What’s Your Personal Brand?

by | Sep 13, 2023 | Careers, Leadership

people at a meeting as a metaphor for a personal brand

What’s your personal brand?

Excited to speak on this topic today for UCLA Anderson Executive Education.

We each have a personal brand, whether we actively cultivate one or not.

A personal brand is our reputation. It’s:

* what people think of us

* the values we hold dear

* the value we bring to our work

What do you want people to think when they think of you?

And why should you care about this?

It’s because a strong personal brand has several benefits:

👉 building trust with people who may hire and promote you

👉 attracting sponsors who will champion your career growth

👉 accelerating the overall development of your career trajectory

Your personal brand can precede you, and open doors.

You communicate your personal brand in every interaction you have.

What do you want people to say about you?

 

3 Business & Career Lessons on Labor Day

by | Sep 4, 2023 | Careers, Leadership

a sandcastle birthday cake at the beach as a metaphor for a business anniversary

What are you celebrating this Labor Day?

Maybe it’s the end of a memorable, or not-so-memorable, summer. Perhaps it’s a peek into a vibrant autumn. My wish for you is exactly what you want.

For me, today marks 5 years of my business, The Carrelle Company.

The name and the business were born on Labor Day 2018. Here’s the origin story: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-name-carrelle-company-born-labor-day-caroline-leach/?trackingId=%2FYVREys1T0irvUPtHkln%2BA%3D%3D

It’s a labor of love, evolving from 3 decades in the Fortune 100. I held corporate leadership roles in communications and marketing.

It’s an ideal foundation to become an executive coach, a communications and personal branding consultant, a keynote speaker, and a university professor.

Here’s what I’ve learned, for corporate careers AND entrepreneurial ventures.

⭐ HAVE A PLAN, AND STAY FLEXIBLE

A viable business or career needs a good plan. Who are you going to serve? How will you meet their needs? How will they know about you? Why will they want to work with you?

And a plan only goes so far. Along the way, there’s feedback about what’s working. For me, executive coaching came later. My calendar showed people wanted to talk about leadership. Being flexible fueled the addition of coaching.

⭐ VIBRANT RELATIONSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING

What we want professionally usually involves getting it from another person. The strength of a network is what helps a business or a career grow and thrive over time.

In my case, some exceptional early introductions led to the establishment of key clients who continue to this day. Nurturing relationships and delivering great work are imperative. So is paying it forward to open doors for others.

⭐ DON’T FALL FOR THE “SUCCESS PORN”

Overnight success doesn’t exist, despite what our social media feeds say. “The slog” isn’t talked about much. That’s the day-to-day action toward a business or career vision. The outreach. The conversations. The proposals. And sometimes the rejection. The silence.

What really matters? Working on a business every weekday, in harmony with an overall life. Identifying opportunities, persisting through obstacles, and building on bright spots. If a door is closed, it’s possible to open a window.

What would YOU add to these lessons?

 

P.S. In July and August I posted to LinkedIn every day as a content creation experiment. It’s been fun and rewarding, reconnecting with many of you in the process. Going forward, I’ll post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

What Happens When You Post on LinkedIn Every Day for a Month?

by | Aug 1, 2023 | Careers, Social Media

In July I did an experiment.

I posted daily on LinkedIn to see what would happen.

My mission? To answer questions about content creation:

  1. What content is most engaging, or valuable, for serving my network?
  2. How can I increase the quality of my network through content creation?
  3. How will content creation enhance my personal brand?

On Saturdays, I posted weekly interim reports. Questions people asked as a result:

  1. What content works best?
  2. What’s the optimal posting cadence?
  3. What’s the impact of the LinkedIn algorithm change?

 

WHAT THE DATA SAYS

Key Metrics for July

  • Content impressions (onscreen displays) up 371%
  • Content engagement (reactions, comments, reposts) up 229%
  • Followers increased by 118
  • Profile views up 102%

 

Top Performing Posts

  1. Don’t Apply for Stuff: 22,030 impressions, 133 engagements
  2. LinkedIn Experiment Weekly Update #1: 2,574 impressions, 61 engagements
  3. Is the American July the New European August? 2,335 impressions, 48 engagements

 

Why did “Don’t Apply for Stuff” do so well? It was a contrarian view on the job search. The statement was an attention grabber. It offered knowledge and advice. People engaged with the post by commenting and reposting right away. LinkedIn seems to reward early engagement, in the first hour, with more impressions.

And along those lines, it’s okay and even advisable to like your own posts and comment on them. You can add more info in a comment. It’s also good to reply to as many comments on your post as possible, to foster dialogue. Include a question to keep the conversation going.

 

WHAT THE DATA MEANS

During the first half of the year, I posted monthly or less. Impressions were higher, in the range of 3,500 to 10,000.

The LinkedIn algorithm did change in mid 2023, to reward posts that share knowledge and advice.

But because my posts have always shared knowledge and advice, that may not be the reason impressions are lower in July, generally in the range of 250 to 2,500. Perhaps my content quality isn’t high enough. Or maybe posting daily has resulted in fewer impressions per post.

Logically, that means I should post less frequently.

BUT, this data suggests otherwise:

  1. More comments on my posts from people I haven’t heard from in a while
  2. More DMs from people in my network who are reaching out to reconnect
  3. More connection requests from interesting people I want to know better

The quality of my relationships and conversations on LinkedIn have dramatically improved in July. And that speaks to my goals of serving people through my content, improving the quality of my network, and enhancing my personal brand.

 

ADVICE FOR YOUR CONTENT

  1. Pick a posting frequency to fit your life and goals. It may be monthly, weekly, daily, or somewhere in between. You get to choose.
  1. Share knowledge and advice. This makes your content unique. It’s what only you can share. It’s also what the current algorithm rewards.
  1. Don’t repost content. It won’t achieve a high level of impressions. Instead, start a new post and tag the person whose idea you want to credit.

 

Lastly, don’t give up. It takes time to build a professional reputation through content creation.

Briana Sharp expressed it beautifully in a comment on one of my posts. She wrote: James Clear in his book Atomic Habits references the period when nothing seems to happen but is, citing the example of “Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding ninety feet into the air within six weeks.”

What root systems are you building with YOUR content?