How to Step Out of your Comfort Zone on LinkedIn

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Your monthly source of LinkedIn tips, features and events to help you POWER UP your LinkedIn profile and presence and get the visibility and opportunities you deserve.

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I want to but what will they say?

I don't belong here! There are people who know so much more than I do in my industry.

What if I do post or try connecting with someone and get crickets?

Does this resonate with ?

Is fear, self-doubt or impostor syndrome stopping you from

creating content?

commenting on posts?

connecting with people?

attending LinkedIn events?

completing and optimizing your profile?

getting on "stage" at LinkedIn audio events?

It did for me initially when I decided to make LinkedIn my main social media platform and start putting myself out there.

The good news is that it has become so much easier for me and I hope through the tips in this newsletter, it will for you as well.

Here are 5 tips to help you kick start stepping out of your comfort zone.

1. Get clarity on why you are on LinkedIn

Ask yourself these questions.

What do you hope to achieve on this platform, what do you want to be known for and who is your target audience.

Having a clear goal and strategy in place can take some of the fear away from showing up on the platform. 

It also makes it so much easier to create or build out your profile, write content and engage in other people’s content and build and nurture your network.

Watch my short video to learn how to leverage LinkedIn, so you are not just throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping something will stick.

2. Complete and optimize your profile

Showcase what you do, who you serve and what problems you solve for them.

Focus on your target audience when writing your profile. They are interested in what you have to offer them, how you can help them solve a problem. 

Remember you have unique skills and experiences and by not sharing them in your profile, you are doing a disservice to yourself and to those who could benefit from your support.

Having a complete profile that truly represents you will boost your self-confidence and give you the courage to build your presence on LinkedIn.

PRO-TIP: Make sure your profile is visible to everyone. Watch my quick video to learn more.

3. Engage with other people’s content

If you are struggling with creating your own content, you could instead focus on engaging on posts by people in your industry, area of expertise or people you want to connect with or by relevant people in your network.

If you are looking for specific content to comment on type the keywords in the search bar.

When you comment, don’t just say, “great post”. Leave an insightful comment or ask a question, or copy a sentence from the post and share briefly why it resonates with you. 

4. Connect with people

LinkedIn is first and foremost a networking platform for professionals. So leverage it to connect with people or accept invitations from people who you want to have in your network.

Don’t let titles scare you away from inviting someone to connect.

Include a message when you send the invitation.

You can share how you found them, why you want to connect with them, what you both might have in common. 

Watch this quick video where I share how to view invitations that people have sent you.

5. Create content

Some of the simplest and least scary content formats are

• creating polls that are relevant to your expertise or what you want to be known for or
• reposting someone else’s content that would be of interest to your target audience and including your insights on it.

Be authentic, focus on the value you are adding and don’t worry about the vanity metrics.

I have had posts that have got little or no engagement but I know someone somewhere is reading it.

Many of my clients are people who consumed my content but did not necessarily engage on my posts.

PRO-TIP Don't post and ghost. Make sure you respond to all the comments on your posts. Watch this quick tip video on how not to post and ghost.

Have anything to add to this list of tips to step out of your comfort zone on LinkedIn? Let me know in the comments.

My current challenges with impostor syndrome on LinkedIn.

One of the hardest things for me to share on LinkedIn is video.

I am so concerned about the way I look, how I sound, about being judged for my content.

Here is a link to a video I did last month - Putting yourself out there on LinkedIn

On my birthday last year I kicked impostor syndrome to the curb and launched my YouTube channel - LinkedIn for Thought Leaders

When I launched and what I continue to do is keep the whole process really simple

- I record on Zoom.

- I use a virtual background, a green screen and a couple of ring lights.

- I use my laptop's microphone.                                  

- I don't use a script.

Is it perfect? No

- The lighting can be improved, I need to work on being more articulate etc etc

- And I still have a lot to learn about how to strategically leverage YouTube.

 But anytime anyone asks me a question about LinkedIn, I can point them to the specific video.

 I know like with most things in life, practice makes perfect.

 For now consistency and adding value are what I am focusing on.

And I am proud of stepping out of my comfort zone and making this happen. 

If impostor syndrome is stopping you from from stepping out of your comfort zone on LinkedIn, here are two free virtual events that can motivate and inspire you.

April 18th at 10am PST - LinkedIn Audio Event: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome on LinkedIn

RSVP HERE

April 25th at 9am PST - Virtual Workshop: How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome on LinkedIn

RSVP HERE

Hope you can join us! And if there is someone you know who can benefit from these workshops, please share this email with them.

Found this newsletter helpful? Do subscribe to it, leave your comments, so it will show up more newsfeeds and share this with your network.

If you want to see more LinkedIn tips from me, get inspired to show up on LinkedIn and get notified about my events on LinkedIn, follow me Nyna Caputi, follow my #NynaOnLinkedIn and ring the bell on my profile

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