Author's Edge: the Go-to Marketing Podcast in Publishing

From Zero to a Million Followers on LinkedIn: Daniel Murray’s Content Strategy | Ep. 64

• Allison Lane • Episode 64

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What if your most valuable book marketing asset isn’t your manuscript but your audience? 

Allison Lane sits with Daniel Murray, creator of ‘The Marketing Millennials,’ shares how he built a LinkedIn following of over 1 million by focusing on connection over perfection. We dive into the author marketing strategies that actually work, especially when you’re short on time and budget. 

If you want to find your readers and keep them coming back, this is a must-listen.

What You’ll Learn:

  • How to grow a reader-focused audience on LinkedIn, no team or budget required.
  • The unscalable marketing moves that lead to scalable author success.
  • Why consistent, imperfect content builds trust (and bookshelves) faster.

Resources Mentioned:

Timestamps:

  • 03:50 – Why most experts miss the mark on LinkedIn.
  • 10:25 – The real secret to content that connects.
  • 19:40 – How to reuse your best-performing ideas.
  • 32:10 – Sustainable marketing even when time is tight.
  • 44:00 – Daniel’s one action for authors to take today.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKkdZMdpS0 

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Daniel:

Comments are the best content in the world. And also, what's the amazing thing about social media? It gives you signal. So, people are liking that comment. That's probably something that would be a good post.

Allison:

If you want to grow an audience that actually pays attention and that sticks with you. This one's for you. Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials Podcast is a legend now, but he didn't start as that. He started just like every one of us with one foot in front of the other every single day. But the marketing millennials, in terms of a platform on LinkedIn has over a million followers. That is massive folks. And it is possible. Plus this global hit of a podcast, which you need to be listening to. And don't worry, I'm gonna give you all the links in the show notes. But Daniel's here to do something generous and to tell us how he did something that most people overlook. He kept his content consistent and sharp and easy to digest because nobody has time for anything else. Nobody has time for gimmicks or fluff or stay tuned and I'll really give you the tip. No one has time, especially not in the LinkedIn land. So, he's here, he is gonna tell us what's working now, and smart things that you can do, and you can use today without needing a team or a budget. Let's get into it. Daniel, thank you. We're so happy that you're here. People have. Asked so many questions and sent so many questions. And I have them for you.

Daniel:

Sweet. Yeah. I mean, Thank you for that intro. I wouldn't call myself a legend. I feel like I'm just a marketer still putting one foot in front of each other, figuring things out. So I'm excited to chat and answer whatever questions you have.

Allison:

Well. Great. You don't call yourself a legend, but I do call you an expert. And here's what I say to all the experts I work with. You don't get to tell me what I get to call you. If I think you're an expert, then who are you to tell me I'm wrong? Isn't that kind of rude? So I think you are. What you're doing is legendary and I appreciate everything you do. So there, take that and smoke it.

Daniel:

I'm not responding anywhere. I'll take the.

Allison:

I know, I know. Don't talk back to me. You're a millennial. I'm Gen X. So, You've built this massive opportunity, this massive we call it a platform, but everyone gags on that term but it is. You've built this massive audience with marketing millennials, but it didn't happen overnight. It wasn't like you were running an agency and said, I'm gonna put all this money into this. Most experts and highly accomplished people on LinkedIn are getting things wrong about marketing on LinkedIn, whether they're Author's or consultants, coaches, psychologists, running the ER at a hospital. What are they doing wrong and getting wrong about marketing on platforms like LinkedIn?

Daniel:

Yeah, I think couple things that I like come to mind where I see over and over is when it comes to any social media, the audience is the algorithm, and you have to create content that works with the audience. And that doesn't only mean like Idea idea wise, it also means format wise. It means like digestible wise, it means like simplicity wise. First thing you gotta think about is like, what are the pain points my audiences are having? What's gonna resonate with them? I always have the filter of before I post would I share this in a group chat with a bunch of marketers, yes or no? And if I wouldn't, then it's probably not a good post. So, that's like one. I think a lot of people are writing content that is not interesting enough or not format enough in the right way for the audience, even though they think they are writing it. Which is no, you have a lot of people have great ideas out there. You just dunno how to format them in a way that's digestible for people. Number two, I would say people get wrong is like, at first you have to do really unscalable things. And what I mean by that is to do the unscalable things to scale, so comment on other experts in your field like, be social, respond back to people, connect with people. If you're not connecting with 20, 30 people in your audience a day, you're probably doing something wrong at the beginning. After you get to a points, it naturally happens, but at the beginning you need to do these unscalable things like respond to every comment, respond to all the comments. And now LinkedIn launched like impressions on comments. So you can now see if your comments are doing good and then you can use them for content. Like a comments some of the best content out there. So number two is like people are not doing the unscalable things. And three is consistency wins on any platform. And I think a lot of people give up way too early. Like think just have to keep putting things out there for the audience to trust. And putting things out there in a succinct way that your audience would understand, like this is for them. And keep testing, trying new things. Eventually some posts will hit and then you can start using those ideas to create more and more posts. But a lot of people aren't consistent enough on platforms. They think, oh, I post once I'm done. or I post twice, i'm done. If you really wanna win, you gotta put out at least a post a day during the weekday. If you really wanna wait or three to five, but at least put out more content to it.

Allison:

I think you're hitting on something that's so important. When you are commenting on someone else's post. Oftentimes those are the most meaty pieces of content. And what people do is they comment and then they press go. And then they lose track. And I find that if it's a discussion and it's actually a genuine comment back. Some of that content is reusable. Copy and paste it into a doc before you move away. And if you can do even a search for your own comments. On LinkedIn or even in a Facebook community, look at the comments and you might be like, oh my God, that's essentially a blog post. You can make a newsletter out of that. Why don't I post it again, but as a post this time. Because it takes the pressure off of you creating content. If you go, oh, someone just queued up a question and I had this gut feeling of I really need to step in here'cause they're about to turn left when they should be turning right? That's what people want and need and people are really doing you a favor when they're asking a question out there and you show up and you serve. Because not only are you serving, but you are creating content in reaction to someone's genuine issue, rather than you sitting in a corner by yourself going, what should my content be?

Daniel:

Comments are the best content in the world. And also, what's the amazing thing about social media? It gives you signal. So, people are liking that comment. That's probably something that would be a good post. And the other thing I would say is that the biggest thing I see a lot of people not doing that I think they should be doing is if you find posts that are working for you, you could do it in 50 different ways and people are not gonna remember what you posted yesterday. So, reuse your top ideas in different formats, different ways. I post the same thing that I posted six months ago, and it'll do the same amount of likes and comments. And people don't realize, or even three months ago, I reuse content all the time because I think first of all, there's always new people entering your audience so they don't know who you are. And second, people are not paying as much attention to you as you think. So reusing content is a great way to just take some pressure off of you having to always create ideas. Just tweak it a little bit, remix it a little bit, put it in a different format, and nobody's gonna realize you posted that before.

Allison:

And they might not have seen the first post or the second post anyway. And they could have been in a different mindset. Nike doesn't change. Just do it every time we see an ad. Just do, it means something different depending on when you see it or when you're really thinking about it, or if you're just passing by. So yes, stick to it. More isn't better. It just waters everything down I think, and muddies everything. Now, with people think content has to be polished and perfect. And when you did say that people aren't formatting things correctly, but your posts are punchy and simple and packed with value. So, when you talk about formatting specifically on LinkedIn right now, what's working?

Daniel:

A few things are working. First of all, like some things that are always gonna work is like you have to nail a headline. And a lot of people forget that an image is a headline too. So, if you doing a quote or something that you want to be front and center, an image with a quote or an image with something that is like a headline for the post and it gets people stopping'cause images take up more of the feed than a text post. So, you're trying to get as much attention of that. So first I would say using hooks will always work. So like the first three lines of your copy and your image should always be there. People who are doing video, if you're really good at video, now's the time to do video on LinkedIn. But if you're doing video still, like video's a little different because there's more components you need. An audio hook you need like an overlay image on the video, that's a hook as well. You need to have your strongest point upfront, like you can't wait for the story to develop because people will stop. So, you need that upfront. So video are really good. If you're good at video, I would double down on video too. Carousels are working very well, like image carousels, like multiple, like images together. Those are like the three things that I see working really well. And obviously, I create a lot of memes. I know memes work because they're shareable. So, like I always think about reverse engineer from the share of what would you share and then create content that you would share. Like would you share a white paper with your friend? Probably not. Would you share like a long, huge post that takes forever to get to the point? Probably not. But if something's punchy, like an image or a video. You're probably gonna share that because one, like as a person, you're like creating a conversation with someone else, like saying oh, this is interesting. Or showing you found something cool or you want to show that this is funny and we're in the same boat together, or like, this is the cool idea. We should use this. That's what you gotta think, you gotta reverse engineer from the share because the whole goal of like great social media is getting it to be shared. Outside of social media, so like in Slack channels, in dms, in group messages, in text messages, in WhatsApp, wherever. So, reverse engineering, like what would you share? And that's probably great content on LinkedIn.

Allison:

When you said, would you share a white paper? It just made me laugh so hard on the inside because sharing a white paper feels like throwing the phone book at someone. Like here.

Daniel:

Yeah.

Allison:

it's 20 pages. There's something in it for you. No thank you. Why don't you just forward the internet to me, it's like, it's too much. It's hilarious. Are white paper still a thing?

Daniel:

I don't know. I think some B2B markers haven't changed their playbook for 15 years, like still putting out white paper Z books, posting their webinar, just their link on company page. They're still doing the same things. I get it. A lot of people are small marketing teams. They're checking a box, like they said Hey, we need a webinar. We need to promote it. Just make a LinkedIn post quickly. But I am on the boat of if you're on any social media channel, if you're not giving it 110%. Like I just had a podcast with. Someone who's social media? His name is Jay Stan, he is a social media guy, but he said social media is the front porch of your brand. So if you like, the first entry point for a lot of people to your brand. So, if you putting out low quality, boring stuff, like people are gonna assume your brand is that. So like your social media should mirror what you want your audience to see and share and be a part of. So, I think that's the mentality you had to go in with social media.

Allison:

I think people spend way too much time trying to create content that allows them to hide and not really show up. Oh, you created a beautiful like graphic on Canva. You can get lost inside of Canva, so please don't. But also we don't get to know you. It's a quote card, and yes, the background you picked was lovely, but like it doesn't allow anyone to connect with you. Even your gorgeous glamor shots. We can't connect. We know that you pose for that and someone did your hair. It's just easier to take a selfie video when you're sitting in carpool, which is what I do'cause that is when I have time. And those are the videos that get the most engagement. And people are like do you have more tips? Yes, I do.'cause I had to sit there for 22 minutes. And in 22 minutes I can do a shit ton. Well, you do say consistency beats, hacks. And it's tough advice when people are short on time, but busy people get things done, right? What does a sustainable content creation tactic look like for you? Usually, people don't have two hours of a chunk. So, you could do what I do, which is show up a hair early for carpool, pick up, and use that time.

Daniel:

Two things I think, I hate to say it, if you don't have time for social media, then it's not a priority for you. So like you have, everybody has 30 minutes a day that they could prioritize that, but you're choosing to prioritize something else.

Allison:

Yeah, you are watching Lotus or something.

Daniel:

That's one thing. I think the best content creators are the best consumers of like media. So like you have to be consuming a lot of content to get ideas. Like ideas don't come from original idea is just two obsolete ideas connecting each other. You heard this idea and this idea, and then you're making your own idea. That's a new idea. Usually. It's not like out of nothing. The idea has probably been out there before. You're just remixing a lot of it. So, what I think that the number one thing people should be doing is if you see things that are interesting to you, please screenshot them. Please send them to a file that you can, or send it to email to yourself, or have a place where you can have a bank of ideas. So, when you go to write, you really can have a bank of things to pull from. It's hard to start from a blank page. So, start from there. There are winning ideas you've had in the past. You can remix them easily. You can also put them in chat GPT and say say this a hundred different ways and find five of them that would sound like your voice. Tweak it a little bit. Like this is my most performing post. Act like a social media manager simplifies in 20 different ways that I could say this on LinkedIn or like you can repurpose things. We have AI now, like is making it easier. So, I don't think that's to be now you like speeding up the process for that. Now, AI can make images for you, so you could say, Hey, make a quote car, like create an image of this quote. In this, you can also say, connect with Canva and put it in like it will connect with Canva and if you have like a plugin with Canva and Chat GPT. There's ways to do it that makes it easier for you, but I think number one, you've gotta consume more to and actually swipe the ideas that you find cool. Two, you could find 30 minutes to do this, otherwise, this channel is not the channel that you're gonna be successful on. Like you probably should be doubling down somewhere else if you don't believe that social media is the number one channel or one of your best channels on your business. Which I think if you aren't in social media, it doesn't mean LinkedIn. If you aren't in social media you're probably losing some form of social media if you're not on there. So, yeah, those are some ways like you can quickly do it. honestly, Newsletter, yeah. I spend a little more time writing those'cause of the longer form. But social, it's like I swipe ideas, I remix'em to make them marketing. And also another thing people forget is inspiration shouldn't only come from your industry, it should come from other places too. Like you should go follow all the meme accounts or accounts that are creating content. Take their ideas and remix it for your niche. And if you take a viral idea, that isn't in your niche and make it for your niche, it's probably gonna do pretty well. So, there's a lot of ways to create content there.

Allison:

Exactly. And you know, people say, I can't find 30 minutes. But time doesn't have to be found. It just has to be devoted. Choose to devote time. And this is true of you know, if you want to write a book, if you don't read other books, you're not gonna know how the formatting of books has changed. The average book used to be 80,000 words. Now, it's about 60,000 words or 55. So, yeah, you've gotta know these things. You've gotta know that putting a 50 minute video of a workshop that you once did on LinkedIn, 50 minutes is like a lot. Maybe three is better because people don't set aside 50 minutes, but they will scroll through while they're waiting in the doctor's office and watch your minute and a half video and make sure you have the captions on'cause they don't want the rest of the people waiting to hear you. You know, Captions are important. LinkedIn keeps changing and you mentioned a couple things especially'cause video, it used to be everything's horizontal and then it was, everything's vertical. But now what's working in the video realm for LinkedIn?

Daniel:

What's working is if you look at TikTok and YouTube shorts, like the winning videos, but do you have less competition on LinkedIn because people don't know how to do videos. So, you have to have a good audio hook, you gotta have a good, text overlay. You gotta have a compelling idea. It has to be storytelling. It sounds harder, but if you're good at video, just go watch the top creators out there watch how they do video. They always do a pattern interrupt at the or hook to get you into the video. They always have something on the screen so if you're not listening to the audio, you can read. The story keeps you hooked the whole time because they start with a hook, then they start telling a story, then they give you a tip or a takeaway, or an emotional feeling. The first three seconds are the most important in video. So, you lose if 80% of people drop off if you don't have a good hook. Ogilvy said this 50 years ago, and people still aren't listening to that.

Allison:

Right. They wanna just do it the way that they wanna do it. Which is, not gonna work.

Daniel:

Yeah.

Allison:

Whose a creator you like other than the memes, which are actually quite.

Daniel:

LinkedIn creators that I like?

Allison:

Sure.

Daniel:

Yeah. I mean, Jay Schwedelson, obviously. I'm gonna guide him up because he's great. Amelia Sordell is very good. Charlotte Mayer is really good. Sophie Miller is really good.

Allison:

Oh yeah.

Daniel:

OGs like Justin Welsh are really good. Who else are? VIN is really good if you follow'em. There's so many people who are like doing really good styles of content on LinkedIn. I could name probably like 30, 40, 50 people, but I'm just this off the top of my head of people that.

Allison:

Right. And some people who are, if you are thinking well, I don't think I'm ready for video. Take a look at Amy Sterner Nelson's content. It's almost always a photograph of her and her family. She's got four little girls. And on Mondays, she and her husband spend the first three hours of the day, getting the kids out the door making lunches, walking'em to school. And that's real life. She's a business owner. She runs the Riveter. She is fierce, like nobody's business. But that's her structure. And I gotta tell you, I don't know her personally, but I love her content because it's for real. And it's not all polished and shiny. It's just this is real life. And so, you don't have to do video. You can do something else. Definitely look outside of publishing or look outside of medicine.

Daniel:

Another thing, if you're scared of being on video is do voice overlay. So, take videos of you doing things and. You can record in the background, this is me taking my kids to school and like five tips from a mom who's busy every day and like just talk people through what's happening. Take multiple clips, stitch them together. So, if you're scared of like being I honestly, don't like video, so I don't double down on video. But I always say like double down on things that work for you on platforms. So, if you're not good at video. But I should step out my comfort zone and do it. But I find things that work. But if they aren't working anymore, the ways I do things, then I will probably double down on video.

Allison:

Well, I think even just this conversation, you've doubled down on video because I'm gonna slice and dice this into little tiny finger sandwiches and give them to you. And they're gonna be you, delivering value packed tips. Just you, and you'll have a suite of shorts that don't include my face, that are just you and you're doing the video. That's the easiest way to create videos to have somebody just chit chat with you. And then, zip it while you're talking so that there's no overlap.

Daniel:

Yeah. I mean, that's why I think podcasts are A lot of people think I need a podcast because I need to, I created, so it gets a lot of downloads, a lot of attention. But like podcasts is the best way to create long form content that could be taken and created other long form content. And you also talk, it's yourself or someone else, you're taking ideas from other people like you are using them, bouncing off each other. So, podcast is one of the best ways to. And then, I also say it's the best way to get someone on a call for 30 minutes without having to ask them to pick their brain for 30 minutes. Because I bet you wouldn't come on a call if it was someone DM you like, could I pick your brain for 30 minutes for no reason?

Allison:

I will say that LinkedIn too, I think people overlook this has several well, first of all, LinkedIn is a search engine. People look for solutions and LinkedIn serves those up. So, if you're not on LinkedIn thinking about that, if you're still using it as your digital resume, it's time to upgrade your thoughts. And LinkedIn has built in tags where they show your content to people who don't know you yet. If you host an event, even if you're hosting an event on Eventbrite, put it on LinkedIn. Build up a LinkedIn newsletter, which in the olden days we used to call those articles. But now LinkedIn bundles them under newsletters so that people can subscribe. And there's a little button you have to click so that you can put in the SEO description of that newsletter issue. And then, LinkedIn shows that newsletter to people who don't know you yet, which is a great way to present your services or your wisdom or your technique to people who are looking for the solutions or the insight that you provide without having to hope that your post is shared by someone you know. Which is rainbows and fairy wishes. It's not a reliable way to grow. So, I love LinkedIn for that'cause they're like, we're trying to help you, but we're also serving everyone'cause everyone's looking for solutions or the content that they need.

Daniel:

If you just reverse engineer any social platform you like, the goal is to keep people on the platform. That's the ultimate goal. And they want the most engaging content. So, if you create engaging content people wanna read and want to listen to they're gonna show your content to other people. And when they put out a new feature, they're probably pushing more attention to that feature, so you should probably put some attention to that new feature that they're pushing.

Allison:

You cover a lot of this. I just learned of the registration for Marketing Land is open now. if people don't know what it is, can you share what it is and how amazing it is?

Daniel:

Yeah. We created this three years ago, I had an idea that I wanted, like Disneyland meets like a music festival. So, we call it a marketing festival. And usually it's a one day thing. We have a live dj, we have speakers that are some of the best minds in marketing. This year we did like warp tour slash like Halloween vibes. So, if you go look, it's try to be more like Millennial Warp Tour, like old school. Millennial vibes. So yeah, it's trying to break the old B2B boring conference vibe. And we have the content's great, but there's also fun too. And the best part I would say about all the marketing conferences is the chat pops off and you meet so many cool other marketers too. So, you'll be there and it's virtual and it's free. So like why not?

Allison:

A free festival from marketers and you have three different tracks, right? For growth or demand, like Jen or Building Creative, and I told you. I'm preparing I will be coming as a cowgirl. This is my cowboy hat, but this is for real. This is'cause I used to have horses, so this is my riding hat.

Daniel:

You definitely would be competing for some of the top prize with that.

Allison:

Really. Well, what do I have to do? I'll break, get my saddle out and then. I'll just be a mess the whole time. Okay, pivot. What's a book you think everyone should read?

Daniel:

There's a few I really like Alchemy by Rory Sutherland. Ogilvy on advertising, the Ultimate Sales Letter. Week copywriting handbook. I love copywriting books because they're the foundation of all marketing. They teach you how to get in the mind of reader. And a lot of like, the older marketing books too are still relevant today. And I think the best, If marketing's still relevant today, those books are probably gonna be around for a lot longer. So, I always like the foundational marketing books. You have to write good copy. You have to understand your audience and understand the psychology of your audience. Those are all the books that I love reading and go back to time and time again.

Allison:

Those are all great. I'll have them all in the show notes. The one that I love recently is Nancy Harhut's book.

Daniel:

Oh, great book.

Allison:

She's tremendous. And I'm in Boston and she's always on the road, like traveling globally speaking, but dang, her book is fantastic. I had her on my podcast a while back and she's so humble, but I'm like, you're so effing brilliant. Every marketer is gonna be using this and calling it their own technique, but it's not, it's based entirely on her research, which is genius. Before we wrap, let me just ask, what's one action you want everyone to take today when it comes to marketing? What should they do?

Daniel:

In spirit of this talk, I would say post something today. Just start the journey. I think the best time to start posting is when you don't have an audience to be honest, because nobody sees it. It's just something that in your mind that people will find interesting. Everybody has something interesting to say, so post something today.

Allison:

You heard it. Daniel would not steer you wrong. I want you to show up for yourself. Show up for the people you know, need your insight. You are an expert in your field. You're a storyteller. You have so much knowledge, but it's not wisdom until you pass it on. So, before you write a book, test out your content on social or in an email or whatever, in a video. You've gotta get it out there. Don't stay in the cave writing your genius manuscript. You gotta trot out your content and see what works. And it's low stakes. It doesn't have to be perfect. Do us a favor, share the show with someone who needs it. You know that they're not gonna find it on their own because they're busy doing all the things that they shouldn't. But you know what they should be doing. And they should be listening to Daniel and doing exactly what he says. Also, sign up and get registered for marketing land. Don't miss it. You'll miss a lot of fun. And there are prizes, right? No one's allowed to come as a cowgirl'cause that's mine.

Daniel:

Yeah. You've owned that costume. I'm gonna make sure that nobody puts

Allison:

Thank you.

Daniel:

That one on. Yeah.

Allison:

Alright folks, I'll see you next week.

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