Back for part two, Casey Jenkins of Eight Twenty-Eight Consulting shares about her impressive LinkedIn content. We talk about content form, posting schedules, and the purpose of consistent LinkedIn posting for both business and networking.
Notes from the Show
If this is the first time you are hearing from guest Casey Jenkins of Eight Twenty-Eight Consulting, be sure to go back and listen to Part I last week, where Casey talks about her networking practices and what they do for her business and connections.
During this conversation, Casey talks about all things LinkedIn. She has started an impressive content continuum on her account. Casey's formula starts with a Bi-Weekly “Two Minute Topic” video followed by 4 days of follow up content supporting and expanding her chosen industry topic. On her off weeks, Casey lightens her load with 2 to 3 days of content, including a dedicated business pitch and some industry news. Casey didn’t always post this frequently and has settled into this cadence over time. To get started, you have to do just that…get started, even if that means 1 weekly post.
For Casey, the goal of finding her LinkedIn cadence was to serve her industry with value, education, and market her skills. Her skills showcase longform written content alongside her biweekly short video, but others may find their creativity and skills shown in other content like longer videos, bulleted lists, short form writing, images, and more.
Listen to the full episode for more information on how Casey engages and connects with her content audience, as well as our thoughts on competing with high follower numbers as a credential. You can find Casey on LinkedIn to connect with her more on this topic.
What's Inside:
What is the goal of posting on LinkedIn?
Are LinkedIn followers the most important credential for business connections?
What form of content works for you?
Posting schedules and finding the right content cadence for your LinkedIn audience.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Transcribed by AI Susan Tatum 0:36
Welcome back, everybody. I'm Susan Tatum. And today I'm here talking with CJ Jenkins, who is the owner and supply chain and process improvement consultant at Eight Twenty-Eight Consulting. And this is CJ second time on stop the noise. Welcome back.
Casey Jenkins 0:54
Yes, thank you so much for having me again.
Susan Tatum 0:56
Yeah. Well, we had a great conversation before and for anyone that has not had a chance to listen to that episode. If you're listening to this one, and you haven't seen the other one, we'll put that link to it in the notes because it was a wonderful conversation on networking. Before you really get started here, CJ, tell us really quickly what it is that you do who you serve, and what are the problems that you solve?
Casey Jenkins 1:21
Yeah, so I target small to medium sized companies, no vertical industry agnostic, focusing on process improvement as a means to identify gaps and inefficiencies within their organisations or their supply chains. It's a huge thing right now a lot of companies are looking at ways to optimise their supply chains. And so the best place to start is with your processes and figuring out ways to improve those to take at least small and incremental steps forward.
Susan Tatum 1:49
So one of the things that impressed me the most about you and was the reason that I reached out to you months ago, was because you have such a strong background in the services that you're offering, you have a master's degree in supply chain. And you just told me, what are you going to do in January?
Casey Jenkins 2:08
Yeah, I am starting my Doctorate in Business Administration, focusing on supply chain management and logistics. So going up through that PhD, and trying to just continue to expand my skills and keep learning.
Susan Tatum 2:24
And that's something that you're very much about, I remember that from our previous conversations was just every opportunity that you have to learn about things from different angles. And so this well, I guess we could say hello to the future thought leader in supply chain.
Casey Jenkins 2:39
Yeah, I've been telling everyone I'm like, you guys can start calling me Doc and my head, it's already done.
Susan Tatum 2:47
That's awesome. Sounds if you can solve the car supply chain issue, I would really help that would be helpful for me personally, because I need to get a car. And I know, well, that's not a need, I want to get a new car, but I'm not going to buy it. I'm not going to pay the supply chain tax, the tax, which became a supply chain tax that's on us now. So, I'm not that desperate. Alright, so when when you were here before we talked about your networking, and you went all in on networking, you had talked to 250 people a month or something?
Casey Jenkins 3:22
Yeah, it was over like three months, I think. Okay, total. But yeah, it was a lot of people in a very short period of time.
Susan Tatum 3:28
That was in December. And we are recording this the very last day of November in 2023. What's changed in that time?
Casey Jenkins 3:38
Yeah. So I would say that I've actually kind of become a little more pointed with who I've been networking with. So I think when I first started the networking, I was going after everyone as a means to just get my name out there and meet with as many people as I can, you know, I think it's important to network outside of your realm and with different types of roles and responsibilities and whatnot. But now I've kind of shifted to more just a few group networking sessions with some of my bigger power connectors that I've, like, learned to trust. And they're recommending. So I know that people that they have in their groups are good people, because they vetted them, things like that. And then that way, I'm able to actually target people, not necessarily on a one on one scale, like I was doing before, but I could meet with 20 people in one session in an hour, hear what each of them have to do and say what they're offering. And you know, if there's potential synergies, and then select who I want to one on one meet with, to then follow up with those. It certainly saved a lot more time for me, I will say that much, you know, not happened to me with people one on one for, you know, every day of the week, but it I've just kind of shifted to being a little more pointed with the people I'm trying to network with now.
Susan Tatum 4:54
that makes sense what's going through my mind right now is you are obviously very comfortable talking to people. And I think a lot of our listeners would probably fall into the more introverted category. What's your opinion in these groups of? Or do you find yourself mostly with a lot of people that are extroverts and are enjoying talking? Or what does that look like?
Casey Jenkins 5:17
Though, it's actually funny because I used to be terrified of like public speaking talking to people, I actually would say that I'm one of those extroverted introverts where I can do it, but I don't necessarily like to always do it, like, I still get nervous, or I'll get like, a little anxious when I have to go in front of groups. But the one thing I'll say is that you know, in doing these types of things, you start to become a little more comfortable, and you gain a confidence, and you start to understand that the people you're talking to are just people, they probably also started at a point where they were nervous about it, too. So I'd say in the groups, you get a mix of both, I've seen people who are very extroverted and nice to them they can talk and just pitch like no tomorrow. And then I've seen people where you can tell that they're either new to maybe what they're doing on their pitch, or are a little more introverted. But either way, I feel like in the group settings, it is different than when you get people one on one. And you could just make it more of a conversation. Within the groups, it's usually you've got like a time cap to you know, it's like, two minutes, maybe. And so trying to fit everything in in two minutes, it does take a little practice to make sure you have that narrowed down a little bit. But I'd say you get a max. And as you do it, the more comfortable you actually feel with being able to do it. So
Susan Tatum 6:38
practice, maybe maybe doesn't make it perfect, but it makes it more comfortable. Last time we talked you had not yet gotten any business or opportunities from it, you were still working your way through it. Have you seen anything come down the pipeline yet.
Casey Jenkins 6:52
So I would say that it's so interesting, because I haven't seen necessarily direct business from it. Now, I don't want to say that I've not seen any business from it. Because obviously, like once you start talking to people, and then they refer and then they refer, you know, it does end up making its way back around. But I would say that it's still given me a lot of good starting engagements to then be able to take further and navigate myself if they're worth pursuing for business purposes or not. I would say though, that the advisory side of what I've been doing, not necessarily project based business, but more advisory business, that's definitely taken off through the networking side of things. So I have split my business, I guess, into two sides, I do project based services. And then also advisory services that are just one off, you know, you pick someone's brain for an hour type things. And so that has actually taken off through the networking, where the project side, I wouldn't say I've gotten direct business from networking with that
Susan Tatum 7:56
looks interesting. But you know, and any of the listeners that have listened to me before, I'm a big advocate of conversations, I mean, I think it's that that's where it's all it all starts. And and it does take a while to do that, I probably wouldn't I personally would not, I myself would not be comfortable in a group, like what you're talking about, I can see how it would work. But I would get overwhelmed. I think with these people, you know, giving them pitches but there's probably a lot of really good people in those groups that you would want to follow up with later. So if you can, if you can get through that two minutes of talking about yourself, and pay attention to what's yet for me, then pay attention to what the others are saying then that could be very worthwhile. So the topic that we actually got together here today talk about is posting on LinkedIn. And you have been nothing short of prolific and you're posting on LinkedIn. So what what is your schedule?
Casey Jenkins 8:51
Oh, man. So I'll tell you when I first started with the content on LinkedIn, I truly did not have a rhyme or reason to it. So anyone out there listening, don't think that you have to have it all figured out to start doing it. I will say as I've gone on, I've kind of figured out and navigated how I want to approach it because it is a marketing thing for me. So now what what started off as weekly, two minute topic videos, which are two to three minute long videos where I talk about a supply chain or business topic. It's turned now into bi weekly because my scheduled out a little busy, but I usually drop one of the videos on on a Monday, and then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and sometimes Friday, depending on the amount of content related to the video is my written content that supports the video. So a lot of times my videos you can't get enough information in two to three minutes. And so I try to use, you know, the written posts to be able to expand upon some of those topics and discussions a little bit further to be able to still provide some value to the people who follow me. And then on my off weeks now that I have off weeks because I don't drop the video weekly anymore, I've been trying to do a little more focusing on, I guess you could say, like pitching my business because I hadn't really done that a lot. That was something that I didn't necessarily want to be doing, at least at first. But now I've actually kind of used one day a week to do like a post that's just about my business, I try to make it funny, engaging things like that, that's just my personality shining through. And then on the other days, during the off week, I might just pick like, you know, a different topic that's top of mind for people, or something that I've seen in the news within supply chain, to just break down and discuss. So
Susan Tatum 10:41
so you're they're posting something five, five days a week, basically,
Casey Jenkins 10:45
I would say on my on the weeks that I have a video and the written content, it's usually five days, on my off weeks, it's it can be three days, two days, I tried to shorten it those weeks just because, again, they're my off weeks, I've got other things to focus on so yeah.
Susan Tatum 11:00
what what is your goal in doing that posting?
Casey Jenkins 11:06
Yeah. So when I first started it, truly, like, even with the two minute topic videos, that someone asked me this not too long ago, and my answer is probably still the same. It was what are you trying to achieve with that, and I was like, to be honest, like, when I started, I had no idea I was just trying to put content out there as a means to provide value to, you know, my industry. And as a way to market my skills and as a way to, you know, show what I'm capable of, and things like that, it's now grown into more of an educational thing that people have actually really started to value, I get people reaching out all the time saying how educational it is how they learn something from these things in these posts. So not only is it like a marketing thing for me, and for my business and my skills, and what I bring to the table, but it's also something to help educate people within the industry in a quick and easy manner, who may not want to have to go research this stuff or may not want to, you know, have to go take a class or get a degree in it or you know, things like that. So find to just provide some value and learning opportunities for others or refreshed concepts that maybe they've not used or had access to in a while. So yeah, so I'd say it's a combination now of marketing, but also, you know, trying to educate and provide value.
Susan Tatum 12:25
I think I remember when we talked before that from your posting, you were actually getting some comments from people that were very high levels of huge companies.
Casey Jenkins 12:35
Yeah, I get a wide array of interactions and engagements. It's, it's actually kind of surprising, you know, like, and I say that because like, I've never seen myself as someone who was like, you know, I don't like the word influencer, I just don't like it. But I've never really seen myself as someone who's like, of that magnitude. You know, like, my goal isn't that my goal is to just put stuff out there for people to benefit from so kind of marketing, you know, me, but it's also disperse some thought, you know, and get people to think about different concepts and things that are going on within the industry, that maybe they're not seeing, or they're not thinking, and it's just to try to stir up some thought and interaction. But yeah, I've had a wide array of people just engaging and stuff, which is really cool, you know, to see the reach, but it's definitely a broad audience.
Susan Tatum 13:30
Well, I mean, that's, that's great. I mean, and I and I, you have a you have a solid looking network. I mean, you've got what 30 Something 100 connections.
Casey Jenkins 13:43
almost 3500
Susan Tatum 13:45
Yeah, I think yeah. So and I, you know, and I applaud you for the attitude that you have, that you're there to help. You're not trying to get 30,000 connections I mean I see so much of this on LinkedIn of, you know, you've got to have 30,000 40,000 followers. No, you don't, not, not when you're doing what we do, you know, you don't need that.
Casey Jenkins 14:05
Right, right. Well, you know, it's funny, because I'll never forget, I had had a connection, this is back pretty early on when I was starting, you know, within networking. And his advice was, you know, the faster you get to 30,000 followers, the faster your business will take off. And that concept to me stood out, because I was sitting there going, Okay, so basically, you're gonna overlook experience, education talent and skills, because I don't have 30,000 followers. And when I heard that I was kind of almost bothered by the fact that people would actually do business with people who only have a certain number of followers or value their number of followers as what gives them credentials, I guess, to be able to execute and do things over some of us who actually have credentials to execute into things and well, being overlooked because We don't have enough following. And it's like that mentality, I think is something that people should shift. And it should be more. And I know some of that was related to like LinkedIn and their algorithms and things like that, which they've now shifted, to be focused more on, like people who have the expertise and you know, the skills and experience. And so that's shifted a little bit, but it should never be about the followers that give you credibility, right. It shouldn't be about your experience, it should be about, you know, the skills and the tools and the education that you have. Not a number that's, you know, climbing because you posted a quote of something random.
Susan Tatum 15:39
Totally, yeah, I think there is some, you know, there's like the concept of social proof. And so there is some justification for having a solid network, like, if you were on there with, well, if I was on there with 500 connections, it would be like, How can I do my job, you know, which is helping people use LinkedIn to get to prospects, if I don't have the right network, but even I don't need 30,000 connections, it just it to me it's it's ludicrous. But anyway, I don't think people I can't imagine people overlooking you, if they're, if they're wanting help with their supply chains, overlooking you, because you don't have 30,000 followers. do you even want those people as clients?
Casey Jenkins 16:24
No, so and that's, and that's just about to say, it's like, you know, that comment of reaching a certain threshold of followers is not actually evaluating who you have in your network, right, that's just hitting a number and right And that touches on the point that you just made of like, you know, the quality of your network is better than just having a certain threshold of followers. Because you're right. At the end of the day, if I've got someone reaching out to me, because I have a certain number of followers, and I'm highly followed, I probably don't want to do business with them, because they're not reaching out to me for the right reasons. Right. And so it's, that's the thing is like, if people are only looking at it, and the credibility factor is, you know, well, you've got such a such number of followers, and it's just the number, then no, I don't want to do business with you. No, definitely not,
Susan Tatum 17:14
they're not going to pay attention to your expertise. So why bother? So you are, in addition to whatever amount of time it takes you to do these posts? What do you do you follow up? Are you paying attention to? And I don't mean that sarcastically I mean, are you are you? Do you take the time to look at who is posting and respond and engaging with all of that?
Casey Jenkins 17:37
Yeah, I typically do, actually, because, like, I want to make sure that my content and what I'm putting out there is reaching the right audience, um, you know, based upon different topics and things like that. So I do follow, you know, who is liking engaging or commenting on my stuff, I will say that a lot of it is most of the people are like the usual people who are engaging or interacting, which is fine. But when I get the ones who are different, or I get, you know, second and third connections, maybe found me from the one of my connections, liking it, or engaging, I always like to say who they are, what they do. And if my posts was actually tailored to the job they do, or tailored to the industry they're in or whatever the case may be, because that helps me to see, okay, what I'm putting out there related to that topic is beneficial because people in that realm are engaging with it. Right? that's the point, I want to make sure that what I'm putting out there is beneficial to the ones reading it. And I don't know that unless the other one's reading it or giving the feedback. So I do try to check and honestly, if there's someone who I've not connected with, and they interact with my posts, I do try to always connect with people. Because yeah, you know, for me, it's like I I appreciate their support, you know, and reading my stuff, and more than happy to learn from them as well so
Susan Tatum 19:02
well, I mean, it's also the sort of the one of the best ways to get conversations with people who could be ideal clients for you. I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with with reaching out to those folks and it increases the likelihood that they will connect with you. So that's good. So how much time do would you estimate that you spend on on this stuff?
Casey Jenkins 19:27
So because all of my content is originally written like I don't leverage AI or anything like that, it can take some time. I will say that when I do the scripts for like two minute topics and recording, for the most part, I can knock out a script, usually within two hours, and then recording depending on how easy I can get through the recording. can take anywhere from like one to two, maybe even three hours. If it's a tough script. It just kind of depends. I will say that I'm pretty picky with how I deliver so that's probably why It takes so long because I have to have it perfect drawls I can't, like I can't do you know, can't edit it, whatever.
Susan Tatum 20:06
I saw a post you did where you play with your hair.
Casey Jenkins 20:11
Oh, yeah, there's some great bloopers. And some of these been some of these videos, I do like to share those out, because they're pretty funny. And it kind of brings that human component into it by I am picky with the recording, when it comes to the written content, it just kind of depends, I mean, it can take me an hour to do a post, it can take 30 minutes, I've had some times where I can knock out a post within 15 20 minutes, because the thoughts are just flowing. But if it's like a highly, like, I'm not someone who's very creative minded. So I envy the people who are able to just like write creatively all the time, because it takes a lot out of me to have to do that. I'm just operationally minded by, you know, if I'm feeling really creatively, like the creative juices are flowing, I can knock them out pretty quick, if it's taking me a little while and I'm like struggling to like, figure out how I want to say stop or think through I mean, sometimes I'll start a post, and I'll come back to it a few hours later, or I'll take a workout the next day. So it just kind of depends.
Susan Tatum 21:11
So a lot of my clients and the listeners of this podcast, are people who on paper would look would check a lot of the boxes that you do in terms of the the experience and the education and the light and the certifications and the knowledge, the knowledge part of it. And whenever I mentioned to them, the idea of posting on LinkedIn, they fall apart, it's like, yeah, um, I would never first of all, they're there. They are often uncomfortable with sharing things out there, that that aren't perfect, but they but they really see it as I don't have that much time. And I think that few of these people do have the amount of time that you have been willing to dedicate to this. But what kind of, what kind of advice would you give someone in that situation? Because I do believe and I have found that it is important to have some activity on LinkedIn and to be posting and sharing your ideas?
Casey Jenkins 22:13
Yeah, I would say honestly, like, my so my posts are a lot more lengthy. That's probably why it takes so long is because I tried to write you know, a post that's like, almost like a paper to be honest, like I tried to make sure that's very thorough, my thoughts and my concepts are being conveyed in the manner that I typically do it, I would say that you don't necessarily have to do that, right. So even if you don't have the time, you can bullet point, you can you know, put things in shorter chunks of you know, text, even just do a quick paragraph, just do five bullet points in a sentence. So there's ways around it that aren't that don't take that much time, that's just my style is to write like that. But I would just say that you have to start somewhere with it. And I honestly, I will tell you all now I go back to my first videos, I did a few minute topics and some of my first posts related to it. And looking at it now it is tragic compared to what where it's at now. So realise that you have to start somewhere. And as long as you do it and get some ideas out there and get some things flowing. I mean, I actually didn't have the confidence to really be putting this stuff out there either. I think we all have a little bit of an impostor syndrome type mentality sometimes. But I'll tell you, there's someone who is going to value what you have to say, there's someone who's going to be able to learn from it, there's someone who's going to look at that and think, oh, wow, that's something I didn't know. Or that's really insightful, or that actually helps me today. And so as long as someone is appreciative of it, you keep doing it, and then that one turns into five turns into 10 turns into 15 turns, and it keeps growing, the more that you get it out there. So I wouldn't say that you have to do anything that's like, you know, super in depth analysis thesis writing like I do. My it can be something simple. You know, I have got followers where they'll just do a sentence and five bullet points and like, that's it. And it gets a lot of engagement, a lot of interaction. Some people do just a quick short paragraph, couple sentences, that works, too. It's just all kind of like what fits your style, who you are, and how you like to convey information. If you don't know that about yourself, start trying multiple modes and see what works and see what you like and see what you have time for and then go from there.
Susan Tatum 24:40
I think one thing I would add on that I agree with everything you're saying one thing I would add is you don't have to start with five days a week, right? In fact, it can be better not to because if you if you do five days a week for two or three weeks, and then you can't do it anymore, and you back off and LinkedIn goes up. Well, they gave up.
Casey Jenkins 24:57
So yeah, and that's it. And honestly, when I first started, I wasn't doing five days a week, I just as time went on, I updated to that as a means to when I first started doing all of my content, I wasn't when I shifted to doing my videos plus the subsequent like written, that's when I would be doing five days. And it just kind of stuck. But like even now, I mean, I'm doing bi weekly now, right? And I'm doing and I have an off week for a reason where I'm not posting five days a week. So like, you don't have to keep that going all the time. You can get in a cadence that works for you and still get the engagement, the following and the activity.
Susan Tatum 25:39
All right. Well, I could keep this conversation going, as usual, but we're running out of time. For people that are interested in more of what you're talking about, is it okay if they contact you to just to just sort of network about networking and LinkedIn posting?
Casey Jenkins 25:56
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Always happy to chat. Connect with me on LinkedIn. And usually that's the easiest place to reach me.
Susan Tatum 26:03
So apparently, you're there a lot.
Casey Jenkins 26:06
Yes, I am.
Susan Tatum 26:08
All right. Well, thank you so much for being here. She goes by CJ and she goes by Casey do not call her Cassie. And we'll put all of those links to connect in the show notes and have a wonderful rest of your day.
Casey Jenkins 26:25
Yes. Thank you so much for having me.