The Friends Over Funnels Approach To LinkedIn With Miranda VonFricken

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED [00:00:00] Diane: Hey, Hey, if you've always thought of LinkedIn as a little bit stuffy, maybe a little bit too corporate, not really the most social of the social media is today's guest Miranda. VonFricken is here to change your mind. Brace yourself for her high energy approach to LinkedIn and just about everything else. Hey Miranda. Welcome to the show. [00:00:21] Miranda: Hello. Hello. Thanks for having me. [00:00:24] Diane: let's start with a little intro to you and your business journey. [00:00:27] Miranda: Oh, the journey. How long do you have? So I lovingly say I'm a reformed nine to fiber. I I was doing LinkedIn in my nine to five life as a recruiter and a talent development manager. And I was obsessed with the platform. I was at higher education, then I got into the tech industry doing HR. So I used LinkedIn in every aspect of my nine to five life years ago. Probably like 2007, I got on to help my students connect to opportunities and then in recruiting, of course, to find people to hire. And I just became an expert in the platform, how to get more traction, how to find the right people. And people started taking notice and asked me to help them to train their teams. Do I do it on the side? And I'm like, sure. Do you pay people to do it? I had been side hustling for about five years. And then I got laid off. I got laid off actually four times in a row. I hate even saying that, but after four layoffs in a matter of three years different companies, of course, I would bounce back by doing training and speaking on the LinkedIn platform for colleges or for organizations. And then, at the last time, I was like, Alright, God, I hear you. I am not meant to be in this corporate space anymore. And I started feeling a little itch, like it was time to go, you know, at that last role. I just, I just kind of went with it. I just said, all right, let's do this. And then the pandemic hit. So I'm a life coach. I'm an ordained [00:02:00] minister. I'm a speaker. So I do a lot of little things outside of my nine to five life. So I already had a little baby personal brand happening. So people would come to me for certain things, and I just said, Can I start charging these people to do these things? And eventually, when the pandemic hit, I had already been doing some LinkedIn trainings. Some one on one stuff like done for you services for profiles and stuff like that. And I got really nervous that when the pandemic hit that it was all going to go away. But it actually, it just boomed during the pandemic. So I was one of those fortunate businesses that, you know, didn't close down, actually got bigger because everybody ran to LinkedIn. And that's kind of where they found community when they couldn't go to the water cooler. I think it was very divinely guided and I went full time in my LinkedIn training. I created this big, like, group program because the one on ones were getting too big or too much for me to handle at once. It's just me. I'm a solopreneur. And I just kind of ride the wave. That's kind of how I call it, right? Like, I'm, I'm not pressuring myself to be, like, you know, the biggest Insta, or LinkedIn, or Instagram, or whatever platform celebrity. I just want to help people who need to be seen. So for me, I took the pressure off. I do need to pay my mortgage, of course. So it is a business, but I just said to myself, I love what I'm doing and I'm just going to keep on doing it until I don't anymore. So that's kind of like. Where I am currently and how my, my business is still done for you, LinkedIn services. I speak about the platform. I train on it. Organizations or individuals. And I just love it. I love everything about the energy we bring to the platform. And that's actually the book that I'm reading. ha [00:03:38] Diane: Well, I have definitely been on the other side of your journey with LinkedIn. So, I have been the corporate 9 to 5 er who, if you haven't been in corporate, or big corporate especially, back in the day, being on LinkedIn was like putting a giant flashing sign above your head that said, I'm looking for a job. [00:03:58] Miranda: Oh, I know. [00:04:00] Yes. Ha ha [00:04:01] Diane: your LinkedIn was basically your CV, so that a recruiter could find you, and then they would message you, so you weren't really posting anything. You were very, like, Under the radar. If anyone shared anything, everyone was like, Oh, they're looking for a job. What have they been reading? Right. And then I kind of came out of that and into entrepreneur land where LinkedIn was very like, Oh, corporate, like we have no interest in it. Right. [00:04:28] Miranda: Yes. Yeah. [00:04:30] Diane: I feel like, like you said, the pandemic hit. And it was almost like all those corporate people could suddenly do LinkedIn without their bosses seeing them do LinkedIn. [00:04:39] Miranda: Yes. [00:04:40] Diane: And so that gave them some freedom, but even as that kind of grew, then entrepreneurs went, Oh, wait, hang on. What is this weird untapped market over here where people have conversations? But to me, it's still this. I know you talk a lot about energy, but to me it's still like energetically weird for me. It's not like what I would, sometimes I'll post something on Instagram and I'll be like, well that's not LinkedIn appropriate. I'll be like, how can I change that [00:05:06] Miranda: It's probably perfect for LinkedIn. Like it needs it. I think. Even that statement right there is where I jump in and tell people bring that whatever it was unless it was like a naked picture or something but like bring that bring that to LinkedIn because we need more of that. So I work with a lot of different industries but I really love working with those Who do the unlikely so I love the unlikely on LinkedIn for me It's like give me a psychic or a plumber any day. I am here to put you on LinkedIn [00:05:39] Diane: Wow. [00:05:40] Miranda: that's the energy we need [00:05:42] Diane: Okay. So my audience are going to be predominantly personal brands. Right. So there will be some corporate people I'm sure spying, but you know, hi, old friends. [00:05:58] Miranda: we call you lurkers.[00:06:00] [00:06:01] Diane: there's been this resurgence with LinkedIn has come the LinkedIn quote unquote, bro, like Becky, you know? Oh, Hey, we just connected. How do you, have you got space in your program? Oh, excellent. Let me help you get leads. [00:06:16] Miranda: The worst. [00:06:17] Diane: It's very icky. So what we've got is people trying to teach LinkedIn, teaching this way, the platform growing, people not being a hundred percent sure. So what do you do differently with LinkedIn? Let's start there. So the people have a frame for where we're going. [00:06:35] Miranda: Of course. So, it's funny that you had mentioned the DMs because I, I had been getting such craptastic DMs, right, when, when they all started going, like, I think they all took one class. One person must have put out a class, word for word, yeah, verbatim, it's like copy paste and I'm like. Steve, did you just take a class with Jessica? Like, like, did you know, cause you literally just copied and pasted the same message, the same bad message to me five seconds ago. And I swear it was just like, all right, class between 1 and 2 PM on Thursday, send this message. So what do I do different? So actually that I ended up doing a free course on LinkedIn live. It was called how you DM is how you do everything. And I was just calling people out, not like by me, but like just calling out this, this habit of coming in hot is what I called it. Like, get to know me. I mean, you wouldn't walk up to somebody at Starbucks and grab their butt. Like, you would probably buy me a coffee first, right? I mean, hello? Like, it was just ridiculous to me that that's what was happening. So, Besides like teaching people how to create their profile and optimize it and all that good stuff, like, what I feel I do different, besides being completely transparent and organic with my content, I really love to get to know people. Like I, I would rather have three really valuable conversations [00:08:00] than, you know, 400 new connections. And I think that's, What people are getting wrong and I start to see it takes a long time to turn a ship, right? So it's it can see some people are getting it, right? Some people are still in the flow of you know The more the merrier because if you reach out to a hundred people and four say yes, there's your four and I'm like, yeah But if you reach out to ten and did it the right way you make it five or six and they're like, ah Why take the chance? It's all about numbers and I hear them, but unfortunately, it's just not It's not good for me. I come very heart focused, very soul led when it comes to my interactions on the platform. So although I train on LinkedIn, which is a very masculine energy, I feel like it's do this. Here's the algorithm, you know, do's and don'ts kind of thing. I come with a very feminine approach. So what I mean by that is If the spirit moves me, then I'm posting. You know what I mean? Like, I don't have a set schedule. Even for my clients, like, they have more of a set schedule because they need to know what I'm going to post. But for myself, it's like, when the spirit moves me, if I have something meaningful to say, it's going to get more reach than if I just every day I have to put something out. And I think I've released the outcomes of that. And I think that's something and I have a sales background too. It's something we often miss in sales. I worked as like a head of a call center years ago and they had to like do 80 phone calls in a day and they assumed that those 80 phone calls would result in X amount of sales or whatever. And so I would ask my team, yes you gotta hit 80 to like check the box, but I would say how many meaningful conversations did you have tonight? And I take that. with me on LinkedIn and when I engage with people or comment, it's not for reach. Yes, it does help reach, but it's cause I'm genuinely am interested in what they wrote about. I read the whole post. I give myself like 20 minutes a day to engage on the platform. And then if I feel [00:10:00] like posting, I post. If I don't feel like posting, then I won't. But my engagement keeps previous posts alive. So I realized that if I, If I focus on making friends over filling my funnel, I'll get more results. [00:10:15] Diane: you've kind of taken LinkedIn, the corporate tool, and made LinkedIn a social media platform. [00:10:20] Miranda: Yeah, I mean, duh, it's social. [00:10:23] Diane: Yeah, but it was never like social, like Facebook was social. It was never social, like Instagram was social. It was social with the means to an end. Like LinkedIn was always about your next job or your [00:10:34] Miranda: Oh, yeah. Yeah, back in the day, 100%, it was about the next job. Looking cool to get promoted or your next lead for your business. And it still is like I get, I'd probably say 85 percent of my leads come from LinkedIn. So I definitely am all about business. I think I just approach it differently. And I'm not like independently wealthy because I know sometimes people say like, Oh, you must not need the money. So you're, you're very chill about it. I'm like, Oh no, mama needs the money. I need the money. But however, I just know, Hey, it feels better when I do it this way for me, it feels better for them. And I think it ultimately, not only if it doesn't result in a, in a lead in that conversation, it might result in a referral. Right? And that's the thing I'm always thinking about. Not just this one lead in front of me, it's the four leads that they may be able to connect me to. A referral partner, or someone I could be an affiliate for, or any other way for me to connect to a larger audience, or bring in revenue. And it's not just this one transaction. And so that's, I think, is the difference. And, and it's funny, like I used to think Facebook was like, all right, don't put a picture of your lunch on LinkedIn, right? Like we would on Facebook, like, Oh, I went to this restaurant, had this beautiful meal. One of my biggest early on posts on LinkedIn was a picture of string cheese. And I said, do you bite or do you pull? And maybe it was a little saucy [00:12:00] So people were like what the heck is she asking on linkedin, but it blew up And I would I told people that I was a biter and they were like offended the pullers were offended It was hilarious. Like it was string freaking cheese. I was on a lunch break I was feeling silly and I posted it and it just went crazy It was hilarious and I met so many cool people because even like Stuffy corporate dudes are like, Aw, savage, bitin the cheese, huh? Ha ha ha ha ha ha And we laughed or whatever, and then that probably brought them to my profile to see what I do. I rarely teach people how to do LinkedIn in a post. I'll teach it on a Zoom call or in a course or whatever, but You know, you're coming to me because I either inspired you, I made you think, or I made you smile. And then if you're curious to learn about me, you'll come to my profile and see what I actually do. I don't need to shove it down your face in a DM or in my content. Ha So when we were introduced and we had a coffee chat, you told me about something that you do that like I knew it existed, but I'd never actually met anyone who'd ever done it and that was LinkedIn live. Mmm. [00:13:05] Diane: want to talk about, like, your LinkedIn shows, for want of a better word? [00:13:10] Miranda: Yeah, I got three of them. ha ha. [00:13:12] Diane: note the plural. [00:13:14] Miranda: Yes, yes. I… I like going live, and it's funny, I hate that it's through a third party, but maybe they'll change that at some point, but I really enjoy in, like, the authenticity of being live in a conversation with someone, or just randomly chatting, because that's when you really get to know me, right? Like, when I mess up my words, when I make fun of myself, when I'm laughing at something stupid, like, whatever, I make a noise. That's how you get to know the real person. And people let their guard down and they feel more comfortable. They'll get to know me faster, right, through this way. Then they would, if I wrote out something, Listen, I've got personality even in my copy. Like, people will literally say, like, I can hear you saying that. And I'm like, [00:14:00] well, it's only because you heard me live at some point. Whether it was on stage, on a platform like this, doing a podcast, or through a live. So, my LinkedIn shows, I have on Tuesday afternoon, actually it's 1115, so right after this, I'm going live here, Eastern Time. It's called 15 Minutes of Faith, where myself and another friend talk about all things Jesus. And not just, [00:14:24] Diane: business related. [00:14:25] Miranda: yeah, right? So this is the unlikely that I talk about, like, bring the unlikely and it'll get attention. And I'm not doing this to be like in your face, Jesus, or look at me, I'm doing something crazy. It's just. It's who I am, right? And I'll work with people who don't, you know, love Jesus like I do because He loves them. But, yeah, however, like I just want to show a part of me and this is a piece of me. So we do 15 minutes of faith. We talk about our faith in our business, our faith in life. I get really raw. I've had some really big personal things happen in my world that kind of shook me to my core and I leaned in on my faith and It's helping me ish, you know, to heal. So, for me, it's just, it's just being myself. So, 15 Minutes of Faith is on Tuesdays. Then on Thursdays I started with a client of mine called Sales Gone Wild. And that's where we dive into these craptastic DMs. And we call out someone from our message bank. And we don't say like, oh, Stephen Clark from this company. We just say like, Got a doozy for you today. He called me Sugar Lips. It's funny because when I first did this, it was by myself years ago and I called off a guy for a really bad DM because he came in hot, he got my name wrong, like, he called me Amanda, and I'm like, okay, close enough, but that's still not my name. And, you know, he just said like, You've got three problems in your business, and I can solve them. Which one do you want me to start in on first? And I'm like, Ew, slow your roll, dude. Like, I was, I know I was so offended. Like, you don't even know me. How do you know I got problems? Like, So I [00:16:00] went, and I, I didn't, we didn't have live at the time. I just did a regular video. It was like seven minutes long. It was so bad. But I was like, don't be this guy, is what I called it. And he literally messaged me a couple days later and said, Oh my god, am I that guy? Yeah, you're that guy. And it was hilarious. We had a great conversation. We got to know each other. His platform is probably something I could have used like today, but moving on, I was just like, yeah, we need to like teach people that this is wrong. It's almost like when you have a, a bad kiss from a, from a boy, you have to be like, that was bad. Let me show you how to do it right for the future girl. Yeah, so that's literally like what happened with me back then. And it was just so funny. And we now have a show. So I've I've done the DM courses. And so I said to her, like, listen, we're getting some, you're getting some too. I'm hearing her story as well, working together. And so we started a show called Sales Gone Wild. And we had two, we did like a beta test to see if people would like it, and they loved it. So there's that one and then I have another show on my company page called Awesome Conversations with Women Who Are Changing the World. And this is where I, I interview amazing women, talk to them about their business, their heart, you know, who they are, how they're changing the world, and just what type LinkedIn. So I'd love to bring people together. I love shining a light on amazing women. I love calling out crappy DMs. And I love Jesus. So everything that I love, I just go live with and it's a different algorithm, which is great for me because I can still post in the morning and do my shows in the afternoon and people get to know me through the live. [00:17:35] Diane: Okay. Back up. [00:17:36] Miranda: Ah! All the things. [00:17:38] Diane: It's a, different algorithm. [00:17:40] Miranda: It is. [00:17:40] Diane: Whoa. Okay. Hang on a [00:17:42] Miranda: yeah, so I was told, [00:17:43] Diane: like a real, like, here's how to use LinkedIn. I feel like I've just gone back to like, okay, LinkedIn 101. [00:17:51] Miranda: the algorithm changes every day. She's a sassy one, and when the spirit moves her, she's, she's moving on, right? So, I, I know, I know some things. [00:18:00] I, I talk with some people, and I, I've got, even I have a LinkedIn trainer, which is hilarious, but We all talk to each other about what's happening and what's happening behind the scenes. And I was told very early on that the algorithm for the lives are completely different than they are, which makes sense. If you think about it, it's, it's live, it's a whole different beast. And so I'll post in the morning and it won't separate the if you were to post twice in one day. So it's just on a whole different train track if you think about it. And it's like, still going post and still gaining traction. Because people are engaging in real time, then they're catching the real, the replay, and then I'm commenting on everything, and then whoever I'm hosting with is commenting. So lives last, which is kind of cool, especially if they're not like an hour long. They'll last, you know, a pretty decent amount of time and you can keep them going. Yeah, [00:18:54] Diane: no. So let's say I'm going to get off this interview with you and I'm going to go and like improve my LinkedIn. What is the first thing that I should do? Because there are lots of things I could do. I could post, I could go live. I could fiddle with my profile. I could fiddle with my statement. I could, I Don't know, write an article. [00:19:14] Miranda: Don't write an article. Would not be my top thing for you to do. I mean, at some point, sure. And if you have blogs, then turn it into an article. If you have a post that's just like going very long, turn it into an article, sure. But they don't get as much traction. I don't even see articles posted so for me, back in the day, I would write an article and then chop it up into little posts and that would bring them back to the article and that still works okay because of the post. So, now my thought is if I have a really big thought and I want to just kind of tease him with it, then you can drive him to the article, but I'd rather just drive him to my website or drive him to my email list for being honest, you know, so, and then we have newsletters, which used to get fantastic traction, but now it kind of went crazy all at once and people are turning the buttons off that they don't want to get invites to newsletters. So I tell my clients to put out one [00:20:00] newsletter when you get a couple thousand followers, one newsletter goes out to everybody just so they can see your name and face. Put out one and then drive them somewhere else. I mean, you can keep it going cause it does go to their email, which is kind of cool. Right? So it's almost like you're getting in their email about without actually asking for their email. But I mean, at that point you don't know what their email is. So it's not like you can still send them other emails. So there is, if you have a team, do articles, do newsletters. If it's just you, Just really focus on the cool content and the engagement, but you said what's the one thing I can do So if you're yeah The first thing if you're new to LinkedIn or if you've been on it for a while and you're like I really want to do This better. I would have you Review and audit your profile. Does it say? What you want people to know about you and how does it make people feel? Like, that's literally what I say to somebody. Like, I'm going to go to your LinkedIn and, like, I can easily share my screen right now and find you. Give you real advice for you. it after. And I would [00:21:02] Diane: that privately. [00:21:03] Miranda: we won't do that when no one's looking. [00:21:05] Diane: to my LinkedIn profile now. [00:21:09] Miranda: go to her LinkedIn profile. Say hello. But I, I want to look at it besides are all the boxes checked, right? Do you have a banner? Do you have like a photo? I can see your face. Do you have, you know, like your headline? Is there a call to action? Do you have a website All that stuff. Like check all the boxes, of course. But I would say like in that top section from services up. To banner that I say, does your top pop right? Does it pop? Does it make him want more? Is there a couple call to actions? Is it very clear? The one thing I would ask besides how does it make them feel? Because that's kind of subjective, right? Like I would say, is it obvious who you are, what you do? So is it obvious that way they can make a decision if they want to keep scrolling or click a link or two or learn more about you read your posts. So if it's not obvious, who you are and what [00:22:00] you do, then you're going to struggle to get more attraction and reach. [00:22:05] Diane: I think mine's heavy on the feeling. [00:22:07] Miranda: I love feelings. [00:22:09] Diane: Lighter on the like, it's super obvious what I do, [00:22:13] Miranda: So you can still make them feel while being obvious, right? [00:22:16] Diane: yes, I think it just, it just needs like some tweaks in that department. Right. Cause people will often message me to be like, your profile made me laugh or I didn't expect your profile or anything like that. But I don't think it's that super obvious of like, here are all the ways that you can give me money [00:22:32] Miranda: Yes. Here's my Ben Mount. [00:22:34] Diane: you know, yes, you know, here's my podcast, go listen to it, give me a download and a review kind of thing. Okay. So, so profile, we want to make sure that one, we make people feel something too, that it has, it's really obvious what we do and how they can give us money. Okay, great. When we move into content. So you're obviously a big live person, but you're still posting. Do we need to post every single day? You're just as the spirit moves you, but it sounds like yours are big. I think because you're doing lives, you're getting so much [00:23:04] Miranda: A little different level. Yeah. [00:23:05] Diane: Like, so when people are listening, whenever I do like somebody who does social YouTube or something, I'm always like, I just know the audience is listening, going, I can't, I cannot with another platform. Right. So what is kind of our bare minimum? LinkedIn content. [00:23:26] Miranda: Bare minimum would be once a week, right? If you think about it. Like, [00:23:29] Diane: Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, is it like bare minimum, like a text [00:23:31] Miranda: Oh, oh, [00:23:32] Diane: bare minimum? Make sure there's a photo, bare [00:23:34] Miranda: photo bare minimum. Well, bare minimum text post, right? So you got to put something out there, but you're going to catch their attention with a photo. All right. So I still think like a four by five. Still, it takes I think about where we're looking at linked in more than likely it's the phone, right? Like maybe they're scrolling on the toilet. Who knows, right? Maybe they're hiding in their cubicle or on their lunch break. They're looking for the phone. So when [00:24:00] you're scrolling, a four by five photo will take up the whole screen. And if you're consuming their whole attention, Then you're going to capture it a little bit longer there Maybe click see more little if your hook is great, you know stuff like that if it's just like a you know, a little vertical regular size photo or even a video videos They may they still love videos. It still does very well But they may say I don't have time to watch this right now and try to remember it and come back They never do right unless they it to themselves or save it or something but my thought is that matches what you're saying and captures their attention, like a bright color or something. It doesn't have to be like perfectly branded with like, I have one client that loves to put her colors behind the photo, almost like a frame. And that's great too. But sometimes to me and sometimes the people I talk to, it looks, it looks created versus just like a nice photo of her. So I prefer not to have like the obvious color behind it as a frame. to me, it's in real time. If it's just a regular photo, like with me standing by the tree, or I do grounding a lot outside in the grass. So I won't put my feet on LinkedIn, but I'll, you know, take a picture of me sitting in the grass and talk about grounding or something like that. And I think once I put a feet pic in saying I was grounding, cause I was walking on the grass and my, even my daughter was like, that's so cringe. Get it off of any platform. [00:25:21] Diane: Gen Z are not about the free feet [00:25:23] Miranda: They don't [00:25:23] Diane: at all. [00:25:24] Miranda: funny. I'm like, I love my toes. I pay a lot of money for these pedicures. But, it just, it was in real time. I'm grounding. I felt amazing. Or, there's, we have like um, A place where we kind of go hiking around here and I'm like sitting on the ledge of this like stone wall And there's like a huge ravine of trees and it's just a gorgeous scene So it's just like me in real time posting that's gonna capture and that the Sun was like the rays It was a whole thing and people are like, they're just captivated by the photo So, you know, I'm not a photographer by any means you don't have to be an artist or photographer but if you have a photo that's like bright [00:26:00] and captures someone attention That's kind of like the first thing that's gonna draw them in. They're, they're gonna read, of course, your, you know, your opening line, see what it says, and if it appeals to them, they'll keep reading. Sometimes they may keep reading, even if it really doesn't, because they're curious what this photo means, you know? So, so I would say, as for content, I like shorter form. I know when we're educating someone, there's a lot of bullets, and I like bullets, trust me, because it's If there's too many paragraphs, like my eye doesn't, I'm not here to read a book. I'm here to like get some quick information or feel something quick. So an opening line, maybe like two or three one liners and then some bullets and then close it out with, you know, a final thought, a call to action and three to five hashtags and there's your post. [00:26:46] Diane: Okay. So we know that all the different social media platforms are particular about their own kind of culture, right? TikTok is not exactly the same as, as Reels on Instagram. Like there are quirks to everything, right? Is there something that you see on LinkedIn? That you're just like, Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Other like, not the DMS because let's face it, there are idiots in the DMS on every single platform that has DMS, right? So if we leave the DMS out of it, but when you look at someone's content, is there something that they do and you just like, Oh, read the room. [00:27:23] Miranda: sometimes it's the format of it. It drives me nuts, like one line, one line. I think they call it like a bronnet, like a brosonnet. Where it's one line, one line, one line, one line. And there's a teacher that I've actually learned from and she promotes that one line, one line, one line, one line and just like… It's just like quick thoughts, and I get it, but it's almost, it's too on purpose. Or it's too, like, created. I don't know. I don't like it. [00:27:49] Diane: So, so the entire post is one line or the post is like one line, then a gap, then another line, then a gap, then another line, the second one. Right. So it's like, like, a series of thoughts on [00:28:00] musings for the [00:28:00] Miranda: like, you don't, yes, you don't normally talk like that. The way we're speaking is probably a small paragraph, maybe a one liner. Small paragraph, you know what I mean, a couple bullets. So, that's how I write, I write the way I speak. No way, this person. And it speaks like that. [00:28:14] Diane: no, no. And also like, that's really intentional with your formatting in that being able to go, okay, I'm saying this thing in two or three sentences. Let me make it succinct and turn it into a tiny little LinkedIn one, one liner. Okay, now let me take the next one. Like, that's a lot of work. I would just never post. Ever. [00:28:33] Miranda: It's a lot of work and it's based on the algorithm. The algorithm likes the separation. Maybe it reads it better. I don't remember the reason. I didn't like it so I didn't learn more about it. [00:28:44] Diane: I mean, good with the white space. [00:28:45] Miranda: It makes, yes, [00:28:46] Diane: white space can we leave around our, like, two liners? [00:28:49] Miranda: know, I get it. I get it. But I just feel like You're trying to trick me and that drove me crazy. Like you're, you're, you're trying to get me to do what you need me to do for your algorithm. And I just, I just, I didn't subscribe to that. So although there are some tricks that we do in our post SEO, certain words, whatever, like I get it, but like some things were just so obvious. It was like, Oh my gosh. Or sometimes they're call to action. or they're selling you. Actually, I really hate it when they buy my widget, you know, blah, blah, blah, like, and I get it. You're a business. I've got widgets to sell too. However, it's very transactional. So for, I can tell right away. Sometimes people get annoyed with the selfies, but the selfies still do well. Like, you know what I mean? Like it, it is what it is. We love to see people's faces. It connects us. [00:29:40] Diane: not a platform I've ever thought, Oh, let me post a selfie. Let me go [00:29:43] Miranda: Half of my posts are [00:29:44] Diane: I'll have to go and get my Instagram selfie collection [00:29:47] Miranda: Ah, yes, [00:29:48] Diane: like throwing them onto LinkedIn. Like repurpose, repurpose who needs to do hair and makeup. Oh dear. Okay. So if you could tell business owners only one [00:30:00] thing about LinkedIn, it was the only thing you were ever allowed to tell them, what would that one thing be? [00:30:04] Miranda: Get on it. [00:30:07] Diane: assume they're [00:30:08] Miranda: assume they're on it. Okay, okay, okay. If I can only tell them one thing, I would say find your ideal clients and engage in their content. 100%. Like obviously I want them to have the profile and optimize and stuff, but if you are engaging with them, you're meeting new people and how are you going to grow your business if you're not meeting people or getting to know new people? I'm sure some people would say, Oh, buy ads or have your profile perfect. Like you should have your profile say the things before you start engaging because if they do come back to you, you're missing an opportunity by not. But if you have a beautiful profile, and you don't use it, and you don't engage, they'll never see it anyway. So my thought is to find your ideal people, whether it's through hashtags or the search bar, find like a, make a list of ten of them, and just start engaging. And then find more through their comments, and you know, just by meeting new people. It's like going to a networking event. It's kind of how I view LinkedIn. And if I'm just, if I have the best suit on, But I'm sitting on a wall, not talking to anyone. They may notice me like, Oh, who's that chick in the hot pink? You know, but she's not talking. So she's standoffish. I'm probably not going to approach her. If I go into pajamas and I'm like, what up, how are you? What's going on? I'm Miranda. I do all things LinkedIn. And maybe like, Oh, Hey, crazy pants. You're in freaking pajamas, but I like LinkedIn. Let's talk about it. They'll get over it and they'll start talking to me. So. I think it's really about personality. Now, I should say, because I know we've got some introverted friends who are listening, and I'm often asked, how do I do it as an introvert. I am not an introvert. But it's kind of the same way, but just in your own style. Still engage, read meaningful articles, content, search for things that you, you like. Search for things that you care about. And then engage [00:32:00] with those things. You know, add your two cents. If you think they're wrong, tell them they're wrong. I mean, you may not, but, you know, say like, here are my thoughts, or, that was a fantastic post. What do you feel about this? It's just a small conversation. And you're behind the computer, so you feel a little more safe than if you were at an actual networking event. [00:32:17] Diane: I think sometimes with LinkedIn, I find myself going, but if I search someone's profile, they're going to see that I searched their [00:32:23] Miranda: Ha ha [00:32:24] Diane: And then what happens is I see somebody searched my profile and I'm like, Ooh, are you snooping on me? And then I go look at their profile and I'm like. Wait a second, was that actually just the like niche engagement hack where you've looked at my profile. So I've automatically gone and looked at yours, right? Not I don't mean that you have to be like spammy about this, but I think it's one of those things that definitely enters my head, [00:32:46] Miranda: Mm hmm. Ask them. It's [00:32:49] Diane: a moment where I think the person's going to like try and sell me something, then I'm like, I don't want to touch your profile. Cause I'm so terrified. You're going to slide in my DMs with [00:32:59] Miranda: yeah. Oh my gosh. You're going to creep on in. So, when I go to my Who's Viewing Your page, probably once a week, and if they're first level connections, and I understand why they're there, because we just talked or whatever, then I move on. If they're first level connections, and we haven't talked in a while, I'll reach, I'll message them. I'll say, Hey! Sally? [00:33:19] Diane: Saw you snooping. [00:33:20] Miranda: been forever. I saw you on my page. I usually say saw you on my page Hope you found what you were looking for. If not, how can I help right? Like did you have a question or you're curious about my services? You know, did you want to see if my profile picture was the same whatever like how can I help you? Happy to support you in any way. I'm very like yes, they know I'm there. They saw me or I see them They know I see them, but it's definitely I make it very easy because if there's second level connections Now I know you're curious. And I'm gonna give it about 48 hours or so. And then do the same thing like, Hey Sarah, I saw you looked at my page. That's awesome. Hope you found what you were looking for. [00:34:00] How can I help you? You know, I peeked at yours too. I love what you're doing. I'm gonna start engaging on your stuff. You know, something like a little… Non threatening conversation. Not like, hey, I don't want your widget. Don't try to sell it. They may be like, oh, I wasn't gonna sell your widget. I saw you're at Target and I wanted to see what you did. Like, whatever. But yeah, I always ask because that's my warm list. That's what I call it. That's my warm lead list. They're already interested. I've piqued their interest at some point. But honestly, a lot of the times though, the clients that I get from LinkedIn, Are like out of the blue. I'm like, who are you? And they're like, Oh, we've been connected for like 10 years. I see your stuff. I'm like, how? You don't engage. How do you see my stuff? But if they happen to lag on it a little while longer, the feed will still give it to them. So they, they, or they seek me out through my posts, not through my profile. So I won't see them. So often it's those lurkers that are still your captive audience. So I, I, I love it. I engage with everybody unless they're crazy. I've got one guy that creates new profiles to try to connect with me again and again, and I report him every day. It's ridiculous. But I mean, there's wackos everywhere in this world, but it's still more good than annoying. So I just keep it going. You [00:35:21] Diane: I have to like [00:35:21] Miranda: need a part two now. [00:35:22] Diane: I'm like, I know. I'm like, need to, like, I need to go away and do all these basics and then come back for like the advanced interview. to finish up, I always ask my guests the same two questions. First of all, what is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business? [00:35:37] Miranda: Biometrics are my business. That would be nice if I had some, right? No, I'm kidding. [00:35:41] Diane: You're not the only guest to say that. [00:35:43] Miranda: should create one of those now. [00:35:44] Diane: always one of those questions that either the guest is like, I don't know how to pick one or. Well, I've been meaning to set one up. [00:35:51] Miranda: yeah, that's a great to do. I'll add it to my list. No, I think for me, so I use boxer and I don't know if anyone really does, but I use boxer for [00:36:00] even LinkedIn coaching cause you'll get questions that pop up and I may not be in front of my computer. I'm not checking my email. I try not notification. So I'll put in boxer. And I used to get. time notifications like Diane is talking. I'd be like, Oh, what's Diane saying? And I'd listen to it. And I became like addicted to it because I wanted to have these conversations because to me, exchanging energy through a conversation is I get like high from it. It's crazy. I'm obsessed with it. So I had to limit myself to like twice a day, I'll pop on a boxer. And I tell my clients, if you boxer me or email me, I'm only checking it like twice a day, like, you're not going to get in real time. One client will say I want to post this. How should I do my hook? I'm posting in like 10 minutes and I'm like, you're never going to get a response from me. So figure it out yourself based on our teaching [00:36:48] Diane: Yeah. [00:36:49] Miranda: or post it tomorrow and I'll get back to you before the end of the day kind of thing. So that I have to set. I set a boundary, but I probably should do better boundaries because now I find myself going in more. But definitely how often I respond to questions about LinkedIn. Hustle. [00:37:09] Diane: cutter advice you have been given as an entrepreneur? [00:37:15] Miranda: go hard, right? Like, don't sleep. Like, that crap drives me bonkers. So, I, I have kids, one's in college, so that gives me a little bit of, you know, break from him being here. But, the other one's here, like, probably on the other side of my office door right now, like, waiting for me to make her a snack or something. So, maybe that's the boundary I should set up. But, the worst piece of advice was, Go hard, right, sleep less, like the whole hustle, hustle culture thing because to me like I, I'm building this business to have a better life. I'm not trying to like build the business to like avoid my life, you know, so to me listening to that was just, I was like, okay, thanks and smile and walk away. Don't take it.[00:38:00] [00:38:00] Diane: And I think so much of what you do is energetic as well. And so like, if you were doing that 15 hours a day or 16 hours a day or 20 hours a day, and then sleeping four hours and then waking up, like how you would show up would change so dramatically. [00:38:13] Miranda: probably have a bigger business and I'd have a team, but I never wanted a team. So the best piece of advice I ever got was be very intentional about long term what you want your business to look like and then act in accordance to that. So if I hustled and went crazy, brought in all the clients, I would need all the assistance or the people to help me and people hire me because it's me doing the work. It's me writing your content. It's me telling you what to post or showing you how to post. They don't buy it because I'm an agency and they have a bunch of people behind me. That just wasn't my ideal model. So knowing how you want your business to look long term, yes, I'm probably not going to be a multi millionaire as a solopreneur, but that was never my goal. It was just to like touch as many lives as possible and help them to shine a light on their awesomeness on this platform that I love so much. [00:39:01] Diane: and you never know, because like you said at the beginning, you're just kind of flowing with it. So who knows, like next year you could be the person with the full LinkedIn agency. We never know. [00:39:11] Miranda: Yeah. No, I know, because I don't want it. [00:39:13] Diane: You're like, you're like, no, no, no, no. I know. [00:39:16] Miranda: no. I know. I mean, I, I scale by speaking to larger audiences about the same platform. So that's kind of like how right now I'm scaling. Maybe I'll put a course out, but let's be honest, every week, LinkedIn is something different. So putting a course out on LinkedIn, unless it's energy based, right? Like, and then the algorithm changes. Then just follow the algorithm. That would be more likely for me. [00:39:39] Diane: Well, this has been a very different LinkedIn kind of conversation. Where can people find you so they can carry on the conversation? Where can they Find you on the web? Tell them all the things. [00:39:52] Miranda: me on LinkedIn. If you haven't guessed already, Yes. LinkedIn. Miranda Von Fricken. com and [00:40:00] I'm on Instagram as well, but you'll, LinkedIn is definitely the, I, it's like my CRM. Like I'm on it all day. [00:40:05] Diane: Yeah. Go and see the energy firsthand. Go read the profile, [00:40:09] Miranda: Tell me if it's obvious. [00:40:10] Diane: out to her. [00:40:13] Miranda: Yeah, read a few posts right before you start engaging. Read a few posts, get a, get a feel for somebody's vibe and then, then dive right in. [00:40:21] Diane: and please, like if you go into the DMs, like please. Please Don't like try to sell something immediately. [00:40:28] Miranda: Don't come in hot. Buy me a coffee first. [00:40:30] Diane: Or if you do, don't tell her you met her here. [00:40:34] Miranda: Like so. Hilarious. Thank [00:40:39] Diane: you so much.