About This Episode

If you want to grow your personal brand, turn on video.

Video posts on LinkedIn have so much more reach than text posts.

In today’s episode of Sales Engagement, I spoke with Russ Macumber, Strategy Director & General Manager at Impress!ve Digital, about how his video posts keep crushing it on LinkedIn.

“I love doing what I do, working with small to medium sized businesses and having an impact on their business and on their lives,” Russ said.

Russ got tactical about exactly how he crafted his approach to LinkedIn video posts. Let’s dive in!

It starts with selling

Russ immediately debunked the idea that the best sales reps only work 25 hours a week.

Instead, they get efficient. They’re smarter in the way they use their time, which frees them up to do — get this — more selling to more people.

“If I can get really, really efficient at what I do, I work harder, I work longer,” he said.

Besides working efficiently, the best sales reps also try to better themselves constantly.

Russ is a student of many different sales philosophies and methodologies. He doesn’t advocate finding just one and sticking to it but instead selecting aspects that reflect your personal style.

Which you can’t do unless you’re always consuming info about your craft.

“I’m a sales nerd,” Russ said (proudly). “I love reading about different types of methodologies and processes and then reflecting my own personality and my experience into those to excite people and to get them to buy into how I can help them.”

Uh, exactly how does this relate to video posts…?

Developing your online presence

People who work smarter and throw themselves into sales education want to 1) share the amazing things they’re learning and 2) build trust.

Russ started doing a video a week. Now he does 3-5.

“From that time last year to now, to grow my LinkedIn following in a huge way…it’s just a great way to build trust with people.”

The content itself builds trust because it’s so valuable. But being on camera regularly also adds trust to any conversation.

If you’re outreaching to people, they need to be on a high level of trust to buy from you. Talking to someone from scratch, that’s starting at a 0.

“But if they know anything about me through the content that I put out there, all of a sudden, they’re starting a 5 or 6,” Russ said.

This circles right back to efficiency, since you can work towards an opportunity more easily with someone who trusts you.

The personal approach

Russ built his online presence by being himself.

He had some experience doing public speaking; emcee work; and being on webinars, podcasts, and radio. He could have invented a persona for himself.

But he decided to be Russ on his LinkedIn page — relatable and authentic.

He opted to be relatable by framing his content this way: Here’s what works for me.

3 insider tips about video

1. Leave trolls alone

Russ shared a story that he thought was inspiring, and a commenter challenged him: “Maybe get a real job next time and don’t put your family at risk.”

That one hurt. Most of the time, Russ said he tends to respond to trolls with humor, but he needed to sleep on that one before deciding how to respond.

In the morning, he saw that one of his followers defended him! That moment illustrates the extent to which you can build relationships with people online — when the follower acted like a friend to Russ.

2. Segment your inspiration

Russ created several “buckets” (or video series) that he puts his inspiration into.

If he gets an idea, he will immediately attach it to one of the content pillars that he’s created.

“The buckets drive me towards my mission, which is growing my brand and growing revenue from business,” Russ said.

• SEO tactical questions
• Life hacks
• Demystifying digital
• Personal updates

“I’m telling people I know lots about stuff that might help their business,” he said.

People reach out with specific questions about the content because they want to use the strategies and insights that Russ offers.

A video might reach a few thousand people. From all of those, he might get half a dozen messages. From those, just one could be an opportunity he could turn into a six figure deal.

So, it’s obviously not about doing any granular measuring of data metrics per video.

It’s really just about what people need to know and how he can share something helpful.

“Good content wins,” Russ said.

3. Start with ‘why’

First steps for increasing your online presence with video posts are knowing your North Star.

In other words, you need to define who you’re creating content for and why.

After that, create some content pillars, buckets, or themes to help you connect with the clients you have and want.

Oh, and stay customer facing. “Every single day, you are asking their pain points and problems,” Russ said.

That will help keep your content relevant and build the relationships and opportunities you are hoping for.

Russ’s parting advice?

“Do what you love,” he said. “If you follow what you’re passionate about, that’s when you bring your best self to what you do.”

Connect with Russ on LinkedIn to see his fantastic videos.

For more engaging sales conversations, subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or on our website.