Sonja Silveira

I've said it before and will say it again: automated messaging on LinkedIn is against the Terms of Service, and no matter what the vendors say, they have built an empire on putting your account, and potentially your livelihood as a result, at risk. It ain't worth it. and the companies who make these tools have made impressive tools, and I have an entire article about how LinkedIn should play more nicely with third-party tools, but is it really worth the non-zero risk of getting your entire account banned because you automated your outreach or used a tool with non-official API? I think not. and this is coming from someone who used to be a fan of a lot of these tools, whether or not I personally used them, but has seen too many people get banned for using them...including the companies themselves.

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I'm excited to be hosting the latest episode of Cisive's podcast: Don’t Get Played! 🎙️ Alongside fellow hosts Matt Jaye and Carlo Solórzano, we explore trends shaping the background screening industry. From transportation to healthcare to financial services, we’re digging into the innovations, emerging technology, and best practices that help organizations hire with confidence. At the end of the day, these conversations are about something bigger: building trust in the people we bring into our organizations and supporting safer, stronger workplaces for everyone. 🔐 Grateful to be part of the discussion and excited for the episodes ahead. Tune in to the latest episode! https://lnkd.in/eZNQaApA

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For years, the internal communications team at Sprout Social was doing *everything* internal communicators are good at — crafting meaningful updates, rallying teams, + trying to keep everyone aligned. But like all too many comms teams, they were doing it with tools designed for marketers, not employees. Open rates were the only signal, and employees marked emails as spam. Lists were manually maintained (woof) as employees joined and left the company. Comms had to be copy-and-pasted by hand to other channels. They needed something different — not MORE emails, but more strategic comms. So, here’s the pivot that changed everything: • they replaced a marketer-centric email tool with a platform built for internal communications. • they integrated with Workday so people data stayed fresh without admin overhead. • they shifted from biweekly to weekly newsletters because the cadence finally felt strategic — not exhausting. • they consolidated fragmented team newsletters into one tailored experience using segmentation + customization. • they started sending all internal emails — including leadership messages — from a central place with better analytics. The impact was real: ✔️ readership on key leadership messages increased ✔️ engagement rose across internal emails ✔️ manual list management disappeared ✔️ global audiences saw messages at the right local times ✔️ the comms team finally had data that helped them refine content and steer strategy with confidence. As Stephanie puts it (and I paraphrase because it’s worth quoting): “Communication is about relevance, not noise. Workshop gave us the tools to be relevant — and the data to prove it.” If you’ve ever felt like your internal comms efforts are working hard but not working smart, this is the kind of transformation that proves otherwise. And if you’re ready to move from things that feel like blasts and busywork into to more strategic comms? Look into Workshop + let's talk. ✨

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This one is worth a watch! Cindy Anderson and Lee Odden in a wide-ranging conversation on thought leadership. Cindy is a wonderful subject for these interviews, because she's seen it all--from building out the thought leadership function at the Project Management Institute to overseeing some of the most consequential research today at IBM. She literally wrote the book on the ROI of thought leadership. A favorite quote as Cindy teases out the difference between two often-confused concepts: "Content marketing is designed to generate a lead. Thought leadership is designed to help executives make a better business decision. Because we think if we can help them make a better business decision using data and insight that are independent from a product or service, that will generate trust and authority and credibility--which lends itself to a future sale, but not directly the way content marketing does."

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If you’re not sure what to say on LinkedIn (or where to even begin) this might help. In a recent conversation with Christine Orchard on Marketers Do Coffee, we talked about how I approach storytelling for founders and teams. But honestly, this applies to anyone trying to show up more online. For example: → Why do you do what you do? → What part of your work actually lights you up? → How is it helping people? → What’s one great thing that happened last week and why? These questions are simple, but they work. You don’t need a script or a 10-slide deck. You just need a starting point. And the great thing about social? If you don’t love what you post—people usually forget it pretty quickly anyway. So really, it’s about starting where you are, as you are. Your audience will find you. 🎧 Full episode is up—just search Marketers Do Coffee on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform or go to the link in the comments.

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For anyone still treating accessibility as an afterthought—check out this guide. It’s actionable, audience-first, and fully aligned with upcoming regulations. https://lnkd.in/e9zKvUuH

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After 25+ years navigating tech industry cycles, I know that the strongest opportunities emerge when experienced professionals team up. I’m excited to announce I’m partnering with Cherie Woodward, a former mentor and long-time colleague, to offer strategic technical writing and communications services. Together, we have 50+ years of combined experience managing enterprise-scale documentation initiatives, leading teams, working with SMEs and cross-functional teams, and delivering content that bridges engineering complexity with user clarity. We worked together most recently at the KYO Group. What we bring to the table: - Strategy and Leadership: End-to-end documentation program leadership— from process and ops strategy through delivery. - Content Transformation: Content migration, data conversion, and legacy documentation modernization (full documentation refresh cycles). - Process and Operations: Release management, version control, multi-product documentation coordination, and toolchain implementation. - Team Augmentation: Documentation team scaling, process optimization, and cross-functional collaboration with Engineering, Product, and Support. - Industry Expertise: SaaS, AI, telecommunications, hardware, and enterprise software. Our toolkit includes: MadCap Flare, Confluence, GitHub, JIRA, FrameMaker, Markdown, REST APIs, Swagger/OpenAPI, and modern doc-as-code workflows within Agile/Scrum frameworks. We’re equipped for both short-term projects (documentation sprints, content audits, release support, training) and long-term engagements (documentation program builds, team augmentation, strategic consulting). If your organization needs to: - Clear or modernize a documentation backlog - Support release cycles with high-quality content - Migrate legacy content to new platforms - Establish or refine documentation strategy - Access interim or fractional documentation leadership Let’s talk. We’ve successfully navigated tight deadlines, complex technical environments, and cross-functional challenges—and we’re ready to help you solve yours. #TechnicalWriting #TechnicalCommunication #Documentation #ContentStrategy #ContentMigration #DocumentationRefresh #ProcessOptimization #SaaS #AI #TechPartnership #OpenToWork

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