In this episode we'll chat with Wayne Breitbarth about the ways authors can use LinkedIn to build their brands and promote their books.

1: 15 - Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background and book?

• The journey started about 11 years ago when I owned an office furniture dealership. I wasn’t on social media and actually hoped it would go away, but we were in a recession and business was difficult. A friend repeatedly suggested that I use LinkedIn, so I finally caved and tried it.
• What I found was that LinkedIn was less about social media and more about being a database of connections.
• I read the few books that existed and studied the platform for 3 of 4 months, then started speaking around Milwaukee about LinkedIn, hoping, really, to sell furniture by getting in front of an audience.
• After my 105th event, my wife recommended that we write a book about using LinkedIn.
• We worked with Greenleaf on the book and it took off. Next thing you know, I’m charging for my speaking and consulting and have been doing so for about 6 years now.

5:45 - How did you use LinkedIn to contribute to the success of your book?

• I built this platform around a weekly LinkedIn email tip. I grew a sizable email list and LinkedIn following, and I offered valuable content for free for the most part. When I share that I have a new edition now, people respond.
• I’ve built this brand over 11 years and consistently share good content for free, then additional content that is paid at various levels (consultations included). It all starts with understanding that LinkedIn and my email list are my two main ways to promote the book, which is the entry to the rest of my brand.
• Between 5 to 8 books each week are mailed out by my wife after I have conversations with potential clients. The book sets me apart and allows me to charge a higher fee. It’s like mailing people my credibility.

9:20 - What are some of the basic steps that someone who is an author should take to use LinkedIn to amplify their reach?

• First, make sure that you have a separate LinkedIn job experience entry for every revenue stream you have, including a separate author entry.
• Link to your company page, and explain what’s in the book. At the bottom of that entry you can add media. I include a link to the Amazon page and a link to a free PDF chapter.
• Secondly, in your headline, include the title of your book. You can have an additional hundred characters if the last 100 characters are added using a LinkedIn mobile app.
• Third, build a graphic with your book cover, your website, tagline, and phone number for the background behind your picture.
• Fourth, there’s a section called publications that appears in your accomplishments section. Use that section not just for your book and Amazon, but your blog or podcast features.
• Fifth, in your contact information section, there are three links available. Link to your website, link to a place to buy your book, and a link to a free chapter or video related to your business.
• Side note: people don’t understand that LinkedIn is a database and they need to optimize their profiles with keywords like they would Google. Words like "LinkedIn book", "LinkedIn author" (in my case) need to be sprinkled throughout your profile. We’ll share a keyword worksheet to help optimize keywords in their profiles.
• Last, in the recommendations section, make sure that you have several recommendations specifically about your book.

16:30 What are your thoughts on the 80/20 rule and whether that rule applies on LinkedIn?

• There has to be some kind of a thought process by the content publisher that there should be a component of giving that doesn’t necessarily go back to your website or blog.
• My rule has always been the 6/3/1 rule. For every 10 things you’ll share, 6 of them should be from other people, 3 of them should be your own blog or videos for teaching and helping, the last 1 should be a flat-out promotion.
• I’ve changed that thought process slightly as algorithms change where posts get out to some people in your network, but not everyone. If it doesn’t get enough engagement, it dies immediately. Because of this, I think you need to swing a little stronger into the promotion side, maybe 20% of what you post instead of 10%.
• One way to do this is to mix your promotion into your blogs or other content, adding a call to action for your product or services at the end of a post.

21:20 Would you say that LinkedIn was a viable tool to boost sales, if you could track that at all?

• In this last edition, I came up with a bonus, a few worksheets called The Essential LinkedIn Toolkit. I shared on LinkedIn that if you buy the book in the first few weeks that it’s out, I will send you the toolkit.
• My ranking on Amazon rose to about the 2000 level in the Book area, and I was number 1 for that period of time in a bunch of areas.
• Another thing I wanted your author audience to think about, though I can’t say for sure that numbers move because of this, is that I go on LInkedIn and search “podcast” and “business”, and all of the people that have both those terms in their profile show up. I use the connection request, not InMail, to introduce myself, tell them I have the book, I’d love to send them a copy of the book and maybe be a guest on their shows.
• One Sunday I sent 150 of these notes, and I got on 12 shows out of the 150 because podcasters need content. 40 people took me up on the book, which may also produce results down the road.

26:30 Do you have any parting advice for authors who might be considering using LinkedIn for their launch success?

• First, find me on LinkedIn, send me a connection request, I’d love to become your friend and we can provide resources for you.
• Over all, be consistent with your LinkedIn time and strategy and have your profile tell the story, where you’re trying to go and who you’re trying to meet. Make sure the connections you’re adding do that same thing. Have a cadence and a consistency to LinkedIn, and a process. It will pay off for you as long as your network is there, and I can tell you, for nonfiction authors, your audience is there.

---

About Wayne

Wayne Breitbarth is the author of The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search.Once a skeptic and now an outspoken proponent of LinkedIn, Wayne Breitbarth is passionate about helping business professionals—from entry level to CEO—learn how to combine their previous experience and relationships with this innovative tool in order to more successfully brand and market themselves and their businesses.With 40 years’ experience in the areas of operations, finance, management, consulting, and business ownership, he is able to “put it all together” for his corporate and individual clients. In addition to his consulting work, Wayne is a dynamic speaker whose audiences have included Inc. Magazine, the American Marketing Association, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Wayne is a Certified Public Accountant and received a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and an MBA from Marquette University. He is the CEO of Power Formula LLC and resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.