Hala Taha: Turn LinkedIn Engagement Into Paying Clients | Marketing

Hala Taha knew how to grow on social media, but struggled to turn attention into income. After facing major setbacks including being fired from radio and having an MTV project canceled, she shut down her website to earn her MBA and built a corporate career. Years later, guests on her side-hustle podcast began asking for LinkedIn help. That demand became an agency, which landed a $30,000 monthly client and grew to 30 paid employees within six months. In this episode, Hala joins host Jenna Kutcher on The Goal Digger Podcast to share how to grow an engaged LinkedIn audience, create content that attracts your ideal customers, and build a recognizable personal brand. In this episode, Jenna and Hala will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (1:17) Hala's Journey From Setbacks to Entrepreneurship (11:15) How Hala Turned Podcasting Into a Business (17:01) How to Grow and Monetize LinkedIn (30:36) How to Sell Without Sounding Pushy (35:18) Building a Consistent Personal Brand on LinkedIn (41:58) Where to Connect and Learn From Hala Hala Taha is the host of Young and Profiting, a top 10 business and entrepreneurship podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. She is the founder and CEO of YAP Media, an award-winning social media and podcast agency. She also leads YAP Media Network, where she helps renowned podcasters like Jenna Kutcher, Neil Patel, and Russell Brunson grow and monetize their shows. With her business on track to reach eight figures in 2026, Hala stands out as a leading creator and entrepreneur. Sponsored By: Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/profiting Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting. Northwest Registered Agent - Get a complete business identity with Northwest. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/YAPFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. HeyGen - Create AI avatar videos without constantly being behind the camera. Get your first three videos free at HeyGen.com/profiting. Life at the Speed of Play - Learn how to test ideas quickly and identify the ones worth pursuing with Mark Pincus’s book. Get two books for the price of one at getmarksbook.com/yap. Whatnot - Grow your business through live shopping, community, and real-time connections with buyers. Search Whatnot, W H A T N O T, in the App Store and start selling today. MOD - Connect with licensed medical providers for modafinil to support sustained energy, focus, and alertness. Visit MOD.com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order plus free shipping with code PROFITING. See the website for important safety information. AG1 Next Gen - Support your nutritional foundation with vitamins, minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, and superfoods. Get a free Immune Support Bundle with your first subscription order at DrinkAG1.com/PROFITING. Resources Mentioned: Jenna’s Podcast, Goal Digger Podcast: bit.ly/TGDP-apple Hala’s Podcast, Young and Profiting: bit.ly/_YAP-apple Hala’s Agency, YAP Media: yapmedia.com Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap YouTube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Newsletter - youngandprofiting.co/newsletter LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new LinkedIn Creator Club - Skool.com/linkedin-creator-club Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Podcast, Business, Business Podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Starting a Business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side Hustle, Startup, Mental Health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth Mindset, SEO, E-commerce, Instagram, Digital Marketing, Content Creator, Storytelling, Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Communication, Video Marketing, Social Proof, Marketing Trends, Influencers, Influencer Marketing, Marketing Tips, Digital Trends, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Marketing Podcast

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Today's episode is sponsored in part by HeyGen, Shopify, Life at the Speed of Play, and Indeed. HeyGen helps you create AI avatar videos without constantly being behind the camera. Get your first three videos free at heygen.com/profitting. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business. Start your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com/profitting. Life at the Speed of Play by Mark Pincus helps entrepreneurs quickly test ideas and find the ones worth pursuing. Get two books for the price of one at GetMark'skool.com/Yet. Indeed helps you attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/podcast.

• 0:45Speaker 00

  As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or at YoungAndProfiting.com/deals. Hey, Young and Profiteers. Most entrepreneurs are sleeping on one of the best platforms to grow their business. And now, I'm not talking about Instagram and I'm not talking about TikTok. I'm talking LinkedIn. I've spent years growing my brand on LinkedIn and it's become such a big part of my business that now I teach all these strategies inside my LinkedIn Creator Club on Skol. You can check it out at yapmedia.com/Skol. That's S-K-O-O-L. You can also find that link in our show notes. Now, this conversation I had with my friend Jenna Kutcher on her Goal Digger podcast is where I break down how I actually make LinkedIn work for your business.

• 1:31Speaker 00

  We're talking about creating content that gets noticed, building genuine connections, and turning your audience into business opportunities without ever sounding salesy. Now, there are some super actionable tips in this one, so grab your notebook and enjoy. And if you want to learn more about the LinkedIn Creator Club on Skol, go to yapmedia.com/Skol.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  Well, this feels like an absolute delight. I am so excited to finally connect with you. One thing that I love is when I see other women at the top of the charts. I have been cheering you on, and so, welcome to the show, Hala.

• 2:06Speaker 00

  Oh, thank you so much, Jenna. I'm so excited for this conversation.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  So, I know a little bit about your story, but for those who might not know, can you tell me a little bit about your career journey that's led you to where you are today? And where you are today, because all of this is so fascinating.

• 2:22Speaker 00

  Sure. So, I'll start with where I am today, and then maybe I'll work backwards. And you can feel free to pause and interject whenever you'd like. So, they call me the Podcast Princess. I'm the CEO and founder of Yet Media. It's an award-winning social media agency, and I'm also running the number one business and self-improvement podcast network where I grow and monetize shows. And I'm the host of Young and Profiting, which is a top 10 business podcast, top five entrepreneurship podcast on Apple and across all the different apps. So, I love my job. I basically created my dream job, and it wasn't an overnight success. I started my career in radio about 10 years ago. And when I was a junior in college, I interned for the Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97,

• 3:05Speaker 00

  which was the number one hip hop and R&B station. And I basically interned for three years at the radio station to understand how production works, radio works. At the same time, I had online radio shows, which was the precursor of podcasts. Podcasts were technically available, but they're really complicated, and a lot of people were doing online radio shows. So, I'd host like music-based entertainment shows with the up and coming DJs at Hot 97 on the side. And I used to make my money selling like hip hop showcases and hosting like parties that night with all the DJs. And so, I did that for three years, actually ended up dropping out of school because, you know, they wanted me to keep working more and more at the station. And I started doing commercials at the station and working on the weekends for them

• 3:49Speaker 00

  and learning the delet boards and running the whole music program and everything like that. And so, I eventually wanted to get paid. I come from a family of doctors, you know, I'm Arabic American, and, you know, education is a big deal. So, I was the black sheep of my family at this point. So, they basically pushed me to ask to get paid at least, since I dropped out of school. And, you know, that rubbed Hot 97 a bit the wrong way. Long story short, I got fired. And I felt like my whole identity was taken away from me. I felt like, you know, I was hanging out with celebrities. I was dating Chris Brown at one point. Like, I was, you know, it was like my whole identity was crushed.

• 4:30Speaker 00

  And everybody basically blackballed me from Hot 97, because once you're sort of out, you're out. And some people were like, "Lay low, maybe Angie will forgive you." But I didn't. I thought of a new idea, and I was like, sort of wanted to get revenge. So, I got fired on a Thursday. And by Sunday, I had a new idea, and I was going to start this thing called the Sorority of Hip Hop. And it was going to be a blog. Blogs were super hot at the time. And so, I went on Twitter. I had a big following on Twitter at the time. I went on Craigslist, and I started recruiting girls. And I was like, "If you're in the entertainment industry, if you've been burned, if you know how, if you want to learn how to blog, if you're pretty, if you're smart, send in your pictures, send in your resume, and I want to recruit you for the Sorority of Hip Hop."

• 5:13Speaker 00

  And so, I started this group. Two weeks later, I had 14 girls. I went back to school to finish my senior year in college. And I remember I had my first board meeting in my college. I like rented out a room, and there was like 14 girls. I was the president of this new thing called the Sorority of Hip Hop. And I started learning how to build websites. And three months later, we were one of the most popular entertainment and hip hop sites in the world. I basically figured out how to hack Twitter. And I had, you know, we kept recruiting more and more girls. So, in and out, over three years, I had like 150 girls, but usually there'd be like 50 girls at a time who were under me, learning how to blog. And I basically would connect everybody's handles to Twitter.

• 5:54Speaker 00

  So, when we'd put out a blog post, and it was a music-based, like makeup, hip hop, fashion website, we would like tweet out like Wiz Khalifa and his new song. And there'd be like 50 pretty girls tweeting him, and they'd retweet it. And I was the first one that figured that out. Now, everybody does that, right? But I was the first blog to do that. And so, we got popular really fast. And so, MTV reached out to us, and they wanted to shoot a reality pilot. This was just three months into it. It was small. Yeah. It was small. We didn't get the show, but I figured what else could happen, right? Who cares? And then, all of a sudden, because I was making so much noise, everybody from Hot 97 started reaching back out to me.

• 6:37Speaker 00

  And then, I just started hosting all the coolest parties in the city. And instead of being all these in, like somebody's intern, I basically was peers with DJ Camilo and Funkmaster Flex. And even Angie was trying to get me on Love and Hip Hop and helping me out. And everybody had more respect for me, because I built something on my own, and they realized I wasn't just going to go away. So, I started hosting all these parties. My business turned into a blog slash like event company. I would host concerts, throw concerts. Then MTV came back to us two years later or so. We had like built it up, pretty popular in the tri-state area. I would get shouted out on the radio like every day for all the parties we'd be hosting. And they were like, "This is it." It was right after Jersey Shore had ended. They're like, "You're going to get your own show.

• 7:22Speaker 00

  You're going to be the star." They picked like five out of 50 girls to be in the cast with me. They got us a studio on Broadway. They filmed us the entire summer. We threw a concert. Like, we did all these cool things. And I thought I was going to be famous. So, at this point, it was like six years of basically working for free. I was scrounging money here and there, but I was like, kept working like marketing jobs and doing like social media for festival companies. And we were making money, but there were so many mouths to feed, and it was expensive to run a blog site with all the servers and how popular our site was. And I hadn't figured out advertising, like, you know, I was like just bootstrapping and like didn't even know what I was doing. I was so young. And just having a lot of fun too, right? So, anyway, we shot this whole pilot, and two weeks before it's supposed to air,

• 8:07Speaker 00

  it's not just a pilot. We shot like a whole series over the summer. Two weeks before it's airing, the producer from MTV calls me up, and she's like, "Hala, I'm so sorry. We went into another direction, and we're not going to air the show." And I started bawling, and I was like, "No way. Like, what do you mean? This is the second time you guys did this to me. We signed all the papers. Like, what do you mean it's not going to air?" And she's like, "I'm sorry. They were going in another direction." And sometimes they actually shoot two shows and then decide which one they're going to go with. They went with another show. MTV since hasn't really had a big show, right? Like, since the Jersey Shore. So, I think we would have crushed it. But anyway, they didn't, they didn't give it to us. And at this point, I was really beaten down, and I felt like I can't make it,

• 8:51Speaker 00

  like, and try to bring up 50 girls with me at the same time if I'm not even successful myself. I felt really like ashamed with my parents, because all my siblings were like in med school and residency, all these things. And I was like, still trying to make it, and like even just make like $30,000 a year or whatever. Like, you know what I mean? I just wasn't making any money, even though I was like almost famous in the tri-state area. I wasn't really making any money. So, then I just shut everything down. I told the girls. I actually pretended that it was a fake shutdown. I said I needed a break. I was like, "Let's pretend we're shutting down and just get a lot of attention. I just need a break." And then, like, our break was supposed to be like two weeks. And then, I was like, "Guys, I don't want to do this anymore." And all the girls are really upset with me to this day. Some of the girls like really hate me for doing that.

• 9:36Speaker 00

  And, but I had to do it. And so, I went. I had a terrible undergraduate GPA, because all I was doing was working at Hot 97 in my undergrad. So, I wanted to get my MBA, and I couldn't get into any schools. And then, I ended up begging my director of my alma mater, of the alumni program. And she let me in. I told her my story, and she was like, "Okay, like, you know, if you get a 4.0, I'll keep you in the program." And I was like, "Okay, I'm going to do it." And so, I got my MBA, got a 4.0. I graduated number one in my class. And I started my corporate track, and I just literally thought I'd never get back on a mic. I thought it was done. And then, I started my corporate track. I worked at HP, then, you know, worked there for four years. I became the face of the young employees there.

• 10:21Speaker 00

  So, I essentially was an entrepreneur at the company and really stood out. And I was way more tech savvy than everybody else. And so, in the marketing department, I just kept rising up in the ranks. And I was sort of like the C-suite's pet, and I would go to all the conferences and interview the CEO and the CMO. And I was like that type of character at the company. And then, four years into it, I got the itch, and I saw podcasting was really out there. I saw that there was apps like Podbean and things that seemed accessible that I could figure out. And so, I just decided one day, I remember it was New Year's, 2017, like 2018, right? Before the new year. And I was just like, "All right, I'm going to start this podcast." And instead of being like an influencer within this corporate company,

• 11:03Speaker 00

  I want to take what I've learned over the years and interview smart people and be of service. And I started this podcast, Young and Profiting. So, I'll pause there.

• 11:12Speaker 01

  There's so much more. There's Stitch Fix. There's Disney. You have been all over the place.

• 11:20Speaker 00

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• 12:04Speaker 00

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• 12:29Speaker 00

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• 13:10Speaker 00

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• 13:39Speaker 00

  What's up, Yap fam? You guys know we love reading on this show, so I'm always excited when I find a book I genuinely think is worth sharing. "Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love" by Mark Pincus is one of those books. Mark is a legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor, and this fast-paced 170-page book is his playbook for testing ideas quickly, navigating uncertainty, and figuring out what's actually worth pursuing. One of my favorite concepts is what he calls "the abyss," those moments when you feel stuck or unsure of what's next. Instead of fearing uncertainty, he shows you how to use it as a tool for discovery. Right

• 14:19Speaker 00

  now, Mark is doing a buy-one-get-one offer for Yap listeners. Go to getmarksbook.com/yap, buy one copy for $32 and get a second copy free. So you can keep one for yourself and give the second to a friend, future co-founder, or someone who needs a little push.

• 14:36Speaker 01

  What was it about podcasting that drew you in? Was it that radio background? I mean, because if you think about radio and blogging, podcasting is kind of this interesting combination of both of those skill sets.

• 14:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, I felt like I knew how to do everything, right? So I had like hacked Twitter. There's the social media element for sure with podcasting. I knew how to do audio editing. I knew how to do video editing. I knew how to do graphic design. I knew how to host. I also knew that I had a story and that I could probably get some really big guests just from my story. And so I just, you know, figured I had all the skills and I had the time. You know, I was doing really well in my job and I felt like I had all this kind of free time. I would volunteer internally with NHP and I decided to stop doing that. And then all of a sudden, I felt like I had like four hours a day to figure some stuff out. And the cool thing about Young and Profiting is that I had a team

• 15:30Speaker 00

  of volunteers that actually helped me for two years. I had 20 people for two years that helped me. And it's because I had so many skills that like there'd be one guy from Atlanta and I'd teach him how to do videos. One guy from Estonia, I taught him how to do my website. You know, interns from my past college, I would teach how to do production research for me. And so I just like had this like army of interns that would help me so that I could have a day job. And then I just kept growing the podcast that way.

• 15:58Speaker 01

  So I know that you made the leap into full-time entrepreneurship in 2020, which was a crazy year for everyone, but especially for you. What finally gave you the confidence to go all in? What did that look like?

• 16:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was actually, you know, when I started the podcast, I never thought that I was going to make any money. I was just being of service, growing my, I became a really big influencer on LinkedIn, growing my like personal brand. And I literally didn't even think it was possible to make money off a podcast. And I remember like being in Clubhouse, like before I really blew up, being like, guys, there's no way you're going to make money from podcasting. It's about networking. And then like little did I know, there's so much money in podcasting if you know what you're doing, right? And so the first way that I started monetizing my show is that these guests would come on. And I, from the start, I had really big guests because like I said, I was punching above my weight. I understood how to get big guests from the start. And I never sort of settled for

• 16:57Speaker 00

  anyone. I always shot up and it was like a volume game. I just knew the more I sent out, somebody would eventually say yes. And then once the person says yes, it was easier to get more people to say yes, right? So basically, these big guests that were very successful already would come on my show. They'd be authors, speakers, celebrities. And after the end of the show, they would literally like clockwork, be like, Hala, how did you grow your LinkedIn? Can you do it for me? Hala, how'd you grow this podcast? Can you do this for me? And I used to always be like, I'm sorry, I have a really great corporate career. At the time, I was working at Disney. You know, I've got a volunteer team, but they're really busy with my stuff. Like, we don't have the bandwidth to help you. I'm sorry. And I would just always say that. And then one day, I met this lady, Heather Monahan. Are you familiar with her?

• 17:41Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. And I know this part of your story. I love it.

• 17:45Speaker 00

  So she came on my show and I gave her the whole spiel. She was like, Hala, I need you to do my LinkedIn. And I was like, I'm sorry, I can't. And then she just wouldn't leave me alone. She was on every single one of my videos on LinkedIn. She's like, Hala, you have to do this. So she kept commenting, you have to do this for me. So then I was, you know, she was somebody who I looked up to. And so I was like, you know what? I would love Heather to be my mentor. So I was like, listen, I can't do it for you, but I can teach you how. And so I started setting up these meetings with her on Saturdays. And she, she thought it was so cute that I would like send a calendar invite for Saturday. And like, I was like trying to teach her how to use like Headliner and Canva and Premiere Pro. And I was showing her like our Slack and our Drive and our templates.

• 18:30Speaker 00

  And she just like was like, Hala, I literally am talking to VaynerMedia for them to do my social media. Your stuff is more impressive. She's like, you have a company. Do you understand you have a company? I want to be your first client. And I was just like, it was COVID. At the time, my dad was in the hospital and I was working from home. And really, I was in a space where like I wanted a distraction, you know, quite frankly, because I had a lot more free time. I was sort of coasting in my job. It wasn't, it was a hard job, but I felt like I had time. And again, no commute. So it was like, I used to commute from Brooklyn to the city. It was an hour each way. So basically two extra hours a day, which for me is a lot of time, right? And

• 19:15Speaker 00

  so I just figured like, all right, we'll do it. And I was like, okay, I'll start with your link, like your videos. And then we did a great job and we started taking over all her channels and then eventually her podcast. And then my second client was, so Heather was paying me like nothing, like $700 a month. Like it was really nothing in the beginning, right? And so then my second client, I went on this guy's podcast, Jason Waller. He was the CEO of like one of the fastest growing, oh, you know him. He was the CEO of one of the solar panel companies. And it's like the fastest growing private company in the US. And he invited me on a show and afterwards he was like, Hala, can you do social media and production for me? And now I had like a business kind of. And I was like, yeah, definitely. I can do it. I'm sure I'll send you a proposal. And I remember

• 19:59Speaker 00

  meeting with my business partner, Tim, who has been with me since episode two. And I was, we put together this proposal and it was like $3,000 for each service. It was three services. And then he's like, why don't we just make it $10,000 a service? And let's just shoot for 30K. And I was like, okay. And it was a 30K monthly retainer. I was like, let's do it. And so I hop on a call with Jason and I give this pitch. And my second deal was $30,000 a month. And then it was just like boom. Then I got like Cara Golden of Hint Water for another huge contact, contract. Then we took over Hint Water's marketing. Then I got the CEO of One Hundred Got Junk, his personal brand and his company. Then it just like skyrocketed and I just kept getting client after client. So

• 20:42Speaker 00

  then six months after I started this side hustle, I had 30 paid employees that started paying everybody, right? As soon as we started making money across the world. I had the, you know, already full-time US employees. I was still working at Disney. Then I got on the cover of Podcast Magazine and interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And then I was like, all right, I gotta just take the leap. It's like, I'm like, I should have done this three months ago. And I quit my job and the rest is history.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  It's so insane. I love your story and there's so many parts you didn't even include, which is why everyone needs to go listen to your show so they can hear the full story. So one of the things that you hinted at is LinkedIn. Now, we have had hundreds of episodes on this podcast and we've only talked about LinkedIn a handful of times. Why do you love LinkedIn? Sell it to me for anyone who is like, wait, people still use that?

• 21:34Speaker 00

  Yeah. So LinkedIn is a really popular platform. There's 135 million active daily users on LinkedIn. And my favorite part about LinkedIn is that people are primed for sales conversations. So people are doing research and their buying journey on LinkedIn. People are used to being approached in the DMs. People want to be approached for relevant things related to their career and their job. They want to be helped and they want people to help them solve their problems. And so they're receptive to basically selling in the DMs, which is where a lot of the selling happens on LinkedIn. Whereas on Instagram, when you try to do the same thing, people get turned off because they're there for entertainment. They're there to check up on their family and not there for sales and

• 22:17Speaker 00

  business. So that's one reason. The other reason is because that algorithm is completely hackable still, right? It is completely possible to grow without the use of boosting and, you know, automation or bots or whatever. And Instagram is really, really hard to grow right now. There's a couple of ways that you can still grow on Instagram, but LinkedIn, it's like, once you understand the tactics, once you understand what works, what doesn't, and you understand the algorithm, no matter what your topic is, no matter how well you write, or whatever, you can figure out how to grow a following on that platform. So happy to dig into any of that.

• 22:50Speaker 01

  Okay, so let's talk about first, the following. So does your following matter? We know we've seen like popularity and people are so fixated on growing that number or under their name on all the platforms. Walk me through why you want to grow your audience on LinkedIn.

• 23:11Speaker 00

  Hey, young improffters. As an entrepreneur, my days are absolutely jam packed and I usually start my day off with a coffee or an energy drink. And then by 3:00 PM, I'm crashing. And that's why I wanted to tell you about MOD. MOD connects qualifying patients with licensed medical providers who could prescribe a once or twice daily modifinol drink designed to help keep you energized, focused, and alert throughout the day. Here's the thing, Yap fam. Energy drinks with caffeine temporarily block adenosine, which is a chemical that makes you feel tired. Once the caffeine wears off, it all comes crashing down at you at once. Modifinol works differently. It engages multiple pathways in your brain and it helps you achieve a steady energy and alertness for 10 to 12 hours. Modifinol

• 23:53Speaker 00

  was invented in the 1970s and has been used in high-stakes situations where concentration and alertness are critical, including by soldiers, pilots, and astronauts. Visit mod.com, that's M-O-D dot com for a free consultation and get 10% off your first order plus free shipping with promo code PROFITING. That's promo code PROFITING at mod.com. See their website for important safety information and we thank MOD for sponsoring the pod.

• 24:21Speaker 00

  What's up Yap fam? You guys know we love reading on this show, so I'm always excited when I find a book I genuinely think is worth sharing. Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love by Mark Pincus is one of those books. Mark is a legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor, and this fast-paced 170-page book is his playbook for testing ideas quickly, navigating uncertainty, and figuring out what's actually worth pursuing. One of my favorite concepts is what he calls the abyss. Those moments when you feel stuck or unsure of what's next. Instead of fearing uncertainty, he shows you how to use it as a tool for discovery. Right now, Mark is doing a buy one, get one offer for Yap listeners.

• 25:05Speaker 00

  Go to getmarksbook.com/ yap, buy one copy for $32 and get a second copy free. So you can keep one for yourself and give the second to a friend, future co-founder, or someone who needs a little push.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  What's up Yap gang? I recently had Gary Vee on the podcast and he told me something that really stuck with me. If you've got sales DNA, you've got to be paying attention to live selling because it's one of the biggest opportunities right now online. And that really got me curious, so I checked out an app that he told me about called Whatnot. I jumped into a live show and I instantly got it. The seller was showing products in real time, answering questions in the chat, and building a real relationship with the buyers. It didn't feel like boring shopping. It felt like a community. Whatnot is the largest live shopping marketplace in the country. And for entrepreneurs, the results are really hard to ignore. Sellers on Whatnot can sell up to 10x more than traditional marketplaces. And the number of sellers making over a million dollars a year on the platform

• 26:04Speaker 00

  has doubled. So if you've got products to sell and you're looking for a new way to reach customers, search Whatnot, W-H-A-T-N-O-T, in the App Store. Download it and you can start selling right away. That's Whatnot in the App Store. Yeah, so I think that getting a following is really important, but really it's engagement that matters. It's the amount of views that you get on your content and how much people engage, like, comment, share. That's what really matters because I've got a lot of clients that have come to me in the past. They might have a million followers, maybe they had like a big press push, or they were LinkedIn's top voice, or they started on LinkedIn 10 years ago when it was, no matter what you did, you went viral. And they have little engagement and they get no sales, they get no business from LinkedIn because nobody's

• 26:46Speaker 00

  actually seeing their stuff anymore. So it's really important to focus on engagement and understanding how to go viral on the feed rather than just getting connections, right? So in terms of why it's important to have a following, especially first connections on LinkedIn, because those are the only people that you can DM. And on LinkedIn, there's first connections and there's second and third connections. And second and third connections can see your feed content if people share your stuff or engage on your stuff. But you actually want to be able to DM people so that you can generate sales because all the action and connection and people actually clicking on links really happens in the DMs.

• 27:24Speaker 01

  So what would you say would be the first step? If somebody's listening to this and they're like, I have a very old profile on LinkedIn, it probably hasn't been updated. I'm an entrepreneur now. I haven't thought that I needed this. What would be the first step of getting re-acclimated on LinkedIn?

• 27:39Speaker 00

  Okay, so I think first of all, one of the things that I ask people to do is look up their look-alike profiles. So when I say look-alike profiles, what I really mean is people who have a following that you want. It's not necessarily your competitors. It's not necessarily anybody who's actually in your niche. It's people who have a following that you think would resonate with your product or offering. Okay? Because those are the people that you want to study and emulate and figure out how you're going to differentiate between their profiles, take what's working for them, and then improve on what you think could be better. The other thing that you can do with those look-alike profiles is you can see who recently liked and commented on their stuff. And this is really important because people go on LinkedIn, they go look for a job, they get a job, and then a lot

• 28:24Speaker 00

  of them never log back on. And the last thing that you want is dead profiles. So a lot of people make the mistake of just like typing in titles or doing searches on LinkedIn and then finding people that they think would be their target audience and inviting them, but those people never accept their connection requests because they don't log onto LinkedIn. So you want people who log onto LinkedIn and take viral action on posts, which means you want to find people who have a big engagement, engaged following, not just a big following. Again, people who get, you know, 200 likes, 300 likes plus on their posts and are getting engagement. And then you want to see who liked and commented on those posts and who shared those posts, which you can actually see. And you're going to want to invite those people into your network. And so I did this when I first started with Gary Vee. Everybody

• 29:09Speaker 00

  was calling me the young Gary Vee. I, you know, knew he had a podcast, knew he talked marketing, knew he was motivational. And I was like, okay, anybody who's going to like his stuff is going to like mine too. And I'd say like, hey, what's up? I noticed you engage with Gary Vee. If you like his content and podcasts, you're going to like mine too. I'd love to provide value on your feed. Let's connect. Nine out of 10 people would accept. Then I all of a sudden had like 10,000 of Gary Vee's fans. And little did I know that I was also triggering the algorithm. Because when you recently connect with someone, they see your content at the top of their feed for two weeks. If you DM with someone and they respond back, they see your content at the top of their feed for two weeks. Then if they like or comment or share, if they share it, they're like

• 29:52Speaker 00

  85% more likely to see your content. If they comment, they're 70% more likely to see your content. And so you just start this flywheel effect of bringing people in, DMing them, then they see your stuff, then you go viral on the feed, then, you know, people are connected with people who are similar to them. So if you are targeting someone, let's say who's in real estate, chances are they've got a lot of people in real estate who's in there following themselves. And when they engage on your content, those people see that engagement in their feed. And so then you get like a referral to all their following. And so that's really how you crush it on LinkedIn. You have to be strategic and invite people who take viral action and start this flywheel effect. And it's both content on the feed and this DM strategy. And so you can do this in a million ways.

• 30:37Speaker 00

  Another great way to sort of target active people on LinkedIn is that there's thousands of events that are going on every day and people are registering for these events. So if you, like, for example, let's say you have social media services. So if you look up social media events on LinkedIn, you can see all the events that are coming up, everybody who registered, who basically are raising their hand, I'm interested in this topic. You can register for that event and then DM every, then you get access to message everybody who's in that event. And they're active, they're interested in what you want, and it's relevant. And people will have that conversation with you because you're bringing up something relevant to them.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  Wow. Okay, so I'm obsessed with this. I love hacking the system, which you have absolutely done. So you brought up content in the feed. So a lot of people just visualize like the old school Facebook, right? When you could only see your own profile. And when we all freaked out that the news feed happened, the similar rollout happened with LinkedIn, where now you are supposed to be sharing content and value. Walk me through different types of posts that you publish that can show up in the feed so that people can start imagining what type of value can I add on that platform? And what does it look like compared to other platforms that I might already be on?

• 31:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, this is a really great question. So whenever we're talking about feed content on LinkedIn, we want to promote shareability. And there's two main types of posts that are shareable. There's motivational and inspirational, and then there's educational, and both of them work really well on LinkedIn. In fact, LinkedIn is now prioritizing educational content. So one of the things that you want to think about when you're when you're thinking about motivational content is telling stories. So things that work well is like transformational stories. I was poor, now I'm rich. I was fat, now I'm skinny, right? Showing that like transformation and what your learnings are, and giving a story. And it's really important on LinkedIn to remember what features work the best on that platform. So while Instagram

• 32:35Speaker 00

  is really video heavy, they want to compete with TikTok. LinkedIn is not the same. Actually, like vertical style videos that work really well on Instagram do very poorly on LinkedIn. And actually, you want to stick with a four by five sized graphic. So a very large, I call it poster size at Yap Media graphic on LinkedIn. If you guys are curious what that looks like, you can go to my profile on LinkedIn, and you'll see that almost every single post is like a four by five photograph on LinkedIn. And so typically, these motivational posts is either a story, or a quote, or a lesson that you're giving that is going to be relevant to everyone. And the reason why it's shareable is that everybody wants positivity. Everybody can relate to it. It's relevant to everyone. So if you're looking for a broad

• 33:19Speaker 00

  audience, and you might have a lower ticket offer, that doesn't need to have a very specific audience, you probably want to lean into motivational content that's going to go massively viral. That's the most viral type of content. And again, a photo works really well. And it doesn't matter if it's a long caption, a short caption, but when you're thinking about social media on any platform, prioritize being skimmable. Okay, so on LinkedIn specifically, they'll actually deprioritize you if you use chunky paragraphs, because LinkedIn knows that people are skimming through about nine posts. They're only going to stop and read if it's easy. It should be fun. You don't want to make people work, right? So you want to make it as easy as possible. So even if you're telling a story, it's line by line. And you're opening it up with a hook to get people hooked in to actually spend time on

• 34:04Speaker 00

  your post, increase dwell time. Click the learn more button, or keep reading button, and keep spending time on your post. That's really important. And then eventually, hopefully engage. So again, line by line style copy, that's they call it broitry on LinkedIn. And that's, that's actually the algorithm is prioritizing that kind of content. That's why you see all the influencers do that. So that's motivational. Yeah, got it.

• 34:29Speaker 01

  Oh, sorry. No, no, no, go ahead. I was just gonna say, what about sharing your other content? So that's a motivational content, which I love. What about your other kind of things that you're doing inside of your business or your work?

• 34:40Speaker 00

  Yes. So this is really important, especially for an entrepreneur. It's educational content, right? And so when you're thinking about educational content on LinkedIn, really, what you want to make sure is that you're not lecturing. So this is the biggest mistake that I see entrepreneurs do. They want to give everything away, the kitchen sink away. They want to give like, a blog post on their LinkedIn. But you have to realize that this is a digestible platform, and you can break apart, like, let's say, a blog post over five days instead. And when you're posting, you want to give one lesson, and you want to give room for people to add their opinion. So if somebody's saying like, I'm going to give you the top five ways that you can crush your LinkedIn, and they list every top five way, then people are gonna be like, alright, Hollis got to figure it out. Like, what's

• 35:25Speaker 00

  there for me to add? Or, okay, I'm just gonna keep moving, like she's a know it all. You want to give one, one kind of meaningful nugget that is actually going to help people whose problem that you solve. But then allow them to participate by not giving away the whole kitchen sink. Then people can be like, yeah, that point is okay, but what about XYZ, right? And so you don't want to give too much away in your post. I think that is a big problem that people have. So once you come out with content, and you're continually educating people, people are going to start engaging on your content. And then you've got to close the loop. You've got to retarget those people in the DMs. So you put out educational content about your offer. And you don't want to be salesy on LinkedIn. You actually get

• 36:10Speaker 00

  deprioritized if you're salesy. So you can't like, link out to your website in the caption. LinkedIn's goal is to keep users active and engaged on their site for as long as possible. So that means you can't link out to another site. You can put a link in the comments. But even if you use salesy language, LinkedIn is basically going to deprioritize your posts, because they have their own editorial agenda, and it's not to make you sales. So you have to be completely of service. And you want to use keywords. This is another point. You want to use keywords that are found in your target client's profiles, in your posts. So let's say, again, let's use a real estate example. If you're in real estate, you want to use real estate keywords in your posts, the same keywords that would be found in

• 36:54Speaker 00

  your target client's profiles, because LinkedIn will start to match profiles, and start to feed content to people who they think would be interested in your content based on their keywords. So it's important to infuse your post with keywords, so that it gets fed to the right people. Okay? Now, hopefully, people are engaging on your content. And once they do that, you can then DM them. So you can say, hey, I noticed that you recently liked my post about real estate. I would love to give you another tool. I've got this, you know, mortgage calculator. I'd love for you to check it out. And so then you can give them some sort of free resource. Once they respond back, oh, thank you so much. This was awesome. Oh, yeah, let me know if you have any questions. And you just want to, the goal is to just keep the conversation going until you've built up enough social currency

• 37:38Speaker 00

  with the person that you can make an ask. Let's hop on a call. Here's a forum if you want to learn more information and book a call, right? So then you want to bring them off platform and close them. So really, that's the goal. It's getting them from the feed, starting a conversation in the DMs, and then bringing them off platform so that you can close the deal.

• 37:56Speaker 01

  So I love this. I think that most people are terrified to try to sell to people via DMs. Probably because we've all experienced like, that one girl from high school who started a skincare business, and is now reaching out. Do you have any tips of gaining comfortability in terms of like, reaching out and having that type of language around how we can close a deal?

• 38:22Speaker 00

  Yeah. So I think first things first, when you're reaching out to somebody, you always want to think of the law of likability. And you want to think of common ground. So let's talk about the law of likability. People like people who are like them. And that means that you need to find your similarities. So what is it about you that's similar? So are you both powerful women? Did you both go to the same school? Are you both from the same city? Do you both like the same influencers? Are you both, you know, MBA grads? What is it that you have in common? And you want to give people a compliment. People like people who compliment them, right? People also like people who ask them for advice, who ask them questions. And so you want to think about all the ways that you can become more likable.

• 39:04Speaker 00

  And so one of the ways that you can use the law of likability is, let's say, you're a executive coach for females, for female executives. So you would go on somebody's profile, let's say you're targeting anybody who's in chief, because you know, all those people are qualified. And you can go to them and say, hey, so nice to meet you. I saw your profile, and you look like somebody who's a blazing, powerful female in the space. I'd love to connect with you. And so you're giving them a compliment. You can also say something like, it looks like we both have a lot in common. We're both really crushing it in the female entrepreneurship space. I'd love to connect with you, right? So you're giving them a compliment. You're showing that, hey, I'm like you too. Let's connect. That person is likely going to accept

• 39:48Speaker 00

  because you've given them a compliment, you've shown that you have some sort of common ground. And again, you can use like, any sort of attribute that they have in their profile to set that common ground. And LinkedIn's really unique from other platforms, because there are all these different search filters, where you can basically look, say like, okay, I want all the titles of VP in California, and you can find everybody with that criteria, and then come up with some language that is relevant for all those people that you can just sort of customize, as you go along and invite those people to your network. So that's one way. And then let's say, if like, you don't have a lot of accolades, and you're just coming up, instead, you can ask people for advice. Hey, you look like a really strong,

• 40:30Speaker 00

  powerful female. I'd love to connect with you and, you know, get your feedback, and get your advice on XYZ, or I'd love your thoughts around XYZ. Now, if the person's really famous, this is not going to work, because they're getting bombarded with messages like this. But if it's just somebody who's like, in corporate, they're going to be happy to have a conversation with you, because probably not many people are reaching out, asking for advice. And people love giving their advice and showcasing their value and expertise.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  I love this. I am smiling so big. I was recently on a girl's trip and one of my friends has this beautiful British accent and she looks to this guy and we needed an extra golf cart for something and she was like, "You look like a man who could get things done." And like the guy like gets like all excited and he's like, "I can. Yes, I can." And I was like, "I need to take that line with me everywhere." Because all of a sudden, he was like proud to help us after two people had already told us no. It was just so funny. So I love this because I totally agree with it.

• 41:28Speaker 00

  The other thing that, and you just alluded to it, the other thing that you want to make sure so that you don't turn people off in the DMs. I'm sending thousands of DMs a day and 99% of people say thank you and are appreciative. That is not normal and it's because I'm doing little things to make sure that it doesn't come across spammy or insulting. So your friend said, "You look like someone." She didn't say "you are," right? So if I, if you're too direct, for example, somebody, let's say, somebody engages on my post about my LinkedIn masterclass, we might approach them, "You look like somebody who may be interested in our LinkedIn masterclass." Then they'll be like, "Yeah, you know, I'm kind of am interested, blah, blah, blah." If I said,

• 42:09Speaker 00

  "Hey, you're interested in my LinkedIn masterclass. I'd love to XYZ." They'd be like, "I'm not interested in your class. Who are you to tell me, who are you to tell me what I like, what I don't like? Get out of here," you know? So you seem like, you may be like, you could, you, you, you seem like the type of person who would XYZ, right? So you just want to make sure that you soften it a little bit so that it's not so direct because people like to prove you wrong, right? So you want to make sure there's no way that they can prove you wrong.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  Yes, I love this. One of your gifts, one of your like secret sauce things that you are so good at is branding. Talk to me about how branding plays well with LinkedIn. What does that look like and how do they kind of coexist and complement each other?

• 42:51Speaker 00

  Yeah. So when you're thinking about building a personal brand, you want to be so consistent that people think of you like an old friend. This is what I always say. Like you want people to think of you like they know you without you even knowing them. So for me on LinkedIn, I've done a good job of this to the point where if somebody trolls me, I'll have like all my fans being like, "You don't know Hala. Don't tell her this, blah, blah, blah." But they've never even met me before, you know? And they have no idea like if I'm a good person, a bad person, but it's just because I've been consistent in all my actions. And so essentially branding is consistency. And if you are consistent in every single action that you take on LinkedIn, that means your profile, your bio, every single caption, every single comment, every single video content,

• 43:33Speaker 00

  every single DM, they all have to be consistent. And that means you need to step back and understand what you want to be perceived of. What do you want to represent as yourself? So one of the exercises that we do in our LinkedIn masterclass is we come up with voice guidelines. And essentially, it's like a breakdown of your personality. So first of all, what are your values? Your values are your decision-making compass, right? So when things go bad, how do you know what you stand for? Because that's when you can't think logical. And that's why it's important to understand what your values are as a person. And so you come up with your values. The next thing is personality. So your personality actually reflects your audience, not yourself. You want your audience

• 44:16Speaker 00

  to feel magnetic towards you and people like people who are like them. So you need to reflect them, not yourself necessarily. Maybe there's one element that showcases your personal personality, but really you want to mirror the way that your audience acts. And so you want to think about your audience demographics, what's their age, what's their gender, what's their interests, what do they sound like, what, you know, what other influencers are resonating with them, what do they sound like? And you kind of want to mirror that when you're thinking about your personality and your tone and the way that you come across. The other thing that you want to think about is your transformation, the impact that you want to make with your audience. This is extremely important. So essentially, it's like your four or five key messages that you're

• 44:58Speaker 00

  going to tell over and over and over again in a hundred different ways. So for me, you're never too old to learn something new. You know, sky is the limit. There's, life is limitless. You can do anything. You're always able to grow and learn. Continuous learning is extremely important. So there's a few messages that I just say over and over and over again in a million different ways. And this is what I stand for now. This is why when I share a picture of myself on LinkedIn, I don't represent Hala Taha anymore and I'm extremely shareable. People share my picture automatically because I represent hope for them. I represent learning for them. I represent motivation for them. And so they're happy to share my face, which takes time. Once you're consistent and you feel like an old friend and you represent more than just your face,

• 45:42Speaker 00

  you're now your brand, right? And so you've got to be consistent in those messages. And then the last part is your delivery method. How are you going to make that impact? What are you going to do? For me, I've got a podcast. I'm going to share micro content. I'm going to share motivational posts, educational posts, and so on. And so you've got to think about what is your delivery method to make good on that impact. So that's sort of what I take people through my masterclass. And then you're really set up for success. If you pair that messaging and branding with viral strategies and engagement strategies, there's all these different hacks on LinkedIn, there's no way that you're not going to be successful.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  Okay, so Hala, tell me about this masterclass that you have because as I'm listening to this, one, I need to sign up personally and have my entire team sign up. But two, my audience needs this information. Like you have said so many words where I am like, "I need more." So talk to me about your masterclass that you have all about LinkedIn.

• 46:36Speaker 00

  Yes. So I have a LinkedIn masterclass. It's a two-day workshop. And essentially, I take you through everything that you need to know about the LinkedIn program. So we start with your personal brand, walking through what I just told you. You're going to have your voice guidelines, you're going to figure out your values, your personality, your impact, your brand persona, the relationship that you have with your audience. Then I go over the psychology of design. So I was started as a graphic designer. I think I told you guys in the beginning of the story about how I used to train everybody, had a graphic design, video edit. So I go over the 20% that you need to know to absolutely crush on LinkedIn without hiring a graphic designer, just using Canva, understanding, you know, what kind of resonates with people, what sizes you need to use, what features are appropriate for LinkedIn. And I go over the psychology of design. Then I go over

• 47:19Speaker 00

  copywriting. Copywriting is the hardest thing to teach other people. I give you my best in terms of what tips to use for copywriting. I give you viral copywriting templates that we use at Yap Media. I'm running dozens of influencers behind the scenes on LinkedIn. Essentially, most of the influencer accounts on LinkedIn are run by Yap Media. So I'm giving you the same viral templates that we use for them in the class. Then on day two, it's all about the algorithm. So we're going through the algorithm in detail. There's a four-step algorithm. I'm teaching you everything that you need to know about how to hack the algorithm. We're going to talk about the golden hour and a half, what to do in your first 90 minutes after posting to make sure that your post does well. I give you all the different engagement hacks. Then we go over storytelling,

• 48:05Speaker 00

  creating your content calendar and getting really tactical. And then lastly, sales. So I go over DM strategies, invite strategies, how to create different sales templates, how to find your target audience, all the different hacks that you can use with search, with events, with groups, and so on. And I basically teach you how to then convert your following into leads and eventually sales. So it's an end-to-end program, two-day workshop, live with me. I like to do it live because I feel like it's important to give the people an opportunity to ask questions. And then when you're done, you can join my monthly mastermind where basically everybody is supporting each other's content. I'm constantly giving you guys feedback. And a lot of the guests that come on my podcast do free training. So it's like, we have like Jason Fladline doing a webinar

• 48:50Speaker 00

  training. We had Ken Ozawoski doing a video marketing training and so on. And so it's like, I keep leveling you guys up and so that you guys can continue to improve. Because the sales piece is something that we need to keep on working so that we can really just keep growing. So the next class is September 6th and 7th. Jenna has her own code that you guys can use for 20% off. And I'd love to see you guys there. I'd love to teach you guys how to crush it on LinkedIn.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  So where can everybody find out more? This is incredible. And I am so excited to be a student of yours because I am like obsessing over. People need to understand that when you can get these templates and strategies, you can skyrocket your success in a massive way and in a short amount of time. Instead of trying to figure it out on your own or feeling like you're wasting your precious time, where can we learn this?

• 49:43Speaker 00

  Yes, you can go to yapmedia.io/course and you can use code Jenna for 20% off.

• 49:50Speaker 01

  Amazing. I am so impressed with you. I am obsessed with your story. I love seeing you on the charts. Where can everybody find out more about you, connect with you, listen to your podcast, find out about your network? Give me all the places.

• 50:02Speaker 00

  Well, first of all, Jenna, you did such a good job with this conversation. I've always admired you as another female podcaster. So congratulations on all your success. A longtime fan of your podcast. If you guys are interested in learning from me on my podcast, it's called Young and Profiting. Like I mentioned earlier, it's a top 10 business podcast, top five entrepreneurship podcast. I interview brilliant people. Jenna's about to come on. Really excited about that interview. I've interviewed people like Alex Hermosy and Grant Cardone and Damon John. And I just love to talk everything, human behavior, marketing, entrepreneurship. And so if you're a small business owner, a new entrepreneur, a side hustler, you're going to love my show. So I'd love for you to check out Young and Profiting podcast. And if you guys are interested in my

• 50:46Speaker 00

  LinkedIn masterclass, that's the other way that I can help you really level up on LinkedIn. I've transformed hundreds of people's profiles on LinkedIn. And I really started this because I have this great agency, but it's really white glove, high-ticket services. And I wanted to be able to help more people. So that's why I started this masterclass. It's the same training that I give my team to help all of our clients. So if you want that same access, you can join the LinkedIn masterclass. Again, it's yapmedia.io/course. And I've got a special code for all of Jenna's listeners. You can use code Jenna for 20% off. And if you guys want to find me on social media, you can find me on LinkedIn by searching my name. It's Hala Taha. And I'm also on Instagram and Threads, @yapwithhala.

• 51:28Speaker 01

  Thank you so much for coming on the Gold Digger Podcast. This was an absolute dream.

• 51:32Speaker 00

  Thank you so much.