How to Use LinkedIn to Generate Podcast Leads with Julie Livingston

LinkedIn is the platform to be on as a business professional. It has become the main place to network, build connections, and share insights along your career or business journey. But what can you do to utilize LinkedIn for your podcast and generate leads for your business? Julie Livingston is here to talk about all the ways to optimize LinkedIn for your podcast as well as your business. This week, episode 121 of Listeners to Leads is about using LinkedIn to generate podcast leads and grow your podcast audience! 

Julie Livingston is the President of WantLeverage Communications, a New York City-based public relations and LinkedIn marketing consultancy. Julie helps under-the-radar companies and senior leaders get the visibility and brand recognition they deserve through PR and LinkedIn marketing. 

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, Julie Livingston shares the importance of optimizing the top third of your LinkedIn profile and actionable steps you can take right now to attract the right connections to your profile. 

Julie and I also chat about the following: 

• How to effectively use LinkedIn for personal branding and business growth.
• Taking full advantage of LinkedIn’s features like Creator Mode.
• How sharing small stories from your everyday life and experiences helps you connect to your followers.
• Providing substantive commentary on others' posts as a way to gain visibility and credibility.

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me! And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about Listeners to Leads at www.listenerstoleads.com

CONNECT WITH JULIE LIVINGSTON:

LinkedIn

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PR Patter Live Show

WantLeverage Communications

CONNECT WITH ALESIA GALATI:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Work with Galati Media! 

Tired of Your Podcast's Slow Growth? Discover the secrets to fast-tracking your podcast's success with our Podcast Growth Intensive. This comprehensive 4-month program will equip you with the data-driven strategies, expert guidance, and community support you need to unlock your show's full potential.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:57

And a lot of people ask me that question and I can see the sense of overwhelm in their eyes. They're like, oh my God, I know I have to do this, but it feels so painful. Where do I start? Well, what I recommend? First of all, start following people on LinkedIn who you admire and see what they're doing, and then you're going to get a sense of who's doing it really well, who's not so good, who's getting a lot of engagement, meaning people are sharing, liking and commenting on their posts beyond oh, I like this post People really commenting and getting into a discussion on their posts. So check that out and keep track of them.

Speaker 2: 1:38

Welcome to another episode of listeners to leads, where I'm helping podcasters launch and maintain a lead generating show. I'm your host, alicia Galati, the CEO and head podcast strategist behind Galati Media, a full service podcast management company. On this show, you'll hear my guests and I discuss everything it takes to launch a successful podcast and keep it running. If you're ready to get leads, land speaking gigs and create deeper connections with your audience through your podcast, then this is the show for you. Today on the podcast, we have Julie Now.

Speaker 2: 2:15

Julie is a PR and LinkedIn marketing expert and we're going to talk all things LinkedIn today. I'm really excited to chat with her because as podcasters and especially as ex corporate people, it can feel really overwhelming to approach LinkedIn from a place of bringing your personality into it, using your voice, really being creative and fun, while still using it to generate leads or to bring people into listening to your podcast. So Julia is going to go through your profile things that you can do creating those content pillars or, as I like to call them, your content buckets, and ensuring that what you're creating is actually going to get someone's attention so that they can then take that next step with you, whichever way you want them to take with you. All right, so join me in welcoming Julie to the show. Hello Julie, thank you so much for being on the show today. I'm very excited to chat with you about all things LinkedIn. So if you could just start by telling everyone who you are, what you do and about your show.

Speaker 1: 3:20

LinkedIn is my favorite topic, alicia. I'm Julie Livingston and I'm president of Want Leverage Communications, a New York City based public relations and LinkedIn marketing consultancy. I've used LinkedIn for years, but in the past three years I started amping up my presence on the platform as a means of marketing my own consultancy and, of you know, way of getting more visibility and finding clients and people started to notice my content. So it was this organic, unexpected thing that happened. You know I'm a publicist.

Speaker 1: 3:54

I've been in public relations for more than three decades and I've worked in the corporate sector for some brands. You might know Liz Claiborne in the fashion business, scholastic, the children's publishing and entertainment giant, and I've even led marketing communications teams at the Toy Association. So I worked with all the major toy brands and also led marketing for the annual New York Toy Fair, which is this humongous event that takes up the whole Jacob Javits Convention Center. But I've also been an entrepreneur. In fact, this is my third iteration of my business. So as I was looking to really get things rolling again because I'm zigzagged in and out of the corporate world, I started posting content on LinkedIn and that I felt really showcased what I could do as well as a bit of my personality and my sense of passion for my work, because I really love what I do and the kind of results I was getting for clients.

Speaker 2: 4:50

For someone who is just getting started on LinkedIn, right, maybe they're like your client, where they're just like posting and ghosting once in a while. They're not really sure what the platform's doing and they're thinking look, I want to be a leader, I want to be able to use my podcast content to engage with potential guests, potential listeners. Really interact with people, because I think sometimes we forget the social part of social media, right and like it can be such an incredible platform for connecting with people. So, for someone who's getting started, what are some things that you believe that they should really focus on? And one thing that kind of comes to mind that you mentioned that I really love was understanding your voice, understanding where you stand and really honing in on those content pillars. But what are your kind of thoughts on that getting started phase?

Speaker 1: 5:40

That's a great question and a lot of people ask me that question and I can see the sense of overwhelm in their eyes. Oh my god, I know I have to do this, but it feels so painful. Where do I start? Well, what I recommend?

Speaker 1: 5:55

First of all, start following people on LinkedIn who you admire and see what they're doing, and then you're going to get a sense of who's doing it really well, who's not so good, who's getting a lot of engagement, meaning people are sharing, liking and commenting on their posts beyond oh, I like this post People really commenting and getting into a discussion on their posts. So check that out and keep track of them, identify their number of followers and what kind of topics they're speaking of, because that's sort of like your competitive analysis. Then go to your own LinkedIn profile and look at it carefully. Does it really communicate the essence of who you are as a person? Because people ultimately want to connect with other humans. This is the world's largest business networking platform, but the reason why it's so popular is because people are connecting with other people. So is your profile exciting or is it more like a flat resume? Because that is going to put people to sleep. Nobody will look at something that looks like a resume. This is something that needs to be more thoughtful and more provocative, and it's sort of a combination of a description of your persona, some really exciting visuals, maybe of you in action giving a presentation or sharing a slideshow, or a podcast recording sharing articles that you wrote or bylined or contributed to. So it's kind of a mesh of everything that you've done to give people a sense of who you are, and you also need to make sure that you're optimizing all the features that LinkedIn has available, which are constantly changing. So I like to start at the top, because most people scan on social media. So if the top third of your profile isn't too exciting, forget it. People are going to move on.

Speaker 1: 7:53

So you want to really focus on that, and so the first thing is number one to have a professional headshot. Don't fool around with that. This is the face you're putting forth into the public domain. Make sure it's a good one, where you're smiling, or that you look really like yourself. You're dressed nicely, like no bikini or beer shots, none of that. This is not Facebook, folks. This is a business platform, but you don't have to wear a suit and tie. I mean you could be business casual, but nice. Make sure your hair looks good, that you're making eye contact, and then there's a spot in the back of your headshot, the background header. That is the most underutilized piece of real estate. People always forget it's there. But my God, that's like. That could be like a billboard flashing to the public what you do and what you're all about.

Speaker 1: 8:41

And how do you use that? Well, in different ways. I use it by I've uploaded a photo of me in action speaking to somebody, speaking to a reporter. I also have overlaid some text on it that says I do PR and LinkedIn marketing. Use those graphical elements sparingly so that you're not overwhelming people with information, and I've seen some that give me a headache. They have so much on there.

Speaker 1: 9:06

No, you want to captivate somebody and draw them in. You want to telegraph them instantly about what you do. So then, when you go back into the top third of the profile, you want to have your obviously your name, your title. You'll probably decide if you're going to use gender pronouns. You might want to do that. Then you're going to start by describing what you do. You want to have a catchy headline, but that's not salesy, but that really communicates again who you are and what you do, and it certainly include in that, if you want any awards. Now you have a certain amount of characters which I'm not remembering and I'm not remembering how many there are, but you can have your title and then put one of those divider lines and then say, you know, award winning, blah, blah, blah, business and technology leader, whatever and then underneath that, if you're in creator mode and creator mode is something on LinkedIn which is free and it provides you with some updated and really cool features, including some graphical features that can really jazz up your profile but you should only use the creator mode if you have more than 500 connections. If you don't, I would wait on that and I'll tell you why in a minute.

Speaker 1: 10:23

But if you do turn on creator mode, you get this section called talks about and that gives you the ability to add up to five hashtags searchable terms that people might look when they're trying to find someone like you or somebody with your expertise, like maybe your hashtags or leadership minus public relations, marketing, linkedin, so the top search terms that you might use. Also, with creator mode, you get to add a custom URL. Now for me that's my website, but it could be something linked to your blog and, again, it's wonderful that it's right on top there in the top third section of your profile. I also love the featured section and creator mode, which is just a little bit beneath that. So, more on the second third of the profile, and this is like a visual marquee, like you know, when you go to the movies and you see the marquee outside with the names of the films. Well, this gives you graphics that you could switch up. I like to feature my clients, daily posts that I do for them, in the featured section, but you could add a slide carousel, a presentation, a link to a byline article that you did. There are lots of different things and I like to keep changing that area up to keep it really fresh so that people will want to keep coming back and looking for what I've been posting lately.

Speaker 1: 11:49

The about section is definitely challenging for people. Here you have, I think, up to 2,000 words, so you have a lot of space to talk a little bit more about who you are and what you do. And, again, this should be more than just a resume. People really want to know about you. They want to know what you do and who you are and so, using that section, you should take your time writing that and definitely have an outside set of eyes, look at it before you post it, although you can always change it.

Speaker 1: 12:22

But I find that the about section is challenging and it takes time to really get it right, because you want it to be interesting and you want to show people how you think, how your career trajectory matches up to how you think and the kind of person you are, and also speak to some of your accolades and some of the results that you've attained, as well as a little bit maybe even about your education, if you want to promote that. So the about section can take you some time and sometimes I suggest that people write it, write a draft and live with it for a couple of days and then revisit it and then have to know somebody else, a friend or a colleague, take a look and you ask them does this sound like me? Is this your experience in working with me? And, if not, change it up in the experience section. That could be the most like your resume, except I would abbreviate it. Abbreviated and really just include the highlights of what you've done in your career.

Speaker 1: 13:17

Again, you want to keep people moving through the whole LinkedIn profile. You don't want them to fall asleep. So that's why, in the experience section, you could also add a subsection for media. So if you were somebody who gets quoted in the media, you can then add that subsection and post when your articles publish or when you've done a presentation, and again this paints the picture of who you are. Further down on your profile you can also add a section for honors and awards for publications.

Speaker 1: 13:52

So one of the things I like to do in a LinkedIn profile is repeat, because, again, people scan the LinkedIn profile, so I like to repeat certain things, such as articles or media placements where my clients have been featured, so I like to put them in my featured section.

Speaker 1: 14:11

I like to put them in the experience section and the sub area for publications. And then there's another area that you could add called publications, lower on the profile. Now, linkedin has not made this the best looking area for publications because they want people to stay on the platform, but it's still worth it. It won't pop up with a graphic of the article and it's really just content. It's still worth having that hyperlink back to whatever it is you're promoting, that you've written, or presentation or speech that you've given. I think it's still worth it. You can also add an education section, which I think is important, and then there are others for certifications and licenses that you can add as well. So, no matter where somebody looks on your profile the top third, the middle third or the bottom they're going to get a sense of you.

Speaker 2: 15:04

I love how you broke each section down and just as you were talking, I was thinking through like as a podcast, or where could we put hey, I'm a podcast host, I am talking, having these conversations that are relevant. Right, if you're having a true crime podcast, maybe LinkedIn isn't the best place to put that information.

Speaker 1: 15:20

No, it could be. It could be, you never know. It could be a great place to let people know that you do it and to build viewership and also maybe even to find some guests.

Speaker 2: 15:30

Yes.

Speaker 1: 15:30

So you could put your URL in that top third section if you have the creator mode on.

Speaker 2: 15:35

Yes. So, like I know for myself, I have it in my title podcast host of listeners to leads podcast. I have it. The hyperlink goes to my website, which has my information right About my podcast in my about section. I also have host of the listeners to leads podcast. In my featured section, I have one of my most downloaded episodes, which is like a very basic level future of podcasting. And then even in the experience one you mentioned adding that, and I'm like, yes, I could totally add the podcast host. This is where I've been featured, this is what I've done, and then even the publications, because you are publishing this content right. So there's so many different places that we can let people know hey, this is what we're about, this is what we're doing, this is what is important to us to allow that person who's going to our profile to really get a well rounded view of us, but also to keep pushing them to the podcast.

Speaker 1: 16:31

I think the ultimate goal Alicia is for people. When you actually meet somebody in person, for them to say to you I feel like I know you Right.

Speaker 2: 16:41

Yes, oh, yes, and that's why I love podcasting because they can hear your voice, they can hear your excitement about things. That at energy right translates and you could literally I've heard people say this be in the bathroom at a podcasting conference or at a conference and they're like are you? So it sounds like oh, yes, I knew you by voice. Oh, my goodness, you sound just like you do on your podcast and like that's what we want, right With all of our content. So how can we view LinkedIn and like know it from? My corporate background is in manufacturing and supply chain, so very rigid SOPs, all the processes and structure. But how can we bring a little bit of our personality into a platform like LinkedIn, where a lot of us ex corporate people might feel like it has to be more rigid with our content?

Speaker 1: 17:34

That's a great question and I think it's in identifying the content pillars that you want to own and you have to stick with those, be consistent so that you're repeating the same thing, so that you're really developing a brand kind of a branded presence and people know what to expect to hear from you.

Speaker 1: 17:51

And when you're developing your posts, you're actually content Number one. Decide on the cadence of your content, are you? If you're just starting off, I would suggest that you start with one post a week and do that on a Wednesday, which is that most highly traffic day on LinkedIn. Do it in the morning between like nine and 1030 is what they call the golden hour, when most people are looking. And again, do your hashtag research so that you and I keep a spreadsheet of hashtags, although it is difficult to know which ones are really performing. Do a search first and make sure you're picking hashtags with more than 10,000 followers so that they're going to it's going to get some, some traction. And make sure you use those words, um, those search terms, in your posts regularly. Although, do not put the hashtags in your posts. Save the five. You've got up to five hashtags on LinkedIn. Put them after the post. Linkedin doesn't like when you put them in the post.

Speaker 1: 18:49

So people love stories and if you can pluck stories, like many, many stories of things that happen to you during the day let's say you're writing about your life as a podcast, or, alicia, you know, there might be something that you learned today during this podcast interview about your microphone. Maybe you just got a new microphone and you just you learn by interviewing me or speaking with me about how you could really use this microphone to your best advantage. Right about that, right? So why did you decide to get a new microphone? How did you pick that brand? What were some of the issues that you wanted to solve? And then maybe something happened. Maybe something went wrong when you first started trying to use the new microphone on the show. Uh-oh, like what people want to know, all that behind the scenes stuff. How did you resolve the issue and how did you come out of it? That's what really engages people. They want to know what really goes on behind the scenes.

Speaker 2: 19:47

That's a great example, because this is a brand new microphone.

Speaker 1: 19:51

How did I even know that?

Speaker 2: 19:53

I don't know, and this is the first time that I've used it on an interview. That's great. There you go.

Speaker 1: 19:58

That's great. You can even tag the microphone company, the manufacturer, and there's a lot you can do, and I find that the smaller stories of my day-to-day work in public relations and LinkedIn marketing goes a long way. People just are really hungry for information and you'd be surprised at some of the things that you could share that are really helpful to people that make their position new as an expert.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Yeah, and they allow you to also feel very human right. So, like one story I always like to share that actually could have stopped me from getting into podcasting and into this industry was at a co-worker who was like Alicia, you have one of those voices that just makes me want to punch you in the face and I was like I'm your rude, but like I could have let that stop me. Like someone's opinion of my voice stopped me from starting a podcast, having a podcast production company, because my voice didn't have a seat at the table or shouldn't have a seat at the table. But it's just a reminder, like who cares? You're always going to have that one person who's going to leave you a one star review, and you know what I feel like once you hit that one star review. You have made it. You officially have people who don't like you. You made it.

Speaker 1: 21:12

Oh my gosh. Well, the other way that you can start sharing your content on LinkedIn if you want to kind of dip your pinky toe in is by commenting on other people's posts, because you gain visibility by doing that and provide substantive commentary on people's posts, people you admire. You know I sometimes do that with journalists I want to capture the attention of. Also, linkedin has kind of a new feature called collaborative articles, which are kind of the commentary in them is crowdsourced. So if you want to be known as an expert on podcasting, you should see. You know there might be some collaborative articles that you could provide commentary and insights to. From LinkedIn. They're testing this now. I think it's been rolled out nationwide, but you should check it out called collaborative articles.

Speaker 2: 22:00

Yeah, that's such a great feature too, especially if you're someone who wants to be connected with people in your industry, who wants to find more collaborative ways to have good, interesting conversations right that go beyond the and I'm someone like this where don't ask me about the weather. I really don't want to talk about the weather. I want to get deep, like let's talk.

Speaker 1: 22:23

So, like.

Speaker 2: 22:24

If you're someone who likes to do that, then these are great ways to really take it that step further. Is there anything else that we should consider before we wrap up, as we're kind of touching on LinkedIn, maybe some do's or don'ts that we definitely need to be aware of?

Speaker 1: 22:37

Well, be nice, be respectful that's not to say if somebody posts something on your feed that's really outrageous or off the wall to lead it. But in general, get out there and, I think, try to overcome any trepidation you have about the platform by dipping your toe in. Start by commenting on other people's posts, getting your profile in order, and don't just leave your profile out there Once you do it, remember to visit it often to see if there are things you want to change or update on it. I do that all the time. At least once a month Look at your profile so that you can update it and then build your followers. Build your connections.

Speaker 1: 23:17

I have one client whose current number of connections aren't that active on LinkedIn, so therefore her posts don't get that widely seen. But she really needs to send out invitations to more people she knows she knows a ton of people. She's just not connected with them yet. So really leverage the platform as a PR tool is what I can tell you is that it really is quite powerful in building your brand presence and in promoting what you do and who you are so good.

Speaker 2: 23:44

Thank you so much, julie. This has been so informational and lots of action steps that people can take to really improve their presence on LinkedIn. Where can people find you? Hang out with you, watch your show?

Speaker 1: 23:56

Well, you can definitely find me. My show is called PR Pattern. It's a LinkedIn live show that I do on Wednesday mornings about a variety of PR and marketing topics. It's also being developed into a podcast, just audio only, and that's on Apple right now. And then, if you go to my website, wantleveragedcom, you can download my free tip sheet. I do it public relations on LinkedIn tip sheet every month and also you can download how to make your CEO stand out on LinkedIn.

Speaker 2: 24:29

Thank you so much. We'll make sure that we have links for all of that in the show notes for anyone who's driving or doing other things. We'll have it on our website as well, with those links, so that way anyone can go there. Thank you so much, julie. Again, I really really appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 24:42

Oh, it's my pleasure. I enjoy chatting with you, Alicia.