LinkedIn has been a game-changer for my start-up business.
Leaving my high-powered Corporate America career to launch my own company has been a journey, and I chronicle my career learnings in this section here on the Social Musings by Austin website.
While I use many of the other social media platforms, I am approaching 10,000 followers on LinkedIn, and 50% of my website traffic comes from my posts on LinkedIn.
While I have had a presence on LinkedIn for well over a decade given my background in finance and institutional sales, I was never able to really use it for more than networking given the various SEC and FINRA regulations to which my former employer abided.
When I left Corporate America to launch my own company, Social Musings LLC, I began to use LinkedIn to generate awareness for my business.
One of my big initial breaks was being featured in LinkedIn News’ Endless Summer collection, which featured me on a beach in Aruba singing my original song “Aruban Sunsets.”
Please follow my Social Musings by Austin YouTube channel for new music releases and other related videos. Link is here.
I post content at least once a week on LinkedIn and have been gradually growing my following (it is key to keep a regular cadence with your posts).
Earlier this year, I attended a benefit concert in my hometown of Austin, Texas for a charity supporting sober living, and the artists were all rappers who had ties to the organization.
Using TikTok, I made a video about the event. I must admit that I vacillated back and forth as to whether I should put the TikTok clip on LinkedIn.
I experienced negative thoughts such as: It is silly to put a TikTok video on LinkedIn or people will think I am weird sharing personal experiences on the LinkedIn platform.
However, I conquered my fears and decided to post the content, and I linked the video back to the joy I felt at being in the community of Creators and Entrepreneurs in Austin.
The link to the LinkedIn post is here.
While the video generated almost 1,000 views, the most important results from it came only a few days later.
I received an email through my Social Musings by Austin website from a writer at Texas Monthly megazine who was doing a piece on The Great Resignation, and he wanted to know if I would be willing to speak about my journey.
Since I regularly post content about my career and personal journey, of course I agreed, and we scheduled a 45-minute conversation for later on in the week.
The writer of the article told me that they would be interviewing 10 Texans and picking five of these people for their story (ultimately I was one of three to be featured).
After a few weeks, I sent a follow-up email to the writer checking in to see how the article was progressing. About a week later, I received six additional questions asking for clarifications and more commentary on some detailed items for the story.
I knew that there was a high likelihood that I would be selected for the article, but what would it say? Would it be favorable? Would I regret it?
I continued to monitor the Texas Monthly website and Instagram account to see if the article had been published.
Nothing.
Then in mid-March, six weeks after my initial interview, I arrived home from a trip. After unpacking, I went to my LinkedIn notifications and saw that Texas Monthly (which I follow on LinkedIn) had just published the piece on The Great Resignation.
Heart beating thunderously, I clicked on the article. I scrolled down. I saw the title of my section: “The Wall Streeter Who Left To Sing,” and knew immediately that I was in the article.
You can read the Texas Monthly feature story here.
The message is be your true authentic self on any platform and good things will come of it.
In case you missed it, check out my latest Social Musings by Austin podcast episode here.
“The Concert That Changed My Life” is the March 2022 special South by Southwest edition of the Social Musings by Austin podcast, and you know it has to be about music. In the show I discuss why music has tangible benefits to one's mental health, and I recount the experience of the concert that changed my life forever.
The episode is based on the popular story from the website last year: Link to article.
This special SXSW podcast also includes the live demo version of my new single "Mainframe."
Definitely check it out.
Enjoy.