Find Your Voice with Masterful Storyteller: Lorraine Lee
The Setup:
👀 Get a fresh take on how to connect and share ideas on LinkedIn
👋🏼 Meet masterful storyteller (317,000 followers) and Prezi’s Editorial Director, Lorraine Lee
🛠 Learn how to show up as your authentic self and deliver value
If you don’t have time to read today, watch this video overview (thanks, Lorraine!).
Intro:
Lorraine is the Editorial Director at Prezi, where she leads a team that works closely with influencers, speakers, and thought leaders to create, record, and livestream compelling videos that educate and inspire people all over the world. 🌎
Prior to Prezi, she was a News Editor at LinkedIn, which is where our paths crossed. I even had the chance to interview her on her top 3 relationship building tips.
This year, Lorraine is excited to build her brand and thought leadership in the virtual presentation space (Check out her progress so far!).
With all her experience scaling her audience and sharing her voice online, I wanted to get her on the newsletter to drop some gems for readers:
Buckle up for some great advice!
JH: What’s your #1 tip for building community around your brand?
LL: When you’re starting off, it’s important to publish content regularly to build up your audience.
The content you publish should
1) provide value/tactical advice; 🧠
2) relate to the area of expertise you want to be known for; and 💡
3) use a genuine voice. 📣
Remember that building a community takes time, but being consistent with your content schedule and being helpful to others will separate you from the crowd.
And, of course, as people start interacting and engaging with the content you share, don’t forget to respond to them.
Nobody likes to feel like they’re talking in a vacuum 👂, so the more you can engage, the more likely conversations will take off and your community will continue to come back for more because they find value in the content you’re sharing.
JH: What do you think differently about community building that others would think is weird?
This answer might surprise you...
Lorraine's answer:
I almost always accept LinkedIn connection requests, even if I don’t know the person.
I know many people don’t like doing this because it “dilutes” their network, but I believe that being more open to requests that come your way is a great way to meet people you otherwise might not come in contact with and find new opportunities.
It also expands your influence and content exposure, allowing your brand/content/thought leadership to reach more people. 🌏
I’ve also noticed that often people will add me without including a message, and it’s not until after I accept the request that they explain why they’re reaching out (e.g. they want to connect with other Asian American journalists, they thought my career trajectory was interesting and wanted to hear more, big fans of Prezi, etc.) — so by blindly rejecting invites, you could be closing the door to interesting connections and conversations. 🚪
LinkedIn tip: It’s best to always include intro messages in the connection request if you’re trying to connect with someone you haven’t met to increase the chances they’ll accept.
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Check out the rest of Lorraine’s unique LinkedIn advice.