Find Your Voice with Masterful Storyteller: Lorraine Lee

Welcome back to the 15,717 of you opening today’s newsletter! I’m excited to introduce you to my fourth guest in my interview series. For the skimmers, we added a video to test out this week. Liking the newsletter? Tweet me here to let me know!

The Setup:

👀 Get a fresh take on how to connect and share ideas on LinkedIn

👋🏼 Meet masterful storyteller (317,000 followers) and Prezi’s Editorial Director, Lorraine Lee

🛠 Learn how to show up as your authentic self and deliver value

If you don’t have time to read today, watch this video overview (thanks, Lorraine!):

Intro:

Lorraine is the Editorial Director at Prezi, where she leads a team that works closely with influencers, speakers, and thought leaders to create, record, and livestream compelling videos that educate and inspire people all over the world. 🌎

Prior to Prezi, she was a News Editor at LinkedIn, which is where our paths crossed. I even had the chance to interview her on her top 3 relationship building tips. 

This year, Lorraine is excited to build her brand and thought leadership in the virtual presentation space (Check out her progress so far!).

With all her experience scaling her audience and sharing her voice online, I wanted to get her on the newsletter to drop some gems for readers:

Buckle up for some great advice!

JH: What’s your #1 tip for building community around your brand?

LL: When you’re starting off, it’s important to publish content regularly to build up your audience. 

The content you publish should 

1) provide value/tactical advice; 🧠

2) relate to the area of expertise you want to be known for; and 💡

3) use a genuine voice. 📣

Remember that building a community takes time, but being consistent with your content schedule and being helpful to others will separate you from the crowd. 

And, of course, as people start interacting and engaging with the content you share, don’t forget to respond to them.

Nobody likes to feel like they’re talking in a vacuum 👂, so the more you can engage, the more likely conversations will take off and your community will continue to come back for more because they find value in the content you’re sharing.

JH: What do you think differently about community building that others would think is weird? 

This answer might surprise you...

Lorraine's answer:

I almost always accept LinkedIn connection requests, even if I don’t know the person.

I know many people don’t like doing this because it “dilutes” their network, but I believe that being more open to requests that come your way is a great way to meet people you otherwise might not come in contact with and find new opportunities. 

It also expands your influence and content exposure, allowing your brand/content/thought leadership to reach more people. 🌏

I’ve also noticed that often people will add me without including a message, and it’s not until after I accept the request that they explain why they’re reaching out (e.g. they want to connect with other Asian American journalists, they thought my career trajectory was interesting and wanted to hear more, big fans of Prezi, etc.) — so by blindly rejecting invites, you could be closing the door to interesting connections and conversations. 🚪

LinkedIn tip: It’s best to always include intro messages in the connection request if you’re trying to connect with someone you haven’t met to increase the chances they’ll accept.

JH: What’s your favourite under $100 investment you’ve made in marketing this year?

LL: I’ve been doing a lot more virtual presenting this year. I bought a ring light from Amazon for $30 — it was a huge game changer. Good lighting makes your video look so much more professional and high-quality. 🔆

Highly recommend everyone get one of these if they’re not able to be by a window! 

JH: What’s the best book/podcast to listen to on marketing?

LL: Influence is an oldie, but goodie. This is a great read because it also includes a lot of insights that impact your everyday life, too, so you don’t have to even be a marketer to get value from it. 📖 

JH: What do you think people often forget when trying to build a personal brand?

LL: Be authentic and vulnerable. 

Not every post has to be about your successes or show exponential growth on whatever project you’re working on. 

It’s ok — and even more valuable at times — to show when things failed and share the lessons learned. Particularly, during this period of remote work, many of us are going through difficult times and facing new challenges that others may not realize, so being vulnerable and open is very much valued by others, and opens the doors for them to do the same in return.

ACTION BYTES 📲

1. Next time you’re going to reach out to someone and connect, click “add message.”

• It only takes a few extra seconds, and it shows the person you really care about them. ✏️ 
• Example:

“Hey ____, I really liked your recent post on X. It stood out to me because I also have experienced X. I noticed in your profile you’re currently pursuing X, which is something I’m passionate about too. I’d love to connect. Thanks!

You can try it out with Lorraine here (and follow her on IG and Twitter).

Riff of the Day

Thanks to Lorraine, get yourself a FREE 6-month Prezi Premium upgrade for being a reader of the newsletter 💸

Special thanks to Lorraine for joining us on the Personal Brand Brief today.

If you have any ideas that sparked or you want to suggest someone to be featured, drop me a note here! 

Stay outta’ trouble and catch you next week.

✌🏻 Joel

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