#AmplifyYourBusiness Podcast: How to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Personal Brand

How to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Personal Brand

“If I can impact one person a day out of those 30,000 connections, that is a huge success for me on the investment I’m placing on LinkedIn” – Dino Pacella

This week I’m joined by LinkedIn Influencer and founder of National Finance Brokers Day in Australia, Dino Pacella. Dino has an amazing 30,000+ connections on LinkedIn and has used the platform to create his education motivational video series, Ubervation.

Find out how Dino built his personal brand, and leveraged his content to create meaningful professional relationships on and offline, through LinkedIn.

Who is Dino Pacella [0.00]

Dino Pacella is a LinkedIn influencer with over 30,000 connections. But that’s just his side gig. Dino is also a nationally recognised finance BDM (business development manager) and founder of National Finance Brokers Day.

With Dino’s success on LinkedIn, he went on to create a motivation education series called Ubervation. It all began with a video he created about what he had learnt that week. Now, every Wednesday he posts a new video on a topic to educate, motivate or inspire his viewers to keep pushing towards their goals.

Why LinkedIn? [4:01]

30,000 connections on LinkedIn doesn’t happen overnight, you must be committed to the platform.

7 years ago, a colleague asked Dino if he had heard of the LinkedIn. After the conversation, Dino went on to research the platform and realised it was a great platform to showcase what he had been doing as an employee and build an online resume that could lead to future opportunities.

“How very wrong I was” “ I thought it was about showcasing me!” – Dino

LinkedIn isn’t just an online resume. Dino thought that by showcasing what he does, and the awards he had won would entice people. It was all about the “me” factor. Over the last two years, Dino has discovered there are many more avenues to be explored on LinkedIn.

It wasn’t until Dino began to branch out and take online relationships online, that he saw his following and connections number increase. In the last year, Dino has gone from 18,000 connections to over 30,000 connections. Dino recommends that by taking a human approach on LinkedIn, people are able to connect and trust the message you’re sharing on the platform.

“I’m taking the human to human approach on LinkedIn. I’m not duplicating things I’m putting on Facebook but its duplicated in a sense from business value-add proposition – what can I leave someone with?” – Dino

Matt shares that he went cold on LinkedIn for 24 months, until recently. Before the algorithm and feed changes on the platform, he didn’t get any value from it, only spam. Now, however, LinkedIn is at the forefront of his mind.

Dino’s success on LinkedIn comes from years of laying the groundwork, now his profile has skyrocketed. He has realised by flipping the “m” in me and making it we, he was able to create a connection with his followers.

How to thrive on LinkedIn:

It’s all about adding value – what value can you bring?
Human to human approach
Build a community
Be consistent
In business, people are going to reach out to people they know, like or trust. If you hit those three elements when building a personal brand, then you’ve done 80% of the work. The rest is timing and consistency.

“What you put out there is not only seen by your followers, people talk about it offline” – Dino

You’re not going to be an overnight success on LinkedIn, but if you chip away at it, and focus on sharing value you’ll grow quickly.

Building a Personal Brand [26:30]

Why do we resist the idea of a personal brand? Dino believes that people find comfort in the safety net with what they’re doing. But what people don’t realise is that social media has opened the door to more opportunities for people to expand their horizons beyond their day jobs.

Dino is asked the question all the time about why he invests so much time on LinkedIn when he has a stable job with a good income already? But it comes down to your “why” and your purpose in life.

“If I can impact one person a day out of those 30,000 connections, that is a huge success for me on the investment I’m placing on LinkedIn” – Dino

There is a misconception going around that if you’re employed by a company, whether its corporate or not, that you can’t build a personal brand. We’ve got news for you – it’s not just for the entrepreneurs and business owners of the world. You can and you SHOULD build a personal brand.

Dino is a BDM, and although his day job isn’t your typical 9-5, he’s still employed by a corporate business. However, Dino saw the opportunity on LinkedIn to help people in business beyond the work he does with the company he’s employed at.

The Benefits of a Personal Brand:

• Connect with more people in your industry
• Create deeper relationships online and offline
• Reach more people with your message
• Create opportunities
• Build up the company you work for

Dino’s advice is to know what your employer’s boundaries are. If you’re on the fence about whether a video contains sensitive information, don’t post it or shoot PR a email. It never hurts to ask.

If you have a message you want to share, find a way to share it that benefits everyone.

How to Show and Prove ROI [20:40]

Every day, Dino will wake up at 4 am and spend the first two hours of his day on LinkedIn. On an average day, Dino will spend a minimum of three hours on the platform. But how can you approach and justify the ROI on that time?

Dino doesn’t need to monetise his time on LinkedIn. Rather, the measures the ROI through the external requests he receives. Networking can begin online, and real business can be achieved through the LinkedIn platform.

You can’t ROI measure people. If you’re new LinkedIn or wanting to make the platform work for you, focus on providing real value and authenticity to people.

Future of LinkedIn [30:20]

The future of LinkedIn is up in the air right now. With the recent popularity surge on the platform, more and more people are signing up to begin their business networking journey. Moving away from the old online resume, LinkedIn is set to become more video based.

Dino suggests that a live-streaming function is extremely critical to the longevity of the platform. Being able to instantly connect with someone through social media, through video or a podcast recording is key to standing out from the crowd. We’re in a day and age of being able to instantly consume whatever information we wish to engage with. The power of live video is that the viewer can get instant value from your message – opposed to those who wait and schedule.

Matt believes that LinkedIn is about to become more community based and build to promote engagement from your connections. The platform allows barriers to be pulled down for people who are a bit nervous to post content. LinkedIn provides safe comfort to those who want to play with content creation, whilst remaining more professional.

Failure is the Key [40:00]

Failure helps us grow. Through experience, failures teach you what you shouldn’t do, but most importantly it reveals the path towards what you should be doing.

Going back 12 years ago, Dino and his brother took over the family business after his parents retired. His folks owned a cafe for 25 years, and Dino thought it was the perfect first business venture. His only experience in the cafe business came from what he knew from working there during school holidays.

When you don’t put the work in, it catches up to you. Fast. 3 years later, the doors were closed.

“Never think that you know everything” – Dino

Dino made the mistake of thinking that he already knew everything he needed to know. From this experience, he now understands that education is key. Whatever business opportunity you buy into, remember to do your research and be open to learning something new.

One Thing YOU can Do to Amplify Your Business [51:00]

The one thing you can do to amplify your business is simple – just get out there and do something. Take the leap of faith and feel entitled to share and contribute. If you have some knowledge you want to share, then share it. In business, people want to work with people they like and trust. Start the journey, and become someone that someone else finds approachable.

To learn more about Dino – you guessed it – check out his LinkedIn profile. Or, you can see him speak at the Get Amplified Event in Perth, October 30.

Mentioned in the episode

• Dino on LinkedIn
• Get Amplified Event
• National Finance Brokers Day