You are brilliant at a lot of things. Coaching your clients towards change, providing valuable services that chip away at your client’s biggest issues and our world’s most pressing problems, and the list goes on. But you, as a human being, were never meant to do all of the things at once. We are terrible multitaskers. Our brains just weren’t designed to do that. 

It takes different parts of our brain to do all these different things – from sending proposals to doing client work to creating a piece of insightful content –  in a way that will make shift happen.  With excellence. 

If trying to publish your perspective on LinkedIn between Zoom calls and Slack pings isn’t working …

If you’re getting ready for a summer sabbatical or maternity leave but still want to easefully stay visible for opportunities when you return 

And/or you want your thought leadership content to tell a larger, more cohesive story …

Batching content for LinkedIn could definitely be for you. Batching gives me the mental white space to be where I need to be, when I need to be it. Or – just be away completely.  

Last month, I counted the days, and I was on vacation more than I was available. I highly recommend it. I went to see the Sapporo Snow festival in Hokkaido, Japan, I stayed in a little cottage on a pier in San Diego, I went to wine country.  

But here’s the thing: I still have an inbox of opportunities. Meaning, aligned potential clients submitting applications, inquiries for speaking gigs, and other fun collaborations that light me up. 

So, I want to use this podcast episode to talk about what keeps us from strategically batching our content so we can get visible easefully, and provide some real examples of how you can overcome those barriers. 

You can totally take this episode, and run with it. And, if you’re looking for a structured container, for community support with other social impact consultants, coaches, and service providers, for 1:1 copy coaching and feedback from me, and a push of momentum – a literal campfire under your ass to get going, then you should join our LinkedIn Content Sprint next month. 

I’ll be supporting you all with the knowledge, structure, and hype woman energy you need to create 6 months of thought leadership content that will position you as a go to voice in your niche. 

 

Highlights from the podcast episode: 

What stops us from batching LinkedIn Content? 

Alright, so I did a LinkedIn poll to find out what keeps social impact leaders from sitting down and batching their content, and 61 social impact entrepreneurs, consultants, advocates, etc. voted.  

In 4^th place, we had 13% of folks say: It’s their creative process that keeps them from batching LinkedIn content.  

I totally get this. And I will say, there is no one right way to do anything. For me, I have definitely found my best, most creative ideas come in the shower, upon first waking, walking my dog, in the middle of the night. As long as you can write it down, somewhere – a note on your phone, a specific notebook you keep by your bed, an email to yourself, these ideas can be batched into content. I have a running list of things I’d like to talk about in Notion – spicy perspectives, stories that are relevant to my audience, a-ha moments from client consultations that could help other people. 

But the reason I don’t just put something together and plop it on LinkedIn is different ideas can have a bigger impact at different times.  

Let me ask you this, would you ask someone to marry you on the first date? Probably not. Funny story, I actually did do this, and now that man is my husband. Maybe that’s a bad example. What I’m trying to say, is usually, as you’re using content to nurture someone in your audience into a member of your community, it can be helpful to have a sequence to things. Building trust in any kind of relationship takes time, and consistency. First, you share about yourself. You paint a picture of a vision, or a future together. Then, you start to share more of the behind-the-scenes stuff as you get comfortable. 

Sequencing your content this way is especially great for folks who have been on LinkedIn for years but they haven’t been posting their own insights. Many of us have so many connections from our past careers or lives, and there are oodles of people (who you’re actually already connected with) who would love to support you, tell their friends about you, and potentially hire you – if they just knew what you were doing and your perspective on your issue. My suggested sequence, especially if you’re relatively new to posting or you haven’t really had a strategy, is: 

1. Talk about why you give a hoot. Share your “why” and your founder’s story, or origin story. Share your perspective on the root cause of your issue. Why does this problem exist? Why does it continue? Why does this matter?  
2. Share stories to show why THEY should give a hoot. Help to shape the problem they’re facing in their minds, through your content. 
3. Then, share content to paint a visionary picture of how life can change. What is a solution? What can life look like immediately after working with you? How about two months after? How about two years after? 
4. Finally, my favorite corporate-speak term ever: Open the kimono. Share how you work with people. Share testimonials. Share pictures of the behind the scenes of you prepping for a client engagement and all that goes into it. Ask for the sale. Encourage people to apply. 

Can you see how sharing content in this kind of sequence can build trust, rapport, and nurture people into a relationship? It’s the same kind of sequence of process that you’d take if you were building relationship over a series of 1:1 get togethers. But this way, you can build trust and community on a larger scale. 

And, there’s other ways you can share a piece of content strategically. Like, have you ever faced an objection from someone during a discovery call and then put out a story-driven piece of content about that specific objection? They’re going to see it. They’re going to see other people commenting and resonating and be like, huh. OK. I’m reassured. I get it.   

You know? OK, moving on. 

What if my content doesn’t stay relevant? 

The third place barrier with 18% of votes was: My content may not stay relevant. Some folks I’ve been talking to about the LinkedIn Content Sprint next month are like, “Well, how can I write content for 6 months when I don’t even know what my offers will be in 6 months?” 

Here’s a secret. Nobody actually cares about your offers. Offers meaning, your group coaching program, your new VIP Day, or other service or product. If you’re in the nonprofit space, your fundraising campaign or event. These are all offers. Nobody cares, until you give them a reason to. 

What people care about is your why, your passion, expertise, stories that they can see themselves reflected back in, credibility, trustworthiness. Showing up consistently with your perspective, leading with your values, painting a picture of your shared vision – that is what will build trust. That is what will turn followers into fans into friends. 

Sharing about your offers is a cherry on top. Like, it only comes after the ice cream sundae of visible leadership and guidance. When your content is written in this way, it can never not be relevant. 

So, I went through ALL of my content for the last two years. It took a minute. But I did this so I could extract the posts that did the best, in terms of converting clients, getting opportunities, and creating engagement so I could share them as examples in the LinkedIn Content Sprint and break down why they worked. 

And guess what I noticed. Out of more than 100 posts, only 2 of them were about my VIP Day, which was my only offer for most of that time. Less than 2%. But, I was consistently booked out and made over six figures both years. 

And to be honest, I wasn’t sharing about it because I didn’t want to appear overly salesy – which is a whole different conversation we can talk about at a different time. But it worked out because it turns out I didn’t need to talk about my offer all the time, since I had this long-term approach of showing up as a thought leader, or trusted guide in the work that I do. And then people showed up in my DM’s and inbox like hey … I like what you stand for. I want more of that. For myself. How can I have what you have? Meaning visibility, courage, self-expression, balance, etc. 

When you lead with your values, you can legitimately sell any offer you want. Because when people have the problem you’re solving for, they know you’re their person. People want to buy from people who have aligned opinions and ways of seeing the world. 

What if instead of trying to make sure you’re writing timely content about your fundraising training, your DEI consulting, or your executive coaching, you just showed up as an embodied guide, sharing your unique opinions about your issue? How could that work out for you? 

Writer’s Block while Batching Linkedin Content 

So, the next two answers were actually tied, at 21 votes each, or about 35% each. Let’s talk first about: Writers Block. What the heck do I say?  

I mean. Yeah. This is a biggie. It’s hard because you’re too close to your own expertise.  

I bet you could sit with a client, biz bestie, or work wife and rattle off a bunch of stories and insights on their behalf. But it’s hard to do that for ourselves, because when you’re inside the bottle, you can’t read the label on the outside. 

Sometimes this barrier shows up as feeling like we need another certificate, or degree, or experience. Then, we can really say something. No. You have so much know-how, already. You just need to create the time, space, and momentum to get your existing wisdom out so it can reach more people. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can forget how much we know, because we work inside of our expertise all the time. This happens to me all the time. I’ll be working with a client and find myself saying, “Oh, but obviously this goes without saying” – and people are like What? I’ve never heard this term or concept before you said it. Right? 

Someone at the beginning of the transformation is seeking out the practiced knowledge you take for granted. You can support them through your content and create the conditions where it feels safe for them to buy, donate, or support. Thought leadership content leads to quicker relationship building, more aligned referrals and invitations, and better-fit clients. 

I know writer’s block is normal, but there are so many places you can get story ideas. Notes from your discovery calls and answers from old applications. Stories from your childhood that demonstrate your transferable skills.  So many things – and we’re going to dive into that even deeper during our content sprint so you never have to stare at a taunting, blinking cursor again. You know?

And, what if instead of feeling like content creation is a chore, what if it instead could be a way for us to self-actualize? To get creative?  To explore old stories and rewrite them for ourselves and our audience? To show up and get into the practice of actually saying what we believe and attracting a community of people who believe the same thing? 

I love this concept of how you do one thing is how you do everything. So, batching content on LinkedIn is not just about content. It’s a portal into gaining your voice, building power, growing influence and personal change-making capacity. Building a habit and gaining practice of turning your insights into tangible leadership.  

It’s Hard to find Dedicated Time to Batch Content

21 people said this also. So, we are all super busy. That goes without saying. But we can make time for the things that are important and move the needle in our business. Batching content actually frees up our time, so we can rest, go on vacation, and do client work with excellence. 

I’ve found that it’s not really about the time, it’s our old friend perfectionism. And procrastination. Which are just evil cousins, by the way.  

Because we want to get our content and the ways we show up on LinkedIn PERFECT, we either keep putting it off, or spending hours on one post, and then trashing it because it doesn’t meet our standards.  

Perfection is not required to show up as a go-to, trusted voice on LinkedIn. It’s not only unrealistic, it’s actually unhelpful.  It’s our most human, authentic, and vulnerable stories that attract the audience we’re looking for.

So, grant yourself permission to show up on LinkedIn, as you are, and watch the magic unfold.

And what really helps to create the dedicated time, is to do this work in a community of others who are committed to holding each other accountable and cheering each other on. 

If anything about this episode has inspired you to take the leap and get visible on LinkedIn to build top of mind trust and community, join the LinkedIn Content Sprint by March 30th.  We’re creating the space for impact-driven business owners like you to get 6 months worth of thoughts, opinions, and expertise out of their brain and into the world this April, in only 2 hours per week. 

I’m teaching the same nurture sequence and prompts I’ve used myself to create a six-figure consulting business, and that I use with my 1:1 ghostwriting clients, for literally a tiny fraction of the cost.  Plus, you’ll get my feedback on everything you create. Sometimes, I’ll provide copy coaching to maximize your posts and other times, all you truly need is a little pep talk.

I want you to start thinking of your LinkedIn as a lighthouse. Content is like the fuel that keeps the light on, so the ships, or rather the people, can actually find you, and moor safely into the solution that you provide. 

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Connect with me:

LinkedIn: Tania Bhattacharyya

Instagram: @taniabhat