Mastering LinkedIn Thought Leadership For The Cannabis Industry

05:42 - 08:20 Jake Litke, CEO of MediaJel, and Mark Collins, President of Highly Capitalized, discuss the basics of establishing a LinkedIn presence from the beginning. He advises starting with a clear profile picture and a compelling headline. Mark stresses that the headline should clearly communicate one's job role or value proposition rather than just a formal title. He shares his personal experience of simplifying his headline to reflect his work, which helped him feel more authentic and potentially attract business opportunities. Mark also underscores the value of a professional photograph, suggesting it is a worthwhile investment for creating a strong first impression on LinkedIn.

17:44 - 20:12 Mark Collins advises newcomers to be patient and not discouraged by a lack of immediate engagement. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of persistence and consistency when starting on LinkedIn. He shares his own approach to LinkedIn, which involves posting regularly, sometimes multiple times a day, without a strict schedule. Leveraging current news stories and adding his unique perspective are among his standout strategies. 

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Generating content can be challenging, so he encourages users to engage in regular creative thinking, such as taking walks or going to the gym, to think of compelling posts. Mark highlights the simplicity of creating original content by sharing your unique take on existing topics. The LinkedIn algorithm tends to favor this type of content, which tends to spark conversation.

29:37 - 32:30 Jake and Mark discuss the approach to posting on LinkedIn as an individual versus as a company. Jake asks for guidance on handling LinkedIn posts when one has administrative control of a company's LinkedIn page. Mark emphasizes his approach: quantity over quality in posts. He explains his strategy of writing posts for himself and then creating a concise version, or "precis," for the company page. Mark describes the "precis" technique, which involves removing unnecessary words such as "the," "that," "but," "it," and “and” to make the content more precise and readable. He highlights the power of maintaining an active and informative company page as part of social proofing, where potential clients can verify the company's expertise. Mark advises consistently sharing individual posts on the company page and encourages writing posts that can be reused across multiple media, amplifying the company's presence and reinforcing its expertise.