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Stephanie: Welcome to Lights!, Camera! Live! you guys. It's going to be a ton of fun. I thought the one that's amazing. The only Goldie Chan. On today's show, I'm going to be talking about personal branding so if
hat's something that you've been thinking about, something that you've been questioning on what you can do as you build your brand and your bottom line. This is the episode for you. So come on in, come and hang out with, because Goldie is doing some super amazing things I can't wait to tell you about. So having said that, let's go ahead and bring Goldie onto the show. Goldie say what's up
Goldie: Hey everyone!
Stephanie: Hmm So you guys, if you don't know who Goldie is, Goldie is one of LinkedIn's top voices, 2018 and she also has a daily live video on LinkedIn, which is probably where you've seen her because to this date, how many views have you been getting on your LinkedIn videos?
Goldie :Okay. Oh my gosh. So I don't know exactly the total count right now, but it's over 4 million.
Stephanie: Okay. I love how you're like, oh well, you know, just a little short of 4 million. That's amazing. You guys, it's absolutely so cool So for those of you that are just tuning in, let us know where you're watching from. I'm here in Sunny San Diego and Goldie, you are in?
Goldie: uh, sunny Los Angeles, so we're actually very close to each other. love it.
Stephanie: I love it. Yeah. And you've been traveling all over. I feel like just trying to pin you down is like, where is Goldie now instead of like, where's Carmen San Diego.It's really like, where's Goldie Chan And so tell me, where was the last place that you just came from right now?
Goldie: Uh, so I was just in Santa Barbara and tomorrow night I am flying out to New York. So you caught me on my 24 hour block of being back home.
Stephanie: Oh, that's it. It's okay, Doesn't it feel nice to just be at home and just take a deep breath and be like, okay, this is it. Soak it all in and then you're traveling all over again.
Goldie: Yes. Yes. I know you feel the same because you just came back from, oh gosh, the Midwest, something in the Midwest. I always get the name of the conference wrong. Um, but I know that you just spent a week there so you completely get it. Sometimes the best thing is coming home and spending time at home.
Stephanie: That's very true. So for those of you that are just tuning in, I see Jennifer who is tuning in from St Louis. hat's where I was so, so good to see you. You guys were talking about personal branding today and how it can help you build your brand online and build your bottom line. And there's no other person that I would love to have talk about this subject other than Goldie Chan because she is everywhere and she is living proof that you could build a brand and really become top of mind tip of tongue. In fact, Goldie, I have been following you and there's this one thing that you posted not so long ago about when you first started doing your... your videos and someone had like this really nasty comment and you decided to go ahead and print it out and put it on your shirt. Can you tell us a little bit about that
Goldie: Sure. So I actually was not the one that decided to print that and went on a shirt. One of my friends decided to print it out and put on a shirt because I screen kept it and I posted it on Facebook. It was my first ever, you know, really big mean troll comment that I got for just creating content on LinkedIn. So now as video has grown a little bit more, people are more used to seeing video period on LinkedIn. Um, but when I started there was just no such thing. And so people were just like, you've got to, what are you doing This is, this content exists on Facebook. You shouldn't be making videos on LinkedIn, like get out of here. Which I thought was so funny cause I just, I'm kind of amused by everything. And so I just wrote back like thank you for your interesting opinion because when, when people hate on your content, when people hate on your content strategy, it's an opinion. It's not fact,
Stephanie: it's not law. That's very true. And I think a lot of people need to remember that as their first, as they're starting out, right Because they're opening themselves up to a lot of judgment. And so having said that, let's talk about personal branding because you are the go to expert for this.You write about this in Forbes and adweek and all these amazing things. If you are developing and growing your brand, where should you start?
Goldie: So I always tell people that the number one place to start when you're thinking about growing your brand is who is your demographic, right So before you even think about who you'd like to be or who, what image you'd like to pull off, who do you want to talk to Where do they live? Both online and offline What is their age range? Um, what do they do for work I always think ,who?, so it's always the who first, then after the WHO, it's the why. Why do you want to have a personal brand? Why do you want to target this particular demographic? And then you can start getting into the really fun stuff. Like the what, right.. What will you do in order to attract this audience? Is it, is it a physical appearance thing? Um, is it the content that you create Like Stephanie does amazing alive. So that is the content that, you know, obviously she uses to pull in her really happy and loving audience. And so I always think it goes who first and then, um, why?, and then what?
Stephanie: Got it and what about those people where they feel like, okay, I want to be the go to expert about personal branding. How do they get over that negative voice in their head that says, what makes you the subject matter expert? Like why should you be the one? Do you ever, do you ever like come, uh, come, come across that imposter syndrome?
Goldie: Yes. I think I did every single Uber gone through imposter syndrome at some point where they feel like, oh my gosh, I am I really the one that is best qualified to speak on this. But you have to understand stand.I always think about this the same way as mentorship too, which is you are always uniquely qualified to, you know, just at least a little bit more than other people out there. And with that little bit more, that's what you can teach. So instead of maybe thinking, I know everything, think about this way, do you know just a little bit more than other people out there? and what does that little bit more that you're able to teach? But yes, imposter syndrome is so very real. We have all been in there and I think part of it is understanding you just have to live with it because we all struggle with imposter syndrome from time to time.
Stephanie: I love that advice in terms of, you know, just remembering that you have a different experience and maybe someone else has kind of like the same tips and same advice, but because you've gone through it in a different way, in a different route, people can relate to you and your story, because so much about you Goldie and just meeting you this year and getting to know a lot about you, is that you're very much all about celebrating diversity and getting different stories and different perspectives. And that's very different from what I hear from other people talking about personal branding because they're like, oh, you know, have a logo, do this and do that. But you're very much like, what's your story? and how is that going to resonate with people? And it gives me goosebumps just talking about you cause I'm like, oh, she's absolutely amazing.
Goldie: Thank you. And yes, so I have to say yes story because we focus on these, we just focus on these little bullet points. Like I think a logo is a bullet point. Now of course, yes, you need to have these things right You need to know what colors you're using in general with their content. Um, you need to have a logo, you need to have a strategy, cetera. But sometimes we forget the most important point. Oh my gosh, there's Chris.Hi Chris. We forget the most important point, which is what is the story, right Why should they care about you What is that really beautiful, unique, amazing, special thing that you bring to the table?
Stephanie: I love that. And not a lot of people know this about you. At least I didn't, that you are a published geneticist.
Goldie: Yes, yes, yes. So actually my, uh, I'm coming up, I'll want to one of my reunion times, I guess at Stanford. Um, and so my ex roommate from Stanford, she is so great and so full of Stanford pride . I heart her. I maybe have a little bit less private than she does, so we had to fill out these class pages. So I just wrote a little bit about my experience. Um, had Stanford and yes, I basically spent all of my time in a genetics lab at Stanford. So before I even graduated I was able to be published as an Undergrad, which is a big deal. Um, and also why I was there, I did a ton, which is not surprising to anyone. I did a ton of diversity work, a ton of mentorship, a ton of, you know, just because it's Stanford, especially for the younger people I was speaking to like high schoolers like just because you think this is an unattainable goal doesn't mean it has to be, you can get into Stanford or, and even if you don't come to Stanford you can become say a doctor or you can become what it is that you are passionately driven to become. And this is what I was saying at 20 and this is still, I was saying at a little over 20
Stephanie:Oh my God, I am so happy. I am not on the screen cause I was like..
Goldie: Okay just a little over 20.
Stephanie:Oh my god. Okay. This is what I love about livestreams, that sometimes my guests crack me up so much that like I'm the type where like I laugh and then I cry because all the lights are in my eye at the same time.
Goldie: You have such a beautiful set up Stephanie, like look at this gorgeous lighting. With both lights in your eyes.
Stephanie: Gotta like look alive. Right. Okay. So we've talked a lot about um, in terms of personal branding, understanding who it is specifically that you want to speak to, what it is like, what your story is and how that could impact them and how you can help them. What are also some like some don'ts of personal branding? Like what are some things to avoid? Cause I feel like some people confuse authenticity and transparency when it comes to personal branding. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
Goldie: Oh my gosh, let's start with that first. So there is a huge difference between authenticity and transparency or the way I call it is, um, between telling the truth 1000% of the time and white lies, right. Because in every person's life we will tell white lies at some point, which are lies that we tell but don't hurt anyone but maybe help the situation because we worry about other people's feelings. And the same thing is true with a personal brand. You have to be selective. So it's not that you aren't being authentic, you are selecting and choosing parts of you that are actually you. Well that's the point. You're not fabricating anything. You're not making anything up, but you are just very carefully picking out your things. Your picking out only the green m and m's out of the M&M. Pack
Stephanie: Hey, which I bet you a lot of people are. I want me to ask the questions. I'm going to ask the question. Goldie why the green
Goldie: Why the green I get asked that all the time. Um, I used to cycle through my hair color every three to four months. So before the screen it was bright blue before. That was great. Before that was white for that it was I think pink. Um, so I landed on Green. I actually thought green would be the shortest amount of time I'd have a hair color because it is so bright and so obvious. I was like, well I'm going to do this once in my life. And then never again just to get it out of my system because green is actually my favorite color. I do, I do love green. Um, and then in August of 2017 it was about two to three months into having green hair. I was invited into the LinkedIn video Beta and so I started creating content on LinkedIn, the kind of content I wanted to see and I didn't do what I advise people to do right now, which is like who is your audience And like why are you creating the content And like all these beautiful strategic things that I definitely tell my clients and I definitely didn't do when I started making videos. But I started making these videos that I love that we're on pop culture branding and metrics in the US and they took off. They did really, really well. And to be fair, the first couple of videos they would get like 10 views, 20 views, right? Um, but after one of my videos got like a hundred views. I was like, Oh, I'm famous.Look back on them now. And I think is really funny. But I genuinely felt that way. I was like, wow, a hundred people viewed this like right.
Stephanie: Amazing. Which is scale. You went from 10 to a hundred.That's amazing scale.
Goldie: So I have been keeping the green hair because then Huffington post called me the green haired Oprah of LinkedIn and after that, you know, because I know branding I, it's like, well why don't I just keep it for a while? So my head while I was going to be like three to six months and then this whole LinkedIn video thing would die down and then I would just change my hair color to the next color that I want to change it to. And that, that interest that fervor. It hasn't, hasn't died down. So until it does, you know, my, my hair is still bright green. And in fact, one thing that I'm wearing right now, I don't know if you guys can see it, this is a beautiful little green heart that I got from one of my fans that I ran into at south by southwest. So he had gotten it just for me and brought it and was hoping to run into me, which is very, very sweet. So the Green Heart Emoji symbol represents me on LinkedIn platform.
Stephanie: Wow. What is, wait on the LinkedIn then the new, the new, the new reactions on there?
Goldie: No, no, no.
Stephanie: So I was like, wait, she does. She has her own reaction on LinkeIn. That's like, that's next level.
Goldie: My own stickers on LinkedIn videos. So if you create a video on LinkedIn, you can kind of go through some of the stickers that are available. Um, and for a while, a couple of them, I think they're still, there were different phrases that I say or different hashtags that I use. And so you can can use some of the hashtags and phrases that I use on your LinkedIn videos
Stephanie: or if you guys want some Goldie Chan gifts. Well then we've got actual Goldie Chan gifts. Like how did this even happen tell me about the background like cause this is all you, these are all like this is, I love the movie theater. When tell me how did this partnership even start.
Goldie: So, so many of my partnerships are, because brands reach out to me and they say, I find you a super interesting and weird, which is actually what to be fair. LinkedIn messaged me after I created 10 videos on the platform. They're like, Goldie, we find you're really weird and interesting. Can we talk to you And I'm like, oh I'm in trouble now. And I feel like a lot of these partnerships happen that way. So when 10 or GIF, which is the main competitor for Giphy, reached out to me, they were just like, hey, we think you're really interesting. Can we talk to you And, and so when I talked to them, I thought that they were trying to sell me something for my marketing agency. I was just like, right, like, tell me what your plans are telling me all this. They're like, no, I think you are misunderstanding this call.want to talk to you about your brand and getting you up on 10 or GIF as your own gift and getting some linked in GIF's up there. So for a while, if you search for LinkedIn, you would only see my face because I was thinking trend on if you looked on Twitter or you looked on Facebook or you looked on whatsapp or any of these other places that use both 10 or GIF and giphy or of course LinkedIn messaging. If you literally typed in LinkedIn, you just get my face. Um, and I think that's really funny. But a lot of these partnerships, like we work. Last year I was the global brand ambassador for we work this all happen because different brands are seeing my content and then thinking, okay, this content and this message is aligned to who and what our brand is. So we want to bring you in to represent our brand. And that is a piece of advice I want to give you about thinking about brand partnerships is you have to make sure it makes sense. Right So if I had a couple of brands I definitely didn't make sense reject to me. One was a toothbrush company, you know, electric toothbrush company and I think it's great, but I'm also not an Instagram model for, you know, whatever way my life has gone, I'm just not that person unfortunately. And so I wouldn't be the best person to sell that product either. to represent that product. And I don't talk about teeth, I don't talk about, you know, beauty stuff often. So I just responded back with that. I was like, Hey, thank you so much, but we're not aligned. Like my brand is not necessarily aligned with your brand. So this wouldn't really help either of us. And I think that's what you really have to think about when you're thinking about brand partnerships is is it aligned with the brand that you're trying to build Right So we're all growing our brand. We're all expanding our brand and what our brand means and who we work with and who we collaborate with. It's so important to have partnerships that really expand positively on your brand and get you in the direction you uwant to go. And I turned down, I turned out a lot of opportunities where I could be making, you know,
Stephanie: 'cause I mean, they say it's a balancing act, right Because some people that when they're developing their brands were like, yeah, and you know, I could get paid, but does this really resonate with my audience Am I going to sell out Yeah, I hear you. That makes the time.
Goldie: And there's nothing wrong with getting, in fact, you should be getting paid to do work, right So if you're representing a brand and you're creating content for that brand and you should absolutely be paid to do that. However, I think when we think about selling out, that often means there's a bit, to me that means there's a bit of a misalignment. That's what selling out to me means because it means that you have to bend your brand a little bit in order to work with them.
Stephanie: That's very, very true. And so Mike Alton, is here , he said that, you know I love that alignment.
Goldie: I know, right.
Stephanie: Wait, are we going to put it, this is coming on the screen. He says I love that alignment with the band influencer and messaging is absolutely critical. So that's a good to have you here and Tom Harness so that if he could have green hair then he would totally rock green hair. You know Tom, you could get a green wig if you wanted to. I was going to ask you about that goal. Do you like, have you thought about, you know, wigs and like different colors and that way you can just play around with it. And then when you feel like being, you know LinkedIn and Goldie chat and you can just like put on the green one?
Goldie: So everyone thinks I wear wig, which now you can see, cause my hair is literally up. This is attached to my head and like see this, this isn't moving. So this is real guys. This is not a way. Um, I, I've thought about wigs. I actually cosplay, so I own a ton of wigs and I even own a green wig that I got for a Wreck. It Ralph, a candy racer cosplay that I did for Halloween a couple of years ago. So I own exists in almost every single color, but I just like waking up and just having my hair be the color that I want it to be. There's something really nice, I think about that, but you know, will I change my hair color in future Right.
Stephanie: Yeah. Well other than I could relate with that feeling to it. Just like wanting to wake up the way that you want to wake up because people were like, Stephanie, what's up with your eyebrows and your eyeliner It's like, Yo, I got this permanently tattooed because I know I'm going to put on eyeliner. So I just don't even have to worry about it.
Goldie: Wow, that's amazing. That makes it so much easier. I just feel that way about sometimes your just your beauty routine or not even beauty, but you know, whatever aesthetic bedding you like to have. I mean that's why people use teeth whiteners. That's why people do certain things. But, um, I think it's always nice to look the way you feel the most comfortable.
Stephanie: Yes, absolutely. And so you guys, if you're just tuning in, we're talking about personal branding one oh one we've talked about knowing who you are as a person and who you want to specifically target. What are some things that you can do and how you can share your story and you know, some really, really thought provoking tips on how to choose the right brands to partner with and what the differences between authenticity and transparency. So if you guys have any questions, by all means, drop them in the comments. Um, one, one of the questions that we had was from Marissa and Marissa was saying if there was, if there was someone that you could work within the industry, who would you actually love to partner up with?
Goldie: Oh my gosh, this question is so big. Can I just be a nerd and, um, start with this first, I would do part A and part B. So pray for that. This year I have met so many cool people, so obviously Stephanie is one of them. And all of you who watched Stephanie understand how cool it is to meet Stephanie in person. Um, and just so many other amazing creatives, amazing marketers like Brian Solis and Henley, uh, Cathy Hackl, like all of these people that I know from the Internet. Um, but I've never met them in person before this year. So I have to say that I've already met just so many wonderful, amazing people that I'm very thankful to have met this year. And then the, the part B to that of course is my nickname is the Oprah of LinkedIn. So obviously, obviously who I love to love to meet at some point would be Oprah. Um, would be, Ellen would be Ava Duvernay, who's an amazing female director and doing wonderful things in the entertainment community. So, oh, I know, I love it.
Stephanie: Speaking of which you are actually on, was it, you're on the board for them media, the media, guild does that? right?
Goldie: Yes. So I'm in the producer's guild, uh, on the new media council. Very wordy. Uh, so I started producing a while back and I got into the producer's guild, which is very hard to get into and there are, you know, still almost are very few people of color under the age of 45 who are in the guild. Um, so I feel very lucky and thankful that my content was seen as good enough to get into it. And I actually made a financial drama that is the reason why they were interested in me.
Stephanie Financial drama?
Goldie:It was a financial drama that was um, kind of almost pre Netflix, but in the era of when Netflix was really ramping up on their, on their dramatic content, I did it on youtube at one, a bunch of awards and it got me into the producer's guild.
Stephanie:So, so crazy like a part of me, just like how did you go from published geneticists over you to Green hair and LinkedIn Like, cause that's just a whole, that's..,
Goldie: Well there's several things that happened there. So the shorter version of that is I graduated with a degree in biology, um, and I had three different job offers. I had an offer to join an amazing, like amazing HIV lab in San Francisco. I had a job offered to do graphic design for a startup because of course I'm, I even in college I was doing 50 million things. So I was doing graphic design for an Indie label in college. So I got a job offer to do graphic design. And now I'm totally forgetting what, uh, in my old age, I'm forgetting what that barely passed twenty. Um, and, and I turned down all three of those job offers and I started my own fashion line instead. So for two years I ran my own fashion brand. Um, and then, and then, and then a big box store wanted to pick it up. And so I needed a business partner that could help me scale while I continued to design.
Stephanie: Yeah.
Goldie: And um, cat, it was just so interesting because I couldn't find the right partner. I didn't have them in my network, which is why network is so important for building your personal brand, like meeting as many people and having real engagement with as many people as possible because that will help you ultimately just scale in life. But at 22, 23, I didn't know somebody who could be a, you know, CTO of a fashion company and I folded up shop. Um, I sat at home and I watched a lot of HGTV and law and order SVU. And one day I had what I like to call a friend intervention. This is a friend intervention. Um, and I was sitting at home, I was playing this game called Sims, which is this game that has like these little characters that look, you know, they're like regular people and you can have them go and get jobs and stuff. And my character is just lying on the ground crying in a puddle of her own tears. And I'm playing this game and my friends are like, do you not see what is happening in your life right now And I'm like, I'm fine. And my first, my first and not last for intervention led to me getting a job in marketing. So I, I went and said, you know what I don't want to do biology anymore. This no longer interests me. I need something that's not in fashion, not in biology, something that's just different so I can figure out what I'm going to do next. And that's how I started doing marketing, social media marketing. Um, it was all because my friends really wanted me to get out of the house and
Stephanie: .. not be lying in a puddle of tears.
Goldie: ...Be depressed. And so that's how, that's how I started on this grand journey of doing marketing. And then, you know, and then at some time later, I started producing content for fun because I thought it was interesting. And that's what's led to, you know, who I am today, which is somebody that does social media strategy, but also produces quite a bit of video content because I've typically done it in house. Um, one of my last roles before, before the LinkedIn thing happen, I guess you would say, was I was working at legendary entertainment, running community and social media...for Amy Poehler's smart girls, so a lot of their nerve brands. I was, I was the creative soul I guess driver or and my team was behind a lot of that content that came out. So, um, it was really nice.
Stephanie: Like, I don't know if you guys are kicking in as much as I am, as somebody who has gone to comic con for like the last 20 years. I know legendary entertainment like I'm always at the booth.
Goldie: Yes. At least Detective Pikachu in case anyone has never heard of legendary entertainment. Um, they'd been developing that for a while now. Uh, I was lucky enough to hear about it when it kind of was in that first seedling because I was at legendary. So I'm so excited to see that it is finally out. But yeah, it's so different to, to have a personal brand when you're in house versus a personal brand when you're really more of an independent entrepreneur, which is, you know, of course, Stephanie, you and I are both are not this one.
Stephanie: Yeah. But sue and that's, that's such a good question because there are many of the viewers that are watching that are probably be working a full time job and have a side hustle where they want to build their personal brand. And how do they do that without fear that their company is going to get mad at them for building their own personal, like I, when I worked at the agency Goldie, I would be invited to speak at conferences and they were rules that I had to apply by. Be like, well are you going to mention the agency Are you just going to be talking about yourself And I was like, well this is about something that the agency doesn't do. So how do you, um, what's your recommendation for people that are kind of stuck in that situation?
Goldie: So this is, this is hilariously a talk that I'm going to give at Lego in four days. So you're on the same wavelength. And one of the suggestions that I, and I gave this talk actually at Google a couple of months ago as well because you know, same thing like Lego and Google are both big companies. They have a really distinctive corporate brand. And when you are an employee that works at just any kind of big corporation or big company, you feel like you might drown a little and your personal brand drowns little. And I think there's a happy place where you can exemplify not only your personal brand but also uplift the company that you're at. And the reason why companies should be excited about employees having personal brands at work is that employees feel they just feel more empowered and then they feel more empowered to do internal causes and focus on building internally and entrepreneurship which is the other version of entrepreneurship. So I think that, you know, that just from the company side of understanding it now from the person who works at a nine to five job of understanding how to get your boss to understand better, why you would want to build a personal brand. If you are pounding the pavement and you are talking about how beautiful and amazing it is to say be a corporate employee at we work and how that helps you with whatever it is that you're doing. For example, for my friend Tim talking about the future of work and he works out, we work.
Stephanie: That's your friend?
Goldie: Uh, Tim Solu but maybe Tim Glad also talks about that, which is great. Um, but there are so many ways that you can now take your personal brand and build your personal brand but also be such an advocate for the company that you work for. And that is a win win on both sides because then your boss knows that when you're going out and pounding the pavement and building your own brand, you are also doing positive publicity for the company or the team or the group that you work for. And I think that is really important.
Stephanie: And so what have you, I'm just going to role play. Hey you guys, I could totally do this for you and I'll be at the conference and I could raise awareness for our company." And the boss come back, comes back and says, well what if you just end up leaving us cause cause some other company's going to snatch you up. What would be a rebuttal for that? Cause.. And that's such common question that I get asked.
Goldie: Um, and the companies, I get it like Google and Lego, they're like, no, we understand that, that having employees be happy at work. Part of that is feeling like an individual at work. Right And it's not, you're not saying I'm going to leave, but you're saying I want to feel more validated in my work. And part of how I can feel validated and be a better contributor at work is if I feel that I truly am a unique piece of the team and unique part of the team. And that's, that's often what I tell companies that are, that are on the fence about thinking about personal brands. For their team members. Their employees.
Stephanie: love it. Michelle Haber says the company needs to treat you, right!
Goldie: Yes, yes, yes, yes. And that's true too, right So many employees leave companies because you know, the company overall doesn't make them feel special. We all, we live in this generation, our multigenerations where we all want to feel special. We want to feel validated. I don't necessarily think that there's something really wrong with that as long as you're of course not a brat about it or you feel really privileged about it, but it's okay to want to feel like an individual to feel that you matter. And I think that big companies that understand this are starting to move in the direction where they are bringing in speakers and they are bringing in workshops and things like that. Um, where they're helping. Say for example, my friend Smiley, he does workshops on making millennials in the workplace feel more connected so they feel more connected with both the older generation and the younger generation so they can be better at work.
Stephanie: Oh, I love that. Yeah. One of my best friends, Gary, where, who you have to meet. Um, he was an ad agency veteran too, but he's also an Improv actor and he now partners with big companies and helping them get the older generation, the millennial generation to work together through play and just having fun and it's not me versus them and such a cool way.
Goldie: So, so cool.
Stephanie: Question for you then is do you find that video is what really became the tipping point for you in terms of building your personal brand
Goldie: So I also find this so funny because I have been behind the scenes to build personal brands for so many fortune 500 c level executives and other very influential huge people. I've always been a little bit of the puppet master, but I've never quite had that interest in building my personal brand, especially, you know, as a marketer or really as anything almost. Uh, and when I started doing video content, I wasn't necessarily thinking about building my own personal brand new there. Of course I was, I would do it strategically, like I said, which is, who is your demographic Why are you doing this Um, and I would be doing, I would have probably started with very different content, but when I started doing video that made my brand, which is so fascinating to me because I write, I'm actually more of a traditionally a writer. Um, which is why I'm in the producer's guild to is I'm used to writing and organizing and things like that, but now everyone knows me for video and not say that I, I don't love video because I absolutely do believe that it was a future. But I think it's really interesting and funny what you get known for.
Stephanie: That is, that is very true. Right. Um, cause I had also, I had always been on the ad agency side and kind of like you, like the clients was always like the Beyonce and I was always like the backup singer, just going to be singing the praises and whatnot. Um, and it wasn't until my video came out that it just became the tipping point. So what about um, video for you. Did you, oh, did you already know how to edit your video? Did you learn that on the job? Did you go to school for the, did you take courses?
Goldie: So I did none of that. I, I mean, I, I did do some of that. What happened was, even the first video I did on LinkedIn, it's completely unedited. The first, I think the first deal was just me going like, it's like at an awkward angle. It's a selfie video. I don't know what I'm doing, you know And, and I didn't know how to edit either the front or the back. Like I didn't even know how to clip a video. So it's just, it's at least like, it doesn't have that awkward beginning, an awkward ending. And along the way, and I have a video team, a great video team that I work with for my clients, for my social media marketing clients. I am a very stubborn person. And so it was very important to me that I learn how to edit and do this content on my own also because I don't want to distract my team from the client work that they're doing because these two things are separate. So I, so I learned very painfully over the first,at least like 200 videos. So think about how many days that is, 200 daily consecutive videos, how to literally at least do a bare edit. And I mean like the kind of edit where you just like Kinda the beginning frame doesn't look to absolutely terrible. The end frame. Like you cut off that part where you're like and you know, maybe even put in like a graphic that says like what the video is about. Um, it took me maybe 200-250 days to just understand very basically how to do that. Um, but I learned I wanted to learn how to do it while doing. So definitely take classes on learning how to do video stuff if you want to learn faster.
Stephanie: Very true. So Gail, I hope I said your name right. She says it's always important to know how to do the thing yourself. At least at a basic level.
Goldie: Yes.
Stephanie: Right. Because then you could at least tell people what you Um, and kind of be able to describe it because I feel like sometimes when people ask me to fix things and they make up words and I'm like, that's not a word
Goldie: Or they use terms that are not commonly used and um, in the industry and stuff like that, like I know how to make video or film on a much bigger scale than the blogs that I actually do for, for LinkedIn. So it's really funny when I sometimes use these terms with people who are used to just doing logs and they've learned from scratch and they've never dealt with film or TV people. And I use terms that they're just like, what does that mean. Like I had to explain the rule of thirds a to somebody the other day because they had never, they had just never heard of the rule of thirds and like understanding like spatially where you look really good on camera and um, and all these things that you, you know, when you have done a little bit more professional, um, TV or film work or, or you just have taken a lot of courses and studied it.
Stephanie: Yeah. And speaking, of course it is. I mean, you have a personal branding course yourself, right, that you teach people on how they could go ahead and build and grow their brand online. Is that right?
Goldie: So actually I don't have a personal branding course quite yet, but I do have three amazing courses that are currently out. I'm on LinkedIn learning right now. So, uh, you can check it out. And in fact if you have a California, Texas or New York library card, you can access these courses for free. So I'm, so this is why I tell people when they say like, oh, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to buy things or you know, invest in it. But I mean the LinkedIn learning library is also really amazing. So it, to me it's worth the investment. But I have these three great courses, but there is no excuse because you can literally get a library card and access them.
Stephanie: That's very true. And I think the last time you went to a public library, cause I had my daughter and they actually have 3D printers there. And I was like, wait a second, you guys are 3D printing in the library now. I don't even have a 3D printer. I was like looking up stuff, things that I could make. I thought that was pretty awesome.
Goldie: Yeah, there's so many amazing things at libraries. Yay for the library!
Stephanie: Yeah. Yeah, it was, um, it was very much a nerd when I was growing up here. I mean, it was just, I would take my bus pass and I would go to the library and it would read all the Judy Blume books and you know, the little Indian in the cupboard. That was my thing. But Yeah, love the library, support your local library. You guys for sure do that. So then as far as platforms go, where's the best place to really grow your personal brand?
Goldie: So I think it depends on what your goals are, right If you're a visual, if you're a visual person, like a photographer or anyone that works really with the visual field, Instagram makes so much sense for that. Instagram and Pinterest because they're both very, very visual platforms. Um, if you are at all business or marketing or branding, et cetera related or entrepreneurship to me LinkedIn makes the most sense for that because that's where people who overall have money that can possibly become your clients and invest in you. That's where they live. I mean, LinkedIn is, let's be honest, LinkedIn is just the best everything.
Stephanie:And then that'll be your clip.
Goldie: Yeah. LinkedIn is the best for everything. Um, I, you know, I've, I'm such a fan of LinkedIn because it's where decision makers live and they don't all live on, they're just not all aggregated onto any other platform. Like they don't all necessarily live even on Facebook or on Instagram or on Twitter, et cetera. But they all live on LinkedIn. So even the most archaic person probably has at the bare minimum a LinkedIn profile, but they may not have a presence anywhere else on the Internet.So that's why I think LinkedIn is so interesting of a place to build your personal brand. Now, once again, that being said, if you, for example, Are a journalist or press, then Twitter makes the most sense for you. So it really depends on what your big goals are with your brand.
Stephanie: Oh, I love that. Love, love, love, love, love that. And as far as LinkedIn goes, are there any new features at least should be looking out for it because you know, I've been, I in groups just to see if they're going to do anything different with groups. Um, you're obviously doing LinkedIn Live, so sick. Anything else that like US general population can be looking forward to maybe for like the rest of the year?
Goldie: So I think definitely keep an eye out just on video in general, right as it grows and matures on, on LinkedIn because it's so new. There's one tip that I want share with everyone, which I am so bad and I haven't done this because I had time, so you're going to get tip that I know works, but I haven't had time to it, which is there's a PDF function on LinkedIn now.And so if you post PDFs on LinkedIn as post, they have been doing really well in the feed. So that is my pro tip for just right now. Maybe not even future thinking, but just right now. Um, and as for groups, I know that there is a dedicated groups team at LinkedIn that is hoping to expand and grow the groups functionality a lot more. I went to a super top secret groups party thing at LinkedIn last year, which was the most hilarious thing to me because they used one of my friends as like as an example within the group, within the mockup of the .. of the new groups. And I secretly took a snapshot and was, I sent it to him and I was like, you're being talked about. Um, but yeah, I know that groups is going to be developing and evolving quite a bit more. Um, and something else that I believe is still in Beta is also LinkedIn events. So you'll be able to start to have events that are available on LinkedIn that you can share on linkedIn directly. Currently the iteration that it's in right now, you, you drop an Eventbrite into it and then you can still share that, um, that LinkedIn event on LinkedIn.
Stephanie: Got It. Got It. Okay, cool. So it's so it's not, it has to be a physical event tied to Eventbrite. It's not just, um, it can be like a virtual event. Like you're you're livestreaming.
Goldie: Yeah. So unfortunately, um, in terms of like notifying people of things that are happening in the future, uh, regular posts are still, I still happening are, wow. I just lost track. Sorry guys. I just had to 14 hour shoot days in a row. So I'm zoning a little bit, but I'm focused now. Yes. Um, yeah, a couple of these products will, we'll just come to fruition a little bit later. I just saw that there was a question from Jennifer. Um, when will LinkedIn live having for us to us guys, I heart you all, but please stop inboxing me with this question. Um, I literally get so many inbox across every single platform. I really have to say, asking me when LinkedIn live will be available for everyone. Um, I can say right now that I signed so many NDAs with LinkedIn, I assign, I have signed more NDAs with LinkedIn. Then I have signed with any of my most restrictive clients. I have ever worked with. Um, and so unfortunately I can't comment on when LinkedIn live will be available to the general public, but you know, keep an eye out, keep watching. Um, that's, that's all I can say about that.
Stephanie: Stay tuned you guys...And guys on LinkedIn because I feel like for those that are really interested in LinkedIn and are just only waiting for LinkedIn live, they're missing the boat in terms of all the other features and all the other connections that you could be doing to build your personal brand. Like live streaming isn't going to be your magic bullet for you to become top of mind in your industry. There's other things that you could do to connect with people. And you know, Goldie just started just uploading videos and that's worked out for her and she's been very consistent. So if that's what you want to do in terms of building your audience on LinkedIn, then you know, model after success and success is obviously Goldie.
Goldie: yes, I think that's, I think that's so true. Not, not that model after Goldie only, but definitely try doing different kinds of content on LinkedIn. Try Writing try to writing status messages, try uploading photos or videos. I think you're completely right. Stephanie Need to not expect that a new feature will be the magic bullet. I will say there were at least 10 to 20 other people, maybe more who start out in the LinkedIn video Beta this same time I did, right exact same time we all got in, we all started making videos at the same time. A lot of them have completely dropped off the map and for the most part, pretty much no one has as big of a brand because I have and it's,and a lot of it is just stubbornness. Like I stuck with it. I just kept making videos and my videos in the beginning were terrible. They just weren't, they just weren't that great. They were like really shaky and nausea, nausea inducing. Um, but you know, I, I just stuck with it and I stuck with the kind of content I believed in. I didn't just do it because I was like, oh, this is new. I'm going to hit like, I'm going to be amazing. Because there was a lot of other people who made even up to maybe 50 videos who never, who never hit, who also were in the, the video Beta because they just, after they did, maybe even 30 videos are like, why haven't seen any traction. So I'm going to stop because obviously for work, yeah, right.
Stephanie: Yeah, I get that all the time with Facebook live. Yeah. I mean, same thing on my end because I get a lot of people, they're like, oh, you know, I'm just gonna start doing live video and um, I didn't get like x amount of views and my first video. And it's like you gotta keep practicing and you got to figure out what it is exactly that your audience wants. So, you know, circling back to what you said earlier, knowing who you're serving with, your content and who your personal brand is going to tie back to. And I think that's super important. One last question for you, cause I know you're just like, ah, I'm tired. But what are some personal branding landmine set specific industries should avoid?
Goldie: So it really depends on your, I saw love that you used the word industry because different industries have different parameters for personal branding. When you were just generally an entrepreneur there, there's so many fewer restrictions on what you can do in terms of your personal branding, Aka Elon Musk.Um, but, but when you work in a field like say finance, health care, right Any of these places that have actual restrictions on what you can and cannot say because the industry regulates it. And that's when you want to be really careful about, about the kind of brand you're building and literally about what kind of content you're putting out there. So I just gave a talk to the American Bar Association. So I talked to a bunch of lawyers also. It was a one webinar and this was the longest contract I've ever signed to do. Because it was a contract made by lawyers for content, for lawyers.
Stephanie: Wouldn't you feel sketchy if it looks like the shortest one, you'd be like, wait a second, is this really a thing?
Goldie: I sign away my soul, you know, to the lawyers like to American Bar Association. But umm with lawyers too. There's so many restrictions on what they can and cannot say. But that doesn't mean once again that they can't have their own personality within those parameters. But it's so important to know what is appropriate in your industry because most people think I just want to be like, wow. I want to be Gary V. I want to, cuss I want to do all this stuff. Like I want to break the boundaries, big barriers. Um, and people get really mad at me for saying like you have to know where the boundaries are. But that's the thing you, if you do want to go past the boundaries, you should reasonably know what the boundaries are just in terms of most people don't do this. And then the other set of boundaries, which is this is like lawfully prohibited. So there, there are two boundaries in every industry, which is like most people don't do this, which that's the boundary you can kind of cross until the line on. And there's like, this is literally illegal. So one of the things I've been, I've been noticing with, um, with video content, some content on, on LinkedIn is because it's so new and not as regulated. You know, on Instagram, anytime something is an ad now or sponsored people are, have been getting so much better about, you know, writing like Hashtag ad Hashtag sponsored, and I've been noticing a lot of posts on linkedIn that are sponsored posts don't have those hashtags. And that to me is you're crossing that line of that actually legally is no bueno because if they, if they decided to go back and retroactively check some of those posts, then you're on the hook legally because you weren't, you didn't, you didn't drop in those hashtags. So that's kind of like the two boundaries I see. When you're thinking about within your industry, like how far can you push the envelope
Stephanie: Well, that, that's amazing advice. You know, I, I think there's other people too, you know, when, um, when they're doing video, they still think that like doing a video while driving your car is really cool and it's like that's, that's a big no. And so staying in those guardrails,staying in those lanes,not creating content just for the likes or just for the algorithms, but also being mindful of your audience and what's really going to resonate with them and also being safe with it. You have to know your boundaries.
Goldie Chan: Yeah. Just, no, I think, yeah, being safe. Like please don't make, I mean I live in Los Angeles, so I live in the selfie capital of the world. Let's be honest. There are a million people taking videos in their cars or doing content while just walking across the street and they're not looking at the cars, like going past them. They're just like, I'm getting this on my video. Like I'm getting this on Youtube. I think it's still important to not die while creating video content or any other kind of other content. Like just like use common sense. So a lot of stuff is, is common sense too. Like I know that it's really important when you're thinking about building a personal brand, you want us to stick out, you want to be crazy and wild, um, because you want to get those likes. But sometimes let comments a lot of times. What was the time, please let common sense win out. And I've, I've had people, um, you know, like rush up to me when they recognize me, which I think is amazing, but there's so many times where people want to desperately to take a video with me or take a photo with me. I get just a camera shoved in my face without any introduction whatsoever. nd they're like, hey, hey guys, I'm here, here with Goldie Chan and like, it's amazing, blah, blah, blah. And I'm, I don't know what's going on. I've, I haven't been introduced like, this is just general. Please use your common sense, like, don't do this with people that you recognize. Don't please, don't just shove a camera in their face or, or do things without asking for their permission. But that's just, that's me and my personal brand too because I know that there's people out there who like the push the boundaries on that stuff so they get, you know they can get off the cuff content and things like that. I personally think that ends up damaging your reputation in the long run but you also end up developing a very specific kind of personal brand..a very specific kind of a reputation.
Stephanie: So very sure. Well good, good, good. Goldie this has been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much. Lots of gold nuggets here. And you know, you guys, if you love Goldie as much as I do, you can definitely find her on LinkedIn. What's the best ways Are you like a, like a follow you on LinkedIn type person or actually make the connection. Because I've had, I've had people like make clear, clear, clear distinctions and I was like, okay,
Goldie: I think I did change my connect button to a follow. I know, I think I can do it. I think LinkedIn did it for me. So I think I now have, I'm just kind of uh, some of my permanent follow button on LinkedIn. But of course, if there's ever any business reasons or any speaking engagements that you'd like to book me for, please of course connect with me or send me anin message. Um, so many, so many fun messages I get in, you know, of course outside of when is LinkedIn live going live Goldie, but I do get really fun in-mail messages. So I encourage everyone, if you have something you want to say, you know, please just send me a message.
Stephanie: The LinkedIn Messenger Bot where like if they say LinkedIn life to you in your message, the automatic message will be like your LinkedIn. Well now self destruct in 10..9..8
Goldie: I just feel bad because I, I don't, I know this is why also that this is the irony. This is the circle, right I don't have an answer that I can give so people keep asking me to give a definitive answer, but I can't. So sorry guys.
Stephanie: I mean, just look at all of the other features and the functionalities that LinkedIn has to offer groups. Like you said, there's a dedicated team towards that and they're working on it. And you gave us the pdf insight, which I think is really cool because so many of my viewers, you guys are totally making, you know, your lead magnets and whatnot. I think of how you could leverage that because don't, don't the PDFs take like, uh, like a much bigger real estate in the newsfeed?
Goldie: Yes. So right now they're not only prioritized in the feed, which, you know, we so rarely know what's prioritized in the feed on any social media platforms. So to know for a fact that something is currently prioritize, that's a win already. And this is, you know, a live video. So if you watch this next week isn't, that isn't the case then. I'm sorry guys. Too Bad. But right now as we're recording this live, like this is the case. Um, but yes, it also takes up more real estate in the feed. So as I'm saying, going through my LinkedIn on my phone, I'm going to see that PDF pop up first. Um, and of course, as always, you know, just be very careful when you're, when you're creating content like PDFs that it doesn't look just a hundred percent salesy, that it has value, um, added to it so people won't just see it as an ad.
Stephanie: Very cool. Well, all right. Thank you, Goldie. I'll let you go. Go get some rest before your next trip and we'll see you then. We'll go ahead and say bye to everyone. Give them a little outro. Bye y'all!
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Goldie Chan is hands-down one of the most talented digital storytellers online. She was named LinkedIn Top Voice 2018 with her #DailyGoldie video channel that has amassed over 4M+ content views.
If she looks familiar, that’s probably because you’ve seen this green-haired genius mentioned by Forbes, Adweek, Inc., LinkedIn, and more.
Chan is the founder of Warm Robots, a B2B and B2C social media strategy agency, focused on getting big brands to the right audience.
So when it comes to personal branding, what are the golden rules?
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:
▸ Do’s and Don’ts of Building a Personal Brand
▸ Best Platforms to Stand Out
▸ Industry Specific Branding Landmines to Avoid
Where to start with personal branding?
According to Chan, “The number one place to start is to ask who is your demographic is.”
Who do you want to talk to?
What’s their age?
Where do they work?
Once you have your “who” in mind, you have to ask the '“why”.
That is, why do you want to create your personal brand?
Chan added, “It’s the who, then it’s the why. Then you can start getting into the fun stuff. What do you do to attract this audience?”
“The number one place to start is to ask, ‘Who is your demographic? Who do you want to talk to?’”
How to overcome imposter syndrome…
Many of us suffer from imposter syndrome because we feel like we don’t know enough.
Well, newsflash…
Even Chan experiences a case of imposter syndrome.
You don’t always have to be the expert, but you can highlight what you do know.
“Do you know a little bit more than people out there?” asked Chan, “that little bit more is something you can teach."
The key is to let people in on the unique information that you know.
There’s a high plausibility that you know something that most people don’t know.
Is it how to build a chatbot, or maybe you know Adobe After Effects really well?
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Just go for it!
““Do you know a little bit more than people out there?” asked Chan, “that little bit more is something you can teach.””
How do you define authenticity in personal branding?
Starting out, there are certain bullet points that we focus on. We think about our logo, strategy, and aesthetics. Of course, these are very important when it comes to a personal brand, but most content creators just starting out forget the most important part—what makes you unique?
There’s a huge difference between transparency and authenticity.
Chan says it best, “With a personal brand you are being selective. You are choosing parts of you that are actually you. You are picking out your favorite things about yourself.”
Tell your story and celebrate you.
You can be authentic and be selective.
What is that special thing you bring to the table that other people will be drawn to?
“With a personal brand you are being selective. You are choosing parts of you that are actually you. ”
To do or not to do it for the ‘gram?
“Be careful about what brand you’re building and what content you’re putting out there,” says Chan.
Know what is appropriate in your industry.
You have to know where the boundaries are and where you can push the envelope.
For example, we all know that one person who films while driving.
Posting risky and illegal content (yes, people do this) can get you all the likes and comments you want, but do you really want to be remembered for dangerously (and illegally) driving while filming?
Your brand is your reputation.
What you post is going to resonate with your audience and you have to be mindful of that.
“It’s okay to want to feel like an individual, to feel like you matter.”
What’s the best platform to build your personal brand?
According to Chan, the best platform for your personal brand really depends on the “what” of your personal brand.
How are you talking with your audience?
If you’re a photographer, Instagram would probably make the most sense for you.
Maybe you’re a reporter or a journalist, which in that case Twitter would be your best option.
However, Chan— once called the green-haired Oprah of LinkedIn— advocates for LinkedIn.
“LinkedIn is for entrepreneurs. It’s where decision makers live”, says Goldie.
LinkedIn is a place where people can invest in you, but ultimately your best platform is dependent on the content you post.
“LinkedIn is where decision makers live. ”
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RESOURCES:
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