January 22, 2025 • 54 mins
In the latest episode of the All Things Book Marketing Podcast, host Marissa Eigenbrood of Smith Publicity leads a discussion with LinkedIn strategist Rachel Robertson. The conversation focuses on the evolution of LinkedIn strategies, especially for nonfiction authors. Rachel shares her journey into LinkedIn consultancy, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and storytelling. The duo explores tips for optimizing LinkedIn profiles, generating engaging content, and staying consistent. They also touch on trends and updates expected, highlighting the increasing role of video, the importance of dwell time, and the challenges posed by AI-generated content.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Smith Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast,
offering tips, insights, and advice from the best in the
publishing industry.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the All
Things Book Marketing Podcast. This is Marissa Eigenberg, President and
partner at Smith Publicity, and I will be your host
today for an awesome conversation that we are wrapping up
the end of twenty twenty four with sharing even more
about it in twenty twenty five. And I'm excited today
(00:34):
to have Rachel Robertson joining us.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hi, Rachel, thanks for joining.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You're very excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So Rachel is extra extra special to me, to the
Smith family as a whole here, and just an amazing
professional in her space. Our focus today is going to
be on LinkedIn LinkedIn strategy. Where has LinkedIn come over
this last year? Where are we going with LinkedIn? I
rarely get through a new business development call, you know,
(01:06):
a new a new potential project discussion without talking about, well,
how are you planning to share your thought leadership talk
about your book on social media? But LinkedIn in particular,
especially for a lot of our nonfiction authors, and so
Rachel is such an incredible resource expert, and so much
of the magic behind a lot of what I share
(01:27):
on LinkedIn too. I can't take all the credit, and
I never have for it.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
We are a.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Wonderful partnership and I'm so appreciative of the work that
we've gotten to do together for you know, well over
two years now, right, are we at least at two years?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Maybe more? You're approaching three, you think, so, Oh my gosh.
So it's a little bit more on Rachel.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Rachel is a LinkedIn strategy and consultant who specializes in
elevating the presence and brands of nonfiction authors in fields
like leadership, business, health and wellness, and workplace culture.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
She has worked with clients worldwide.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Crafting personalized strategies and content to enhance book sales, launch
speaking careers, turned books into business cards, and establish authors
as thought leaders. I mean, so much of what you
have there is so in sync with all the things
that we believe and lean into here at Smith again,
hence our close relationship, and you've of course partnered with
(02:22):
so many of our authors as well on their LinkedIn
strategies and such. But Rachel to take us back really
quickly and tell us about your start in this space
and kind of what drew you to LinkedIn in particular.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, So I was in an admin role for a
very long time and just I really had a passion
for marketing just in general, and I ended up getting
a great job with a marketing firm that's specified and
niched in LinkedIn specifically, and I just really fell in
(02:58):
love with working with business authors. I've been an avid
reader all my life, so to have the opportunity to
really boost their brands and their books and their incredible
messages with the world has really been inspiring. And LinkedIn specifically,
(03:19):
I really like it because, well, it's it's not necessarily simple.
It's definitely the social media platform that I think has
kept its roots the most. It's always been about creating conversations,
(03:39):
connecting people, you know, elevating leadership and workplaces across the globe.
And I really like that they've they've stuck with that
being their you know, main focus over the years, no
matter how many changes we've seen through video coming on,
(04:00):
you know, newsletters, all these things, but that they're still
going with their or route, which is like connecting people,
bringing people together, and creating conversations about business and leadership
and professional lives. So yeah, I've kind of become you know,
that's my niche.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So it's it's.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Great to just continue on one social media platform instead
of trying to figure out what Instagram's doing at this point,
you know. So so yeah, that's kind of a background
of how I got into this space. I did a
branch out on my own after being with that firm
for several years. So I've been kind of a solo
(04:39):
preneur now for close to two years, and I offer
a lot of flexibility for my clients. I kind of
like to keep the client pool a little small so
that I can offer that flexibility to them, because I mean,
you can plan out a content strategy, but you know,
life happens. Media gets put out there without you know,
(04:59):
you know about it, right. I like to be able
to provide that to them.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So yeah, yeah, No, I love so much of what
you said in your view of LinkedIn, and I think
it's something I've noticed too over time is LinkedIn still
feels like the purest form of social.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Media, if you will.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It feels like the most positive platform that we have
out there, especially over more recent years. And know, there
was a piece I think it was in the New
York Times of the Wall Street Journal but some time
in the last year, where it was talking about how
high school students are actually being drawn to spend more
time on LinkedIn. Both of them, I think the crazy
(05:41):
pressures that are put on younger people to know what
they want to do when they grow up well earlier
than we ever had to. But it's even more so
that they know if they go there and they share
information about themselves, they share their accomplishments, their quote unquote
wins with that community. For the most like ninety nine
(06:03):
percent of the time, it's going to be celebrated, it's
going to be lifted up, it's going to be you know,
just others are going to share it and want to
make sure other people come into that person's world and
celebrate them too. And you find the opposite across a
lot of other social media platforms. People are quick to
tear others down, to hide behind the computer screen and
(06:25):
say things in comments and such as they wouldn't say elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And I just don't think you find as much of
that on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And of course there's going to be a degree of
it always, but there's just this positivity.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
There's this That's what LinkedIn was all about.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Initially it was networking, and it was, hey, if you
share the really great things about your your career and
your your business accomplishments and your just professional development and
your education and such, that is going to lead to
potentially new job opportunities and such. A Now it's I think,
especially post pandemic, really become this network where people are
(07:03):
celebrating all of that still but also celebrating so many
of the personal aspects that are part of our work
life integration that we've really seen in post pandemic too.
And so I know, you know you and I lean
in so much to what I talk about and what
you really focus on with so many of the authors
and experts you work with, is this really authentic storytelling.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And you know, I.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Think the person who's right to work with you specifically,
this is something that I really love because I think
there's a lot of people who are social media strategists
and kind of I think trying to focus on too
many platforms and understanding how they all work, and they're
all getting so complicated, and so you know, there's just
so many new things that are changing all the time.
And the algorithms are shifting that when you can specialize
(07:46):
and one you really get to know it and understand
it and can offer even greater value there, but even
more niche than that. I think you really emphasize again
that those who should work with you will should want
to tell stories. Can you do posts about like five
tips for this or three ways to do this better? Absolutely,
but there should be an element of wanting to kind
(08:10):
of open up and share aspects of how you view yourself,
whether as a leader, as a manager, as an employee,
in your personal life and such an end I've an
open book with a lot of those things.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
That's why we work so well together.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But that's really important to the foundation of the strategies
that you implement on LinkedIn. So tell me a little
bit more about why you feel that that authenticity.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And that really kind of leaning into a bit more of.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
The personal and you know, family life and those kind
of things are just even personal career reflections. That's why
you feel that's so important to a LinkedIn presence and
not just the kind of thought leadership of it all.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, absolutely so. I mean it's been it's been present before,
but I think especially even more now as well with AI.
Telling those personal stories is what's going to set your
content apart from the AI invasion on LinkedIn, especially because
(09:15):
a I you know, chat GBT is a text based AI,
so it's very easy to create posts with something like that.
But chat GPT can't tell your story, you know, and
whether that is you know, personal things you know like uh,
you know, different types of personal stories that you can
(09:38):
tie back to leadership. Uh. You know, there's there's nothing
like a good peak behind the curtain for your audience.
Your audience wants to know what you do, but they
want to know about you. You know. That builds that
no like and trust factor that every brand that's out
there from you know, Hike to Apple, they want you
(10:02):
to know them, love them, trust them. You know, they
want people, you know, people to know exactly what they're about,
and you can't. You can do that to a degree
with like workplace culture posts and you know, fail forward stories,
but adding that personal element or a Christmas photo and
(10:24):
I'm grateful for this year, just those tiny aspects can
really boost the engagement with your audience and the authenticity
behind what you're sharing all the time, because you you're
a person too, and I do feel a lot of
pushback sometimes from like clients who just don't see the
value in that. And as we know from you know,
(10:49):
your posts as well, sometimes the best performing posts are
those personal posts you know that we see so it
really shows and those personal posts keep people coming back
for the knowledge that you are going to share, but
without that connection to you and you as a person.
(11:10):
And oh, you know that's Marisa. I trust what she
has to say because she's like so authentic on this platform,
you know, so people want to come back and learn
more from those posts. So, you know, to the people listening,
I you know, you don't have to go all in,
you know, all the time, but just you know, try
(11:30):
just one or two, you know, as we head into
the new year, you know, maybe give a reflection of
last year. What was something that you know you really
succeeded at. What was something that you really want to
strive to do better this next year in your personal
and professional life. You know, just those little tweaks and
see how they perform, you know, and I can almost
(11:53):
guarantee they're going to do very well. Add you know,
a selfie or you know, even just your headshot that
you've had recently and you know it could definitely take
it to the next level.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I mean I think that it just creates this, like
you said, this, this this trust. And I think I've
also seen too, it's you know, if I'm willing to
open up and share X, Y and Z about my
life or even about like how for me a person
like motherhood connects to my views on leadership that's shifted
since had my son and you know, my upcoming second child.
(12:30):
Like those people reading that and seeing that, I think
are also saying, okay, and she's a human. As you said,
there's a relatable factor, there's a connection factor, but I
also feel like there's a again the trust, Like if
she's going to speak so candidly and transparently about some
of the things that are really vulnerable, maybe about her
(12:52):
own personal life, for who she is as a leader
and such, then she's probably going to deliver things pretty
trans apparently to me from a work perspective or a
professional perspective too. And I've I've heard that from some
individual Condidence said, Hey, yeah, I'm really excited to talk
about your approach to publicity and supporting me my book launch.
(13:12):
But I was really intrigued by that because I felt like,
you know, you were you were going to deliver information
and kind of set expectations of me in a straightforward way,
because it's just I can tell you that you can
lead with honesty and such through through your platform. Do
you think there's ever a time where a particular you know,
(13:32):
particular type of expert or thought leader shouldn't lean into
some of that as much or maybe find a scaled
back version of it. I know it might not always
be as comfortable for those maybe in like a I
don't know, maybe an AI space or a tech space.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Or a or you know. Uh again, I think.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Major you know, fortune one hundred CEOs. I love when
I see really, you know, openness about it. I always
shout out Doug Conant as such an important you know,
influence in my own life, former CEO of Campbell's Soup,
and he's always been really open about a lot of personal,
you know, experiences that he's had and and that creates
(14:16):
greater connection to his continent such. But yeah, would you
ever sre's a time where maybe you'd encourage somebody to
scale back a little bit.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I don't. I can't think of any that I would
I mean, they're you know, sure if like I said,
if you're kind of a little bit nervous about it,
then I would start with, like fail forward stories from
your career journey, because that's still even though it's professional,
you know, perhaps right I you know it's not it's
not Facebook and it's not Instagram. LinkedIn is a professional network,
(14:47):
so you know, I wouldn't say, like, you know, sharing
your niece's birthday party picks, you know, those kind of things,
but a start, you know, uh yeah, lessons learned, you know,
your first time firing someone as a leader, and what
your story you know, came with that, you know, a
(15:09):
time that your business wasn't doing that great and or
if you left a great corporate job and tried something
else and here's what happened. Like those are all examples
of personal posts that do very well on the platform
because they're not you know, if you're a little shying
away from vulnerability, you know you can still those are
(15:30):
still great examples of posts that you could try out
and dip your toe in to make you feel more
comfortable with your audience, to perhaps share something a little
bit you know, more personal about something you've been struggling
with and things like that. But I don't know of
any specific industries or leaders in specific arenas where it
(15:51):
wouldn't benefit them to add to add a little bit.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
More, you know, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So we're talking so much about how you're in the
thick of it and you're you're posting regularly, and maybe
how you incorporate more of its authenticity into the mix
or and vulnerability and such. But to go back to
the beginning, we've got somebody who is really early on.
Maybe they have a profile, but it's not really optimized.
(16:18):
You know, they're they're not They're they keep trying to
post on a regular basis, and uh, they're just kind
of falling short on gosh, you know, if I'm not
posting a picture of my coffee today or you know,
there's kind of old tales of social media past. Uh
you know, what what do w I post about? Is
what I have to say important? Am I saying something
(16:39):
different or unique here? And those are the questions and
the imposter syndrome issues that face so many of us. So,
if you were talking to someone who's really in this
early stage, is just starting out, what are some key
tips you would give for like profile optimization, first because
I'm again you want to have that great home base,
and then also a perspective of regular content sharing. What
(17:03):
should that look like in your perspective.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, absolutely, so from a profile standpoint, definitely want to
take a take a look at your profile picture. Let's
let's update that. You know, if you have a recent headshot,
but you haven't updated your LinkedIn profile picture in five years,
you know, perhaps it's time for refresh, just so you know,
if people hop on a call with you from a lead,
(17:28):
that's going to look like you.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
And then a headline, a headline, you know, a strong,
powerful headline, short succinct of what you are about. If
you're an author, you're mentioning author of X y Z title.
If you're a CEO, then CEO of your business, if
you're a coach, you know, adding all of the elements
(17:54):
in a shortened, succinct headline is great because those always
pop up if you google someone on that headline shows
up in Google. So it has to do with search
engine optimization, so you want to make sure you're kind
of hitting all the marks there. And then a great
cover image is also really important. So if you have
(18:17):
you know a book coming out, then you'll want to
and that book cover is ready, you'll want to put
that book cover on your cover image along with I
always like to do a short, powerful, unique value proposition,
So what are you bringing to your audience, perhaps hitting
on a pain point of you know, what they're struggling
with and how you're helping. And then any time that
(18:42):
you've worked with or done articles for some bigger media outlets,
putting those logos in your cover image is also really
great for building credibility with your audience straight from you know,
your profile, so you know, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, you know,
making sure that if you've been included in any of
those that you.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Or if your company has worked with any of those
people or big household names, that you're putting those logos
in a cover image and actually LinkedIn just died an
update where you can do a rotating cover image.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
It's oh really yeah, it's still it just came out
and it's still a little clunky right now, so I
don't know if I would recommend it quite yet, but
keep an eye on it in twenty twenty five, because
I'm sure from the back they're going to be doing better.
But right now, you can update up to five cover
images that kind of scroll through, but the scroll through
(19:36):
is automatic and it's a little too fast right now,
so you can't really But I think it's going to
end up being a great option for especially those business
authors who are also doing speaking, who are also doing coaching,
so you can kind of instead of trying to pack,
you know, all this stuff into one cover image that
really represents who you are, it will kind of scroll through,
(20:01):
so I think that'll be a great benefit. And then
the about section your description of yourself. I always like,
and I've you know, worked with some pretty big CEOs,
I always like for them to read less like a
resume and more like a thought leader that you are.
(20:24):
You're bringing that authenticity to your profile straight from the
about section, so you know, hitting on of course those
pain points that you are going to be talking about
in your posts and how you help with that, but
also you know, making it sound like you and you know,
if you are mostly storytelling in your leadership book, then
(20:48):
making sure that that about section also sounds like how
your you know, your book and content is going to sound,
so it's not you know. Bullets went to Harvard Business
School bullet is where I worked, you know, because the
experience section is for that. Yeah, just telling your story,
I would say, is a good description for the about section.
(21:10):
And then another great thing for profiles is the featured section,
which you can turn on. It used to be only
if you had creator mode, but creator mode is no more.
Everyone has access to this now and that you know,
if you have a book coming out, and you have
an expert website, and you know a recent Ted talk
or something like that, you can add those into your
(21:31):
featured section so that people when they go on your
profile can just click right on those and go to
your pre order for your book or find out more
about your speaking. So that's a great function to turn on.
Those are kind of you can add also a call
to action right below your headline. I you know, it
(21:54):
could say find out more I think it's only thirty
characters that you're loud, or check out my website, pre
order my book. You can add a little directly there,
so you know, straight underneath your headline you're directing people
where to go to find out more about you. So
those are kind of the key profile upgrades I would
(22:15):
definitely recommend if somebody's like just logging in for the
first time in like two years, and then as far
as post what they can be posting about. So I
always if you haven't posted in a while, I always
love to suggest that you do a reintroduction post. So
(22:37):
even if you you know, most of your connections are
people that you know or people you went to college with,
it's always good to start them off with what you're
going to be talking about, who you are again, what
your passion is, and things like that. So adding a
(22:57):
personal photo of you to that post is always great.
It just kind of kicks things off. It gets you
excited as the content creator, and it kind of takes
the edge off of like, I don't know how to
just like jump back into this, you know, because I've
i haven't posted in a long time. That's a great
stepping stone to kind of get comfortable again with your audience.
(23:20):
And then from there, I mean, if you have a
book coming out, it depends on obviously, you know as
much as I do, timeline.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Of when that book's sure and.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Things like that. But you know, if you have an
old blog post that you wrote that's still super relevant,
repurpose some of that content to get you started and
kind of this groove of posting regularly. You know, it
doesn't have to be you thinking of thing new things
all the time, because if you are in leadership, I'm
sure that you've written a lot of things before. I've
(23:54):
always you know, repurposed as much as you need to,
especially as you're trying to like schedule and time to
make this a regular thing. So yeah, like one of
my clients has several older blog articles that were on Medium,
and so you know, pulling out some of those thoughts
from there, not necessarily verbatim, you know, from the article
(24:15):
you published before, but the same thought pattern. Refresh it up,
start posting those things, you know, create maybe a nice
graphic to go with it, and send it on its way.
But yeah, besides that, of course, book content, pulling out
if you know, a couple of stories out of there
(24:35):
even before you announce the book, just to kind of
tease out that this is, you know the story of
my career journey, or this is some marketing insights that
I found recently, just to you know, get people, get
your content on people's feeds and have them start engaging
(24:56):
with it and leaving comments and you're getting feedback, and
you know, if you find an interesting comment that someone
left on your post and it like sparks an idea
in you create a post for that, you know, and
answering questions. There's there's a ton of different ways, but
also a baseline two that's always good is you know
(25:19):
three to five tips about your niche and just even
it doesn't have to be you know, a crazy amount
of words or anything like that. You could do my
three rules to enhance your marketing in twenty twenty five
or my three rules to gain ten thousand followers in
(25:42):
three hundred and sixty five days. You know, So really
any of those kind of things as you're header and
then just outlining those out and composer or question, do
you have any other rules? You know, because you're starting
to create engagement in the comments. So those are kind
of like my go tos for really anytime, but getting
(26:02):
started for sure, just to give some ideas.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, I know that.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I love that, especially with the tips and everything, because
it takes a little bit of pressure of you know,
the like I have to write paragraphs of content and
then remember like this is not a blog, this is
not a news lat of whull newsletter, you know, shortens Steet.
I love how you talk about mic drop moments sometimes,
so maybe you're just pulling out just like a really great,
like one two sentence post. That's it, Like, that's okay
(26:30):
if it looks like that.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Sometimes. Always love the reintroduction post.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I know, we always like to plan those for the
start of the year too, So it's perfect timing for
everybody to you know, make that new Year's resolution and
get going with their LinkedIn content.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And just start, hey, it's a new year, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
About, you know, a reintroduction and share that. And you know,
it's always rodinated with me. I what you've shared in
the past with me is five posts a week can
build fast momentum. Three posts a week can help with consistency,
and so in kind of the number of posts that
think about five can field daunting for people just getting started.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
So I think, you know, three a week, it would
be great.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
But still people look at like, oh my gosh, how
do I still call up a three post the week?
And one thing too that I think is important to
not forget in there is also repurposing other people's content.
So it's you're we're talking so much about all the
great things that can come out of their world, their brain,
their experiences. But you know, any any really great thought
(27:32):
leader expert, they're they're always pulling in, you know. They
always say they're they're only as good as the smart
people around them and such. And we are always learning
from others. We should always be learning and always be growing,
and so I think it's really great. I always encourage
so many of our authors to, Hey, if you see
someone else who's you know, also a direct peer, or
(27:55):
even just you know someone who who you really admires
them they've said, or you just read an article in
the Wall Street Journal that was really interesting and you
just have a thought about it, reshare that piece. Reshare
someone else's posts sometimes and just add you know, it
could be a couple of sentences, nothing crazy, but it's
a little.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Bit of your thought, your perspective. They're why you're resharing it.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I think that's another great way to find find more
content is by repurposing the content of you know, of others,
other LinkedIn posts as well as other like social media
articles and statistics and things like that that are touching
your eye that you that you want to add in, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Hundred percent, And just to follow up on that too
with the amount of posting. Absolutely, you know, of course
everybody would love to post every day, you know, but
to optimize everyone's kind of time, because you're right, like
five days a week does sound very daunting, and you know,
three days a week is a really beautiful middle ground.
(28:55):
But even if you just do two, Honestly, from the
research that I just did and the twenty twenty four
algorithm report that just came out, two times is a
fine place to begin, and then you can build on
that as you need or you know, as you grow
and get used to the platform, and just to make
(29:16):
the most of everyonde's time, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are
the most engagement on the platform. Really don't need to
post on weekends or holidays since it's you know, LinkedIn
is a professional networking social media platform, so a lot
of people aren't going to be on during those times.
(29:36):
So if you really want to make your time the
most valuable, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays between eight and ten
am is the best time to post the platform.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
And I think one of the wonderful things about LinkedIn
not another wonderful thing, and you know, as opposed to
other social platforms, is that you know, for still long,
whether it was Facebook or Twitter, slash x or Instagram
and such, that there's this you know, there's this pressure,
especially now Instagram a pay You've got what's on your feed,
(30:08):
but you've also got your reels and everything, like there's
this pressure to post multiple times a day sometimes especially
on on x and Twitter.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
You know that there there was this.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
If you want to stay relevant, if you want to
be part of the algorithms, you've got to keep churning
out all these ideas and content and things to.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Say all the time.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
And you know, I think that's sometimes still a misconception
about LinkedIn too, is that people think they have to
do the same thing, like I need to have three
posts in the same day. It's really going and I
love that, you know, in what I've learned from you
and what we've seen is that that'll actually kind of
cauntibalize a way, like it'll take energy away from your
(30:48):
other posts. So you've got to and I think if
you are someone who becomes really consistent on LinkedIn and
starts to see that momentum and your followership and everything
build over time and your.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Engagement, you're going to see that.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You know, you pop into your notifications in the morning
and you see, oh, I've got to comment on a post,
and it's your post from last week because somebody you
know happened to comment on it when you posted it,
and that kind of showed up in other people's music,
and eventually a week later it made its way to
somebody else's news feed for the first time. And so
your LinkedIn posts don't just kind of live and die
(31:23):
in the day that you post it or in an
hour that you post it, and that all of a
sudden it's gone from there. But that's a beautiful thing
about the way that LinkedIn kind of operates is that,
you know, it is.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
All about like.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Kind of seeing content that if this is resonating with
this person, then oh, I think other people in their
network might like it too, and it kind of shows
up into other people's worlds as well. And again it's
a way to bring more people into into your space,
but also like keeping them out. Like you, your post
have more power than you think they have, and it's
(31:58):
good to let one kind of sit marinate for a
bit and see what that magic can happen with it. Again, still,
like three times a week allows for three different kinds
of posts to marinate and connect with the right people.
But you don't need to be posting every hour on
the hour. Yeah, they can impact there.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
No, definitely, and I agree with you one thousand percent. Yeah,
posting more than once a day is definitely, I mean
it's definitely detrimental and that the algorithm gets confused. It's yeah,
it's not like Instagram or TikTok or anything, right, So yeah,
even and I do want to mention too that that
(32:36):
does include like reshares or reposts. So if you just
posted something at nine o'clock in the morning and you're
scrolling through your feed and you see something that you
want to share from someone else, try to, you know,
wait until later if you can, because that share does
(32:57):
count in the algorithm as a new post that's coming
in as well. Instant reposts do not, but native reposts
and shares where you can like add your comments and
thoughts does count in another post as well. So just
something that you there too.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So, like we get all these plans in place, we
know we're going to be authentic and we're going to
post three times a week, and we're doing it for
our first month, we've got our New Year's resolution in place,
We're doing it for a month, you know, and we
get to get a mid February where everybody apparently.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Gives up their New Year's resolution.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So it's like February nineteenth, I think is the day
that most people drop their New Year's resolutions. So February
nineteenth rolls around and all of a sudden and you're like,
oh my gosh, I don't know if I can keep
going with this. I don't know what I'm losing steam here.
You know, what are some of your tips for saying
consistent with your with your content?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I think, you know, staying consistent definitely has to do
with understanding why you want to post on the platform.
You know, as we talked about earlier, LinkedIn's roots is
starting conversations. So a reason that I think people can
kind of get a little burnt out is because maybe
(34:12):
those conversations aren't just really happening, you know, And you know,
I do have a few strategies to start those conversations
in the comments and things like that. Another fun way, like,
it's sometimes it's just nice to switch things up. So
if you've been doing you know, a lot of the
(34:33):
same content. Try doing, you know, a poll and getting
to know your audience a little bit more and getting
their direct feedback where they don't have to comment. Maybe
you know, some people are lurkers on social media and
they aren't big menors, but a poll is you know,
they can just click a button and they have shared
their voice with you. So you know, if you know February,
(34:57):
we're coming to the end or in the middle of
quarter one planning, let's just grow us out here As
an example for like a pool, and you know, you
ask a question to your audience, what was you know,
what was your biggest challenge in quarter one? I want
to create some posts to help you as we enter
this next quarter, adding in some examples in the poll,
(35:20):
and then you're getting direct feedback from your audience, which
will inspire some ideas, and you feel good as a
thought leader that you're getting feedback. You're you're starting conversations
with your audience, You're feeling connected to them because you know,
when you're kind of churning out content sometimes it can
feel like nobody's really even seeing this. I think I'm
(35:40):
just going to stop. But also understanding too that LinkedIn
is a long game. You know, there's not a lot
of quality on the platform that can be obtained like
on other social media platforms, LinkedIn really values quality over quantity.
(36:03):
So staying consistent, even if you drop down to just
once a week, you know, is going and that's once
a week really quality post that you're putting out, storytelling
or just you know one marketing tipe a week that
has some powerful stats in there, just to get you
through that little bit of the writer's block that you
might have or the burnout. Just you know, try to
(36:25):
keep on it because it I as we know, you know,
growth takes a while on the platform, you know, even
if you're doing it all you can, but yeah, just
do what you can. Try to find new exciting ideas.
There's tons and tons of articles out there from LinkedIn
creators on different ideas to kind of freshen up your
(36:46):
content and your content ideas. And one thing I just
listened to this podcast the other day, which was a
really fun idea for kind of boosting those comments and engagements.
I do want to try with a lot of my
clients in twenty twenty five, is you.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Know, any pig right to go?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
So if you usually post at like nine o'clock in
the morning, instead of doing a full blown post, just
do something short like, Hey, I'm gonna be live for
thirty minutes. Drop ask me anything about xyz, you know, publicity,
or just ask me anything about me, you know, to
bring out some of those more personal qualities, and then
(37:29):
you're on the platform for thirty minutes responding to comments,
and then once thirty minutes is up, you can log off,
you know, and check back in maybe in the afternoon
answering some more comments. But I thought that was a
really fun way to engage without having to like jump
on a LinkedIn live or do a blown video or
(37:49):
anything like that. Like your audience knows you're there right
now and can ask you anything that they want about
publicity or business strategy or marketing my brand, you know,
anything like that. So I thought that was really kind
of a fun one to kind of.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
I like that, Yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely, And it's also
incorporating kind of different formats and stuff too, which I know,
again I want to get into kind of the evolutions
of LinkedIn over the last year and then trends as
we look ahead. You've been kind of giving us little
taste of that already, Rachel, But I know format and
we talk about video and it's important on LinkedIn, little
(38:26):
newsletters and everything beyond our content. What's important there, So
that certainly this sounds like this kind of opportunity allows
for formats to be in the mix there. So let's
jump into that. Tell me about some of the kind
of the big changes that you've seen in the last year,
and then you know, exciting things that are that you see.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
Ahead and you're learning about that are that are to come. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Absolutely, So one thing I did want to mention kind
of too, because we always talk about like the LinkedIn algorithm.
You know, it's like this overlord and no one really
you know, understands how. But so I just want to
give a quick how the algorithm is working now as
the end of twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five.
It is a combination of engagement and that does not
(39:13):
mean like likes or reactions, it's actually comments and full time.
So how long are people spending with your post, whether
that's reading a longer storytelling post, going into the comments
and you know, engaging there, or engaging with other people
in the comments, or watching a two to three minute video.
(39:36):
The dwell time has been found now to be very
important on the platform. Keep that in mind. So everything
that you're doing on the platform needs to be focused
on getting people to stay with your content for an
extended period of time.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I mean no pressure, you know, of course, but you know, yeah, right,
Creating thought provoking comment or asking questions in the comments, things.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Like that can really help boost that.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
As we had a new year again, the algorithm is
always changing, could be different next week, but that is
how it's working right now. So yeah, video especially so
video reach is up twenty five percent in twenty twenty four.
LinkedIn completely reworked its mobile app in order to create
(40:28):
the availability of like TikTok size videos. So it's definitely
here to stay now from the research I've done. Do
you need it? No, you don't need to do it,
but I do want to, you know, anyone listening to
give it a try in twenty twenty five and see
(40:48):
how your audience reacts to it and can be a
really top performing post for you one month if you
just do it once a month, or it might not,
do you know, you might have more of a reader
audience that likes you know, your your text to read
or your graphics, you know, so they don't have to
be very long. Just record yourself talking on your cell
(41:10):
phone and add some captions or LinkedIn does auto captions.
Definitely want captions so people can read if they're not
able to listen. And yeah, give it a try for sure,
because it's basically a gift from the algorithm with the
amount of reach that it's boosting the content right now,
so it's definitely a win win to give it a try.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Also one thing that they're seeing now with video coming
out and kind of there's been an oversaturation of graphic
and video content. So another thing to try in twenty
twenty five is just doing text based posts and see
if they perform better because just kind of putting a
stock image on for the for simply the sake of
(41:57):
having a graphic is not going to be your post.
In fact, it could downgrade it because people are just
oversaturated with visual imagery on the platform. So give that
a try as well. Another update is Community top Voice.
I know everybody was working real hard to get those badges.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Oh yeah now so oh my god.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yeah, LinkedIn received feedback that with AI, the AI invasion
on the platform that there wasn't a lot of quality
content being shared in those kind of articles, so they
decided to just kind of get rid of it for now.
So Top Voice is the only badge available right now,
(42:43):
and that's an invitation only, so that's the only bands.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
So interesting, Yeah, because I do feel like I would,
I would, you know, I think so many of us
can get these prompts the top eared news feed. It's like,
you know, what are brief things you would recommend for.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
A person a new leadership position or something.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
You go into that article and you're adding in, and
there's so many different people who are adding in, and
it's you know, they're doing so to get those Top
Community Voice badges.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
And I would sometimes see them on.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Pay with profile like huh, I wonder how you got
that because they don't tend to be guys active, you
know when they're posting, or they you know, didn't have
a lot of followers or whatever it was. So it
sounds like it was a great decision to create more
consistency across who those top contributors actually are.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Yeah. Percent, that was exactly the contribute contributing to the
actual platform and the Top Voice was like unequal and
so yeah, yeah, and then newsletters continue to be an
incredible thing for you to start on LinkedIn. Specifically, newsletter
engagement was up forty seven percent this year. Yeah, gosh,
(43:56):
only point zero two percent of LinkedIn members have a
newsletter and are utilizing newsletters, so it's still most eight time.
There's not a lot of oversaturation of newsletters or anything
like that. So it's a it's a it's really really
simple to start, you know, it's everybody as long. There's
(44:18):
a few little rules that you know, you had to
post within the last ninety days, you have to have
over one hundred and fifty connections, but you can create
one easily with a short description and a thumbnail and
just get to work on you know, longer form content.
And yeah, it's it's just a great opportunity to add
(44:41):
a subscriber base that you know, you're posting consistently and
engaging with LinkedIn. So allowing brands to sponsor member newsletters
as well, so that's something that just started as well.
So a brand can boost a newsletter with a paid
promotion as a sponsor. Okay, so the newsletter can kind
(45:04):
of become like an ad on the feed. So that's
definitely something to look into. I do need to do
a little bit more research on how that's all, how
that all works, but but yeah, they.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Just kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, yeah, so that'll be really interesting to see how
that kind of plays out as we head into the
new year.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
One of the things I think GROW's great with the
LinkedIn newsletter too is you know, different people are kind
of getting their content in different ways and living in
different platform spending time in different platforms.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
So as we launched I want to.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
Say, like, quote unquote my LinkedIn newsletter because technically it's
the Smith Publicity newsletter. It has lived in an email
you know, you know format for so long, and it's
it's something we've been doing for a really long time
here at Smith. But we knew that there were people
on LinkedIn who weren't signed up for it, you know,
in that format, and like, okay, this is a great
(45:56):
way to add to I get a lot of the
content that the newsletter can have come from me as well,
So there's a connection point there of course, but but
it was a great way to extend to reduce reuse, recycle,
if you will, you know, content that we already were
working really hard on and it was really important to
us you're at Smith and make sure it got out
to other people through other platforms. So something else to
(46:18):
think about in like again, how you're getting the content
for your LinkedIn newsletter is hey, you're already doing a
newsletter on your own, you know, in an email format,
which is still very important, but we're not diving into
that wonderful rabbit hole today that you can use the
same content across into your LinkedIn newsletter as well one
(46:41):
hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Actually a quick tip there because LinkedIn newsletters, you know,
your subscribers kind of stay on that platform, but we
you always kind of want to have that email address list, Yeah,
for a lot of different reasons. So a good tip
if if you do have, say like a substack newsletter,
and you want to branch out and get more eyes
(47:04):
on the newsletter that maybe people are not seeing it
creating a LinkedIn version, that maybe if you give seven
tips in the substack the newsletter where people have to
give their email addresses to sign up, you maybe only
do three in the LinkedIn and then direct them over
to your substack. So you're kind of getting the.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
Book point World's there. Yeah, you're still.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Getting a lot more eyes on it. Yet you know,
you're still collecting those email addresses as well.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Awesome, awesome insight, Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
So those are kind of my big updates that are
happening on the platform right now. As we head into
twenty twenty five, AI is going to continue to be
a bit of a problem, not a problem, but you
know on the platform. So impressions are down right now
(47:58):
a little bit on the platform, and it's really what
the research is saying is that it's it's just an
over abundance of AI generated content and people are scrolling
through it and not really wanting to connect with it.
So the data was one hundred and eighty percent more
(48:20):
fully AI written posts and AI generated comments are up three.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
Hundred and forty on the platform.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
A lot of yeah, a lot. And I think the
most important thing to remember with any social media platform
is again quality over quantity. You know, if you're feeling
overwhelmed by the pressure to churn out content and you're
(48:51):
using like chat GPT in order to write those posts
that you feel so much pressure to get out there,
then dial back and make it more our human centered
content content instead and add that human element. And if
that does take more time, like i've you know said
a little bit earlier with the burnout, you know, just uh,
you know, make it short, go down to one time
(49:13):
a week, you know, and just but make it authentically.
You of course AI to help with blog titles and
things like that, but like to write, write your post,
you know, you're you're gonna lose brand trust, You're gonna
lose you know, the authenticity that every expert brand needs
to have with their audience. So just keep that in mind.
(49:35):
You know, quantity over quality always.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
Absolutely, and I'm thinking you, yeah, it doesn't have to
be a fearfulness or a complete you know, uh, pushing
AI to the side.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
I think I always go back to at the US.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Book Show and one of the panels someone said, let's
flip the letters and call it an intelligent assistant. Yeah,
And I think when we can lean into it that way,
say gosh, I'm really struggling on how to say what
I want to say here, and you can kind of
put it in to chat, GPT or even I know,
if you write into LinkedIn, you can you know, put
right your content and it says like jazz it up
(50:12):
with AI. Basically, and you can have it kind of
help you there. And you know, I think I've done
that myself sometimes where I'm just like, oh, could this
be said a little better, and.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
I'll truss that button. Then it changes some things and
I'm like a lot of this, but I'll you know,
I'll just.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
Tweak that still there, but there might be a word
or of phrasing or something that it pulls in and.
Speaker 3 (50:34):
That kind of helps you with it.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
So there's there are some there are some benefits, you know,
especially for thought leaders experts. It's not lost in any
of us that content is king and they're being challenged
not only write a book and to have a day job,
but to produce an exorbitant amount of content to stay
relevant today across many different formats and platforms. And so
(50:57):
if you can get a little bit of that help
with the idea your generation, go for it, you know.
But but being mindful of I think I can definitely
spot an AI comment when it comes up.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
It weirdly looks like the post.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
You can tell like that, the phrasing someone uses, the
words that are in the posts or in the comment
are just very similar.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
To the post itself.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
And it was you know, like someone probably said, write
a comment back to this post, you know, and put
it into those systems.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
So exactly, and.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
You can can help a little bit with coming up
with like if you're in a slum about posting, you know,
it can give you some ideas too, of trending topics
to even chat about or you know create. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
so those are those are some great tips for using
AI to help you through. But yeah, you definitely don't
(51:51):
want to use it to write, you know, all seven
days worth of pull that's how you're getting the posts out,
you know, So just.
Speaker 3 (51:59):
A quick tip there.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
But but yeah, I expect LinkedIn to only grow as
let me continue on into twenty twenty five. More CEOs
are on the platform more than ever now, so it's
going to be an exciting year.
Speaker 3 (52:14):
It is.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
It is that we have so many amazing tips and
insights to run full force with, you know, from you
here today, Rachel, So thank you so much for sharing
them with us. And I will say if you need,
if you want some examples of not only a lot
of the things Rachel has shared today, but also her
(52:36):
work directly at hand, please check out my LinkedIn profile.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
And again we have.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
A very collaborative, wonderful partnership in what that looks like.
But if you want a place where all of the
things that Rachel's recommended you see that exactly kind of
touched in that way, please come on over and check
out my LinkedIn profile, connect with me, reach out directly,
(53:03):
and you can of course learn more about many of
the other conversations and wonderful expert insights and things that
we've shared throughout twenty twenty four through the Smith Podcast
All Things Book Marketing podcasts. Here you can go over
to our YouTube channel, watch other past interviews and you'll
see Rachel's up soon, and of course subscribe to all
(53:24):
the different newsletters that we have here at Smith across
the platforms and everything too. So thank you so much
again Rachel for joining us today, Wishing everyone a very
wonderful end of twenty twenty four and an incredible, exciting,
prosperous and.
Speaker 3 (53:44):
Joy filled twenty twenty five ahead.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
Thanks so much, Thank you for listening to this episode
of the Smith Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast. To
reach us and learn about our many services, visit Smith
Publicity dot com, send us an email to info at
Smith Publicity dot com
Welcome to the Smith Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast,
offering tips, insights, and advice from the best in the
publishing industry.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the All
Things Book Marketing Podcast. This is Marissa Eigenberg, President and
partner at Smith Publicity, and I will be your host
today for an awesome conversation that we are wrapping up
the end of twenty twenty four with sharing even more
about it in twenty twenty five. And I'm excited today
(00:34):
to have Rachel Robertson joining us.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hi, Rachel, thanks for joining.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You're very excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So Rachel is extra extra special to me, to the
Smith family as a whole here, and just an amazing
professional in her space. Our focus today is going to
be on LinkedIn LinkedIn strategy. Where has LinkedIn come over
this last year? Where are we going with LinkedIn? I
rarely get through a new business development call, you know,
(01:06):
a new a new potential project discussion without talking about, well,
how are you planning to share your thought leadership talk
about your book on social media? But LinkedIn in particular,
especially for a lot of our nonfiction authors, and so
Rachel is such an incredible resource expert, and so much
of the magic behind a lot of what I share
(01:27):
on LinkedIn too. I can't take all the credit, and
I never have for it.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
We are a.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Wonderful partnership and I'm so appreciative of the work that
we've gotten to do together for you know, well over
two years now, right, are we at least at two years?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Maybe more? You're approaching three, you think, so, Oh my gosh.
So it's a little bit more on Rachel.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Rachel is a LinkedIn strategy and consultant who specializes in
elevating the presence and brands of nonfiction authors in fields
like leadership, business, health and wellness, and workplace culture.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
She has worked with clients worldwide.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Crafting personalized strategies and content to enhance book sales, launch
speaking careers, turned books into business cards, and establish authors
as thought leaders. I mean, so much of what you
have there is so in sync with all the things
that we believe and lean into here at Smith again,
hence our close relationship, and you've of course partnered with
(02:22):
so many of our authors as well on their LinkedIn
strategies and such. But Rachel to take us back really
quickly and tell us about your start in this space
and kind of what drew you to LinkedIn in particular.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, So I was in an admin role for a
very long time and just I really had a passion
for marketing just in general, and I ended up getting
a great job with a marketing firm that's specified and
niched in LinkedIn specifically, and I just really fell in
(02:58):
love with working with business authors. I've been an avid
reader all my life, so to have the opportunity to
really boost their brands and their books and their incredible
messages with the world has really been inspiring. And LinkedIn specifically,
(03:19):
I really like it because, well, it's it's not necessarily simple.
It's definitely the social media platform that I think has
kept its roots the most. It's always been about creating conversations,
(03:39):
connecting people, you know, elevating leadership and workplaces across the globe.
And I really like that they've they've stuck with that
being their you know, main focus over the years, no
matter how many changes we've seen through video coming on,
(04:00):
you know, newsletters, all these things, but that they're still
going with their or route, which is like connecting people,
bringing people together, and creating conversations about business and leadership
and professional lives. So yeah, I've kind of become you know,
that's my niche.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So it's it's.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Great to just continue on one social media platform instead
of trying to figure out what Instagram's doing at this point,
you know. So so yeah, that's kind of a background
of how I got into this space. I did a
branch out on my own after being with that firm
for several years. So I've been kind of a solo
(04:39):
preneur now for close to two years, and I offer
a lot of flexibility for my clients. I kind of
like to keep the client pool a little small so
that I can offer that flexibility to them, because I mean,
you can plan out a content strategy, but you know,
life happens. Media gets put out there without you know,
(04:59):
you know about it, right. I like to be able
to provide that to them.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So yeah, yeah, No, I love so much of what
you said in your view of LinkedIn, and I think
it's something I've noticed too over time is LinkedIn still
feels like the purest form of social.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Media, if you will.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It feels like the most positive platform that we have
out there, especially over more recent years. And know, there
was a piece I think it was in the New
York Times of the Wall Street Journal but some time
in the last year, where it was talking about how
high school students are actually being drawn to spend more
time on LinkedIn. Both of them, I think the crazy
(05:41):
pressures that are put on younger people to know what
they want to do when they grow up well earlier
than we ever had to. But it's even more so
that they know if they go there and they share
information about themselves, they share their accomplishments, their quote unquote
wins with that community. For the most like ninety nine
(06:03):
percent of the time, it's going to be celebrated, it's
going to be lifted up, it's going to be you know,
just others are going to share it and want to
make sure other people come into that person's world and
celebrate them too. And you find the opposite across a
lot of other social media platforms. People are quick to
tear others down, to hide behind the computer screen and
(06:25):
say things in comments and such as they wouldn't say elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
And I just don't think you find as much of
that on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And of course there's going to be a degree of
it always, but there's just this positivity.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
There's this That's what LinkedIn was all about.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Initially it was networking, and it was, hey, if you
share the really great things about your your career and
your your business accomplishments and your just professional development and
your education and such, that is going to lead to
potentially new job opportunities and such. A Now it's I think,
especially post pandemic, really become this network where people are
(07:03):
celebrating all of that still but also celebrating so many
of the personal aspects that are part of our work
life integration that we've really seen in post pandemic too.
And so I know, you know you and I lean
in so much to what I talk about and what
you really focus on with so many of the authors
and experts you work with, is this really authentic storytelling.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And you know, I.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Think the person who's right to work with you specifically,
this is something that I really love because I think
there's a lot of people who are social media strategists
and kind of I think trying to focus on too
many platforms and understanding how they all work, and they're
all getting so complicated, and so you know, there's just
so many new things that are changing all the time.
And the algorithms are shifting that when you can specialize
(07:46):
and one you really get to know it and understand
it and can offer even greater value there, but even
more niche than that. I think you really emphasize again
that those who should work with you will should want
to tell stories. Can you do posts about like five
tips for this or three ways to do this better? Absolutely,
but there should be an element of wanting to kind
(08:10):
of open up and share aspects of how you view yourself,
whether as a leader, as a manager, as an employee,
in your personal life and such an end I've an
open book with a lot of those things.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
That's why we work so well together.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But that's really important to the foundation of the strategies
that you implement on LinkedIn. So tell me a little
bit more about why you feel that that authenticity.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And that really kind of leaning into a bit more of.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
The personal and you know, family life and those kind
of things are just even personal career reflections. That's why
you feel that's so important to a LinkedIn presence and
not just the kind of thought leadership of it all.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, absolutely so. I mean it's been it's been present before,
but I think especially even more now as well with AI.
Telling those personal stories is what's going to set your
content apart from the AI invasion on LinkedIn, especially because
(09:15):
a I you know, chat GBT is a text based AI,
so it's very easy to create posts with something like that.
But chat GPT can't tell your story, you know, and
whether that is you know, personal things you know like uh,
you know, different types of personal stories that you can
(09:38):
tie back to leadership. Uh. You know, there's there's nothing
like a good peak behind the curtain for your audience.
Your audience wants to know what you do, but they
want to know about you. You know. That builds that
no like and trust factor that every brand that's out
there from you know, Hike to Apple, they want you
(10:02):
to know them, love them, trust them. You know, they
want people, you know, people to know exactly what they're about,
and you can't. You can do that to a degree
with like workplace culture posts and you know, fail forward stories,
but adding that personal element or a Christmas photo and
(10:24):
I'm grateful for this year, just those tiny aspects can
really boost the engagement with your audience and the authenticity
behind what you're sharing all the time, because you you're
a person too, and I do feel a lot of
pushback sometimes from like clients who just don't see the
value in that. And as we know from you know,
(10:49):
your posts as well, sometimes the best performing posts are
those personal posts you know that we see so it
really shows and those personal posts keep people coming back
for the knowledge that you are going to share, but
without that connection to you and you as a person.
(11:10):
And oh, you know that's Marisa. I trust what she
has to say because she's like so authentic on this platform,
you know, so people want to come back and learn
more from those posts. So, you know, to the people listening,
I you know, you don't have to go all in,
you know, all the time, but just you know, try
(11:30):
just one or two, you know, as we head into
the new year, you know, maybe give a reflection of
last year. What was something that you know you really
succeeded at. What was something that you really want to
strive to do better this next year in your personal
and professional life. You know, just those little tweaks and
see how they perform, you know, and I can almost
(11:53):
guarantee they're going to do very well. Add you know,
a selfie or you know, even just your headshot that
you've had recently and you know it could definitely take
it to the next level.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
I mean I think that it just creates this, like
you said, this, this this trust. And I think I've
also seen too, it's you know, if I'm willing to
open up and share X, Y and Z about my
life or even about like how for me a person
like motherhood connects to my views on leadership that's shifted
since had my son and you know, my upcoming second child.
(12:30):
Like those people reading that and seeing that, I think
are also saying, okay, and she's a human. As you said,
there's a relatable factor, there's a connection factor, but I
also feel like there's a again the trust, Like if
she's going to speak so candidly and transparently about some
of the things that are really vulnerable, maybe about her
(12:52):
own personal life, for who she is as a leader
and such, then she's probably going to deliver things pretty
trans apparently to me from a work perspective or a
professional perspective too. And I've I've heard that from some
individual Condidence said, Hey, yeah, I'm really excited to talk
about your approach to publicity and supporting me my book launch.
(13:12):
But I was really intrigued by that because I felt like,
you know, you were you were going to deliver information
and kind of set expectations of me in a straightforward way,
because it's just I can tell you that you can
lead with honesty and such through through your platform. Do
you think there's ever a time where a particular you know,
(13:32):
particular type of expert or thought leader shouldn't lean into
some of that as much or maybe find a scaled
back version of it. I know it might not always
be as comfortable for those maybe in like a I
don't know, maybe an AI space or a tech space.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Or a or you know. Uh again, I think.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Major you know, fortune one hundred CEOs. I love when
I see really, you know, openness about it. I always
shout out Doug Conant as such an important you know,
influence in my own life, former CEO of Campbell's Soup,
and he's always been really open about a lot of personal,
you know, experiences that he's had and and that creates
(14:16):
greater connection to his continent such. But yeah, would you
ever sre's a time where maybe you'd encourage somebody to
scale back a little bit.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I don't. I can't think of any that I would
I mean, they're you know, sure if like I said,
if you're kind of a little bit nervous about it,
then I would start with, like fail forward stories from
your career journey, because that's still even though it's professional,
you know, perhaps right I you know it's not it's
not Facebook and it's not Instagram. LinkedIn is a professional network,
(14:47):
so you know, I wouldn't say, like, you know, sharing
your niece's birthday party picks, you know, those kind of things,
but a start, you know, uh yeah, lessons learned, you know,
your first time firing someone as a leader, and what
your story you know, came with that, you know, a
(15:09):
time that your business wasn't doing that great and or
if you left a great corporate job and tried something
else and here's what happened. Like those are all examples
of personal posts that do very well on the platform
because they're not you know, if you're a little shying
away from vulnerability, you know you can still those are
(15:30):
still great examples of posts that you could try out
and dip your toe in to make you feel more
comfortable with your audience, to perhaps share something a little
bit you know, more personal about something you've been struggling
with and things like that. But I don't know of
any specific industries or leaders in specific arenas where it
(15:51):
wouldn't benefit them to add to add a little bit.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
More, you know, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
So we're talking so much about how you're in the
thick of it and you're you're posting regularly, and maybe
how you incorporate more of its authenticity into the mix
or and vulnerability and such. But to go back to
the beginning, we've got somebody who is really early on.
Maybe they have a profile, but it's not really optimized.
(16:18):
You know, they're they're not They're they keep trying to
post on a regular basis, and uh, they're just kind
of falling short on gosh, you know, if I'm not
posting a picture of my coffee today or you know,
there's kind of old tales of social media past. Uh
you know, what what do w I post about? Is
what I have to say important? Am I saying something
(16:39):
different or unique here? And those are the questions and
the imposter syndrome issues that face so many of us. So,
if you were talking to someone who's really in this
early stage, is just starting out, what are some key
tips you would give for like profile optimization, first because
I'm again you want to have that great home base,
and then also a perspective of regular content sharing. What
(17:03):
should that look like in your perspective.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, absolutely, so from a profile standpoint, definitely want to
take a take a look at your profile picture. Let's
let's update that. You know, if you have a recent headshot,
but you haven't updated your LinkedIn profile picture in five years,
you know, perhaps it's time for refresh, just so you know,
if people hop on a call with you from a lead,
(17:28):
that's going to look like you.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
And then a headline, a headline, you know, a strong,
powerful headline, short succinct of what you are about. If
you're an author, you're mentioning author of X y Z title.
If you're a CEO, then CEO of your business, if
you're a coach, you know, adding all of the elements
(17:54):
in a shortened, succinct headline is great because those always
pop up if you google someone on that headline shows
up in Google. So it has to do with search
engine optimization, so you want to make sure you're kind
of hitting all the marks there. And then a great
cover image is also really important. So if you have
(18:17):
you know a book coming out, then you'll want to
and that book cover is ready, you'll want to put
that book cover on your cover image along with I
always like to do a short, powerful, unique value proposition,
So what are you bringing to your audience, perhaps hitting
on a pain point of you know, what they're struggling
with and how you're helping. And then any time that
(18:42):
you've worked with or done articles for some bigger media outlets,
putting those logos in your cover image is also really
great for building credibility with your audience straight from you know,
your profile, so you know, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, you know,
making sure that if you've been included in any of
those that you.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Or if your company has worked with any of those
people or big household names, that you're putting those logos
in a cover image and actually LinkedIn just died an
update where you can do a rotating cover image.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
It's oh really yeah, it's still it just came out
and it's still a little clunky right now, so I
don't know if I would recommend it quite yet, but
keep an eye on it in twenty twenty five, because
I'm sure from the back they're going to be doing better.
But right now, you can update up to five cover
images that kind of scroll through, but the scroll through
(19:36):
is automatic and it's a little too fast right now,
so you can't really But I think it's going to
end up being a great option for especially those business
authors who are also doing speaking, who are also doing coaching,
so you can kind of instead of trying to pack,
you know, all this stuff into one cover image that
really represents who you are, it will kind of scroll through,
(20:01):
so I think that'll be a great benefit. And then
the about section your description of yourself. I always like,
and I've you know, worked with some pretty big CEOs,
I always like for them to read less like a
resume and more like a thought leader that you are.
(20:24):
You're bringing that authenticity to your profile straight from the
about section, so you know, hitting on of course those
pain points that you are going to be talking about
in your posts and how you help with that, but
also you know, making it sound like you and you know,
if you are mostly storytelling in your leadership book, then
(20:48):
making sure that that about section also sounds like how
your you know, your book and content is going to sound,
so it's not you know. Bullets went to Harvard Business
School bullet is where I worked, you know, because the
experience section is for that. Yeah, just telling your story,
I would say, is a good description for the about section.
(21:10):
And then another great thing for profiles is the featured section,
which you can turn on. It used to be only
if you had creator mode, but creator mode is no more.
Everyone has access to this now and that you know,
if you have a book coming out, and you have
an expert website, and you know a recent Ted talk
or something like that, you can add those into your
(21:31):
featured section so that people when they go on your
profile can just click right on those and go to
your pre order for your book or find out more
about your speaking. So that's a great function to turn on.
Those are kind of you can add also a call
to action right below your headline. I you know, it
(21:54):
could say find out more I think it's only thirty
characters that you're loud, or check out my website, pre
order my book. You can add a little directly there,
so you know, straight underneath your headline you're directing people
where to go to find out more about you. So
those are kind of the key profile upgrades I would
(22:15):
definitely recommend if somebody's like just logging in for the
first time in like two years, and then as far
as post what they can be posting about. So I
always if you haven't posted in a while, I always
love to suggest that you do a reintroduction post. So
(22:37):
even if you you know, most of your connections are
people that you know or people you went to college with,
it's always good to start them off with what you're
going to be talking about, who you are again, what
your passion is, and things like that. So adding a
(22:57):
personal photo of you to that post is always great.
It just kind of kicks things off. It gets you
excited as the content creator, and it kind of takes
the edge off of like, I don't know how to
just like jump back into this, you know, because I've
i haven't posted in a long time. That's a great
stepping stone to kind of get comfortable again with your audience.
(23:20):
And then from there, I mean, if you have a
book coming out, it depends on obviously, you know as
much as I do, timeline.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Of when that book's sure and.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Things like that. But you know, if you have an
old blog post that you wrote that's still super relevant,
repurpose some of that content to get you started and
kind of this groove of posting regularly. You know, it
doesn't have to be you thinking of thing new things
all the time, because if you are in leadership, I'm
sure that you've written a lot of things before. I've
(23:54):
always you know, repurposed as much as you need to,
especially as you're trying to like schedule and time to
make this a regular thing. So yeah, like one of
my clients has several older blog articles that were on Medium,
and so you know, pulling out some of those thoughts
from there, not necessarily verbatim, you know, from the article
(24:15):
you published before, but the same thought pattern. Refresh it up,
start posting those things, you know, create maybe a nice
graphic to go with it, and send it on its way.
But yeah, besides that, of course, book content, pulling out
if you know, a couple of stories out of there
(24:35):
even before you announce the book, just to kind of
tease out that this is, you know the story of
my career journey, or this is some marketing insights that
I found recently, just to you know, get people, get
your content on people's feeds and have them start engaging
(24:56):
with it and leaving comments and you're getting feedback, and
you know, if you find an interesting comment that someone
left on your post and it like sparks an idea
in you create a post for that, you know, and
answering questions. There's there's a ton of different ways, but
also a baseline two that's always good is you know
(25:19):
three to five tips about your niche and just even
it doesn't have to be you know, a crazy amount
of words or anything like that. You could do my
three rules to enhance your marketing in twenty twenty five
or my three rules to gain ten thousand followers in
(25:42):
three hundred and sixty five days. You know, So really
any of those kind of things as you're header and
then just outlining those out and composer or question, do
you have any other rules? You know, because you're starting
to create engagement in the comments. So those are kind
of like my go tos for really anytime, but getting
(26:02):
started for sure, just to give some ideas.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah, I know that.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I love that, especially with the tips and everything, because
it takes a little bit of pressure of you know,
the like I have to write paragraphs of content and
then remember like this is not a blog, this is
not a news lat of whull newsletter, you know, shortens Steet.
I love how you talk about mic drop moments sometimes,
so maybe you're just pulling out just like a really great,
like one two sentence post. That's it, Like, that's okay
(26:30):
if it looks like that.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Sometimes. Always love the reintroduction post.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I know, we always like to plan those for the
start of the year too, So it's perfect timing for
everybody to you know, make that new Year's resolution and
get going with their LinkedIn content.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And just start, hey, it's a new year, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
About, you know, a reintroduction and share that. And you know,
it's always rodinated with me. I what you've shared in
the past with me is five posts a week can
build fast momentum. Three posts a week can help with consistency,
and so in kind of the number of posts that
think about five can field daunting for people just getting started.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
So I think, you know, three a week, it would
be great.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
But still people look at like, oh my gosh, how
do I still call up a three post the week?
And one thing too that I think is important to
not forget in there is also repurposing other people's content.
So it's you're we're talking so much about all the
great things that can come out of their world, their brain,
their experiences. But you know, any any really great thought
(27:32):
leader expert, they're they're always pulling in, you know. They
always say they're they're only as good as the smart
people around them and such. And we are always learning
from others. We should always be learning and always be growing,
and so I think it's really great. I always encourage
so many of our authors to, Hey, if you see
someone else who's you know, also a direct peer, or
(27:55):
even just you know someone who who you really admires
them they've said, or you just read an article in
the Wall Street Journal that was really interesting and you
just have a thought about it, reshare that piece. Reshare
someone else's posts sometimes and just add you know, it
could be a couple of sentences, nothing crazy, but it's
a little.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Bit of your thought, your perspective. They're why you're resharing it.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I think that's another great way to find find more
content is by repurposing the content of you know, of others,
other LinkedIn posts as well as other like social media
articles and statistics and things like that that are touching
your eye that you that you want to add in, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Hundred percent, And just to follow up on that too
with the amount of posting. Absolutely, you know, of course
everybody would love to post every day, you know, but
to optimize everyone's kind of time, because you're right, like
five days a week does sound very daunting, and you know,
three days a week is a really beautiful middle ground.
(28:55):
But even if you just do two, Honestly, from the
research that I just did and the twenty twenty four
algorithm report that just came out, two times is a
fine place to begin, and then you can build on
that as you need or you know, as you grow
and get used to the platform, and just to make
(29:16):
the most of everyonde's time, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are
the most engagement on the platform. Really don't need to
post on weekends or holidays since it's you know, LinkedIn
is a professional networking social media platform, so a lot
of people aren't going to be on during those times.
(29:36):
So if you really want to make your time the
most valuable, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays between eight and ten
am is the best time to post the platform.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
And I think one of the wonderful things about LinkedIn
not another wonderful thing, and you know, as opposed to
other social platforms, is that you know, for still long,
whether it was Facebook or Twitter, slash x or Instagram
and such, that there's this you know, there's this pressure,
especially now Instagram a pay You've got what's on your feed,
(30:08):
but you've also got your reels and everything, like there's
this pressure to post multiple times a day sometimes especially
on on x and Twitter.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
You know that there there was this.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
If you want to stay relevant, if you want to
be part of the algorithms, you've got to keep churning
out all these ideas and content and things to.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Say all the time.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
And you know, I think that's sometimes still a misconception
about LinkedIn too, is that people think they have to
do the same thing, like I need to have three
posts in the same day. It's really going and I
love that, you know, in what I've learned from you
and what we've seen is that that'll actually kind of
cauntibalize a way, like it'll take energy away from your
(30:48):
other posts. So you've got to and I think if
you are someone who becomes really consistent on LinkedIn and
starts to see that momentum and your followership and everything
build over time and your.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Engagement, you're going to see that.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You know, you pop into your notifications in the morning
and you see, oh, I've got to comment on a post,
and it's your post from last week because somebody you
know happened to comment on it when you posted it,
and that kind of showed up in other people's music,
and eventually a week later it made its way to
somebody else's news feed for the first time. And so
your LinkedIn posts don't just kind of live and die
(31:23):
in the day that you post it or in an
hour that you post it, and that all of a
sudden it's gone from there. But that's a beautiful thing
about the way that LinkedIn kind of operates is that,
you know, it is.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
All about like.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Kind of seeing content that if this is resonating with
this person, then oh, I think other people in their
network might like it too, and it kind of shows
up into other people's worlds as well. And again it's
a way to bring more people into into your space,
but also like keeping them out. Like you, your post
have more power than you think they have, and it's
(31:58):
good to let one kind of sit marinate for a
bit and see what that magic can happen with it. Again, still,
like three times a week allows for three different kinds
of posts to marinate and connect with the right people.
But you don't need to be posting every hour on
the hour. Yeah, they can impact there.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
No, definitely, and I agree with you one thousand percent. Yeah,
posting more than once a day is definitely, I mean
it's definitely detrimental and that the algorithm gets confused. It's yeah,
it's not like Instagram or TikTok or anything, right, So yeah,
even and I do want to mention too that that
(32:36):
does include like reshares or reposts. So if you just
posted something at nine o'clock in the morning and you're
scrolling through your feed and you see something that you
want to share from someone else, try to, you know,
wait until later if you can, because that share does
(32:57):
count in the algorithm as a new post that's coming
in as well. Instant reposts do not, but native reposts
and shares where you can like add your comments and
thoughts does count in another post as well. So just
something that you there too.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
So, like we get all these plans in place, we
know we're going to be authentic and we're going to
post three times a week, and we're doing it for
our first month, we've got our New Year's resolution in place,
We're doing it for a month, you know, and we
get to get a mid February where everybody apparently.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Gives up their New Year's resolution.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So it's like February nineteenth, I think is the day
that most people drop their New Year's resolutions. So February
nineteenth rolls around and all of a sudden and you're like,
oh my gosh, I don't know if I can keep
going with this. I don't know what I'm losing steam here.
You know, what are some of your tips for saying
consistent with your with your content?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
I think, you know, staying consistent definitely has to do
with understanding why you want to post on the platform.
You know, as we talked about earlier, LinkedIn's roots is
starting conversations. So a reason that I think people can
kind of get a little burnt out is because maybe
(34:12):
those conversations aren't just really happening, you know, And you know,
I do have a few strategies to start those conversations
in the comments and things like that. Another fun way, like,
it's sometimes it's just nice to switch things up. So
if you've been doing you know, a lot of the
(34:33):
same content. Try doing, you know, a poll and getting
to know your audience a little bit more and getting
their direct feedback where they don't have to comment. Maybe
you know, some people are lurkers on social media and
they aren't big menors, but a poll is you know,
they can just click a button and they have shared
their voice with you. So you know, if you know February,
(34:57):
we're coming to the end or in the middle of
quarter one planning, let's just grow us out here As
an example for like a pool, and you know, you
ask a question to your audience, what was you know,
what was your biggest challenge in quarter one? I want
to create some posts to help you as we enter
this next quarter, adding in some examples in the poll,
(35:20):
and then you're getting direct feedback from your audience, which
will inspire some ideas, and you feel good as a
thought leader that you're getting feedback. You're you're starting conversations
with your audience, You're feeling connected to them because you know,
when you're kind of churning out content sometimes it can
feel like nobody's really even seeing this. I think I'm
(35:40):
just going to stop. But also understanding too that LinkedIn
is a long game. You know, there's not a lot
of quality on the platform that can be obtained like
on other social media platforms, LinkedIn really values quality over quantity.
(36:03):
So staying consistent, even if you drop down to just
once a week, you know, is going and that's once
a week really quality post that you're putting out, storytelling
or just you know one marketing tipe a week that
has some powerful stats in there, just to get you
through that little bit of the writer's block that you
might have or the burnout. Just you know, try to
(36:25):
keep on it because it I as we know, you know,
growth takes a while on the platform, you know, even
if you're doing it all you can, but yeah, just
do what you can. Try to find new exciting ideas.
There's tons and tons of articles out there from LinkedIn
creators on different ideas to kind of freshen up your
(36:46):
content and your content ideas. And one thing I just
listened to this podcast the other day, which was a
really fun idea for kind of boosting those comments and engagements.
I do want to try with a lot of my
clients in twenty twenty five, is you.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Know, any pig right to go?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
So if you usually post at like nine o'clock in
the morning, instead of doing a full blown post, just
do something short like, Hey, I'm gonna be live for
thirty minutes. Drop ask me anything about xyz, you know, publicity,
or just ask me anything about me, you know, to
bring out some of those more personal qualities, and then
(37:29):
you're on the platform for thirty minutes responding to comments,
and then once thirty minutes is up, you can log off,
you know, and check back in maybe in the afternoon
answering some more comments. But I thought that was a
really fun way to engage without having to like jump
on a LinkedIn live or do a blown video or
(37:49):
anything like that. Like your audience knows you're there right
now and can ask you anything that they want about
publicity or business strategy or marketing my brand, you know,
anything like that. So I thought that was really kind
of a fun one to kind of.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
I like that, Yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely, And it's also
incorporating kind of different formats and stuff too, which I know,
again I want to get into kind of the evolutions
of LinkedIn over the last year and then trends as
we look ahead. You've been kind of giving us little
taste of that already, Rachel, But I know format and
we talk about video and it's important on LinkedIn, little
(38:26):
newsletters and everything beyond our content. What's important there, So
that certainly this sounds like this kind of opportunity allows
for formats to be in the mix there. So let's
jump into that. Tell me about some of the kind
of the big changes that you've seen in the last year,
and then you know, exciting things that are that you see.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
Ahead and you're learning about that are that are to come. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Absolutely, So one thing I did want to mention kind
of too, because we always talk about like the LinkedIn algorithm.
You know, it's like this overlord and no one really
you know, understands how. But so I just want to
give a quick how the algorithm is working now as
the end of twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five.
It is a combination of engagement and that does not
(39:13):
mean like likes or reactions, it's actually comments and full time.
So how long are people spending with your post, whether
that's reading a longer storytelling post, going into the comments
and you know, engaging there, or engaging with other people
in the comments, or watching a two to three minute video.
(39:36):
The dwell time has been found now to be very
important on the platform. Keep that in mind. So everything
that you're doing on the platform needs to be focused
on getting people to stay with your content for an
extended period of time.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I mean no pressure, you know, of course, but you know, yeah, right,
Creating thought provoking comment or asking questions in the comments, things.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Like that can really help boost that.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
As we had a new year again, the algorithm is
always changing, could be different next week, but that is
how it's working right now. So yeah, video especially so
video reach is up twenty five percent in twenty twenty four.
LinkedIn completely reworked its mobile app in order to create
(40:28):
the availability of like TikTok size videos. So it's definitely
here to stay now from the research I've done. Do
you need it? No, you don't need to do it,
but I do want to, you know, anyone listening to
give it a try in twenty twenty five and see
(40:48):
how your audience reacts to it and can be a
really top performing post for you one month if you
just do it once a month, or it might not,
do you know, you might have more of a reader
audience that likes you know, your your text to read
or your graphics, you know, so they don't have to
be very long. Just record yourself talking on your cell
(41:10):
phone and add some captions or LinkedIn does auto captions.
Definitely want captions so people can read if they're not
able to listen. And yeah, give it a try for sure,
because it's basically a gift from the algorithm with the
amount of reach that it's boosting the content right now,
so it's definitely a win win to give it a try.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Also one thing that they're seeing now with video coming
out and kind of there's been an oversaturation of graphic
and video content. So another thing to try in twenty
twenty five is just doing text based posts and see
if they perform better because just kind of putting a
stock image on for the for simply the sake of
(41:57):
having a graphic is not going to be your post.
In fact, it could downgrade it because people are just
oversaturated with visual imagery on the platform. So give that
a try as well. Another update is Community top Voice.
I know everybody was working real hard to get those badges.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Oh yeah now so oh my god.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Yeah, LinkedIn received feedback that with AI, the AI invasion
on the platform that there wasn't a lot of quality
content being shared in those kind of articles, so they
decided to just kind of get rid of it for now.
So Top Voice is the only badge available right now,
(42:43):
and that's an invitation only, so that's the only bands.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
So interesting, Yeah, because I do feel like I would,
I would, you know, I think so many of us
can get these prompts the top eared news feed. It's like,
you know, what are brief things you would recommend for.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
A person a new leadership position or something.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
You go into that article and you're adding in, and
there's so many different people who are adding in, and
it's you know, they're doing so to get those Top
Community Voice badges.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
And I would sometimes see them on.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Pay with profile like huh, I wonder how you got
that because they don't tend to be guys active, you
know when they're posting, or they you know, didn't have
a lot of followers or whatever it was. So it
sounds like it was a great decision to create more
consistency across who those top contributors actually are.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Yeah. Percent, that was exactly the contribute contributing to the
actual platform and the Top Voice was like unequal and
so yeah, yeah, and then newsletters continue to be an
incredible thing for you to start on LinkedIn. Specifically, newsletter
engagement was up forty seven percent this year. Yeah, gosh,
(43:56):
only point zero two percent of LinkedIn members have a
newsletter and are utilizing newsletters, so it's still most eight time.
There's not a lot of oversaturation of newsletters or anything
like that. So it's a it's a it's really really
simple to start, you know, it's everybody as long. There's
(44:18):
a few little rules that you know, you had to
post within the last ninety days, you have to have
over one hundred and fifty connections, but you can create
one easily with a short description and a thumbnail and
just get to work on you know, longer form content.
And yeah, it's it's just a great opportunity to add
(44:41):
a subscriber base that you know, you're posting consistently and
engaging with LinkedIn. So allowing brands to sponsor member newsletters
as well, so that's something that just started as well.
So a brand can boost a newsletter with a paid
promotion as a sponsor. Okay, so the newsletter can kind
(45:04):
of become like an ad on the feed. So that's
definitely something to look into. I do need to do
a little bit more research on how that's all, how
that all works, but but yeah, they.
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Just kind of interesting.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, yeah, so that'll be really interesting to see how
that kind of plays out as we head into the
new year.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
One of the things I think GROW's great with the
LinkedIn newsletter too is you know, different people are kind
of getting their content in different ways and living in
different platform spending time in different platforms.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
So as we launched I want to.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
Say, like, quote unquote my LinkedIn newsletter because technically it's
the Smith Publicity newsletter. It has lived in an email
you know, you know format for so long, and it's
it's something we've been doing for a really long time
here at Smith. But we knew that there were people
on LinkedIn who weren't signed up for it, you know,
in that format, and like, okay, this is a great
(45:56):
way to add to I get a lot of the
content that the newsletter can have come from me as well,
So there's a connection point there of course, but but
it was a great way to extend to reduce reuse, recycle,
if you will, you know, content that we already were
working really hard on and it was really important to
us you're at Smith and make sure it got out
to other people through other platforms. So something else to
(46:18):
think about in like again, how you're getting the content
for your LinkedIn newsletter is hey, you're already doing a
newsletter on your own, you know, in an email format,
which is still very important, but we're not diving into
that wonderful rabbit hole today that you can use the
same content across into your LinkedIn newsletter as well one
(46:41):
hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Actually a quick tip there because LinkedIn newsletters, you know,
your subscribers kind of stay on that platform, but we
you always kind of want to have that email address list, Yeah,
for a lot of different reasons. So a good tip
if if you do have, say like a substack newsletter,
and you want to branch out and get more eyes
(47:04):
on the newsletter that maybe people are not seeing it
creating a LinkedIn version, that maybe if you give seven
tips in the substack the newsletter where people have to
give their email addresses to sign up, you maybe only
do three in the LinkedIn and then direct them over
to your substack. So you're kind of getting the.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
Book point World's there. Yeah, you're still.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Getting a lot more eyes on it. Yet you know,
you're still collecting those email addresses as well.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Awesome, awesome insight, Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
So those are kind of my big updates that are
happening on the platform right now. As we head into
twenty twenty five, AI is going to continue to be
a bit of a problem, not a problem, but you
know on the platform. So impressions are down right now
(47:58):
a little bit on the platform, and it's really what
the research is saying is that it's it's just an
over abundance of AI generated content and people are scrolling
through it and not really wanting to connect with it.
So the data was one hundred and eighty percent more
(48:20):
fully AI written posts and AI generated comments are up three.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
Hundred and forty on the platform.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
A lot of yeah, a lot. And I think the
most important thing to remember with any social media platform
is again quality over quantity. You know, if you're feeling
overwhelmed by the pressure to churn out content and you're
(48:51):
using like chat GPT in order to write those posts
that you feel so much pressure to get out there,
then dial back and make it more our human centered
content content instead and add that human element. And if
that does take more time, like i've you know said
a little bit earlier with the burnout, you know, just uh,
you know, make it short, go down to one time
(49:13):
a week, you know, and just but make it authentically.
You of course AI to help with blog titles and
things like that, but like to write, write your post,
you know, you're you're gonna lose brand trust, You're gonna
lose you know, the authenticity that every expert brand needs
to have with their audience. So just keep that in mind.
(49:35):
You know, quantity over quality always.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
Absolutely, and I'm thinking you, yeah, it doesn't have to
be a fearfulness or a complete you know, uh, pushing
AI to the side.
Speaker 3 (49:48):
I think I always go back to at the US.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Book Show and one of the panels someone said, let's
flip the letters and call it an intelligent assistant. Yeah,
And I think when we can lean into it that way,
say gosh, I'm really struggling on how to say what
I want to say here, and you can kind of
put it in to chat, GPT or even I know,
if you write into LinkedIn, you can you know, put
right your content and it says like jazz it up
(50:12):
with AI. Basically, and you can have it kind of
help you there. And you know, I think I've done
that myself sometimes where I'm just like, oh, could this
be said a little better, and.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
I'll truss that button. Then it changes some things and
I'm like a lot of this, but I'll you know,
I'll just.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
Tweak that still there, but there might be a word
or of phrasing or something that it pulls in and.
Speaker 3 (50:34):
That kind of helps you with it.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
So there's there are some there are some benefits, you know,
especially for thought leaders experts. It's not lost in any
of us that content is king and they're being challenged
not only write a book and to have a day job,
but to produce an exorbitant amount of content to stay
relevant today across many different formats and platforms. And so
(50:57):
if you can get a little bit of that help
with the idea your generation, go for it, you know.
But but being mindful of I think I can definitely
spot an AI comment when it comes up.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
It weirdly looks like the post.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
You can tell like that, the phrasing someone uses, the
words that are in the posts or in the comment
are just very similar.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
To the post itself.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
And it was you know, like someone probably said, write
a comment back to this post, you know, and put
it into those systems.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
So exactly, and.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
You can can help a little bit with coming up
with like if you're in a slum about posting, you know,
it can give you some ideas too, of trending topics
to even chat about or you know create. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
so those are those are some great tips for using
AI to help you through. But yeah, you definitely don't
(51:51):
want to use it to write, you know, all seven
days worth of pull that's how you're getting the posts out,
you know, So just.
Speaker 3 (51:59):
A quick tip there.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
But but yeah, I expect LinkedIn to only grow as
let me continue on into twenty twenty five. More CEOs
are on the platform more than ever now, so it's
going to be an exciting year.
Speaker 3 (52:14):
It is.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
It is that we have so many amazing tips and
insights to run full force with, you know, from you
here today, Rachel, So thank you so much for sharing
them with us. And I will say if you need,
if you want some examples of not only a lot
of the things Rachel has shared today, but also her
(52:36):
work directly at hand, please check out my LinkedIn profile.
Speaker 3 (52:42):
And again we have.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
A very collaborative, wonderful partnership in what that looks like.
But if you want a place where all of the
things that Rachel's recommended you see that exactly kind of
touched in that way, please come on over and check
out my LinkedIn profile, connect with me, reach out directly,
(53:03):
and you can of course learn more about many of
the other conversations and wonderful expert insights and things that
we've shared throughout twenty twenty four through the Smith Podcast
All Things Book Marketing podcasts. Here you can go over
to our YouTube channel, watch other past interviews and you'll
see Rachel's up soon, and of course subscribe to all
(53:24):
the different newsletters that we have here at Smith across
the platforms and everything too. So thank you so much
again Rachel for joining us today, Wishing everyone a very
wonderful end of twenty twenty four and an incredible, exciting,
prosperous and.
Speaker 3 (53:44):
Joy filled twenty twenty five ahead.
Speaker 1 (53:48):
Thanks so much, Thank you for listening to this episode
of the Smith Publicity All Things Book Marketing podcast. To
reach us and learn about our many services, visit Smith
Publicity dot com, send us an email to info at
Smith Publicity dot com
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