[00:00:00] Chris Do: Hey guys, if you haven't done so, you need to check our first video together. It's got over 400,000 views. We got the powerhouse man himself. Yeah. Has being back. Talk about LinkedIn.

[00:00:31] Welcome back to the show. Now, we're doing this show because there are so many things that you know have done and have taught other people. I don't think it can be contained in one episode. Let's give people the reason why they need to watch. You just tell us a few things and then we'll get into it.

[00:00:45] Jasmin Alic: Okay, so the first video we did, Chris, uh, based on my data and what I hear from people is the number one LinkedIn video in the world this year.

[00:00:54] So we've done that and just to tell you the truth I've been hit up by so many [00:01:00] people the entire year Um where everyone's just jumping into my connection requests and dm saying hey, I watched your video with chris Hey, I watched you on the podcast with chris. Hey, I listened to the pockets and i'm like, oh my god, so many people I think we've grown Over a hundred thousand followers.

[00:01:16] Wow, since the podcast has dropped all done. Thank you, man It's it's a great feeling for sure

[00:01:22] Chris Do: Yes. Okay. So what are we going to do today? Like, what are we going to talk about? What are, what are the hooks that we can share with people?

[00:01:29] Jasmin Alic: The hooks. I feel like there's so much shift that's happened on LinkedIn in year 2024 and now running into year 2025.

[00:01:40] There's so much more video. Infographics are kind of dying down. There's so much more storytelling, finally, thank God, again. I feel like the platform is going in a different direction. LinkedIn isn't what it used to be just last year. LinkedIn is an entirely new beast now. And people are still not there.

[00:01:59] Like, to [00:02:00] me, that's the most impressive thing about LinkedIn. It's crossed a billion users. Less than one, less than actually two percent. are posting, which is fascinating to say out loud. So just imagine almost 99 percent of the user base, right? 98 point something percent not posting on a weekly basis or almost not posting ever.

[00:02:23] It's like the silent community where there's a whole lot of consumers, not a whole lot of creators. And when you say the word creator, it starts being this entirely new conversation, but I feel like it's Any CEO, any leader, any solopreneur, any student, anyone who's on social media, like, you should be creating content, like, just do it.

[00:02:41] Post about what you know, post your thoughts, post about an event that you had, post about what you learned in a lecture, post about what happened, just happened in a meeting. That is good content because it's personal, it's authentic, it's real, and it's not the stuff we've heard a thousand times before. So, yeah, LinkedIn is [00:03:00] Getting more saturated, but it's, I feel like it's easier than ever, honestly, to stand

[00:03:04] Chris Do: out.

[00:03:04] Okay. Why don't we do this? Let's address the elephant in the room. All social platforms go through some kind of change. It looks like LinkedIn is really embracing vertical videos, I think, to compete with the other social platforms, so going the way of the others. So we're starting to see more of that. I think initially it was a beta thing, and I think it's been rolled out so everyone can post videos now, right?

[00:03:24] Absolutely.

[00:03:25] Jasmin Alic: Right now, LinkedIn is pushing video to the point where they even changed the app entirely. There's an entire new video TikTok style feed in the app. And whether it's good, whether it's bad, I'm not going to be the judge of that. I like to say that it's going to be a period of adjustment for sure, not just for the users, but for the platform itself.

[00:03:46] Because you can't change 20 years of user behavior with one update. You just can't. LinkedIn has always been and will always be a primarily text based platform. Text only posts, that's what you focus on. Image [00:04:00] posts, you still focus on the text above the image. Video posts even, you still focus on, at least in the old ways, right, not the new video feed.

[00:04:07] You still focus on the text that's above the video itself. Carousels, infographics, all that jazz. LinkedIn is still primarily a text only platform. It's just that video is making its way in and a lot of people are panicking, thinking that everything is going through this change. No, it's just this one new kid on the block that we still have to embrace.

[00:04:27] We have to welcome it on the field. It might be the shiniest, right? The flashiest kid on the block with the You know, busting the breakdance moves in the middle of the field. Sure, but there's still a whole lot going on around you. And I feel like the panic is on call for on LinkedIn right now. Like, this is my message to everyone.

[00:04:45] Chill, ease into it. Video is here. It's here to stay. And we'll see where it goes. But it doesn't mean that everything else suddenly stops working. Just because there's this new feature. No, nothing like that.

[00:04:59] Chris Do: Well, this does sound [00:05:00] like a really good opportunity for people who've done really well on Instagram with Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikToks to be able to create some kind of content there.

[00:05:08] And they're going to have an advantage. But if we're ready to take this leap and do video, do you have any recommendations? Are you doing video content?

[00:05:16] Jasmin Alic: So funnily

[00:05:17] Chris Do: enough,

[00:05:18] Jasmin Alic: I've never published a video on LinkedIn, at least until the time, you know, we're recording this. Why? I'm primarily a writer. I've been writing for 15 years.

[00:05:26] And my content doesn't necessarily call for it. However, now I'm at the stage where we're launching a paid community. And I will be doing a course within the community. Loads more video content. I will be doing regular Q& A sessions. Regular Hangouts. Regular Masterclasses. On a regular basis. So loads more video content.

[00:05:45] So now, at this particular point in time, now it finally calls for video as part of my content strategy. Up until this point, I did need it. I still feel like I can also live without video, even with all these things happening. But that's the thing. [00:06:00] Everyone is probably having the same thought in their mind.

[00:06:03] Do I need video? Yes, it's the new feature. It's the hottest craze. But do I really need it? The answer is quite easily, no. Almost no one needs it, but should you do it? Absolutely. Hey, the platform is obviously pushing it, right? Yes. You're getting almost gifted reach, uh, gifted impressions and views, and everyone wants that.

[00:06:26] Whoever says they don't care about impressions and, you know, like counts and comment counts, everyone does. And why not? Like, the question is, why wouldn't you do it? The other part is, what type of content performs? Now, in my experience so far, analyzing. Um, the content that I have in front of me, analyzing the content of my clients.

[00:06:44] It's actually the opposite of what we know LinkedIn for, typically, Chris. On LinkedIn, you see content that's slightly broader in topicality, right, like the super relatable content, these platitudes, these blanket statements, these [00:07:00] quotes, right, about leadership and productivity and mindset that would go viral.

[00:07:05] So that's the content we're used to seeing go viral, but on video it's actually the complete opposite. It's the niche topicality videos that are getting pushed. There's this lady called Alexis. She does network engineering. She's talking about these very, very, very super, super duper granular topics about cables under the sea and engineering this and that Cisco, this and that.

[00:07:31] And it's getting a million plus impressions per video. Which is nuts, right? Normally, like back in the day on LinkedIn, that would have never flown. That would have never gone viral. Right now with the video feed, I feel like it's much easier for LinkedIn to push niche related topics. Into niches who are not active specifically users who are not active.

[00:07:54] Remember what we just said a couple of minutes ago We mentioned there's like at least 98 99 percent of people who [00:08:00] are not posting actively Actively means at least one post per week. So linkedin does that Knows what their niche is. They know what their region is. They know sort of what they're already used to consuming.

[00:08:13] They're just giving them more now in a brand new format. That's a lot more visual. It kind of grabs your attention much easier. And because there's this entirely new feed now. You get to just swipe and you get more of the same type of content. Before, you used to have a mixture in the main feed. You had text only posts, image posts, carousel, videos maybe.

[00:08:33] Right now, there's an entirely separate feed only for video. And I feel like that's exactly what makes it different. And that's where a lot of that gifted reach comes from. Because it's only video, your, you know, views are not kind of stolen by these other Formats in the feed. It's just video and that's it.

[00:08:50] Like that's why video is easily getting views these days because there's an entire separate feed So why not, you know, why not? That's the question. That's the question.

[00:08:59] Chris Do: Well, I want [00:09:00] to get into this I want to get your prediction because you spend more time on LinkedIn than anybody else. I know and you're crushing it for sure I don't know if that's a compliment It is a compliment, for sure.

[00:09:10] Well, let me get your prediction on this, because LinkedIn and other platforms, they're playing the game of catch up to TikTok. Everybody is responding to TikTok because it's a monster. It's died down a little bit, but they're still doing that. We saw Instagram copy Or borrow features from TikTok and getting a lot of backlash from people.

[00:09:26] It's like, we don't want all this kind of content. I think they're finally finding that mix again. And it was a period of like weird feed algorithm stuff that was happening. That was really punishing people. And we've seen LinkedIn try new features because they want to see if it'll work. And then they abandoned it because it didn't work.

[00:09:42] Like the, the automated carousels they tried for a period of time. People didn't like it. They already had a way to do it. I didn't need automated carousels. Didn't make any sense to me. I don't know why they did that, but okay, is video a long term strategy that you think is going to stick or will they abandon it because people [00:10:00] aren't using it the way that they hope?

[00:10:02] Jasmin Alic: You're putting me on the spot, Chris, because if I say something wrong here, I may get shadowbanned. Um, No, seriously though, here's my take though. I feel like video is here to stay, although I know 100 percent that the rest of the content types are here to stay too. And that's where I feel like we need to make that distinction.

[00:10:25] Is video taking over or is video just coming? And I feel like it's the other option. Video is just coming and it's there. It's not necessarily taking over. LinkedIn is not becoming this huge video platform because if you really think about it, Chris, LinkedIn has been introducing video for four or five years now ever since they started introducing these LinkedIn learning nano courses, which were vertical style video.

[00:10:50] At that point, this was four or five years ago, mind you. And at that point, I feel like that was the first step of many for them to slowly embrace video as being part [00:11:00] of the platform, not necessarily the platform itself. So no, I don't think video is going to overtake everything and it's going to become the new TikTok for business.

[00:11:11] No, absolutely not. Because again, 20 years, uh, LinkedIn is actually 21 years old. It's the oldest social media platform that we're currently using. So, like I said, you can't change all of that 20 plus years with just one update. Text only posts still here to stay. Fun fact, I still get more reach, Chris, on my text only posts than I do on my image posts.

[00:11:34] More reach actually on the text only stuff, which is new stuff, I guess, new information for a lot of people and whenever I talk about it in my content, they're like, really? And then I tell them, test it out, write a text only post. They're like, yeah, I'm not so sure if people are actually going to read it.

[00:11:50] And I'm like, test it out, see it for yourself. And then they do. And they're like, yep, it's true. I'm still actually getting views, more views on the [00:12:00] text only stuff compared to the, you know, more visual stuff. What's the reason for that? Well, the thing is, I feel like there's an oversaturation of images on the platform because everyone's been told, hey, post a selfie is going to get more reach.

[00:12:13] It's not. If the selfies are relevant, it's not going to do anything for you. Sure, you may get some likes, but the way I've learned that the algorithm behaves is it's not necessarily counting just a like as a scoring metric so that it determines which posts get pushed further aka which posts go viral.

[00:12:33] What it's actually determined by is by two things. It's by the activity under the post, meaning comments and dwell time. The dwell time is actually Almost impossible for anyone to determine like how long do people stay on your post? You can kind of pinpoint it by looking at the reading time of your post Like there's tools like authored up authored up best tool on the market by the way for for content creation [00:13:00] I think i've even mentioned them in the first video.

[00:13:02] I did I still use them to this day They're my go to tool for content creation so what they'll tell you is like the reading time of the post and i've noticed that whenever there's a really good combination of Longer reading time, plus people staying on the post right after they read it, so they're not just swiping, liking, and continuing to swipe, like, to another post.

[00:13:24] They're swiping, liking, staying on the post to comment, and because I have my entire pinned comment strategy, we can actually get into that. People are staying for longer on the posts, and those types of posts where a person isn't just doing one action. They're actually staying for 30, 40 seconds, or sometimes 3, 4 minutes.

[00:13:45] Heck, my community stays there for 15, 20 minutes per post. Those are the types of posts that will consistently get good engagement, consistently get good reach. And you don't have this fluctuation in your analytics bar. Um, a lot of the [00:14:00] times, like, you see that. People are complaining, like, oh, it's inconsistent.

[00:14:03] Right, because not every post is A, quality, B, inviting, and C, the dwell time compared with the really, really good engagement tactics. It's just not there. So, it's a much deeper topic, Chris, where, um, something that has to do with the quality of the content, the overall push of, like, on your end as the author of a post to keep your audience under the post.

[00:14:27] That's where a lot of people get it wrong. It's like, no, no, I'm just trying to churn out content. I have a, you know, set goal of seven posts per week, and then you do it, and not every post performs. And then when you ask them why, they'll typically just give you the, you know, cop out, I don't care. If you don't care about the performance of your content, why are you even posting it in the first place?

[00:14:48] Everyone cares about the numbers. And the reach matters. The like count matters. The comment count matters. The repost count matters. Every single metric matters if it ties back into bringing you money and actually [00:15:00] growing your business. It's just that most people don't have a strategic approach like this.

[00:15:04] They're just churning out content and if it works, it works. And then down the line, three, four, six months down the line, they're still in the same rut. They never figure it out. They never get past that point that says, if it works, it works. No, you have to learn what works. You have to take back some of that time.

[00:15:22] You can't just be on the platform all the time and hoping that activity leads to more impressions, more followers, and more clients. No, it has to be strategic. Activity, it has to be things that actually move the needle to do that. You actually have to learn the platform. You actually have to understand what works for you, what works for your particular audience, your particular region and niche.

[00:15:44] And I feel like I just started sounding like a madman. Chris, I love analyzing this. Like, I love these deep dives into data and human behavior because I feel like what works for me in my particular niche. Doesn't work for someone who, I don't know, works in aviation, for [00:16:00] example, right? Because they don't need that much engagement.

[00:16:02] All they really need is a much stronger network connecting with people, DMing people. But someone who's maybe selling a course, they need that engagement because they thrive off of quantity and more traffic on their profile. Therefore, more people, right, seeing their offer and buying their offer. So it's the typical, it depends answer, but I'm happy to talk about what it depends on.

[00:16:24] Chris Do: Okay. I think we've established something. Yeah. That text only posts work really well. They're your highest performing posts. They're more effective than the other types of posts. Let's get into some tactical things about how you can write better posts. Last time you shared with us a bunch of really great examples.

[00:16:39] I'm CTA here. If you haven't done so already, just pause this video, open another browser, search and find the next video or we'll include the link in the description or the show notes. Watch that video first so that you have a primer for what we're about to talk about. Okay. So let's, let's move to the side here.

[00:16:54] If we keep that in mind of what happened the first call or conversation together, let's say [00:17:00] this is just part two of an ongoing series and let's give them more tactical things they can do. You mentioned something about pinned comments. What is that about?

[00:17:07] Jasmin Alic: So pinned comments are literally the backbone of my community on LinkedIn.

[00:17:13] To give you context, I get minimum a thousand comments per post. Every post. It doesn't matter what the post is. A thousand comments are going to be there. Two thousand comments are going to be there. And a lot of people will be very quick to jump to conclusions and say, Oh, he's cheating. He's using some automation tools.

[00:17:31] He's using what we call pods, which are these organized mafia group chats of 50, 100 people where people are just sharing links. You will never see me anywhere. Um, in those if you scroll back through each of those comments, you'll see that you'll see that it's actual real people, people who are taking the time to comment.

[00:17:50] People are taking the time to stay and people who are to me, that's the biggest sign of a good community talking to. each other. They're talking amongst [00:18:00] themselves. I don't even have to be there for this community to stay alive. My content is merely the driver of the conversation, but they're staying.

[00:18:07] They're learning with each other. They're talking to each other. And I constantly preach about this in these commenting strategy posts. So one of those, one of those commenting strategies is what I call pinned comments. For context, LinkedIn used to have this as a feature. Pinned comments were an actual feature on LinkedIn, just another one in line that they axed.

[00:18:29] So when you posted a comment, or any comment for that matter, under your post, if you felt like, oh, this is a really good comment, more people should see it, you could have clicked on the three dots in the corner, and you could have clicked pin to the top. And by default, whoever sees your post, that comment would be sticky, It would be the first comment that everyone sees.

[00:18:49] However, this only lasted for like two weeks. And even at that point, for those two weeks, I was like the trailblazer of that. Like, let me use up the pinned commenting strategy to its [00:19:00] maximum capability. But LinkedIn took it away and I was like, holy moly, this has gone away. How do we keep up the engagement?

[00:19:07] How do we keep people under the posts? How do we maintain this community feeling? And I just started testing something out, Chris, and funnily enough, author comments, or self comments, so when you comment under your own posts, by default, they're pinned to the top. And it doesn't always happen, like it really depends if someone is following you, if they're your first network connection, if they're your second or third degree connection, but for around 90 percent of people who are reading your post, Self comments, so author comments, the ones you write under your own post, they will be the first comments that they see.

[00:19:40] So, I was like, you know what, let me use this as a strategy. I now no longer, it was actually a blessing in disguise, because with the pinned comments, you could only pin one. Now I had a chance to post multiple under every single post, and that's when it really took off. So, pinned commenting as a strategy, here's what [00:20:00] it boils down to.

[00:20:01] You never essentially end your post with the post. You always push your audience to stay and engage and talk to other people, other potential clients, other prospects, find opportunities, find new hires. Just find new ways to engage with the network that they currently have. And what I like to post underneath those posts is BTS stuff.

[00:20:27] So if I'm publishing on a Friday and I'm literally just about to walk on stage in an hour or I've just walked off stage and here I am religiously, you know, doing my 1230 post and I'm there and I'm engaging, I literally share a selfie. I'm like, Hey guys, I just walked off stage. I was talking about AI and writing blah, blah, blah.

[00:20:44] Here's a photo. What do you think about AI? Do you use AI? So always make an inviting. Ask a question. Another one. that I really, really like to do is bonus points or bonus lessons. Uh, here what I typically do is fairly easy. I repurpose older posts. And [00:21:00] it's quite literally just copy pasting it, shortening it, so it doesn't feel like this huge, huge chunk of text.

[00:21:05] So just the main lesson. So if I'm writing a post, for example, about the pinned commenting strategy, I'll find other two or three posts about some sort of conversation around commenting. And I'll post those as bonus points, as bonus lessons. So bonus number one, my 1 plus 3 commenting strategy. Never comment only once, comment four times.

[00:21:26] One as the main comment, three more replies to your ICPs who you find in the comments. Bonus lesson, why not? And then people are like, oh my god, the value just never stops, never stops, never stops. So I like to do bonus lessons. I already said I like to do BTS stuff. I like to do calls to action, right?

[00:21:43] Calls to sales, calls to download, calls to subscribe, in the comments itself. I feel like it's a very sleazy way to do content when you write this beautiful story or you write this beautiful educational piece. And then at the very end of that post, so [00:22:00] just think of the psychological journey of your reader.

[00:22:03] They've read your post, and it's about X topic, and then at the very bottom, you have this footer that says, Oh, and if you want me to do the same for you, DM me, I'll, it's like, they've just read something, and you've just told them, forget about it, the post wasn't about this in the first place, I'm just trying to sell you something.

[00:22:21] So why not keep the post to what it is, to what it's supposed to communicate, but keep the salesy part. In the comments and I've always done this, Chris, I've never read to the point where I've never written a sales post in my life. I've never written a case study post. I've never written a testimonial post and I don't need to sell.

[00:22:41] And how do I prove that? Because we're booked out 6 months in advance. That's how I can prove that this actually works. You don't need to sell in your content to be able to sell from your content. That is a huge lesson in there. So that's selling. If you have a launch of something of a [00:23:00] course, if you have an event coming up, if you have a link to a new podcast that has dropped, I will always try to push it in the comments instead of the actual post, unless the post itself is about the thing you're selling, but those would then be sales posts in its nature.

[00:23:15] Anyhow, I'll But a lot of people don't sell like that. They'll literally just write educational posts, personal story posts, and then they'll still sell at the very end. Don't. Keep it to the comments. This actually keeps trust. It builds more trust. So, we've said, pinned comments so far, the types I do. BTS stuff, bonus points or bonus lessons, um, calls to action.

[00:23:35] What I like to do is free Q& As. So Q and A's in the comments are the backbone of my community and why people have so much trust in my content and in my business, why we're booked out, why we're launching this community. Now the paid community, finally, after years in the first place, it's because they know they can count on the value at any point at any time during the day.[00:24:00]

[00:24:00] And I'm not afraid to share. I'm not afraid to overshare. And I feel like every single expert on LinkedIn should be like this. You can dedicate 13 or 15 even minutes to the comment section every single day. Just write, free Q& A, ask me anything about X topic, I'm here to stay for the next 20 minutes, 30 minutes, how, whatever the number is, right?

[00:24:24] And I'm going to respond to every single comment under this thread. My goodness. Every single time I do those, people bombard me with questions, yes, but it's such a great lead generation tactic. Because they're only able to maybe ask a question. Once and if you give them a really good answer, they're like, damn, this guy's good or this business is good.

[00:24:46] These guys, these people, these designers, these service providers are great. I want to work with this particular team agency. It doesn't matter. But then the other part is they're also learning from other people. They're meeting other people or if there's someone who [00:25:00] have experienced something similar, they can then respond because I said, I'm only there for 20 minutes and people will inadvertently, they will still continue to ask questions even after the 20 minutes, other people come in, they have a chance to show up as an expert, they have a chance to meet someone new, they have a chance to expand their network, to build their own authority and trust, so many things.

[00:25:21] So free Q and a big thing. I'm really, really big on that. And the other thing I really love doing, Chris is. Heartfelt messages. Somehow, I feel like even with every educational post that you do, even with every story post that you do, testimonial, social selling, you know, social proof post that you do, you can always count on people giving you pushback.

[00:25:48] You can always count on someone having something negative to say. And if you know already, you're going to be tempted to kind of include that additional point in the post. [00:26:00] Don't. Because then your post becomes a two part thing, and it loses its value. You're literally splitting the value in half by communicating two different points.

[00:26:09] What I like to do is, I like to write these additional PSAs almost, public service announcements, right? I like to address those objections in the comments as well. So I'll write, you know, confession. Yes, this is true, but, and then I'll give you another point of view. Or, I will quote certain things that people have said or certain things that people might say, like those actual complaints.

[00:26:34] I'll quote it, like literally, pinned emoji. And always use the pinned emoji, by the way, it really adds visual emphasis in the comments. And I will put quotes and I will say, Yeah, but Yasmeen, beginners could use a bit more quantity at the very beginning. It's not always about quality. Quote, and then I will give my additional PO view, right?

[00:26:54] Because the post itself was about quality over quantity, and then the inverse is happening in the [00:27:00] comments. I could give you a longer list of things I do in the pinned comments, but The storyline here is keep your audience engaged even after they read your post. Like, I can't stress this enough. Your post should never end with the post.

[00:27:17] Real value on LinkedIn is determined in the comments underneath the post. Keep people there and you're going to see your reach rise, you're going to see your like comment repost count rise, and you're going to see your authority rise to levels you never even imagined they could. But if you don't do this, if you're just posting.

[00:27:35] And expecting magically for people to appear underneath your posts, it ain't gonna happen no matter how much you try to trick the algorithm, talk about topics it seemingly likes. It's not gonna happen. You have to do this strategically and willingly and authentically.

[00:27:50] Chris Do: Okay. Question for you there. That was, that was a lot to take in.

[00:27:53] That was a long answer, by the way, so I apologize. No, I love it. I love it. I just stayed quiet because I didn't wanna interrupt you. So your, [00:28:00] your idea or your strategy is to make a post and then lead them to the comments and stay engaged in the comments, which is the thing that you're, you're quite well known for.

[00:28:08] I'm just curious when you say, I'm gonna be here for a free q and a for the next 20 minutes. Realistically, how long were you there for? Because I find that it doesn't just take 20 minutes because as, as you're responding, more and more just coming in and it's hard to keep up with them. So, do you have a disciplined approach where you're like, okay, I got to do some other things.

[00:28:26] I'm going to cut it off here.

[00:28:28] Jasmin Alic: Absolutely. I am a very strict person when it comes to my schedule, and I apply the same principle to my LinkedIn. I literally have a LinkedIn hour in my work calendar. And this is what I coach to every client who comes to me and they say, I'm a CEO, I'm a manager, I have a team of 20, 200 people, I can't be on LinkedIn all the time.

[00:28:48] Sure, but how long? Can you potentially be on LinkedIn? If they say 30 minutes, I'll tell them put those 30 minutes in your work calendar. Trust me, it makes a world of a difference. For me, that version is 60 [00:29:00] minutes every single day. So my schedule looks something like I post at 12 30 and I will 100 percent of the time stay at least until 1 30 religiously one hour every single time.

[00:29:12] So that's my engagement hour. I know when I'm posting. People can count on me to stay. People can count on me to respond to their comment. People can count on actual conversations being had right underneath the post in that first hour at the very least. So for me, it's a, you know, religious following of my work calendar, but only because I have a LinkedIn hour in my calendar.

[00:29:36] For you, it may look like 15 minutes or 30 minutes, however much, you know, time you can afford in your workday. Because I understand not everyone has that same, you know, LinkedIn mentality. Because my business is on LinkedIn. Not everyone has that scenario, right? So for me, it's like the activity itself is kind of part of the business and I enjoy it.

[00:29:55] I love it. It builds the community. It builds the business. It gets us leads every single day [00:30:00] almost. And um, when you treat it like that, very strictly, you never get overwhelmed. You never feel like, oh, I'm missing out on something. No, just make that mental switch. I'm going to be here for an hour. After that, I'm going on about my day.

[00:30:15] That's what I do quite literally and everyone knows that like if you catch me in the first hour, we're good if it's after that You're lucky because I may have just grabbed some coffee somewhere and while waiting in line I was like typing, you know comments for five minutes But that first hour is everything for me and after that if I am there, you know, it's extra effort Anything more than that first hour for me is the extra effort Although I do always aim to give that extra effort, like I have my 15 minute commenting spree in the morning, then I have my one hour after posting, and then I'll typically do one or two more 15 minute sprees, commenting sprees during the day someday.

[00:30:54] So yeah, that's how I do it, but you have to be very strict about this. If you let LinkedIn bleed [00:31:00] into your life and into your business, it's gonna be overwhelming, 100%. So be strict about it, be strict with yourself. That's how you win on LinkedIn, for sure.

[00:31:09] Chris Do: Wonderful. I'm gonna channel our audience here. I'm gonna ask you this question.

[00:31:14] Great idea. Drive engagement to the comments. That also means your original post has to be quite interesting and full of value. And I've seen people use this strategy, either image plus text or text only, that I read their post and I'm like, this post sucks. And I know last time you told us the hook, the re hook, you told us the dear son so you get the tone of voice right.

[00:31:35] Help us fix this problem because the commenting strategy works, If your content is good, if your content is trash, who's going to comment? No one's going to even care. 100 percent Help us write better. What do we need to do? What are the common mistakes that you see people do? Let's correct for those because I think that's where a lot of value is going to be unlocked here.

[00:31:53] Jasmin Alic: So here's a writing hack for LinkedIn, if you will. Hack for the lack of a better term. Focus on the [00:32:00] first three lines of text, including spaces. Why three? Why not two? Why not one? Why not just the first line, Jay, right? Thank you. Because that's where LinkedIn, that's exactly where LinkedIn cuts it off.

[00:32:11] That's where the preview of your post gets cut off. And if you don't believe me, scroll through your main feed or go to your own profile. Check the posts that are actually shown, your latest posts. LinkedIn always shows three lines of text, including spaces. But, and there's a huge but coming, Chris. This is where a lot of people failed with their content.

[00:32:31] The post itself, the message of the post, can be spectacular, punchy, crispy, beautiful, powerful, motivational, inspiring, super educational, but if those first three lines If you fail there, no one's even going to be able to read the rest of the post. So, I have so many little tidbits within this hack. So the hack is around the first three lines, right?

[00:32:54] I call it a hack because people just love the word hack. This is an actual mindset shift that you have to do for [00:33:00] yourself when you're writing. So, My stats, my analytics show me that whenever I write my hook, my first sentence, as a two liner, I get a 20 percent drop, a decrease in overall reach, engagement, so on and so forth.

[00:33:18] But there's a reason for that, Chris. It's because I then don't get to share my second sentence with my audience. Because my first sentence is a two liner, The third line, essentially, is an empty space. The second sentence is the fourth line in order. And LinkedIn doesn't show four, it shows three. We've already said that.

[00:33:40] So, make sure, that's step number one, that your hooks are always one liners. Cause, and also, your re hooks, Your second line, we call it a re hook. Watch the first video with Chris, by the way, if you want to learn more about the re hook strategy. I'm not going to get into that. The first video covers it really well.

[00:33:55] So first lesson, keep your hooks as one liners always, because then you get [00:34:00] this added opportunity to give additional information in the second sentence of your post. If your first sentence is a two liner, LinkedIn will not show the next one. So you're missing out. Your audience is missing out. They don't know actually what they're missing out on, which is the irony because you're not allowing them to read it.

[00:34:18] Make sure it's a one liner, then an empty space, and then the second line should work in unison with the first one. So think about it from this perspective. If your readers could only read the first three lines, literally just those first three lines, what would you want them to know? And this is where a lot of those click baity tactics fall into water, drop dead.

[00:34:41] They don't work. Here's why. Because your audience has no idea what they're going to read about, and because they feel like there's a gimmicky approach to it, this salesy, this click baity approach, they might not even click on see more, and they will never read the end of your post. They will never read the rest of your post, let alone, uh, till the end of it.

[00:34:59] So, my [00:35:00] approach is, think of the line 1, empty space, and line 2, As the entire post, literally, what do you say in those first three lines so that when people are on your profile and LinkedIn shows them three posts with, you know, three lines each, meaning two lines and empty spaces, what do they see in those posts?

[00:35:20] Do they immediately sense your energy? Do they immediately sense your authority? Do they immediately sense that these posts are educational enough for them to be like, wow. Yeah. I want to click on each one of these, let alone when you're in the main feed and you're battling with hundreds of other posts, which is where the battle is 10 times crazier.

[00:35:39] So first three lines, think of them as something that goes together. That's the entire post. Think about it as right after these three lines, after the Seymour button is clicked, my post doesn't exist. But that's where the value lies, because when they finally click on the see more button, the human brain is now primed to read till the end.

[00:35:57] They already have the value in the first three [00:36:00] lines, so the rest of it is by default. They literally just easily read till the end. I study the human brain a lot, I study human psychology a lot. These brain triggers, this is one of those brain triggers. When the first three lines communicate basically the entire post.

[00:36:15] Then when they click. see more and they see the rest of the post, the brain just does it. The brain literally just flows till the end. So, here's how you can do it the most, in the most efficient way. Think of the first line as your main point of the post. And the second line as an objection that you're immediately addressing or tell them immediately what the actual process that you're going to share with them is.

[00:36:38] I actually just wrote a post about this, so I can, I can immediately tell you what I wrote. Here's an example of that. I don't track my commenting activity, but LinkedIn does. In the last 24 hours, I left 270 comments. Here's how. That's it. I'm giving you the example of LinkedIn is [00:37:00] actually telling you that it's tracking your analytics, it's pushing you to do better.

[00:37:04] And I'm gonna, in my image, I'm actually gonna share a screenshot of LinkedIn's new analytics bar. By the way, have you seen that? LinkedIn is now tracking your comment count. Like how many comments you're actually leaving in a week.

[00:37:17] Chris Do: No, like your personal, like how many comments I'm making. LinkedIn Yeah, yeah, like you can see this in your

[00:37:22] Jasmin Alic: profile's

[00:37:22] Chris Do: analytics.

[00:37:23] Jasmin Alic: Okay. Yeah. LinkedIn is actually telling you now how many article contributions you're, uh, you're, you know, giving out, how many comments you're leaving, how many posts you're posting. So they're kind of pushing you to create more, to engage more. So if my post is, you know, LinkedIn, I'm not tracking my comments, but LinkedIn is, I left 270.

[00:37:42] Here's how. That's basically the entire post. I'm literally just going to give you a process, but your brain already knows what it's about. There's no switching. There's no click baiting. There's nothing that makes you feel like, oh, I'm going to read something entirely different. In fact, every single point you hear from [00:38:00] now on in that process is just an added value proposition.

[00:38:04] It's that simple. Quite literally. Like right now, I feel like the way I've explained it, it's like, duh. But we don't think about it this way because we feel like the value has to be in the middle of the post. The big point has to be somewhere down at the bottom. No, LinkedIn's UI doesn't permit you to treat your posts like that.

[00:38:22] It's the first three lines. You have to treat those first three lines as sacred. And if the first three lines don't tell you what the entire post is about, you've failed. So just, just think about that for a second. First three lines, treat them like they're working together. Like they're literally presenting you the entire post.

[00:38:38] And then whatever comes after the click, see more. That's just added value. And the human brain just loves added value when it's already used to value. So that's number one, Chris.

[00:38:50] Chris Do: Wonderful. Give me a couple more examples either from yourself or somebody you've coached where we're looking at these three lines and they're just, we need more examples.

[00:38:58] I think a couple more would be [00:39:00] fantastic.

[00:39:00] Jasmin Alic: I have a really good one that I've been testing out. Okay. So Chris, I like to say that you can write super good content, but that content is not necessarily unique. Here's what I mean by that. You see so many great educational posts in the feed, right? Like, I write them, you write them yourself, we all do them.

[00:39:22] The problem is, my question is always, Am I really inside of that post? Like, where am I, the expert, inside of what I've just written? As experts, we feel so pushed, so motivated to share the knowledge, that we forget to tell people how we actually know it. And this is a common theme across almost every client I ever have coached, I'm working with, I'm auditing their content, I'm improving their content, it is a common theme.

[00:39:50] We're so motivated to share the information that we forget to say how we know the information. What's the context? What's the background? So there's this thing we do in writing [00:40:00] called signposting. I don't know if that's a term. There's a good creator, Niall Ratcliffe, who likes to use that a lot in this content.

[00:40:09] I don't know if he thought of the word or the word existed before, but signposting is essentially, you're just giving these mini hints to your reader about how you know this information. And let me give you an example, Chris, you've seen this particular post a million times in the feed. Yeah. As a CEO, you're expected to stay on 24 7.

[00:40:30] Your morning routine is probably the most crucial part of your day, so here are seven science based tactics to blah blah blah blah blah blah improve your morning routine. Cool. That post is now going to give me seven tactics and done. Whose post is that, Chris? Like, anyone could have posted that. Anyone in the world could have literally published that post.

[00:40:52] Now, let's go back to the very beginning, and let's take a look at what we forgot to say to our reader. We forgot to tell them how we [00:41:00] know this information. And it's dead simple. All you need is one sentence, heck, half a sentence, where you hint at your experience, at your job, at your role, at what you do.

[00:41:12] So here's how that looks like. As a CEO, you're expected to stay on 24 7. I've been managing teams for the last 20 years, and I know how excruciating it is to wake up every morning at 4 a. m. and have to work up until 6 or 7 on a daily basis. Here are 7 science based blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but what we've just said before that proves our entire case.

[00:41:42] That point literally says to the reader, you can't find this particular post anywhere else. That's what makes it unique. You can't Google it. You literally can't possibly Google it. There's a much deeper brain reaction to this that says, I trust this person because they [00:42:00] told me how they know it. But if they had just posted it, you would be like, ah, who are you to tell me?

[00:42:05] Like, why, why would I care? Like, how do you know this information? I can just Google it. And you're right. You can just Google it, but just. Take a step back, add that little half sentence that says, This is how I know it, in my 20 years of experience. Every single client I coach has the same exact issue.

[00:42:23] That's another sentence. You're just signposting. Think of it as an empty road, like a super long road in the middle of the desert. You have no idea where you're going. But there's these many signs. Right? Street signs along the way that keep you on that journey, that build trust that you're on the right path.

[00:42:41] This is the same exact thing. If you're just reading an empty post that anyone could have posted, you don't trust it. You don't trust the person. You don't trust the actual information itself because of that. But when you simply state it, this little signpost that you just plug in there in the middle of the post, and you can actually insert this [00:43:00] anywhere, it doesn't even have to be this templated, if you will, like the way I describe it, I feel like it's templated a little bit, but you can just plug this information anywhere.

[00:43:08] If you're someone who works exclusively with Fortune 500 clients, you can plug this in your hook immediately. Right? Every fortune 500 leader makes this mistake. I don't even have to tell you that I'm doing it. I somehow know it because I'm calling it out. I'm literally defining the reader by its role, by its region, by its niche, by its industry.

[00:43:30] So, signposting is a huge tactic, Chris, that we use in our content and our clients content. And it actually creates results. But it creates results because we avoid doing the next thing, selling. You don't have to sell in the content. You don't have to do these salesy posts when you keep reminding your audience that you have experience, that you're working with X people, X audiences, X regions, you have X years of experience.

[00:43:57] When you keep reminding them when there's all these [00:44:00] psychological signposts every single day, every single post, every single comment, heck, you can do this in your comments as well, the trust gets built and the trust stays. But when you never do this and then all of a sudden, here's how we increased our client's ROI by 900 percent in the last three weeks.

[00:44:19] I know a sale is coming, right? I know a sale is coming. So we avoid sales posts essentially because we're able to sell in every single post, but it doesn't feel salesy ever. So signposting really great strategy and shout out to Niall Ratcliffe. Again, I don't know if he invented a word or he just uses it a lot, but he keeps reminding me of signposting because he talks about signposting in his

[00:44:42] Chris Do: content a lot.

[00:44:43] So shout out Niall. Okay. I love the way that you set this up. It's a very simple concept to understand. There's this hook and then there's the meat. But if you don't insert this part in about how you know this stuff, it can feel very copy paste. And in fact, that's kind of [00:45:00] like what a lot of people do.

[00:45:01] They read something, they find something interesting and they just copy paste and we just feel like, yeah, I believe everyone's saying the same thing. But just by inserting that thing in there, you give it some credibility, give it some weight. You're adding a little bit of proof And it's, it's, it just makes it feel better.

[00:45:17] And then you're, you're doing yourself a huge favor. Do you put the signposting in the three lines or it's after you add more or click to see more?

[00:45:26] Jasmin Alic: I quite literally put several signposts in every single post, Chris. And at this point, it's like muscle memory for me. Like I try to remind the reader that.

[00:45:34] I'm the expert. I'm the madman, the mad scientist on LinkedIn who does all these things and tests things out for all of us, right? So you don't have to. So that when you read the post, you're like, Oh, I trust this guy wholeheartedly, 100%. And then the bonus is when you finally try the information, like the actual lesson I'm teaching you, it works.

[00:45:52] And then you're like, Oh, I trust them even more. So I don't necessarily aim to do it in the first three lines. I just do it throughout the [00:46:00] post anywhere. But if it is in the first three lines, all the better. But it just. You know, you have to still focus on the main message of the post. Like, the signpost isn't the main message.

[00:46:09] Always focus on the actual lesson, the big message of the post. So, again, three, the first three lines as the entire post, that's, that's the, that's the tactic.

[00:46:18] Chris Do: Very good. Very tactical. And you gave really great examples of how we do this. I'm replaying my own content in my mind, I'm like, I need to do this. I have to apply this.

[00:46:28] And there's a critical part to this that you said too, which I want to just reemphasize. Sometimes people use signposting as a lever to go sell something. So you kind of invalidate the whole signpost to begin with, right?

[00:46:39] Jasmin Alic: Exactly. Like you don't need to do it. Again, you don't need to sell in your content to sell from your content.

[00:46:46] I'll die on this hill. Sure. You need social proof. You need testimonials, but I actually have another tactic, Chris. Okay. And it's a really great one when it comes to sales. I don't know if I should be sharing this for free. Heck, we're here. [00:47:00] Um, so you know how I mentioned those case study posts? Yeah. Right.

[00:47:07] Typically they start off with, here's how we helped X client do this, right? And then the problem with those case study posts is they're typically very niche because the client has to be in a very specific niche. They have a very specific problem. Sure, the problem may be relatable, but you're still talking about only that one client.

[00:47:26] And my question is, why should I care? Unless I'm 90 percent similar to that client in nature, in business, in my business size, my revenue, I'm not going to care. And that is the very reason why case study posts don't get a whole lot of engagement on LinkedIn. Why? Because people don't care because it's not relatable.

[00:47:47] So what I do in my content and what I teach every client to do, signposting, see what I've just done? So what I do in all of my posts and what I teach every client to do is treat the first three [00:48:00] lines, even when you're writing the case study posts. as an educational post, not a case study post. So, insert a very relatable lesson in the first three lines, but the goal is to kill the niche.

[00:48:15] Here's what I mean by that, Chris. If you're someone who wants people to learn about this very specific result you've achieved in this very specific industry, simply by stating the industry in the hook, you're going to lose people. You're going to alienate them. Example, you have a client in the aviation industry.

[00:48:34] If I'm not in the aviation industry, I don't care how many followers I have, I don't care about that post because you're literally telling me, this is not for you. This is only for the people in aviation and only for similar clients like these. This is not for you, regular follower, regular network member, right?

[00:48:51] So what we do is we kill all mentions of niche language, any sort of mention. So, focus on the problem, [00:49:00] that's a, put the problem in the actual hook. Right? So if we're talking about this particular client having churn problems or customer retention problems, right? What is the main message that we're trying to communicate about that problem?

[00:49:17] We can say, it's easy to acquire customers. It's harder to keep them. That's the hook because that's the main message of the post. But see what we've done? We haven't used the word aviation once. Like there's no mention of any niche. Super broad, super relatable. Now, the second line goes something like, any business can find themselves in this situation.

[00:49:41] Again, super relatable, super broad. Everyone and their mother essentially can relate to these first three lines. But that's where, now, 10 minutes ago, when we were talking about brain triggers and how the human brain sort of amplifies trust in those first three lines. That's what's going on here now.[00:50:00]

[00:50:00] Because you've now read these three lines, I don't care if I'm a student. I don't care if I'm someone who's been in the business for 40 years. I don't care if I'm in the fashion industry. I don't care if I'm in the fast food industry. I care about that post because it relates to me. The message, the problem relates to me.

[00:50:19] Now, when I click see more, Chris, I can literally continue with my case study. I can literally use any niche example I want. It doesn't matter what it is. I can continue with aviation. Your brain will care. You will continue reading because the beginning is relatable. That's all you care about. You feel like, I feel this.

[00:50:40] So, if the more niche the example is, the more interesting the post is actually going to be. Right? Because if you're, if they're just giving you the standard example, it's not going to feel as engaging. And that's the beauty of this. By killing the niche at the very beginning, you expand your post's reach, you get more people to click on see [00:51:00] more, but then there is this beauty of getting new people to be more interested in what you do, in what you sell.

[00:51:06] You're very unique, you're very tiny niche. But, if you had used niche language at the very beginning, You would never have this, this sheer interest, this broader reach, this giant now, giant network, new followers, new people interested in your content, new potential clients. You could have never had this if you had kept the niche language in the first three lines.

[00:51:27] So that's what we do. We kill the niche in the very beginning to make it super relatable. And that's how we have a giant pool of new readers always coming into the posts. Essentially, if you're going to post, let me just cut it short, right? If you're going to post a case study post, kill the first three lines, rewrite it so that it's relatable and literally keep the remaining 95 percent of the post, it's going to work because at that point, that's not a sales post.

[00:51:54] That's the beauty of it. It becomes an educational post aimed for the masses. You're just using [00:52:00] your very own trustworthy, authority filled Examples will all within your niche and that's how you sell without selling. That is something that I don't see a whole lot of people doing. Everyone just jumps into sales mode and they feel like if they don't call out to niche at the very beginning in those sales posts, they're missing out on potential customers and leads and interest.

[00:52:19] It's actually the other way around. You have to keep more people interesting and then as a result, you get more potential buyers because there's more reach onto the post itself. And even if it doesn't work, at least you get new followers, at least you get a bigger audience. So it works. I hate myself for sharing this.

[00:52:36] This is probably one of my bestest tactics in the book. But anyhow,

[00:52:40] Chris Do: we share freely. Very good. I like it a lot. It's counterintuitive what you're saying. And I like it. And this is why it's different and special and unique. Because if your, your testimonial, your case study isn't niche, it's garbage. Because it's like, this feels super generic.

[00:52:55] I think you're just making this up. So, you found a way to kind of seed the [00:53:00] brain so that once you give that niche case study that's super specific to a very small group of people, you've given them a reason to care, you've allowed them to figure out a way to relate to this and you're just totally seeding and priming them for that thing.

[00:53:13] So, great tip. I love that one. Thank you, man. I'm gonna hate myself after this episode, but it's all right. Can we go one more? And I want to ask you a two controversial things. Oh, absolutely. Please do. Okay. No, I mean, can we do 1 more? Is there 1 more you want to give them? Or because I think you absolutely give us 1 more.

[00:53:33] Jasmin Alic: Please. I don't know if we mentioned this in the previous episode, but. The endings of your post, guys, please, whoever is watching this, and I don't care if you're just starting out on LinkedIn, I don't care if you're, you've been a creator for three, five years on LinkedIn, I don't care if you have half a million followers, please focus on the endings of your posts.

[00:53:51] Ask a question. The psychology will always be, don't make me think. Please. [00:54:00] If I'm reading your post and I'm investing 20, 30 seconds of my life's worth time, I'm a. into reading your post. Don't make me invest another 60 thinking about what I'm going to comment. Make it easy for me to comment. How? Ask a question at the very end of your post.

[00:54:15] It's that simple. Every single time someone asks me, like, hey, I'm writing really good content. I'm, you know, achieving growth, but I'm getting likes, but I'm not getting a whole lot of comments. And I take one look at their posts, Chris, and the ending, it's not inviting at all. Like, I see it. The content is great, but you can't It's kind of funny, right?

[00:54:34] When you're at a mall, you're walking around. If someone's standing in front of somewhere and giving you free samples, you're gonna wanna at least be interested into what they're selling, right? You're gonna take it. That's it. That's the only step. You don't care about whether they come back, whether they buy.

[00:54:54] That person taking the sample of that perfume out of their hands, that's literally a comment. The [00:55:00] minimum, minimum investment on your content. And if they come back It means a profile visit. If they purchase something, it means a conversion. Just inviting them to stay and actually invest 10, 20, 30 seconds of their time.

[00:55:15] It has to be there. A lot of people are not asking questions at the very endings of their posts. And I don't know why. The question is always, right, Jay, how do I get More engagement on my posts, and I'm like, just ask a fricking question. Obviously, the question has to be easy to answer, because if you ask a question that's super deep, open ended, broad, again, I have to think about it.

[00:55:35] That's not the goal. Make it easy for me to respond to that question. That's Easily the, the, the, the best hack, if you will, I can give you to increase engagement on your posts. To begin with, obviously the posts have to be good. You can't just ask a question and accept, expect magical engagement. No, everything we've covered today has to be there still.

[00:55:55] But the bonus part is, Ask a question always, invite those [00:56:00] comments, because if you don't remind people that they can leave a comment, especially on a topic that you're interested in, like, this is, this also speaks to authority, Chris, right, because you're driving the conversation. The comments are not going to be inconsistent, eh, and also random.

[00:56:15] When you're asking a very specific question, you're going to get very specific answers, and it's great for research, and it's great for content ideas, This is how I get a lot of content ideas for newer posts. Like I'll ask something about a specific problem. Do they do this? Yes or no. And the beauty of the yes or no question is no one's just going to say no, no one's just going to say yes.

[00:56:36] Like one word comments. They're going to want to expand on that and say exactly what makes it a yes, what makes it a no. But because of that, I'm able to now get very unique responses from every single person who comments. And I'm able to formulate my next content or my next course or my next workshop, keynote, whatever, based on their responses.

[00:56:56] So, long story short guys, please ask questions at the very [00:57:00] ending of your post. Trust me when I tell you, it really plays into the overall engagement of your posts. It really does. Try it and test it.

[00:57:07] Chris Do: This is wonderful. Of course we have to ask questions until then, but people don't ask really good questions, so give us examples of bad questions to ask, medium kind of questions, and then great questions to ask, because I see them doing the strategy, but they're just terrible questions.

[00:57:23] I agree. I

[00:57:23] Jasmin Alic: agree 100%. So here's an example of a very bad question to ask. Open ended answers that make me think and go down a trip down memory lane. Example, I'm writing a post about a particular failure in my life, how I failed my agency, my business, whatever. And then I ask you at the very end, P. S. What's your biggest failure story?

[00:57:45] Let me think. Let me think about it. What is it? Right? And I spent 30 seconds. Oh, oh, there was this one time. Oh yeah, perfect. And then I spent 30 seconds already thinking about it. You can't count on everyone doing the same thing. But then as a bonus, I [00:58:00] have to spend another 30 or 60 writing my freaking long failure story.

[00:58:04] No, that's a bad example. Some people actually do it on purpose because they feel like, no, I want more thoughtful responses. I'm like, sure, but ask those in the pin comments. Ask the deeper questions in the pinned comments, ask the simpler questions in the main posts. Okay. It's as simple as that. A middle example of this would be to ask something that's quantitative, but it doesn't provide any additional context.

[00:58:33] For example, if I ask you, how much money have you made last quarter? Sure, it's an easy answer, but like, what's the value? Like what's the point of me asking you that question? Okay. Right? A better question would be, are you above or below your goals this month? Simple answer again, I know if I'm, if I'm in the red, if I'm in the green, but then it's, it, like, it pushes [00:59:00] me to give you the why, like, it pushes me as the commenter to justify myself, right?

[00:59:05] So that's a much better example. In my experience, yes or no questions, asking for very specific metrics. And asking for really quick answers, right? Like what's your favorite cheeseburger? As simple as that, or sorry, what's your favorite burger? And see, I'm hungry for me. It would be a cheeseburger. So obviously I'm giving a very dumbed down example, but just, just so you can see how easy it is to actually get comments on your posts and therefore more reach, more likes, more comments, more followers, all that jazz, because then again, the complaint I get is.

[00:59:39] Yeah, I don't care about all of this, because if I'm just doing it for engagement's sake I don't care about it. Like, I don't care about that engagement on my posts. And then my counter to that is, well, why the hell are you even posting on LinkedIn? If you don't care about the engagement, why do you even post?

[00:59:57] You can literally never post. You [01:00:00] can just spend your time And the DMs like you literally never have to post and that is true. I have clients who never post all they do is comment and DM. So if you're telling me like engagement doesn't matter, my question to you is whoever you are that's listening to this and complaining already, Jay, I don't care about the engagement.

[01:00:17] My question to you is simply why the hell are you even posting in the first place? Because we need that engagement. We need those numbers to stay up or at least be consistent in order for us to be able to keep pushing new content out because otherwise, what's the point? That's why that's why Chris, a lot of people are, you know, complaining about the lower reach this year.

[01:00:36] That's why like they feel like they're continuing to push content and they're not getting as many viewers which to which I have a very unique point of view, by the way, the lower reach problem. My question to you is Chris, have you experienced lower reach this year compared to last year and then the year before?

[01:00:53] Chris Do: Probably, I don't pay that much attention to it. No, you should.

[01:00:57] Jasmin Alic: Obviously, you're on every platform. I'm Chris Doe, I'm [01:01:00] the big, I don't care about engagement. Yeah, he's the one. I care, but I just, maybe I'm lazy. Yeah, I feel like it's down. No, no, it's definitely down across the board. All the analytics point to it.

[01:01:10] But what I've found, and this is just my take, my personal experience, and me being a madman on the platform. So what I found is that it's not necessarily that the reach being lower means fewer people on your content. So let me explain. Last year, I was getting around a hundred thousand, I'm just going to give you a ballpark figure, whatever.

[01:01:32] I was getting, let's say, a hundred thousand views per post. To me, that was like the standard. That was the basic reach I can get on a post, anything above that. Best, anything below that, I have failed, I have flopped. This year, I'm getting around 50, 000, uh, you know, views in my reach, but the engagement is still there.

[01:01:55] Now, should I be worried about the reach? No, because I have actually [01:02:00] caught something in the main feed that is happening this year, Chris. And that is the distribution of the post. Last year, and feel free to give me your personal experience, last year, if you had seen a post, let's say in the morning. You reacted to it, commented on it, you would see that post, especially if it's gone viral, you would see that post three, four, five more times in the main feed.

[01:02:21] Right. This year, you see it once and doesn't matter if you do react to it or not, you only see it once and you never see it again. So here's the deal. Last year, let's say there were 50, 000 people on your posts, And each of them saw it twice during the day. 100, 000 views. This year, there's still 50, 000 people on their posts.

[01:02:49] They only see it once. So, your audience really isn't smaller. It's just the way that LinkedIn is distributing the content, the way it's showing the content, [01:03:00] you know, to the person how many times. And there's an explanation for this. There's the new video feed, so reach a split to new feeds and new, you know, new content formats.

[01:03:10] And there's also more people on the platform. So there's more content to be shown, not just your own. So I feel like the lower reach conversation is a deeper one, but I just keep telling people like, don't panic. Just keep the quality high. Keep the community building at a level that's respectable and commendable.

[01:03:30] Keep your posts engaging. Stay in the comments, stay active in other people's posts. That's it. The reach number may be lower, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there's fewer people reading your posts. And I can confirm it, a whole lot of my clients can confirm it. But it's just that we're panicking about this one little metric, when in fact the metric doesn't tell the whole story.

[01:03:53] Like, you have to look Around the entire platform to see what's happening. That's at least been my experience. So hopefully if [01:04:00] you've just listened to this part, you've been now uplifted and motivated to say, Oh my God, I'm not feeling, you know, demotivated by lower reach. I now understand that it's just a different way of distributing the content.

[01:04:14] I don't necessarily have a smaller audience. I don't necessarily have a smaller shot at making it at gaining new business. Yes, you're correct. You don't. It's very true. It's still very much a game of same. That's how I call it. Same as last year, you know, but it's just new users, more users fighting for attention.

[01:04:34] It's new content formats. Again, there's an entire new video feed fighting for attention. So you kind of have to break through the noise. And that's where a lot of people get stuck. It's not necessarily that there's fewer people and smaller audiences. It's that it's, the audience has gotten much smarter, Chris, on LinkedIn.

[01:04:53] Like, they can recognize an AI post. They can recognize an AI comment from a mile away. They can [01:05:00] recognize a regurgitated, repurposed morning productivity tips post from a mile away. They can recognize a sponsored post from a mile away, right? So the average reader on LinkedIn has gotten a whole lot more intelligent when it comes to understanding the content, which is great.

[01:05:16] I feel like it challenges all of us to write better, to learn all these psychological tricks in our writing, to apply them very, very carefully and very strategically. And I love it because None of this, none of what we just said is dependent on AI. Like, it really pushes you, your brain, to think, to practice your writing, to practice your thinking, and you can't just dump it all on AI.

[01:05:41] Sure, you could, but you're just doing yourself a disservice by never training your brain. So, yeah, I'm just happy. I've always been the guy who doesn't use AI for writing and I preach it. AI is a great tool, it's great for ideation, it's great for drafting, it's great for getting you, you know, it's Past that starting point, [01:06:00] but it can't get you to the finish line or past it.

[01:06:02] It can't. You have to train your brain. You have to practice your writing. Whoever you are, a CEO or a student, a creator or someone who's just starting, you have to practice your writing. Writing is easy. Easily, the number one skill you can learn easily in life and in business easily communication. That's what it's all about.

[01:06:21] Chris Do: Perfect. Chef's kiss for you. I was just going to say this. That was a very wholesome approach to making content and a very uplifting message for everyone who's creating content is just feeling kind of down like, gosh, my numbers are really down. I don't feel it. I feel really good about myself right now and it could be very demotivating and demoralizing.

[01:06:40] So your message to them is, I don't think much has changed, just the distribution part of it has changed. The opportunities are still there. So it's like this kind of ray of light coming from the sky and you're just speaking and saying, you're okay and your content's okay. Just apply these best practices and, and use these tactics as you will make them your [01:07:00] own, but do this and you'll continue to grow and your business will grow.

[01:07:03] But most importantly, your comment about AI is if we use AI for everything, then what do we need you for? And that's the big part, like AI can make things better than you, but you are not better. And at some point, the name of the game for me is like the game of continuous personal development and growth.

[01:07:21] And so, if you don't write, you're not really thinking, you're not helping others, you're using robots to do this. I know there's a whole industry designed to like do content for you. Actually, I talked to somebody about that. So, this would be the polar opposite of that approach and I like that. I was going to ask you about the AI stuff.

[01:07:38] I want to do one quick follow up with that. Yes, please.

[01:07:41] Jasmin Alic: I do have my thoughts set on AI, just so you know, like I have a very peculiar approach about using AI. Just not for writing entirely. For all the other use cases, design, admin stuff, creating stuff out of the blue. Mind boggling at the very least.

[01:07:59] Chris Do: But [01:08:00] here, here's the question I have for you.

[01:08:01] I'm noticing the proliferation of AI comments and I can recognize it. I can smell a mile away. I just want to just take a moment here to publicly shame people for using that. I don't know what your intention is behind this because if you're commenting using AI tools, what are you there for? You want to build relationships with people.

[01:08:21] Don't even bother commenting. Do you know the tools that they're using to auto comment with AI? Oh, there's hundreds of them right now, Chris. What is the one popular one? I need to

[01:08:30] Jasmin Alic: investigate this because I almost want to shadowban it. I, to tell you the truth, no, because I don't use them. I will tell you though, I've had this conversation on a panel and there was this topic and gosh, this is me just shedding more light again.

[01:08:46] I have to be positive about everything, man. I feel like the negative, uh, the AI comment conversation is a very negative one, but I've had my eyes opened during a panel. I don't know if it was [01:09:00] this year or last year, but anyhow, the topic was around introverts and mindset. There's a whole heap of people out there who are scared to put themselves out there.

[01:09:12] They're very scared to even dig deeper into their mind, and I wasn't even aware that this was a thing until I saw a person actually shivering trying to write an actual public comment from their LinkedIn profile, and I was like, damn, it's really getting to this. And yeah, some people really do feel so much shame or fear or panic, anxiety, whatever it is when it comes to actually putting themselves out there.

[01:09:37] And I wasn't aware, I wasn't even thinking that deep, you know, deeply into it. So, I was like, if that's the use case you're aiming for, please use AI comments. If that's gonna make it easier for you. But, even with that, do not just Copy paste what the AI just spits out. Please rewrite it at least a little bit so that it sounds like you so that at least you're pushing [01:10:00] yourself this one additional step into making those comments feel more welcoming and less intimidating for you.

[01:10:06] And I feel like that's the mistake that a lot of people make. Like, AI will just spit it out, and they'll just copy paste it, they'll publish it. And then it's a, it's a summary of a post. Basically what AI comments are doing, they're just summarizing the entire post. And then like, what do I even respond to that?

[01:10:22] Cool, thanks, yes, yes sir. Like, I don't even know what to write anymore, like to these AI comments. But there was this one use case, Chris. Like, it really opened up my eyes. I had no idea that some people are really that intimidated. By putting their thoughts out there publicly and that would, that would be like the only use case where I feel like AI comments are justified.

[01:10:43] And again, don't just copy paste it. Actually, you know, do it justice by putting yourself into it, but everything else, like just to save you time, like you can just write a 15 second comment. Like, it's not really that much big of a time difference, right? Or if you feel like. [01:11:00] You know, you don't have any ideas like then just don't comment on the post in the first place.

[01:11:04] If you don't know what the comment like, just don't don't ever put yourself in a position where you allow AI to think for you full time. I feel like that's the scary part about the future. I feel like we're slowly dipping our feet in there. People are allowing AI to think for them to the point where they depend on AI.

[01:11:23] Like, if you ask someone, hey, what's the solution to this? They'll literally go. Let me, let me ask JGPT like, no, this is not the future. Like you have to use your brain. And I feel like it's the most basic message ever. Like I'm talking to, you know, middle schoolers, like use your brain, like think about it, what is it like think harder, you know, but yeah, that would be the only use case where I feel like AI comments are justified.

[01:11:43] I really just wanted to add that into the conversation just so it's not all gloomy and negative. Okay. That being said, we all hate AI comments.

[01:11:51] Chris Do: Yeah, because it's like, I want to engage with real people and talk to them and give value. Yeah. Here's what I sometimes do. I just type in the word bot in question [01:12:00] mark and they never reply because it's like, what do you want?

[01:12:02] Because you can tell there's a pattern in the way the machine thinks. And if you see one, you're like, okay, that's cool. I'll like that, but I don't know what to do with it. Then you see the next comment, it's very similar and eerily similar to the previous comment. Then you see 10 of them come in. Oh yeah, I see.

[01:12:16] You guys. Stop doing it and yeah, I'm I'm a little less loving than you. Yes, I mean just block people Chris. Honestly I'm just gonna say grow a pair. Just a pair guys. It's

[01:12:28] Jasmin Alic: fine.

[01:12:29] Chris Do: Just social anxiety But if you can't get over this, well, how are you gonna grow you have to do things that scare you but okay I want to say I'm gonna say in the positive thing, but there's one last thing I need to ask you about I feel like

[01:12:41] Jasmin Alic: that's the third time you've said this.

[01:12:42] Chris Do: Well, because I didn't get to ask it yet. So I'm about to ask it right now. It's a quick one. It's a quick one, which is a lot of people were concerned about your health because you're like, I don't need sleep. And they're just commenting about that. So let's give people the update. You want to use this opportunity to respond to, because there are quite a few of them that comment [01:13:00] on our last video, like this is not healthy.

[01:13:03] Jasmin Alic: Okay. So I sleep a little bit more. My wife keeps me accountable now. She's my partner in crime in the business. We're now launching a paid community. She's really helpful with that. We're investing in some startups. We're, I'm starting my own SaaS tool, Chris, for LinkedIn. I'm starting a new company with that.

[01:13:22] I'm hiring people now. So I am basically doing everything I can to sleep more. So guys, if you've watched the first episode, you know what we're talking about. So yeah, I'm happier and healthier. Hopefully. That sounds good. Yeah,

[01:13:36] Chris Do: that sounds really good. That's it. That's my last question. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much for asking though.

[01:13:40] Thank you. Yes. Yes. I mean, people were really concerned, like, is he going to be okay? Like, how can this be long term sustainable? We all need sleep, maybe some a little bit less than others, and that's okay. And you know, you have to learn to listen to your body's rhythm. And we're trying to promote healthy, long term, sustainable lifestyles for people.

[01:13:56] So we don't want people killing themselves, right? To

[01:13:59] Jasmin Alic: [01:14:00] be fair, there's, there's, there's an additional part, Chris. I've actually decreased the amount of hours I work during the day, which has allowed me to stay booked out like six months in advance now with the coaching business. But what I do with the rest of the time is I spend it with my son.

[01:14:14] My daddy's son time has increased. So I literally rest during the day. People always ask me, like, where do you find the energy? Like, I start my coaching at 8 p. m. every night. Like, that's where, when it starts during the week. And they're like, how do you bring this energy? Like, we know you've been awake since the early morning, you've done everything during the day, you've been with your son, like, the entire day, we know.

[01:14:33] And I'm like, well, you literally just said it, like, I've been playing the entire day. I've literally been in parks and theme parks, I've traveled, I've played, I've watched cartoons, I've eaten great food. How do I get tired of that? Like of being a dad, you know, so for me, that really helps. Like I've, I've come to a point where my business allows me to design my lifestyle to, to the point where I, I know how much I want to work, [01:15:00] how much money I want to earn.

[01:15:01] I'm not crazy about becoming a millionaire to tell you the truth. Chris, I can retire today. I literally could retire today, but I choose to work more because I'm aiming for a bigger impact, bigger things for the future, but the one thing I will never give up for money is my daddy's son time. No one could ever pay me for that.

[01:15:18] Um, that is just the biggest reward in life. And yeah, that's, that's how arresting like, I wish more people understood that. You know, family time and rest time, they go together, um, and they could go together if that's not the case for you right now, like, like, it really can be like that. You just have to design your lifestyle like that, like around your business.

[01:15:38] It's, I like to say, you know, I read this somewhere once and it stuck with me, Chris. I like to say it's never work life balance. It's life work balance. So I feel like since we last talked, I've invested a lot of time into that and, you know, achieving that balance.

[01:15:54] Chris Do: Wonderful. I'm about to give you your flowers.

[01:15:56] I've asked you a side question here, if my memory serves me correct. Weren't you a single [01:16:00] father? Yeah. Did I mess that up? So you got married then? Yeah, we're gonna reveal. Yes, I got married during the year, Chris. Okay, see, how could you just slip

[01:16:10] Jasmin Alic: that in? Because I'm like, wait a minute, he told me he was a single dad before.

[01:16:13] You're putting it on the spot. No one knows. That's the big reveal guys. Yes. So during the year, yeah, I did get married. So thank God she's been the most amazing thing that could ever happen to, to a person. She's found me in a, in a much worse place than I am today. And she's, she's just been the reason. If I could, you know, just say to anyone out there, you know, who's in a really dark spot, great times are ahead, but only if you allow people to come into your life.

[01:16:47] Because if I hadn't allowed her to come into my life, I wouldn't have found my forever. And thank you for asking that question, Chris. I didn't realize it slipped. So, [01:17:00] newsflash. Newsflash. There you go. I want to say this. The bigger news is I'm launching a paid community, Chris. Let's keep it to that. Let me at least sell something, right?

[01:17:09] Yeah, well, we'll include the link in

[01:17:11] Chris Do: the description in the notes below to your new paid community. Congratulations to you on so many fronts. Okay, first of all, human to human, I salute you. I applaud you. The man works hard. He loves life. I thought, well, you're going to say it's not work life balance. I thought you're going to say it's life life balance because it's for you.

[01:17:27] It feels like that's what you're doing. You got to work a little bit, but you know, I think it's a beautiful thing for someone to do something that they love and you genuinely enjoy. It's reflective of your skill and the things that you, you like to do. So you're kind of living in that, I guess, icky guy state, your reason for being.

[01:17:45] It doesn't feel like work for you, so you enjoy it. You get energized by the things you do, your quality time with your son, or even helping people online. I feel a similar kinship with you here. When I help people, I just feel so alive. So this is not about work [01:18:00] for me. I assume it's not about work for you.

[01:18:02] It's about making that deeper impact. And you finally found somebody to support you in your endeavor. And it seems like you guys are going to grow together. And it's a beautiful thing to, to witness and to be a part of, at least from afar. And I see that you're speaking, I see you posting, uh, different events.

[01:18:17] So just things are just coming together. Basically. As validation for all the things you've done prior. So I congratulate you. I'm looking forward to sharing the stage with you someday, either at my event or someone else's event where we're both bumping into each other. Cause I'd like to meet the man from our conversations here.

[01:18:36] I think it's going to be awesome for us to just sit there and hang out and chat. Thank you very much.

[01:18:40] Jasmin Alic: Amen to that, man. And honestly, even if we just travel somewhere, I'll keep bugging. Like, where's your next location? Right. Next year, I'm looking to travel even more. So even if we have a chance to do volume three in person in a studio somewhere,

[01:18:55] Chris Do: that'd be dope.

[01:18:56] That would

[01:18:56] Jasmin Alic: be, that would be the cherry on top, man. Like I know a lot of people [01:19:00] want that. So for all the kind words also.

[01:19:05] Chris Do: I mean it. Okay. And, and, you know, people see you and they're like, of course we love him, his energy. It's just, it's coming out of his pores. And I like to be. around people like that because it's uplifting.

[01:19:16] And sometimes I get dark myself and you're like, no, let's try and find a positive in this moment, Chris, let's not go there. And I just appreciate that you can do that. I will learn from this and I'll continue to grow. And I'm going to apply myself. Many of the things that we talked about today, I just thought that they're so clear, concise, and easy to understand.

[01:19:34] You're a gifted teacher, my friend. I look forward to the third conversation in person, wherever we are in the world.

[01:19:39] Jasmin Alic: Amen to that. Thank you so much. And whoever was just listening, hopefully you learned a ton. That's it. Till next time. That's it.

[01:19:46] Chris Do: Okay. We're going to wrap up here. So if you've enjoyed this conversation, guys, go look them up on LinkedIn and I'll be sure to include whatever links that are relevant to our conversation, including the first episode, because that's the number one thing people always ask me, where's the [01:20:00] link?

[01:20:00] I'm like, I got to go find it. So be sure before you do anything, look in the show notes, look in the description. They're going to be there. We try to be thoughtful about this stuff. Yes, ma'am. Before we get out of here.

[01:20:15] Futur: Thanks for joining us. If you haven't already subscribe to our show on your favorite podcasting app and get new insightful episodes from us every week. The future podcast is hosted by Chris Do and produced and edited by Rich Cardona media. Thank you to Adam Sanborn for our intro music. If you enjoyed this episode, then do us a favor by reviewing and rating our show on Apple Podcasts.

[01:20:40] It will help us grow the show and make future episodes that much better. If you'd like to support the show and invest in yourself while you're at it, visit thefuture. com and you'll find video courses, digital products, and a bunch of helpful resources about design and the creative business. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next [01:21:00] time.

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