What Do You Want To Be Known For?

Visibility is essential these days. If you aren’t discoverable, you’re at a huge disadvantage, whether you’re a business owner, a founder, or an executive. But a lot of the '“classic” LinkedIn advice doesn’t necessarily hold true anymore.

For a long time, we were just told to create more content. But today, AI has allowed everyone to create massive amounts to content, and even engagement, at scale. Volume of posting is no longer a competitive advantage.

The real competitive advantage? To be known for the very things that you want to be known for.

That means having a LinkedIn headline that is clear, not confusing. An about section that reflects who you are today, not a summary of your resume. It means sharing content that people and, ironically, AI-powered platforms can recognize as credible, informative, and unique.

Try a very quick exercise. Go back at look at your last three LinkedIn posts. If your name and photo were missing, would someone who knows you, and knows your work, recognize that those posts came from you? And I don’t mean because you use a specific phrase (like my LinkedIn Nuggets or my Four To Follow).

Is there enough of your perspective in your content that it couldn’t have come from dozens of other people who do what you do?

AI has made it easier than ever to create perfectly competent content. It can give you five leadership lessons, seven networking tips and ten ways to build financial literacy before you’ve finished your first cup of coffee.

But competent and recognizable are two very different things.

This is exactly the kind of work we’re going to do in my upcoming LinkedIn Masterclass.

I’m not going to teach you how to become a full time content creator or an influencer. Absolutely not. This workshop is for you if you know LinkedIn could be doing more for you, but aren’t quite sure how to use it strategically.

Maybe you’re not clear on what you should be known for.

Maybe your profile is sending mixed signals, or just unclear ones.

Maybe you know you should be posting, but every time you sit down to write something, you have no idea what to say.

Or maybe you are showing up, but it doesn’t seem to be translating into the right conversations, relationships or opportunities.

We’re going to work on how all of those pieces fit together so that LinkedIn becomes part of how you build your professional reputation, not another item on your to-do list.

It’s all happening on Thursday, September 24th at 1PM ET. All the information and how to register is here. I hope to see you there!

Before you publish your next post, don’t ask yourself:

Will the algorithm like this?

Ask:

Does this reinforce what I want people to know me for?

Those are two very different measures of a successful post, and the more important one is the latter. You don’t need every post to reach tens of thousands of people. You need the right people to see enough of your thinking, often enough, that when an opportunity arises, your name comes to mind.

Visibility is useful, but recognizable visibility is what creates opportunity.

Until next time, stay caffeinated!

Melissa