[Episode Seventy-Six of ‘The Employee Advocacy and Influence Podcast] 🎧
Lewis Gray and Elliot Elsley speak with Signify’s Stefanie Del Moral about building a powerful personal brand on LinkedIn as an employee advocate. Discover actionable strategies for social media success, overcoming fear of judgment, and leveraging employee advocacy for career growth and influence.
Stefanie shares her unique perspective as an end-user of employee advocacy programs, detailing her journey from overcoming initial self-doubt to consistently creating engaging content. Learn how she developed a personal content strategy, utilized “coffee dates” and habit stacking to maintain a posting routine, and balanced authenticity with brand guidelines. This episode is packed with invaluable insights for anyone looking to boost their LinkedIn presence, whether you’re an employee advocate or managing a social sharing program. Dive into how effective LinkedIn strategy, leadership influence, and a human-centric approach can transform your marketing efforts.
Key Takeaways:
- Discover Stefanie’s proven method for building a strong personal brand on LinkedIn, including developing content pillars and leveraging company advocacy programs.
- Learn how to overcome psychological barriers, such as the fear of judgment, by using data to validate your content’s impact.
- Implement Stefanie’s “coffee date” and habit-stacking routine to generate and schedule your LinkedIn posts consistently.
- Understand the balance between authentic personal voice and corporate brand guidelines, even in regulated environments.
- Hear how personal branding can open doors for public speaking, networking, and internal career opportunities, exemplified by Stefanie’s biggest wins.
- Personal value is key: Shift your message from company benefits to individual career growth and personal brand impact to drive genuine employee motivation.
Build Your Personal Brand with Consistent, Data-Driven Growth
Instead of chasing viral posts, Stefanie advocates for a “slow but steady” approach to personal brand growth, emphasizing the power of consistency. She applies her marketing knowledge to her personal presence, meticulously analyzing what content performs well to iterate and refine her strategy. As Elliot notes, this method helps avoid the disappointment often associated with fleeting viral moments. This takeaway urges social media professionals to adopt a strategic, long-term perspective, focusing on sustained engagement and data-backed content decisions for genuine impact.
Overcome Fear of Posting
Stefanie shares that her biggest psychological barrier to starting her personal branding journey was the fear of judgment from colleagues. Her breakthrough came from realizing that she could let data talk; if her content performed well, it was a green light to continue. Moreover, positive feedback and encouragement from her colleagues further solidified her confidence. Lewis and Elliot reinforced that this fear is common, but often unwarranted, as peers are generally supportive. Marketers should leverage internal champions and highlight data-driven success to help employees overcome initial hesitations.
Cultivate Content Creation with Strategic Coffee Dates
For busy professionals, Stefanie offers a practical, actionable strategy for consistent content creation: dedicated coffee dates. She carves out 1-2 hours once or twice a week, often early in the morning, to brainstorm ideas based on her predefined content pillars and current industry happenings. She also employs habit stacking, as Lewis notes, integrating content planning into existing routines, such as getting coffee. This method provides a clear blueprint for marketers and employees to establish a sustainable, efficient content-creation habit, crucial for long-term personal brand development.
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Selina Sher Gill
Selina has a Master's Degree in Marketing and Brand Management, and is DSMN8's Digital Marketing Executive. She's a pro at creating and editing video content, using these skills to create short-form social media videos and edit the Employee Advocacy and Influence podcast.
