Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. I need to ask you a question. Have you updated your LinkedIn recently? Have you posted recently? If not, why not?

Erica: Are you not sure what to post about? Maybe you're caught up in the confusion with all of these different pieces of advice out there that come from all over the place from all of these people who call themselves LinkedIn experts. Here's the deal, y'all. In a world where connections pave the pathway to success, LinkedIn stands as the digital bridge between your dreams and reality. Now I want you to start thinking about it as much more than just this social media platform and more like a realm of opportunities, a canvas in which you can paint your professional story and a tool to navigate your career trajectory.

Erica: Now if you're not sure where to start, I bet you're back. Today, we're gonna cover why you have to start investing just a spidgen of your time on LinkedIn and my own personal strategy that I use to grow my followers, boost my impressions, and land not one, but two jobs before they were even posted.

Erica: I'm obsessed with all things growth and abundance, and I'm here to talk you through the tried and true secrets to get you to level up your career and your life. We talk about the hard stuff here. Imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear, and burnout. So hold a seat, pop in an earbud, and let's dive in. Alright.

Erica: To kick this off, let's talk about building your personal brand. Whatever you do, you've got to stop thinking about LinkedIn just as this fancy resume repository, which that's what it used to be. This is your stage where all of your accomplishments take front and center. When you craft a compelling profile, you are designing a window into your world. You are showcasing your experiences, your skills, your achievements, and all of the pieces of your profile matter.

Erica: Your profile picture, your headline, your summary, and the banner. These are all pieces of the puzzle that forms this unique personal brand. And that my friend is what sets you apart. And here's the real deal. Your resume does not matter as much as your LinkedIn.

Erica: And that might be a bold statement, but as soon as somebody's resume lands on their desk, you know where they go? They go to LinkedIn. They wanna see who you are, what you stand for and what you are about. Okay. Your LinkedIn is how you wanna be perceived professionally.

Erica: So when you engage with content that is thoughtful and you have meaningful connections, all of this contributes to you as a thought leader. This is how you stand out. This is your time to shine. And I know that you might be worried. What do I post?

Erica: What do I not post? What's too personal. What's not personal enough. And again, don't worry. I have you covered and we'll get into that in just a minute.

Erica: But before we do, I wanna talk about networking. LinkedIn is the virtual networking event that never stops. And I don't want it to be an episode that seems like I'm getting some dollars behind the scene from LinkedIn because I'm not, but it is critical that you use this platform to expand your network. And I've said it once and I'll say it again. Your network is your net worth.

Erica: I've talked about this in one of my episodes before. I will link that in the show notes, but when you have quality connections, you increase your chance of landing that next level job. Now I actually have a free training called level up your LinkedIn, which I'll also drop in the show notes, but utilizing my LinkedIn and my connections, that is how I've landed two of my most exciting roles. So I proactively reached out to people who I wanted to know at companies that I wanted to work for, that I cared about. And I started a conversation.

Erica: Now I didn't go in guns blazing, just asking for a job or telling them I was interested in a job, but I did start by building a relationship with them. And that is what really solidified the two career opportunities that guess what? Those career opportunities were never posted to the public. So you hear all the time about, I can't find the good jobs or I never see the good jobs, or I don't even get callbacks for the interesting ones that I see that's because they probably already have somebody in it. Now, if I had had this boring plain Jane page, I don't think that when I reached out to these people that it would have caught their eye.

Erica: So, because I had spent time pouring into my profile, creating interesting content, it really kind of perked their ears up when I reached out to them. And they thought, this girl looks interesting. Let me talk to her. And that's why today I wanna share with you what I call my five by five strategy for posting. Now before we dive in, I want to tell you that you do not need to be overwhelmed with what I'm about to share.

Erica: If you are not a huge social media person, I want you to start small. Now I'm gonna go deep and I'm gonna give you everything that you need so that you can start small and build over time. Or maybe if you already post a little bit, this will help take you to the next level. But if you're somebody that has never posted on LinkedIn, this will get you started. Alright.

Erica: Are you ready? Now my five by five is all about posting in a way that makes sense for who you are and where you want to go in your career. And I have five categories that you can post in one time per week. If you wanna pick it up, you know, you could post it once or twice. And you can go all in, but let's go over them.

Erica: First category, your role. This is going to relate to what you do. Are you a project manager, software developer? Maybe you're an HR. When you post valuable information about your role, it positions you as an authority on the topic.

Erica: You continue to post thought provoking content. You will then be quickly seen as a thought leader. The second category is your industry. This relates no brainer to the industry that you're in. Think tech, healthcare, e commerce, nonprofit, etcetera, etcetera.

Erica: When you post about your industry, you're going to be building credibility, display your skills and your knowledge, and you can then start meaningful conversations about what is going on in your industry. The third category, and this is where it gets a little fun, is your passion project. Are you involved in any organizations or in your community? What are you passionate For me, gender equality, women in leadership roles. That's what I'm passionate about.

Erica: That's why you see so many posts that are geared towards that. But maybe you're passionate about a different nonprofit. We all have passions and interests outside of work. And when you post interesting information about what you do outside of work, you are seen as this well rounded individual and even a leader in the community. So this is super important because it just adds a layer of depth to who you are and a little bit of an insight to who you might be at the company.

Erica: Now, the next thing that you can post about, if you are employed, is your company. So companies always post stuff on LinkedIn. You can always just reshare that. Right? What have they posted?

Erica: Have they won any awards? Have they been nominated for a great place to work? And here's the deal. Most companies post amazing content on LinkedIn about that. So all you have to do is share and add a little bit of insight.

Erica: It's super easy to repost with a little extra commentary, and here's why you wanna do that. That. Because when you showcase your enthusiasm for your current company, you're seen as an employee who is loyal, values their company, and someone that recruiters want on their team. Now, if you are someone that is in transition and you don't currently work for a company, what you can do is you can use this fourth category to post what other great companies in your industry are doing. So for example, if you're really into nonprofit, what is the March of Dimes up to?

Erica: What is the American Heart Association up to? How can you expand on different companies that you may wanna work at in the future? Because then when you start applying at those places, they will see those posts and they will think, okay, wow, they're really invested. And then the fifth and final category, this is the one that probably trips people up the most, is the personal category. Nobody knows.

Erica: Is what I'm posting too personal? Is it not enough? Let's dive in. Now when I'm talking about posting personal stuff, I wanna talk about, are you a mom? Do you maybe take care of aging parents that you have to leave work to take them to the doctor's appointments and you need flexible work?

Erica: Or maybe you run for your mental health so that you can be more productive. Now while posting about your personal life can be seen as taboo, it makes you human in the eyes of others. We don't wanna be posting about heartbreak. We don't wanna be posting about all sorts of crazy family drama, but you can post about your personal life and how it impacts your work. So for example, I talk all the time about being a working mom and how it impacts my decisions about who I work for and the work that I do.

Erica: Because it is important to me that everyone that I work with and for knows that being a mom comes first. I post a lot about mental health because I've struggled with anxiety and depression in the past, and that can impact your work. You need to be able to tie the two together to really create me. That's a lot. Let's take a breath.

Erica: A collectible. I know, but I don't want to let you get overwhelmed by all of that information that I just spit out in under ten minutes. You can break this down into bite sized pieces that work for you. Not to mention, there are a ton of scheduling platforms that can help you streamline your posting and you just set it and forget it. Y'all that's what I do.

Erica: That's my secret. And you know what? Like, I am so passionate about this that I'm gonna give you a little freebie here that I do not want you to miss out. I'm actually gonna give you my five by five in action, and this is jam packed with everything that you need to get started, including a recap of the strategy that I just talked about on this podcast. And also 25 starter posts.

Erica: So if you are really struggling with what you wanna say, this is going to have you covered. All you have to do is just plug and post plug and post. I will also give you my top calls to action. Those are called CTAs, and this is just gonna get you out and enrolling in no time. I am dropping the link in the show notes.

Erica: This is gonna be an exclusive for people listening to the podcast today. But until next time, friends, I want you to stop putting ceilings on what's possible and start breaking through them. And, hey, hit me up on LinkedIn. I would love to be a connection and engage in your five by five. Talk soon, friend.