You're listening to Cubicle to CEO episode 229. Sick of creating video first content for Instagram and Tiktok? LinkedIn may be calling your name. Tania Bhattacharyya, founder of thought leadership consulting firm Lumos Marketing. Helps social impact entrepreneurs and nonprofit teams stand out so they can stand up for their mission through storytelling and content strategy on LinkedIn. In today's case study, Tania is giving us a Cubicle to CEO exclusive by revealing the three step process she used to easily sell out her coaching program on LinkedIn, with value aligned clients making $50,000 from her last two launches. This is intel she's never even shared on her own podcast, The Campfire Circle, whether you're an active LinkedIn Lurker, or someone who hasn't touched their account since creating it way back when for your first job, you'll love this less is more approach to launch success on a non saturated content platform. The best part? You can borrow Tania's strategy even if you're starting with an audience of zero on LinkedIn.
Welcome to Cubicle to CEO the podcast where we ask successful founders and CEOs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host, Ellen Yin. Every Monday go behind the business and a case study style interview with the leading entrepreneur who shares one specific growth strategy they've tested in their own business exactly how they implemented it, and what the results and revenue work. You'll also hear financially transparent insights from my own journey bootstrapping our media company from a $300 freelance project into millions in revenue.
Hello, hello friends welcome back to our show. I'm super excited because today I have my new friend Tania here with me. We first met at Jordan Gill's, I guess in person we met at Jordan Gill's Make Your Mark live event in September. There's definitely a through line with that event. I think there's been several several guests on the show from that event, which I think even just further proves how powerful in person events are. And if you're thinking about events to attend in 2024, I have a bonus episode I recorded on how I kind of filter through the events that I love most. So check out the show notes if that's of interest to you. But Tania, welcome to our show.
Thank you so much for having me. You know, I've been such a longtime listener as I moved from my cubicle to being a CEO. So this is really a treat.
Tania, you are here to talk about LinkedIn today, which I'm very excited, as you very astutely pointed out, we have not really talked about LinkedIn on this podcast since 2020. And I believe the case study was more actually at the time, I don't even think we had a case study format. But the topic at hand was more so centered on landing your dream jobs or your dream career. And I really love the way that you are leading the way with using LinkedIn as a powerful marketing engine. And I see that there's a big movement towards LinkedIn. Some people are leaving Instagram this morning, actually, I was scrolling and I saw another person announced that they were taking a hiatus before we get into the case study. I'm just curious, has that been something you've observed as well in this space?
Yeah, I have noticed a lot of people getting very LinkedIn curious and leaving, you know, wherever they were at. And I think it's because people are breaking through those misconceptions and those myths of what LinkedIn used to be, and being very corporate and stuffy, and very boring. And seeing that it's actually a place where you can build a really personality driven brand and find your ideal clients.
Absolutely. And Tania, you said just a moment ago that you listen to our show a lot when you were making your own transition from Cubicle to CEO. So of course, we have to hear your Cubicle to CEO story.
Yes, 100%. So, you know, I used to work in the nonprofit field, I was raised in the nonprofit field as a fundraiser and a marketer. And for 12 years, I've worked for a women's addiction treatment program here in Orange County, California, where I live. But when I first started working there, I was like, actually, I hadn't even graduated college yet. So I was just brand new to everything. And so I was tasked with finding impact stories to share with our audience. That was kind of the first thing that I was asked to do. And so I would sit with somebody like maybe an alumni, a family member, patient towards the end of their stay. And I'll just build relationship and get curious and build connection and ask about their story. And so often, I found that their story was very much rooted in this shame, or this guilt, or this, like the story was all about the choices they made an active addiction. And after having hundreds of these stories and conversations, I just kind of intuitively figured out how to support women in reframing their story.
And instead of focusing on you know the negative pieces or the the past, you're really focusing more on their vision and their hope and their courage and all good in all the lessons contained in that story. And then over those 12 years, and even in the years since I noticed a lot of those women ended up, you know, becoming advocates like they became speakers, they started nonprofits themselves, they have been interviewed in the media about their recovery. And so really, the big lesson I took away from that was like, when you change the story that you have about yourself, not only do other people see you in that new powerful way, but you also grow a deeper capacity to, you know, make change to create change.
And then, so at the same time, like on a parallel journey, I eventually became an executive director there. And I knew I have to build a face and a voice and share my perspective in a bigger way. And just long story short, that was super hard, because of all the reasons, right? The typical advice about, you know, marketing yourself, and building a personal brand felt very overwhelming as a nonprofit ED, but also very bro-y, it just, I was like, not going to do those things. When you work so much, the last thing you want to think about is trying to package up a perfect post on LinkedIn.
And then, but the third thing, which you know, I could talk about forever, but I won't, but I was a relatively young woman of color, first time executive. And I just had a lot of fears and negative thoughts around like, Can I really show up in this way? And can I really share my stories and my opinions, like who's gonna care. But I took a page out of the books of the women who I had gotten to know. And I challenged myself to tell one interesting story on LinkedIn, actually. So even though it was uncomfortable, and felt very braggy, and kind of ego driven, and kind of went against the societal conditioning I had been swimming in and kind of been trained in. And I did it right.
And so eventually, things started to change. The proof was in the pudding, we started getting all kinds of PR and donations and supporters and referrals. And we just ended up becoming a lot more sustainable, we started getting a much larger voice. And then finally, you know, 2020 happened. And that's a whole podcast episode in and of itself. But I'll just say that, I started realizing that, oh, I could work from home, I could have my own kind of thing from home. I just needed a laptop and some internet, you know, and more than that, I realized that this skill set that I had honed of being able to sort of midwife, people's courageous stories, I could do that, like I could do that for more people. And so I left, I cashed out my PTO, which had been like maxed out. And I use that to buy my laptop and make a little website and just take the plunge. And so the rest is history. And now I run luminous marketing, which helps social impact leaders really stand out as go to voices and thought leaders on LinkedIn.
Oh, wow, that's such an incredible just heart driven story. And I love your brand. By the way, Lumos Marketing, of course, as a fellow Harry Potter fan, I was so excited. By the way he taught you I don't know if you nerd it out over this too. When iPhone released that command where you could say like lumos and your flashlight turns on I just think it's like the coolest thing ever.
Played with that all day when I found out and then Knox actually shuts off the flashlight. So yeah, it's super geeked out
You can do like Mischief Managed and write texts and invisible ink. It's so fun. I just finished watching or rewatching, I should say the entire movie series with my husband. So anyways, that's that's a tangent. But I really, really like how you were able to take the work that you did, and helping these women heal and progress on their journey to apply to your own mindset in re shifting and reframing your story. Like Brene Brown says, right? Like the stories we tell ourselves have so much impact on our lives. And it's really inspiring to hear how you were able to recognize that within yourself, like the stories that you were telling yourself about how you weren't good enough or not, you know, qualified, experienced enough, whatever things it might have been, and then you know, be able to still fully step into sharing your story.
So I know storytelling is a big part of the work that you do in helping people grow and reach their perfect fit clients on LinkedIn. So let's kind of give the listeners an overview of today's case study, we'll start high level first. So basically, Tania was able to make $50,000 Between her last two launches to a month long sprint group program from inbound leads on LinkedIn. And this was without sales calls without ads, all inbound leads from LinkedIn. So if you are thinking, oh my gosh, I didn't even know it could be possible for people to be asking me to tell them more about my programs, and especially on a platform like LinkedIn where you don't traditionally think that's the place to sell. I'm so so excited to dive into this with you. So let's set the scene, of your own launch numbers, your offer. Can you tell us the name of the offer? What price point you were selling it at? And then how many total leads came through LinkedIn if you can remember?
Yeah. So the offer is called the LinkedIn Content Sprint. So it's a month long offer, like you said, it's a short container. And the price point, initially, when I first launched the first launch, it was $1,000. And then the second time I launched it, it was $1,500. And in terms of the number of inbound leads, you know, it's interesting, because I didn't do like a typical sort of like launch event or a typical sort of like maybe application form. I just sort of had the Thrive cart link up, and it just started selling like hotcakes. So I'm a little embarrassed to tell you, I don't really know the exact number of leads. But I will tell you that this strategy just made it so that I didn't even worry about it. You know, it just felt very useful.
That's more than fair. And I was just about to say one of the words that really attracted us to your case study was you kept using this word easeful. And I was like, ah, that just feels like letting go of a breath you've been holding for a long time. So I'm really appreciative of your honesty that maybe you didn't track every single step or metric along the way, and that you didn't need to because of the demand. So Okay. $1,000, and then $1,500. So 50k, between the two launches, I hear you have a content hack for attracting people, the right people to your profile to become connections. And I think the biggest question probably for most people listening to this case study is, well, I don't even have a presence on LinkedIn, I've never used it for anything. Maybe they created a profile back in college when they were submitting for their first job and haven't touched it since. So tell us about this content hack that you use to draw new eyeballs to your LinkedIn all the time, even if you don't have an existing audience.
Yes, I love that. And you know, it's so funny, you bring up the thing about people, you know, brushing off their LinkedIn, since you know, they created it in college, I just talked to my friend who was in that very same situation. So you know, of course, as you show up on LinkedIn, as a new user, you will organically just attract people into your content over time. And you can also search for them if you want to take more of an outbound approach. But like you mentioned, I figured out that there's this specific kind of content, or rather content series that totally brings in people who already have this sort of built up sense of trust, of connection of values alignment. And that's sort of a branded weekly series, where you highlight past clients with these mini case study highlights. And so I called mine hashtag social impact Sunday stories, which I know is kind of long, but I wanted to do a riff on Sunday scaries. Because, you know, there's so many people doing amazing things in the world. And I just wanted to highlight these mission driven leaders in their work in the world and just have it be a feel good thing.
And so logistically, it's pretty simple. I just have a three question airtable survey where I asked my past clients, you know, from the sprint, or even before the sprint, I was doing this my VIP day clients. So you can really do this with any past client. But just I asked, What's the problem you solve and the transformation you create? The second question is like, what is the audience you want to bring into your community? And then finally, what has it been like to dig deep and to start sharing your thought leadership on LinkedIn, and then I have them upload their picture, my VA turns that into a carousel and a short write up, and then I schedule that out every Sunday until cart closes. So for example, I'm prepping for my next lunch at the end of January and 10. People from my last sprint, filled out the form and agreed to be highlighted. So I just looked at the cart, closed date. And I have the scheduled for the 10 Sundays prior to that. So for two and a half months before the launch is over, people are seeing these wins and these stories on LinkedIn.
That's so powerful. And you know, when you're saying it's a riff or a play on the Sunday scaries, I was also thinking, the name kind of reminds me too of like Oprah's Super Soul Sundays, right, which are inspirational stories. And so I can, I can totally see why they work because people are attracted to stories, and they remember stories. What I do find interesting, though, so like the 10 people, for example, from your last sprint that signed up to share a case study with you. It's interesting that based on the number of people who volunteer, or the number of case studies you have available is how far back I guess you kind of almost start this pre launch. And I put that in quotes, so to speak. But is that always the case? Like, for example, let's say on an off cycle, what if only, let's say four people volunteered to share their stories? Would you then only start this series four weeks or four Sundays ahead of time? Or are you going to then recycle content and it has to be a minimum of a certain number of weeks out that you You're gonna start always?
That's a great question, I think it's a little bit of a dance, you know, I've really liked to have at least about a six weeks of pre launch period that just makes me feel kind of secure in, in the whole process. And so I probably would just repurpose some of the old ones, because at this point, I have a whole library of these stories, which are evergreen, I can always be sharing them. So it's a little bit of a dance. But of course, I would want to have the most recent ones kind of highlighted for so they get their time to shine.
Absolutely. And I guess from the audience perspective, so for someone like you, by the time these two launches came around, you've already established quite an engaged LinkedIn audience, for someone listening to this case study who might be wanting to test this strategy. If they are literally starting from zero, no connections no follows if they're posting something similar, like a mini case study featuring a client every week for a certain number of weeks. How will that be seen, I guess, by people who A are the right fit, but be seen at all in terms of reach?
Yes, that's such a good question. I love it. So I have two answers to that. And the first one is there is a way like, so LinkedIn will organically show your content to new people in their feed. But you can also take the bull by the reins a little bit and share that post in other spaces that you're active. So on any LinkedIn posts that you share, there's going to be a little three dots on the top right, and you can click on that and then select Copy Link to post and then you can put that in your email newsletter, you can put that in a Slack channel that you're active in, you can put that in like a mastermind of peers that you're with, and drive people to that post so that they engage, which of course, will help the algorithm show it to even more people.
And then so my second answer to that is, you know, because and this is why this works so well on LinkedIn, right? So because of this sort of like matrix see mycelium like sort of interconnected way that LinkedIn algorithm was built, you know, these clients that I highlight, their connections get introduced to my work as well, even if those new connections don't know me at all, even if we're not connected. So really, what's happening is months before I opened my cart, there's this like sustainable stream of new aligned people who are like one degree of separation apart, who are finding my work and building trust in it because of the power of sort of like social proof, and knowing that their friend had a good experience. So this becomes a very natural way to attract and more of the people who are like your current clients. And I do know that all social media networks have this element to them. But I would say it's especially potent on LinkedIn, because your professional identity is tied to your profile, right?
Your business network is connected there. And so like on my onboarding survey for this sprint, I do ask, you know, how did you hear about this? What was your reason for joining, and actually, over half of the participants who have joined so far, mentioned something about the Sunday series, right? They would say things like, Oh, I love how you highlight your clients in such a fun way. It's been so fun to read those stories, or I was at a mastermind with Sally Smith two years ago, and your post about her showed up in my feed and I knew I had to connect with you. And just the rest is history. Or I love that you work with so many people I know of in the social impact sector. So I feel like you would just get me in the nuances of my work. So it's kind of that combination of driving people there, but also just organic discoverability and the social proof, I would say those three things that make this really powerful first, even someone who's brand new to LinkedIn.
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As you're explaining this, it's all clicking together for me too, because I can attest to experiencing that on the other end, even though I'm not as active on LinkedIn as you are, I have noticed that when I will offhand be tagged in a post, let's say about an upcoming event that I'm part of, or someone really kind that I met at an event last year wrote a reflections post on the end of his year and mentioned listening to our show as part of you know, something that really added to his life this year, which I thought was the kind of shout out and it was like buried like pretty deep in the post. It wasn't even like the post wasn't about us, right? We were just included as one little snippet. But I've seen a lot of profile views from people who I don't know, probably from his community who just, you know, happened to read that and go, Oh, who is this? Or like, what is this podcast.
And I will say to that, I mean, it kind of reminds me of if you're listening, and you're really not familiar with LinkedIn's platform at all, but you're active on Instagram, that cross promotion to another person's audience kind of reminds me of as if you were doing a collaboration with someone on Instagram, and it shows up in both of your feeds. But on LinkedIn, it's not exactly the same thing. It's not like a collab post per se. But I do understand Tania what you're saying about how even though this function exists on other social platforms, it's not as potent. And I think it even might have something to do with how LinkedIn organizes like exactly what you said, if your actual connections, you're like a first connection, if it's a friend of a connection, you're a second connection.
And then of course, third, if you have no mutual contacts between the two of you, I think seeing those degrees of separation, so clearly laid out next to someone's name is a little bit different than other social channels, because like if someone like comments on something, and I've never had an interaction with them, but they're like your best friend, I would never know because it doesn't say like second connection of Tania, you know, but if it did, if it did on Instagram, like it does on LinkedIn, I would pay a little bit more attention because I'd be like, Oh, well, who is this person? Maybe I should take a second to check them out. So anyways, just my ramblings as I'm hearing and processing what you're saying.
Yeah, absolutely. I think you're spot on. And something that came up for me as you were even sharing that I think one additional reason why it's so potent again, is because like when I share this on LinkedIn, it becomes a conversation starter. So like just last Sunday, right? Because I'm in the I'm sharing these now. And I highlighted a woman, Lacey Kempinski. And so she helps nonprofits with their paternal leaves, she helps she comes in and supports them there. And so I did a post about her work. And her past clients started writing all these like long, thoughtful stories on the comments. And so yeah, I mean, people are really more beloved than they even kind of give themselves credit for. And when I start highlighting people, like all of these love notes start pouring in. And that just, it's not only a win for, you know, me and my business selfishly, but also for the client, you know, they get follows and they get connections and profile views from this too. So it really is just a really cool win win.
That's so wonderful. I love unsolicited compliments. I know we like no one really likes solicitation, but I always joke it's I mean, obviously it's not exactly that but I always joke I'm like, Oh, I got the best unsolicited feedback today, but it was like positive feedback. And you're right people do just come out of the woodwork sometimes to appreciate you if they're given at the prompt to kind of like jump in and like piggyback off of you know, something good you're already saying about your clients. So love that outside of just organic feedback or engagement from people who just happen to connect or resonate with maybe the person that you're featuring. Do you have any sort of call to action in the Sunday series? Are you asking people to join your email list as part of your pre launch strategy? Or is it really kind of just open ended?
Yeah, perfect question. And that's actually a great segue into the next piece of this case study. So I'd like CTA, actually, is to join the waitlist. That's just the very last line of the post. It just gives like a one sentence description of like, hey, the LinkedIn content sprint is opening up for enrollment in January. Here's the link to join the waitlist. And so yeah, that's that's how I end every single post. Exactly.
Awesome. And when you send them to the landing page to opt in for the waitlist, is there a more in depth explanation of what the LinkedIn content sprint is about? Or do you kind of leave it a little ambiguous? A little bit mysterious, if you will?
Yeah. So this has been an evolution, the first time I did it, it just took them to like a flodesk landing page with no information. And now you evolve as you go, and that's totally fine. And now I do have them going to the full sales page, but it just has like joined the waitlist instead of Enroll now.
Right? And then do you repurpose that exact page, and then just turn the waitlist buttons into by buttons when the launch is live? Or when OpenCart happens?
Exactly. That's exactly what I do. Yeah, so it's super easy.
Yes, super easy. I love that we actually do the same thing for our pay to create life challenges, we just swap out the button functions, but keep the rest of the page the same, because then we don't have to recreate, like you said, duplicate pages to explain the same thing.
Exactly. And oftentimes, like giving them the information, like even way before cart opens, people will start sending me DMS, like, oh, I keep seeing these stories. And I checked out the page and joined our waitlist, but actually have a couple of questions. Can I ask you now before the launch opens? Right. So it just gets people into conversation early on, which I love.
That's great. I have one more add on question to this piece of your strategy, we before we move on to the next thing, and that is around what you said about how when people submit their transformation story through this airtable form and your team member puts together a carousel and some written posts to share. Is there a reason that you have found the carousel format to work well on LinkedIn? I'm curious, why not, for example, video interview the guest and share I guess a video interview? Do you find that video? Is not the queen of social like it is on other channels, especially short form video? I'm just kind of curious what your take on that is.
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I know that video is so key for so many social media platforms. But on LinkedIn, I just haven't found video to be as it just doesn't take off in the same way. And what I love about the carousels is they're bright, they're easy to scan through and for a long time. I think this is changing a little bit in real time. But for a long time carousels almost had like a, the engagement was just higher like artifact like LinkedIn just showed more people these carousels, and I think the era of that is slightly over but it's I've still found it to be just a great way for people to get a lot of information in kind of like a quick, easy to scan format.
Absolutely. Correct me if I'm wrong, because again, I'm not as active on LinkedIn as you are. Does LinkedIn have their version of a stories feature? Am I remembering that correctly?
They did. And they've recently took it away. So LinkedIn is always experimenting, trying new things, changing up things, you know, over the last year or so we got something called Creator mode. We got you know, they're always adding and subtracting and just like playing with it. So it's fun to just try out new things are newest thing I would say is collaborative articles, which has nothing to do with this, but they're always evolving.
Interesting. Okay, so I think this is encouragement anyone listening who may not be as video forward and you're feeling kind of left behind on other platforms where video is so central to your content being pushed out, maybe give LinkedIn ago, maybe check out what Tania is sharing. And I would go all of you immediately after listening to this episode, go to Tania's LinkedIn and add her and you can observe in real time this pre launch that's happening for the next LinkedIn content sprint, that's my favorite way to learn is to actually kind of just be a fly on the wall and watch what's going on. So that's my pro tip to you all. Don't forget to do that. We'll make sure to drop Tania's LinkedIn profile right below in the show notes so you can easily add her.
Tania, you have another interesting stat that I really want to expand on. So you already said that 50% of the people who actually joined your programs, stated that they originally found you through the Sunday series. Another interesting stat is you observed that three times as many people visited your sales page from your sales emails compared to LinkedIn. But LinkedIn was actually the generator of most of those new email subscribers. So I first wanted to know, how are you tracking? who is visiting your sales page from where are you using UTM links? Or is there another strategy that you're using to track this data?
Yeah, that's exactly it's UTM links. And as you could probably, you know, hear from some of my other answers, I am not like the most strategic mastermind in the world. I'm a Pisces, right, I got to just come up with stuff in a dream. And I just like make it happen. But but, you know, and I say that, because everybody knows that growing your email list is important. But again, I came from a very different sector. And so my previous experience using LinkedIn was to build sort of like outbound relationships with funders and medical professionals. So I was using LinkedIn before in cubicleland to secure a conversation or a meeting, not necessarily driving people to an email list. And so when I set up these UTM codes, it was very much more of a test I was like, is what everybody says about email marketing, actually accurate.
So during the time of this test, I had about 8000 followers on LinkedIn. But I only had about 800 people on my list. And you know, I'm rounding the numbers, but that's pretty close. And, you know, the UTM codes don't lie. So 100%, three times as many people visited my sales page from my emails, then my LinkedIn posts about it, and I was just repurposing my, like sales emails and my LinkedIn posts. So it was the same amount of times that I was showing up in each place. So that didn't really matter. But again, I had 10 times as many LinkedIn followers and email subscribers. So that was the moment where I was like, okay, emails are where it's at, to enroll paying participants, because you've really got people's attention and buy in. And like you said, you have to grow your email list from somewhere. And I found LinkedIn to be a really great place to funnel people into your email list, because it's such a powerful, you know, discovery platform. So I got really intentional about driving people into my email list during that pre launch phase of my second launch once I realized, okay, this is working.
That's so fascinating. I have a question related to driving people to your email list. But I'm going to circle back to that in one second, I first just want to ask for people who are not currently utilizing UTM links that are like, ooh, now I'm curious for my next launch, I want to see like, where's the traffic coming from? Can you like, I don't even know if this is possible, because I also have not been the best about using UTM links, even though it's been on my radar for years, I'm embarrassed to admit, but if you can, if it's simple, would you be able to just give a quick high level walkthrough of like how you set up a UTM link, and then where you go to track it so that our listeners can kind of plug that into their business?
Oh my gosh, it's so funny that you asked me that, that you would ask me this. My answer to this is hire a brilliant and beautiful VA who can just do this for you because this is the last thing that I would want to tinker with. My VA Miki Lozano is just like incredible. And she did this for me. I'm the person who's like, if they asked me what a UTM code, I'd be like, UTM stands for unlimited tacos and margaritas because it's just that amazing. I have no idea how to set this up. I'm not going to tinker with it. But there's a lot of people who can do this for you and do it very well.
I love that answer. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. I'm gonna go on a tangent again, just really brief, but I love the unlimited tacos and margaritas. One of my favorite childhood books series was A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, which I don't know if you ever read those books. But anyways, they made a series out of it a limited series on Netflix, we've been on all three seasons, of course. And in that series, a huge acronym that is a recurring theme is VFD, VFD VFD, so they end up traveling to all these different places through their adventures where they encounter this acronym. And now I me and my husband, it's like a running joke, like, well, like, just find random ways to like, include that in our conversations. And so it just kind of reminds me of like, UTM like it could have any meaning you want it to like, right, we could just make up whatever words that makes sense for the conversation.
But anyways, I digress, I'm gonna go back to my question that I wanted to ask right before I clarified that UTM piece. And that was around driving people to your email list from LinkedIn. So you already talked us through in your Sunday series, how, you know, there's that call to action at the end where people can join your waitlist outside of driving people directly to joining your waitlist. Is there any other thing that you're doing on LinkedIn to get people added to your email list, not through the waitlist.
So on LinkedIn, once you turn on creator mode, you have access to put a link on the top of your profile page. And so that just goes to a link for people to sign up for my weekly newsletter. It's called the fire starter and so like that is one way but I would say there's a lot of different ways where you can invite people to opt in that get a little bit creative and where people like really do so, you know, I did mention the the weekly series that was one CTA, I also created very, very simple learning opportunities for people to opt in. So for example, one thing I did was a loom video that broke down how I repurpose old podcast episodes, you had, this is how you turn one podcast episode into five LinkedIn posts, you know, or another thing that I did was a little campaign where invited people to submit a LinkedIn post that they wrote. And then I was going to pick five to copy coach in a loom video that was sent to everyone on my list.
I also took a freebie that I've had for a while with LinkedIn prompts. And I just thought of like three or four new ways to wrap a story around it or make it relevant. And I just shared it again. And then finally, like I mentioned, you know, I do send out that weekly newsletter on Wednesday. So on Mondays, I would do a little teaser post about what I was going to share that Wednesday, and just invited people to opt in so that they don't miss out. And, you know, that might sound like a lot. But these truly take so little time like the loom video, which is me sharing my screen for five minutes and just talking folks through the steps and then just setting up a one email flodesk sequence. And actually, the reason that I do love loom for sharing these little valuable learning opportunities, because again, people can reply and leave comments and it creates like a little mini party where people are, you know, talking and leaving comments and just kind of like, it really does have kind of a cool vibe to it. So what I found was at each time I launched, I grew my list by about 150 to 200 people.
And so that's a win in and of itself, just even beyond selling out the course like every time I launched my list just grows with really aligned people who want to hear from me. What's kind of interesting, too, and now that I think about it is the CTA in a lot of posts was you know, join the waitlist, but I didn't have a waitlist bonus, you know, and maybe I should like maybe I should try that in the next time. I'm kind of just talking out loud. Now. I do kind of like that people are joining the waitlist and join like opting in to join the waitlist, just because they're interested in the program as is, you know, I think that's a really good sign that people are interested.
If getting visible on LinkedIn is on your list of goals for 2024, then you're in luck. Tania is launching her next LinkedIn content sprint on January 24. And it's taking place in the month of February. Inside the spring, you'll get into action and batch a strategic sequence of thought leadership content to build Top of Mind trust and recognition for your social impact business. Plus, you'll have one on one copy coaching and personal feedback from Tania on everything you write to make your stories as impactful as possible. This cohort of 20 always sells out. So jump on the waitlist today. Go to Lumos Marketing, that's Lumosmarketing.co/linkedin-content-sprint. Or click the link below in the show notes.
I think so too. I mean, I think that sometimes in online marketing, we're so used to like stuffing as much as we can in a box, right? It's like and this bonus, and this bonus, and this action bonus and this last minute bonus and this, you know, and I think bonuses are great. But I also do you feel that sometimes? Who was I talking to about this? There was a recent gas, it's slipping my mind right now. But there was a recent guest I was talking to about how sometimes when you put too many bonuses on the table, it actually can create confusion, conflict, decision fatigue for people, because now they're almost distracted by the bonuses. And they're like wait, kind of forgot why it was here in the first place like for the actual offer or program. And so it's affirming, I think to hear that you've had success with growing your list and your waitlist without needing to add those bells and whistles, if you will. But if you do, of course test something different this upcoming launch. I know I personally would love to hear about it maybe on your own pod.
Yes!
I know we've covered quite a few things already that you are doing successfully in this pre launch window to like you said grow your email list by 10 to 15% to attract the aligned right people onto your waitlist. I think you had mentioned in your submission for this particular interview that there were three total activities that you really focus on during the pre launch window. I'm not sure if we've already covered all three. But if there's one that we're missing or two that we're missing, can you expand on those now?
Yeah, I would say that there's one that that's missing. And it's interesting because again, like I didn't go into it, I like some mad scientist thinking, Oh, I'm going to do all these things. And they're going to be so successful. Like I just tried stuff, and they just ended up working. So I do want to just sort of encourage people to be creative and just try stuff on LinkedIn. I feel like people think they can't. People think they have to show up in a certain way very buttoned up or very light and perfect. But LinkedIn is a place where you get to be creative. So this came out of just like a moment of creativity and So the third part of what I would do during the launch is actually a LinkedIn poll. And I'll share why works.
So one of the, I wouldn't even call it really a problem, but maybe like a quote unquote a problem in quotes with LinkedIn is that there's a lot of lurkers on LinkedIn. So interestingly, only 3% of active LinkedIn users post their own content. So we've got a lot of LinkedIn lurkers. I mean, 97% of active users are, are lowercase. And the reason that's like a quote unquote, problem is it makes people feel especially when they're new on LinkedIn that nobody's watching, like nobody's listening, it feels like they're talking into the void. And so your LinkedIn profile, again, is attached to your professional identity. So your ideal clients, a decision makers aren't always going to engage visibly with like a comment or even a like, because let's say you're a leadership coach, and you put out some content that's you know, about some of the vulnerable barriers that your clients face. Someone who you know, is watching and who really might want to work with you isn't necessarily going to publicly engage with that, you know, personal content, because they know their old boss, their co workers or clients are potentially going to see that.
And then, of course, the decision makers you want to reach are busy. And so it can be hard to know on LinkedIn, who is really watching your stuff. And so I figured out a pretty cool way to get interested people to signal their interest and to visibly participate. And so that's a LinkedIn poll. But it's not just the poll, it's also beginning a sort of permission based DM conversation during your cart open period after the poll is complete, which generally leads to either like a sales conversation, or just creates that trust connection, or that resonance, that tips a potential client into joining your program. And I can get into logistics, but I want to see if you had any questions first.
Oh, no, I definitely want to dive into the logistics. And I think that's so smart. Because to my understanding, at least if you vote in a LinkedIn poll, your answer is anonymous to the public, right? Like no one can see you voted yes or no, your profile picture isn't attached to your response.
Exactly, exactly. And that provides a lot of sort of like privacy, you know, and I think so when you vote, you can only see the percentages, you can't see who voted and what so you're 100% Right.
I love that. So they have anonymity on their side. But then on your side, you're saying you can see who voted for what is that correct?
Exactly, exactly. As a poll creator, you can see exactly who voted for what
that's awesome. So yes, tell us more about like when someone votes in a poll, and honestly, it would be really helpful if you can remember off the top of your head, a recent poll that you did in your last launch. Can you share with us what the question was, what the poll options were? And then once someone voted in that poll, how did that then lead like you said, to an inbound conversation in the DMS? And how did that conversation go? I guess if you could walk us through like a an example conversation.
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So I actually pulled up the poll that I did. So I have like the link, but I love that. And I can share it if it's helpful. But I asked a very strategic question, right? It wasn't just any questions. So I asked, you know, what keeps you from batching, LinkedIn content for your visibility in your thought leadership? So the four potential answers I included were all common barriers that I often hear my community say like, it's hard to find the time I get writer's block. If I batch my content, my content won't stay relevant, you know, things like that.
And so, I asked a specific question that's directly rooted in the transformation that's promised inside the offer that I was launching, which is, you know, writing a strategic batch of six months of LinkedIn content inside a sprint. And the potential answers all for the answers are beliefs that are potentially stopping them from joining the program, or believing that they can even be successful.
So like, for you, Ellen, like, I know that you have a VIP, like a relatively new VIP day where you're helping people get brand partnerships. So if you were to try this, I would say your poll could be something like you know, what's keeping you from getting your first brand partnership, and then four common answers you hear. Or you could go the other way, instead of being barrier focused. You could also be like, vision and outcome focus, and be like, you know, what could be possible for you, if you got your first brand partnership? And you know, the answers, you'd be like, I could monetize my podcast, I could get a one on one service work like and I don't know what the other are those would be but like you do, right, you do. And so you can see the people who respond to that poll are giving you very helpful information that lends itself to a thoughtful conversation.
That's so fascinating. I love that you're able to just on the spot, create an example relevant to my business to and it's funny because, you know, those VIP days, we only opened up five and I think they also I mean, I don't think I know they all sold out on Instagram stories. In like 48 hours, I actually recorded a bonus episode on this. So if any of you are listening, and you're like, Wait, I don't even know what Tania was referring to. I'll link that below in the show notes if you want to catch up. But essentially, it was like kind of a one time deal. We were using those VIP days as a testing ground to create like an in person group retreat for next year.
But this is really cool, because you just gave me some great ideas of some polls, I want to test on LinkedIn, and in other places, too, to see how that reveals, like you said, like virtual hand signals and people being like, hey, yeah, I have this interest or this thought or this challenge. That's really, really interesting. Okay, so you've given us some examples of like, what that poll might actually look like. Now someone answers What do you do?
Yes, exactly. So in this poll, I 60 people voted in the poll. And like you said, it's externally confidential. But not only can I see who voted. But there's also like a little message button next to each person. When I look at the results, it looks like a like a small circle with a little blue arrow. So very easily with one click, I can send them a DM, which also attaches the results of the poll with my message. And that's, you know, that's helpful because people are busy, they don't always remember that they voted in the poll. But so I reached out to these 60 people, and I wanted to send something helpful. So what I actually did is I recorded this short podcast episode on my podcast, The Campfire Circle, about this topic, like I literally just called it breaking down the barriers behind batching, LinkedIn content, and then I just like wax poetic about these four answers, and just offered new ways of thinking for each one. So it was a valuable and helpful resource.
So I released the podcast episode, the first day of my cart open period. And on that same day, I sent this message to each person who voted in the poll, you know, using that little button, and by the way, your VA could do this initial outbound message for you if you wanted to. So I know it sounds like a lot. But it you know, you can get creative with this. And I said something like, you know, Thanks for voting in this poll. I know you selected a writer's block. And I actually just released this short podcast episode with tips I recommend to my clients who beat writer's block, and some other you know, other valuable stuff as well. Would you like me to send you the link? And about 30 of them did respond and said, you know, yes, please send me it or whatever. And so I sent the link, and then, you know, maybe a day later, two days later, I followed up and mentioned, you know, hey, I'm actually enrolling people into this sprint right now, you've probably been seeing stuff about it. Based on what you heard on the podcast, might this be a fit for you?
And you know, somebody might be listening to this and thinking, Well, I don't have a podcast, that's fine. It could be a blog, it could be, again, like a five minute loom, like, just make it easy for you and just speak to the four answers you noted in your poll and share your perspective on those things. And their intention is really, it's to provide value, and actionable insights. But to get a taste of what it might be like to almost work with you, you know, so that they can get a glimpse of you know, if they vibe if they vibe with you. So this poll works, because by voting in the poll, they're essentially raising their hand to say, this is relevant to me, like I fit into what you're launching somehow. This is a problem, I'm at least somewhat interested in solving in my own life, by saying guests to the podcast link, they're continuing to lean in for more information. And then because we're in conversation, in the DMS during that open cart period. And you know, I'm also sharing launch content at the same time on my email, and my, my LinkedIn, they know there's an offer or a solution available to them in that moment to solve that problem.
So smart, I love everything about this. It's so interesting, because you know, prior to sitting down with any guests, but obviously, including yourself, I don't always know, I mean, we do a lot of research, we pull a lot of data ahead of time, but I don't always know what's going to come out of a conversation. But it's so interesting to hearing you walk through this process, because there's so many synergies between the strategy that you've implemented here, and like what we have used as a strategy to pre sell online courses, like things that we teach in in pay to create and whatnot.
And I really especially love and want to highlight for our listeners, what you said in that very first example opening message, your attention to asking for consent before even dropping in that podcast link. I think that is it is just so resonant, and so aligned with how we try to approach DMs too. And I think not enough people either talk about it or focus on it. So I really, really just want to again, highlight that for our listeners. If you missed that, go back and re listen to exactly what Tania said because so many times people are very well meaning to I don't think they have any obviously, bad intention, but they will just like pop into people's DMS unannounced and be like, Hey, I have this resource for you link. And then it's like, there you go, right. It's kind of like shoving it in someone's face. And they're like, whoa, like I didn't I wasn't expecting this or I didn't ask for this.
And so I just find that the way that you approach things where you're like, Hey, I've created this thing that's helpful. And you are stepping into your authority and saying, I do think that you would benefit from this. But I'd like to double check that we're on the same page, like, would this be helpful to your like, Would you like me to send it your way? And so I just think that's really great that you approach it that way. And how cool that of the 60 people who voted 50% actually responded and said yes to listening.
Right, right. 100%, that made me feel really good. And you know, I thank you for saying that. I always try to think about it, like, how would I want to be sold to? Or how would I want to be approached, and so 100%, like on LinkedIn, LinkedIn does have a little bit of a bad rep for being a place where there's just all these like spam bots, and these bros are just pushing stuff. Yeah, I mean, it does have that reputation. And so you get to stand out in a really different way. Right? You get to stand out by doing it this way. So 100%. Yeah.
And I would love to know, when you do that second, circle back, like after you've sent that podcast episode, and you say, like, Hey, did you have a chance to listen, by the way, you know, we're enrolling for this next program. If someone says, Oh, I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to listen yet. What way do you find is helpful to then continue that conversation? Do you encourage them? Like, oh, I think you should really take, you know, a minute to listen this week, I think you'll find it helpful. Do you not take as directive and approach? I'm just curious how you kind of respond to a situation like that?
Yeah, that's a great question. So I kind of go back to how they voted in the poll, because then I get to be, you know, very specific to their situation. So let's say they voted on Oh, I don't know if my content will stay relevant if I batch. So I might actually pull up some of the examples that I shared in the podcast episode, and just like, type it out for them and share it with them that way. So they don't have to actually listen to the whole podcast episode, they can just get the pieces that are like very tailored to them. And also, if some of your listeners aren't as familiar with LinkedIn, DMS, you can send voice notes on there, you can send video DMS on there. So you can still get very personable and creative and have a very authentic, you know, sort of conversation with them there.
Oh, I love that. I love how you just make it so convenient for someone to consume your content, right? Like How thoughtful of you to write out the answer so that they don't even have to click to listen. I also think another idea that sparked as I heard you say that is maybe even like pulling the timestamp of exactly where in the episode you're addressing the issue that they're concerned with and saying, oh, like, Hey, if you don't have I totally get not having a lot of time in the week may be skipped directly here. And this five minute segment, I think will be exactly what you're looking for. So I really just love how you're thinking creatively about the way that you are reaching these people. Do you wait for them to explicitly say at some point in that conversation? Hey, Tania, I think like I could be a good fit for this spring, I would love to join or do you have any further, I guess leading questions to invite them directly to join that we haven't covered?
Yeah, because LinkedIn is the way that it is. Oftentimes, I can like visit their profile and see, you know what they're working on. So let's say it's, you know, the leader of a non of a small nonprofit who I'm talking to, I can go over to their LinkedIn and see, oh, they're working on this capital campaign right now. Or oh, they just like posted this article about the work that they're doing. And I can take what I'm learning from them from their LinkedIn about their business or their organization, ask questions about that, and then bring it back, like a bridge into my program, like, Oh, I see that you're having this, you know, capital campaign right now, actually, I think that you could create some really beautiful content in the sprint that would get your donors really excited. And you could create it once and then not have to think about it for the next six months, like Does that sound like something that could be valuable for you.
And so I just bring it back to what they're currently doing. And like the little clues that I can pick up on their LinkedIn and just tie it back to how my offer could support them in this moment. And I know, that takes a little bit of time. But honestly, Ellen, like I actually really enjoy it, it feels like a puzzle, but like a really fun puzzle, because at the end of the day, my goal is not necessarily to get a sale because I already know that Sprint's gonna, like sell out, but I just want them to get the little spark that they need to start getting more visible on LinkedIn. And even if that's not with me, like that's okay, that's really okay.
So smart. And I also think that, and I'm sure you've observed this too, that if you give someone that spark, or that quick win, or that first step, whatever it may be, even if they don't join this round of the spring, it doesn't mean they won't join a future round. And I've seen that too with people, you know, in any of our recurring events where they might come back, like five rounds in and you just don't know, I guess if you miss the opportunity to even get them kind of thinking along that path. So I think that's so so smart. I'm just curious for myself and probably some of the other listeners today too, who are not in the social impact space who don't necessarily market for nonprofits or or businesses similar to that. Do you feel the LinkedIn content sprint the I guess, lens through which you teach Khan Is it really tailored to that specific niche in space? Or is it pretty widely applicable to any type of business, including for profits?
That's a great question, I would say that it's tailored for any business that has a mission behind it. And that doesn't just have to be a nonprofit, right? Like, I just actually got off a little text chat with my friend Casey, who has a she's an IP lawyer, but she has a mission and a vision behind what she does, right? Like, she wants to see more black creative entrepreneurs, you know, secure the bag, and she does that through IP law. And so like she has a larger vision for her work. And I think when you have a larger vision and a mission, it lends itself really well to showing up as that visionary leader on LinkedIn, and for you to attract a group of people who believe in that vision and mission. So they come alongside you to make that happen, whether that's as a client or referral source and amplifier, like there's so many different kinds of people we can connect with on there.
Yes, absolutely. Okay. That's really helpful. Thank you for clarifying. My final question, just to wrap up this case study. We've talked a lot about pre launch, we talked about the different strategies to get your content out there, use LinkedIn as a discovery channel. I just that final detail to kind of help our listeners really understand the full picture of your launch. How long is your open cart window?
My open cart window is about 10 days, I think I'm going to shorten it to a week this next time.
Okay. And it's a week whether or not all that I mean, you've sold out both times, but even if all the spots didn't sell, it'd be a week and you would just cut it off on the time. Exactly, exactly. Okay, awesome. Well, Tania, this has been incredibly helpful. I really hope that this inspired some of you to consider LinkedIn as a channel for you, if maybe you're not feeling as excited about creating content on other channels. Again, make sure you follow Tania learn from the people who are an expert learn from the master of this craft, if you will. So follow Tania on LinkedIn. Again, her link will be in the profile. But Tania, where else can our listeners connect with you if they'd like to learn more about the work you do?
Yeah, great question. I mean, LinkedIn is definitely the best place. But I would also say if you want a little bit more taste of, you know, LinkedIn learnings, I would go to my podcast, which is called The Campfire Circle. And it's available anywhere podcasts are found. And then finally, my website is lumosmarketing.co.
Amazing. And I just want to say thank you again, Tania for coming on here and giving us the Cubicle to CEO exclusive because I didn't even mention this when we hit record. I'll probably say in the intro, but you are sharing strategies that you haven't even shared on your own podcast. So I'm just so grateful that you took the time to to give us this exclusive it was very, very valuable.
Oh, it was my pleasure. It was my pleasure. Thanks so much for having me on Ellen, this was a blast.
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