Picture this: You’re a CEO walking into an industry conference. With more than 50,000 LinkedIn connections, you’re fairly well known and feel good about the size of your network. You take your seat in the audience as the keynote speaker walks in. They’re also a CEO, but with a much smaller LinkedIn network (more like 500).
What they do have that you don’t is a published book, which is what qualified them to be at the podium, earning a $25,000 fee. Conference organizers frequently use author status as evidence of influence.
This is the Authority Multiplier Effect in action. Sure, your number of social media followers is evidence that people are paying attention to you right now, but the power of a published book is that its influence can grow over time, attracting more attention, more business opportunities, and more keynote speaking gigs.
I’m not suggesting that you turn your attention away from LinkedIn, or that you have to choose one tactic over the other. I’m saying that you can leverage both LinkedIn and a book, with your book serving as an amplifier of all the marketing you do online.
The LinkedIn Algorithm Reality Check
We all know that LinkedIn is the social media platform for business professionals. It always has been, and that specialization makes it a powerful tool. However, the Algorithm Insights Report for 2024 shows that LinkedIn organic reach is on the decline. Currently, only about 2-6 percent of your followers ever see your posts.
At the same time, LinkedIn posts are really only relevant or viable for about 24-48 hours, at the most. Unless your followers catch it within that timeframe, they will likely never see it. Your efforts are wasted.
Additionally, the size of your LinkedIn follower account doesn’t necessarily equate to thought leadership or authority. The more connections you have, the greater the potential for business opportunities, but there isn’t always a direct connection with business results.
The Permanent Authority of Books
Granted, the same can be said of books—there is no guarantee of success or of new business opportunities. However, books do create permanent authority. That is, authority that is longer-term and not attached to social media platforms or trends.
When you’re introduced as the author of “The foremost book on [your topic],” your expertise is solidified in a way that LinkedIn will likely never be able to.
That permanent authority doesn’t wane either. In fact, it can compound and amplify over time. Your book can continue to build and enhance your reputation in the background, attracting opportunities to be quoted by the media, be invited to speak at events, be interviewed on podcasts, and participate in online summits.
As I’ve pointed out before, journalists and writers are encouraged by media outlets to use authors as sources for articles they write because publishing a book suggests a depth of knowledge that non-authors can’t demonstrate as easily.
Besides attracting marketing opportunities, a published book is also a powerful marketing tool in itself. Send a prospect your book and you immediately earn respect, even if they never read a word of it. Several of my clients have stated that they view their book as a conversation starter.
Book authorship is a permanent credential, even if your book eventually goes out of print. You will always be able to differentiate yourself as the author of [your book’s title].
The Synergy Strategy: Book + LinkedIn
The good news is that we’re not talking about competing marketing tools. LinkedIn and your book are complementary, not competitive. Actually, they multiply each other’s effectiveness. Your book becomes the foundation of your authority that gives everything else you post on LinkedIn more weight.
The credibility you earn from your book carries over to positively impact engagement on your LinkedIn posts. As an author, you’re an expert sharing your expertise rather than an average person sharing their opinions.
You can also mine your book for LinkedIn content, so that the two support each other. You could take a chapter and slice and dice it into separate posts, or take examples and expand them into case studies. As new research is shared, you can post about it and tie it back to content you shared in your book, so that you’re constantly updating it and keeping it relevant.
The same is true of speaking gigs. You can draw from your book to craft interesting presentations and speeches, and you can write LinkedIn posts about questions you got from the audience at a recent keynote or conference at which you spoke. You can share photos you take at these events to continue to remind your followers of your industry leadership.
Just look at successful business authors like Wharton Professor Adam Grant or entrepreneur Kim Perell and how they amplify their stature through their books. Their books establish their thought leadership and authority, which enhances their social media reach, which then helps increase awareness of them and their books, which drive more sales and speaking opportunities, and create a cycle of influence that has a positive long-term impact.
Your Implementation Plan
If creating a virtuous cycle of opportunities sounds good to you, your first step needs to be to write that business book you’ve been meaning to. Yes, you need to keep up with the LinkedIn posting to continue to grow your network and establish your credibility in the meantime, but your book will be the foundation of your authority.
Once your book has been released, you can use it as the basis of many weeks of articles and blog posts. You can turn chapters into several series of articles, you can pull out facts and figures and expand on them to create social media posts, and build on points you’ve made with related news, to keep your points up-to-date.
You should also reference your book as often as possible. When you’re being invited to speak, try to negotiate a deal that includes a bundle of books for attendees, for example. When you’re on a podcast, mention your book. When you’re on TV, bring a book to hold up on camera. When you’re being quoted in a magazine or newspaper article, mention that you’re the author of [your book’s title].
Hopefully, you can see how your book can support your LinkedIn posting, as well as other marketing activities, and how LinkedIn can create opportunities to mention your book or segue to topics you cover in its pages.
I heard someone say, “LinkedIn can get you noticed, but your book will get you remembered,” and I think that’s true. So, you don’t need to choose one or the other. Choose both and leverage both to amplify your results to an even greater extent than either method on its own.