[00:00:00] Dave Polykoff: Welcome to another episode of brand science today is going to be a really special one because it is a topic that I love to talk about, which is growing online specifically on LinkedIn. Um, so if you are a personal brander, if you are someone who wants to be able to attract an audience and then convert that audience into leads specifically on LinkedIn, which I know a lot of.
[00:00:25] Dave Polykoff: This audience is then today is for you because I am joined by another, none other than Finn McKenty, who does exactly that. He helps entrepreneurs grow and convert that audience on LinkedIn. So Finn, welcome to the show, man.
[00:00:38] finn mckenty: Thank you for having me.
[00:00:39] Dave: Awesome. So what I want to know is since this is a podcast for personal branders, I have those who are crushing it online with their own personal brand. Um, what I want to know is how did you, what was the journey like into growing your LinkedIn account to what it is? Cause you are absolutely crushing it right now. Um, you know, I've been following your work for some time now and the [00:01:00] content you're putting out is great. So what, what was that journey like to grow this following and to really understand the, I guess, art and being able to perform on LinkedIn?
[00:01:11] finn mckenty: Well, I'll, I'll, I'll back up to the very beginning and tell you a whole my life story. Not really, but I'll give you my life story in a, in a very, as fast as I can, because I think probably a lot of other people are in a similar situation. So, um, I've been doing product design and marketing basically for, You know, 20 plus years.
[00:01:29] finn mckenty: And I did some stuff that I think was pretty cool. I first started out kind of in the agency world. The first stuff I worked on was like brands like Nike and Nintendo and Red Bull, which was cool. And then after that worked at another agency where I worked on a bunch of stuff, big brands, like Nike. Uh, uh, Febreze and Swiffer and Tide and balance big, like Procter and Gamble stuff.
[00:01:50] finn mckenty: After that, I was a designer and marketer for Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister at sort of the height of those brands. Um, and so I'd done a lot of stuff in my career that I thought was [00:02:00] pretty cool. Um, and, and that I was proud of, but nobody cared, you know, like nobody knew who I was. My network wasn't great.
[00:02:10] finn mckenty: Um, and just when I would talk about the stuff that I had done, Just, just kind of like crickets kind of like, Oh, okay, that's nice. You know, and I think a lot of people are in that situation where you're like, man, I think I'm pretty good at what I do. And the people that I work with tell me that, but it seems like I feel invisible and I feel like nobody cares, or I feel like I don't even exist.
[00:02:32] finn mckenty: And so, uh, that's when I started a YouTube channel in 2017, which, you know, to make a long story short, I've gotten about 120 million views there, um, which is awesome, um, and that definitely made people. You know, knew who I am at scale, but it still didn't quite solve the problem that I was trying to solve, which is people didn't know me for what I like sort of really do in my career, which is, you know, marketing, you know, and design.
[00:02:57] finn mckenty: They knew me like as YouTuber, which is, which [00:03:00] again is awesome, but I still didn't feel like people really knew me for what I do. And so, you know, I've been on LinkedIn since probably 2007 or something like that, but I probably went like three years of that ever even logging in, you know, like I didn't care about it at all.
[00:03:13] finn mckenty: I just made a profile cause whatever. Um, and then I realized, uh, maybe around 2020 or 2021 that LinkedIn had changed into something very different. So, um, some people listening to this may think of it as what it used to be, which is basically like your online resume, where you would like connect with people you worked with for no particular reason.
[00:03:33] finn mckenty: Like I. I'm going to connect with Dave because we work together. I don't really know why I'm doing this, but I guess I will. And it, around that time, it changed into something very different. Maybe it was earlier than that. I don't remember, but it changed into a creator platform. And so I would think of it now as something closer to like, you know, Instagram or Facebook for business.
[00:03:53] finn mckenty: And that is really what I was looking for is people who I could connect with to talk about the things that I'm most passionate about, which is [00:04:00] like, Marketing, you know, and design, like, how do I make a product and how do I sell it to people? Like that's fundamentally what I do. And so that's when I started taking LinkedIn more seriously and really started, I posted like semi actively there and, you know, got probably, you know, I don't know, seven or 8, 000 followers just from.
[00:04:17] finn mckenty: People knowing who I was on YouTube and stuff, but I really started taking it seriously last year and like really honed in, like doubled down on helping people get to know me specifically for what I do, you know, in marketing and in particular in helping people build their personal brands and that's when things like really kind of took off.
[00:04:35] finn mckenty: So, you know, the, the, the, the two headlines there, I think are, if you're in a similar place to where I was of feeling like, man, I think I'm pretty good at what I do, but. I feel like I'm not getting any credit for it. And I feel like kind of unseen, um, that I think LinkedIn is, is the place to change that.
[00:04:54] finn mckenty: And number two, the way to change that is, you know, as you mentioned, there are some just sort of [00:05:00] specific tactics and stuff to use there. But the main thing is to like, focus on being, you know, one thing and really like actively standing for that on LinkedIn. And if you do that consistently, it's going to work.
[00:05:10] Dave: Yeah, no, I love that, especially because this, this evolution of LinkedIn has been really interesting to see, as you mentioned over the last like five years or so, where I think they've been making some updates. I think the, itself has just kind of evolved his mindset. And so now LinkedIn is really becoming this powerhouse for being able to attract an ideal client. Um, let's kind of start there too. Cause I, I want to kind of set the stage for why LinkedIn and, and, or audience who LinkedIn would be best for. Cause I don't think maybe it's for Um, but it certainly is for a certain kind of. Demographic to reach a certain avatar. So who would you say is probably uh, investing into [00:06:00] LinkedIn?
[00:06:01] finn mckenty: LinkedIn is fundamentally a B2B platform. You know, there's always some exceptions to this, but like fundamentally it's a B2B platform. So it's, you know, people who are at work who want to do business with other people who are also at work in some way. So if, uh, if, and I would say in particular, probably if you are in like marketing, it's probably.
[00:06:20] finn mckenty: Like the strongest fit, you know, if you're either, if you want to get a new job or if you want to be a consultant of any kind on anything related to like marketing or product, I think it's a really good place to be. I think those are probably, you know, the, the, the most active communities on there. Um, and again, there are exceptions to this.
[00:06:37] finn mckenty: There are people, you know, who run consumer brands and stuff that are on there and, and that's cool, but I think fundamentally. Excuse me. Fundamentally, if you're in B2B, that's, that's what LinkedIn is all about. And the reason it's so great is because people who are active on LinkedIn are there to do business.
[00:06:54] finn mckenty: Like that is the entire point of the platform. They want to find opportunities. Like, they're not, they're [00:07:00] not mad if you're trying to sell them something because they're trying to sell something to you too. And like, they understand, you know, it's like going to like a speed dating event. Like everyone knows we're here to meet somebody, you know, and hopefully we walk out of here You know, uh, on a date.
[00:07:14] finn mckenty: So LinkedIn is like that. And so as opposed to like Instagram or take talk or, or even YouTube, YouTube is a little bit of a different beast, but especially like TikTok and Instagram, it's like nobody is on there because they want to be sold to, and you sort of, it's, you have to do this whole song and dance of like selling without selling and all this kind of stuff, which is fine.
[00:07:35] finn mckenty: And people do make that work. But LinkedIn is a different beast. You can just be like, Hey, here's what I do. Here's why you should hire me. So let's do this. And if you do a good job, people will hire you. You don't have to sort of do the whole song and dance of pretending not to sell something, which is really refreshing.
[00:07:52] finn mckenty: Like people are there to do business.
[00:07:55] Dave: Yeah. And it's been great to see kind of this evolution to have LinkedIn where [00:08:00] is, there are people who are trying to sell you something, but they're kind of wrapping it in a coding of value. So even if you're not interested in their, their service, you're at least walking away with something Um, so, okay. So let's say our audience. They're B2B or a coach consultant, someone who is bought into the idea of LinkedIn being for them. But maybe they have a profile. They're like you back in 20, uh, 2007, they have a profile, but they've like never touched it. They never, they don't really, they have a thousand, you know, uh,
[00:08:31] finn mckenty: Yep. Yep.
[00:08:32] Dave: that kind of stuff.
[00:08:32] Dave: They haven't really invested into What, what is, what is kind of like day one priority one for someone who wants to start on LinkedIn?
[00:08:39] finn mckenty: The first thing I would do is optimize your profile. And what that looks like is, you know, the reality is you can only be one thing to the world at one time. And most of us are multifaceted people. And, you know, it, it, it, it, it, it, we, none of us want to sort of reduce ourselves to one thing, but that's just kind of [00:09:00] how it has to be.
[00:09:00] finn mckenty: Like you can't be a photographer and, you know, whatever, um, a software engineer and a. You know, a cyclist, because it's just, you know, and this and this and this, because every time you're.
[00:09:15] Dave: interesting person. If
[00:09:16] finn mckenty: Well, look, there's a lot. No, but that, but there are a lot of people who probably are all those things. But as far as how you present yourself, it's just adding too much mental friction to people like, um, to, to ask them to parse you in such a nuanced way.
[00:09:31] finn mckenty: They're just not going to do it. Because we're all cognitive misers and, um, asking me to like, go down the rabbit hole of, of who Dave is. Like, you know, I'm just not going to do it because that's just the way people work. So you got to pick the one thing that you want to be to the world, whatever the, and remember, like, you can always change this.
[00:09:51] finn mckenty: You can always test things, but you got to start somewhere. It's like, what is the one thing that I want to be? Um, for example, in my career, like, I mean, I've, I was [00:10:00] a designer for like over 10 years, I'm good at it. Um, I've been doing marketing for longer than that. I'm good at it. Um, I've had a lot of success at YouTube.
[00:10:09] finn mckenty: Any of those three things I could credibly present myself as one of those three things, but presenting myself as all three of those things, even though like, I actually am credible at all three of them, as you said, like, Number one, it's hard. It's too much. And number two, it's like, nobody's going to believe you.
[00:10:27] finn mckenty: You know, it's, it's just, they're just not going to. So you pick one and then optimize your profile to reflect that. So what that looks like is, um, number one, the, the headlines. So that's the thing under your name, which most people. I think by default, it's just like your job title. Um, and you, you probably don't want that because I mean, it depends, but you probably, you don't want that because, you know, uh, assistant to the senior manager of influencer partnerships.
[00:10:55] finn mckenty: I don't really know what you do. Right. Because most titles are weird [00:11:00] like that. So what I would suggest for that, uh, that headline is the thing you do and who you do it for followed by. Some sort of like demonstrated proof of your expertise. So, uh, and the more specific, the better. So something like, uh, you know, um.
[00:11:18] finn mckenty: Uh, long tail SEO, uh, for, you know, B2B SAS early stage B2B SAS companies. Like that's the level of like specificity I would suggest you get to. Um, because again, as we all know, you can't be all things to all people. And as much as it feels like you're limiting your opportunities by focusing, that's not true because it's better to, uh, it's better to hyper serve one niche segment of the market than it is to like.
[00:11:46] finn mckenty: Underserve the entire market. You want people who are your ICP to like immediately go, Oh, wow, Dave, that looks, his profile looks pretty juicy. Cause that's exactly what I need right now. So that's the first part of it. The second part of it should be some sort of [00:12:00] demonstrated proof of your expertise, ideally in some sort of a quantitative format.
[00:12:03] finn mckenty: So again, let's say you do long tail SEO or whatever, and you could say something like, You know, uh, 30 plus. You know, clients served since 2014 or whatever the number is, or, you know, this, that part's going to depend or, you know, three X, you know, marketing leader, whatever it is that you can just throw out there.
[00:12:23] finn mckenty: That's going to make people think that you're legit because again, people are cognitive misers. And especially at the place, the point where they're just like browsing your profile, this is like what Procter and Gamble would call the first moment of truth, meaning that this is your one chance to make an impression in three to seven seconds.
[00:12:38] finn mckenty: So you want to make it count. Uh, second thing you want to do is optimize your banner, um, which is the, the graphic at the top. And for that, I would suggest putting some sort of a statement of what the world will look like after somebody works with you. Um, so, you know, again, if, if you do this long tail SEO, maybe it's [00:13:00] something like, you know, three X your.
[00:13:03] finn mckenty: Qualified traffic in, you know, some, I don't know, whatever. Um, but some sort of like a, you know, paint a picture of the world of what will happen with, with, uh, after they work with you, um, the next thing you want to do is, uh, optimize your about section, which is like the description where usually people are like, Dave is a multifaceted collaborative team member who blah, blah, blah, you know, all that stuff that nobody cares about.
[00:13:27] finn mckenty: Um, and, uh, So again, re rewrite that, reframe that to be about the viewer, you know, like paint a picture of like, of the problem statement for them. You like, basically with, with, with this in general, there's three things you want to convince them of, of number one is that the status quo is not working.
[00:13:43] finn mckenty: Number two is the time to make a change is now because there's lots of times where people might say, again, to talk about SEO, they'd be like, yeah, I know our SEO is not great, but whatever we've got. Other fish to fry, you need to convince them that, you know, yeah, you have 9 million things on your list of priorities, but SEO needs to be at the top of the list of that [00:14:00] priorities, uh, for the following reason.
[00:14:03] finn mckenty: And then the last thing you need to convince them of is that you were the person that can help them make that change. The last part is where I think a lot of people. Over index on because really, if you do a good job of the first 2 things, meaning that you highlight a problem and convince them that the time to make a change is now.
[00:14:20] finn mckenty: Usually it doesn't take that much to convince them that you're the person to do it. You know, same ways that the plumber comes over to your house and like, Hey, Dave, I want to show you something and you're like, okay, what is it? He's like, see this pipe here. See how rusty that is see how corroded that is probably got another 60 days before this breaks and floods your living room.
[00:14:38] finn mckenty: You're like, okay. Yeah, let's fix that. He doesn't need to like, persuade you that he knows how to fix the pipe. Right? So,
[00:14:44] Dave: can identify the problem, you're most likely the person to be able to fix
[00:14:47] finn mckenty: yeah. Yeah. Don't take that for granted. But I think generally speaking, people focus a lot on that part and they. Usually don't need to, um, but that's what you want to do with your about section.
[00:14:59] finn mckenty: So that would be the [00:15:00] first thing to do. Optimize your profile in those three ways, the headline, uh, banner and about section. There's also the featured links, which you can add, but I would say that can be secondary.
[00:15:10] Dave: So what's interesting here is cause I, and you may, I think, have some experience with this too, is that I come from like a website design. background landing page, design background, these things that you land on that sells product or
[00:15:25] finn mckenty: Your profile is a landing page.
[00:15:28] Dave: yeah, so like, uh, that's, that's what kind of what I'm hearing.
[00:15:30] Dave: So like, you know, a landing page, something that's a webpage that's trying to sell you something really has like the same you're talking about in the sense of a main headline at the top, that cap that basically describes the value of what the product or service some sort of demonstrative.
[00:15:48] Dave: Visual that shows you what you get if you opt into this service. And then, you know, a series of texts and sections that break down like why you need our product, why we're the best for, for that, you know, to service you [00:16:00] in that area, things like that. So really it sounds like your LinkedIn profile is, is a landing page for you, the personal you know, your, your, um, yeah, your individual personal
[00:16:13] finn mckenty: A hundred percent. That's exactly what it is. And there's some more sort of nuances of things you can optimize there. But if you're just starting out, that's the way to think about it. It's like, this is a landing page. Assume that somebody saw a piece of content that you made and they're like, Oh, this Dave guy seems smart.
[00:16:28] finn mckenty: What's he all about? And they click on your profile. What would you want them to see in that, you know, literally five to seven seconds?
[00:16:36] Dave: Sure. Yeah, so that's interesting. And then, so I think the key element to that you initially were talking about is finding that one that you want to be known for. And you mentioned, you know, to, to be able for them to understand that within five to seven seconds. I think those two things go hand in where, yeah, if you're trying to promote yourself as 15 different things. It's going to take more than five or seven seconds to [00:17:00] try to wrap all of that, uh, in general. So you would just want them to know, is the one thing you come to me And they should know that within landing on your, on your page within the first couple of seconds. And so it needs to be very simple and straightforward.
[00:17:17] finn mckenty: But it's hard for a lot of people, because again, you know, most of us are nuanced people that most of us are more than just 1 thing. And so it can be, you know, it can be scary or difficult, or it feels like you are really, like, letting go of something to sort of to narrow things down. But, you know, what you'll find is that the more you do that, the better results you get, and then you'll understand that, like, okay, I should have done this a long time ago.
[00:17:45] Dave: Um, all right, great. So the LinkedIn profile is basically your personal brand landing you will, how are people. Discovering your profile. What, what is the kind of the next step in the [00:18:00] progress of your LinkedIn to, to be able to get people to the profile?
[00:18:03] finn mckenty: Yep. Yep. So that's the next step. Um, there's 2 ways that that's going to happen. Number 1 is by publishing content that hopefully people like, and they, you know, see it in their feed. And, you know, the algorithm, the algorithmic magic does its magic and brings people there. Um, And, uh, we can talk a little bit about the details of what that content strategy might be.
[00:18:25] finn mckenty: Um, but the second way is going to be through engaging with other people's content, which especially for like a new creator is a really way to really good way to do it. Because if you're wondering, you know, like, yeah, I've got 200 followers that are people I used to work with that aren't super active.
[00:18:39] finn mckenty: How do I get people to find me? Commenting is a great way to do that. So find, make a list of. I don't know, 10 or 20, you know, people where you believe that the other people seeing their content are your ICP. So for example, again, if, if you do SEO, probably the people that would hire you would be, you know, [00:19:00] either marketers or product managers, you know, something along those lines.
[00:19:04] finn mckenty: Well, what other creators are those people following on LinkedIn? Make a list of those and turn on, there's a little like notifications bell there. Um, on the upper part of everyone's profile, turn that on so that everybody, every time one of those people comments, you get a notification. And as soon as you see that, try to leave a really good, thoughtful comment on there.
[00:19:24] finn mckenty: Um, I'll give you an example of this, which just happened to me yesterday. Um, there's a guy named Adam Robinson. Who's like, uh, the CEO of, uh, retention. com. And, uh, he made a post saying, Hey, like my YouTube channel sucks. I'm looking for somebody who can help me with that. And, uh, obviously that's something I would like to help him with.
[00:19:41] finn mckenty: And so I left a comment there. He also had like a form to fill out, which I did, but you know, I always want to stack the deck in my favor. So I left a comment saying with my pitch for him on that, and I got probably 20. Connection requests within a couple hours from that. And [00:20:00] I booked three discovery calls in like two hours with people.
[00:20:04] finn mckenty: I haven't talked to him yet, but people who definitely seem like My ICP like startup founders and stuff like that, just based on one comment that took me whatever, 10 minutes to write, but, but
[00:20:15] Dave: pause Cause I feel like that's somewhat of like a, like a hack, if you will. It sounds like if someone who's credible or, you know, has a large following puts out kind of a. bat saying, Hey, I need help in this area. Other people who follow that person might also need and go, Oh yeah, I need that too.
[00:20:38] Dave: Let me kind of follow this and see who, who raises their hand. If you just contribute and say, Hey, I do that. You're now marketing yourself. Essentially to that entire community as
[00:20:49] finn mckenty: And to be honest, I didn't even think about that. Like I literally just made that cause I wanted him to see it. Um, but you know, in hindsight, it's exactly what you said. And also [00:21:00] I do want to highlight one thing that I said there. I said, Oh, I got all these, you know, all these results from one comment that took me 10 minutes to write as though 10 minutes to write a con comment is not a lot of time.
[00:21:11] finn mckenty: Most people probably don't spend 10 minutes writing a comment. Most people spend 15 seconds on it. And I'm not saying you need to spend 10 minutes on every comment, but. Especially in this stage where you are trying to get visibility, people will absolutely notice if you leave like really good, thoughtful comments and don't force it.
[00:21:31] finn mckenty: Don't, you know, don't try to, you know, don't try too hard to be, you know, to give value because like, that's kind of irritating too. But like, if you really have something to say, then like, take the time. Don't just say, Hey, Dave, nice post. Totally agree. Add something if you can. Um, So, yeah, so, so that is one way that you're going to get people to, um, to, to, to check out your content.
[00:21:55] finn mckenty: Um,
[00:21:56] Dave: I want to, I want to pause here a little bit too, um, because I think this is [00:22:00] important. The, when you're starting to create content, it can feel like a Herculean task to figure out templates and formats and what you want to say and your story and all that. And so people kind of put it off for that
[00:22:15] Dave: I think what's important here is, and you mentioned it at the beginning is this is like a, a very. Easier stepping stone into content creation, where kind of the, the ideation for, for you're still creating content, a
[00:22:31] finn mckenty: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
[00:22:33] Dave: just you created content in the form of a content and got 20 requests and, you know, booking calls and such.
[00:22:39] Dave: So still content creation. And you don't need to necessarily come up with the the topic is. The topic of the post you're So it helps with ideation. And then you're still adding value and you're still like working through your, your concepts of like, all right, I want [00:23:00] to add it.
[00:23:00] Dave: Like you're saying a very credible, valuable content. So you're practicing the muscles of content creation without having to like.
[00:23:08] finn mckenty: Start from scratch.
[00:23:09] Dave: on on an individual So do you have any, in terms of being able to craft a good comment? Cause if I want people who want to start getting into LinkedIn and want to start creating content, if they want to just take this kind of lily pad. Approach of, okay, maybe I'll just start
[00:23:24] finn mckenty: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
[00:23:26] Dave: create carousels and all of stuff, but I can, I can comment. are some ways that they can think about, all right, how do I craft a valuable content or about comment that, you know, it was going to catch the eye of the person I'm commenting to?
[00:23:40] Dave: Because also too, sometimes you might be commenting on someone who gets hundreds of comments. like, how do I stand out? Do you have any practical tips there to like, how to actually craft a valuable comment?
[00:23:50] finn mckenty: You know, it might be a little bit naive or simplistic, but I, I think it's kind of just what you said of like, try to craft a valuable comment. You know, [00:24:00] I, I, I sort of like. I I'm definitely in favor of like frameworks and systems and stuff like that in general, but specifically when it comes to like comments, there's a part of me that sort of doesn't like that because we've, we can all see when people are commenting, you know, with sort of an ulterior motive.
[00:24:18] finn mckenty: Like, it's obvious, you know what I mean? Like, so there's some of these, like, uh, company accounts that will always comment on big creators and it's like. We know what you're doing here and it, and it, it, and I said that people on LinkedIn are, are there to do business, which is true, but that doesn't mean that, you know, that people are there to, to be spammed.
[00:24:41] finn mckenty: And I think in particular, people on LinkedIn do not waste their, want their time wasted and they're not stupid. Like people on LinkedIn are, are high performers and they're smart. So I think. You know, just do your best to leave what you think is a genuinely valuable, helpful comment. And I, and I think that's the best way to think about it.[00:25:00]
[00:25:00] Dave: Yeah. I like the word genuine too, because you're saying, I think you can tell the difference between, I mean, I get comments sometimes on my posts that are, it's just like, literally just the word or like
[00:25:13] finn mckenty: right.
[00:25:13] Dave: And you're like, all right, did you, you click the AI button to generate this or Um, you know, explain to me why you thought it was interesting, you know,
[00:25:23] finn mckenty: Exactly.
[00:25:23] Dave: me context or something.
[00:25:25] finn mckenty: Yeah. Don't just,
[00:25:26] Dave: as it feels genuine.
[00:25:28] finn mckenty: just restate their post because again, that's sort of, even if you don't use AI for that, you might as well. It's not good content. Like just genuinely do your best to add to the conversation and help and be yourself. I think that's the best thing you can do.
[00:25:42] Hey, Dave here. Just want to pause the episode real quick to say thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of brand science. I'm hoping that you're getting as much value as a viewer or listener as I got as a host. And if you are getting value from today's episode... yep! You [00:26:00] know what time it is!
[00:26:00] I would love it. If you could just give this episode. A little like, or a comment. That would go a long way in helping boost my ego, but also helping boost the social media algorithm gods so that this episode can be found by more awesome people just like you. Well anyway, now that we got that out of the way, let's get back to the episode.
[00:26:26] Dave: All right. So our audience has got our optimized profile and now they've dipped their toe into content creation by starting to publish or post comments on other people's posts, and now they want to graduate actually publishing their own pieces of their own posts. Um, what should they be thinking about there?
[00:26:47] finn mckenty: So think about. Your content as a funnel, just like anything else in marketing. So there's going to be broadly speaking, three different types of content. Um, the top of the funnel is going to [00:27:00] be content because again, that's sort of, even if you don't use AI for that, you might as well. It's not good content. Like just genuinely do your best to add to the conversation and help and be yourself. where the goal is to grow your account by getting lots of engagement. Hopefully people come in and share, but all those other things that gets it like bubbled up in the algorithm.
[00:27:21] finn mckenty: So typically that would be things like. You know, your commentary on industry trends or current events or whatever that are happening, for example, uh, a couple of weeks ago, Canva did this video at, you know, whatever their event was. So they had this rap song that was like kind of cringe, you know, and a lot of people were, um, A lot of people were talking about that.
[00:27:44] finn mckenty: Right. So if you're, you know, like for me, I talk about video content a lot. So that was like an obvious thing of something I should talk about. Um, but it doesn't have to be like a current event. It could just be sort of an industry trend or an observation of like, Hey, you know, I've been doing this for a long time.
[00:27:59] finn mckenty: Here's [00:28:00] one thing I've noticed that new people really struggle with. Something like that would be kind of the top of the funnel typically. Um, the, and again, the goal there is to get a lot of engagement and grow your account. The second step of the funnel, the middle of the funnel is, uh, the goal of this type of content is to establish your expertise on the thing that you're talking about.
[00:28:19] finn mckenty: So that would be, you know, probably more how to kind of stuff or.
[00:28:26] Finn McKenty (2): You know, uh, yeah, like more detailed kind of, uh, content there where it's establishing your frameworks, how you think about it or tutorial on how to do a thing, that sort of thing. So that again, you know, if you think about the, the, you, the viewer journey, if you want to put it that way of like, Oh, I, I found Dave's account.
[00:28:43] Finn McKenty (2): It was interesting. Cause he was talking about. You know, his experience of, you know, being in this industry for a long time and the trends he's seen, this guy seems sharp. Um, and then the next thing they see is a post where you're saying, well, here's my actual five step framework for doing this thing that I talk about.
[00:28:57] Finn McKenty (2): And you're like, okay, damn, this guy knows what he's doing. [00:29:00] And then the bottom of the funnel is where you are asking them to take some sort of action. Um, whether that is sign up for your newsletter, book, a discovery call, demo, your product, buy your course, whatever it might be broadly speaking. Again, there's always exceptions to these rules, but broadly speaking, I would say.
[00:29:18] Finn McKenty (2): You know, for someone who's in the growth phase of their account, let's say 60 percent top of the funnel, 30 percent middle of the funnel, 10 percent bottom of the funnel.
[00:29:28] finn mckenty: Again, those aren't hard and fast rules, but something along those lines, I think is where I would start.
[00:29:34] Dave: So starting at, starting at the top, uh, top of funnel content, you've mentioned like the algorithm a few different times I've heard that LinkedIn actually doesn't want content to go like if something goes viral, they said that something went wrong because they want to focus sure that they get. The right content to the right audience. And that means smaller
[00:29:59] Dave: [00:30:00] but the more, um, targeted
[00:30:02] Dave: um, similar to how we say
[00:30:05] finn mckenty: Yep
[00:30:05] Dave: that you focus on that niche audience. You've mentioned a few examples of types of top of funnel content that would kind of play to the algorithm for what it can do. What, what have you seen with the algorithm, if you will, and reach and the types of content that you find gets the most reach and attracts the most, um, new audience to your account?
[00:30:31] finn mckenty: Well, people have pointed out correctly that organic reach on LinkedIn is down from what it was a couple of years ago, because that's totally true. I mean, I was looking at some of my old posts from like 2022 when I like, didn't really even put that much effort into LinkedIn. And I was getting like 250 likes on them.
[00:30:47] finn mckenty: Wow.
[00:30:49] Dave: Yeah.
[00:30:49] finn mckenty: You know, 10, 000 impressions on just the most like half assed post. I was like, uh, that was nice.
[00:30:54] Dave: think
[00:30:55] Dave: reach is down?
[00:30:56] finn mckenty: Um, well, I, I think that they have made some [00:31:00] adjustments. What they have said is exactly what you said is that they've made some tweaks to their algorithm such that they want to get the right content to the right people.
[00:31:09] finn mckenty: Um, and I, I don't, I don't know whether that's true, but it, it seems like that's a good goal, um, because again, and we all want to see that impressions number be as big as possible. But if you actually think about it. You know, let's say that you're in the business of, you know, if you're an SEO consultant, it doesn't really do you that much good, you know, to have whatever, like HR people in Europe, you know, seeing your content, if you're an SEO consultant that focuses on American companies.
[00:31:41] finn mckenty: So. You know, yes, of course, all the other things being equal. I want everybody to see my content, but actually better if they've executed on what they have said, which I don't know if they have, like, that's actually better. Um, and so as far as the type of content, well, and the other thing is that there's just more [00:32:00] creators.
[00:32:00] finn mckenty: Now, because people have realized the stuff we talked about at the beginning of sort of what an opportunity LinkedIn is in the same way as organic reach on Instagram used to be crazy. And then around whatever, maybe 2016 or something like that, when more and more people sort of got on there, organic reach keeps going down just because that's supply and demand.
[00:32:17] finn mckenty: There's only so much, the amount of attention is roughly the same, but the amount of creators goes up, which means that the average amount of attention per creator is going to go down just like numerator and denominator. Um, But I, you know, I think it's pointless to like, focus on that. Um, and also the great thing about LinkedIn is you don't necessarily need huge reach to get a lot of results.
[00:32:42] finn mckenty: I mean, again, I booked three discovery calls yesterday based on one comment. I don't know how many people saw it, probably, you know, whatever in the hundreds or something like that. And I booked three calls from it. Um, I know lots of people that have, you know, follower counts in the single [00:33:00] Thousands, which might sound if you're starting with nothing, that seems like a lot, but it really isn't, you know, like I know someone with a, he has maybe 2000 followers and he has an agency that's like killing it and he gets like one or two new clients every month with 2000 followers.
[00:33:15] finn mckenty: And I mean, if, if, if you can't have a business signing one or two new clients a month, then you're probably in the wrong business, right?
[00:33:24] Dave: I think it's an important point because I've seen this too. I think we're, we're reaching a kind of inflection point in the industry, specifically the personal branding industry, as it becomes more popular the idea of follower counts is becoming more and more meaningless,
[00:33:40] finn mckenty: doesn't mean anything. Yeah.
[00:33:42] Dave: it's, it's been that fluff number. To make you feel good and to maybe show off to your friends and such, but that's, that's not an indicator of how well your business is you know, because who knows how that number was, was, uh, created, how that follower account [00:34:00] was generated. So. I think right now we're in this age of quality over
[00:34:05] finn mckenty: Yes,
[00:34:07] Dave: And so that goes to your follower accounts. It goes to how much engagement you're getting on a post and how, you know, your reach. And so you get, you know, your reach is maybe 500 people and two or three of those people even engage with it. But one of those people turns into a that's obviously more valuable than having hundreds of thousands of people see it and no sales.
[00:34:31] Dave: So,
[00:34:32] finn mckenty: in the context of what we're talking about here, 500 people is a lot like in the context of YouTube, it's trash. You know, if, if I, if my video got 500 views on YouTube, that's a flop, but on LinkedIn of 500 people, like that's a lot of people. And if again, so here's the second thing I want to, well, we can talk about content, but I want to make sure I touch on this is like.
[00:34:54] finn mckenty: Sort of relevant to this point, it LinkedIn really is about quality more so than quantity. And you want to make [00:35:00] sure that you're taking full. I don't, I don't want to say advantage. That's cause that's sounds transactional in a way that I don't apply, but making the most of the people who do engage with your stuff.
[00:35:10] finn mckenty: Um, meaning that let's say your post gets 30 likes, you know, that might not seem like a lot, but again, that's 30 people. And in the context of like business development, I would argue 30. People have expressed some sort of interest in anything is kind of a lot. So every person who has liked that content, I would say you have permission to like, engage with them in some way.
[00:35:33] finn mckenty: Um, and so you can think of this as sort of a funnel of like, the first thing would be to like, add them as a connection. So if they've liked your content or viewed your profile or interacted with you in any other way. I think you have permission to like add them as a connection, um, and send them a note if you can, along with it, you know, I literally anything that doesn't sound automated, I think is fine.
[00:35:56] finn mckenty: You like some guy, uh, I added him yesterday and he said something in his profile [00:36:00] about dinosaurs. And I just added, like, I'm here for the dinosaurs, you know, something that like makes it clear you're not a bot because nobody wants those. So that's one thing you can do to sort of. Um, move them down the funnel a little bit.
[00:36:12] finn mckenty: Um, if they're already connected to you, you could send them a DM. Like, hey, thanks for liking that. You know, I appreciate the support. You know, that's an option. Certainly anybody that leaves a comment, it's totally fair game to DM them and say like, hey, I really appreciated that comment. You know, I've noticed the same thing, whatever.
[00:36:29] finn mckenty: Just, you know, You know, don't, don't pitch slap people. I mean, you can actually sometimes do that, but I would avoid that for the most part. Um, but the point being is to make sure that you are, you know, maximizing the potential of the people who do engage with your stuff, not focused, like fixating on that impressions number, which is a lot of what a lot of people think about, I think is a mistake because it's not like you said, it's not the impressions it's what you do with them.
[00:36:56] finn mckenty: Okay. And here's where, like, you need to have an actual sales [00:37:00] process, you know, to make sure that you're taking, you know, full advantage of the people who do engage with you.
[00:37:06] Dave: so we have our landing page. We have our, our one thing that we're known for people are discovering our content and going and requesting us or following us. And then they're, they're ideally continuing to follow us and engage with our content to the point where. We're taking notice and we're going, Hmm, all right.
[00:37:25] Dave: This seems like interested in what I'm doing. next step it sounds like is to kind of move the conversation from the feed into the DM and kind of like, you know, you're at a conference and you, you're kind of floating around the floor and you bump into someone that you think would be a good client, go, Oh, let's go,
[00:37:44] finn mckenty: You want to get some coffee? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:37:46] Dave: Yeah. So. Now that's kind of, this is where it sounds like you're going to start to be able to convert something a potential lead and how, for those. know, people don't want to come off sales. Are [00:38:00] you, like you said, you don't want to pitch slap What's the gentle way to kind of transition a conversation into a potential lead or acquisition for you?
[00:38:12] finn mckenty: Again, I think it goes back to like being genuine and authentic. Like I never, ever, ever. Like try to sell somebody something, unless I genuinely believe that they need it. And there's lots of times actually where I talk to someone, like a lot of people ask me about like doing YouTube and for a lot of them, I'm like, honestly, I don't think it's a good idea for you for the following reasons.
[00:38:34] finn mckenty: And if they still want to work with me, I mean, I will, but, um, uh, more often, like almost always they're like, oh, thank you. Like, I hadn't thought about it that way, and I just saved them potentially months of like, beating their head against the wall of trying to make YouTube work when it was never going to.
[00:38:52] finn mckenty: So, I believe that in that case, like, uh, number 1, I just like to help people. But number 2, um, lots of those people have referred [00:39:00] me to other people, even though I said like, Hey, I don't think YouTube is right for you. Um, a month or 2 later, someone will hit me up and be like, Hey, so and so. You know, said you're the person to talk to about YouTube.
[00:39:10] finn mckenty: So it can still, I think, work out for you, uh, you know, as a sales tactic to not sell people. But point being, I think it's just to be genuine and authentic. Like if, for example, like if someone's the founder of a company, like I would say, you know, You know, Hey, I really, you know, like your content here on LinkedIn.
[00:39:27] finn mckenty: And I actually think like YouTube would be a great fit for you for the following reason. Um, again, this is someone who's interacted with my content a few times. So like they know who I am. I think YouTube has a lot of potential for you for the following reason. Let me know if you want to talk. Um, and lots of times they will, um, and if they don't, okay.
[00:39:45] finn mckenty: I mean, so what? Right. Um, or, you know, if it's somebody who, um, if, if it's somebody who I believe has potential on LinkedIn, it's the same thing of like, Hey, like you, you leave so many [00:40:00] great comments. Like you seem like you have a lot to say about this. Have you ever thought about taking LinkedIn a little bit more seriously?
[00:40:05] finn mckenty: I think you have a lot of potential. And again, I only say that if I genuinely believe it. And I think, I think in general. If you just operate from a place of authenticity and like, genuinely, sincerely trying to help people, I think people can tell.
[00:40:21] Dave: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's, um, usually, I mean, we all, if you're on LinkedIn and if you're actively on LinkedIn and you're checking your messages, that's usually. We can tell because we're getting this like we are getting pitch slapped right away with something that is just like this templated. It's
[00:40:39] finn mckenty: Yep.
[00:40:40] Dave: genuine.
[00:40:40] Dave: It's not.
[00:40:41] finn mckenty: first name.
[00:40:43] Dave: yeah, right. yeah, it's not. It's not custom to us. Um, so we feel as though it's just copy and pasted. They friend request people and they copy and paste. template, uh, message to try to get it, you know, it's, it's just spray and whatever, but you [00:41:00] know, to your point here, it's like you need to kind of qualify the person the best you can and then genuinely give like a custom. Response of like, Hey, after checking out your stuff, almost like a little bit of like a consultation or audit, it
[00:41:15] Dave: like, um, and, and kind of win the trust that way versus just kind of like copying, pasting something generic to them, do you usually start, do you come right away with that? Or do you maybe. Try to go, Hey, like,
[00:41:28] finn mckenty: I actually don't do very much outbound, um, because I, I haven't needed to. I do a little, like, I do outbound, like, if I, if I see someone where I genuinely, like, man, I want to help this person, then I'll message them. But like, I don't, I do not currently have. An outbound like daily thing that I do because I haven't needed to that's what I would do if if I needed to.
[00:41:52] finn mckenty: Um, yes. Yeah.
[00:41:56] Dave: uh, finding your profile, they into like a link and
[00:41:59] finn mckenty: [00:42:00] I get a lot of inbound. I get enough inbound. Like I said, I got 3. Book three discovery calls yesterday, which is I don't book three every day. Like if I did, that'd be crazy, but, uh, that'd be too much. I get enough inbound that I'm busy, which is ideal. Right. And, and if you do a good job, like you probably won't at the beginning get that much inbound, but you might.
[00:42:19] finn mckenty: Um, and, uh, so ideally that's what you want is it's all like inbound and word of mouth.
[00:42:25] Dave: And that inbound is happening because on your profile, have that call to action. You
[00:42:32] finn mckenty: Yeah, and, and in all my posts at the bottom, there's, this is another good detail, which I forgot to mention. And all my posts at the bottom, I have a CTA, which says I help entrepreneurs grow on LinkedIn and YouTube DM me to see if I can help you. Or I forget exactly what it says, but like, I tell them to DM me.
[00:42:46] finn mckenty: Um, there's another way that you could do that of sort of opening that door is you can have a, um, Book a call link in your profile, which I used to have, but I was getting too much inbound and a lot [00:43:00] of it was like tire kickers and stuff to the point where my calendar is just getting clogged up with people that were.
[00:43:05] finn mckenty: You know, they're just tire kickers. Um, and so I, I deliberately introduced more friction for that exact reason. Cause I figured like, if someone really like cares, if, if they don't, like, if they can't even be bothered to DM me, then this person is definitely not going to have the courage to like, Be a creator.
[00:43:26] Dave: That's interesting. So moved, cause this is something too, where people who are just getting started and maybe aren't very tech savvy. Don't have maybe a website set up just
[00:43:40] Dave: maybe they how to set up a Calendly like that. So really like your, your tech stack for your marketing efforts is really just your LinkedIn because you, your, your landing pages, your LinkedIn profile, your marketing efforts are your, Uh, LinkedIn feed, the content [00:44:00] you're publishing, and then kind of like the conversation, the chat bot, if you will, is your, your So if you can get people to go into the DMs, you can qualify them that way.
[00:44:10] finn mckenty: And you can tell very, very quickly, at least I can tell very quickly from DMS, whether somebody is like qualified or not, not 100%, but I'm, I'm, it's pretty clear. You know, someone's like, Hey, I'm interested. Someone will usually send me a DM. That's like, Hey, I'm interested in YouTube. Kind of vague like that.
[00:44:28] finn mckenty: I'm like, okay, sounds cool. Can you tell me more about what you have going on and why you're thinking about YouTube? And their reply to that will almost always tell me whether this is going to be a fit or not. You know, like if someone says, Hey, I'm a startup founder. And, you know, we've seen the success that so and so had with YouTube and we think there's potential for us.
[00:44:46] finn mckenty: Then I'm like, okay, cool. Let's talk. You know, if they're like, well, I don't know, like I like Mr. Beast and I just always thought it'd be cool to do YouTube. So I've just been thinking about it. So to that person, I'd be like, you know, I don't [00:45:00] want to be rude, but like, that's a person that probably is not a fit for me.
[00:45:02] finn mckenty: So I'd be like, sounds good. Let me know when you start the channel and I'll see if I can help
[00:45:08] Dave: Sure. So sounds like, all right, so there's have profile and then there's post content, and then there are attract audience ideally DMs you. Sometimes you're doing some outbound and DMing them. I feel like the, the core keystone there is. Or you could be commenting. Um, but the core keystone here is the content that you
[00:45:33] finn mckenty: your point of view. Yes, that this is the key to all of it is your point of view is like, how are you different from everybody else? Like for me, like the thing that I sort of hammer on a lot, going back to what I was talking about in the beginning is the idea that like, that everybody needs visibility and the idea that opportunities right or wrong opportunities usually go to the people who are the most visible and not necessarily the people who, you [00:46:00] know, quote unquote deserve them just is the way it is kind of sucks.
[00:46:04] finn mckenty: It's frustrating to me, but that's just the way it is. And so, you know, that's like a message that I really hammer on. And. You find the right person at the right time. Someone sees that post where, you know, they just got turned down for a promotion or something like that because there's someone else at the company that's a better self promoter or whatever, or, you know, and they're like, you know what, F this, like I'm tired of being ignored.
[00:46:29] finn mckenty: I need to start building my personal brand. And then they DM me. Right. So a lot of it's just consistency and hitting the right person at the right time. Same with like, same with like cold calling sales is like, it's just a lot of it is like, did you just, did you happen to call that person at the moment that they were just frustrated with their existing vendor?
[00:46:48] finn mckenty: And then they're like, you know what? Yeah, let's talk.
[00:46:52] Dave: The squeaky wheel gets the leads as they say.
[00:46:55] finn mckenty: Yep.
[00:46:57] Dave: Um, so you mentioned, okay. Point of view. [00:47:00] And this, this goes back to what we were talking about earlier, where LinkedIn is becoming more and more popular. The word is out, right. And you know, with people who obviously. Say LinkedIn is where you should be in order to get leads.
[00:47:12] Dave: And it's part of their service too. So they're obviously promoting it. More and more people are coming to LinkedIn for that reason, which means competition is a little bit Your impressions are a little bit lower for better or we talked about. But. I think what, when people want to start their personal brand or they get fearful of wanting to start publishing content is because they feel the space is already inundated with other pros talking about it.
[00:47:40] Dave: And I have a unique angle on something?
[00:47:43] finn mckenty: answer is yes, you do. The answer is yes, we all do because you are you and I am me right now, how you find, it may take you a little while to find that, but yes, you absolutely do. And it's, it's in there for every single one of us.
[00:47:59] Dave: And how do [00:48:00] we. How do we differentiate ourselves or how do we know what is unique about us that is going to resonate with our audience versus what our, what our competition is, is putting
[00:48:11] finn mckenty: The thing that I spend the most time with people on in the beginning, when I work with them on LinkedIn or on YouTube is to come up with what I call three to five belief statements, which are things you believe to be true about the world, specifically in regard to the topic that you want to. You want to discuss, uh, on LinkedIn.
[00:48:29] finn mckenty: So for example, like I talked about, like visibility, you know, that visibility oftentimes matters more than competence, like that would be one of my beliefs. Um, another one of my beliefs is that, um, is, is that results matter more than feelings because there's a lot of people who sort of get in their own way with content of like, well, I don't want to do this.
[00:48:50] finn mckenty: You know, I think whatever I think. I think selfies on LinkedIn are corny. I'm like, all right, well, people like them. So, you know, you can choose, you can do [00:49:00] whatever you want. But the fact of the matter is that like selfies on LinkedIn get a lot of engagement. So if you want engagement, you should probably try it.
[00:49:06] finn mckenty: Um, whatever. I could keep going, but all of us, there's like, no matter what you do, like, even if you do something that you think is boring, like I used to do printing for like years from when I was like 15 till I was like 22 years old. I did printing. And. Even there, like you can have a lot of really strong opinions about printing, you know, like, uh, you, you know, if anybody here knows anything about printing, I could be like, you know, uh, spot color is a waste of budget.
[00:49:34] finn mckenty: 99 percent of the time, just run a process. Nobody's going to care. Um, and, uh, anybody here who knows anything about printing is probably laughing because they're like, yeah, it's true. We made this a seven color job when it could have been a four color job, could have saved everybody a lot of time and money and would have just made it a lot easier.
[00:49:50] finn mckenty: So no matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter how like mundane you think it is, you have some opinions [00:50:00] that, you know, will make you stand out from the crowd. It's just a matter of like articulating those. And what, what I think about, like, there's 2 reactions that you want to have from people when you share these things.
[00:50:09] finn mckenty: Um, 1 of 2, um, number 1 would be that people will say, uh, yes, I've been trying to tell people this for years. And if they have that reaction, then they're going to, they're going to love you because you are sort of also crusading for the same thing. Like, you know, the point I made about printing, it's, you know, like every pressman is probably like, yes, please stop wasting my time running.
[00:50:33] finn mckenty: These are seven color jobs instead of four. Um, Or the other thing, the other reaction that I think is helpful is if someone says, Oh, I never thought about it that way before, because then you just changed their mind about something. And as soon as you change their mind about something, now they look at you as like, as a, as a thought leader.
[00:50:52] finn mckenty: So big picture, that's what you're trying to do is like, articulate your point of view in [00:51:00] such a way that you will, um, cause people to have one of those two reactions.
[00:51:06] Dave: Love that. Yeah. I mean, either way you win, or I think maybe even a third, which isn't too bad is probably if someone disagrees or has a visceral reaction to it, maybe they need to hit the comments and engage with that post in order to kind of
[00:51:23] finn mckenty: Yes.
[00:51:24] Dave: tell you their And maybe. Maybe they're right, maybe they're not, but it's still engagement.
[00:51:29] Dave: It's still activity. And if they're wrong, maybe you can change their mind later or whatever, but still getting that, that engagement, that community together to kind of discuss that topic is also, I think, still valuable
[00:51:42] finn mckenty: totally, but the way I would, I would not. I would not optimize for that. And there are people who do who just sort of put out hot takes specifically because they know it's going to get a lot of engagement. Um, and that will get a lot of engagement, but the issue there is that it's not necessarily great for your business to have people [00:52:00] just like arguing with you.
[00:52:01] finn mckenty: Um, if, if that, if you were seeking it out, um, I, I would, yeah. Uh, the, the nuance there to me is that people disagreeing with you is a natural by product of having a strong point of view, and it's going to happen organically, but I don't think you should seek it out specifically on LinkedIn. It's a little bit different on YouTube or Instagram or whatever, where the entire point of those platforms is just to get engagement for its own sake.
[00:52:27] finn mckenty: LinkedIn is a little bit different. Um, Um, and the thing to consider is that the energy that you put out into the world is the energy that you're going to get back. So if you're constantly firing out like spicy argumentative takes and stuff like that, you're probably going to attract a lot of other people who are like spicy and argumentative, and that's probably not the kind of people that you want to work with.
[00:52:49] finn mckenty: Um, and, uh, I have experienced it. Like if anybody wants to. Wants to know my experience with this go look up my name on Reddit or Twitter and see what people think about [00:53:00] me It's very very very nasty, and it sucks
[00:53:04] Dave: geez.
[00:53:05] finn mckenty: And, uh, I, I accept that it's going to happen, but I wouldn't, I don't think it's beneficial to, to seek it out specifically on LinkedIn,
[00:53:17] Dave: want to kind of end on this point here, um, cause I think it's an important one too, is I know a lot of people don't want to post on LinkedIn of how they think others are going to perceive them specifically on it is a more professional. Platform where they don't want to post like personal stuff, or, you know, any, or even sometimes come off as a thought leader, you informational content, because they don't want to look like a tryhard or something like that. What would you say to people who are just, I guess, fearful of showing up a genuine way, have that of, Oh, other people. Aren't going to perceive this correctly, [00:54:00] or, you know, they think that they're going to be belittled or made fun of or spammed.
[00:54:05] finn mckenty: two things. Number one is the scenarios you're making up in your head are almost certainly way worse than what is actually going to happen. Like in reality, it's pretty unlikely that you, let's say whatever, a marketer at a medical devices equipment. You know, a medical devices company or something like that that talks about marketing medical devices on linkedin.
[00:54:28] finn mckenty: It's pretty unlikely that, you know, in any sort of meaningful scale that people are gonna be like, oh, my God, what did Dave just say about marketing, you know, endoscopic surgery devices? What does he smoking crack? Like, it's pretty unlikely, you know, it's probably not going to happen. Um, if there's a couple isolated examples of that.
[00:54:47] finn mckenty: So what? You know, that's what these are people who are having a bad day, and they're taking it out on you. And it's not going to affect you, you know, realistically. Um, so that's number 1 is, is [00:55:00] the, the bad things that you think are going to happen are almost certainly not as bad in reality as they are in your imagination.
[00:55:06] finn mckenty: And number 2 is consider the alternative, which is to keep being invisible and hidden in the shadows. And yes, you will escape judgment by hiding. But then what, you know, you just like, then just go hide in the basement for the rest of your life, but, but then what, you know, so it's just, it just is what it is is like, you know, it's like Teddy Roosevelt's man in the arena speech.
[00:55:29] finn mckenty: That's what it is. It's like, you got to put yourself out there and yeah, some people are going to be buttholes about it, but so what, listen, people have said the most awful things about me, like literally the most awful things you could imagine. And hundreds of people have said this for years. Hasn't stopped me from doing what I want to do.
[00:55:49] finn mckenty: I make more people hate me every year and I make more money every year. It's just a natural by product of like, as you become more well known, just [00:56:00] the, the, the sheer number of people there's X number of X percent of people are like jerks and haters and it's going to happen, but it's not going to matter.
[00:56:09] Dave: Yeah, no, I love that. Yeah. It's, uh, let them hate while you're, while you're cashing your checks, I guess.
[00:56:15] finn mckenty: It's not going to matter. Like, so what? So, okay. So one guy at whatever, you know, Hill rom. You know, medical devices doesn't like you because of something you said on LinkedIn. So what who cares
[00:56:30] Dave: Right.
[00:56:31] finn mckenty: okay, even if he's like a hiring manager and you're never going to get a job at that company because of him.
[00:56:36] finn mckenty: Okay, well, there's 50 other companies that do know who you are and who cares about that guy. Let him be mad. You didn't want to work for him anyway.
[00:56:43] Dave: Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to do something a little different. If you got some more time I usually. what I want to do is kind of create like a, a bit of a lightning round kind of bonus ending, um, Q and a here for all [00:57:00] those who have with the entire is kind of your present, yeah, present at the end here.
[00:57:06] Dave: So, um, quick lightning round. Uh, bonus questions here in your full experience, growing your personal brand, what has been the number one benefit that you've seen, whether it be financially business opportunities or the like, you know, what, what's kind of the number one business, uh, benefit from your personal brand that you've seen?
[00:57:26] finn mckenty: The number one benefit is that I get to talk to really cool, smart people all the time that, like, genuinely, I view them as friends and it's cool and I'm really, like, it makes me really happy to have these people in my life.
[00:57:40] Dave: I love that. Hopefully I'm one of those people now, um, the what's the hardest lesson you've had to learn? When growing your personal brand that you want to make sure our audience doesn't have to go through.
[00:57:55] finn mckenty: Um, don't [00:58:00] build an audience of people, don't build the wrong audience, um, which I think I did to some extent on YouTube. Um, And that's a whole other conversation, but yeah, don't don't do that. I have 120 million views on YouTube and probably 119. 9 million of those are not the people I would choose to interact with.
[00:58:22] Dave: Well, that's very important. I mean, it goes back to what we were saying in terms of your niche, but then making sure that you're also attracting
[00:58:29] finn mckenty: Yep.
[00:58:30] Dave: to the right people. Um, and what are some, you know, we talked about growing on LinkedIn and, um, you know, some of the best practices for that. What are some ideal LinkedIn. Personal brands or profiles that you look up to that you think our audience should check out that is like the ideal version of everything that we've talked about today.
[00:58:53] finn mckenty: I mean, probably my favorite example is a friend of mine who I knew. Um, before he sort of [00:59:00] started popping off on LinkedIn, um, it's got him Anthony Pieri, who does, uh, he talks about product marketing specifically like positioning for like early stage SAS startups. And, um, he's just so laser focused. Like if you look at his profile, I think, I think his headline is something like homepage messaging for early stage horizontal B2B SAS companies.
[00:59:23] finn mckenty: I think. He is like his messaging super specific. Um, and in particular, like the one thing that he's known for is the idea that you should market features, not benefits, which is sort of counter to the usual way that people think about like, Oh, benefits, not features. And he just always hammers on the opposite of that.
[00:59:41] finn mckenty: And he has 50, 000 followers. Now his company's killing it. Um, and it's, I think all because he is like really just zoned in on that incredibly specific point of view and just relentlessly hammered on it for years.
[00:59:54] Dave: Love it. Finn, this has been awesome. I think to summarize everything we've talked about today. Treat [01:00:00] your LinkedIn as kind of your full tech stack, I guess, for your personal brand and to generate sales. And your profile is your landing page. Make sure you're choosing one niche. Don't be afraid to just niche down and speak to one audience, be known for one thing, make sure that your LinkedIn profile reflects that and then show up, uh, in the feed, whether that's. Posting comments on other people's posts or starting to post your own content. And don't be worried about what other people are going to say about that. Um, and then, yeah, really give some insightful human content to attract your right audience. leads people to your profile and ideally leads to DMS and closed business.
[01:00:46] Dave: Is that how you would think? Um, that's a good way to summarize it.
[01:00:48] finn mckenty: You nailed it.
[01:00:50] Dave: Cool. All right, Finn. This has been awesome. I appreciate your time today, man.
[01:00:53] finn mckenty: Same to you..
