Welcome to the standout women's show. And welcome today's guest who is all about helping us get visible, especially on LinkedIn with live stream. So I want to welcome to the show for the second time, my friend and LinkedIn live stream expert Jillian Whitney.
I'm excited to be here. This is so fun and I love lives because anything can and will happen on a live and you just, you learn to roll with it. And that's actually the fun part of going live. So we'll talk about that too. The reason why I want to bring you on today, because we've talked about LinkedIn live stream video in their past time together, but you have a new book.
Yay. Third book. I have my digital copy here. LinkedIn live guest mastery. I love the subtitle, build your brand and attract more clients. I think you, you Whispered that into my brain because I thought of you when I wrote that I felt it I really did and I'd even say and even grow more opportunities because and you're this is your longest book to date This is your third book.
Yes, but I even want to say third book in a year, right? Like you you're pumping these out. So amazing. So this one was I was telling her over the weekend. I said, oh my goodness It's so good. I just finished it, but I really want to play up the angle of how It really skyrockets your visibility and either from hosting one, but the, the, the thing is really from guesting.
And, you know, when I do publicity training and coaching for my clients, I say, you know, publicity PR goes hand in hand with personal branding, right? But you kind of need a stair step, your courage, your confidence, your context, your message, and, you know, podcasting and LinkedIn live streamings are wonderful way.
to get started. And let's talk about that today. You wrote this book because you saw a real need out there, absolutely. And I think a lot of it came out of our conversation last year. It began to put sort of like Those little ideas in my head because the thing people talk about, what's the easiest way to get started with LinkedIn live?
And it's really not being a host because I know every time I sit down and you're a host, so you know, this is I'm preaching to the choir with you, but in thinking of your audience and people get this idea of, oh yes, I'd like to have a show. But you're then becoming Oprah Winfrey, but you don't have Oprah Winfrey's like crew.
So you're doing everything. You're learning how to use the tech, which sometimes does not behave. You're learning how to use software. You've got to schedule it. You've got to promote it. You have to wear a lot of hats. And I was thinking, how can this be easier? Cause I'm all about easy peasy and being a guest.
You just show up and you shine your light and you know there's things you have to do to of course prepare to show up. It's not just called winging it but it's a lot easier and it's that first step because better you be the guest on Oprah Winfrey and then decide I, I want to be at Oprah too. And then that can be your 2.
0 where you decide, I want to have my own show. And you know, honestly, some people that it may not even be cracked up for them, their personality, their time, their industry. So, you know, we're going to dive Right into this and all the nuggets you shared in this book and some high level stuff But I mean you can pretty much make a career being a LinkedIn live guest a podcast guest all these ways to really Skyrocket that visibility the credibility and build that authority and you talk about this all throughout the book one of the things before I ahead of myself I really love how you gave those suggestions. Like you've already kind of written the templates on how to reach out, how to even guest and all the things. Not only just like empower people, but as I say, you like really educate them with some really actionable stuff, but that's you.
That's your brand easy, easy Jillian. So let's get in real high level. Someone's like, okay, Michelle, Jillian, tell me how to do this. What's the best first step to take? Well, I think it's always begin with the end in mind for anything that you're doing. So really figure out.
what you want to accomplish and you know, visibility can be good, but it can also be not so good. So you have to start with that perspective of how do I want to be visible in what way do I want to be visible and who do I want to be visible to, you know, and who do I want to be visible with? Because every step of this is so important.
And I often say. It's okay to say no to the show that not every single show is going to be a right fit for you. And people look, isn't visibility visibility? No, not necessarily because you have to remember with every single guest appearance, whether you're talking about a LinkedIn live or a podcast, your credibility, your, your reputation is on the show.
So if you pick a show, that's a bad fit because maybe you don't have a alignment of values with the host or the audience isn't right. There's so many reasons why a show might not be a good fit for you that you have to come at it and be very strategic and choose the right shows. And I have said no to the show.
That's so reassuring. That goes back to the way I teach, you know, my process is really building that foundation and you touch upon that in the book, which is so good at kind of really knowing who you are, what you want to be known for your values and aligning because you're sitting there talking and even more so than a podcast, cause these are videos, you know, and so you can not hide the stuff on your face when someone is just going off on a tangent that maybe you don't believe in, know about all the things.
So strategic and intentional is a. Excellent way to start. And, and you know, there's so many shows out there. Do you have any kind of data on how many LinkedIn live shows? I wish I did. I wish I did. I remember Gabe Leal used to do a LinkedIn live. It was almost like a TV guide of the LinkedIn lives. I wish, I wish he would do it again.
It was wonderful. But I remember when I first saw that and it was like, wow, there's way more than I knew before. But, you know, a tip is if you just go to LinkedIn live, you know, LinkedIn. com and you look at events, you'll begin to see audio events and LinkedIn live events. And I kind of think it's, It's kind of like, you know, when you're a kid and you're like, look for like red Volkswagen beetles, you know, it's like you think about it and then you begin to see them.
I think that if you just start to say, I'm looking for LinkedIn lives that I could be a guest on, you will, all of a sudden they'll just appear. You're going to see them. They're just going to be coming at you and it might be scrolling through the feed. It might be going through, you know, we all have our filters on LinkedIn where we're looking at certain creators and you might say, wow, Michelle has a show or Michelle was a guest on a show.
So that's what you want to do is look at shows that you might know of the host. Maybe you don't know them personally, but you know of them or shows that your, Your colleagues, your, your, the people that you follow on LinkedIn that you admire, what are the shows they're on? Because that's way you get that foot in the door because you don't want to, you know, pick a real estate one and you're talking about, you know, I don't know, you know, healthcare or something.
Yes, yes, yes. Totally off. It's, it's, it's way off. So you wanna make sure that you're kind of at least going in that, you know, right. Range to begin with. That's a great tip. And I need to find that link because LinkedIn keeps changing everything. It's kind of hard to find on that side thing. They were hidden in events, but even if you can go into other people's on their profile, that, you know, tab thing where it has events and you just have to do your homework, you've got to do your homework first.
You got to know what you want to be known for, who you align with the message that you want to get out there and make sure that show is really sticking with that and then find these people. I think that might be the hardest thing to do. thing these days with LinkedIn, but finding the shows and I would even probably suggest making some kind of like you do a media list, put it in a database or something that you can, track all your stuff is, I mean, this is really just treating it like podcast pitching in the best way possible.
And find out what resonates for you. I attend LinkedIn live events. It's not just about me being the host or me being the guest. I go to other people's shows to watch and network with other people. And that's where I'll sometimes get a feel for, well, that would be a really good show for me, you know?
So you begin to kind of get those feelers and go to someone like you, Michelle. I'll just give everybody a tip here. Go to Michelle's media page, it's her, it's her speaking page on her website, and you can see all the different shows that Michelle's been on. Go to my YouTube channel. I have all my guest appearances.
Don't worry so much about watching my appearances. Look at the shows that I've been on because you might say, Ooh, that would be good for me. So again, just do your homework. Yeah. Looking for aligned people, aligned shows, and they're out there and I would, I would do the homework, make a list. You know, because we're being intentional, foundational and strategic about this, right?
That's how we do it. So absolutely. We know who we are, what we want to stand for and what we want to talk about. Now we want to know, and we find out the shows that really align for us. Let's talk about the next step because you walk everyone really detailed, but today's all about high level. So we can really help people take that first step.
So I think the next step is find the right shows and then begin to first of all, it's always kind of like, You know, make sure your own foundation is right. So you want to make sure that you're ready to have the host say yes, which means that you want to get all of those ducks in a row before making that application.
So a lot of people like you have an actual application where it's like, you know, Google doc or something where, you know, tell me what you would want to talk about. Give me some ideas. What are your key topics? What's your experience? Why do you want to be on my show? All those different things. What are your social links?
So that that way the host can easily figure out, okay, is this person a good fit or not? And it's never, never a personal, I don't like that person. It's about a good fit. And that works both ways because it might not be good for the host. And it might not be good for you. So I think that's really important.
But having that foundation of, if I was to apply to Michelle's show today, do I have my ducks in a row that I could fill out that application form? And a lot of times that's having a speaker bio. Do you have a photo that you want to show? I just used my LinkedIn one because I want to be seen the same way everywhere.
But other people have beautiful ones that are like professional photographers, you know, with different layouts. Maybe it's them talking on the stage, all sorts of different things. What's your experience? What are some shows that they could look at? Do you have a sizzle reel or a demo reel that somebody could quickly just scroll through or listen to and say, Hey, Yes, she knows what she's talking about.
She's entertaining. I like her. I like the way that she speaks. I like her cadence, her volume. Nobody wants to get on and, you know, like a million, sort of like, like, and so it, you'd be like, no. That's I want to make sure your camera ready because I have interviewed people in the past when, you know, maybe written or in their posts are dynamic, but and nothing personal.
It's just they fall kind of flat. And I think it's nothing saying you have to be charismatic. It's just, you know, be careful. Really just kind of flowing. I think some people, they also need to maybe practice it because if it's your first time, you could maybe even feel a little, you know, during the headlights and it just people like stage fright, really, truly.
And we can talk about some ways to count that because I truly believe everyone can, you know, deliver a message. It's just some people, you know, we might have to work a little harder and practice anything, right? So I love that. I love getting really clear. And, and this thing, you know, I know your LinkedIn live show is a lot like mine where we put.
The shows on our podcast. So I know you are probably getting pitched for your podcast as well. You see that a lot and a lot of bad pitches, right? A lot of bad pitches. Yes. And I don't like, I don't like the agency pitches and I understand. The, the, the need for agencies. I know people love to have it where it's like, okay, I'm just going to outsource it.
You're just going to go find me a bunch of spots that I can be in. But the thing is, is agencies always don't find, they don't do their homework. They're just, you know, kind of praying and spraying. Is that the expression where they're just shooting out blanket emails? And I can tell they haven't even seen my show because they'll send me an email.
That's something along the lines of, I, you know, We love your podcast and I'd like to pitch my podcast guest and that's like, I'll write them back and say, mine's a LinkedIn live show. So unless you're ready to be on a live, this is, this is not the same as a recorded audio podcast. Or they pitch someone that has absolutely no, like we said earlier, absolutely no reverence to your show or their message.
And it's really, All about us. And just of newsflash in about two weeks on the LinkedIn branding show, we have an entire podcast guesting show do's and don'ts, Michelle and I, and what we see. And we did shout you out because this is a very similar track. What I told you when I said, Hey, can we come promote your book?
This is so similar to podcast guesting. And I think we even had this initial conversation a long time ago, which, you know, implored you to write the book, which is so good. So yeah, so making sure you fit knowing that you are ready to be on camera, you know, it's so good to get the message out, but we want to make sure we are ready and we all can be ready.
I'm not saying we can't be, you know, just do a little bit of homework. Even if you haven't done a live, even if you've just done some videos, I've had a lot of newbies. I've had, you know, first time live people and they've actually come and brought so much excitement and enthusiasm, but they were at least comfortable on video.
And I could tell from their video clips that this is a person that. They know how to look at the camera. They smile. They have good energy. So it's not that you have to be this polished. Oh, you've been on six shows and NBC and Good Morning America. That's not necessarily true. But you do want to have some sort of Video presence and, and, and have that feel.
So not be a deer in the headlights. Like my guest in two weeks Susan Sarabro, who was a former TV reporter and is now a social media strategist, and she helps people being confident cameras. So she's going to show up and tell us exactly how to do that. So I can't wait. This would be a perfect part two to today because we can all learn.
It's a muscle, we can all strengthen it and get it out there because we all have a message. You and I both believe. We all have a message that needs to be out there. And so you and I are in a respective ways are helping people do that. So now that we have all that foundation set, you really dive in, in the book.
Step by step, which if you haven't gotten this book yet, go straight to Amazon. We'll put a link in the show notes on how to go get it. Just follow everything you say and you will get on LinkedIn live shows. You dive into some areas that people really need to pay attention to some of the myths and some of the mistakes.
So let's high level kind of cover those. the most important thing is you had spoken a moment ago, Michelle, about your message. And I think you have to have clarity about what that message is in terms of your brand. You know, what, what, again, going back to the begin, the end in mind, what are you trying to accomplish with your show?
You want to be seen as a thought leader. Now I could speak on a million different topics, but But what's relevant to what I do as a business is probably the most important. Yes. I want to bring in personal stories, but I don't necessarily want to tell you about, you know, when I was picking weeds at 16 or something like that, cause it has nothing to do with anything.
So you really have to have that clarity. What is your message? And it can't be about me. It has to be about what's of value so that I come to your show and I come with what are the tidbits that I can tell people that help them actually get something out of this. discussion today. So I think that's really important.
And that's narrowing down your message to those bullets of what are my key topics and what's the appropriate topic for this particular show. So if I'm speaking with maybe a career coach, I want to talk about LinkedIn live and video recorded video in the job search space. So I'm not going to start talking about entrepreneurs.
So it's again, always taking your message and then wrapping it within the appropriateness and the relevance for the audience. That is perfect because I've been on many shows talking about, you know, personal branding for entrepreneurs or in the career space, even though I'm mostly entrepreneurs now, it's basically different lens you're seeing it, but you have the same core expertise and message and talking points.
I always like to say, you probably heard me say this. Specificity sells and clarity compels. So when I know you're very specific on something that's gonna put the antenna. Oh We need to get Jillian to talk about LinkedIn live streams. We need to get Michelle to talk about personal branding and PR So these are the things that the more you drive in that message and narrow lane it the more you're known for it and people Have recall on it.
They can refer you recommend you, you know All the things. The more narrow lane you get, and then the beautiful thing, as you just said, you can just, you know, mix and match it, so to speak with different sister areas, if you will, parallel areas that it still applies. So they tighter your message and you talk about that in the book, so check on that. So glad you wrote this book. It was so needed. Hopefully that brings a better guest to you in terms of just making your job easier, somebody showing up and they've done all their homework, you know, literally in the book, I actually say homework for this chapter is, I feel like a bossy teacher telling people what the homework is, but I wanted people to kind of, okay, now do some action.
It's not just about consuming. It's about that action and always. This is, I think, one of the most important things, and I hope I brought this into the book, is why me? Why am I, what's my unique perspective? So for instance, I'm the easy peasy lady. That's my watchwords for everything. So when I talk about doing LinkedIn lives in a home studio, I'm not going to tell you about having mission control with seven monitors and, you know, all these different things.
I use a laptop, but that's my Twist on it and you could have a guest next week. And that person has like, they do home studios for live people and that's their business because that's where they, that's where they shine. So always kind of take it back to your unique human, you know, perspective. Why me?
What's my special sauce to coming to this. That's how you're owning your lane. Yes. Everything's easy peasy, which, you know, you're narrow lane into video, but now you can easy peasy it out to other areas now that you're known. And we've talked about that. If anything, get really clear and honed in on your message, cause it's going to really stick.
Skyrocket you on this visibility thing. So once you're accepted, let's just talk about some key level things. Cause you dove in and talked about some good tips about, getting the video, sharing it, expediting it, sharing it for the, for the host, for you. Let's talk about some of those high level things that sometimes people, even those that probably guest aren't maybe doing that right now.
So many people are a LinkedIn live guest and they think they're one and done. So the show is over and they say, thank you. And off they go. And they don't realize that number You really want to form a partnership with the host and as a way to thank them, what can you do to repurpose this? So whether we're talking about video clips, whether you're talking about a post where all you do is just takeaways of when I was on the show, we discussed this and this and this.
These things help promote the live and you know, you're all going to come at your different comfort level. Some of us are writers. We're going to write an article and maybe we can embed some of the snippets. Others of us, we might take a whole reel and put them together and take them off to YouTube or Instagram or whatever.
So be in partnership with the host and don't just leave it all on them to, okay, thanks, market this for me and I'll see you and hopefully you'll have me on in another year. It's like, it's teamwork, teamwork, everybody, everybody wins. Yes, absolutely. I like to say these videos shows, even if you're the guest or the hosts are the top of the content food chain, and you broke that up well, even gave some great tools that I love using opus otter.
ai to help you because I'll be honest. I'm guilty of that too. I need to take more of my shows, the audio and visual and make it blogs for SEO on my, on my website. And that's a new project I'll be having someone work on for me. But that's one of the things that I've overlooked just being so busy, but that is certainly a way to be found.
Even putting them in LinkedIn articles, the more and more I researched Jillian, The more and more these LinkedIn articles are coming up top of mind. So you could take your topic, boil out the best parts and make it an article, tag the host and you both win. I almost think that could be another book in itself, there was so much jam packed and that part that maybe that's number four book for you, Jillian.
Speaking of books, the other thing is is that you can take these LinkedIn live appearances and when you're a guest, You're talking about your stuff like when we're the host, we're sort of interviewing. So sometimes we're talking about ourselves, but a lot of times we're kind of keeping that conversation going and it's wrapped within our expertise as well.
But when you're the guest, it's like you have this content that you might begin to see patterns and themes. And I know that's what I did. I saw patterns and themes with being on shows with career coaches and I went. What could I do with this? And I took like about five LinkedIn lives and I kind of jumbled them all together.
And I made a book about doing video for in your job search. So you might be just going, you know what? I did all these lives on a particular topic. Why can't I bring that together and turn that into a book, which again, Visibility, credibility, and also, you know, paying, paying it forward by taking that knowledge out there.
Yeah. Visibility, credibility equals authority is my formula for that. But no, you absolutely do that. And this whole year, as I announced own your lane book I think officially announced it February 1st, but I was on LinkedIn lives and I was starting to really know. Season in the own your lane concept.
And so in fact, I need to reach out to one more host that she forgot to send me the stuff. Cause I was like, I'm saying great stuff. And that's the thing. When you're the guest, you actually have more talk time and you're talking, you and I are both audio writers. You say that in the book or you said it somewhere else that I know you, you write your book.
That's my brain fires faster on audio. So you can take this to write your book that you're planning to write or outline it and then hit some shows and you're doing double publicity and writing at the same time. So we can go on and on about how incredible LinkedIn live shows. I started my first one in June, 2021, and then I kept them up and I've kind of, I want to give you full props because I think how many years in a row has it been or how many episodes you're blowing me away.
I'm coming up to my 200th and I'm coming up to three years. Every week, every week I keep showing up and you know, now I'm thinking about doing some changes because I think we do that.
We evolve and we change and we, you know, you own your lane, but also too, sometimes you want to go in a different direction with, Oh, absolutely. We're evolving as humans, you get more clarity by going out there and that's exactly what I preach and teach. And you know, I've done that too. My shows have come on and then I tested clubhouse and audio, but I seem to really always come back to the energy of LinkedIn live shows, either as a host. And also I absolutely love guesting on them. I don't know why I think it's the energy in the moment. It's much unlike just a regular podcast recording.
It's a tremendous way to share your message and grow your visibility, build that brand and authority. I just want to highly recommend if you will put a link in the show notes in the comments, if you have not checked out this book, you're interested in really ramping up your publicity, your visibility, even as authors, you and I work with authors.
If you're having a book, new book, or even a book that, you know, I always say, you know, The baby is born. The book baby doesn't stop here. These LinkedIn live streams are wonderful way to get in front of the right audiences. And again, as we've said here, so much content. So Jillian, for those who want to get started guesting on LinkedIn live streams.
What would you say is your first, that you didn't cover already, what would you suggest people do? The first one would, would really just be, finding the right shows for you and just setting that intention. I want to do this. I want to do this. And I've always found. Write it down.
Make it happen. So make that commitment that I would like. I literally asked. I know this is woo woo, but ask the universe. I want to do this. I want to do a linkedin live because when we set that intention, miracles happen. Things will come to you and you'll begin to say, I didn't even see this when we start looking for things.
It's going to happen. Kind of going back to the red Volkswagen. We see it out there. So make that intention. And also to believe in yourself. That's the biggest thing we it's not been said by everyone because it hasn't been said by you and your competitors, your competition. They're out there. They're doing podcasts and LinkedIn live.
It's time for you to be seen. So let your light shine. Believe that you can do it. Find the right host that will be warm and friendly and help you. And just if you need help, if you need help you got someone here that can coach you and get you through this, but anybody can do this. Believe in yourself.
You need to get that message out there. So well said you and I are so aligned on everything, you know, and that's why I close every show with put yourself out there because it truly is. And we've walked you through today. So, so where can others find more about you, Jillian,
linkedIn. That, that's my number one place. Go to LinkedIn. Jillian Whitney, you can't miss me. Otherwise, video easy pz. com. You can't miss that website. It's just so darn easy and you can find me there as well, but that's, that's the best way to get there. Just meet me on LinkedIn. And if you tell me you saw me in this show, I will connect with you.
So awesome. Yeah. I always love context when we introduce people, you don't just walk up blindly, right? Just context. So you can start conversations and then I'm sure your books are linked to your profile and your website and all the places. And you can go check out Jillian Whitney books as in plural, because you're like not even a year into it.
She's gotten three books. You're on fire. I'm sure you just will continue to add to that. But thank you so much again for being an amazing guest on the show, sharing your wisdom and your empathy and just your empowerment to get out there and video. We truly appreciate it. Thank you. I'm so glad I was here.
Thank you, Michelle. Absolutely. All right, everybody. Until next time, keep putting yourself out there. You have a brand to build a business to grow and people to impact. I'll catch you next time. Take care
