to you and

where you're comfortable.

541

: 00:28:33

It's because it's not a one size fits all.

542

: 00:28:35

It really needs to come from you.

543

: 00:28:37

And what are your intentions for that?

544

: 00:28:41

Brett Deister: Man, you have a lot

of knowledge about LinkedIn, so

545

: 00:28:44

where can they find you online to

learn more about what you do and

546

: 00:28:47

maybe get some more tips on LinkedIn?

547

: 00:28:50

Shannon Kuykendall: Absolutely.

548

: 00:28:51

You can definitely find me on

LinkedIn at Shannon t Kirkendal.

549

: 00:28:55

And then of course you can find my

website, which is link her in.com.

550

: 00:29:02

Brett Deister: Alright, for listeners,

551

: 00:29:06

Shannon Kuykendall: If you're not

posting posting right now, get out there

552

: 00:29:08

and post, play around with LinkedIn.

553

: 00:29:10

It's not a very scary place.

554

: 00:29:12

It just, takes a little bit

of, just a little bit of time.

555

: 00:29:15

Share the value that you have

to offer, show your brilliance.

556

: 00:29:19

Just get out there and be active.

557

: 00:29:21

That's how your business is gonna grow.

558

: 00:29:26

Brett Deister: All right.

559

: 00:29:27

Thank you Shannon for joining Digital

Coffee Marketing Brew on your knowledge

560

: 00:29:30

on LinkedIn and content generation

and lead generations as well.

561

: 00:29:37

Shannon Kuykendall: Thank you Brett.

562

: 00:29:38

Thank you for having me and thanks

for all the great questions.

563

: 00:29:41

Welcome and

564

: 00:29:42

Brett Deister: thank you.

565

: 00:29:42

As always.

566

: 00:29:43

Please subscribe to this podcast

of all your favorite podcasts

567

: 00:29:46

you have to the five star review.

568

: 00:29:47

Really, this help with the

rankings, and join us next week

569

: 00:29:51

as you talk to your great thought

leader in the PR market industry.

570

: 00:29:54

All guys stay safe.

571

: 00:29:55

Get to understand your LinkedIn, how to.