Uplift Live: 8 tips from the speakers to make the most of LinkedIn

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Ignite Confidence. This month's edition is dedicated to sharing some of the tips from the amazing speakers at Uplift Live in Birmingham yesterday, ALL about LinkedIn.

I have pages full of notes and so many tips and nuggets to digest and share in more detail, but for now, I wanted to share one tip from each of the speakers so that you can start implementing them today.

No conference these days is complete without a pre-party, and this year, it included a photo booth, which proved very popular.

Here are a few highlights for those who weren't able to make it - FOMO is real, book your ticket for next year - the early bird offer expires before midnight tonight!

Book now and don't miss out before the price goes up!

A few of the questions I get about LinkedIn include:

• How to make content work for me
• Video gives me the ick!
• I get tumbleweed with a Company Page

I've shared a tip from each of the speakers, and most of them cover the three themes above. They will help you boost your confidence with LinkedIn and build your community and business here.

1. Cover just ONE topic in the body of your post

John Espirian , one of the conference organisers kicked off the day with his session on the anatomy of content. He looked at the hook and all the nuances, the body and the CTA.

• One key takeaway was: in the body of your post, only cover ONE point.
• There is a 35% drop-off in recall for multi-point posts!

Take action: when you're planning your content for next week, stick to one point per post.

2. Break free and do things your competitors don't!

The second speaker was Michelle J Raymond all the way from Sydney, Australia. She is a top expert in best practices for company pages

She took her through her PAGE approach for the implementation of company pages.

• Play
• Amplify
• Give
• Establish

A company page is a true collaboration - your goal is to make people look amazing. Stop an have a look at your company page strategy. I bet you're not in this mindset.

To find out more - tune in to her podcast: Social Media for B2B Growth

And Yes she did have some Tim Tams for the delegates. I enjoyed one from my stash when I got home last night.

Take action: go and have a look at your company page and check your strategy, are you being all bland?

3. Before you create a video, choose your format.

This might sound like a no-brainer, but in his session, Juma Bannister went through examples of different types of video formats you can use.

• Much like in John's content session, he stressed the importance of the hook - it is literally the MOST IMPORTANT element: the first 3 to 5 seconds.
• Many of my clients are scared of doing a 'talking head' video, but there are SO many other options to consider that you might feel more comfortable with.

Many of you love a gif, and Juma started his presentation with a famous Gif of the Rowan Atkinson character in an exam scenario looking over at the paper of the person next to him! Juma had annotated this to show Rowan as LinkedIn and the other candidate as TikTok. A clever reference to the video feed.

Take action: Look at all the different video formats, choose one that resonates with you, and plan a video.

To get more tips from Juma, check out his podcast - Useful Content.

4. Tell stories in your sales content

Niraj Kapur , in his session on best practices for sales, shared many stories from his journey.

• Don't give up!
• Be creative
• Never be afraid to ask for help

He compared online dating to Sales which for any of you who have been to one of my training sessions will be familiar with when I talk about the profile photo. It HAS to look like you, there is nothing worse than meeting someone in real-life and they look NOTHING LIKE their profile photo!

Take action: Think about what stories you can tell in your content and sales.

We also had the amazing Andy Gray who was capturing the nuggets from each speaker LIVE on stage in the form of a cartoon. You can see him in the image of Niraj telling us his Karen Brady story.

Lunch was amazing, a huge shout out to Lois Cliff who made sure that the menu left everyone energised. no beige buffet food in sight that often brings that desire for a snooze. For those of you who run on snacks, there were pastries on arrival and bisuits for every break during the conference, so no one was going hungry. Plus, Michelle was handing out TimTams, AJ Wilcox threw some sweets into the audience, and the goody bag included some mints.

5. Create a forcefield with fun!

Gus Bhandal brought fun to the stage at Millenium Point after lunch. He talked about using music to create a legacy and how to have fun on LinkedIn.

• Yes, it is a business-oriented platform, but we all do business with people.
• We need to know our people as humans - here Gus is introducing the theme of creating a legacy with his own David Bowie inspired album cover and his legacy.

For his forcefield, the tip from Gus is about bringing into your world via one channel and introducing them to your other channels, so they stay with you.

Connect on LinkedIn and invite them to join your email newsletter. Get to know you better via your Instagram stories. The whole person comes out, and you get to know the human.

Take action: Think about how you can create a forcefield for your ideal customers.

6. The highest-performing ad is thought leadership

The sixth speaker, AJ Wilcox , flew over from Salt Lake City in the US to talk about LinkedIn ads best practices. AJ's love of ads shone through from the stage.

• As a reminder google can only find those people who are searching on google. Meta only knows who you are personally, BUT LinkedIn knows who you are professionally, and you update your profile when you change jobs.
• It's easier to build a relationship with your audience with a thought leader or talking-head ad.

Take action: Think about whether you could incorporate a thought leader or talking-head video into your content, it could be your first ad.

To find out more, check out his podcast: LinkedIn Ads Show

7. Choosing the right employee ambassadors will make or break your programme

Did you know that 80% of employee advocacy programmes fail?

In her session, Ivana Brutenic took us through how to make sure your programme is among the 20% of successful programmes.

• Choose the right ambassadors
• Start small with 5 ambassadors and then expand
• Tell the story about why you love the company in your profile

Take action: If you or anyone you know is considering an employee advocacy programme, make sure to choose your ambassadors carefully.

To find out more, check out Ivana's book, The Magic of Employee Influence. I'm flattered to say that she gifted me a copy of her book with a lovely personalised message.

8. Make your profile a conversion machine

The last talk of the day was from Sam Rathling a social selling expert. She took her through her Conversion approach and how to make the most of your profile.

Your profile must be complete, a good reminder that to be found you must remember LinkedIn is a BIG database. Pepper your profile with the all-important key words to help you be found.

• Ooze credibility - Can someone book a meeting and download something from your profile?
• Keywords - Are you being found for what you do? There are 7 places to populate with keywords - use them all!
• Don't just support your mates; be intentional with your commenting.
• Be the most recommended version of yourself. Sam has >300 recommendations on her profile.

Sam used storytelling throughout her talk and invited her son, Oscar, to join her on the stage. Together, they shared such a powerful story of LinkedIn for good, reminding us that behind every profile is a human being.

Take action: Check that your profile is converting for you.

(At the end, every member of the audience was given a gift with a conversion card, a packet of seeds to plant their own mini-meadow and a butterfly - her grandmother's spirit animal)

What tip are you going to take away and work on?

I'm sure you will have read a tip and thought: "That's something I can do." So please do start working on implementing a tip you've taken away. Remember, nothing is immediate; it takes time. But to progress, we must start somewhere.

So, be brave and make a change today.

Until next month, come and find me in the feedback, and let's have a chat in the DMs. The normal format will resume next month. In the meantime, I will be drilling into each tip in more detail in my content and email newsletter.

Marianne x

PS. Early bird tickets for Uplift Live 2026 are already on sale. The offer runs until 11.55 GMT today (Friday, 28th March 2025).