Episodes

And I’m back for Season 2, chatting about the importance of networking on Linkedin with Author, Social Media Guru, and Linkedin Profile Writer: Leslie Hughes. A woman after my own heart, Leslie helps high-profile clients step outside of their comfort zone — on her favourite social platform, of course. Perhaps not surprisingly, we first met when I was looking for someone to help me with my LI profile. Tune in this week as we talk All Things Linkedin.

Show Transcript

Each Connect and Bloom episode is transcribed using Otter.ai. While our team is busy correcting typos where possible, it’s inevitable that some mistakes will be missed. (We’re only human!) With this in mind, please forgive any errors when reviewing transcripts, and feel free to report any issues here.

Despina Zanganas  0:07  

Believe it or not, I used to be absolutely terrified of networking. No way. You. Yeah. I’m the host of connections. A transformative podcast designed for women looking to harness the power of networking, make life changing connections, and improve their personal and professional lives in ways that they could have previously only imagined. Because I truly believe that inside each of us is a social butterfly, just waiting to bloom.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me on the Connect and bloom podcast. My guest today is Leslie Hughes. Let me tell you a little bit about Leslie. Leslie is a LinkedIn profile writer, a part time professor of social media and the principal of punch media. Leslie has been in the digital landscape for over 20 years and founded her digital agency punch media in 2009. She has worked with companies such as Franklin Templeton, Canada, investment Planning Council, tbo, and Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to help them optimize their professional presence and convert clients. Leslie has been called a social media guru by CBC Radio and has also been a guest on ctvs, the social talking about how to manage your digital identity. She is the author of create Connect, convert, which is designed to help you own your value and build a powerful professional presence without feeling like you’re bragging. I also wanted to mention that Leslie has actually helped me with my own personal LinkedIn profile several years ago, and I just found it so invaluable. You know, she helped me fine tune that message. And help me highlight areas that really needed improvement. So Leslie, thank you so much for joining me today.

Leslie Hughes  2:06  

I am so excited to chat with you today. You’re one of my favorite people. I’m so excited.

Despina Zanganas 2:13
Thank you. The feeling’s mutual. So let’s, let’s let’s just kick it right off. So how did we originally Connect.

Leslie Hughes 2:21
That’s a really good question. I think you reached out to me, I think, I can’t recall how it was a while ago,

Despina Zanganas 2:27
so I had to remember. It was through a volunteer, Alina in Canada volunteer, I reached out to her Emily Bailey and I said you know people who have helped me with my LinkedIn profile, and she’s like Yes, I know the perfect person so she mentioned, where she introduced us I can’t really remember how that happened that was several years ago,

Leslie Hughes 2:48
that I’m trying to get Emily on my own podcast and hopefully you’ll be on my podcast too now that we’re all in the podcast business. Yes so Emily’s me, excuse me, Emily is amazing, and I just absolutely adore her and yeah she’s a great connector, a smart gal and yeah and then we felt like now because you and I know each other it’s like that exponential growth of like the network is just amazing how many people either we’ve met in common or we’ve introduced to you know other people in our network, it’s really cool. Yeah,

Despina Zanganas 3:16
that’s what I love about networking.

Leslie Hughes 3:17
I know and you’re such a, you’re such a champ at it, you’re amazing.

Despina Zanganas 3:22
Thanks. So, what do you tell me. A little bit more about your business and the work that you do.

Leslie Hughes 3:28
Yeah, so I work quite a few hearts, but really what I’ve been doing in the past so 20 years I’ve been in digital marketing, which puts me in a pre Google world which is a little scary. In fact, some of the students would call me a dinosaur which I have really no issue with. But yeah, I’ve been in a, in a, I started in online marketing in like the late 90s, which is so crazy to think. And then, in the past, I guess the past tech will the past 10 years I’ve started punch media, and then really pivoted and went a lot deeper with LinkedIn in the past five years, whether it’s training for organizations or working one on one with individuals and then the profile writing has been the lion’s share of what I’ve been doing for the past few years and I love it I love the storytelling find it, finding out about people’s professional stories and how to get them to really feel competent about telling that that professional story is where I just, I just love doing

Despina Zanganas 4:22
that. Well yeah, it seems like you have such a variety of clients, I read in your profile, you know, like you’ve got Franklin Templeton and you talked about Aaron O’Toole, is one of your clients and all that so that’s really exciting,

Leslie Hughes 4:37
really cool I love it I love telling people’s professional stories and really I think for me, finding out we’ll get into this obviously but really getting people outside their comfort zone, and so far as telling their story because that’s a really big fear for almost every single person that I’ve talked with is, how do I stand in my value without sounding like I’m bragging so

Despina Zanganas 4:56
we can talk about. Absolutely. So why don’t you tell me how networking actually comes into play.

Leslie Hughes 5:01
Networking is one of the most crucial parts of not only building my business obviously but also helping my clients with building out either their business, or just finding opportunities so networking is huge in fact, my book is called Create connect convert, so that connect part is all about how to, how to really build out that network. I’m a little bit old to remember what a Rolodex is my students at the college have no idea what a Rolodex is. But, you know, building out your network and why LinkedIn is so powerful for this is that whomever it is that you’re connected with let’s say you and I are connected. So we’re first degree connections. So anybody in your network is a second degree connection of mine, and I can tap into that network either by saying hey, you and I both know Despina, or I can say just be like, Can you do me a favor and introduce me to this person, it really helps to take that cold call and turn it into a warm introduction.

Despina Zanganas 5:57
Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. LinkedIn has been so critical for me, I would say of all the social media sites, it’s it’s such an important thing. So actually, why don’t you tell me a little bit more about that. Why do you think it’s important for people to have LinkedIn profile, specifically,

Leslie Hughes 6:14
the, the mindset and the psychology of LinkedIn is quite different than any of the other social channels out there so Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, like all those, I mean that Twitter is sort of a hybrid between the two. LinkedIn really is where professionals are going to invest time, as opposed to quote unquote wasting time. And this is where you’re more likely to find the C suite executives people that have decision making power. And in so this is why this channel is so much more crucial than any of the other channels because people are on there for a different purpose and a different reason. You probably aren’t aren’t going to find any of those C suite executives, on the other channels, you’re more likely to connect with them on LinkedIn.

Despina Zanganas 6:56
Absolutely. I find this, there’s a lot of people that I know personally that wants to grow their reputation and stuff like that but are so afraid to start a LinkedIn profile because they’re gonna start from zero, you know zero connections and it looks like they don’t have a lot of influence and, you know, my recommendation is always like just get on it, you know, because five years from now, you’re still going to be at zero, right, so I think it’s so critical. So, where do you think those people, people should start when it comes to LinkedIn.

Leslie Hughes 7:29
The first place that I always start is that create place. So let’s create a really strong profile so that when, when people come to your profile or you’re sending out those invitations, whether it’s inbound connections, outbound connections that your story really does resonate with that and that they know who you are, what you do, how you help that professional story is so crucial because even if I were to say, hey, Despina I’ve got this great person to speak with, even if it was a referral from word of mouth, you’re going to go on to LinkedIn, or at least Google the person, and LinkedIn is going to be one of the highest ranked sites when someone Google’s your name, telling that professional story is really really crucial, so that’s where I would start, because that’s where people are going to get that immediate first impression. And then the next thing is, as you said just baby steps I mean, the one thing that I find is that LinkedIn can be overwhelming. It can be really scary because this is your professional network you’re not as maybe not as as afraid of making a mistake on some of the other channels out there because if your people people in your friends and family who are going to be more forgiving, whereas you’re like, oh, but this is my professional network so I’m really scared of putting myself out there yet, it’s really important, particularly during a pandemic where everybody’s gone virtual. It’s a really crucial place for you to create that story and it doesn’t have to happen overnight if you’re doing it on your own, just make sure you’re focusing on the three key areas. I say three key areas is to keep it simple, have your photo. Your headline and your summary or what’s now called the event section to really frame up that story. And then over time, just continue to add a little bit more.

Despina Zanganas 9:07
Yeah, you know that that’s so important to me like you talked about, you know when you’re into, you’re being introduced to someone, you always go online to check them out right. And if it’s almost like you got a secret on them or something like that, You know, because then you can you meet them in person, and you can say, hey, I noticed you did this for this company or, Hey, I noticed that you’re connected to Leslie How did you meet Leslie, and it’s like, immediate conversation starters. I think it’s it’s so important to do that and you immediately know when people have actually checked you out online beforehand because they will bring up you know this system, you know, this kind of story, and you see that they’re serious that they actually want to interact with you, where I don’t know you’ve probably experienced this to where you’ve met somebody, and it’s obviously did not Google you, they did not check you out and you’re like you have to start from scratch and it’s almost like a little bit frustrating, right. So, it gives you that it lets you know if people are really really serious about something. So, why do you think it’s really important to post on, on LinkedIn, or just social media in general, and

Leslie Hughes 10:26
creating that digital footprint can be, you know it is really really crucial and again you don’t have to be on all the other social channels but on LinkedIn. It is important to create that story again for that that first impression and kind of just leading back to what you were talking about when people are checking you out you want to put yourself out as the best in class, absolutely nobody wants to work with somebody who just like me. I’m sort of okay at this, or they downplay their expertise so they downplay their accomplishments on LinkedIn, you want to showcase those accomplishments because everybody wants to work with the best. And one of the ways that I tell people that is an easier way for you standing your value and tell your story without feeling like you’re bragging is reframing that story into feeling like, You know, like, you’re coming from a place of service. So when you’re saying I’m really committed to my industry I’m really passionate and driven to produce these results, it doesn’t sound like you’re bragging. It sounds like you really, you know you’re really good at what you do here are the great clients that you’ve worked with or the accomplishments that you’ve had, and then it doesn’t sound so much like bragging and everybody, as I said, everybody wants to work with the best in class. So put those things out there find those icebreakers that you can then when you’re meeting people, you can say those things like hey I was checking out your LinkedIn profile and I noticed this, it’s a great icebreaker. And, you know, kind of even just to segue from that that discussion. People are afraid, oh well, what if I’m creeping on someone’s profile isn’t that weird. No, this is the public, it’s a public forum are expected to put those things out there, so why not be bold and say yeah I was checking out your profile because I really am interested in what you do.

Despina Zanganas 12:09
Yeah, that’s actually an aspect of LinkedIn that I like because you know you get a message that somebody actually looked at your profile, and then maybe like five days later, they reach out you know somebody that you know and you’re like, I wonder why they’re doing that there must be something going on with them. Sometimes I’ll reach out for most of the time it’s them saying hey you know I just wanted to see what you’re up to. And it’s a great way to connect,

Leslie Hughes 12:36
I was gonna say it just it just shows due diligence, I have done that moving Corbelli proactively with meetings and, and while it does seem a little weird to have already had this intel on someone I think it does show that you’re committed to making sure that you’re driving, you know, good business relationships.

Despina Zanganas 12:52
Absolutely. How would you say that LinkedIn is different than a resume.

Leslie Hughes 12:58
Oh gosh I love LinkedIn because it’s like your resume with personality and a resume really focuses on the, you know you’ve got two pages it’s bullet points there’s no emotion, it’s meant to sort of just be this neutral, here’s all my accomplishments. What I do when I’m working with clients is I talk to them for about an hour I have a whole series of questions and ask them, you know, all different things about why do they get involved in the industry, what makes them passionate what makes them driven, and then I marry that up with the resume, and also other keywords just to make sure that the whole story is very well rounded, but that’s what I love about LinkedIn is that it does allow you a more context and more personality in in your profile.

Despina Zanganas 13:40
You can also get like immediate access to some of the articles that people have written or videos and stuff like that which you can on a digital resume you know with it, there’s a lot more substance to the actual profile itself,

Leslie Hughes 13:57
which is interesting in this day and age where we’re in I’m of a generation we were we were meant to go you know we went to school to sit down and shut up and do as you’re told. So you could go and get a job to sit down and shut up and do what you’re told, right, and now in 2021 Everyone’s like be a brand, be unique, you know, tell your story and it’s really uncomfortable for so many people and I think that that last step of, you know, sharing content with your network is one of the places that it’s like almost like the Peredo principle of the 8020 rule 80% of people are actually reading and only 20% Probably less than 20% of people actually posting. So there’s a huge opportunity to be a brand to stand out to showcase to your network that you’re at the top of your game, you’re reading articles you’re sharing tips. So I encourage people to do that, to share information to share those posts with their network. Again it’s not fear people are afraid of clicking send. What happens if people are going to say, Who do you think you are, you know, those kinds of fears sort of creep up into it so I do encourage people to post, you know, really good quality content when they can.

Despina Zanganas 15:00
So you’re talking about posting what, what kind of post would it be stuff that they’ve written or would you say stuff that they found on the internet that they found really interesting, all of the

Leslie Hughes 15:14
all of the above. I mean if you can come up with your own content that’s fantastic but as we both know that’s like heavy lifting of social is creating content, it takes a long time to sort of create media, and you know editorial calendar and coming up with all of these concepts and what do you want to share and when do you want to share it and how do you want to share it and all those kinds of things at the same time there are tools out there that you can use to reshare great content so it’s called curated content if you find other third party sources, and you put in your own context of why you think that that article is important to your network, or here’s another great tip, which is, let’s just say someone in your network that you really want to deepen that relationship and they’ve shared a good post you can reshare their posts, you’re going to get a little bit of love that way because you’re going to be trying to nurture and deepen that relationship, and you’re sharing great content with your network, but I think the importance is quality over quantity.

Despina Zanganas 16:07
That’s a great point. How do you think that LinkedIn has evolved over the years has it changed

Leslie Hughes 16:15
it first, most people thought of LinkedIn as just being a job prospecting site. Yeah, and so they would go on there and most and some people would even say I remember the first time I had to do when I was doing my LinkedIn, writing the profile writing, and was working with the senior executives that I’m not looking for a job, why are you why are you working with me on my profile we’ve sort of been mandated by the organization to get this up to date. And I said well you’re one of the forward facing brand ambassadors of the organization. And so when people are googling the organization should I invest with the company who are the C suite leaders, you want to have that well friend story, it’s kind of your bio in a way I like to write it in first person because they think that that connects with the reader. At the same time so it has evolved from being a resume site where it was just about job prospecting into what is now the term is called social selling. It’s now turned into a social and marketing tool to build your brand and build your professional brand out there.

Despina Zanganas 17:10
Yeah, you know, that’s such a great point. It’s the easiest way to find out more about people and a business and stuff like that. So, how do you think that people can use LinkedIn to sell

Leslie Hughes 17:23
well selling get clients, yeah absolutely so again it is that inbound questions in then the inbound leads that people sort of googling you. That doesn’t happen say as often as one would think so, sometimes my clients will be like well I want to be SEO optimized on LinkedIn. As you know, it’s much more about the network that you have. Yeah, rather than people just Googling you and looking for somebody that has your qualifications. So, So it is about building out that network of making sure that you are proactively connecting with people that may want to hire you down the road to for your services or may want to hire you for to work for the organization and from a selling and marketing standpoint, again, the more you’re sort of building yourself up as an expert by sharing great content like having a great story, the more trust you’re going to build with people. And so, and then, you know, if you’re, what you do, just being a is like connecting people in your network and doing all of that and you’re, you know, you’re, you’re being of service. Again that’s going to help to build trust so the bigger your network is the more opportunities that you have from, from a visual perspective from a networking perspective, but I am much more back to the quality over quantity. I’m much more of a person who really wants to build a network of people that I want to get to know and they want to get to know me, rather than just connecting with people around the world to make it look like I have like say 30,000 connections out there that don’t care about what I’m doing so it’s really not about just amassing a network of people that don’t care, but for me it’s all about building and nurturing those relationships with people that I do care about and they care about me.

Despina Zanganas 18:56
Yeah, you know, I always get suspicious when somebody has 30,000 followers, and they’re not a famous person. You know what I mean like, because it’s not about quality connections I suspect when that happens, is that they just accept anybody that comes into their network, you know, somebody connects with them, they’re like, sure, and they haven’t vetted that person. So that’s one of the biggest frustrations that I have not frustrations but things that I’ve observed you know like, it’s not like Instagram necessarily where you really want to get likes and stuff like that and connect with so many people I think it’s really about the quality. When you’re talking about LinkedIn.

Leslie Hughes 19:40
And it’s a bit of a subjective thing in a way because some people that say recruiters have a big network because that’s what they need to do and to your point like celebrities and things like that. I have another really close friend of mine that I really adore him and he’s out, he’s also a LinkedIn trainer. He’s a little bit different than us, he sends every connection request and then follows up with an afterwards. I, I’m a little different than that and they think, you know, a part of it maybe because as women, we’re also a little bit more selective of people that we let into our network. I’m afraid of people that are spamming people that are have like sort of nefarious sort of ideas of what they want to do with that connection request. Thankfully I haven’t been hit on thankfully I don’t know if that’s the word, but I haven’t been, you know, so because some women are getting that where they’re getting these inappropriate messages from people on LinkedIn, and thankfully I haven’t had that and I think it is because I’m betting my connections, I don’t know or maybe, I don’t know the reason I’ve just thought I haven’t that issue.

Despina Zanganas 20:39
Yeah, that hasn’t happened to me either. Thankfully, yeah. What do you think the biggest mistakes people do on LinkedIn.

Leslie Hughes 20:46
Well I think the biggest mistake is not using it the fear of not using it is holding so many people back so if they don’t have a photo, that’s a, that’s a big no no. I mean people. I’m not going to connect with someone who doesn’t take the time to create a photo if they’re not using it, I think, for me and this is again kind of a subjective thing I don’t like seeing too much personal information on LinkedIn is the business site after all so when I see things like I’m not even exaggerating when I say this Despina I saw somebody posts that they taught their daughter how to use the potty. Over the weekend, oh no, yeah.

Despina Zanganas 21:21
Facebook post,

Leslie Hughes 21:23
post Yeah, right, like it’s this I mean, you’re sharing this with your professional network and one of you might share that in a business meeting, I don’t know if you’d walk in and be like hey I’ve never met you before I just taught my daughter how to use the potty. I don’t know. I mean, I want, I want us to be human. I don’t want us to all be sort of robots, and at the same time, this is the professional networking site soon as they said like the not having a photo, I’ve seen them as bad as shirtless photos men and women like women in bikinis and men with no shirt on, I mean this. Come on. How hard is it to put a shirt on. And then as they said, you know just posting inappropriate things that I personally think are is a little too outside so I try to think like, keep in the context of business at the end of the day,

Despina Zanganas 22:10
because you know there’s something about LinkedIn that confuses me so sometimes I will post something and I get so much engagement, You know, I remember this one post. I was getting people connecting with me from like Dubai and Cyprus, and all around the world I it was probably the most popular post it was about all female construction company. So, you know people that I don’t generally have in my network like architects were reaching out and liking my posts, and then I had other posts that you know maybe I actually wrote the content myself, or I just thought it was really great. And I get maybe like three likes or something like that and nobody engages, and it’s funny because there’s certain people on. I’d say on all my social media channels, that they know the power of connection they tend to be networkers, so they will always like my posts, and always comment, and that really helps with engagement so can you provide a little bit of insight like how do you know some things get No,

Leslie Hughes 23:14
I have no idea. I think that that is sort of the magic, you know, of LinkedIn in some ways, is that we, there’s there’s one thing that I always say that a metaphor I have no idea where it came from, is that when you’re inside the jar you can’t see the label, which is such a great, you know metaphor for thinking like we don’t always see ourselves the way that other people see us and so we have to be writing for the reader, things that are important to us, aren’t necessarily important to your audience. So yeah, I have no idea I’m the same way. I was coaching the team up to speed. But you know, just being a we, we think that this is important to us so then therefore it’s going to be important to our target audience and yet there is no there there there I’m sure that there are certain things that can help you boost the algorithm and so far is yeah, there’s, there’s things that if somebody clicks like right like one of the people, one of the people in your network if they click like right away I think that sort of triggers LinkedIn to thinking oh wow this is going to be a popular one, we’re going to help optimize this but there’s so many variables and none of the none of the social channels out there want you to know the secret sauce for SEO, but some of it could be. Okay, So, you know, there’s so many people clicked on it. And then we’re going to we’re going to amplify this because it seems to be popular early. There are times of day so certain times a day are going to be more peak than others. But yeah, there’s, there’s no real definitive, if you do this then you will get. 100,000 likes on that post and one of the other things is, say, one person in your network that is connected to 30,000 people and they engage with your posts, then that exponential growth may have. That may be a factor as well so if you have someone who does have a lot of connections and they’re engaging, then, then the reach does get amplified from that perspective as well so

Despina Zanganas 25:04
yeah I mean that’s one of the things I really like about LinkedIn is if somebody likes your posts, their network starts to see it, and then people start connecting with you. I’ve actually gotten a lot of connections that way, because I’ve posted this list about you’ve probably seen it in about the events happening in that month I’ve kind of slowed it down during the COVID. That’s actually one of the most popular posts, whenever I post it. I get so much engagement, and then people start reaching out to me and they subscribe to my newsletter I see a spike in my website traffic, when I post something like that so that’s been really interesting to do that like I know that people really enjoy those kind of posts. I’ve heard I mean I know you don’t know what the algorithm is but I’ve heard that if you tag somebody in a post, and they respond within an hour. You kind of get the jump up the line do you know if that’s even a thing,

Leslie Hughes 26:04
it’s quite possible I think tagging people are using hashtags we just basically are trying to use all the tools in our toolkit in order to get the most reach obviously, I have found some people overuse that as well I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that to where someone will post something and then they’ll tag and they’ll say like, so what do you think just be then you’re like, This doesn’t have anything to do with me I don’t know why that person is tagging me, or they’ll tag a half a dozen people, and then you’re in that thread and that is just like, Oh my gosh, like just don’t do that. I think what it’s used for Teach ugly it’s it’s smarter to it’s better to work smarter and do it strategically as opposed to just trying to game the system. I also seen and you probably seen this too where people will put up a visual post of saying, Oh, how many years have you been working in business, click heart on if it’s one to five years, click celebrate, if it’s five to 10 years and so people will use these posts and sure, yeah, people are clicking on these things or. There was even one that said like double tap or something and see what’s going to happen next and then some people are just trying to gain the system and does it get a lot of views and, like, Sure it does. But you’re just spamming your network so don’t do that, just again really be thinking about what’s important to your audience as opposed to just trying to game the algorithm.

Despina Zanganas 27:17
Yeah, it’s like quality content, right, like, yeah, for sure. I think that LinkedIn, are there other social media sites like what are the advantages of, let’s say Instagram or Twitter or Facebook like. Where else would you recommend,

Leslie Hughes 27:31
it depends on your target audience really. And so, like, I will say to people if people are looking to connect with doctors, probably not, I mean any social site quite frankly is probably not going to work for you. If you’re looking to help, you know, if you’re looking to connect with people in the, you know, like sanitation industry. Social media is probably not going to work for you. It really depends on your target audience. So if you’re looking to connect with a young demographic tick tock in Snapchat. If you’re looking to connect and it’s funny because, You know, millennials are now getting much older and Gen Z are now entering the workforce and so forth which is just bizarre to me. So the millennials are now, older, I mean I’m in the Gen X, networking so so so it really depends on whom are you trying to connect with, what are you trying to accomplish. If it’s, you know, friends and family and business to consumer then Facebook maybe, I actually have a hard time telling people to be on Facebook, only because it is such a big network and you have to be advertising at this point whereas 10 years ago when I was helping businesses get started, it was like yeah you need to be on Facebook. Now, I don’t know, I don’t really have the definitive answer on whether that’s a yes or no Instagram obviously is much more visual, from that perspective so if you are again business to consumer and your visual base your organization and you want to use that. Twitter has now grown, I mean Twitter was a big thing years ago, it hasn’t.

Leslie Hughes 0:03
really grown in size but the people who use it again are using it to make connections and so forth so that’s that’s kind of a hybrid between business consumer business to business, and then you know those other sort of channels I am not using Snapchat or Tik Tok in fact my 14 year old son keeps deleting Tik Tok from my phone I was like, Mom, stop that you’re told you can’t be on Tik Tok. Don’t get me up, I’m like, but I need some reason to like stop it, You’re too old Boomer.

Despina Zanganas 0:36
Yeah. You mentioned Twitter I think Twitter is really good. I’ve had journalists reach out to me on Twitter, so I have made connections actually through every single social media, I’m not on Tik Tok either. I deleted that one it started and then, like it’s not for me. But, Yeah I think every social media site does have value and it really depends, or they’ve all been really different people assume the same thing for you.

Leslie Hughes 1:03
Yeah, different psychology for every network so I you only invest time in the channels that are working for me professionally right so yes I dabble a little bit I mean I had my, my close friends on Facebook and I locked it down just to friends only at this point, Instagrams a little wider. I know that’s public it’s a little bit of like here’s what’s going on my personal life and here’s the spying on my professional life is sort of a marriage between those two but I don’t think of it as a business building tool for me because I’m more business to I mean, business to business, I suppose. Even though I work with individuals I also work with organizations. So it really depends on the context and then the other thing is that social media is overwhelming. I mean we think about the top, it’s not even the top five anymore it’s probably the top eight channels, when you have like Instagram and tick tock and Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, you know, like there’s so many channels out there because there’s so many things out there so it’s like, well where do I spend my time and we, if we do if we try to be on all the channels we’re spreading and spreading ourselves too thin. So the one thing that I’ll say is just make sure that you’re focusing your time on where you’re getting the most results.

Despina Zanganas 2:09
I think that’s great advice because it can get really overwhelming. And I agree with you with Facebook, it’s just, I have a Facebook, you know, personal account and a Facebook page, and I can’t say that I updated that often because it’s been the same experience for me.

Leslie Hughes 2:25
Right, and even on Facebook I just found out like so I started my Facebook page, years ago because I used to do content creation for Facebook years ago when I started, and the pages never grown, it’s just sort of been the same people that are sitting there for years and years and it’s like, I’m not gonna, I’m not going to invest time creating a presence on a channel where now the algorithm issue now, probably less than 1% of those people actually see the posts on Facebook and I think that that’s, especially for small business owners are not looking at their metrics to see okay so am I, producing results they think, oh, I need to be on Facebook because that’s social media, and I’m going to create a Facebook account I’m going to like business account, I’m going to create content on there and yet they’re not looking at is actually building traction, they’re just feeling like okay let’s tick the box that I’m on social media. And I think that that’s a big misconception of small business owners so that’s what they need to be doing when it’s, you know, just because everybody else is doing it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you and now because of the algorithm you have to be investing in ads on Facebook in order to gain traction and so are you investing in ads and do you know how to optimize those ads and that’s a whole rabbit hole that

Despina Zanganas 3:33
I found that too, you know, there’s, there’s ways to do it so it kind of pops up to the top and, yeah, it’s a it’s a whole education different education. So, for sure. Why don’t we switch it up a bit and talk a little bit about in person events. So, you know the last time I saw you was just a few days before the whole pandemic global pandemic was announced at an event. Do you go to a lot of events, how do you select them.

Leslie Hughes 4:03
Yeah, so you’re in person stuff. It’s funny because even as an extrovert, just being out I don’t love networking events, it’s funny because I don’t, I don’t mind it once I’m there, but I even as an extrovert I every time I commit to going to an event I go, What am I doing, why am I going to this, am I going to know anybody, I feel like a grade nine all over again walking in the same school, right. So, even for the most outgoing extrovert and networking isn’t always the most fun thing for us to say one of the introverts in the house now, like it’s, if you’re not alone. And then once I’m there I you know I do love it, especially when I bump into people and I’m meeting new people than I have when I get my mojo. And so what I typically will would love to do when I’m at those networking events or even with even online events is to continue to build out that that network on LinkedIn, it is continuing to, so all send and in fact one of the examples that I had this is really why I sort of working with Franklin Templeton Canada. I went to an alumni event again right before the pandemic, I went to an alumni event for my university, and the keynote speaker of the event was the president, and were the CEO of Franklin Templeton Canada, didn’t get a chance to meet him in person I sent him a LinkedIn connection request said, you know, really great we didn’t get to chat at the University of Ottawa event but I would love to connect with you here, he turned around, like messaged me back and said, let’s get a one on one time to connect we had to move that into a virtual call because of the pandemic. And then, you know, we started chatting and you’re always like oh my gosh, freaking out that you know the CEO of Franklin Templeton Canada wants to talk to a little me. And then the next thing I knew I was helping him be his profile and for other three other of his colleagues as well so you know these opportunities of networking can absolutely turn into business, and it’s really again just about showing up and being your authentic self and giving good value to people and just being of service right

Despina Zanganas 5:57
yeah I remember how we we bumped into each other at the ladies who launch event. And one of the things that I found really interesting so this event this is somebody that I met in San Francisco had asked me to kind of send out messages to my network that this event was happening and they asked me to be a panelist, and one of the things that happened because they were in San Francisco they didn’t know what the reception was going to be so they sold too many tickets, and so many people were left kind of outside there was a massive lineup but they said to everybody. Yeah, yeah,

Leslie Hughes 6:38
I was left out I got there just a little bit too late and did not get admitted into the

Despina Zanganas 6:43
event. Yeah, but one of the things that they said is like stick around, network at the bar and I think it was an open bar too and there was like food and everything like that. And one of the things I loved about you at that event is you stuck around, you made a lot of connections with that event you told me like when we ran into each other, you’re like, yeah, it was okay that I didn’t get in because I actually met. I think you met somebody who, who hired speakers or something like that you were telling me, So I think it’s so important, you know, just because something goes wrong, it’s always good to keep in mind that you never know when something’s actually going to happen. So I love that about you like you didn’t let it rain on your parade either you’re just like, this is just go with the flow, and I was in DC,

Leslie Hughes 7:32
I actually, I ended up one on one with the CEO of a speaker’s agency. I ended up having like cocktails with like a one on one, because she also got there a little bit late, so yeah so absolutely just find the, you know, silver lining in certain situations and people were really mad and it was I was a little disappointed, quite frankly, not being able to see you and the you know on the panelists and things like that but it’s like well what are you going to do jump up and down. You know I, I couldn’t like just stormed out of there and been little ticked off but then I saw you afterward and I, you’re right, like we met you’ve introduced me to a bunch of different people that at that event and you know it just it turned out to be a great event at the end of it right so yeah so,

Despina Zanganas 8:12
do you have a favorite networking story.

Leslie Hughes 8:15
I think the coolest like the story about the Franklin Templeton thing is kind of neat from just turning something from, you know, not knowing someone into like a business like a client relationship, those kinds of things I think often than not, as I said we’re afraid to sort of reach out especially to somebody who might be a big deal to reach out to someone that you think is like oh my gosh, I there’s an in a million years I would never ever be able to connect with that person. And it’s those days that you feel like, I, you know, you’re, you’re feeling pretty confident are the days that those are the days that I, Cameron and I go okay let’s just put the pedal to the metal. And so really is about those, because we all have imposter syndrome we all think or why would anybody ever say Yeah, in fact I’m doing a podcast this this week with one of the writers and the producers of The Simpsons. Wow, yeah sounds really cool. So from an okay maybe that’s one of my favorite networking stories is I was at. I was speaking at a conference and the keynote speaker was a writer and producer for The Simpsons. And so again, stuck around afterward, and was introduced to him and his wife, and just a couple months ago I was like you know what I do have a little podcast, why can’t I just reach out to him and ask him to come on and bypass it and anything. Yes. But now this week I’m gonna have one of the writers and the producers of The Simpsons so again I’m freaking out. Oh and another one is I had, do you know the song superstar you know that you’re a superstar like that song from the, I think probably the year 2000s from love Inc. Oh yeah, yeah, so she came on my podcast a few weeks ago as well and so again it’s just think sometimes it’s, If you don’t ask you don’t get, and I get so excited of hearing people’s professional stories so the more you sort of stand in your value and say why not me. You know, that’s, that’s, I think we’re all struggling with that imposter syndrome, I think it’s really rampant and the more that I work, the more LinkedIn profiles that I write for executives, the more I realize they’re telling me behind the scenes. Don’t tell anybody. But yeah, I still feel like I make this stuff up as they go, yeah right, so it’s it’s reassuring that we’re all in the same boat together that we’re all sort of feeling that, why me, why would anybody care about me.

Despina Zanganas 10:29
How do you maintain those relationships that you’ve developed at events.

Leslie Hughes 10:34
Well, there’s some obviously that are a little less, you know I’m less connected with them regularly we stay in touch on Facebook or on on Facebook on LinkedIn. The one thing that I do find publishing content regularly, even when I see people in public and I’m sure you feel the same way to display now that people will say oh I love this post or I love that post or I saw you do this and, and you think I’m not Tony Robbins I’m just showing, like, you know what I’m not everywhere. And so when we’re making an impression on people like as they are possibly sort of consuming information. So am I, continuing to build and nurture those relationships, maybe from a passive standpoint I could be because they still see me doing these things. But, you know, I will, I will message people every once in a while like hey we haven’t chatted in a while. Let’s catch up. That kind of stuff but, or, you know, If I, more often than not it’s really finding mutual connections that I think could definitely benefit from knowing each other. I think that’s a really good way for people to stay in touch as well as is just sort of saying, oh you know what maybe you, you know, just being a you should know this person, you know, I want to introduce you to that kind of thing.

Despina Zanganas 11:42
Now this is a question I asked every single one of my guests to come on the show. You know it’s the six degrees of separation question the concept that everybody is no more than six degrees of connection away from each other. So, is there anyone that you always just wanted to meet.

Leslie Hughes 12:01
Loosen the time it’s like being celebrities. I have my family, my fans and the celebrity world and I have used LinkedIn in fact it’s one of the, when I first started training, teaching on LinkedIn, it was really that six degrees of separation and that’s how LinkedIn works is really the three degrees of separation so I love that you asked this question

Despina Zanganas 12:21
mine actually has really narrowed down that connection.

Leslie Hughes 12:26
So, you know, and so if there was someone out there that I wanted to connect with, I just know that I can look and reverse engineer, okay. So who is it that I want to connect with and how can they, how can I get that mutual connection. So, I’m afraid that the, my answer is a little bit stale and so far as like there’s no real life person that I was I would say like oh my gosh I really want to connect with that person. So my role celebrities, I’m afraid, like Tina Fey. Yeah, Tina Fey is my spirit animal. I just, I know I just absolutely love her so she is so when I think of like, who would you love to have dinner with I think Tina Fey, Dane King. Martin Short would be sitting at my bars like I just love people who are smart and make me laugh Stephen Colbert would be another one. I have met celebrities, over the years and I am loud and fascinated by them and then I have to say like also they’re just human beings like you and I who have the same insecurities and the same fears and things like that so I think I just I love to. Yeah, I just I live smart, funny,

Despina Zanganas 13:29
connecting somebody with a famous person is always a little bit difficult, you never know with Tina Fey she’s half Greek so maybe I can like reach out to my Greek network see if anybody knows her but we’ll see what we can do so if anybody out there knows, you know, any of the people that Leslie mentioned let’s try and get them connected you never know, right i

Leslie Hughes 13:48
i love it and I love when I see people that I know are good like one of my best friends is involved in the film industry and of course, like, That’s her job so she’s not gonna go around and say hey Leslie show up and said today because so and so it was here whatever but, but I have met a few celebrities over the years and most of them are great basketball, most of them are really humble and bashful Kiefer Sutherland was one that I got to meet and hang out with and he was like the nicest person and certainly not full of ego or any of those other kinds of things so yeah it’s it’s fun, it’s just bragging rights to meet the celebrity, but they’re regular people like you and I, in some ways, they just are that much more.

Despina Zanganas 14:26
So, lastly, I just wanted to say thank you. This was so much fun, you know you’ve been on my list of people to have on my podcast for a long time so I’m so pleased that you finally said yes. Where can people find you.

Leslie Hughes 14:39
Well LinkedIn obviously LinkedIn is like the number one channels so, so it’s I think because it’s linkedin.com forward slash Krub now I forgotten that. But it’s Leslie hyphen Hughes, if anybody’s looking for me Leslie hyphen news is the is the shortened URL and punch media.ca is my website, and so if anybody wants to sort of just go there and check out whatever I’ve done, then punch me that see is the website.

Despina Zanganas 15:05
That’s great and I will definitely include that in the show notes so if anybody wants to reach out and I definitely recommend lastly she can do amazing things with your LinkedIn profile if you don’t know where to start, or if you need some help with that, I definitely recommend her So Leslie, thank you so much for

Leslie Hughes 15:25
your love. I love seeing you I can’t wait. Can we see each other in person again I think you’re one of the most dynamic, people out there so I love what you do because you are coming from a place of service your whole persona your whole brand is really about connecting people and I absolutely love it. So thank you so much for the opportunity to chat with you and I can’t wait to see soon.

Despina Zanganas 15:45
Same here. Thank you.

Thanks for tuning in to Connect and Bloom — a podcast that empowers women to master the art of networking and make life-changing connections. Got a burning question about networking? Share it below, or shoot me an email at despina@connectandbloom.com If you want to explore this topic further, head on over to the Connect and Bloom website, follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or — if you haven’t already — subscribe to this podcast. Be sure to connect ~ and bloom ~ with me again in our next episode!

Leslie’s Links​​

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-hughes

Instagram: www.instagram.com/punchmedia

Website: www.punchmedia.ca

Create. Connect. Convert.
by Leslie Hughes