The only profitable brand persona on LinkedIn

Find Your Superpower newsletter 039

Read time: 9 minutes

Topics covered: Personal branding, brand persona, thought leadership

Yesterday, I shared The 9 archetypes of people you can find on LinkedIn. I had been working on it for my LinkedIn Branding Basics workshop on January 26, 2024, which shows you how to position yourself as a thought leader in your specific niche.

You can read the post here. It has gotten a huge number of impressions at 50K impressions in half a day and that number is still rising.

I decided to devote my weekly newsletter to discussing it further. In particular, I wanted to discuss some of the questions and ideas that were brought up in the comments.

A quick recap of the 9 archetypes

1. THE BARELY-THERE LURKER: Has an incomplete LinkedIn profile, incorrect security settings, and rarely or never posts. LinkedIn activity is limited to liking and commenting on other posts. Battle cry: “I don’t know what to post about!”

2. THE HUMBLE BRAGGER: Typically a senior executive who speaks regularly and wins awards. Highly egocentric and starts their posts with “I am humbled and delighted to.” May post crying selfie when letting their employees go.

3. THE INSPIRATIONAL GURU: Shares daily “leaders must lead” and “seek progress not perfection” type quotes. Likes to quote from Buddha, Nelson Mandela and Warren Buffet. May also post cat memes. Cringey and insufferable, but mostly harmless.

4. THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAMER: Posts whatever is on their mind with no clear content strategy. Generally benign, uses LinkedIn like an event diary to update others on their life. Low-value content that gets 1-10 likes per post, including their own.

5. THE NEWS COMMENTATOR: Self-styled news anchor who finds the most trending news story and adds opinions outside their domain of expertise. Climate change? Vaccines? Generative AI? Interest rates? Fear not, they’ve got something to say. 

6. THE SALES WARRIOR: Connects with you on LinkedIn only to DM you and sell something to you. Always upbeat and in pitch mode. Thinks of LinkedIn users as “potential acquisition targets.” Regularly invites people to comment “YES” or “EBOOK” on their posts.

7. THE TOXIC TROLL: Mistakes LinkedIn for Fight Club, shows up in the comments section of a post to disagree with everything said. Perpetual victim mindset, highly antagonistic and always griping about perceived slights to them. ***UNFOLLOW ASAP***

8. THE SHOCK JOCK: Gifts you low-level anxiety by posting triggering headlines to stop your scroll. Elon, Donald and Howard are #goals for them. Classic attention seeker. Side effect from following shock jocks: a large therapy bill. ***UNFOLLOW ASAP***

9. THE THOUGHT LEADER: Top of category in niche or industry. A trusted authority and domain expert with credible experience. Aims to give, inspire, educate and delight their audience. Content is not aimed at virality, but to establish trust and strengthen their brand.

This list is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. In full transparency, I have been many of these archetypes myself, especially in the early days posting on the platform. Where do you think I got the inspiration from? 😏

I also mentioned that only one of them is a profitable brand persona. Did you figure out which one?

An evolution of our brand persona on LinkedIn

All of us start out as Archetype 1 – THE BARELY-THERE LURKER. In fact, 90-95% of LinkedIn users remain as lurkers in their entire lifetime on LinkedIn. They doom scroll on LinkedIn to check on their industry peers and for business updates, but barely post on it.

A very small number of users (less than 10%) start to appreciate that LinkedIn is a powerful business content platform, not just a job board. Today, LinkedIn has hired more than 200 full-time LinkedIn editors based all across the world, including in Singapore where I live, to help us create content and achieve business and career success on the platform.

Instead of liking cat memes and sharing jogging timings on Facebook, they start creating content on LinkedIn, often by sharing their highlights reel (when they get promoted, win an award, speak on stage). Without experience, some inadvertently and unwittingly end up looking like THE HUMBLE BRAGGER.

Occasionally, they turn into a mini-Simon Sinek and Adam Grant, with INSPIRATIONAL GURU quotes. Or they start posting a stream of thoughts better kept private, as THE CONSCIOUSNESS STREAMER. They may also turn into THE NEWS COMMENTATOR. After all, what’s more trendy than breaking news?

More advanced versions of users start to use LinkedIn as a sales platform, and turn into THE SALES WARRIOR. In general, sales warriors are annoying and insufferable because they aren't trained in social selling. If they did it with a little bit more finesse, their ROI would increase dramatically.

As for TOXIC TROLLS and SHOCK JOCKS, it would be wise to unfollow (or block!) them for your mental health. You’ll thank me later that your mental health is not a cracked egg on the floor – a complete mess.

The only profitable brand persona

Some of my readers asked me what I meant by profitability here. They may be taking profitability at face value, as in someone giving you $100 for a post. That's not what I am referring to here.

Let me give you an example: Imagine if I am a headhunter looking to headhunt you for a $300k per annum C-suite leadership position. I review your profile and you’re a humble bragger or toxic troll with low EQ in your posts and comments. I may choose not to invite you to interview for that position. You’ve just lost a $300k per annum opportunity.

Here's a real-life case study for you if the one above isn’t clear enough: I once identified a potential executive life coach for a dear friend of mine who was looking for some professional direction during a career transition. I shared the life coach’s LinkedIn profile and promptly forgot about it. One day, my friend sent me a screenshot of the life coach’s post that was completely inappropriate, immature and clearly unprofessional for LinkedIn. Her message attached to the screenshot: “Babe, I don’t think this coach is for me.” Just like that, this life coach lost a few thousand dollars in potential income. Also, knowing me, I like sharing what works for me (and my friends), and so their loss in lifetime earning potential more likely approaches $10-20K.

Yes, one post can lose you $10-20K in cold, hard cash.

Are you clear about profitability now?

If “mitigation of future losses” isn’t actionable and feels indirect, then let me share with you something more actionable and direct. In many of my clients' cases, their THOUGHT LEADER content creates a 24-7 top funnel for business and client acquisition. And they can track the direct correlation of sales contract with a DM from a prospective client that lands in their inbox.

TL;DR: Profitability can be viewed as direct (for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, freelancers, consultants, coaches and speakers) and indirect (for one’s lifetime earning potential).

Can we learn from these archetypes in corporate branding?

Absolutely! Many companies prefer to discuss their product directly (think: SALES WARRIOR archetype) and use LinkedIn as a sales platform. But if you look at Nike, Red Bull and Apple’s messaging, they seldom mention their products directly. Instead, they use storytelling to inspire their target audience and foster brand trust.

Today's GenZ audiences do not make consumer decisions based purely on pricing; they also send their money to brands that they align with and want to support. Therefore, all brands can also aspire to Archetype 9 – THE THOUGHT LEADER.

Are inspirational guru and thought leader the same?

My job as a LinkedIn coach is to help my professional clients (either 1:1 or group coaching) move away from career-focused updates and low-quality aphorisms into thought-leadership posts.

As for Archetype 3 – THE INSPIRATIONAL GURU and Archetype 9 – THE THOUGHT LEADER, they are completely worlds apart.

One is a 0 and one is a 10.

One just reposts cliched aphorisms such as “make your enemy your best friend,” or plagiarizes quotes from Adam Grant and Warren Buffett.

In more egregious cases, many of them are just cranking out generic, vanilla content using ChatGPT.

The THOUGHT LEADER, however, calls up their hard-earned credibility, experience and expert knowledge, and shares:

• behind-the-scenes industry content

• hard-earned knowledge and resources

• how-to guide to enter industry or niche

• reviews on good products and services

• inspirational career stories and highlights their peers

They are unlocking valuable content that was previously inaccessible to us mortals.

Finally, can all of us be thought leaders?

I believe that all of us can be thought leaders in our niche or industry.

Archetype 9 – THOUGHT LEADER is 100% inclusive and as inclusive as it can be, because we don’t have to jostle to be Simon Sinek – there’s already one Simon Sinek. Instead, we need to be authentically ourselves, a market of one.

Even young people can become thought leaders; for example, Amanda Cua, my co-facilitator for my Six-Week Find Your Superpower LinkedIn Bootcamp (90% filled!) became a LinkedIn Top Voice when she was 21 years old.

Younger people can provide reverse mentorship on LinkedIn – by explaining GenZ slang, culture and ideals that older audiences aren’t privy to.

I have seen fresh grads acing it on LinkedIn.

I have seen retirees acing it on LinkedIn.

That said, while my job as a LinkedIn coach is to help my clients look good online and develop a strong personal brand, I am NOT a magician.

I can’t put lipstick on a pig.

It’s important that we have a beautiful inside before we can have a beautiful outside. Which is why my masterclass is titled LinkedIn Success Mindset (and not Action).

Therefore, tip of the day: If we want to build a strong personal brand on the outside, we can start by working on the inside!

If you want to hear more about these 9 archetypes on LinkedIn, join my LinkedIn Branding Basics with Juliana Chan workshop in Jan!

🔴 DATE: Friday, 26 January 2024, 11AM - 12PM (GMT +8)

🔴 LOCATION: Zoom webinar (an invite will be sent closer to the date)

Simply purchase any online course from: https://www.julianachan.org/courses

Let's go 2024! 

-- 

Thanks for reading issue 039 of my weekly Find Your Superpower newsletter.

For those of you who are new to my newsletter, Find Your Superpower is subscribed to by 29,000+ people, and discusses the following three goals: (1) Making a career transition, (2) Professional branding on LinkedIn, and (3) Reinventing ourselves for the future of work.

Here’s how we can stay in touch:

1. I would recommend you purchase my course, The LinkedIn Success Mindset. In this all-in-one guide to LinkedIn, we will learn how to manage our mindset, take action and avoid making cardinal sins on the platform. I will be giving course buyers a LIVE branding basics workshop on 26 January 2024.

2. If you are very new to LinkedIn, consider my masterclass on LinkedIn professional branding, Find Your Superpower: How to Rebrand Yourself on LinkedIn. This 1h on-demand video course that will help you identify your professional brand, write a brand statement from scratch, and launch your brand on LinkedIn. Don’t muck around for years on LinkedIn, sort your profile out quickly.

3. LAST CALL: Six-Week Find Your Superpower LinkedIn Bootcamp enrolling final participants. Limited spots remain. 90% filled. Apply now!