Ep 36 // All About Uplevel Your LinkedIn For Thought Leaders

NOTE: Please excuse any errors in this transcript; it was created using an AI tool. Akua Nyame-Mensah 0:07 Welcome to the open door podcast. My name is Akua Nyame-Mensah. I also respond to Aqua and I'm a certified executive and leadership coach recognised facilitator and former sort of leader that loves supporting reluctant buyer fighting and overwhelmed leaders. I've worked with them to help them clarify where they should focus their time, and energy each and every day so that they can love themselves, love their work, and ultimately love their life. If you're looking to learn leadership information and hear different perspectives, you are in the right place. My aim in this podcast is to help you see that one of the most productive and profitable things you can do is deeply understand yourself. Understand how you show up, understand how you thrive, and allow yourself to align everything in your work in your life, and in your business to support that think of this podcast as your weekly opportunity to receive leadership support. And remember, there is no one right way to lead yourself or others. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. Speaker 1 1:20 Let's get started. I get it using social media can be incredibly scary. Maybe you're worried about what to put out there. Maybe you don't want to share that you have specific services or programmes because you don't want to come across desperate, maybe you feel you might be crucified for having an opposing opinion on something within your industry. Maybe you don't know how you'll be perceived. If you reach out to that amazing founder, potential investor or that human you want to be your mentor, or maybe you don't even want your employer to know about your other businesses or interest, I totally get it. But here's the thing. If you don't take a second to make the most of your presence beyond what you're currently doing, you risk falling behind those who just spend a little extra energy and time to make sure they're showing up and thinking about how leveraging social media can help them achieve their bigger vision. And this is exactly why I built the up level programme available for thought leaders is the only programme that's designed for you a busy and maybe sometimes reluctant thought leader to complete your LinkedIn profile and build your presence so you can find and connect with ideal clients, whether they're investors or potential mentorship opportunities and opportunities, whether they're speaking opportunities or being able to join an accelerator in less than six weeks. This comprehensive LinkedIn programme is unlike anything else you've seen online and beyond helping you effectively and efficiently master LinkedIn. It also has the accountability and community to help you get there. So if you're interested in learning a little bit more about my LinkedIn profile, please make sure that you visit w w.akuanm.com slashed up level. I'll be launching it soon. And enrollment will only be open for a limited time, the web address again to get access and join the waitlist and learn more about the programme is w w.ak UA nm.com/up. level that you p l e v e l, let's get into the Episode Speaker 1 3:26 Hello, and welcome to this podcast episode of the open door conversations Podcast. I'm really excited because I'm going to be dedicating this entire episode to my signature programme up level for thought leaders that really leverages LinkedIn as the primary platform to support leaders so they can step into that thought leadership position. And I'm really excited because this particular programme comes from the feedback that I've received about my presence on LinkedIn. And I remember when people first started sort of reaching out and asking me, how do I show up? You know, why does it seem like I'm really visible? How do I engage with people? You know, how do I create my content. And I was shocked because social media and leveraging social media is not something that necessarily comes naturally. But because I focus so much on thinking about how I want to leverage my time and how I want to leverage my energy, I've really been able to create something that I think is incredibly, incredibly helpful, and just incredibly successful as well. And most importantly, I'm able to show up in an authentic and genuine way. And that makes sense for me. And that's really what my LinkedIn focus programme is all about helping you think about how you want to show up helping you define what sustainability and sustainable and consistent means for you, and also giving you all the tools giving you all the worksheets. giving you all the templates giving you all the step by step strategies that you need to be able to do this within six weeks. So I wanted to start off by sort of just giving you an idea of who this programme is for. And I promise by the time that you listen to this podcast episode, you will know why my programme is essential for any leader at any level, and how they how you can leverage LinkedIn and honestly any social media platform for whatever goals you have for yourself or your business. And so how did I get to this point, right, as I mentioned earlier on, people started reaching out to me and I realised that this was something that I could share with others. And I also realised that I actually had a lot of fun doing it, I have so much fun creating the content, I have so much fun showing up on the Q and A's and co working sessions. And that's really why I wanted to make sure that I put together this episode. So you could learn a little bit more about how I support not just entrepreneurs, but also executives and leaders at different levels within this programme, and really create that safe space so that they can show up. So they can really figure out what makes the most sense for them in terms of social media. And so they can also share some of these thoughts and ideas with their team as well. So one of the things that's come out of me sharing this content is actually doing workshops, and sharing portions of up level with different teams within organisations because they realise the importance in the reach of LinkedIn and how it can be leveraged to show the community and culture that they're trying to create within their companies as well. So I have audited hundreds and hundreds of LinkedIn profiles, like no joke, and also hundreds and hundreds of people have attended my LinkedIn related workshops and masterclasses as well, where once again, I'm really talking not just about the strategy, but also the mindset of being able to step into that thought leadership position. And from my perspective, a lot of that comes from executive presence and leadership, presence, and really becoming comfortable with self promotion and advocating for yourself. And so a lot of the things once again, that we talk about within the programme really translate well into how you show up physically, as a leader as well. So who is this for? Right, because I mentioned, that's one of the things I wanted to make sure that I covered the WHO part. So if we're looking at it from the perspective of maybe how you're showing up, and what this might look like for you, this particular programme is for you, if you are reluctant or anxious to use LinkedIn, right, and maybe you don't even know where to start. But the cool thing about this programme is even if you know where to start, even if you've completed your programme, you're gonna get a lot of value out of being within a community of people who are trying to figure out what their voice looks like, and trying to figure out what authentic looks like to them. So the second group of people that this particular programme is great for our leaders who are overwhelmed with completing their profile, or they're just attempting to build their LinkedIn presence, and they're not really sure where to start. And as I mentioned before, within this programme, I provide everything and I share everything that I've also used. So I share scripts, I share step by step guides, and I have a tonne of worksheets, so many worksheets and templates that you can use to really help get out of your head and to start taking action. All right. The last thing or the last piece I have on here, in terms of those who really benefit from this programme are those who feel like they don't have enough time to share updates or post. So they end up being inconsistent or just not posting at all. And I think one of the most incredible things about leveraging a platform like LinkedIn is that you actually don't have to create any content at all. I've had participants that started off with just completing their profile, getting an idea of what they could potentially post on LinkedIn, but deciding that they actually wanted to spend more time in the DM. So that's the direct messaging portion of the platform, but now are finally getting to a point where they feel comfortable sharing content and posting. And because I give you all the templates, and I give you everything and you're pretty much able to download everything, you get to keep this and get access to this for as long as you want. You also get access to the programme and the course and the recordings for over a year. So it really gives you a comfortable amount of time to really help you think about how you want to show up and really work through all those mindset issues that might come up as you start to do this. So whether you are a founder that wants to step up into that, you know, leadership position, you know, that thought leadership position where you're able to fundraise attract better employees or celebrate your team online. This programme is for you. Alright, you might be an Executive leader who wants to find board opportunities or give back by sharing your career experience and lessons and I will say I've actually been approached and had the opportunity to apply for different board members or ship opportunities just by having my LinkedIn profile, in addition to finding opportunities for training and being able to do workshops for some amazing brands, because of my LinkedIn presence, you might also be a senior leader that wants to just make sure that your profile is optimised so that you're seeing the right opportunities. And that's something that I think is overlooked quite a bit on LinkedIn, recognising that you can post right, but that you can also get inbound opportunities as well. And if your feed is properly optimised, and you're following the right people, that's what's going to happen. And that's really what I teach within the programme. And then last but not least, you might be a coach or consultant that wants to create an efficient system to find and secure new speaking opportunities or coaching clients. And that's also what we cover within this programme. And because that's what I do full time, I share everything, all right, everything, from what I share, to get my recommendations for my website, and also on LinkedIn, from what I share when I'm connecting with people initially that I eventually hope will work with me from how I craft my calls to actions. And I've also, you know, put together and reached out to my community and people who supported me within my business to create amazing bonuses to make sure that you're getting all the pieces that you need to be able to show up and be that effective, and be that successful thought leader. So I just wanted to make sure that I started off by describing that, who Pease who this is for, and who can really make the most of of being part of this programme. And being part of this community. I also thought it was really important to share the perspective of someone who was within the last cohort. If you've been following me for any point in time, or have heard me talk about uplevel, this is actually going to be my third cohort, or the third time that I am launching this programme. So I just wanted to share the perspective of one individual that was in my programme late last year, and she is a coach. So she's a new coach. But once again, this programme is really effective for people across the board, anyone that really wants to step up into that thought leadership position and thinks that they can leverage LinkedIn, whether it's for their business, their career, or even their brand. So this is what she shared. I went from someone who was afraid to put herself out there for the fear of judgement, with no real presence on LinkedIn to gaining an over 300% increase in the amount of traffic i get to my LinkedIn page. I also began coaching clients again, that found me through some of the posting of my content, I've updated my profile with more robust About Me section, and added client reviews and testimonials to my page that shows off more of who I am. As a professional service provider, I was most excited about creating content and putting myself out there to see the impact of my work on my communities and network. I also really enjoy the conversations we had during our weekly calls. They were incredibly beneficial, supportive and a confidence booster, the programme that my personal expectations, the learnings from the programme, were practical, and I could immediately apply the learnings, I acquired worksheets, powerful questions about my social media presence, and a new framework to think about in terms of how LinkedIn can support me, in building a business, I'm going to stop procrastinating and not being active on social media. And try sending more DMS on LinkedIn, as well as asking for potential clients to work with me, I would absolutely recommend this course. And I already have, I let them know how much it has helped me market myself and how useful it was in connecting me to a community of other coaches. Akua is amazing. And I'm so grateful to have come across her work. I am so grateful for this feedback. I'm so grateful for this testimonial. And I think this is a really good reflection of how this programme can really help support you from being that reluctant thought leader, that reluctant leader that doesn't really know where to start to feel uncomfortable to put yourself out there. And really starting to leverage LinkedIn for whatever your business career or brand goals are. So I'm just so so grateful and thankful for this feedback. And if you'd like to hear more feedback or more thoughts about how people have used this programme to really help to uplevel or upgrade their LinkedIn profile and presence, feel free to reach out and I can share a few more. Next I wanted to get into some of the questions that I tend to get around this programme. Alright. And so what I've done is I've you know, put together I think some of the top questions here. And if you have any additional questions, you are welcome to reach out. But do keep in mind that enrollment ends at the end of this week. So you want to make sure that you get your questions to me, and you can just reach out on LinkedIn. My information will be in the show notes so you can make sure you reach out on LinkedIn sooner rather than later. Okay, so one of the first questions that I get is what will we be covering in this course. And it's really quite straightforward. I take you through a three step process that's really been helpful for me and that I leverage really, on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and that I'm checking in on constantly and that three step plan assets includes one selecting a strategy. And I once again have worksheets and templates to really help you think about what that strategy might look like. And the key here is to shift your mindset from feeling like your strategy needs to be static and incredibly well thought through and really robust to recognising that you can learn and adjust and optimise as you go. But the first step is really selecting a strategy and thinking about what is that key one action you want people to take as they look at your profile. So for example, right now, because I'm in the middle of the launch, the key one action I want people to take is to join either my masterclass or to click on the page to learn more about how to enrol within my programme up level. And I think that's really quite straightforward. If you take a look at the content that I'm sharing, you take a look at my banner, and you take a look at some of the key pieces of content on my profile. The second step is really thinking about what is the content that you want to produce. And for some people, that content might be nothing, right. So for some people, it might just be engaging rather than creating their own original, or creating their own content or re sharing other content. So really, just keeping in mind that you want to make sure that it makes sense in terms of whatever strategy that you've selected in terms of the content that you are producing and sharing but it's not by force, you don't have to actually produce content. And if you do produce content or decide to produce content, it doesn't need to be original or completely new. What I'm really focusing on this year in terms of my content is recycling, reusing and re iterating. So I'm leveraging a lot of my existing content, a lot of my existing themes, and making sure that I am really thinking about the positioning and how it's coming across so that I can be even more strategic and effective. So that's something you could think about as well, you can also just think about how you can leverage other people's content. So commenting on other people's content, and sharing other people's content. And sharing your perspective can also be incredibly helpful on LinkedIn. And so that's another thing that I share, if you don't feel like producing content makes sense in terms of where you're trying to go on LinkedIn, at that point in time. And I want to just reinforce or reiterate that point at that point in time, because your strategy can change, it really can change week to week, month to month, it really depends on you. All right, the last step is all about auditing your profile. So recognising that you can really optimise your profile, make sure that those keywords are there, making sure that you feel really confident in what you have in your profile, because that really is that static portion of your presence. And so you want to make sure that you feel good about it. And you want to make sure that it's really helping to share the value that you provide. So that it can include making sure that you have recommendations and testimonials. And that's something that I teach within the programme. And it's called robust testimonials, I have a whole process that I take you through on how to do that. And it also helps you get comfortable with asking for feedback for your business or your website or for your emails or whatever that you're looking to create. Another thing will be around making sure that you are leveraging the about section. So that's another massive area that we spend a lot of time on within up level. And I provide a lot of templates and examples on how you can do it. And for those of you who are open to working with me one on one, we do have a tear right within the three different tiers that you can choose from where we can actually have a conversation about it. And I know in one of my previous cohorts that this was incredibly helpful for some of the participants, because many of us tend to overlook our own careers and our own sort of business story journeys. And so having a conversation with someone like me, can help you really to pull out what might really resonate with your ideal clients or your ideal decision makers. So if you want to make sure that you're really stepping into that thought leadership position and getting my one on one support, or you've always wanted to work with me one on one, make sure that you look at some of the other tiers so that you get that one on one support. All right. And that's really that third step, making sure your profile looks its best and auditing it for it to be your best sport to be its best, and that it's able to convert or able to provide what you're looking to have it provide on LinkedIn. All right, so those are really the three steps, right. So the first step is making sure that you're selecting that strategy, making sure you're thinking about what that content looks like. And if it's not content, how your engagement plan will look. All right. And then last but not least, making sure that you're auditing your profile. And the idea is that if you go through this three step process with me over the six weeks, you'll get to a point where it's only going to take you about 15 minutes to really leverage LinkedIn, right, because you'll have all these pieces in place, you would have thought through all these pieces. And so you only need to spend about 15 minutes on LinkedIn each weekday, right? And it can even be less if you want. So that's that's really what I take you through and those are the three steps that I teach with an uplevel your LinkedIn if you would love some more information about that, please make sure that you check out the sales page where I actually even share the curriculum. Um, so I take you through each piece of content I have within the core curriculum. And let's just say that it's incredibly comprehensive. I walk through everything. And because I always do this programme live, I'm always adding to the programme as well. The second question I have here that I wanted to cover, is I'm not a coach or selling anything. Why should I care about LinkedIn? And I think this is really such a good question. Because the truth is, we're constantly selling, right? Whether it's tangible or intangible, we are constantly putting ourselves out there and asking people to trust us have faith in us to work with us to join us to do something with us. And so making sure that you have a profile, right, and the profile part is static. So at least a profile that really demonstrates your value demonstrates what you stand for, and maybe who you're even looking to engage with, can really help you within your business within your career within the brand that you're trying to build. So really recognising that it's not just about being a coach or a service provider, but if you're a founder, or a department head, or a CEO, making sure that your LinkedIn is up to date will give potential customers, potential clients or even potential teammates an idea of who you are, and how you show up and maybe even help to convince them to work with you or work for you. So there really are just so many benefits, once again, to really thinking through your LinkedIn presence and your LinkedIn profile, and you have no idea who is looking. So just taking some of that additional time and energy now rather than later, it can really help you. And at some point down the line, someone could say, Hey, I saw that awesome thing on your LinkedIn profile. And that's why I decided to reach out, or that's why I decided to work with you, or that's why I decided to invest in you. So you should care. Because whether or not you like it, and this is something I also had to learn whether or not I like it, I do have a personal brand. And so it's up to me to make sure that I'm creating the time and space to update it to make sure I feel good about it and to make sure that it really reflects the value that I can provide. All right. Speaker 1 22:06 So the third one I have on here is I like my profile, why should I join or it makes no sense for me to join because I liked my profile. And that's just really such a great question or a great thought. And the truth is, I've actually had people join or rejoin even if they liked their profile, because there still is that element of making sure that you are thinking through that strategy piece. And you're thinking through what are the elements are going to help me to achieve my strategy. And that can come from content, or that can come from making sure that you're getting the right angle and the testimonials that you're asking for. And so one of the things that I also wanted to make sure that I shared on this podcast episode were some of the questions that I actually get asked during the programme. And really just recognising that this programme is honestly more than just talking about LinkedIn, we do so much more than just talk about LinkedIn. And when I ask people you know why they join, or why they enjoy the time that we spend within this programme, a lot of them say they come for the templates, they come for the worksheets, but they really stay for the community. And I think that's something that's really unique about my signature programme and something really unique about what I'm able to create when we have our conversations and we have our Q and A's. And so really just recognising that if you're interested, especially in some of the other tiers, so that we go beyond just the Q and A's and we have co working sessions, and you also get access to me one on one, where we can have some of these more deep conversations about how you want to show up and even more deep conversations about what might be holding you back to making making the most of your LinkedIn profile and really stepping into that thought leadership or leadership position. So here's some of the questions that we discussed during my last cohort. And honestly, a lot of these questions, were just within one q&a session and the q&a sessions, honestly, are so much fun. And I think people get so much value from them. And the value is really beyond LinkedIn. All right, so here, here it is at the top. So one of the first questions and I think I really love making this distinction within my programme is, can I be too general in what my ideal decision maker is, and I use the word ideal decision maker, because for a lot of my clients, and this is the same for me, because I do some b2b work. The ideal clients, right isn't always the one who is making the decision about whether or not they're going to invest in me. And so one of the things that we do talk about is whether or not the person who's looking at your profile is also the person who's making a decision about whether or not to invest in you. And if you do b2b work, it's not always the same person. So that's just one of the questions. Another question on here. How can I be transparent with my clients about being a work in progress and not having it all together yet still demonstrate my confidence in my abilities as a coach? So one of the things we talk a lot about is as a new service provider, recognising that you can still add a lot of value that you can still ask for financial investment in exchange for the work that you do, but still be very transparent and open about how you're on this journey because all lessor on this journey. I've been doing this now for about four years. But I'm still on this journey. And I'm still learning. Another question on here is about how to use LinkedIn creator mode. So just sharing some of my perspectives. And then other members within the group, their perspective of whether or not LinkedIn creator mode is worth it. We talk a lot about video. So does it matter if I use LinkedIn live versus posting a video I made another way, we talk about different tools and technology that we use to really be able to show up on LinkedIn. So I primarily use Buffer thinking through how do you choose which colleagues or companies to follow? Speaker 1 25:34 You know, other questions on here? How can I reach my ideal decision maker if I know who they are, but I'm not in currently engaging with them? How do I know if I'm reaching more of an introverted audience? What are the metrics I should be looking out for? What are the thoughts that I should keep in mind to build my first service or offer is another question that we've tackled? We've talked a lot about self promotion and thinking through what are some of the key steps that each participant can take to help them get comfortable with self promotion and leveraging self promotion on LinkedIn. So these are just some of the questions that I wanted to share. And some of the things I wanted to make sure that you knew we covered within the programme to give you just an idea of of how comprehensive it is, and how much we go beyond some of the templates and how much we go beyond thinking through leveraging LinkedIn. And it's really about once again, building that brand, building that career, and really thinking through how to make the most of LinkedIn for your business, if that's what you'd like to do on LinkedIn. Alright. So the last question that I wanted to go over within this podcast episode was, I don't have the financial resources, or I don't really understand the value. And once again, I think that this is such an important question to ask. And I wanted to make sure that I covered this because I think for a lot of people, this is something that comes up for them. When thinking about how I wanted to do this next cohorts or this next launch differently, one of the things I knew I wanted to make sure that I did was provide as many registration choices that I could, that really put together the types of questions and thoughts that I was getting from my community. And so I know, right, we know that everyone is starting this thought leadership journey from a different place. So whether it's you just want to focus on getting your profile ready for clients, or stakeholders, or do you want to start building your presence and create content, there is a plan for you. So I've created three different plans. And, you know, I've invested in making sure that we can have monthly payments and make it really, really easy for you. So when you take a look at the sales page, you'll see that I have put so much value into each of these three different tiers. And you know, the one at the lowest end as valued at about $6,000. And this doesn't even include the additional bonuses that I've had created, and that I've also created for this programme. So I just wanted to make sure that I shared that, and just wanted to let you know that, you know, there are many different ways in which you can think about investing within this programme. And, you know, I go from making sure that you just have access to the course if that's what you want, you have the accountability to get the work done, or you get the accountability, the one on one support and done for you content. So you have a launchpad to really help you move forward and really help you think about how you want to show up. And I also had so much fun, just so much fun naming the different tiers, and I hope that you get a kick out of the different tiers as well. So, you know, if you just need access to the course, because you know what you're doing. And you really feel like you don't necessarily need that additional accountability, you just need some space here and there for asking questions, then the solo senior leader is for you. If you would like some additional accountability and some oversight to get the work done, then you should definitely look into the visionary VP, so the visionary vice president tier, and then the tear that I think is really for that thought leader that wants to leapfrog that thought leader that is so ready to invest in their presence, and one some one on one time with me, that's really that engaged executive level. And I just want to just talk through the different elements of the engaged executive level, because I really think that's, that's the level at which you are really showing up for yourself. And you really are dedicating the time and the energy. And once again, because of the work I do with productivity, I'm really just giving you the core things, the key things, the critical things, the vital things that you really need to be focusing on. So you get access to the modules. And remember, you get access to the modules for 12 months, you get access to the LinkedIn group, which I think can be incredibly effective. And with this cohort, I have a lot of really great challenges and checklist that everyone will be able to follow and really make the most of the LinkedIn group group you get access to six Live Office Hours where you can ask any question that you want. So you will also get access to the vault. So those specific questions that I shared earlier, you get access to those, so that you can really ask additional questions and you get access to those two things immediately. Once you enrol, you get access to my personal branding one on one workbook for thought leaders, you also will get access to live co working sessions where you can do the work and also ask questions. And those sessions have been in the past I know so incredibly helpful for the participants, because it really helps them think about the time they can do the work and actually watched some of the sessions, you'll get access also to a repurposing workflow workshop with the amazing, you know, content repurpose, or who supported me within my business. And this is once again really helpful for those who really want to be able to show up on social media and be effective. You'll also get done for you customised content. So I'll be sharing all my content secrets with you, a member of my team or I will actually be interviewing you. So we'll also be sharing how I show up. And really help you think about how to craft your content, and what makes sense for you and what feels good for you. And you'll also get a bunch of templates that you can use and edit for your business or your career as well. And then last but not least, and probably most importantly, you'll also get to zoom calls with me where I'll be able to support you directly and help you really think about your LinkedIn profile and presence. So I'm really, really excited about this engaged executive tier, it has a total value of close to $12,000, because you get so much access to me. And I think that once you take a look at the actual costs or the actual investment amount, you're going to see that it's just a no brainer, and that it makes complete and total sense. And as I've mentioned before, this is just the core of the programme. This doesn't even include all the amazing bonuses that I also have, and all the amazing bonuses that you'll also get access to when you enrol before the end of the week. Alright, so I just wanted to, you know, I guess end this or close this by just saying I'd really love to have you join up level for thought leaders. It really is a comprehensive programme unlike anything else you've seen online. And not only will this help you effectively and efficiently master LinkedIn, but you will get all the accountability all the step by step strategy, unlimited critiques, right. So I critique everything that you submit, and you'll also get templates for every important part of your profile and every single piece of content that you need. So if you have any additional questions, please do feel free to reach out on LinkedIn, DMS, and I look forward to seeing you within the first q&a. But please make sure that you enrol sooner rather than later because enrollment is only available until the end of the week. And so I think that is March 25. All right, I'll make sure everything is linked in the show notes. But as always, thank you so much for taking the time to listen, and I hope you stay safe and sane. Akua Nyame-Mensah 33:03 Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please share it with your friends. We can continue this conversation on social media the links to my socials so that is LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. You can find them in the show notes. If you tagged me in a story and include the hashtag hashtag ask Akua I will share a special little gift with you. Thank you so much once again for your time and I cannot wait to share my next episode with you stay safe and sane.