Openness and Co-creation: How a Top Manager Maintains a Personal Social Media Account
How an honest and ironic personal LinkedIn profile story helped the co-founder and COO of Yandex.Cloud find partners and like-minded people from various countries.
"First Who, Then What": Why Enthusiastic People Can Do Anything
One day, Oleg Koverznev, the co-founder and COO started considering ways to use his personal LinkedIn profile as an effective tool to find like-minded people and attract partners throughout international markets. With this task in mind, he turned to the Social Selling agency ModumUp.
Oleg came to us fully open to a collaborative relationship. From the first moment, he saw us as a team, which was quite surprising and unusual for me. I felt that it wasn't a typical 'contractor-customer' relationship. We weren't just another outsourced company; we were partners , and it's a great feeling.
At the beginning of the project, the team drafted a strategy to develop Oleg's personal LinkedIn profile: we set the positioning, agreed on content topics and prepared the target audience portrait. However, during the first two weeks, we realized the fundamental principle of this particular project is co-creation.
The team almost instantly agreed on stretching content plan limits. Post topics popped up naturally in our weekly calls while we immersed ourselves in hours of deep conversations; it was a highly creative process
The team almost instantly agreed on stretching content plan limits. Post topics popped up naturally in our weekly calls while we immersed ourselves in hours of deep conversations; it was a highly creative process
The creative process has several stages: conducting an interview, writing a draft post, and discussing the text over a follow-up call. Whenever we prepare a text, we let thoughts flow naturally and don't limit ourselves to a standard approach or technique. That's precisely why Oleg's posts are interesting, emotional and sincere, which leads to lively discussions in the comments. After all, the reader can always tell the difference when a person wants to share their profound thoughts and ideas, or whether they do it only to solve a business problem.
Building a Connection: Why It's Important to Talk to Your Audience as a Friend and Partner
We chose to create a transparent image on social networks. Not too much expertise, communicating with the audience as equals, and not being afraid of admitting mistakes. Oleg was completely honest about his experiences and shared actual problems and ways to solve them
He wrote about his principles when building and effectively managing large teams. He explained why he values teamwork and why mistakes are better than inaction.
If you think about it, content's only value is what a person has experienced or is currently experiencing in their professional life. The value grows when the content reads easily and has a touch of humor; there's no room for lecturing and unsolicited advice.
Oleg and the Team: Why a Top Manager Should Talk About Their Employees on Social Media
After the pandemic, society has changed its perspective on what a leader really is. People are tired of top managers who rule with an iron fist. They need leaders who possess humble qualities, are capable of self-irony and reflection, and are ready to listen to their team's opinions. They want to see top managers who are genuine and relatable; Another reason why personal branding is coming to the forefront.
It was important for Oleg to talk about his team, how it's built and how proud he is of them. Therefore, we tried to avoid general concepts and conveyed his demeanor through personal stories. We posted about Rashid Ivaev, the New Country Launch Manager at Yandex.Cloud and it received a warm welcome from the audience. Oleg shared his appreciation of working with Rashid, highlighted his expertise, and spoke about his career path at Yandex.Cloud. Plus, we've seamlessly woven some company news into this story; where the company is heading and what markets it will enter.
Sincerity in Theory and Practice: How to Gain Audience Trust
A project's success largely depends on the team's ability to find common touch points. Hitting the right spot was a challenge initially because I was used to clients 'hunting' for prospects. After a couple of interviews, we figured out how to build a solid image and decided on the message we would broadcast. The most effective approach was revealing his personality, and only then could we carefully promote the company and its product.
Awareness of a person's position in life, views, hobbies, and interests makes it easier for us to relate to them. Not every leader has the determination to speak publicly on non-professional topics. This makes sense since people may feel vulnerable letting strangers into their personal lives. However, if a person is ready to open up, those who share the same values will follow.
Oleg was brave enough to talk not only about professional but personal too, and it paid off. This is how posts about conscious parenting, traveling, and family leisure started appearing on his profile.
Oleg was brave enough to talk not only about professional but personal too, and it paid off. This is how posts about conscious parenting, traveling, and family leisure started appearing on his profile.
From Monologue to Dialog on Social Networks: Why You Must Reply to Comments
The ability to listen and support the conversation is highly valued on social networks, the same as in life dialogues. A profound desire to understand what your interlocutor is trying to convey, finding ways to solve their problems, and the ability to reply to comments correctly are also essential factors in successful personal profile development.
From Monologue to Dialog on Social Networks: Why You Must Reply to Comments
The ability to listen and support the conversation is highly valued on social networks, the same as in life dialogues. A profound desire to understand what your interlocutor is trying to convey, finding ways to solve their problems, and the ability to reply to comments correctly are also essential factors in successful personal profile development.
Before the project launch, Oleg had influencers from international IT companies among his followers. As soon as we started regular posts, the influencers started showing high engagement with their likes and comments. Oleg is open and positive even when he doesn't know someone personally, so he showed initiative and replied to comments easily and naturally.
Due to high activity on his profile, people within the professional community started noticing Oleg's posts in their feeds. This led to an increased connection rate and rapid audience growth.
As a Result
Over three months, Oleg received 21 Yandex.Cloud partnership requests, three potential clients, fifteen reactions to open job vacancies, and four sales proposals from startups. In addition, an international publishing house representative interviewed Oleg and offered to author a course on cloud technologies at an international business school.
- co-founder and COO of Yandex.CloudThe Social Selling team's task is to enhance a person's image while staying true to how a person really is. They need to increase coverage and ensure more target audience representatives see it on social networks. We must also remain honest by correctly highlighting what's interesting, the thinking process, and professional qualities. The primary task is to remain open-minded and allow a person to reach out to more people while retaining their individuality.
- Content manager, ModumUp AgencyIn Oleg's example, I was once again convinced that openness, goodwill, and the balance of personal and expert content, work most efficiently
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