The Social Soul: Mastering Your Personal and Professional Brand with Intentionality and Authenticity

By Robert Napoli

The Millenial and GenZ generations understand social media.
They have grown up in an age of hyperconnectivity, but many don’t do a great
job at understanding or blending their social presence effectively as a tool to
show who they are, their why, their value, and the impact they can create as
job candidates or as business owners. I call this our Social Soul. It’s
how we show our true authentic selves online with intentionality. It shows an
individual’s love and passion for what they do, and the value they offer to
their various networks of friends, current and potential colleagues,
prospective partners, managers, direct reports, or investors. For
entrepreneurs, the most effective way to use social selling isn’t obvious, even
if they have come of age in a hyperconnected world. This book will educate and
inspire readers to take action on the most powerful and useful social networks
to date. You will learn through thoughtful examples applicable to future
platforms that can be used to better connect in pursuit of entertainment,
clients, networking, and business success in a way that translates across
cultural borders.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Winsome Entertainment Group
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781513694689

Robert Napoli

Rob is an accomplished trainer, speaker, entrepreneur, and Chief Marketing Officer based in Brooklyn, NYC. Originally from the Midwest, his journey has taken me from my hometown in Kansas City, Missouri to New York City by way of Milan, Italy. My career started in recruitment within Fortune 500/Forbes 100 companies before moving to Milan, Italy to pursue a Masters in International Multi-Channel Marketing, where I also spent two years working for a global e-commerce startup and coaching professional American Football. I moved to New York years ago and have to work for a large global corporate before transitioning over to training and development for startup and growth-stage founders. Now, Rob is a Speaker, Trainer, and Chief Marketing Officer for a B2B SaaS scale-up.  Rob is the host of 'The Bear Necessities of Entrepreneurship' Podcast and has delivered hundreds of workshops, keynotes, and trainings both in-person and virtually across 27+ countries to 200+ companies/founders and created and built Virtual Programs that spanned 9+ countries including Asia Pac, South Asia, Middle East, North and South America, Europe, and Africa.

Book preview

PRAISE FOR THE SOCIAL SOUL

Rob's Social Soul reads like a good friend peering over your shoulder, gently guiding you as you try to precariously navigate your social media. These days, it isn't enough to just 'be online' you have to establish a presence, and an authentic one at that, for it to be of any value personally or professionally. The Social Soul provides you the tools and tips that will allow you to shine in the virtual world.

Phil Delvecchio,

Founder, Hapday Group

In 'The Social Soul', Rob helps even the most social media-resistant navigate the complexity of this increasingly important world. This guide is uniquely insightful because it is not teaching you to manipulate the masses (the way many do), but instead to build powerful relationships. If you've ever thought social media is shallow or purely self-serving, Rob will show you how to harness its power to create meaningful impact in a way that is authentic to your values.

Kasey Jones

Founder and Chief Growth Strategist A Better Jones

Rob promotes the idea of ENGAGEMENT. Well, he’s spot on. You can’t bore people into buying your product. We don’t recommend anything; services, businesses, movies, restaurants, cities or people that lull us into a catatonic state. Proactive, smart, authentic engagement is the singular ingredient to ensure success today. Rob has meticulously crafted the philosophy and linear guide everyone should follow to achieve engagement mastery.

Brian Burkhart

Founder & Chief Word Guy SquarePlanet Presentations

Very inspiring and informative. A must-read for any founder and brand enthusiast, interested to learn about how to build up and foster a value-added network while authentically engaging ones own social media audience.

Luisa El Bouyahyani

Co-Founder and CEO LuBu | Lunchbuddies

In this honest, straight to the point and very insightful book, Rob Napoli takes his readers through the social media rollercoaster. Not only does he give everyone on board an educational and entertaining perspective into the realm of social media and how to use its various channels and features. This book also draws a very clear and personal picture about the author himself and shows that life, and all its ups, downs, and major turns, determines who you are and where you stand also in the online world.

Dr. Tarik El Bouyahyani

Co-Founder

LuBu | Lunchbuddies

Winsome Entertainment Group LLC

The Social Soul

© 2021 Rob Napoli

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator: at the address below:

Rob Napoli Brooklyn, NY

[e-mail]

Ordering Information:

Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, educational institutions, and others. For details, contact Rob Napoli above.

Printed in the United States of America First Edition

ISBN 978-1-5136-9029-2

Publisher: Winsome Entertainment Group LLC

To my beautiful and loving wife who has always challenged me to find my passion and be the best version of myself.

To my family, who as crazy as we are, have instilled in me a passion and drive to grow and push the boundaries, to live with respect, integrity, and a hard work ethic.

To my three brothers (yes, my parents thought it fun to have four boys and I am a twin so you can imagine the food bill) as we have been through so much, yet we always remembered to support each other. To my first business partner and one of my best friends who took a chance on starting something great with me that led to some of the most impactful and meaningful growth, both personally and professionally.

To my personal board of advisors who have impacted me in so many ways and gave life to this project.

And finally, to all those in my #squad that have helped build and shape me into the man I am today.

These amazing people, experiences, and opportunities have led me to undertake this project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRAISE FOR THE SOCIAL SOUL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: SOCIAL OVERSATURATION

Chapter 2: UNPACKING YOUR SOCIAL SOULCASE

Chapter 3: PERSONAL / PROFESSIONAL PARADOX

Chapter 4: FROM SOCIAL SELL TO SOCIAL SOUL

Chapter 5: CULTIVATING YOUR BRAND

Chapter 6: RISE UP VALUES

Chapter 7: STRIKING A RESONANT CHORD AND OVERCOMING FEAR

Chapter 8: CREATING AUTHENTIC INFLUENCE

Chapter 9: CREATING ACTIONABLE AND ORIGINAL CONTENT

Chapter 10: YOUR SOULFUL SUCCESS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RECOMMENDED READING / RESOURCES

FOREWORD

Every once in a while, I am fortunate enough to meet that rare individual who combines intelligence, care, and insightfulness along with positive energy. These are the people that are natural givers, offering their wisdom without asking for anything in return. While it is true these are often the most successful people you will meet, it is clear that a simple definition of success is not the end goal. The end goal is to build and be a part of a diverse community of those that share in their passions. Passion for business, passion for making the world a bit better, passion for helping the person standing nearby to reach their own goals.

The author of The Social Soul, Rob Napoli, is just such an individual. As a natural giver, the wisdom he shares in The Social Soul is an embodiment of the type of person he is. Bring positive energy. Be authentic. Build relationships. Give.

I first met Rob at Startup Boost in NYC, a pre-accelerator that I joined when first beginning to build Phin. As a mentor with marketing savvy, Rob dedicated his time week after week to guiding us new founders. We established an immediate connection and became fast friends. I have to be fully transparent: I have largely been a taker in this relationship, as Rob’s wisdom has proven to be invaluable as Phin has progressed through its various stages as a startup. I look back at those early days when we sat late into the evening talking about how to bring Phin to life as pivotal to the company that has emerged. As a for-profit, for good certified BCorp, Phin is not your typical startup. Rob not only got the mission of Phin, but he also helped galvanize the early message of what we offered. As we progressed, his guidance was instrumental in building our sales systems while establishing a social media community based on authenticity and giving.

What fascinated me as I read early drafts of The Social Soul was how authentic it was to Rob’s approach to relationships. There are few authors that have the depth of understanding of how important an authentic, yet curated, presence is for business leaders. Many people are good practitioners of curating an authentic social media presence and strong network, but few have the ability to unpack it and coach others on doing it well. Consider a renowned artist teaching others how to paint masterpieces. This is what the author is able to do by identifying the Social Soul and sharing it with us. Using this metaphor, Rob is able to reveal and communicate the secrets to his authentic online presence. It is a subtle art to share and engage effectively on different platforms, with the added dilemma that there are no shortcuts. Only discipline and consistency can get you there. The author has taken his well-known energy, merged that with the insights to his online success, and infused that directly into the pages of this book.

For many reasons, I believe social media as a tool for business is at a crossroads. As is typically the case, we take a good thing and stretch it and exploit it until it no longer really works. Think of how effective and valuable Facebook advertising was in the early days before the bidding drove up prices to squeeze the margin of value for advertisers. Or think about the exploitation of LinkedIn relationships through bots and obviously precanned messages.