
Introduction
Nice to have you with us again for another episode of Digital 4 Productivity. And this one is all about how technology can make your life easier. With a focus on artificial intelligence, iPad and Microsoft 365.
As you know, I’m always a big fan of not launching artificial intelligence until you’ve applied common sense first. And on this topic in combination with AI, I would like to take a look at the topic of AI-generated social media posts in this episode. Why? I don’t know how you feel about that. All this AI-generated garbage really gets on my nerves. Why? Because it’s just like if there was only packet soup instead of 5-star cuisine. And of course, sometimes you don’t always have the time or the muse to cook well in peace, but I don’t think fast food all the time is a good idea either. For me, this is one of the areas where I think artificial intelligence is a little too much on autopilot instead of co-pilot. Because for me, the question is: What do I as a consumer want from social media?
Social media with or without AI?
And if you are also considering using social media for yourself as a company or person, you should of course always ask yourself the question: What is it that you want? – More importantly, what does your target group want? And this is also what recent studies have shown, that even the creation of purely AI-generated content can lead to penalties. For example, if you create posts that lead to one of your websites and then there is AI-generated content on the website where the user clicks on it, expects something, gets something else and then bounces. And this so-called bounce rate is a major penalty criterion for Google, because Google naturally says that they want to provide particularly relevant search results. And a big criterion is to say: How high is the probability that a person who clicks on this link, who then actually reads it, leaves again in an extreme comparison because they say: Oh, that’s something completely different from what I expected, so of course the search result was not suitable. And there are current studies that show that they have significantly higher bounce rates with AI-generated content and are therefore not penalized by Google because of the topic of AI content.
Social graph vs. content graph
That’s the misunderstanding that many people with such a dear half-knowledge always claim. No, the issue is quite simply that Google rewards relevance above all else. And this is the issue that not only rewards Google, but also rewards people and all systems. Maybe just to understand how different systems work. There are so-called content graphs and there are social graphs as social media systems. What does that mean? In content graph-driven social media systems, you are shown content that is of interest to you and to which you respond with likes and comments. Typical examples of this are TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. This means that if you like dance videos, dog videos or cat videos on TikTok or Instagram, you will simply get more dog and cat videos. And it doesn’t matter who they are from. Social media on LinkedIn, on the other hand, is a social graph. What does social graph mean? Social graph means you get content from people you follow and their content that you comment on. That means, for example, if you follow me and you like a comment I made about the iPad, then if I made a post about Microsoft 365 and another one about AI, you wouldn’t necessarily be shown it if I did it on Instagram or TikTok, but you would rather be shown another post about the first topic.
If you follow me on LinkedIn, you will also receive posts on other topics, because LinkedIn says that it is more about personal connections, that they are interested in what a person says there. Incidentally, this also confirms a question that is repeatedly asked about social media: should I create a personal profile or a company profile? Logically, you should have both. If you have a company, you always have a company profile. But this is a bit like a website, a business card. You should always post on your personal profile. Personal profiles have a much greater reach. You can even see this with big names like Timotheus Höttges, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom, for example. When he posts something on his personal account, they have significantly more interaction in the form of likes and comments than they do on the Telekom account on LinkedIn. So the important thing here is always how many comments you have above all else. This is the main indication of relevance and interaction for the target group. In other words, if you are active on social media, especially in the business-to-business sector, where I am, then I can recommend LinkedIn above all else. And there are a few points you should bear in mind with LinkedIn.
Linkedin – Tip no. 1: Profile and header picture
Point number one: Should you have a profile picture and a header picture that is as appealing as possible and matches your topic? Especially when you come to the profile. In my case, my profile picture is there and it’s no coincidence that I’m wearing a jacket and a white shirt. In other words, I deliberately show that I’m not necessarily the hoodie and white T-shirt type, but that I also have a business connection. I even used to have a photo there with a suit and tie. At the moment, I’m noticing that ties are becoming less popular. So with this in mind, I’ve left the tie out of the photo. However, I also saw a really, really great LinkedIn profile slogan today, namely: Wear a suit and think hoodie. And I think that’s great, because I know some really, really great managers who run around in a gray suit and a savings bank director’s outfit, but who think much more hoodie in their brains than many of the pseudo-cool old white men. Even at 56, I’m allowed to call myself an old white man there, rather than those who, at my age, think they have to be on stage in white sneakers and hoodies.
Somehow, when I look at my daughter at the age of 27, it sometimes borders on the ridiculous. She gives me really good feedback from time to time, saying that it’s okay to be a bit older.
Keyword profile slogan. So a picture is quite good. In my case, for example, they see a picture on my profile picture of an appearance where I was at the International Controller Association and there were somewhere around 2,000 people in the audience, for example. And if someone who is interested in me as a keynote speaker sees that, then they immediately realize, okay, he has already said a few coherent laws in front of more than two people and that reduces my risk as a booker when I book Thorsten Jekel as a speaker for my larger event. By the way, if you are looking for a speaker for your next event on the topics of artificial intelligence and meaningful digitization, I am at your disposal. Of course, I’m also happy to give motivational talks on Microsoft 365 or iPad launches. These are my three areas of specialization, where I have been supporting customers for many years and where I have a great deal of operational experience.
Linkedin – Tip no. 2: Profile slogan
Yes, the slogan is very, very important, the profile slogan, because whenever you comment, whenever you like something, people don’t see your profile, but they do see your profile photo. For me, that’s where my face is recognizable. So it should be a photo where you are likeable and recognizable. And then my slogan is IT fitness for managers. And then it says AI, iPad, M365, lectures, consulting, coaching. And you can also see that in the comments. In other words, when someone sees what you comment on, you immediately answer the question: Okay, is this topic relevant to the person on LinkedIn? Is it relevant to me? Because when people connect with you, everyone always asks themselves three questions first. First question: Do I like this person? Ideally, you should at least support this with a good profile picture. Second question: Is the person’s topic relevant to me? And this is much more interesting than the question of what they have to offer, but rather the question: Is the topic relevant to me? And therefore to say: IT, fitness for managers. If I say: Okay, I’m a manager and I realize that maybe this topic is relevant, just as I have a personal coach for physical fitness, it might also be a good idea to hire a personal IT coach.
Yes, the topic is relevant for me. So for managers, favorite shops, it seems to be someone like Mr. Jekel, who combines this topic of management and IT. Then it’s relevant for me. Then I’ll read on. And then I can always look in the info to see what he has done or in the bio.
Linkedin – Tip no. 3: Info area
Yes, the info section – what’s next? Ideally, in the spirit of Donald Miller’s storytelling and story branding, you shouldn’t say what you’ve already done, but start by saying: What’s the problem? In my case, for example, I say that most companies are burning IT money and then the topic comes up: How should it be different? Target image. And then comes the third question: Okay, what can you do and how can you help to get from today’s rather frustrating situation to the target situation, as the heroine’s or hero’s companion? This is the hero’s journey and you should also structure your information in this way. Then there’s the CV. That’s the next question, to say: Okay, what has he done so far? And then you should not only include positions, but also responsibilities that you have held, projects that you have done and supplement the whole thing with recommendations.
Linkedin – Tip No. 4: Multiple languages never hurt, but…?
If you look at my profile, for example, I think the photo is relatively good, the slogan is good, the information is good. I think I’ve also taught my CV quite well again. I could get a few more recommendations. If you listen to my podcast and like it, I would also be delighted if you would give me a recommendation on LinkedIn and I would also be happy to give you one if we know each other. That always helps. It’s like when you buy something somewhere. What do you usually do? You ask a friend who you know has bought the same thing before and ask them: What did you buy? What can you recommend? That simply saves them a lot of bad purchases. That’s the idea. The question I often get asked at this point is: Yes, wait a minute, what language should I do the whole thing in? Good news: You can work in LinkedIn in several languages. Bad news: You can also confuse the algorithm. So, what you should do is that you, and when you’re in the profile, there’s the option to add multiple profile languages to the top right of the profile.
And you should do that and I have done it in German and in English. So that means if someone has set the English language in their LinkedIn. And that’s often the case with my target group because I also give talks at international conferences, such as the recent International Watercooler Conference. So now I have participants, I say: Gee, link to me on LinkedIn. If they come to the profile and it only says German, then English and Americans and also European foreigners who speak English but not German usually can’t do anything with the German profile and don’t connect with them. If you also have the profile in English, then the profile slogan is in English. The information is then in English, which they have ideally translated once. You can do this wonderfully with Deeple and ideally because you can breathe easy, it’s human again. And then, in my case, I have the CV, which I have not yet recognized, at least for myself, a way to make it bilingual. I did it in English because I said, okay, it’s also roughly understandable in German and I did it in English with that in mind.
You should only ever post in one language. I post in German because most of my customers live in Germany and speak German. With this in mind, I have it in German and the good thing is, you can also test it if you are on a foreign profile in LinkedIn, then there is always this Translate button with every post. This means that you can have it displayed in your language if you don’t speak the language. If you post in German and English in between, you will confuse the algorithm. You should not do that. So creating a profile in several languages is a good idea. So the one where you say that’s where your target group is. I’ve done it for myself in German and English so far. Maybe I’ll do it again in French. And then it’s like this: post in your language. Yes, then the question: post. Before you ask yourself what you post, when, how often and so on. The important thing is: regularity. Ideally, you should post there three to five times a week and not necessarily much more often than once a day, because otherwise it will be too much at some point.
Competence is more important than celebrity
The good news is that if you have a new contact on LinkedIn, they will receive every one of your posts for the first time. So if you make ten posts a day, you’re more likely to get on people’s radar than I always make one post a day, which is then, but again very importantly, relevant and useful. Nobody wants to read about how awesome you are. You can do that a little more subtly, but people want relevant content. And I always say that competence is always more important than celebrity, with very few exceptions. But even with celebrities, to be honest, I’m happy when I sometimes read competence and the celebrity comes across as a bonus rather than a core benefit. I found a great quote from Rainer Berger, where he says: “Sometimes celebrity beats competence. To be honest, I think it’s better the other way around. I say relevance beats virrefancy. Highly relevant content: Ideally, you should post it at times when your target group is also at the board. So why? Because the most important thing is the likes and, above all, the comments within the first hour. So if you post something at three in the morning and your target group is in bed, you won’t get very far.
So with this in mind, you should make sure that you post there at normal times, ideally perhaps asking questions so that people get the idea that you are commenting on them. I don’t do that often enough either. So if you look at my profile, even if you say: “Wow, Jekel, somehow 5,500 contacts, somehow 5,500 followers, there are more successful ones out there now. Yes, there are. And what you always have to bear in mind is to say: okay, quantity and quality. I do pay attention to who I follow and I also put quality before quantity. I also measure myself regularly, a bit like with newsletters, where you always have to find a balance between the issue of reach, how many I have in there and how good the conversion rate is. For example, I have an average open rate of 59% in my newsletter. Others dream of that. On the other hand, I dream of five-digit, six-digit newsletter figures. This means that, naturally, because I also regularly clean out my newsletter, I have to delete those who don’t open my newsletter for those who aren’t relevant. So ideally, they manage both to get as much traffic in as possible and, on the other hand, to ensure that they also have a high open rate through high relevance.
So ultimately you create value for your target group and create relevant content, then you also create pull there, a corner in this area. And perhaps to conclude on the subject of social media, where many people say: Oh, Facebook is dead and everyone else is going to TikTok. This is just as true and false as the statement: Tiktok is only for children. It is important to say: Where is your target group? And also: Where do they feel comfortable? And realistically, you can’t play well on 25 platforms at the same time, but then the question is always: Okay, where do you feel comfortable? Where is your target group? And Facebook, for example, still has a huge number of users and, funnily enough, also among middle-aged to older people, who usually have a little more purchasing power. TikTok tends to have younger people, but that is also changing. So against this background, it’s important to look at where my target group is? It’s also important to prepare things in a channel-specific way and not always get everything out on all channels at the same time. If, for example, I were to post on Instagram, on TikTok, on LinkedIn, on Facebook and I would get exactly the same video with exactly the same information on each of the four channels, then at some point I would ask myself the question: Okay, since the same thing is always coming on four channels anyway, I’ll just deactivate three channels and only follow one of them. That’s a missed opportunity.
How many social media channels still make sense?
I do it like this, for example: My main channels are Facebook and Instagram. I’ve made it so that I’ve really connected them automatically. So if I post something on Insta, it goes to Facebook and vice versa. I’m a bit like the motto: if you know the rules, you can break them. That’s because I realize that my target group, my customers, are either on Facebook or Insta. And that’s why I say: Okay, the overlap that we’re on both is relatively low. But with me, ask your target group. And I do it this way on Facebook, on Insta I do more private, maybe nerdier things. I also have travel recommendations, music tips and things like that. So I’m more of a person there. On LinkedIn, I have more of a business context. So you’ll rarely or never find anything from my daughter there, except when I’m so proud of her that she’s somehow been invited to an event at Google, for example. So then I say, I’ll post something on LinkedIn too.
But in principle, like all children, my daughter also tends to find it a bit uncool when her parents comment on her. I then have different content that I post somewhere at different times. And that’s another idea, that if you say: I don’t want to do it differently here, then at least do it with a time delay. Keyword time-delayed: There are also various platforms here where you can post things automatically. Incidentally, this is also possible to a certain extent on the platforms themselves. For example, if I find interesting articles on LinkedIn that I want to make available to my mailing list, I can of course like something. This then also appears in the feed of those who follow me. What I do with Ehe is that I pass it on with a comment, i.e. add my own rating, because I always say that I am a bit of a digital travel guide for my customers, so you who are now listening to this podcast, and thus provide additional value and not just pure information, but a rating, just as a travel guide also provides a summary, a rating, a classification. That is also my role, where I simply enable managers to classify the latest trends.
Publish social media content with a time delay – my recommendation
And if I see five interesting things somewhere now, maybe when I’m still lying in bed on Sunday morning, which I love, going through my Facebook and my LinkedIn posts, then I don’t bang out five, six, seven posts on Sunday morning, I just say: Share with comment. And then there’s this original symbol in LinkedIn and then I can say: Give me this on Monday, give me this on Tuesday, give me this at lunchtime, on Thursday. And bang, you can end up doing all your content planning for LinkedIn on Sunday in bed if you say you’re working alone with other things that you’re forwarding, sharing and commenting on. And that can definitely be a strategy before you start doing AI-generated garbage, having relevant content from others has the great charm that you can always expand your network. Because if you then get into a lively discussion with someone among other posts, which don’t just have to be your own, then I also like to say, when I’m exchanging ideas with someone, “Gosh, let’s connect,” and then it’s also a meaningful connection that is then gladly accepted.
What is also interesting is when you have events. We have this Lunch & Learn once a month, which I produce together with the Karin Burger team. We always send out LinkedIn invitations and my assistant then invites my LinkedIn contacts to this event. And vice versa for Karin Burger. And then we see who has registered and who is not yet networked with us, and we send them a networking invitation after the event with the link to the recording. This gives you another useful hook to network with someone.
Conclusion
So also this topic of networking. It’s good if you have a useful hook that you simply don’t annoy. By the way, what I also find totally annoying is always the number: you connect with this person and then they immediately say: “Oh, I’ve seen that you’re this person and that person and that person. I have this and this to offer. It’s a bit like when you go to the bar in the evening, approach a woman and say: Well, popping, maybe that’s not the best way to start a long-term relationship. I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been with the woman of my dreams for 35 years.
So just say it here, like in the real world. Please don’t be clumsy, please do the whole thing sensibly. And next week we’ll take another look at a few add-ons that you can use to support the topic of LinkedIn and social media with tools.
Don’t worry about it, stay human and I look forward to seeing you again next week when the motto is Switch on your brain first, then technology.
Yours, Thorsten Jekel.
Also available in: Deutsch