EP:56 [LinkedIn Expert Series] LinkedIn Business Growth Expert - Judi Fox

SPEAKER_01 0:28

What is happening for people? Hey, welcome back to the show. My guest this week is the one and only of Judy Fox. Judy is a LinkedIn business growth accelerator boy, if I said that right, she helps you position yourself as an authority and default leader within your niche. Specifically focused on LinkedIn, but not just LinkedIn. Oh no. Judy wants to help businesses with business. She wants to help them grow in general. LinkedIn has been a platform that's been able to absolutely explode and be able to create more inbound opportunities faster and easier for businesses and be able to create thought leadership content that actually makes an impact. She helps you accelerate your business online and you do it together with her. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show. Judy Fox, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

I'm glad you're here too. You and I met on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

We did. How's the audio?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

It could be better.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Oh, really? I need to have my mic turned around. Hello?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yeah, that's good. You got a yet you got a blue yeti there. That should be Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I don't know which way it's supposed to face me.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

It's all good. We can hear you. That's that's the most important part. So you and I met on LinkedIn. Uh you are a LinkedIn growth, uh, excuse me, LinkedIn business accelerator. I guess growth accelerator would be an accurate description as well, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Well, the reason why I use business is because I also get into the sales and mindset because if you're just making content, sure, you can get a lot of noise, but you're not making anything out from that content then.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Right. Yeah, most people have absolutely no idea what they're doing on LinkedIn, including myself. And I've been on LinkedIn since the beginning, like 2004. So um then we got to fix that. Yeah, we definitely need to fix that. I'm a really big deal in Europe. I need to be a big deal on LinkedIn. So um there's a lot of craze happening with uh with with LinkedIn as of late, even though it's one of the original. Most people don't even understand they were the first social platform out there. Like before MySpace, these guys were on the block. And it was kind of just, you know, you had a you had a B2B environment, you had a profile set up because it was the thing to do. It's become the new, it's become the new resume over the past 10 years, I would say. Uh and then as of recent, you know, Gary V's one of my mentors. Um, I've been following his lead for the past 12 years, and I met him way back in the wine days. And uh every one of his trends that he usually predicts are are pretty on. And right now he's going bananas with LinkedIn because he's telling all you know, creators, brands, businesses out there that are creating content. Listen, remember when Facebook was free? Okay, now you get a second chance because you didn't listen to me last time to now listen to me because that's what's happening on LinkedIn. So we're gonna get into how this is all this all came about and what's going on with LinkedIn and where you think it's going. But I want to back up a minute because you obviously haven't been a LinkedIn marketer all of your life. Um when you first began your career. Why don't we back up and help everybody better understand how you got started? And then you and I chatted briefly about how you ended up really in the in the in the digital world. Um but uh let's help our listeners better understand where you came from. Where'd you come from, lady? How'd you get started? How'd you get started?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I started off my career in the 90s in petroleum refineries and chemical engineering. So that was my start of my career, and mainly it got started that way because I was passionate about the environment. The only way to get into the environmental field in the early 90s, the best, one of the best ways was through chemical engineering. Because if you understood how the chemicals interacted in the environment, if you understood how these chemical companies worked, you could try to reduce pollution, reduce air emissions, reduce water pollution, things like that. So that is how my career got started. And how long did you do that? Uh I was in the environmental field. This is not talking about the side hustle line because I have a side hustle line that got started pretty early on. But having that as my main hustle, probably 18 years.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

And then when it's I like the side hustle and main hustle because I think I have never really fit into that world. I was very outgoing. I always wanted to be up on stage. If there was a presentation about project management, I was like, can I present? I was always volunteering for whatever I could volunteer that was very extroverted and very um, I don't know, outward facing from the company.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

So you so you're an extrovert?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Slightly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I would have, I would have never I'm actually an introvert. I don't know if you understand if you could if you could pick up on that or not.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

I have I I'm right in the middle.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

There's certain things that I do that are very extroverted, and then certain things I like my home. I like being, you know, homebound and in my PJs watching uh binge watching movies.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Yeah, left the fuck alone. I love it too. It's really I I call myself an extroverted introvert. My daughter's an extreme introvert. Oh, wow. And it makes me crazy. I'm like, use your big words. And she's like, I'm processing.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

So the side hustle line was getting started early in the early 2000s with launching the National Association of Environmental Managers um Lake Michigan chapter website, you know, really obscure kind of things where I was learning how to reverse engineer how to HTML code. Like I just always had this kind of figure-otable problem solving. Um, because you can't see things, you just know the code works, and then a website gets created on the other end. I feel like that works in my brain.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Sure, sure. Yeah, either, yeah. That's how it was with me with the internet and all this, the email and everything. Nobody taught me how to send an email. It just naturally made sense to click on a paper clip and attach something. So um, okay, so you you and so when you when you made the full switch into just digital world of of LinkedIn and marketing and helping brands, how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Well, in 2008, 2009, I lost my job. And that forced me at that time to think about well, the best way that I'm gonna get a job in this environment, which is in a recession, is to network. That is the only way I'm gonna apply for these jobs. I almost, without even knowing it, I literally could just give a huge eye roll to how much time I could spend either in this bucket to apply online and just be like, well, that was a waste of time. Or could I spend every single day networking? And so I literally, that is when I learned the power of LinkedIn, the power of networking to your next opportunity. So I immediately was people could see what I was doing and they were like, How are you doing that? How did you get a job so fast? What in the freaking heck did you do? And so I started mainly with either chemical engineers or people in my life that were struggling in that time. They hired me to help them network to a job so I would clean up their resume because a lot of times we don't realize our resume, we want to tell everyone everything, but that's not the most powerful thing.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

And so I just had a brain for that. I s I love studying. Like I probably have like 20 resume books on my shelf, 20 books about how to network. I just when I dive into a subject, I die, I I basically just study it and I reverse engineer what works, and then I come out with a formula on the other end because that's my brain.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

I love it. I love it. So earlier, same, same here. I I launched my brand post-recession, right out of recession. Moved back from California in 2008 to Miami and 2008-2010 was a very crazy time, I think, for everybody. And um I thought, you know, I've been screwing around on MySpace since the inception. It's time that I I create something that's sustainable, but I don't want it to just be another hustle. I want it to be an actual brand that people invest in and simultaneously building a personal brand because I really think that's where it's at. In fact, Gary's first book, Crush It, was really my my my roadmap in my in my Bible. I somebody lent me their audible login because I couldn't even afford to buy the book at the time, and I listened to it on my iPod, not to be confused in my iPad.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

And the antennas just went up, and I thought, you know what, this guy's really on to something. I mean, he really, really, he's sitting here screaming at people with bottles of wine um on his on his show here, and he's got a captive audience. So it's just incredible how things how the shift has happened. I and I'll never forget, you know, you make you get that pivotal point where you're like, apply for another job or go seek another opportunity. Now, you know, this networking that you did, was it strictly online or were you out there shaking hands and kissing babies?

SPEAKER_02 9:14

It was all online.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

All of it, 100%. There was no in-person things happening, especially at the beginning, because I was traveling, I had packed up everything that I owned, and I lived in Germany, and I was trying to find a job back in the US. So I still left my LinkedIn as if it was US-based. And that's also when I discovered the power of becoming a subcontractor or a freelancer or side gigs. So I built a very simple website that's actually still findable today. And it was just Judy, I learned how to just do judyfox.com forward a blog spot address to that. So if you searched, just you could just find it. And I'm not saying challenging you to find it. It's super bad because like my images are all blurred out, like because I didn't keep up with the account. I'm not paying for it, I'm not paying to host it anymore. So they blurred out some of my, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

I I 100% know what you mean because I'm I didn't have a dollar to start websites. All of my first websites were blog spot. You remember when Blogspot, you could remove the menu bar and then you add a menu bar to the top? You're like, what's up, free website? I did that.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

I did that. I I reverse engineered how to make my website look and feel as much like a website as possible, but it was still on BlogSpot. So yeah, I did the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

It could be around there. So I go check analytic. Oh, you know what? My podcast website still, the social buzz on air, social buzz on our website is still up. If you go there, it kind of looks, you're like, this looks like a blog. It is. I all I need, all I need is my player there. My player populates every new episode on there. It probably could be a lot more fancier, but it's free, Judy, and free is a great price.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Free and then simple. All it said was, I will do environmental consulting or I will do resume. I called it at that time resume remodeling because most of the time I was people were saying, I just want you to look at my resume. And I was like, okay, but honestly, what they really needed this is that whole concept of people think that's what they need, but in the end, it's really hard to kind of sometimes say, but you actually need help networking, which people think they know how to network, but networking is this nuanced and it may sound strategic to talk about relationships that way, but it is just figuring out how to be a normal human being with an exchange give and take relationship. And that's the power of finding contracts and creating these multi-million dollar contracts because you reach a point where it's people just working with people, and that's why I don't I say I do human-to-human marketing. Some people kind of I've had a couple side comments saying, um, what was it? Something like, oh, that's just really like simple. And I was like, you do realize some people don't know how they just the simple concepts is actually where it's at.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yeah, like 80% of people.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah. And they and people screw that up. They want to get on a phone call too quick, they want to jump to the jugular too quick, they want to um send people to their website immediately. The moment they meet them, they're like, hey, I just met you five seconds ago, go to my website.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Like, I just met you five seconds ago.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

I don't know how you can help me, so stop trying to shove help down my throat.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah, I'm trying to find a creative, but my my my buddy, our mutual friend, Jeff, Jeff Hunter, um, makes fun of this these LinkedIn spammers all the time. In fact, he got a guy that was a local guy here in Miami, and he was so accurate. I'm glad that he chose him to pick on because the guy is awful. He doesn't hand you business cards, he like text bangs you like the second that you meet him and like days after, and like you get his cheesy flyers. I don't even know what the hell the guy does, so none of it's effective. Um, Jeff got some pushback on that, but there's you know, there's always one, Judy. There's always one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

And I also realized I I do love the Gary Vaynercheck vibe as far as what he has. I watched a video recently where he basically said, I'm not here to convince you to work with me. I will fly across the country. I'm sure you've seen this one. I will fly and get to a meeting, and within 10 minutes, if I can tell that I'm having to convince you to work with me, I'm out of there. I need to spend that time and hours talking to people who already want and need me what I have to offer.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Well, 100%. It was so funny. I thought I was so, this is like one of my first interviews that I did. It was awful. I used to wear so pre-bow tie. I don't know if you know I wore bow ties, but pre-bow tie, I wore, um, I wore poindexter glasses. Um, this was like 2010, right? I'm like, you gotta be memorable, right? So I would, they weren't these specific ones, but it was like this type of look, right? And I didn't realize that there was glare, and so that if I had like actual camera lights, it would be so I wore those the whole time and I had camera. I I try so I finally tracked Gary down about a year after being introduced to him, and uh his second book, Thank You Economy, came out. And I had a chance to sit down with him here in in Miami, and um it was a crazy story. I had a videographer call me the day before, go, hey, we've seen your work, we want to work with you. We've done we did Russell Simmons book signing at that same bookstore. I'm like, what are you doing Tuesday night? So they rolled in with a camera the whole night, and I thought I was like Billy Badass with that. Like, I got this interview, it's Gary. Like, nobody knew who Gary was back then, but um, at the very end, I I got I didn't really plan all my questions, but I had a good idea of what I wanted to talk about and at least like a couple talking points. And the last one, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna really just we're just gonna bring this thing in full circle here with this final question. And I'm like, So Gary. Last question. What do you tell people that are skeptical about social media that that that say? And he's staring into this, he's like, he's staring into he does that a lot anyway, but he as he's thinking, he's staring into his face. But and he I said, What do you tell people that are skeptical about social media? They say, Oh, the thought of it just makes my ears bleed. And he looks over me and he, I go, Well, you know, what's advice for for for dealing with those type of people, or what you know, what should you tell those people? And he goes, I don't give a shit about those people. The longer that we have all this to ourselves, the better was his follow-up line. The more people that don't understand how to send a tweet or post, because listen, it's only a matter of time that I'll catch you on the flip side in about three years. Well, this is no longer I should be doing this, that everyone must be doing this because it's now how we communicate. Of course, that was 2011 or 2012. It's funny.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

There are still so many people that do not understand social media and the power of it. And then every once in a while, somebody will be like, um, what how do I say this? They'll they'll be like, Well, could you post or do your thing? And I'm like, Yes, and it will be this much investment. And they're like, Oh, no, no, we're just curious if you could just like help us out on social media. Like, it's just something if you just happen to be online, you could just make a post for us. And I'm like, that's you're literally you are it's just online real estate, sure, and that costs money.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

So every post is gaining or losing you social capital or gaining or losing you real estate uh transaction. And they're like, what? And I'm like, yeah, so that is a financial investment, and that is not an hourly thing sometimes. That is like if I'm gonna help you grow a real estate piece of property online, that could be you know valuable to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. And people are very on, they don't understand that, but the power of when you see somebody like Gary Vaynerchuk have that it's just crazy real estate, and they're like, but I want that. Well, that it do you do not understand the value of that and the amount of energy and work of creating all of that content that goes into that?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah, Gary's got a team of 25 just for his team.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Right. So people and then just let alone the rest of his office space and then all of his subsidiaries and everything. So I just say to myself, it's not as simple as, hey, could you just make a couple posts for us? That's valuable.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

So you you did that you got into the LinkedIn game via cleaning up resumes, helping people improve their image overall, and that's really moved into the Well, and I will say then I turned it into I'm gonna run my own environmental consulting firm because once I went back out into the corporate space, I realized the power that I had inside my own network to be able to create contracts. So what I learned is how to reach out to these small business CEOs, get a hold of them, meet them at Starbucks and do all the different things and network to those opportunities, network to those relationships, and then close a contract that says, if you want to add me to whatever project, here's my CV, here's how I can be a part of your team, but not a full-time part of your team. So you make out these, you know, you write up all these contracts and all these terms and conditions before you're needed, and then throughout the year they can pull you on for a $10,000 or $20,000 contract that you didn't have to go chase.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Which became a huge part of my business. And how even when I was during corporate days, and I didn't tell them this, but on the side, I was side hustling for the tune of $30,000 to $50,000 a year, just maintaining and doing no work other than just staying active in the DMs on LinkedIn and networking to those next CEOs.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, that is truly how I realized this power that why I turned it into this LinkedIn business accelerator.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Right, right, right, right. For those of you just tuning in, if you happen to tune into podcasts like midway through, I am uh I'm chatting with the amazing Judy Fox. She is a LinkedIn business accelerator. I learned about her from I know you're not going to believe this, guys. I learned about her from LinkedIn.

unknown 18:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

And I keep hearing this conversation, and uh, I I am I have no problem networking and connecting and finding individuals that I want to have conversations with because it's just how we roll these days. Ten years ago, if you said you were following me, I'd call the police. This day and age, it's the norm here.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

It's normal to stalk someone online now.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

It really, it really, really is. Uh, but not call them on Facebook Messenger. Do not call them on Facebook Messenger. So I I read a post on LinkedIn not too long ago, and I think it um it really highlighted a lot of Sally Inc. Ink how do you say her last name? Inkwork. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The the the the Aussie. Yeah. Um it had a lot of great points. In fact, I took like two or three pages of notes here because they said, you know, because I give, you know, I ask a lot of questions, and you've seen a few of them. I've asked you a few of them, and they're like, what am I doing wrong here? I mean, hello, social media guy. I'd like to think I at least should know what the hell I'm talking about or doing. I've got well over 3,500 connections on LinkedIn, and I'm like, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. So some of the things that I wrote down here, and I want to dive into some of the stuff that you have discovered to say, hey, I've cracked the code on figuring out how this whole LinkedIn thing works, and I want to give our listeners really a 30,000-foot perspective and and really some actionable items that they could finish this episode or you. Yeah, you do, yeah, you do. Uh, that that that they can actually take and run, action items that they can actually take and run with. Yeah. Yeah. Let's find a different word, Sebastian. Okay. The first one I wrote down is create how-to content and uh and industry trends type of content. True or false?

SPEAKER_02 20:28

I will say the very first thing I advise I ever give to anybody is not about your content.

SPEAKER_04 20:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Because I think that is the thing that hurts so many people. So, yes, that's a great tip for content for you, but that's still thinking about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Right. Okay, great. So screw the how-to content and industry trends.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Screw the how-to content. I'm gonna tell you if you are gonna get started, and I tell this to myself, if I even take a two-week break, three-week break, because I want to create something that is sustainable on LinkedIn, something that will continue to bring me business, continue to work in the world and be a financial avenue, not just like, hey, I want to be popular. It is about building those relationships and going out and liking and commenting on other people's content. And there's a strategy for how you do it, not just give them a like, not just give them that was a great video, but like literally how to write that comment.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Give me an example of a comment.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

So, for example, it's got to be five plus lines because it gets that person to click see more. I have now had up to a hundred. Sometimes I've had some of my clients getting 30 to 50 likes on a comment. And that I think is more powerful. Like, for example, I had a client the other day post a comment on Gary Vanerchuck's post, which is gonna get traction, but because he followed my steps, he got up to I think 40 or 50 likes, and I think he only Has a couple hundred followers.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

So the power of commenting is that you will get in front of that person's audience, number one. So if their vibe is your vibe, if you like Gary, well then stay on top of his content. When he posts, if it's within the first hour and you make a solid, well thought out comment, you get people to click that see more because you've done five plus lines and you've left them on a bit of a cliffhanger for what you're about to say, then you will drive likes and comments to your own comments and you'll drive likes and comments back over to your own profile. And that is more about go out and show interest in others, and then they will show interest in you. So that's where that power of business and business relationships come from. More likely I'm going to get the interest back. It's social capital.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, I dig it. That's so funny. You mentioned Gary's post. He mentioned something yesterday about if if I was going to give you a recommendation to open a traditional brick and mortar business, it would be to open a bookstore. And I like 15 minutes later, I had seen an article on ABC about bookstores are back. So I I I put hashtag books are back and I put the link to the article in the comments on Gary's post, and people are still liking it. All I did was books are back, and I just because again, I know that the value there is not, it's not about you, it's not about me, it's not about what we what we want to talk about. We want to because ego comes in and says, Oh, I should talk about this. Yeah. But it's about what we can get out there and contribute to. So it's so number one on the top of the list is not the content, it's the interaction, and it's actually rolling up your sleeves and getting out into the battlefield and having conversations with people.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Yes, because I will get the attention of major people and podcasts. And what I end up getting is the more I spend in the comments every single day, the news feed is different than Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and all the other news feeds. Your comments are content. And if you're making a high valuable piece of comments on a very popular post, yours will be at the top. Yours will be the one getting all the likes and comments at the top. And people will go, oh my gosh, you're everywhere. And that's the thing that you want. If you want to be top of mind, it's not just about you making content. It's about you going out and commenting. And people will talk about you. You'll be the one that'll be like, you know, I see Judy on LinkedIn all the time, and they'll you'll they'll be at dinner. And I sometimes from major conferences, I think there was something that happened at Content Marketing World, and I got a message saying there was 30 of us sitting in a table and we're talking about Judy Fox. And I was like, yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah. And that's not from an ego space. That's a I'm doing my job right space.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Yes, thank you. Because a lot of people see that, like you just said, it definitely comes from, okay, good. I'm doing something, it's feedback, it's circular online. Did I swipe the capital credit card? Because I'm giving them capital. I'm not just taking from the relationship. I'm giving. I am coming into their live streams, I'm supporting their content, I'm supporting their podcasts, I'm trying as much as I can. Nobody's perfect and you cannot be everywhere online, but pick your top 10, pick your top 20. That's why I kind of I this is where me and Gary disagree. I don't agree with his dollar eighty strategy on LinkedIn for your two cents. Because he talks about get on LinkedIn and put out, I don't know how many 90 comments. Yeah, 90 comments and their two cents. Well, my time is more effing valuable than two cents a comment.

SPEAKER_04 25:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Because I'm gonna spend more time making a high value comment, making that person feel seen and heard for their time that they spent on their content making it to deliver it, and then I'm gonna return the favor and make a high value comment back. And I'd rather make 10 of those a day versus 90.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

And then what do you do content-wise after you've gotten active with your commenting? You go in and create content around what you've been commenting on?

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yes, that's the beauty of the platform. That's why when you just said the first thing you're gonna do is go out and do these how-tos or whatever, I'm like, no, no, no. Go out and continue the conversation in your comment. Now, for example, the client that made that really powerful comment on Gary Vaynerchuck's, I've now shown him how to turn that comment into a post. And I have had to explain to people, it's not about we don't need to know that you made that comment on Gary Vaynerchuk. That's not an important part of the story. The important part of the story was just literally the story you shared the way you shared it. And at the bottom, if you want to give a shout out of the post and say this was inspired by, or if you want to put this was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuck, but at that point, it's your piece, it's your thought leadership piece, it's your additional information that you wanted to share, and you'll hurt the power of it if you're always saying, I was thinking you don't need to open with that. And too many people come from that place of starting a video with, I'm at the park today, I haven't been online for a couple of weeks. That's just all about you. I don't care, no offense, but get what's the point?

SPEAKER_01 27:27

You know, the biggest line of shit out there that every single person gives is I get asked a lot about no, you don't. I'd be getting lots of questions about listen, no, you unless you're a celebrity, no, you don't. You just don't. I mean, I again, the transparency, I think, is really going to continue to, the cream's going to continue to rise to the top. Um, as as as Gary always says, the internet is going to expose us all, including fake influencers. And that's why when I heard the likes are going away on Instagram and all these things to flush out all this noise, because I quickly thought to myself, you know, I've been doing hotel stays and brand endorsements and stuff like that when I just created it as a crazy idea. I would just go to a brand and go, hey, here's what I do in this whole social media world. And it's not was never labeled like an influencer or an influencer job. And like, I don't know if you've ever been on one of these influencer trips or these blogger trips, but these people are fucking weird. I mean, they got great content and they're bloggers, but like you could like face-to-face, offline versus online, it's a whole different ballgame. I mean, it is the epitome of hi, I'm awkward. You must be strange. That's funny. Great to meet you. Yeah, yeah. So, so um, it's funny how the the tide's starting to turn here, but I believe that the social equity continues to be built by how much value you can contribute out there.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

My primary that's why the tone of the comments, if you can figure out how to have your voice authentically come through in a comment, you'll make better posts on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

I love that. Comment.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

And that's why, like, I feel like I've been, I mean, maybe I've never run one before, but I would love to have like a five-day sprint comment challenge. I've never seen that. So I've said it now, so it sounds like I guess I have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

I heard another terrible piece of advice about LinkedIn, and that was to uh tag people in the post and in comments. I mean, what a great way to piss people off.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yes, it can piss people off. You have to be very careful with tagging. And that's where if I'm gonna tag somebody in a comment, I'm going to make that vertical so each person gets their own line. And then maybe sometimes I have actually done tags where I have said you are in my slide deck that I've shared above. So it's down in the comments, but they literally have a slide above that does talk about them. But I don't necessarily do it in my posts anymore because I think that that can it depends on what post you're making. If you're doing a shout-out post and you have made them look amazing, then go for it. But if you're just tagging them, we know you're tagging them just to get reach. And then at that point, it's a balance. If you have not been showing up for them and you go tag them, yeah, then it's not you. We think that we don't remember, and we do. I remember very clearly, and you think my audience, like I think I'm at twenty five or twenty-six thousand, I do remember who is tagging me, and they're just trying to do it for a reach. And I know they have never given me likes and comments in the past two months. I have a very good memory like that, and I don't mean to, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Like an elephant. No, my buddy Dennis, you commented. I posted something um this morning about this. He said that mass tagging of uh don't be don't be the person guilty of mass tagging in a post. It's the equivalent of robo dialing or tapping everyone in the room on the shoulder.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

It's look at me, yeah, it's awkward. And then it does not build your social capital long term at all. It hurts you. It may, it may boost one post, and then people won't come back for the next one because the next time they see that you've auto-tagged them, it just doesn't look good. And then I did see somebody say in one of the so there was a big blue block of tags of people in a comment, and somebody below said, Hey, could you please remove me? This is just a big blue block of tags. Please stop doing this. I would appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Asshole. And well, no, no, after the comment, could you please stop doing this?

SPEAKER_02 31:31

I know, but then that person who made that post was like, Oh, I'm sorry that I highlighted you as a leader that I respect. And I was like, Whoa, sarcasm combined with passive aggressiveness, yeah. I was like, that person was just asking to stop being tagged because, and at the end of the day, how you handle those conversations publicly online, oh yeah, I saw we can all see it. That's the power of LinkedIn. I feel like I don't see all the conversations unless I'm clicking into the comment section on Instagram or unless I'm clicking more comment, but I feel like on LinkedIn, you will see the comments, especially if you don't want it to be seen.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

So so so two things that were I totally I totally get that, and I'm glad that we brought that to to that that that topic to the surface here. If you are tagging people in your post, spam it.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Um there's there's only strategy there's some strategy to it, and you can do it if you have been going out and loving on those people.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Right. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

I do see the power of tagging. If you've built up relationships, you're connected in the DMs, you're really actually supporting them. I do think you can get away with saying, like, hey, I really value um your opinion, and I am gonna tag you because we were just talking about this the other day.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Yeah, if it's relevant, 100%. Absolutely. But not not relevant, it's I believe, yeah, it goes, it depletes your social equity, definitely doesn't add to it uh by by any means at all. What what's up with the uh PDFs and slide decks and things like that you can share on LinkedIn?

SPEAKER_02 33:03

So LinkedIn, I don't know all the behind the scenes what LinkedIn bought, but like when LinkedIn bought it, but LinkedIn owns SlideShare.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Yeah, they bought them a few years ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

Okay. And so to be able to upload a PDF or directly just your PowerPoint slides, Word document, JPEGs in a slide format, it is a powerful way. We love swiping and we love being able to consume that way. Try not just like you do slides in a presentation on stage, which I am sometimes guilty of wanting to tell you everything on one slide, but try to like make them very consumable. But yet it's a great way to share information and a visual way too.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

So the other day you told me you were you and I were chatting and you said, or no, no, it wasn't. It was a post. I'm lying. It was a post. And you said uh LinkedIn's like a video game. What do you mean by what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_02 33:57

I mean, you're always just moving a lever and deciding, did that get me more likes and comments, or like, oh, I leveled up. I've got um my pipeline is full. I mean, you're kind of just different layers. I mean, isn't business just a video game? Isn't kind of life a video game? I've watched a couple TED talks.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Dating definitely is.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Yeah, exactly. Everything is like if you think about it that way, it is kind of the game of life. And I love board games, I like playing video games with my kid and exactly Yahtzee. We've got Uno. I'm somewhat competitive, and I'm competitive with myself. I'm also a run track and cross country, and those were competitive. What was my last PR? How did I do? Why did this post work? Why did this one fill my pipeline? Why did this one get the likes and comments? Why did this one turn into opportunities and this one didn't? I think that's powerful information, just like you're understanding why you fell through this crack in this video game and you went, I don't want to Right, right, right, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Exactly. Okay. So so in you and I initiated our conversation by me saying, hey Judy, I don't think that my LinkedIn game is is is up to par on what I should be doing.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

No, your LinkedIn game isn't.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

It's not so let's let's let's pick on me for a minute, and that's gonna be a majority of picking on the rest of the world because everyone, if I'm doing it wrong, chances are the rest of the world is doing it wrong. Um what are some real actionable things that can be done on a daily basis that don't cost a business owner a bunch of money to do or an individual, it's just actual effort and and and concentrated effort to to to to to shift that uh from activities blah to wow, the activity is really because I want to be one of those people to say, wow, Gary's right, that organic reach really is something else because I don't feel that way now. I don't feel that way about my content. Again, coming from an that's coming from ego, but I think you know there needs to be a certain amount that you you say, hey, listen, my my content obviously needs to be recognized if I'm gonna spend time creating it. What are some actionable ways to do that?

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Yeah, so actionable ways. Um, I'm trying to think if I can remember back on your news feed because I scrolled down it and I have a very good visual memory. I do remember I had a couple gut instincts that were that stood out to me. One was the videos were not necessarily opening up with your face.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Okay, change that.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

It took me three days. I'm like, what the hell is she talking about? Then I went into my editor. You know what it is? Is if you put a transition in before the video starts, you're gonna get a black screen. If you take the transition out, you get this beautiful mug.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Woo! A lot of people, and I've heard and I've seen the edgy post saying if you're attractive, if you're this, if you're that, you'll get likes and comments on LinkedIn. And I really challenge that because I really think we're just people who want to get to know other people. And there's plenty of people on YouTube are huge that are not the typical, like you've got to be this type of 10 or this whatever version of, you know, because at the end of the day, exactly. If you are if you are showing up, and when I say consistent, most people think consistent content, I've got to upload X number of times a week. No, consistently showing up, providing high value, going out and being a certain tone. That's why I tell people to comment first, because commenting almost teaches you the tone of the platform for how to then make a post. So you're gonna have a with other people energy, not an at I need to tell you this energy. There's only so much, even like Gary, if you notice, there are he has a bit of a talking at you. I get that, but he cannot at some point his posts, if you kind of pay attention to how he's writing, it definitely has a with. I'm going to share this with you. I am excited to share my slide deck with you on my birthday. You know, I mean, he's celebrating his birthday by going viral. So at the end of the day, people figuring out that tone. I try to reduce the word I in my messages, and I have tested it out. I literally tested it just between yesterday and the day and the next day. I uploaded one that had a lot more I words and it had a little bit different tone, and then I uploaded one that went naturally with my open up with a hook, a short hook that's telling that other person the value. And then you have your line of intrigue to get them to click see more. So when I you can almost upload any video, that's why I was challenging. It is not what you look like necessarily, it's just so we can see that you're a human being that we're about to talk with at a conference table on LinkedIn. LinkedIn's a conversation, and we know the value of what we're gonna consume. And I have tested it over and over. I give away what's in the video in my copy, most of the video. Like I'm not trying to clickbait you, and people don't want clickbait on LinkedIn, they're over it. If you force me to watch a video, I'm scrolling past it. Yeah, I will probably watch your video because I know you're gonna be talking about these three things, and then I want to watch because I want to hear your expression of how you talk about them. And I'm probably gonna hear passion in your voice and the energy and the storytelling, but I'm not gonna watch it if you say, Here are the three things I'm about to tell you about XYZ, and I'm like, scroll past.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

And those don't get a lot of likes and comments. You have to have a very engaged audience to get the likes and comments on that.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Okay, yeah, because the likes, comments, and views on some of these videos, Shay Rowottom is just, I mean, it's like she gets a good night. And um But she's built up trust.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Yeah, we all trust that when she uploads a video, she's a straight shooter, too. Yes, and that's why I the whole LinkedIn Business Accelerator honestly is about building trust, building your leadership voice, building trust, and then that's what's consistent. Because Shay could probably take a break. I'm not telling her to take a break, she can keep going, but she probably could take a break, and the next time we see her on the platform, we're gonna recognize it because she's recognizable. We're going to see her style, and we're gonna know she provides value or entertainment with value. So we're gonna we're gonna be there for it. And that's what I coach people because it is not about thinking, I need to create content, and then you bust out of the gates with a three-minute, even two-minute video. I tell people, tighten it down for your first videos. If I'm gonna hit the platform again, I'm gonna hit it less than a minute because I'm going to build trust for people to come back to me. Because that's what it's all about. Are you somebody they'd come back to? And are each piece of your content gonna make them feel I'll come back to that or I won't come back to that? And that is the strategy.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Okay. So it all starts with commenting then. So if you're if you're creating content for LinkedIn and it's not getting any type of traction, it's because all you yeah, exactly. You're you're there, you're not active enough being you're not you don't have a video game controller in your hand enough hours of the day, which is the keyboard or your phone, to be actively involved in a conversation that has nothing to do with you, but has an interest for you, right? Who would have thought that would have that would have ended up like that? You would think it's the complete opposite. Great content gets great engagement. No, no, no, no, no. Great engagement in other content, third-party content, gets you to be the recognized uh authority.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Yes. And so someone like Shay, people want to look at somebody like Shay or even somebody like me and say, How do you make a post and get 300 to a thousand likes and comments? And I'm averaging still around 600. So when somebody sees that, that's not where you start. And that's why every single person that I say, either starting or restarting. So if you've taken any amount of time off, I think it's a good practice to join the platform again from an energy of other focused, see what people are talking about, be a part of the conversation because it's it's about business. You just yes, you can go on and start talking and just join, but pay attention to what your clients or what people you would love to work with, or pay attention to the people who could be your biggest cheerleaders. So if they're gonna be all talking at a table about your content, that's the power of it. So, but you're not gonna have people talking about it if you're just creating content in a vacuum. And so that's why go out and comment is such a powerful strategy for. I mean, obviously, with somebody that has been active, like Michaela Lexis, people who are like super active and keep it up, that's a different strategy. Now there's the strategy for people who want to create something more sustainable and more business inbound.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

And so, how do you turn all this into business? People pay you to work your magic?

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Yes. So I like to say it depends on if you have um your inbound or your outbound marketing strategies and what you're doing on LinkedIn. But if you're creating content, you're going out and commenting and then you're turning around and creating content, then your inbounds should look because of your profile selling you. They should be building you out to get those messages that literally say, I want what you're selling. And you have good calls to action in all of your content. So it is very clear what you sell, who you help, your X equals Z, Y, what you do, what results you get. I do steer a little bit away from the word help. I think the word help has been used a lot. I solve these problems. I um work with these individuals. These are the results that I get. This is how I empower my clients to do X, Y, Z. I just feel like the word help has been overused a lot.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Okay. I love that. I'm like some other words. How about solve? All right, we're almost out of time. I got two more questions. I got two more questions for you. The first one being, uh, you're in the back of an Uber. You took an Uber shared because it was just cheaper and easier and it's only around the corner. You hop in, you start chatting with this really friendly individual. They're like, I own a business that did 100 million last year, but I really need to be more active with LinkedIn. You're like, really? You've only got three minutes to tell them what they could possibly do. Of course, you're going to follow up later on, but you want to give them one big fat nugget of LinkedIn um uh info before you hop out of that Uber. And what is that?

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Go to my website and download my five tips to commenting well on LinkedIn. Which is located at JudyFox.com.com and then schedule a call to talk with me next week because we need to get on a phone call.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

So that's the follow-up. And make it easy for people to get on a call with you.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

I I did. I sent you my link. Yeah. See how that worked out?

SPEAKER_02 45:22

I do have an application process because I really feel like, and as we discussed, sometimes you do want to make sure it's the right phone call.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

So applications are nice, but go fill it out and you're off to the race to I I feel like I do the same exact thing, but with podcasting.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

So it's the same exact your LinkedIn's your game, podcasting's my game, and people say, Hey, what do I do? How do I get started? I'm like, well, first things first, take my free class. Yeah. My free class and let the schedule a call and see what questions you have about starting a podcast and actually see if you're a fit to start a podcast, because I'll more than likely talk you out of starting a podcast. As much as I'd like for you to pay me, I'd like to talk you out of it to make sure that you're really committed to doing that. All right, last thing last has nothing to do with LinkedIn or anything we do in this space here. But you and I are booked to speak at the same conference somewhere in the near future, right? You hear that universe? Or maybe I'm seeing the conference that you're speaking at. Maybe I'm moderating the panel that you're on, right? Well, we get done.

SPEAKER_03 46:16

I want to hang out.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Yeah, let's do it. The comp the conference gets over with, and we're all friendly individuals. So the other speakers and attendees, of course, the post-conference uh, well, usually turns into debauchery. Let's be honest, kids. That's what conferences are. But anyway, we went out, we're here, we did dinner, group, dinner, drinks the whole night. We were back at the hotel bar for a nightcap. And it's a small group of us, you know, it starts to dwindle down, right? And there's like four or five of us. And I look across the hotel from the bar and I see that there's a karaoke bar. And I look at you and I go, Judy, let's do this. And you go, Sebastian, I'm in.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

What song do we sing?

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Oh gosh. Um, I have, and they're super embarrassing, but if you listen to this podcast, you will actually find gifts or gifs of me doing karaoke on, and they're in the LinkedIn. You can send them to me. So J-U-D-I-F-O-X, and it's fancy by Iggy Azalea. And I'm literally doing karaoke. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

So it'd be I'm not familiar with that jam, but so that's the jam we'd be doing. It'd be a duet. No, like river, no uh rivers in the stream, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rose.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

We can duet that.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

We could mix it up.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

What did what did Dennis You said? I what did I think you said Beastie Boys?

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Oh, I like the Beastie Boys too.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Yeah, I do too. 90s kid here. 90s kid.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

That's 90s kid here too. Most people don't think that, but I'm in my 40s and I am full on 90s kids here. Went to Nirvana concerts.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

She's not in her 40s. She's lying to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

My first concert was um New Kids on the Block.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Shut the front door. Mine was too.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

Oh, yeah. Was it really?

SPEAKER_01 48:00

I can't believe I just said that publicly. I totally did.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

Judy, it's been a-we've singing New Kids on the Block one. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 48:09

She's got the moves and everything. Those of you listening to the podcast, trust me, she's got the moves. I'm watching her.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

It's really easy. You do your hand over your head like that. Yes. And Michael Jackson, I went to a Michael Jackson concert when I was pretty young.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

Well, that's another podcast.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

All right. Listen, I've I've got to run here. We are out of time, but it is, yeah, I know, right? Well, this just means you've got to come back.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

Yes, or Udi F O X.com.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

Yes, JudyFox.com. We're talking about listen, if somebody calls me and says I need help with LinkedIn, I'm not their guy, but Judy is their gal. And uh, and I've known and I've known Judy for a hot minute. Like we got connected a couple of weeks ago, and here we are. But this is the power of being able to network and and build a community online and connect with people, etc. So it's been an absolute blast chatting with you and uh better understanding exactly what you do to solve people's issues. Judy doesn't help people, she solves their LinkedIn issues on there. So it's JudyFox.com, J-U-D-I Fox.com. You can follow her online, connect with her on LinkedIn too. Yep. Uh Judy, will you promise to come back to the show? Yes. Yes, it's totally acceptable these days.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

So uh you promise to come back to the show?

SPEAKER_03 49:15

Yes, I'll come back.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Yeah. All right, good deal. Hey, listen, uh, thanks so much for taking some time to tune in and chat with uh Judy and I today. We hope that you're leaving this podcast with at least, at least one or two things that you didn't know before you tuned in. Uh my name is Sebastian Roskell. I'm signing off from the beautiful Social Buzz on Air Studio here in lovely Miami. Gosh, it's right outside. We'll talk to you guys next time. Hey friends, it's Sebastian again. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Step Rush Show. I sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, please make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. I sure do appreciate it. Until next time.