This article was prepared by the PulseAbility team.
Dan: Speaking of content publishing, when did you start posting?
Anna: I started actively posting for #LeadingLadies and Iceberg Agency back in 2014 when I launched the business. However it’s a team effort, it’s not just myself who posts, I’ve got a fantastic marketing team and we all brainstorm ideas. Generally speaking, I’ve been using LinkedIn over the last ten years.
Editor’s Note: LinkedIn has grown from 500K to 50M users in 13 years. Only 3% of LinkedIn members are actively posting content.
Dan: What are the top skills for content creators?
Anna: You need to make sure you are defining your brand. Stay true to your values and purpose. That’s really important. Always be transparent and real. Bring your personality in and make sure you’re unique. Differentiate yourself from your competitors.
One thing that we do very well through #LeadingLadies is respond to criticism. As a tip for Influencers, if you are going to post something controversial – be prepared to respond to criticism or questions.
The topics we post on #LeadingLadies include issues like #sexism, #homophobia in the workplace, bullying and how to be more accepting towards people going through transgender changes at work. We have lots of people coming back with questions, and there is lots of trolling. If you are going to post controversial things, you have to be prepared to respond to it. We respond to everyone in a meaningful manner.
Another tip would be: Don’t be afraid to say no to people who are not aligned with your values. At #LeadingLadies we are picky. We constantly engage with our community and are continually striving to grow our community. My LinkedIn has grown to over 160 thousand global followers and we are really proud of that.
Dan: What is the most difficult part for LinkedIn content creators?
Anna: We had a conversation on that the other day. It’s our return on investment (ROI). We’d love to know more about how our content engages our audience, whether it converts readers to leads and sales.
Does our content inspire changes in the workplace? How many people speak up or stand up for themselves? It’s difficult, we’d love to measure ROI as a result of #LeadingLadies articles.
Dan: Are you doing any public speaking? Do you feel public speaking contributes to general influencing for your brand?
Anna: I personally think you can’t grow your audience just by posting online. Your audience wants to meet you and engage with you. You can’t grow audiences through just a screen. One thing we have done is actually go offline and host events, I engage in public speaking. It’s just as important to meet with your audience offline as it is online.
We’ve done workshops, where we talk about #salaryincreases, #workplace #wellbeing and #balance. It’s not about just going to work during 9-5 working day. It’s more about “how do we ensure that we connect and don’t burn out?”.
Dan: What events or meetups would you recommend visiting in Melbourne?
Anna: There are a lot of industry oriented meetups in Melbourne that you can visit. However I personally like small and intimate meetups where you can go and talk with others about your company or startup.
We suggest to look at meetups at One Roof, Australia’s largest female-led co-working space.
Editor’s Note: Top 3 female organised/oriented meetups to visit in Melbourne:
- Melbourne Women in Machine Learning & Data Science https://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Women-in-Machine-Learning-and-Data-Science/
- Product Women (Melbourne) https://www.meetup.com/Women-in-Product-Melbourne/
- MELBOURNE’S BEST Public Speaking Group for Women – SHE Talks https://www.meetup.com/SHE-Talks-Speakers-Club-House-Public-Speaking/
Dan: What are the next plans for 2019?
Anna: We have a lot of plans for the next year. More #LeadingLadies.
We really want to get our women in front of our community. In 2018 we organised an event on Workplace Wellbeing, which sold out! We’re working on our next one.
We are looking to build the brand further, encourage more women to join our workshops and grow our community.
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