Episode Summary
In this episode of Rep Your Brand, the host, Nick Bennett, talks to Daniel Murray, a Senior Manager of Marketing Operations at ServiceTitan. The two discuss the benefits of growing your brand on LinkedIn. Daniel shares the story about his beginnings on social media and the lessons he learned over time.
Daniel explains why it is crucial to be consistent on every social platform. He thinks many people are afraid of failing on social media, but that’s part of the learning process. He also knows many people are not interested in building their online presence, and that’s ok.
“Success doesn’t come overnight,” Daniel states. Therefore, he reminds listeners about the importance of engagement and responsiveness on social platforms. ”Don’t overthink it and just start,” Daniel advises.
Guest Profile
- Name: Daniel Murray
- What he does: Daniel is a senior manager of marketing operations at ServiceTitan.
- Company: ServiceTitan
- Key Quote: ''If you're gonna do anything in life, do it a hundred percent; otherwise, you're going to be upset with the results.''
Key Insights
- What are the basics of growing on LinkedIn? Consistency is the key to success, Daniel says. The growth on LinkedIn comes with engaging with other people's posts, commenting back, and being responsive. The guest also talks about one of the most common obstacles marketers come across to. ''This is a problem with marketers, people getting started on LinkedIn: they want to be everything to everybody. And you can't do that in marketing. You can't do that in building a brand. When you go too broad, they (the audience) don't know why they are coming to you. Most people need to stay very niche to be able to grow an audience.''
- People put a lot of stress on building a personal brand online. Colleges aim to create networks within their campuses, while the Internet allows you to connect with a broad audience, Daniel says. Who wouldn't want to build their brand online? However, some people don't want to go down that path. ''A lot of people put a lot of stress on building a personal brand online. And honestly, it's not for everybody. I don't want people to feel like they have to do it. I always say: if you're gonna do anything in life, do it a hundred percent or, otherwise, you're going to be upset with the results.
- What does adding value mean? Every social platform has its own rules in terms of adding value. Daniel paraphrases Ross Simmons's definition and says if your content is entertaining, engaging, and educational, it will probably be successful. ''People are coming to the network (LinkedIn) to find a job, get advice, learn from other people who are the same as them. So, if you give them that, you're successful on the platform." The guest also states: ''Value means you're not disruptive; your place in the feed adds something to their day instead of takes away from their day.''
“Posting on social helped me learn more. It just became this big feedback loop.”
Daniel Murray
Senior Manager of Marketing Operations
ServiceTitan
Episode Highlights
Reasons to Post on Linkedin
One of the reasons is a great organic reach, Daniel states. Another is the satisfaction of sharing the content. ”I started posting more and more. It just started helping me learn. It became a huge feedback loop. It’s probably accelerated my career. And then I started realizing that I just love doing this, and I love marketers, and I love learning from marketers and also like sharing my knowledge about marketing.”
The Story Behind Daniel’s First Linkedin Post
”The first time I put a post on LinkedIn was actually a joke because I worked at a company called ChowNow, and we dressed up for Halloween. I thought it was really funny. I didn’t know what LinkedIn is. I was like, oh, should I just share this? I shared that, and then I was like, oh, it got pretty good engagement. So, I started posting. Then my first couple of posts sucked, to be honest. Some of my posts still suck, but that’s social media, and that’s how you learn. I did it thoughtlessly, but I did.”
Our Posts Are Just Sharing Our Knowledge
Interlocutors agree their engagement on LinkedIn has plenty of advantages. Daniel says: ”We have the advantage because we don’t have to sell anything. All our posts are just sharing our knowledge and caring about the audience. We don’t have this ulterior motive to sell.
We have an advantage in the long term because we both trust that we can monetize our brand. It’s not something that happens overnight. And this is a new phase in marketing, which I think is so cool. And you see it with influencers, but you don’t see it in the B2B space as much anymore. Build a community first and then build a product around the problems your community already has, instead of building a product and then trying to get a community to surround that product.”
Do What You’re Good at First, and Then Build The Other Skills Up
”When you start, start what you’re good at. If you’re good at video, sticking with video might be your platform. If you’re good at graphic design and telling stories with graphics, graphics might be your post.
Social media is a storytelling platform, and it’s not a one post success platform. If you treat it like a storytelling platform, each post layers on each other to build your story and document your evolution. Once you’ve got bigger, do stuff on the side to get better at things.”
I Consume a Lot of Things to Be Able to Have Good Content
”You have to read good ideas to have good ideas”, Daniel says. The guest explains why it is crucial to follow what other people are doing and consume high-quality content. ”You have to have good inputs to have a good output. You need to understand platforms. They’re ever-changing. If you’re not always up to date about platforms, you’re just gonna fall behind. I always watch and listen to what other people are doing.”
Benefits of Having a Podcast
As a podcast host, Daniel has the chance to call marketing experts he admires the most. His podcast is the channel he can use to learn new things and share them with a broad audience. ”I’ve built connections with great marketers, and I’ve learned from them. And I’m using my brand to also bring them up. I think podcasting has definitely been something that has helped me learn faster as a marketer.”
Personal Brand Versus Reputation
”I think a personal brand is what you want people to attach to your name. Reputation can also be things that you do offline. A personal brand is more than just your job , but it is highly attached to where you want to be in your career. Reputation is who you are as a person, what your close-knit community thinks of you, and stuff like that.”
Don’t Overthink It and Just Start
Don’t be afraid of failing on social media, Daniel says. It is all part of the learning process. Just start, the guest advises. ”I think too many people overthink it. The beauty of social media is that if you post and nobody sees it, nobody sees it. You could fail a lot on social media, more than other platforms, and still, succeed.
If you don’t want to start posting, start engaging in other conversations, meaning, comment on other people. Cause this is LinkedIn, social platforms are conversations. They’re basically conversations with people who you want to have conversations with.”
