April 1, 2025 • 25 mins
Think your LinkedIn profile is doing its job? After auditing 10 accounts during the annual LinkedIn Challenge in the Mindful Marketing Lab, I found clear patterns—some great, others... not so much.
In this episode, I’m walking you through the most common profile mistakes, the kinds of content that actually work, and the one thing almost everyone is overlooking when it comes to engagement.
Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your LinkedIn game, these insights can help you show up more strategically without burning out.
In this episode of the podcast, I talk about:
- What your profile banner really needs to do
- How to write a headline that stops the scroll
- Tips for emotionally resonant About sections
- The post types that get the most traction
- Why your engagement strategy matters more than posting frequency
This Episode Was Made Possible By:
Riverside All-in-One Podcast & Video Platform
Visit Riverside and use the code DREA to get 15% off any Riverside individual plan. We use it to record all our podcast interviews: https://onlinedrea.com/riverside
Go to the show notes for all the resources mentioned in this episode: https://onlinedrea.com/351
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Andrea Jones (00:01):
10 LinkedIn audits later, and I am excited to bring you the
results of our annual LinkedIn challengeinside the Mindful Marketing Lab.
I had the pleasure of auditing 10 ofour members' accounts, and I wanna
share with you the things that everyonegot right and some of the things
that they're missing so that youcan learn from these audits as well.
Uh, welcome to episode 351 ofthe Mindful Marketing Podcast,
(00:25):
where we help you with simpler.
Smarter marketing strategies.
We're gonna get into thoseLinkedIn audits in a second, but
first a word from our sponsor.
Riverside is the All In One podcastrecording and editing tool that
I use for this ride here show.
I use it to edit not only the audio andthe video, it is like chef's kiss magical
(00:45):
making the entire process so, so easy.
Plus, I love their magicAI clips, their little.
AI robot in the background pulls out themost impactful moments of the episodes
without me having to comb through and doit myself, resizes them for social media.
So those vertical videos you seeon TikTok and Reels, those all come
(01:07):
from Magic AI inside of Riverside.
It's literally one click.
It spits out 10 clips.
I pick the best one and away I go.
Saves me so much time.
If you wanna get on the Riversidetrain, check it out today.
The links in the show notes, and makesure to use my code Drea, DREA at
checkout to get 15% off your membership.
(01:28):
All right, y'all.
The patterns are patterning.
I'm excited to share theresults of these audits.
I love doing these every single year.
It's an opportunity for me to notonly teach LinkedIn, but to analyze,
uh, accounts and give really.
Specific results.
Um, and we had a mixedskill level this year.
(01:48):
We had some absolute beginners,some newbies to LinkedIn, some
people who were just starting onthe platform for the first time.
And we had some people who had done thechallenge with me time and time again.
I think this was myseventh year hosting it.
And so it was really interesting to also.
See the things that they changedover the years, and so I wanna
bring you that in this episode.
My goal is to help you sharpen thingsup without you turning into a hustle
(02:11):
machine, without you turning intothose bro marketers on LinkedIn who
are just spouting off their own ideas.
This isn't about.
Faking it for the algorithm.
Okay.
I think the overarching thing that Inoticed is that the more you can show
up with clarity and consistency, thebetter it is on LinkedIn, and in fact,
(02:32):
it'll help you stand out versus blendingin with all the chat GBT recycled
material that we're seeing on LinkedIn.
So the first thing I wanna talk aboutis LinkedIn profiles and some of the
common mistakes that I saw on LinkedInprofiles as I was auditing these accounts.
I will say, my caveat to this is Idid use chat GBT to help me with this.
(02:53):
So I know AI is a little bit of atouchy subject, but if y'all want
the BTS, the behind the scenes ofhow I designed this episode, I.
Recorded these audits in Loom.
They were all about threeto seven minutes each.
I took the transcripts andI put all 10 transcripts.
I think there ended up being11 in total into Chachi, bt.
And I said, can you help me findthe commonalities and the mistakes
(03:16):
and the, um, improvements and thesuggestions I made in these videos?
So as you see me looking at datain my notes, I'm looking at this
material even though I was the onewho also did the, uh, audits as well.
Cool.
All right.
So first one common mistake,um, is your banner image.
Okay?
When you're looking at your profile,you have that beautiful header,
(03:36):
that beautiful banner image.
One of the things that youwanna make sure is that that
image is readable, not just on.
Top, but on mobile as well.
And if you have too much text or ifthe text is too cluttered or if the
text is too small, it can be reallyhard to see on a mobile device.
A lot of times when we're editing ourLinkedIn profile, we're on our computers.
(03:57):
If you're anything like me, typeme on my phone is not for me.
I do not like it.
I avoid it at all costs, and I will typeon my computer before I type on my phone.
I would use voice, voice totext before I type on my phone.
It's just I don't like it.
So.
When you're looking at your mobiledevice, I want you to make sure that
as you're editing your profile, youactually pick up your phone and you
look at that profile via mobile as well.
(04:20):
Okay, so your banner photo has to beclear, crisp, have a promise statement.
You can use Canva to design it and puttext up there, but I want you to make
sure that text is clear and easy to read.
Next on the profile, a lot of peoplearen't using your one profile link.
Now, this is new, relatively new inthe past, I wanna say 18 months or so,
(04:41):
LinkedIn added the ability for you to putone link in your profile similar to the
link that you used to get on Instagram.
I know it's five links now.
Okay.
But we had our one Instagram link.
Go to the bio, click the link.
You have that link nowon your LinkedIn profile.
So if you have not looked at yourprofile in a minute, go over and
add a link there to your profile.
That link also sometimes showsup in other places as well.
(05:05):
So for example.
If you're scrolling through your LinkedInfeed and you see someone leave a comment,
they can see a bit of your headline, andsometimes they can see that link as well.
So for me, I have it linking tomy everything page on my website,
which has all my free offers andmy paid offers all in one page.
So if someone's new to my world.
If they can just download somethingfor free and they're in one of
(05:26):
my funnels and it's great, right?
And so that's for me.
If you have one lead magnet, put it there.
If you are a consultant, put alink to book a call with you.
Make it really easy for someone ifthey're looking at a profile to take that
natural next step to working with you.
And then the other common mistakethat I saw comes with the headline
itself, and this is something I talkeda lot about in the LinkedIn challenge.
(05:47):
When you do not have a clear resultor a transformation in your headline,
it can be very challenging for peopleto understand what it is you do.
Sometimes we get a littlefancy with the headline.
Okay.
Like money manifestation coach.
Okay.
Actually that was, was pretty clear.
Um, money manifestation, arbitrator.
(06:09):
I'm just making up stuff at this point.
You catch my drift.
When you're thinking about yourheadline, that's the text that people
see right when they land on your profile.
Now, LinkedIn is gonnatry to put your job title.
Okay, whatever you said yourlast latest current job is.
LinkedIn's gonna put that there.
So if you're.
CEO of dog treats unlimited.
It's gonna say CEO ofdog treats unlimited.
(06:32):
So I want you to go click edit onyour profile and say you can keep
CEO of dog treats unlimited if youwant, but I want that transformation.
Um, serving the greater Niagara areawith healthy, non-processed dog treats
for people who care about their pets.
You see how there's atransformation in that statement.
(06:54):
Now you do get, I believeit's 220 characters and you
get even more on mobile.
So use all of that space to tell us moreabout what you do in that headline space.
A few other things to thinkabout with your profile is.
Stick to one core message.
Um, sometimes we have multiplebusinesses, multiple brands happening.
(07:14):
There's nothing wrong withthat, but I do want us to really
focus in on one core message.
For me, it's mindful marketing.
It's the new era of marketing.
I want that to be my focus.
Yes, I talk about other things.
Yes, I talk about a lot of other things,but if someone were to come to me and
get the first impression of me, that'swhat I want their first impression to be.
(07:37):
I also want you to think aboutthat headline statement as well,
and the fact that that headlinestatement also shows up in the feed.
I mentioned this earlier.
When you're scrolling through thefeed and you leave a comment on
someone's post, part of your headlineshows up there, it says, Andrea
Jones, mindful marketing strategist.
Social media, mindfulness orwhatever it says, that introductory
(07:58):
statement is very important.
So for me, I may wanna start offwith simpler, smarter, smarter
marketing for busy people.
Then put mindful marketing strategists.
'cause that part may get cut off, right?
So you think about the first coupleof words and how that will show up
in the feed and then start testingit yourself to see what comes up.
You may even wanna removesome of those words.
(08:20):
So sometimes I, I was seeingin the audience, people say.
I help busy people.
You don't need the I help.
You're wasting characters.
Okay, so remove the I.You can even say helping.
Okay.
Helping instead of Ihelp helping busy people.
Or just start with the end.
(08:40):
Helping busy, busy people with what?
Marketing.
So I'm gonna start with that.
Simpler, smartermarketing for busy people.
So you're removing the I helpaltogether and it's not needed.
Alright, next for the profile, you have somany other places that you can optimize.
When you're thinking about yourabout section, I want you to pull
(09:02):
in that benefit and transformativestatement from your headline.
Into your about yoursummary section as well.
Okay.
Expand upon it.
You have so much space thereto talk about what you do.
Use it all up.
I saw a lot of people starting thatabout section with the I help again.
Okay, so not only do I not wanna seethat in your headline, I don't wanna
(09:25):
see it in your about section as well.
A lot of times we use too many Istatements anyways, when we're looking
at brands, when we're talking aboutour, what we offer, because that
is a natural place where we start.
That is the first draft.
I don't want you to takethe first draft though.
I want you to edit it down so thatit accurately reflects what you do
(09:46):
to the person reading it, not to you.
Okay, so instead of saying I help, Iwould say, are you, are you a busy person
who wants to learn how to use marketing?
The solution to that is a simplestrategic method, et cetera, et cetera.
Right?
We're removing the I from that andwe're focusing in on the other person.
(10:08):
In addition to that, with your aboutstatements, we really fo wanna focus
in on the emotional transformation.
Okay.
Give people a deeper reason to hire you.
If they're looking at that aboutstatement, they're interested, right?
They're interested in what you have to do.
LinkedIn doesn't make this easy, sothey clicked a few times to get here.
Okay, give on something.
(10:29):
Um, I kept seeing a lot of peopleuse really tactical things.
So for example, um, if you areas someone who helps, let's say.
You're a money, I'll use amoney Mindset coach again.
Um, they would say, you know, Ihave a six month coaching program.
You can put book one-off, um, packages.
(10:50):
Um, but if you're unsure, booka consultation call with me.
And that would be their about section.
And there's nothing wrongwith that specifically.
But before someone gets to the spotwhere they're comfortable booking a
six month coaching package, we need toconnect with them on an emotional level.
Because as humans, we makedecisions based on our emotions.
Plain simple.
(11:10):
That's just how it works for most of us.
We make decisions based on our emotions,so we need to meet them where there
are, where they are, and especiallyfor something as sensitive as like a
money mindset coach, a lot of timesthere's a lot of feelings around it.
We don't want someone to say You're cheap.
You need to raise your ratesbecause you're cheap, like
that feels like an attack.
(11:31):
Instead, we wanna say somethinglike, Hmm, are you completely booked
out and you're still not makingthe money that you wanna make?
Okay, now people are like, huh?
I am in that spot.
So now they're curious, okay, ifI'm completely booked out and yet
I'm still not meeting my financialgoals, what is the next step?
The next step is you may beexperiencing a money mindset challenge.
(11:55):
Here are the signs.
If you wanna talk about it further,let's book a consultation call.
Do you see how that leadsthe reader to water?
It leads them to the solution instead of.
Starting with the solution, youhave a money mindset problem.
You need me.
It's kind of like, okay, back off.
You're saying, Hey, here are some of thethings you may be experiencing right now.
(12:15):
You may be feeling this,you may be thinking this.
You may, your life may look like this.
If that's the case, I have the solution.
I'd love to help you.
Okay.
And so having thatemotional transformation.
Is really important inthose about sections.
It's just a simple reframe, andI'm saying this with love because
I know I did all of these audits.
It's not that these weremissing completely, I just
(12:36):
thought they really could bestrengthened, um, along the lines.
Okay.
Um, one of the questions I like toask about the, about section is, does
my ideal client feel seen and heard?
Okay.
Do they feel seen and heard before youintroduce who you are and how you help?
Does my ideal client feel seen and heard?
(12:57):
So you, the person listening tothis podcast, you are most likely
a, you own your own business, okay?
Or you work in marketing, okay?
You are busy, you havea life, you have kids.
Maybe you're going back to school.
Maybe you're taking careof your aging parents.
Maybe you have chronic illness,maybe you have some sort of
(13:19):
physical, mental disability.
You have a lot going on, so followinga lot of the quote unquote traditional
marketing device is not working foryou because you do not even have time.
To one, learn it andthen two implement it.
Okay.
If that's you, I just madeyou feel seen and heard.
I hear you.
I feel you.
I'm actually right there with you.
Okay.
(13:40):
I've got two kids.
One is just turned one, the otherone's almost three years old.
I. I work 12 to 15 hours a week.
I do not have time to be messing around.
Every single thing I do in mybusiness has to be very intentional
because I don't have time.
Okay?
So when I'm talking aboutthese strategies, I'm outlining
them because I know you.
(14:01):
I feel you.
I see you, I hear you.
Now let's work on it together.
Okay?
Then I can introducewho I am and how I help.
So.
We wanna do that.
The last thing I wanna say aboutthe about section is that, and
this goes for a post as well.
I kept seeing this, break itup so that it's skimmable.
I know we learned in schoolto write in paragraphs.
We learned what paragraphs are.
(14:22):
It's like a couple of sentences, right?
I forget that.
Don't use fragments, don't use phrases.
Forget all of that.
I want us to break it up because socialmedia moves at a very, very fast pace.
We're all skimming, we're skimmingand moving on to the next.
Have y'all seen the internet?
It's like endless amounts ofentertainment and education.
Okay, so we wanna get onwith the entertainment and
(14:44):
education, and then we found you.
So you gotta get to the point.
You gotta make it easy for usto understand and the point,
and usually that means it's.
Spaced out in a way that makesit easy to skim and easy to read.
Okay, so that may mean using fragments.
It may mean using phrases.
Um, it may mean using bullet points.
I love using bullet points.
(15:06):
Um, all of those things can makeyour about section easier to read.
Alright, next I gotta talk about content.
Okay.
Content on LinkedIn is not thatdifferent from content in other
places, except I feel like, becausethe assumption around LinkedIn is that
it's a little bit more buttoned up.
(15:28):
We're missing some of thepersonal storytelling and every
time I collect these posts.
So for y'all who are in the MindfulMarketing Lab, you know, every single
month I do my, what's a Scoop session?
I highlight posts that areworking well across social media.
Because I'm scrolling,I'm seeing, I'm observing.
One of the things that I keep.
Emphasizing time and time againis that personal Storytelling with
(15:49):
emotion is what works the best.
Okay.
Personal storytelling withemotion works the best.
Yes.
We can say Join my money mindsetcoaching program, but we gotta start
with personal storytelling with emotion.
It doesn't have to beyour own personal story.
We can personalize it though.
Okay, so I'll use a personalstory as an example and a
(16:10):
personalized story as an example.
So a personal story.
If you're a money mindset coach, youcould say, you know, I used to have,
I used to own a business where I hadthis challenge and that challenge
until I raised my rates and I actuallywas able to not only free up my time,
but make more money in the process.
That's a personal story.
A personalized story would be like.
(16:31):
I was watching the Barbie movie theother day, and here's what Barbie
said, and that relates to money mindsetin this, that, and that way, right?
We don't have to share personal lifedetails if you don't want to, but we
need to have some emotional tie andemotional connection with the reader.
Remember what I said about the internet?
It's a bottomless pit.
It's like bottomlessmimosas over here, okay?
(16:51):
It's a party, it's a fun time, and thenyou come along with your seriousness.
Okay?
So what's gonna break that up enoughfor someone to pay attention to it?
There are two other things thatI also saw working really well
content-wise in these audits.
One of them was celebratingwins and celebrating others, so
just celebrations in general.
(17:11):
Anywhere where someone can saycongrats or congratulations
still works well on social media.
You have to use this with intention.
I do not want us making up.
Things.
Okay.
But for example, I just celebrated11 years in business this year.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And when I post about it, a lotof people said, congratulations.
This is a great type of celebratory post.
(17:34):
So anytime you can celebrate businessanniversaries, launching new products,
or celebrating others, like, I wanna takea moment to thank this person or that
person, especially if you can tag them.
That works really well.
The last style of content that I sawworking really well for these audits
is sharing your personal values, um,especially in this day and age 2025.
(17:57):
I don't know what is happeningin the world right now, but
we are all going through it.
Okay?
It is so emotionally, politically,and socially charged right now.
That sometimes it feels like navigatingsocial media is a minefield, so I
want us to share our values in a waythat helps people understand where
(18:20):
we are and also acknowledges what theheck is going on in your communities.
Okay, so for me, I just sent out anemail this week, actually last week.
Which was about what I'mseeing in marketing right now.
There's a lot of heaviness.
Um, there's a lot of weight to it.
I've been talking about this a lotwith my, my closed community, and
(18:42):
I'm starting to talk about it morein public now because I'm recognizing
people think that this is justbusiness as usual and it's not.
Businesses are hurting right now.
It marketing is hurting right now.
Especially with the rise of ai,my marketers are like, do we
have job security right now?
And so I'm talking a lot about that.
(19:04):
How do we navigate thischanging landscape?
That's a value of mine that I'mgonna continue talking about,
and I'm gonna continue talkingabout ethical uses of AI as well.
Okay.
So that's it.
On post.
I will also emphasize skimmable.
Okay.
Long paragraphs.
It's not it.
We don't wanna read the whole Bible here.
(19:25):
We want to skim, get the bulletpoints, get the main point, and start
with the hook if you can, becauseLinkedIn is gonna like truncate your
post and you gotta hit like that.
I think it's read more or seemore to see the whole thing.
All right.
Lastly, I gotta talk about engagement.
The most common piece of feedback.
That I saw the biggest area improvementin all of the LinkedIn accounts
(19:48):
that I audited was that everyone wasposting more than they were engaging.
Almost everyone, almost everyone wasposting more than you're engaging.
And with LinkedIn it's a little bitdifferent 'cause I can actually look
at your, your account and I can seethe comments that you're leaving.
Okay, so I can see that you posted,you know, five times this week
and you only left two comments.
(20:09):
Commenting as much as you're posting,if not more, is actually gonna help
you grow your LinkedIn account faster.
Okay?
So if you need to pullback on content, do that.
The LinkedIn algorithm isactually like Chef's Kiss.
Amazing.
When I think about.
Um, LinkedIn's algorithm comparedto something like Instagram.
I'm always like, thank GBU for LinkedIn.
(20:30):
Because LinkedIn, you post today andthen like a week later people are still
commenting on it, whereas on Instagramyou post today, maybe tomorrow, maybe
two days later, people are commentingon it, but most posts are like, it's,
it's gone long, gone by the end ofthe week, so I want you to post less.
Comment more when we're thinkingabout engaging strategically.
(20:54):
I also want us to try to makesure we're actively growing our
communities every single week.
So for a lot of the audits, I wasgiving them the goal of finding one
new person a day to connect with.
So if you have, you know,let's say you have 15 minutes
a day to spend on LinkedIn.
Um, for as far as engagementgoes, and then you have about
(21:16):
30 minutes a week for content.
Okay?
So I want you to write onepost in that 30 minutes.
Just text only.
Don't worry about graphics,don't worry about images.
One text-based post, that's your postfor the week, and then 15 minutes a day.
I want you to find one commentand find one new person to follow.
That's it.
And you will see drasticimprovement in your account if
(21:36):
you can maintain that consistency.
Now, my consistency hereis just a suggestion.
Okay?
You can, you set the rules.
Maybe you only can do this, uh, one posta month and you have 15 minutes a week.
To to network on LinkedIn.
Fine.
You set your consistency, butI want you to make sure you're
(21:56):
diversifying who you engage with.
The other thing I noticed when Iwas looking through engagement.
And this is the algorithm'sfault on LinkedIn.
Once you start liking andcommenting on one person's
post, they're always at the top.
LinkedIn is like, oh, you like this?
You must love it.
And so you have to thinka little bit harder.
Scroll a little bit farther todiversify, but I want you to
(22:17):
diversify who you're engaging with.
And this is strategic as well, right?
So I want you to think about if you are.
Commenting on the same person's post,that community is gonna see your comments.
Okay?
And I want you to test this.
Scroll through LinkedIn.
You'll start seeing not only thepeople you follow, but the people who
commented on other people's posts.
(22:38):
You'll see those in your feed as well.
And so your posts will showup in other people's feed
even if they don't follow you.
Your comments will show up inother people's feed, even if
they don't follow you once youstart deploying this strategy.
Okay.
The other thing I want you to thinkabout as you're commenting and engaging
is I want you to think about audienceswho are similar and adjacent to yours.
(23:03):
Okay?
Not just your biz besties, not justyour friends, not just the people you
know, but I want you to think aboutcommunities that are adjacent to yours.
So an example I like to use sometimesis Pat Flynn or an Amy Porterfield.
Okay?
So a Pat Flynn or Amy Porterfield.
We have.
Similar-ish, similar-ish beliefs inbusiness, let's say, especially Pat Flynn.
(23:28):
Um, but they don't really touch.
Marketing or social media that much.
It's mostly like businessbuilding or creating assets.
And I'm like the afterwards, like,okay, now you've built your business.
You need to market it.
Then I come in, right?
And so if I were to start this strategy,I would look at Pat Flynn and go, let me
(23:48):
start commenting on not just his posts,but the people who comment on his posts.
I'm gonna start building connectionswith them because his people.
Probably could be my people too, right?
So I want you to start thinking aboutit a little bit that way as well.
All right.
To wrap this all up, I want you tothink about this specific thing.
(24:11):
LinkedIn.
LinkedIn strategies, or anysocial media strategies at all.
It's not about going viral.
Okay.
This is not the plan.
The plan is to find your people.
Find the people who will get to know you,trust you, like you, work with you, and
become your super fans, your advocates.
These are the people who arelike, yes, Andrea, all the way.
(24:33):
Anything she puts out, I'm here for it.
Those are your people.
That's who you're looking for.
And the only way to find themis through one relationship at a
time, one connection at a time.
Now, if you're in the middle of yourLinkedIn glow up, I gotta invite you to
join us in the Mindful Marketing Lab.
We're all figuring this out together.
One of my goals this year with thelab members is to really teach you
(24:57):
all how to find your own solutions.
And I am there with youevery step of the way.
One of my biggest, my favoritethings about the lab is
you get unlimited support.
So if you come in and you're like, HeyAndrea, can you look at my LinkedIn?
I'm probably gonna make you a Loom video.
Okay.
Usually I charge $500 for this levelof one-on-one support, but it's all
included in the Mindful Marketing Lab,so head on over online, dre.com/lab.
(25:22):
The link will be in the show notes.
I will see you then.
I'll be back soon.
Next Tuesday with another episodeof the Mindful Marketing Podcast.
I have Adam Constantinecoming on the show.
We had such a fun conversation.
He actually gave me a lot of ideas.
So stay tuned for that.
I'll see you then.
Bye for now.
10 LinkedIn audits later, and I am excited to bring you the
results of our annual LinkedIn challengeinside the Mindful Marketing Lab.
I had the pleasure of auditing 10 ofour members' accounts, and I wanna
share with you the things that everyonegot right and some of the things
that they're missing so that youcan learn from these audits as well.
Uh, welcome to episode 351 ofthe Mindful Marketing Podcast,
(00:25):
where we help you with simpler.
Smarter marketing strategies.
We're gonna get into thoseLinkedIn audits in a second, but
first a word from our sponsor.
Riverside is the All In One podcastrecording and editing tool that
I use for this ride here show.
I use it to edit not only the audio andthe video, it is like chef's kiss magical
(00:45):
making the entire process so, so easy.
Plus, I love their magicAI clips, their little.
AI robot in the background pulls out themost impactful moments of the episodes
without me having to comb through and doit myself, resizes them for social media.
So those vertical videos you seeon TikTok and Reels, those all come
(01:07):
from Magic AI inside of Riverside.
It's literally one click.
It spits out 10 clips.
I pick the best one and away I go.
Saves me so much time.
If you wanna get on the Riversidetrain, check it out today.
The links in the show notes, and makesure to use my code Drea, DREA at
checkout to get 15% off your membership.
(01:28):
All right, y'all.
The patterns are patterning.
I'm excited to share theresults of these audits.
I love doing these every single year.
It's an opportunity for me to notonly teach LinkedIn, but to analyze,
uh, accounts and give really.
Specific results.
Um, and we had a mixedskill level this year.
(01:48):
We had some absolute beginners,some newbies to LinkedIn, some
people who were just starting onthe platform for the first time.
And we had some people who had done thechallenge with me time and time again.
I think this was myseventh year hosting it.
And so it was really interesting to also.
See the things that they changedover the years, and so I wanna
bring you that in this episode.
My goal is to help you sharpen thingsup without you turning into a hustle
(02:11):
machine, without you turning intothose bro marketers on LinkedIn who
are just spouting off their own ideas.
This isn't about.
Faking it for the algorithm.
Okay.
I think the overarching thing that Inoticed is that the more you can show
up with clarity and consistency, thebetter it is on LinkedIn, and in fact,
(02:32):
it'll help you stand out versus blendingin with all the chat GBT recycled
material that we're seeing on LinkedIn.
So the first thing I wanna talk aboutis LinkedIn profiles and some of the
common mistakes that I saw on LinkedInprofiles as I was auditing these accounts.
I will say, my caveat to this is Idid use chat GBT to help me with this.
(02:53):
So I know AI is a little bit of atouchy subject, but if y'all want
the BTS, the behind the scenes ofhow I designed this episode, I.
Recorded these audits in Loom.
They were all about threeto seven minutes each.
I took the transcripts andI put all 10 transcripts.
I think there ended up being11 in total into Chachi, bt.
And I said, can you help me findthe commonalities and the mistakes
(03:16):
and the, um, improvements and thesuggestions I made in these videos?
So as you see me looking at datain my notes, I'm looking at this
material even though I was the onewho also did the, uh, audits as well.
Cool.
All right.
So first one common mistake,um, is your banner image.
Okay?
When you're looking at your profile,you have that beautiful header,
(03:36):
that beautiful banner image.
One of the things that youwanna make sure is that that
image is readable, not just on.
Top, but on mobile as well.
And if you have too much text or ifthe text is too cluttered or if the
text is too small, it can be reallyhard to see on a mobile device.
A lot of times when we're editing ourLinkedIn profile, we're on our computers.
(03:57):
If you're anything like me, typeme on my phone is not for me.
I do not like it.
I avoid it at all costs, and I will typeon my computer before I type on my phone.
I would use voice, voice totext before I type on my phone.
It's just I don't like it.
So.
When you're looking at your mobiledevice, I want you to make sure that
as you're editing your profile, youactually pick up your phone and you
look at that profile via mobile as well.
(04:20):
Okay, so your banner photo has to beclear, crisp, have a promise statement.
You can use Canva to design it and puttext up there, but I want you to make
sure that text is clear and easy to read.
Next on the profile, a lot of peoplearen't using your one profile link.
Now, this is new, relatively new inthe past, I wanna say 18 months or so,
(04:41):
LinkedIn added the ability for you to putone link in your profile similar to the
link that you used to get on Instagram.
I know it's five links now.
Okay.
But we had our one Instagram link.
Go to the bio, click the link.
You have that link nowon your LinkedIn profile.
So if you have not looked at yourprofile in a minute, go over and
add a link there to your profile.
That link also sometimes showsup in other places as well.
(05:05):
So for example.
If you're scrolling through your LinkedInfeed and you see someone leave a comment,
they can see a bit of your headline, andsometimes they can see that link as well.
So for me, I have it linking tomy everything page on my website,
which has all my free offers andmy paid offers all in one page.
So if someone's new to my world.
If they can just download somethingfor free and they're in one of
(05:26):
my funnels and it's great, right?
And so that's for me.
If you have one lead magnet, put it there.
If you are a consultant, put alink to book a call with you.
Make it really easy for someone ifthey're looking at a profile to take that
natural next step to working with you.
And then the other common mistakethat I saw comes with the headline
itself, and this is something I talkeda lot about in the LinkedIn challenge.
(05:47):
When you do not have a clear resultor a transformation in your headline,
it can be very challenging for peopleto understand what it is you do.
Sometimes we get a littlefancy with the headline.
Okay.
Like money manifestation coach.
Okay.
Actually that was, was pretty clear.
Um, money manifestation, arbitrator.
(06:09):
I'm just making up stuff at this point.
You catch my drift.
When you're thinking about yourheadline, that's the text that people
see right when they land on your profile.
Now, LinkedIn is gonnatry to put your job title.
Okay, whatever you said yourlast latest current job is.
LinkedIn's gonna put that there.
So if you're.
CEO of dog treats unlimited.
It's gonna say CEO ofdog treats unlimited.
(06:32):
So I want you to go click edit onyour profile and say you can keep
CEO of dog treats unlimited if youwant, but I want that transformation.
Um, serving the greater Niagara areawith healthy, non-processed dog treats
for people who care about their pets.
You see how there's atransformation in that statement.
(06:54):
Now you do get, I believeit's 220 characters and you
get even more on mobile.
So use all of that space to tell us moreabout what you do in that headline space.
A few other things to thinkabout with your profile is.
Stick to one core message.
Um, sometimes we have multiplebusinesses, multiple brands happening.
(07:14):
There's nothing wrong withthat, but I do want us to really
focus in on one core message.
For me, it's mindful marketing.
It's the new era of marketing.
I want that to be my focus.
Yes, I talk about other things.
Yes, I talk about a lot of other things,but if someone were to come to me and
get the first impression of me, that'swhat I want their first impression to be.
(07:37):
I also want you to think aboutthat headline statement as well,
and the fact that that headlinestatement also shows up in the feed.
I mentioned this earlier.
When you're scrolling through thefeed and you leave a comment on
someone's post, part of your headlineshows up there, it says, Andrea
Jones, mindful marketing strategist.
Social media, mindfulness orwhatever it says, that introductory
(07:58):
statement is very important.
So for me, I may wanna start offwith simpler, smarter, smarter
marketing for busy people.
Then put mindful marketing strategists.
'cause that part may get cut off, right?
So you think about the first coupleof words and how that will show up
in the feed and then start testingit yourself to see what comes up.
You may even wanna removesome of those words.
(08:20):
So sometimes I, I was seeingin the audience, people say.
I help busy people.
You don't need the I help.
You're wasting characters.
Okay, so remove the I.You can even say helping.
Okay.
Helping instead of Ihelp helping busy people.
Or just start with the end.
(08:40):
Helping busy, busy people with what?
Marketing.
So I'm gonna start with that.
Simpler, smartermarketing for busy people.
So you're removing the I helpaltogether and it's not needed.
Alright, next for the profile, you have somany other places that you can optimize.
When you're thinking about yourabout section, I want you to pull
(09:02):
in that benefit and transformativestatement from your headline.
Into your about yoursummary section as well.
Okay.
Expand upon it.
You have so much space thereto talk about what you do.
Use it all up.
I saw a lot of people starting thatabout section with the I help again.
Okay, so not only do I not wanna seethat in your headline, I don't wanna
(09:25):
see it in your about section as well.
A lot of times we use too many Istatements anyways, when we're looking
at brands, when we're talking aboutour, what we offer, because that
is a natural place where we start.
That is the first draft.
I don't want you to takethe first draft though.
I want you to edit it down so thatit accurately reflects what you do
(09:46):
to the person reading it, not to you.
Okay, so instead of saying I help, Iwould say, are you, are you a busy person
who wants to learn how to use marketing?
The solution to that is a simplestrategic method, et cetera, et cetera.
Right?
We're removing the I from that andwe're focusing in on the other person.
(10:08):
In addition to that, with your aboutstatements, we really fo wanna focus
in on the emotional transformation.
Okay.
Give people a deeper reason to hire you.
If they're looking at that aboutstatement, they're interested, right?
They're interested in what you have to do.
LinkedIn doesn't make this easy, sothey clicked a few times to get here.
Okay, give on something.
(10:29):
Um, I kept seeing a lot of peopleuse really tactical things.
So for example, um, if you areas someone who helps, let's say.
You're a money, I'll use amoney Mindset coach again.
Um, they would say, you know, Ihave a six month coaching program.
You can put book one-off, um, packages.
(10:50):
Um, but if you're unsure, booka consultation call with me.
And that would be their about section.
And there's nothing wrongwith that specifically.
But before someone gets to the spotwhere they're comfortable booking a
six month coaching package, we need toconnect with them on an emotional level.
Because as humans, we makedecisions based on our emotions.
Plain simple.
(11:10):
That's just how it works for most of us.
We make decisions based on our emotions,so we need to meet them where there
are, where they are, and especiallyfor something as sensitive as like a
money mindset coach, a lot of timesthere's a lot of feelings around it.
We don't want someone to say You're cheap.
You need to raise your ratesbecause you're cheap, like
that feels like an attack.
(11:31):
Instead, we wanna say somethinglike, Hmm, are you completely booked
out and you're still not makingthe money that you wanna make?
Okay, now people are like, huh?
I am in that spot.
So now they're curious, okay, ifI'm completely booked out and yet
I'm still not meeting my financialgoals, what is the next step?
The next step is you may beexperiencing a money mindset challenge.
(11:55):
Here are the signs.
If you wanna talk about it further,let's book a consultation call.
Do you see how that leadsthe reader to water?
It leads them to the solution instead of.
Starting with the solution, youhave a money mindset problem.
You need me.
It's kind of like, okay, back off.
You're saying, Hey, here are some of thethings you may be experiencing right now.
(12:15):
You may be feeling this,you may be thinking this.
You may, your life may look like this.
If that's the case, I have the solution.
I'd love to help you.
Okay.
And so having thatemotional transformation.
Is really important inthose about sections.
It's just a simple reframe, andI'm saying this with love because
I know I did all of these audits.
It's not that these weremissing completely, I just
(12:36):
thought they really could bestrengthened, um, along the lines.
Okay.
Um, one of the questions I like toask about the, about section is, does
my ideal client feel seen and heard?
Okay.
Do they feel seen and heard before youintroduce who you are and how you help?
Does my ideal client feel seen and heard?
(12:57):
So you, the person listening tothis podcast, you are most likely
a, you own your own business, okay?
Or you work in marketing, okay?
You are busy, you havea life, you have kids.
Maybe you're going back to school.
Maybe you're taking careof your aging parents.
Maybe you have chronic illness,maybe you have some sort of
(13:19):
physical, mental disability.
You have a lot going on, so followinga lot of the quote unquote traditional
marketing device is not working foryou because you do not even have time.
To one, learn it andthen two implement it.
Okay.
If that's you, I just madeyou feel seen and heard.
I hear you.
I feel you.
I'm actually right there with you.
Okay.
(13:40):
I've got two kids.
One is just turned one, the otherone's almost three years old.
I. I work 12 to 15 hours a week.
I do not have time to be messing around.
Every single thing I do in mybusiness has to be very intentional
because I don't have time.
Okay?
So when I'm talking aboutthese strategies, I'm outlining
them because I know you.
(14:01):
I feel you.
I see you, I hear you.
Now let's work on it together.
Okay?
Then I can introducewho I am and how I help.
So.
We wanna do that.
The last thing I wanna say aboutthe about section is that, and
this goes for a post as well.
I kept seeing this, break itup so that it's skimmable.
I know we learned in schoolto write in paragraphs.
We learned what paragraphs are.
(14:22):
It's like a couple of sentences, right?
I forget that.
Don't use fragments, don't use phrases.
Forget all of that.
I want us to break it up because socialmedia moves at a very, very fast pace.
We're all skimming, we're skimmingand moving on to the next.
Have y'all seen the internet?
It's like endless amounts ofentertainment and education.
Okay, so we wanna get onwith the entertainment and
(14:44):
education, and then we found you.
So you gotta get to the point.
You gotta make it easy for usto understand and the point,
and usually that means it's.
Spaced out in a way that makesit easy to skim and easy to read.
Okay, so that may mean using fragments.
It may mean using phrases.
Um, it may mean using bullet points.
I love using bullet points.
(15:06):
Um, all of those things can makeyour about section easier to read.
Alright, next I gotta talk about content.
Okay.
Content on LinkedIn is not thatdifferent from content in other
places, except I feel like, becausethe assumption around LinkedIn is that
it's a little bit more buttoned up.
(15:28):
We're missing some of thepersonal storytelling and every
time I collect these posts.
So for y'all who are in the MindfulMarketing Lab, you know, every single
month I do my, what's a Scoop session?
I highlight posts that areworking well across social media.
Because I'm scrolling,I'm seeing, I'm observing.
One of the things that I keep.
Emphasizing time and time againis that personal Storytelling with
(15:49):
emotion is what works the best.
Okay.
Personal storytelling withemotion works the best.
Yes.
We can say Join my money mindsetcoaching program, but we gotta start
with personal storytelling with emotion.
It doesn't have to beyour own personal story.
We can personalize it though.
Okay, so I'll use a personalstory as an example and a
(16:10):
personalized story as an example.
So a personal story.
If you're a money mindset coach, youcould say, you know, I used to have,
I used to own a business where I hadthis challenge and that challenge
until I raised my rates and I actuallywas able to not only free up my time,
but make more money in the process.
That's a personal story.
A personalized story would be like.
(16:31):
I was watching the Barbie movie theother day, and here's what Barbie
said, and that relates to money mindsetin this, that, and that way, right?
We don't have to share personal lifedetails if you don't want to, but we
need to have some emotional tie andemotional connection with the reader.
Remember what I said about the internet?
It's a bottomless pit.
It's like bottomlessmimosas over here, okay?
(16:51):
It's a party, it's a fun time, and thenyou come along with your seriousness.
Okay?
So what's gonna break that up enoughfor someone to pay attention to it?
There are two other things thatI also saw working really well
content-wise in these audits.
One of them was celebratingwins and celebrating others, so
just celebrations in general.
(17:11):
Anywhere where someone can saycongrats or congratulations
still works well on social media.
You have to use this with intention.
I do not want us making up.
Things.
Okay.
But for example, I just celebrated11 years in business this year.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And when I post about it, a lotof people said, congratulations.
This is a great type of celebratory post.
(17:34):
So anytime you can celebrate businessanniversaries, launching new products,
or celebrating others, like, I wanna takea moment to thank this person or that
person, especially if you can tag them.
That works really well.
The last style of content that I sawworking really well for these audits
is sharing your personal values, um,especially in this day and age 2025.
(17:57):
I don't know what is happeningin the world right now, but
we are all going through it.
Okay?
It is so emotionally, politically,and socially charged right now.
That sometimes it feels like navigatingsocial media is a minefield, so I
want us to share our values in a waythat helps people understand where
(18:20):
we are and also acknowledges what theheck is going on in your communities.
Okay, so for me, I just sent out anemail this week, actually last week.
Which was about what I'mseeing in marketing right now.
There's a lot of heaviness.
Um, there's a lot of weight to it.
I've been talking about this a lotwith my, my closed community, and
(18:42):
I'm starting to talk about it morein public now because I'm recognizing
people think that this is justbusiness as usual and it's not.
Businesses are hurting right now.
It marketing is hurting right now.
Especially with the rise of ai,my marketers are like, do we
have job security right now?
And so I'm talking a lot about that.
(19:04):
How do we navigate thischanging landscape?
That's a value of mine that I'mgonna continue talking about,
and I'm gonna continue talkingabout ethical uses of AI as well.
Okay.
So that's it.
On post.
I will also emphasize skimmable.
Okay.
Long paragraphs.
It's not it.
We don't wanna read the whole Bible here.
(19:25):
We want to skim, get the bulletpoints, get the main point, and start
with the hook if you can, becauseLinkedIn is gonna like truncate your
post and you gotta hit like that.
I think it's read more or seemore to see the whole thing.
All right.
Lastly, I gotta talk about engagement.
The most common piece of feedback.
That I saw the biggest area improvementin all of the LinkedIn accounts
(19:48):
that I audited was that everyone wasposting more than they were engaging.
Almost everyone, almost everyone wasposting more than you're engaging.
And with LinkedIn it's a little bitdifferent 'cause I can actually look
at your, your account and I can seethe comments that you're leaving.
Okay, so I can see that you posted,you know, five times this week
and you only left two comments.
(20:09):
Commenting as much as you're posting,if not more, is actually gonna help
you grow your LinkedIn account faster.
Okay?
So if you need to pullback on content, do that.
The LinkedIn algorithm isactually like Chef's Kiss.
Amazing.
When I think about.
Um, LinkedIn's algorithm comparedto something like Instagram.
I'm always like, thank GBU for LinkedIn.
(20:30):
Because LinkedIn, you post today andthen like a week later people are still
commenting on it, whereas on Instagramyou post today, maybe tomorrow, maybe
two days later, people are commentingon it, but most posts are like, it's,
it's gone long, gone by the end ofthe week, so I want you to post less.
Comment more when we're thinkingabout engaging strategically.
(20:54):
I also want us to try to makesure we're actively growing our
communities every single week.
So for a lot of the audits, I wasgiving them the goal of finding one
new person a day to connect with.
So if you have, you know,let's say you have 15 minutes
a day to spend on LinkedIn.
Um, for as far as engagementgoes, and then you have about
(21:16):
30 minutes a week for content.
Okay?
So I want you to write onepost in that 30 minutes.
Just text only.
Don't worry about graphics,don't worry about images.
One text-based post, that's your postfor the week, and then 15 minutes a day.
I want you to find one commentand find one new person to follow.
That's it.
And you will see drasticimprovement in your account if
(21:36):
you can maintain that consistency.
Now, my consistency hereis just a suggestion.
Okay?
You can, you set the rules.
Maybe you only can do this, uh, one posta month and you have 15 minutes a week.
To to network on LinkedIn.
Fine.
You set your consistency, butI want you to make sure you're
(21:56):
diversifying who you engage with.
The other thing I noticed when Iwas looking through engagement.
And this is the algorithm'sfault on LinkedIn.
Once you start liking andcommenting on one person's
post, they're always at the top.
LinkedIn is like, oh, you like this?
You must love it.
And so you have to thinka little bit harder.
Scroll a little bit farther todiversify, but I want you to
(22:17):
diversify who you're engaging with.
And this is strategic as well, right?
So I want you to think about if you are.
Commenting on the same person's post,that community is gonna see your comments.
Okay?
And I want you to test this.
Scroll through LinkedIn.
You'll start seeing not only thepeople you follow, but the people who
commented on other people's posts.
(22:38):
You'll see those in your feed as well.
And so your posts will showup in other people's feed
even if they don't follow you.
Your comments will show up inother people's feed, even if
they don't follow you once youstart deploying this strategy.
Okay.
The other thing I want you to thinkabout as you're commenting and engaging
is I want you to think about audienceswho are similar and adjacent to yours.
(23:03):
Okay?
Not just your biz besties, not justyour friends, not just the people you
know, but I want you to think aboutcommunities that are adjacent to yours.
So an example I like to use sometimesis Pat Flynn or an Amy Porterfield.
Okay?
So a Pat Flynn or Amy Porterfield.
We have.
Similar-ish, similar-ish beliefs inbusiness, let's say, especially Pat Flynn.
(23:28):
Um, but they don't really touch.
Marketing or social media that much.
It's mostly like businessbuilding or creating assets.
And I'm like the afterwards, like,okay, now you've built your business.
You need to market it.
Then I come in, right?
And so if I were to start this strategy,I would look at Pat Flynn and go, let me
(23:48):
start commenting on not just his posts,but the people who comment on his posts.
I'm gonna start building connectionswith them because his people.
Probably could be my people too, right?
So I want you to start thinking aboutit a little bit that way as well.
All right.
To wrap this all up, I want you tothink about this specific thing.
(24:11):
LinkedIn.
LinkedIn strategies, or anysocial media strategies at all.
It's not about going viral.
Okay.
This is not the plan.
The plan is to find your people.
Find the people who will get to know you,trust you, like you, work with you, and
become your super fans, your advocates.
These are the people who arelike, yes, Andrea, all the way.
(24:33):
Anything she puts out, I'm here for it.
Those are your people.
That's who you're looking for.
And the only way to find themis through one relationship at a
time, one connection at a time.
Now, if you're in the middle of yourLinkedIn glow up, I gotta invite you to
join us in the Mindful Marketing Lab.
We're all figuring this out together.
One of my goals this year with thelab members is to really teach you
(24:57):
all how to find your own solutions.
And I am there with youevery step of the way.
One of my biggest, my favoritethings about the lab is
you get unlimited support.
So if you come in and you're like, HeyAndrea, can you look at my LinkedIn?
I'm probably gonna make you a Loom video.
Okay.
Usually I charge $500 for this levelof one-on-one support, but it's all
included in the Mindful Marketing Lab,so head on over online, dre.com/lab.
(25:22):
The link will be in the show notes.
I will see you then.
I'll be back soon.
Next Tuesday with another episodeof the Mindful Marketing Podcast.
I have Adam Constantinecoming on the show.
We had such a fun conversation.
He actually gave me a lot of ideas.
So stay tuned for that.
I'll see you then.
Bye for now.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.