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One of the questions I’m asked the most about when it comes to creating content for your personal brand is this:

“What tools do you use to quickly create content?”

So glad you asked. Here’s the quick and dirty run down:

1/ AuthoredUp

I’ve tried tons of LinkedIn content-writing software. Many are powered by AI, many will source “viral content” inspiration for you, and many offer nifty things like the ability to auto-create carousels. Ultimately, though, AuthoredUp is the one I love. (and trust me, I’ve kissed a lot of frogs before getting to my AuthoredUp prince). For starters, it’s a Chrome Extension that sits on top of LinkedIn, so I don’t have to log in to multiple places.

It also allows you to preview content and provides great “hooks” and “closers” to boost engagement. I think the software’s lack of 50 million bells and whistles is what has made it outperform other tools I’ve used. It’s focused on being the best it can be at ONE thing—engaging content.

Check out some of my favorite features here:

🚨 Huge Opportunity for You…

Speaking of AuthoredUp, I’m doing a LinkedIn Live on October 23rd with the company’s founder, Ivana Todorovic. According to LinkedIn's rich treasure chest of data-backed insights across all users, she is THE reigning voice of what is working on LinkedIn. In short, if you’re feeling stuck with engagement or impressions, she’s the one who will show you the science of how to break through.

So, as she and I plan to make this free training to be worth your time, I want to hear from YOU:

💡What do you want to know about LinkedIn content that you want to ask an expert about?

Our conversation will be very active, and I can even invite you into the live room. Just reply to this email with your question and I'll send you a guest link.

Moving right along…

2/ A folder on my phone called “Photos that Work”

Listen, it’s pretty unavoidable that the content that performs the best on LinkedIn will be a status featuring a photo of you. It’s that simple. I very rarely post designed Canva graphics, because they’ll never work as well as photos of me. And that goes for every single person, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, hair color, tattoos, or any other reason you’d convince yourself that you shouldn’t post a picture of yourself.

The Bottom Line…

↳ People like to see people. It’s what social media is built on.

Having said all that, without an arsenal of pictures to fall back on, I find myself scratching my head, trying to find some when it comes time to produce content. This is why whenever I’m “gussied up” for a meeting (which could just mean I brushed my hair and am not wearing a sweatshirt - pregnancy life!) I take a picture and store it in my “Photos That Work” album. If you make it a habit to take a picture a day and store it here, you will have endless “grab and go” photos to use.

3/ A video captioning software or a video editing wingwoman or wingman

If you’ve been following me, you know that video is having its time in the sun on LinkedIn right now and that I couldn’t advocate more for you to use short-form video to boost engagement (Again, something Ivana and I will discuss). But how do you caption it, add in cool graphics, and get it ready for prime time without hours of editing?

Enter my favorite video tool, Opus.pro, which uses AI to caption your video, add in graphics, pull out a viral hook, and package it for you in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.

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Pretty cool right?

Now, sometimes, I don’t even have the time or mental bandwidth to use my robot editor, so I use an actual video editor to whom I can hand the most rough-and-ready raw video, and he sends me back gold. I found him on Fiverr a few years ago and now we have a great working relationship. I advocate having one of these video wingpersons in your back pocket.

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The Recap

As simple as these 3 tools are, they save me hours a week in content creation and, ultimately, translate to me creating about 12 pieces of content in a 2-hour block. If you have questions, I’ll share more about this on LinkedIn Live on October 23rd. Just reply back to this email so I can answer them!

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What Else Is On My Mind...

1. Content As a Product

As I approach maternity leave, I’m constantly thinking about ways to monetize my brain that don’t involve my time. Paid sponsorships are a great way to do this — whether it be social content, newsletter content, or more (no, you don’t need a huge following, either)!

Remember, when you sell your knowledge for a living, content is part of your IP, and you just have to get creative when it comes to approaching sponsors. Someone I’ve learned a LOT from in this pursuit is Justin Moore - whose “Creator Wizard” newsletter has so much free advice it should be illegal. (And in the spirit of full disclosure, no, I’m not getting sponsored by Justin to say this, nor am I even a student of his - just a very invested fan who has seen returns).

2. Black Friday

Think Black Friday is just for consumer product brands? Then, you may be leaving money on the table. Take a look at your pipeline. Who’s been in “Prospect Purgatory” for months now (hemming and hawing) that could use a push? What can you “throw in” to your offer as a holiday special that could push them over the finish line?

You are an expert. Your time, knowledge, and experience should NEVER be discounted. But they can be complimented. Do you have a free mini-course to add? A book you wrote that you can bundle in? Perhaps an “invest now and secure this rate for next year, too” guarantee you can make? Use this “limited” time special to warm up some of those leads who have gone a bit cold.