In December 2021, I got an call from Mereana Beconcini, Inspire Group’s marketing manager at the time (she’s now lead business partner at Special New Zealand and has been succeeded at Inspire Group by the also utterly splendid Ben Hogg).
Mere said, “Lizzie, how do you feel about LinkedIn?”
“I quite like LinkedIn, Mere” I said.
“Oh good. Well how would you feel about ghost writing LinkedIn posts for some of our senior execs?”
My initial gut reaction was to opt out. I’ve been a copywriter for almost 15 years now, and I can’t be arsed with social media posts because they tend to be unprofitable both financially and in terms of professional satisfaction.
So, no was on the tip of my tongue, but something held me back.
And that something was twofold. I like LinkedIn. Among the business banalities are whip smart people sharing entertaining, valuable content. And I know how powerful LinkedIn can be for business growth. Secondly, I’d just come from ghost writing for the first time and enjoyed it more than I’d expected. I learned heaps, and it was freeing to shape someone else’s ideas rather than coming up with content myself.
So, I said, “Sure. Why the heck not?”
Well, that was a good decision. Not only did I enjoy that first LinkedIn ghost writing gig (and the second, and the third …) but I’d inadvertently stumbled on a service that brought in 14% of my revenue last year without me having to promote it once.
The red thread of leadership
A week later I was on a Zoom call to Kuala Lumpur, interviewing CEO of Inspire Group Asia Ulrika Brunner. Inspire Group deliver life changing learning for large organisations, so Ulrika’s in high demand as a thought leader.
Ulrika recalls, “I wanted to take my LinkedIn voice to the next level. I’d lots of ideas, but I was a bit lost when it came to finding the thread that tied it all together.”
“I remember so clearly from our first meeting, Lizzie, how you managed to draw out that red thread. We were still on our call, you hadn't even sat down and reflected, and you said, ‘What I'm hearing is leadership conversations. When you talk, every time you light up, it's something to do with leadership conversations.’”
“When you said that to me, I thought that's it! That’s my thing. Because the topic of leadership pops up all the time. And since you said that to me, I’ve noticed the theme of leadership is present in 90% of the conversations I have. Leadership is one of the core things we teach at Inspire Group, but it's also how I engage with the world. When I meet new people I often use coaching questions. I’m not saying things because I want to make people feel good about themselves, but because I want to understand them, and help them understand themselves.”
“But I didn’t have that clarity before Lizzie. The way you drew that insight out was like magic. I'd been grappling with trying to find my purpose for a long time and I don't think I would have reached the same conclusion trying to do that work on my own.”
There's a common saying in marketing that you can't see the label on the bottle when you're on the inside. And I often think of that when people like Ulrika say how I’ve given them clarity on the problems they solve or the value they bring. It’s easy for me to do this for other people because I’ve spent 20 years listening to conversations and pulling out themes. But it's really hard for us to do this for ourselves, because we’re too close to our lives to see those big themes.
Connecting with the person behind the words
Ulrika wanted to hone her message and create a consistent voice on LinkedIn, so people get a feel for who she is and what she stands for. I asked her how she found the process we went through together.
“When I listen to the way you ask questions Lizzie and see the wealth and depth of information you draw out from people, I'm in awe. It feels like you have a magic wand”
“Often when I'm having conversations with potential clients, I think back to how you structure your questions and how deliberate you are, but how you make it sound so natural. It doesn't feel like you're going through a checklist. It's an easy conversation, but you’re very clear on what you need to create content. Your ability to do that is something else. I've never seen anyone else with that skill to your level.”
“I get a lot of people interviewing me. I get invited to speaking engagements. People ask me questions all the time. But the way you ask questions, and the way you listen, and the way you connect with the person behind the words, it’s like you connect with the soul of your subject. You really connect. And that's a special gift. That’s not usual. It's like a dance when we talk. It's just amazing.”
Channelling your authentic voice
When I ghost write, it’s my job to disappear. The finished result has nothing to do with me. It’s your ideas, your words, and your voice. All I do is help you identify the things that matter to you, encourage you to dig deep to fully express your expertise, then shape your thoughts into bite-sized nuggets of wisdom.
Ulrika recalls how that worked for her. “Most of all, I value the way you’re able to take my voice and write things and I feel like I wrote them myself. I feel completely connected to the content you’ve created on my behalf. There is nothing that doesn't resonate with me. It's like you're inside my head.”
When Ulrika started sharing her LinkedIn posts, what happened next exceeded her expectations. “I didn't expect the impact my posts would have on people. My stories seem to resonate on a deep, personal level. People began to reach out saying, ‘I so get what you're saying. I’ve experienced something just like that.’ People aren’t simply saying, cool post. They’re really connecting with the content.”
“Now when I go to events people feel like they know me because my LinkedIn voice is so clear, and the stories I tell are so personal. So, the trust is already there because they know who I am, and what I stand for.”
“I like to mentor people and LinkedIn has created the opportunity for me to support a wider group of people. People reach out to me when they’re feeling a bit stuck. I get messages from people just starting out in their career through to frustrated senior leaders. We’ll have very deep conversations where people open up to me because my LinkedIn presence has created that sense of familiarity and trust.”
“And then of course potential clients reach out and say, ‘The leadership culture you talk about is the kind of culture we want in our organisation. How can we make this happen?’ They want to work with me to create that kind of environment. We’ve just delivered five workshops for a huge organization because their team leader connected with me on LinkedIn and liked what he saw.”
An opportunity to make a lasting impact on others
Ulrika emphasises the importance of having a clear LinkedIn content focus. “For me, the big difference came with the clarity you gave me on my key theme, Lizzie. Going through the content creation process with you helped me get clear on where I can make the biggest impact. My time and energy are finite resources, so the more clarity I have, the more deliberate I can be with my focus.”
“The leadership conversations I have often explore three key principles. If you choose to be a leader, you must take responsibility for yourself first before you can lead others, it’s your role to direct and inspire, and you must foster a growth mindset. These three themes come up in every single leadership conversation I have, whether I'm talking to a new graduate or a senior leader of a multi-national.”
Ulrika asks questions that help people explore the reality of what’s going on, rather than making excuses or blaming life. “My goal is to get people to reflect in a way they wouldn’t normally. To take responsibility as leaders. And the conversations I have are extraordinary as a result. People tell me they’re not usual conversations. And the work I’ve done with you provided that clarity.”
“If you love people, and your purpose is to make long lasting impact for others, then LinkedIn is an amazing opportunity to make a difference by sharing what you know. But none of this would've been possible for me if I hadn't had your help.”
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