How to Build an Authentic Brand on LinkedIn with Liam Darmody

Larry Roberts [00:00:09]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:11]:

And I'm Sara Lohse. And this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on this amazing episode of the podcast, I said that really fast this time intentionally, because typically I drag it out, but I thought I'd mix it up. This morning we have an amazing guest that once again, we met at the badass business Summit over in Fort Worth, Texas late last year. And then I got to tell you, when we met Liam, it blew me away. I mean, this guy, when it comes to positioning yourself on LinkedIn, I, I've, I haven't heard from anyone better. I mean, he provided some insight that just blew me away. And we knew we had to have him on the show, so we're lucky enough to have him here with us today because I'm telling you, if you've got a business and you're not on LinkedIn and you're not positioning yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn, you're really missing the boat. So we've got Liam Darmody. Did I say that right? Darmity.

Larry Roberts [00:01:06]:

Yeah. Look at that. I'm a professional. I know how it said. Of course. Liam's a personal brand and social selling strategist who helps entrepreneurs and executives build magnetic brands that attract clients, talent and opportunity on LinkedIn. Liam, thanks for joining us.

Liam Darmody [00:01:21]:

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here and happy new Year to both of you. Hope you had fantastic holidays. Looking forward to a kick ass 2025.

Larry Roberts [00:01:30]:

Yeah, it's off to a great start so far. And you know, we were talking in the green room. We see a little playpen behind you there. You're bringing a new pup in for 2025.

Liam Darmody [00:01:39]:

That is right. We are finally pulling the trigger on our first family dog. It's a golden doodle, eight weeks old. And we're going to pick it up tomorrow, bring it home and go through what it's like to have a newborn all over again.

Larry Roberts [00:01:53]:

That's amazing. So I gotta ask though, you know our mutual friend Donnie? How do you say his last name, Sara?

Sara Lohse [00:01:58]:

Bovine.

Larry Roberts [00:01:59]:

Bovine. I thought it was Boyvin.

Liam Darmody [00:02:01]:

I've always, I've always said boy, but phonetically you're correct. Okay, but then. And I've been calling him boyvin for 3 1/2 years until I went to SCN and heard it pronounced properly.

Larry Roberts [00:02:12]:

Oh, see, I guess I wasn't listening at sc.

Liam Darmody [00:02:15]:

All good.

Larry Roberts [00:02:17]:

So. Because I've known him for probably five or six years now and he's never corrected me. But anyways, I don't even know where I was going. I got distracted by Donnie's last name. We were there at the event, and you were on a. A panel talking about LinkedIn. Oh, I know where I was going. I was gonna say, are we gonna document the.

Larry Roberts [00:02:35]:

The life of the golden doodle like Donnie does with his baby goats on Sunday?

Liam Darmody [00:02:41]:

You know, I hadn't thought of that. I already. I already looked up whether or not I could have an Instagram handle with the dog's name, but I didn't think about a LinkedIn handle.

Sara Lohse [00:02:49]:

Your dog has to follow my dogs on Instagram.

Liam Darmody [00:02:52]:

Okay, we'll do that. What's your dog handle?

Sara Lohse [00:02:54]:

At Harvey and Kevin?

Liam Darmody [00:02:56]:

At Harvey and Kevin. Okay.

Sara Lohse [00:02:57]:

He used to be Harvey to the rescue, but he got a brother.

Liam Darmody [00:03:00]:

Makes sense. You gotta make sure you fit in the. The sibling. I. So ours is gonna be called Lucky. Same initials as me. LD And I. I looked up Lucky dude, and Lucky dude is taken.

Liam Darmody [00:03:11]:

Lucky golden Doodle is taken. So I'll have to figure something else out. But, yeah, maybe I will start Lucky dude the doodle. Lucky dude the doodle. I like it. This is why you guys run branded?

Larry Roberts [00:03:20]:

Yeah, she's amazing. She comes up with stuff that nobody else would ever think of. I tell you that. Talk to us a little bit, Liam, about LinkedIn. I think a lot of people overlook it. And if I'm being 100% honest, I've gotten a lot better since the badass business summit. But I'm in no way where I need to be on that platform.

Sara Lohse [00:03:41]:

It's seen as, like, a job application platform or like a online resume, basically. But I know from just knowing you that that is not even close to what it can be used for.

Liam Darmody [00:03:55]:

Yeah, I mean, it certainly can be used for that purpose. That's the intention. That's the intent of LinkedIn initially was, you know, bring your network from the real world online. Right. It's actually. A lot of people don't know it, but it's one of the oldest social networks. It was around before Facebook, before Twitter, but it was never really a social platform. Right.

Liam Darmody [00:04:14]:

It wasn't until, you know, I think 2013 or 2014 that we could actually write articles on LinkedIn. It was, for the longest time, just updates about your network's new jobs and things like that. And so, yes, it's great for the. The. The. For finding jobs and finding opportunity. It's funny you mentioned that. Somebody I was talking to last week said that they were in a coffee shop and they were having a really good conversation with Somebody in line for about 10 minutes.

Liam Darmody [00:04:40]:

And then after she got her coffee, she was ready to say goodbye, and she was like, hey, so do you want to connect on LinkedIn? And the guy kind of like, chortled at her and was like, I have a job. Why would I connect with you on LinkedIn? And that just goes to show you how, you know, so many people are in that old mindset. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that LinkedIn has to sort of walk a fine line for how they promote the platform. Right? You've got the sales side of it where, you know, business development professionals are using it to try and generate new clients for their companies. You've got, you know, the recruiting side where they're trying to make sure that companies are able to use the platform to recruit. And then you've got this social network side of it, which is a little newer and a little bit more fresh and uncertain. And I think even LinkedIn, like a lot of LinkedIn employees, aren't posting content on LinkedIn. It's almost like it's so new that even they don't necessarily know it's a social platform.

Liam Darmody [00:05:34]:

So I. I started posting content on LinkedIn around 2015. I shared some articles, and I just remember at the time feeling incredible amounts of fear and discomfort putting something out there. But I think I had had a couple beers and I was like, all right, just do it. And then the next morning I was like, delete it, delete it. But I didn't delete it, because by the time I opened my inbox, I saw a bunch of messages from people in my network saying, that post resonated with me so much. I've thought so many of those things, like, how do you feel comfortable putting that out there? And I was just sort of speaking my reality. I had a rough year.

Liam Darmody [00:06:09]:

I'd gone through a couple different job changes, and I was speaking to that. And so that's when I first started paying attention to the fact that there was a little bit of a different vibe here. And then I didn't really return to it until 2019 when my daughter was born. I decided I was going to start going, going all in on creating content on LinkedIn. They had a feed by then, et cetera. And so I just started creating. And it wasn't for any other purpose than building community and having somebody to talk to about business while I was on paternity leave. And then the pandemic hit.

Liam Darmody [00:06:40]:

So I'm like, in a house with an infant and A toddler and my wife, who I love them, they love me. But it's a lot of time to be spending with kids under five. And so I wanted to keep that going. And so we spent a lot of time on LinkedIn and a lot of time on Clubhouse. If you remember the Clubhouse days, you know, the virtual audio experience, that's where I met Donnie. And then I just started to kind of continue building network and building community. In 21, I was asked to come. I've always spent my career in sales operations, right.

Liam Darmody [00:07:10]:

The first 20 years of my career, sales ops. And I always thought I should have been in marketing, but I sort of thought I'm too far along in operations to go back to marketing. And in 2021, I got recruited by a company for a role in revenue operations. And the CMO says to me, hey, so I actually think I have a different job that might be better for you. We're building an employer, brand and talent marketing team. The goal is to hire dozens of engineers and technical talent. We don't just have the outbound volume for that. I think you're perfect for this with your sales ops background and your branding experience.

Liam Darmody [00:07:43]:

And I was like, I don't. I'm flattered by that, but I have no branding experience. I don't know what you're talking about. And he just said, I've been following you on LinkedIn for six months. That's all I need to see. I think you can absolutely do what you do for yourself, for us, and be really successful at it. So I took the job. Two years later, we got acquired.

Liam Darmody [00:08:02]:

Six months after that, I got let go. And then I thought to myself, well, do I go back to operations where I have 20 years of experience, or do I keep doing what I'm passionate about, which is helping people figure out how to be themselves on the platform and find opportunity? And I went with the latter. And that was about a year and a half ago. And it's the most terrifyingly exciting thing I've ever done.

Larry Roberts [00:08:21]:

Dude, it's so funny that you say that you. You became a branding expert by positioning yourself that way on LinkedIn. And I often talk about how people consider me a branding expert because of this red hat. I just put. Just put a hat on. That's all I did.

Liam Darmody [00:08:34]:

Subtle, right? I mean, the hot sauce for me, I have people who are like, why do you have a lemon slice in your logo? And I'm like, I don't know. I didn't really think about branding myself with chili peppers. And you know, chili pepper stands don't really sound the same, but yeah, that, that, that's all it is. It's be known for something. Right. The red hat.

Larry Roberts [00:08:52]:

Yeah. 100. 100. So I love that. And you know, again, I think so many people overlook LinkedIn.

Liam Darmody [00:08:59]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:08:59]:

And I see content out there and I, I've especially been paying attention since the badass business summit, but I see content out there that I go, this is not LinkedIn content. This is Facebook content. So talk to me a little bit about how that type of, I mean, just daily type content is applicable on what is perceived as a very corporate social media platform.

Liam Darmody [00:09:22]:

Totally. So first I want to ask you a question. What do you define as Facebook content? Call them out.

Larry Roberts [00:09:31]:

Okay. No, that's fine. That's fine.

Liam Darmody [00:09:32]:

I know it's a good question. Right. Everybody has a different opinion.

Larry Roberts [00:09:35]:

Sure. I mean, we, we, I think we all have a mutual friend, Sara Schroeder, and she posts her, her fitness updates. I mean, she's always working out, she's always talking about health and wellness. That, to me, isn't necessarily LinkedIn content. Going back to mentioning Donnie again, and his is every Sunday, Donnie is known for having his baby goat post because Donnie has a ranch and he has baby goats and he provides content and updates on the baby goats every Sunday on LinkedIn. That, to me, is not LinkedIn content. That's Facebook type content or Instagram type type content or TikTok type content. It's not what would traditionally be perceived, in my personal opinion, as LinkedIn content.

Liam Darmody [00:10:17]:

That is totally fair. And I think that those are logical parallels to draw. I think the way that I've seen LinkedIn evolving is really into more of a platform that allows people to show the work that they do and the effort that they put into things they're passionate about. So in Sara's case, working out is not easy. Many people struggle to even get their asses into a gym. Right. But she's there all the time. She's there all the time and she's doing, putting in the work and she's really passionate about it.

Liam Darmody [00:10:51]:

And I think that is ultimately, you know, the idea of LinkedIn of yore is corporate LinkedIn sharing press releases, congratulating your contacts on their new jobs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, snooze fest. Right. Like, just totally boring. But if you think about the way that business is evolving and changing a little bit, and I think a lot of this has to do with what we went through collectively, you know, in 2020, 2021, where you know, everyone was kind of like just figuring out how to make personal and professional work together. Right. And so I think business is a lot more personal now and I've always been in the technology industry. So for me, having a very blended personal and professional life is really natural. I think in the more corporate environments, a little bit less so.

Liam Darmody [00:11:34]:

But I have always gone into the office on a Monday morning and the first question you ask somebody is, how was your weekend? And nobody's like, I'm not answering that. This is a corporate environment. You know, like, they tell you what their weekend was like. You get to know the kids that you, the names of the kids of your colleagues, you talk about your hobbies. Right. You know, so I think the best way to treat LinkedIn is like a journal that you would share with family, friends and colleagues. So you're not really stepping over any boundaries that might be viewed as offensive or anything like that. You're not necessarily talking about divisive topics.

Liam Darmody [00:12:08]:

I try to shy away from politics and things like that, but really just talking about your lived experience and what you like to do and the things that you've accomplished and the, the way that you approach business and how you do your job, that's really what I think it's becoming. And I think if you look at all the other social media platforms that are out there, there's, there's a lot of them that have, you know, people that have pseudonyms, so they're keyboard warriors and they're just, you know, trolling like crazy. That makes it a really unenjoyable experience for a lot of people. And then you've got other social platforms that, you know, just are very much over indexing on negativity and, you know, sensationalism. And a lot of people don't like that either. LinkedIn is kind of becoming, in my opinion, sort of the, the only authentic social platform we have because there is sort of a built in policing mechanism. People don't want their clients, their colleagues, their current past or future bosses to see them being a jackass on LinkedIn because there's too much risk associated with it. And so what that means is that the user experience for all of us is better because everyone's trying to be on their best behavior.

Liam Darmody [00:13:19]:

For lack of a better term.

Sara Lohse [00:13:21]:

We, what you said before, someone had said, why would I be on LinkedIn? I already have a job. You and I had a call a couple months ago and I really, I honestly, I wish we had like recorded that conversation because it was such a good conversation, but we Were talking about building your personal brand and building your LinkedIn content. Creating LinkedIn content, even if you are an employee.

Liam Darmody [00:13:45]:

Yep.

Sara Lohse [00:13:46]:

And we were talking about how companies are afraid of that. They are afraid to let their employees be themselves online, post online, build personal brands online. Why is it that they should, like, why should they not be. Why should they be encouraging that, in your opinion?

Liam Darmody [00:14:07]:

It's a phenomenal question. And, you know, it's very real. It's a very real concern. Especially the larger the organization is, the higher the risk. Right. You have more lawyers internally, you have a bigger comms team, you have a bigger marketing organization. And they're like, that's not on brand. That's not our message.

Liam Darmody [00:14:22]:

But you know, I think the. Because the op. The reason that companies should not worry so much about it is because a, you know, people are trying to typically be their best version of themselves on LinkedIn. So you're not gonna run the risk of like, oh, that's my account manager, you know, crushing drinks from an ice luge in the back of a, you know, backyard, because they're just not gonna put that stuff out there. Right.

Sara Lohse [00:14:43]:

That's Facebook content.

Liam Darmody [00:14:44]:

Yeah, exactly. Instagram. The second reason is the network effect, right? I mean, company pages do not perform as well on LinkedIn as personal pages do. You know, first person networks are going to respond to people who are posting things more than they will accompany. And if you have 100 employees and they each have 1,000 to 3,000 people in their network, you've already hired them. So you like something about their skill set, you like their personality. The more they start talking about what they do and how they do it and who they are and the company that they work for, which they inevitably will start talking about if you encourage them. The more people in their network are familiar with your brand and your company through osmosis, Right.

Liam Darmody [00:15:26]:

And so eventually they might end up saying, oh, so and so is having a really good time working there. Maybe I'll go see if there's any open opportunities, things like that. And when your culture is on display, that is also a benefit for clients. Right. Companies want to see and get to know behind the scenes of the people that they're paying for software or services from. And I think that also breeds a bit of an affinity. You feel good paying for something when you're getting it from a company that's showing you what it's like to work there. I had a CEO that said to me recently, what happens if, you know, I spin up all these salespeople and they're starting to create content on LinkedIn, and then some of them get poached.

Liam Darmody [00:16:07]:

And I said, that's a really valid concern. He's like, I'll look like a complete, complete idiot to the board of directors. And I said, well, I said, do you think that your people aren't getting recruited already? Like, you hire good people, right? Yeah. And. And you hire them to work with your clients and your customers and with other colleagues internally? Yeah. And I said, do you trust them to do that? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so why don't you trust them to. To take that extra leap and just go onto LinkedIn and start having a professional dialogue and conversation there? I said, the truth is, recruiters be recruiting.

Liam Darmody [00:16:41]:

Right? You're gonna. You're. You're hiring good people. They're gonna get recruited. The question you should be asking is, do I give them enough reason to stay around when they do get recruited? And in my opinion, empowering your employees to build personal brands is a phenomenal way to show them that you trust them and you want their help marketing the message of the organization. And they're less likely to leave if you trust them versus if they feel like you don't trust them. So that's really why I think it's important to shift that mindset a little bit and worry less about the fear. Fear and think about the possibilities that present themselves when you let your employees start talking online.

Larry Roberts [00:17:20]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:17:20]:

I had a very similar conversation. One of the CEOs I used to work for, people would ask him, why would you pay for your employees to get more training and more certificates and all of that if they can just leave?

Liam Darmody [00:17:34]:

Yep.

Sara Lohse [00:17:35]:

And what he said was, would you rather pay for them to get the training and have them leave or not pay for them to get it and have them stay?

Liam Darmody [00:17:43]:

Right.

Sara Lohse [00:17:43]:

And I feel like that's so similar. Like, would you rather have these people not promoting anything, not talking online because they're. So that they don't get stolen, or have. Give them that freedom to talk up your brand and share things about what they're doing and what the company is doing and really build your online presence through them and have that risk that maybe they might leave. But people don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad management.

Liam Darmody [00:18:09]:

Totally. And think about it, even the next step, like, if you're coordinating a strategy for this. Right. If you're. Have an employer brand strategy where you set up 52 weeks of a content calendar and you say, this week, we want to hear you guys tell us what, you know, the top three Adjectives that define a fantastic leader. Right? You're not telling them what to write. You're just saying, we'd love to know what you think. Put it out there and see what happens.

Liam Darmody [00:18:33]:

You know, if you want to tag your leader, go ahead. If you don't, that's fine too. But. And then you start promoting that internally. You say, this week, we'd love to see all of you talk on LinkedIn about this. One question, and you're guiding them, but you're not telling them what to say. Then you're including them in the process of branding. And that's a fun process.

Liam Darmody [00:18:53]:

Branding is fun. You all know it, I know it. And so I think that's really useful. Anybody can be in marketing now, even your cfo, your finance analyst, anybody can help you market your company. I think ultimately what companies need to do is stop thinking about employees through the lens of, like, they're going to be here for 10 or 15 or 20 years. That doesn't happen anymore. People leave yearly or every two or three years. So treat them more like athletes.

Liam Darmody [00:19:20]:

Right? You've signed them to a contract, they're going to be here for a while. You probably want them as long as you can, if they're good employees. But at the end of the day, you know they're going to go somewhere else eventually. So you have two options. One is you, like, muzzle them and don't let them be themselves online. And then, you know, they'll stay their time and then they'll leave. Or you give them the opportunity to build their personal brands and represent your company while they're with you. Get the most out of them, and then if they leave, they leave.

Liam Darmody [00:19:47]:

But, you know, let's not lie about the fact that. Or be in denial about the fact that there's no such thing as lifetime employees anymore. That just doesn't happen. Right? Not. Not in most industries anyways. So that's another thing that I think people need to pay attention to. And I think companies are slowly but surely starting to realize that there is a lot more upside than there is risk.

Larry Roberts [00:20:07]:

You know, I kind of want to dial it back a little bit, if we can. And because you were talking about the different platforms and how some of the platforms, they're just so toxic X and some of the other platforms that one of the things that I'm seeing is an evolution on these platforms and I'm hearing about, and I don't even really understand it because I haven't dug into it too much, but they're going to have AI generated accounts on these platforms. What's your thought there and have you heard of anything? I haven't heard anything specifically about LinkedIn, but obviously X has AI bots all over it. Facebook, Facebook's about to introduce it, Instagram's about to introduce them. But I haven't heard anything about LinkedIn. What's your thoughts on that? And have you heard about LinkedIn doing that as well?

Liam Darmody [00:20:51]:

So I think it wild times we're living in, first off, where, you know, you've got big social platforms that are creating fake humans to be on the platform looking like real humans. It's a very interesting approach. And I think, honestly, that's one of the reasons that LinkedIn is a standout, because they not only, like, do they encourage you to validate your identity? Right. Like you can actually verify your identity through LinkedIn. Doesn't cost you anything. And it's actual verification. Right. Like X had like, you know, the badge thing where it was like, verify your identity, but it was like you kind of just said, yeah, I am who I am.

Liam Darmody [00:21:28]:

And then you got the badge because you paid eight bucks a month, like, right. That's not verification. LinkedIn lets you verify your identity and they're very, very focused on making sure that you know you are who you say you are. Your picture is an accurate reflection of who you are. Up until recently, I just learned that you can actually put caricatures or cartoon images of yourself in there. Up until recently, you were only able to use a photo of yourself on the platform. And if they found you with something else, then they would, you know, tell you to take it down or restrict your account. So I actually think that that's almost like the stars aligning for them perfectly.

Liam Darmody [00:22:01]:

All these other social platforms are way further ahead from a social networking standpoint than LinkedIn is. I like to, I kind of joke that LinkedIn stuck in 2017. But while they're all out there, you know, trying to bring AI into the, into the fold, LinkedIn is just kind of plodding along and trying to be the authentic social network. And yes, there's a lot of people on there that are selling stuff and there's the growth hackers from other social platforms who are realizing there's organic reach. So they're coming over to LinkedIn and they're doing their, you know, guru growth hacking thing. And that can be annoying. But by and large, I think LinkedIn's intent is to have it be the realest platform possible where you can find somebody's authentic lived experience, their Professional legacy. You know, I like to talk about legacy.

Liam Darmody [00:22:47]:

Like, I look at what I do on LinkedIn through the lens of my kids, like, 10, 15 years from now, they're going to see, oh, my dad started a business and here's how that went. And, you know, look at all the different things he was doing. And, you know, there'll be ups and downs. They'll probably make fun of me a bunch, but that's okay. I'm, you know, fully expecting that as a parent. And so that's just. I think, you know, the timing is right. Like, everybody's so skeptical of the authenticity of things online now, and LinkedIn is doubling down on being authentic, and I think that's powerful.

Sara Lohse [00:23:18]:

We are. It's in, like, the weirdest time right now, because this is the age of AI, but it's also the age of authenticity. And authenticity is the number one buzzword everywhere.

Liam Darmody [00:23:27]:

Yep.

Sara Lohse [00:23:28]:

And it's all just AI generated authenticity, which does not exist. But it's like, we need to be creating more content, but it has to be a. It has to be authentic content. But we don't have time, so we're going to use AI. And it's super authentic because I told ChatGPT to make it. It just doesn't make sense.

Liam Darmody [00:23:48]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:23:49]:

And so it makes sense, then, that LinkedIn is where you should be building that personal brand because of that authenticity piece, because it hasn't really fallen into the hole of, like, everything being AI.

Liam Darmody [00:24:05]:

Well, don't get me wrong, a lot of, you know, LinkedIn nerds and stalwarts who've been on the platform for a long time are complaining about how much AI is being infused into the platform now. Right. Like, you've got the AI comments, you've got, you know, AI DM messages, et cetera. My opinion on AI is it's a tool that should help us be more efficient as humans, so it should help us get the messages that we want out there without having to put as much upfront thought or as much time into creating that content. Now, a lot of people are obviously going to abuse that, and they're just going to use it and copy and they're going to send it out. But truly authentic people, I think, are going to embrace AI and say, this is what I want AI to write. And then it turns you from a writer to an editor. So, like, you can.

Liam Darmody [00:24:50]:

Writer's block is no longer a thing. You're not having to invest tons of time in, like, the thought process. You have a tool that can help you spin something up and then you kind of edit it and put your twist on it. Now I personally love the process of writing. I don't really use AI for my content because I enjoy writing, but I think there's a lot of people who don't and that I think it's fine for them to use it. Just make sure you're figuring out how to put your voice on it. Like if you use AI to generate a piece of content and you don't think you'd ever say that, then change it. You know what I mean? Like, put your voice into it and you can download your entire data archive from LinkedIn and they will give you every post you've ever written.

Liam Darmody [00:25:32]:

So you just upload that to an AI tool and you've already got your own small, large language model. Right. I think I had like 289,000 comments and 4,000 posts. So, you know, Claude does a pretty good job at replicating my voice. Now I just have to give it the inputs and tell it what I want. But again, I'm not really using it that much because I love the writing process.

Larry Roberts [00:25:53]:

I think it was Sara that said this a few weeks back in that for, for this year, I think people are going to want more. Well, we'll just say authenticity, but they want more real content. They want real individuals, real humans delivering this content. And I, I consume a ton of YouTube content and as of late, for whatever reason, my algorithm keeps serving me up these new channels that have one or two followers and they're completely AI generated channels.

Liam Darmody [00:26:21]:

Are they really?

Larry Roberts [00:26:21]:

Even though. Yeah, 100. Wow. And even though it might be a topic that I'm interested in, I won't watch the video. Once I realize, oh, this is AI, I'm like, I'm out. And because. And it's easy to, to pick up on it. I mean, they pronounce words wrong.

Larry Roberts [00:26:35]:

You know, the images don't necessarily correlate with the message of the, of, of what's being said. I mean, it's, it's pretty obvious. Or they have a reel of the topic and it just completely, just repeats that same, you know, one minute video over and over and over for the, for the scale of a 15 minute video. But it's 100 AI generated and I, I don't even consume it and I'm the AI guy.

Liam Darmody [00:26:55]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:26:56]:

So, you know, I think that just, just really drives home the point that authenticity and real humans delivering these messages and delivering this content is absolutely essential.

Liam Darmody [00:27:07]:

Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:27:08]:

I think LinkedIn also now is leaning a lot more into video. They're getting on board. They now have that like endless scroll for the vertical videos, which is new for that platform and everything. And I think part of that is that authenticity piece, because ChatGPT can write you a post, but it's a lot harder to fake a video.

Liam Darmody [00:27:29]:

Yeah, totally. I think that the timing is perfect for LinkedIn to have video. There were a lot of people who complained about that too. They were like, this is not TikTok, this is not Instagram, etc. But you know, LinkedIn was actually first to do video before reels were even a thing. LinkedIn had stories and stories were successful for about a year and then they sunset the product. It just wasn't enough adoption. People weren't ready for it yet.

Liam Darmody [00:27:57]:

But I think, you know, the video feed is a phenomenal way to your point, to get your authentic voice out there. It is your voice. I mean, there are tools like hey Gen. Where you can create avatars that look, talk, sound like you, but, you know, they're not perfect. And I think a lot of people will still move towards the authentic video creation piece. Voice is powerful, you know, I mean, you guys run an awesome podcast. Like, voice is so powerful. You can hear the passion, the intonation, the expression.

Liam Darmody [00:28:26]:

And I think that's a really good thing to add to that platform.

Larry Roberts [00:28:30]:

So let me ask you this, Liam. If someone wants to just get started on LinkedIn, what do you recommend as the foundation for building that account and building that brand right out of the gate?

Liam Darmody [00:28:41]:

Yeah, so I basically coach four different pillars. The first is making sure that you're treating your profile like a landing page. So think like a marketer, right? Everybody who lands on that page is not just a recruiter. You know, there are people that are seeing your content. There are people of all different walks of life. Like, you have a 2,600 character about section that you can talk about what you do and who you are and your interests. Right? Give people as much information as you can within that profile that makes them get to know who you are and want to reach out to you. Right.

Liam Darmody [00:29:11]:

The second is figuring out how to find the people that are creating content on the platform that you're interested in so that your feed is inspiring. It makes you want to jump into the conversation. It makes you want to build new connections with people. The comment section on LinkedIn is a phenomenal place to hang out. And a lot of my, my, my clients, they think that it's just about posting content. Like I start posting content on LinkedIn, I'm gonna start getting leads or I'm gonna start finding people interested in my company, et cetera. And I'm like, nope. Like, if you start posting content out of the blue, like you've not really done it a ton, your first six months are going to suck.

Liam Darmody [00:29:48]:

I'm just, you got to be honest about it, right? It's very hard to build an engaged audience overnight on a platform like LinkedIn because only 25% of the membership uses it on a monthly basis and only about 8% supposedly are actually creating content on a weekly basis. So still very early in the LinkedIn journey from a user generated content standpoint. And so I think you want to make sure that you're getting into the conversations of posts that people are creating, that the people who are leaving comments in those posts or people who are clearly paying attention to LinkedIn, they're engaged. So you're building connections with people who are already paying attention to content on the platform, they'll start to look at your profile, et cetera. So really dial in on what content do you want to see in your feed, who's creating that content, and then go and follow them or connect with them. The third pillar is content. So once you've figured out those first two pieces, you can start thinking about what's your content going to look like. And I typically tell people they should have three different types of content.

Liam Darmody [00:30:42]:

The first is your scope of genius, right? These are the things that you do really well, who you help, how you help them, why you help them. These are your sales and marketing posts. Do one of those a week, at least, maybe two. The second is fascination. Right? What's in your fascination? Bucket. Outside of work, what do you love to do? Like, what could you talk about till you're blue in the face? You know, for me, it's AI, it's blockchain, it's startups, technology. I love innovation. That's kind of my fascination.

Liam Darmody [00:31:09]:

So that content is good. And the reason you want to fasten a bucket of content that is fascination is that not all of your network is going to be a customer or a client of yours, right? But you still want to give them content that keeps them engaged because otherwise they'll just tune you out. And so the fascination, content, you can still deliver value. You can share things that you know, that you've learned, that you think are interesting, have conversation around that. And that way the people who are not going to become your clients are still engaged with you. So that when you do need their help for something, they're still like, they trust you. You've earned the right to ask them for help with something. You help with them, they help you, et cetera.

Liam Darmody [00:31:45]:

You're keeping all your network engaged. And then the third is what I call window into your world content. And this is the content that's a little bit more emotionally raw, a little bit more vulnerable. It tells your story. It's that window into your soul a little bit. And typically, if you give people that window, they'll walk around the front door and they'll knock with opportunity, and that's really powerful. It's hard to do, especially for people who are not comfortable with it. I mean, it's still hard for me to do it.

Liam Darmody [00:32:13]:

Like, I post about my weight loss journey every once in a while, and every time I do it, I feel self conscious, but it ultimately feels good. And the LinkedIn community typically supports you and holds you up. And then the fourth pillar is really that networking piece, right? You can't just sit around and wait on LinkedIn, right, for your content to do something or for comments to do something. It's the world's largest networking event, and it's 24 7, 365 if you want it to be. And it's global, right? There's no geographic limitations. And the best part about it is that you know everybody that's there already. So, like, you can see their profile, you can find things about them in their about section that make it for easier icebreaker conversations. It's better than a networking event because at a networking event, you walk in, you're like, I'm going to sidle over that conversation.

Liam Darmody [00:32:58]:

That conversation you might leave with five or six conversations that were really worthwhile and maybe one turns into something that's mutually beneficial. On LinkedIn, there's no. There's infinite amounts of conversations that you can have. So that's. The other piece is like really teaching people how to supercharge, going on the offensive and building that network of people that they want to be on the radar of.

Larry Roberts [00:33:20]:

That's amazing, man. And I think that if people would just take advantage of it, I think they would see the impact that you've talked about on this particular episode. And we really appreciate you sharing the insights. And those four pillars are great. And I love that. That in and of itself makes this episode worth listening to right there. So awesome. Liam, if people wanted to work with you on improving their LinkedIn presence, how would they reach out to you other than obviously LinkedIn.

Liam Darmody [00:33:44]:

LinkedIn is the best place to find me. There are three Liam Darmides on LinkedIn. One is in Ireland, one is in the United States, and one is in the United Kingdom. He's from Sydney. I actually met him for beers in 2013.

Larry Roberts [00:33:56]:

Oh.

Liam Darmody [00:33:57]:

Back in the day. You can also find me at Liam's brand stand.com or liambranstan.com by email.

Larry Roberts [00:34:05]:

Awesome. Awesome. Well, everybody listening right now. I know you found some value in this episode, so we want to get linked in with you as as well. And in order for us to do that, we need you to subscribe to this show so we can continue to bring you these amazing episodes each and every week. And with that, I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:34:21]:

I'm Sara Lohse. And we'll talk to you next week.