I don’t know about you, but sometimes I go to Target with one thing in mind and walk out with a whole basket of “not even close to what I came for.”

I think my personal experience with LinkedIn has been kind of like a well-intentioned Target trip, and I know many of my clients have experienced the same thing.

On the surface, it seems like LinkedIn is just another platform. That means what you’re showing up to the LinkedIn store for is more reach so you can get more leads and sales from an untapped market.

And just like going to Target for toilet paper, that is a GREAT necessity to go in for and you’ll get it, no doubt!

But, I never realized that my strategic and intentional presence on LinkedIn would provide so many more opportunities - those I hadn’t thought of before!

It’s those fringe, unseen possibilities that I want to discuss with you today. If my clients and I can see that type of success without looking for it, imagine what you can achieve if you KNOW what to go after? A lot. That’s the answer. You can achieve a lot. So, let’s get to it.

5 Ways to Grow Your Brand Using LinkedIn (that’s not just leads and sales)

Podcast Interviews
It may seem like everyone and their mom has a podcast these days, but you know what’s ALSO true about podcasts? Even though they’re a dime a dozen, podcast listeners are DEVOTED to the handful they love listening to consistently.

Podcasts are also an easy way to search for and find topics and experts inside or adjacent to your specific niche.

These facts together make podcasts an amazing way to target a specific audience you want to serve who are devoted to learning and moving themselves forward, as signaled by their love for the podcast.

Podcasts are a unique way to grow your brand in a way that leads and sales, or even content you create on LinkedIn or Instagram can’t. Social platform content is typically shorter form. But podcasts create the stage for you to share your personality, go deeper on your story, and showcase your expertise on the fly as the host asks you targeted questions. Podcasts are one of my favorite ways to get to know a new thought leader when I stumble upon them.

So, how can LinkedIn help?
LinkedIn is home base for many thought leaders and experts, and it’s also easily searchable by niche. This makes it easy to find and interact with podcast hosts, which is the best way to get a guest spot on a show.

Publication Features
Getting published in reputable outlets has become a bit of a “smoke and mirrors” situation. If you’ve been on Instagram for 5 minutes, you’ve probably received a pitch DM from someone offering to put you on a Top 100 List for just $200 if you make the list. Since the community on LinkedIn is very privy to this fact, I can’t stress enough how important it is to show your credibility in multiple ways, and do it consistently.

So, how can LinkedIn help?
While LinkedIn can help get you publication features in a similar way that it can get you podcast interviews, by putting you in direct contact and connection with publishers and writers for these publications, the platform also provides you the opportunity to transparently pull back the curtain for your audience.

One way to do this would be to tell the story of how you got the publication, what went into curating the ideas or writing the piece, what did the editing process look like, what came from the publication in the weeks that followed? Having a “featured” next to your name may add a smidge of credibility, but the ability to position yourself as a featured expert through storytelling and sharing your experiences could be the connection point and behind-the-scenes that helps you stand out to your audience.

Corporate Opportunities
It may seem like corporate companies are this “insiders-only” club, right? Like, unless you get hired into a position, you won’t see inside the building? Actually, I’ve been surprised to see how many corporate companies and even small-to-medium sized businesses are willing to bring in experts to consult on a specific topic. I’ve been able to teach and train on LinkedIn for companies like this, and I have clients who’ve been pitched multiple consulting opportunities simply from creating content and connecting with individuals on LinkedIn.

So, how can LinkedIn help?
Well, this one’s kinda obvious. It’s unlikely that you’d find opportunities like this as an entrepreneur or solo expert without a platform like LinkedIn. And when you approach creating LinkedIn content consistently from a thought-leadership perspective, then companies and business owners will view you as the expert they want teaching and training their employees on your topic.

Speaking Engagements
Nothing quite compares to the automatic authority attributed to you when you’re standing on a stage in front of an audience. And now? There’s even MORE opportunity for that since virtual conferences and summits have been added to the scene. Similar to podcasts, speaking engagements give you an opportunity to have the authority stamp of approval given to you by a host while you get a LONG-FORM opportunity to show your value to the audience. But speaking engagements also hold a special “event magic” where your audience is suspended in this moment of compounded opportunity and inspiration. And if you’re introduced to them during that moment? They’re likely to remember you, and probably to take action on something you teach.

So, how can LinkedIn help?
Again, LinkedIn puts you IN ROOMS in a way that no other social media platform can. When you focus on creating thought-leadership content on your niche topic, you’ll be quickly seen as an expert. And with all of the people looking to do business on LinkedIn? A lot of them are looking to grow their own businesses by utilizing events, and that means looking for the BEST PEOPLE to teach and inspire their people. LinkedIn can help you be seen as that.

Full-Circle Client Experiences
If you’re in a customer facing role, you know how hard it can be to get in front of your client sometimes. They’re BUSY and scheduling time to meet with you or hear about your newest product, or update, or service enhancement, or fill-in-the-blank, isn’t always their priority. However, there are other ways to stay top of mind and communicate with them that don’t take a call or meeting.

So, how can LinkedIn help?
Being thought of as the go-to person for the thing you sell is EVERYTHING but how do you accomplish that in a world where social media sites are noisy, inboxes are always full, and texting your clients may feel evasive? By posting regular content, your clients or leads care about, on LinkedIn. Posting content consistently puts you in your clients’ feeds regularly and allows you to share what you want! Remember, serve them and add value with your content. Don’t be surprised if a client calls you because of the amazing content you start sharing on the platform!

Now, Let’s MAXIMIZE It!

The most successful people aren’t the ones who find one opportunity and execute on it.

They’re the people who find one opportunity, execute on it, and then figure out how to maximize and stretch that opportunity so that MORE of them start rolling in.

So, yes. LinkedIn can help you get podcast interviews, features, corporate opportunities, speaking engagements and intentional client interactions.

But, even BEYOND getting the podcast interview, the feature, the corporate opportunity, or speaking engagement…

… if you’re a content creator on LinkedIn, you then have the opportunity to share that interview with your audience once it goes live. This contributes to creating more connection with your audience, it shows your featurer or host that you have an audience to share and engage with, and it gives you something solid to create a ton of content off of.

You also have the opportunity to talk about your corporate training experience and call others in who may want the same.

You can even take the photos of you on stage and use them in your LinkedIn content creation so that you can not only be READ as an expert, but actually SEEN as a leader, too.

Make sure you don’t just do something about the opportunity, but you do something WITH it after it’s done.

The power of LinkedIn isn’t just in the fact that it holds a new pool of people, but it’s also in the reality that this pool is one that holds a different mindset than many other social media platforms. They’re not necessarily there to be entertained, they’re there to DO BUSINESS. And there’s a world of potential that can be accessed from stepping into a pool of people with the same intentional, business growth mindset.

Which of these opportunities are you surprised can come from LinkedIn? I’d love to hear in the comments, or feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn!