Episode 157: What Asset Managers Get Wrong About LinkedIn | Story Snacks Series

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Your company's LinkedIn page is not the main character.

It matters. It has a job.

But if your LinkedIn strategy is built around the logo doing all the talking, Stacy Havener has thoughts.

In this Story Snack, Stacy breaks down the biggest LinkedIn mistake she sees asset managers make: treating the platform like something it was never built to be.

And there's a stat behind it that might make you rethink who's actually posting on your firm's behalf.

So yes, "our employees share the company posts" technically creates activity. Whether it creates trust is a different question.

Listen in to hear:

• What LinkedIn actually is, and why most firms are using it backwards

• The stat that should make you rethink who gets the microphone

• Why employee advocacy falls flat when it turns into copy-paste content

• What LinkedIn is cracking down on right now, and why it matters

• How to show up more human without abandoning professionalism
  

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

TRANSCRIPT

Below is an AI-generated transcript and therefore it may contain errors.

[00:00:00] Stacy Havener: Craving more knowledge, but don't always have time to sit down for a five-course meal? Take a quick snack break with Story Snacks, bite-sized content to feed your funnel. Each short episode features Stacey digging into one question. This series has her talking stories, sales, and so much more. Oh, yeah. It's time for Story Snacks

[00:00:26] You've built a personal brand on LinkedIn that most asset management professionals would kill for. So what's the thing about LinkedIn that asset managers consistently get wrong? This is a very good question, and also that's very nice of the person who submitted said question to ask.

[00:00:45] So the thing that most asset managers get wrong about LinkedIn, I don't even think this is unique to asset managers, by the way. I think this is sort of just a B2B phenomenon that happens with LinkedIn, which is this idea [00:01:00] that LinkedIn is a way for companies to connect with people, right? We are in the business of whatever it is, asset management.

[00:01:12] We're trying to grow. we need to connect with prospects. LinkedIn is the platform for that, and that feels very B2C even. And the reality for me with LinkedIn is it's not either of those things. It's human to human. It's person to person. It is a social platform, and it wants to connect people with each other.

[00:01:37] And this is not to say that you don't need a company page. We all need a company page. It has a very important role in the process. What is saying is that company pages are not the driver. They are not the most important thing. The most important thing are the people behind the logo, the people behind the portfolio, the people who make the business [00:02:00] run, and that's everyone from the founder to the C-suite and leadership team to the employees themselves, and I would say in that order.

[00:02:11] You can roll out a very successful, what they now call an employee advocacy program, to build your, company's presence, hit the goals that we just talked about at the, at the onset of this convo. You can do that by leading with people first. And there were some crazy stats. Let me get my notes, because there were some crazy stats on this.

[00:02:35] So, for example, if you're on LinkedIn with the idea that you want to just expand your brand, your brand reach, your awareness, the difference between a corporate-facing LinkedIn strategy and a person-facing LinkedIn strategy, five hundred and sixty percent more impressions when we have our people go first, [00:03:00] our people lead Okay, that's pretty powerful.

[00:03:03] Let's talk about conversions, This applies whether it's converting somebody from, a lead to a prospect or from a prospect to a client. The difference here is a four to five X higher conversion rate when it is a personal post versus a company post. So regardless of your main intention with LinkedIn, and typically it's both of these things, by the way, it's brand awareness and brand exposure as well as, conversion. In either of those scenarios, the personal LinkedIn pages will beat the company LinkedIn posts, and therefore, that's really what we wanna lean into. I think that's probably the biggest misconception about LinkedIn. I would also say, though, that When I'm [00:04:00] talking about personal posts, I'm not saying that the company can post something and then the person can share it.

[00:04:06] So that doesn't count. that's like some cheat code or hack that people wanna say, "Oh yeah, no, we have like our employees are posting, they're sharing the corporate posts." No. If I had the taboo buzzer, that would be-- that's a eh. Okay? No. Also, uh, taboo buzzer on this one, which is, yeah, we have created templates for our clients, that they have to use, like kind of word for word, and, uh, there's five, and they can pick one, and then they can just, uh, post it.

[00:04:41] Compliance approved, don't change a word. No. Nope. Not gonna work. Culture of compliance always, but generic posts that are just released on a person's page doesn't count. I am talking about [00:05:00] real content in real words written by real people with their perspective, and I know that can be very scary for a lot of brands, but you have hired these people to be on your team.

[00:05:13] that tells me that you think they are good at their jobs and also good people, and so why are we not letting them communicate? Let your people tell stories about the company and what you do and why it's great, and why it's great to work there, and why they love their job, and how their week went, and why the conference they attended was super special and what they learned.

[00:05:39] All of these things are real, and that's what LinkedIn prioritizes. In fact, they've just come out-- LinkedIn has come out and basically said, "We are going after AI slop." Like, we're going after it. We're taking posts down. And I think that underwrites this [00:06:00] idea that this is a platform designed for people to connect with people in authentic ways.

[00:06:04] So I hope that helps

[00:06:07] This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. The information is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any of the funds, services, or products, or to adopt any investment strategy. Investment values may fluctuate, and past performance is not a guide to future performance.

[00:06:27] All opinions expressed by guests on the show are solely their own opinion and do not necessarily reflect those at their firm. Managers' appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement by Stacy Havener or Havener Capital Partners

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