one of the most common questions I get asked about LinkedIn is how do I become a LinkedIn top voice so if this is one of your goals for this year you're in the right [Music] place in case we've not met yet I'm Marielle a global speaker LinkedIn top voice and LinkedIn learning instructor and this channel is all about empowering you with the tools to create a strong personal brand develop your self- leadership skills and improve your well-being in this video I'm sharing five things that I did to get recognized by LinkedIn to become a LinkedIn
top voice ready for the LinkedIn tea let's get into it even if you're not wanting to be a LinkedIn top voice it's still good to to have a solid personal brand strategy for LinkedIn so that you can establish more credibility and attract opportunities in your career or in your business we need to stay ready so we don't need to get ready whether you're in a 9-to-5 or a business owner or in between roles this video is for you what is a LinkedIn top voice there are currently 1 billion users on LinkedIn and each year LinkedIn
honors only 300 of these users with the blue top voice badge this is an invite only opportunity the blue badge essentially signifies that you're an authority and an expert in your specific area so to be recognized is kind of a big deal it's different from the gold Community top voice badges which can be gained a little more easily by contributing to articles on the LinkedIn platform but before attracting these highlevel partnership opportunities with LinkedIn I first had to shift my mindset about using the platform to begin with because I was somebody who was really nervous
about putting myself out there you know I used to think that LinkedIn was this boring stuffy corporate platform that only job Seekers used maybe you're thinking something along the same lines too so before diving into the five tips that I worked on I want to invite you to really take some time to think about some of the beliefs that you have about showing up on LinkedIn maybe you're currently experiencing self-doubt which I assure you is so so common maybe you're somebody who is fearing being judged the truth is who cares nine times out of 10
people are too focused on their own lives to be worried about what you're doing I want you to know that all of these fears that you may be have in are totally valid and they are so so common but I also want to remind you that there are two types of mindsets that you can have when it comes to building your personal brand on LinkedIn the first is a growth mindset and with this mindset you are open and expansive to trying new things you see everything as a test and you're flexible in your approach because
the alternative mindset is a fixed mindset and with this mindset you see everything as being set in stone and you're unwilling to try new things and fairly rigid in your approach it's really important then to adopt a growth mindset when it comes to LinkedIn because it's unlikely that you're going to see results overnight and there will be times in when you just want to quit and hide I get it but it really does take commitment and determination to keep on going even on those days when you're not getting any traction on your posts and you
really feel like giving up this is where the mindset is going to test you you're going to need to tap into that growth mindset on those days so here are my top five juicy tips to becoming a LinkedIn top voice first and foremost number one is to create a strong LinkedIn profile now this may seem like a simple tip but you will be surprised by the amount of people that haven't taken the time to complete their profile so that they stand out on the platform you want to create a client attracting LinkedIn profile because LinkedIn
is your digital shop window so make it look professional never boring and there are key things that you need to do to make your profile stand out and I'll show you my current profile on screen so that you get a better idea of what I'm talking about you can see here I have a strong cover photo that includes images of me speaking to position myself as an expert on top of that I have a very simple statement my elevator pitch which explains the problem I solve in my work then you want to Ure that you
have a strong profile picture I love bright colors so that's why my profile picture looks quite bright and engaging something memorable even if you don't love bright colors do something that is going to help you stand out and let your personality show then under your profile photo you have 220 characters to describe what you do in a compelling way so include your job title but don't just leave it there add your elevator pitch which is a simple statement that explains a problem you solve in your work and finally if you have space add in any
relevant search engine optimize words this is because LinkedIn invests a lot in SEO and for this reason you want to make sure that you're using words that people will search for to find somebody who's doing work like what you do so for me for instance words that I use are things like personal branding keynote Speaker Workshop facilitator NLP coach these words are going to help and help me come up in the search results when people search for people that are doing similar to work to me so I want you to think about what are your
SEO words that you should use throughout your LinkedIn profile so that you can increase your chances of being found on the platform number two is to become a great Storyteller share great content through stories now you've probably heard this a million times but it's so important to share your expertise and insights and opinions on topics that matter to you and your audience whether you realize it or not you're a thought leader and it's time to own it but how exactly facts tell stories sell Steve Jobs famously said that the most powerful person in the world
is the Storyteller the Storyteller sets the The Vision Values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come and it's so true Did you know that stories are 20% more memorable than facts see what I did there that essentially helps you connect on an emotional level because stories evoke emotions create connections and provide context they give facts meaning making them much more memorable so how can you be become a better Storyteller on LinkedIn here are some of my favorite stories to share on LinkedIn that have helped me position myself as a global thought leader
and expert in my field Journey stories share your personal or professional Journey highlighting the challenges that you faced the obstacles you've overcome and the lessons that you've learned along the way you never know who you're going to be helping I recently shared my journey from feeling miserable and stuck working in a cubicle where I hardly saw the light of day now today to becoming a global speaker and this post went viral because so many people could relate that feeling of that stuckness that we often have felt at some point in our journey journey stories are
relatable and can Inspire others who might be in similar situations so don't be afraid to to share those low points as well as the highs success stories are great as well you know where you share a particular achievement or something that you're really proud of this could be a time you led your team during a meeting solved a complex problem for a client or achieved a personal Milestone a recent example that I shared was leading a personal branding workshop for a client in Tokyo this was my very first time working with a Japanese client so
in the post I shared about the cultural differences that I've observed when it comes to personal branding cross-culturally success stories are excellent for demonstrating your skills your work ethic and impact so be sure to share specific results and strategies that contributed to the success of the example that you're sharing I also love to share behind the scen stories whereby I give my Network a glimpse of what goes behind the scenes of my world as a speaker so for instance I recently shared a post about how I manage my energy as an introverted speaker and so
many other introverts chimed in on that post to share things that they do to manage their energy as well so that's just some examples of the different types of stories that you could be sharing on your profile these stories h humanize you and make you much more relatable to your audience which is obviously what you want when crafting your stories remember to focus on authenticity and value to your audience whether you're aiming to inspire educate entertain Empower your stories need to resonate with your audience right and they need to reflect where they are in their
Journey that's how you're going to really build rapport with your audience and engaging with your audience through the comments and discussing key challenges is really going to help you build community on LinkedIn which leads me to my third tip which is about being consistent and engag in you know it is important to show up regularly on LinkedIn but I'm not going to be somebody who tells you that you need to post every single day because I made this mistake when I first started out using LinkedIn I was working with a guy who was a LinkedIn
coach and that was one of the first things that he told me was to post every single day and this led me to feel really quite burnt out and overwhelmed and this is because I was working to his energy type and not my own and this is why it's so important to understand your unique blueprint around how you should be working what he was teaching was a very masculine approach which isn't necessarily A Bad Thing thing I just prefer to operate from my feminine energy so posting is important but instead of posting every single day
I also like to take regular breaks where I spend time replying to comments engaging with other people's content and also responding to DMS this will help you still stay relevant and increase your visibility on the platform number four is to be polarizing remember no one has your unique energy so don't feel that you have to be vanilla or cookie cutter version of every single person on LinkedIn it will take courage to begin to share your perspective boldly but again don't be afraid to push boundaries it may feel nerve-wracking at first but this is going to
help you differentiate yourself and attract more aligned followers who resonate with your message number five is to be p assistant and patient building your presence on LinkedIn does take time but don't be discouraged you know if you don't see results overnight keep improving and adjusting your strategy along the way and remember what I said at the beginning about having a growth mindset when it comes to LinkedIn keep this in mind because you are going to need to remind yourself of this as you go on thank you so much for watching these are my top five
tips to become a LinkedIn top voice and even if this isn't your goal I guarantee just by taking action on at least one of these steps you will begin to see much more traction on LinkedIn if you found these tips helpful let me know Below in the comments which of the five tips will you be implementing today
