Social Media For Authors: Smarter Posting and Genuine Connections with Katie Brinkley

Social media can feel overwhelming and chaotic, especially for authors building their own audience. 

Social media expert Katie Brinkley joins Allison Lane to break down the madness and share real, practical advice -- what actually works on social platforms, how to reach the people you want (even if they don’t know you yet), and how to simplify your approach without burning out. If posting feels like a grind, you’ll leave with a new attitude about content, real community-building tips, and clear steps to make your next post count. Plus, Allison Lane and Katie Brinkley show why silent observers might be your strongest supporters.

Get Allison Lane’s Free Guide - 7 Shifts to Build Real Authority: https://www.lanelit.com/authority 

In this episode, Allison and Katie discuss:

• 00:06 How to identify the problem your audience is already aware of
• 00:12 Why most authors only reach friends and family, and how to grow past it
• 00:17 The four-post strategy that saves time and gets better visibility
• 00:23 How to stay visible even when the algorithms shift

Resources:

• Get Allison Lane’s Free Guide - 7 Shifts to Build Real Authority: https://www.lanelit.com/authority 
• The Social Shift: The Road Back to Community: https://bookshop.org/a/55773/9798989025718 
• Podcast: Rocky Mountain Marketing: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rocky-mountain-marketing-digital-marketing-for-entrepreneurs/id1506956667 
• Connect with Katie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiebrinkley
• Katie’s Newsletter - The Social Situation: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6942957654013075456/ 

If this conversation helped you rethink how you show up online, take a minute to rate and review The Author’s Edge. Your support helps more authors build real authority without burning out. 

Get Allison's free guide 7 Shifts to Build Real Authority - and get recognized for your expertise (not your follower count): https://lanelit.com/authority   

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Transcript

Allison: 0:50

Welcome back to the Author's Edge. I am your host Allison Lane, and I am your literary Sherpa. I am here for you to make everything better and also to make your job and your journey in the book world more fun and more exciting and not feel like that boulder that you are climbing the mountain with because it's not supposed to be like that. And in this world of digital media, it's not supposed to feel like one more huge thing that you have to tackle, which is what brings us to our topic today, social media. Social media advice is chaos. Post more. No. Post less. Do video, but not long videos'cause the algorithm hates that. Or Instagram's dead. But wait. Instagram's growing again because they do like short videos, but they have to look like this. No, No. YouTube's the future. LinkedIn is killing reach for women. No it's not. I cannot tell you what are we even supposed to do? That's why I wanted to talk to Katie Brinkley because she really knows her poo. She's been doing this since MySpace was just an inkling and helping people attract the right people in a way that feels human. And I'll give you an example of her humanity. I know that Katie yesterday was teaching podcasting to her child's middle school class. Why? Because she posted a picture of it on LinkedIn and it was so human and fun and it wasn't promotional. It was just her being her. So, if you are one of those people who's frustrated, spending hours, creating posts that nobody sees, and then you're stuck on the hamster wheel of more content and less growth, less connection. Katie's going to just clear away the cobwebs for us. Katie, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you so much. And I loved when we met a few years ago. You probably don't even remember at Rich Brooks, agents of Change conference. And it was the most fun and I just soaked it in. And ever since then, your podcast, Rocky Mountain Marketing is one of my faves. And then, you show up on all of my other favorite podcasts. That's why I'm so happy to have you here'cause you know your stuff.

Katie: 3:21

Well, thank you. Actually, it's funny because I was just thinking about Mr. Rich Brooks today because with something that you said, there's a picture of me from the Agents of Change conference where I'm wearing a lobster hat, and eating lobster. And I was like, oh man, I have to be sure to use this photo when I ask my social media community who lives in Boston and who is going to be at this conference, because that is what's going to get people to stop the scroll. They're going to be like, why is Katie wearing a lobster hat? She looks ridiculous and she looks so excited to eat her lobster. What does she have to say? So, they're going to stop their scroll and they're going to see what I have to say, what I've written.

Allison: 4:05

And it's you being you. That's the thing. It's you being fun and warm, and also being an expert in what you do. Because this is the hard thing for folks who are unfortunately, put in a position like every author is, you have to be your own very best marketer. You have to be the director of your marketing plan. And we're told, or I tell people like you have to be in front of the people who are looking for you.

Katie: 4:36

Yes.

Allison: 4:37

Except, let me rephrase. They're not looking for you'cause they don't know you yet. They're looking for the solutions or they're looking to vent about the problems that they have For the author who's new and whose audience is mostly friends and family and peers, what is this first smart step toward growing beyond that circle.

Katie: 5:01

You know, I think I like to call them the silent observers. My husband is one as well Like, can you at least just like the post I did your kids are in it. I get it. And it feels like social media is that double-edged sword like who likes social media anymore, honestly. And you have to be on it though. You have to be on it. And you can build an incredible community. You can sell your book, you can launch your podcast, you can grow your business, but you have to do it the right way. I mean, there's I think the latest statistics was there's 5.4 billion people around the world that use social media, which is about 65% of the world population. Your audience is there, your community is there, but that exactly with what you said, they don't know you exist yet. So, you have to create content that gets them interested. Because all of a sudden, now here's this solution and that's the type of content that you need to be creating. But it's creating the content that you feel comfortable creating that solves the problem for your ideal audience, your ideal customer, your ideal community,

Allison: 6:12

which is the first step, knowing what problem they have, not what you want to tell them. What problem they know they have, which is different than the problem that you think is causing their problem. All kinds of things hold people back from actually posting beyond their family and friends because they don't want to be too promotional or bossy.

Katie: 6:35

Those are the people that are going to say your name in a room when you're not in it. That's where it starts is I know oh, I don't want to just be talking about work all the time. I'm not saying to show up and sell, nobody wants to be sold to. I mean, that's why streaming services exist and people pay extra money so that they don't have to walk extra commercials How can you show up with that giving mentality that makes people say, oh, I love seeing their content. Oh, you want to know about podcasting? Oh, you need help with social media. You have to go to this person's account because they answer all your problems like this is them. I recently saw someone from high school. I didn't know that I was friends with them on Facebook'cause they've never liked anything I've ever posted or engaged with me, nothing. And we ran into each other and he said to me, he goes, I've been meaning to reach out to you for years because I need help with my marketing. And I was like, oh. Yeah, I'd love to talk about it. He's like, yeah, I see all your stuff on Facebook. And I'm like, why don't you like it? But people are out there. There's the silent observers. They're watching, they're listening, and they're paying attention.

Allison: 7:42

Not everybody's an entrepreneur. A lot of people who are listening have full-time jobs. They're teaching at the university, they are a nurse practitioner working the overnights. They are an expert in their field because they've been doing it for so long, at such a high level. And they do have a lifetime of wisdom that they feel a responsibility to share. And yet, they don't because they think but my role is this, or the hospital will notice that I don't want them to think that I am leaving or looking for another job. No no one's going to think that. They're just going to think that you're a good egg sharing the thing like contributing.

Katie: 8:24

Yeah.

Allison: 8:25

You don't have to stay invisible or only post the thing that your company says, we'd like everybody to promote this. Those things actually smell bad, so don't post those things. There are a lot of ads out there. Don't post more just post smart. Thank you, obviously can you help us understand what that means?

Katie: 8:46

I am glad that there's a lot more people jumping on the post less bandwagon. I feel like I've been standing on this soapbox for years by myself. You just need to create better content. But this is where it's extremely important to know who your audience is inside and out. I know for a fact that my audience are entrepreneurs that have some help, whether it's an admin, a VA, they have some help already. But they do not want to do marketing. They want someone to just do it for them. And if I say, okay, we're going to need you to jump, they'll say, okay, how high? But just do it. I know that inside and out. So, whenever I create content, I'm thinking of that exact person in my head, what pain points do they have right now? What struggles do they have right now? How can I help them? And people need to see things. I think that it's the rule of seven. Typically, you have to see something at least seven times before they take action or remember it. So, if you are posting and you're like, oh, I've already talked about this book, I've already talked about my webinar, I've already talked about when the launch is. One, the algorithm doesn't love you that much, so people aren't seeing all of your content. Two, people take vacations, they're not on online all the time. And three, people need to see it multiple times in order to remember it. I wrote a book called The Social Shift and it's all about. I see it behind you. Can you hold it up? Oh, yeah. So here it is. I don't know if it's a photograph or not. It I came out a couple years ago. Everything is still very relevant. It's

Allison: 10:28

new to the person who finds it today.

Katie: 10:30

Writing a book, I think everyone should do it and especially if you are a business owner or if you have a message. Mine is to get off of social media so much, there is a better way. Write about it, share it with the world. People need to hear your message. So, with this four post strategy, which I talk about in the book. You have the opportunity to present something, your message four different ways. So, it really takes a lot of the stress of creating content out of the mix because you are just talking about one thing, four different ways that's going to hopefully click with somebody for them to then go on to the next stop with you. Whether it's buying your book, listening to your podcast, signing up for a sales call, whatever it is. If you are going to present one piece of information four different ways, that's going to help someone hopefully remember you and what it is that you have to offer, the pain point that you solve.

Allison: 11:29

That four different ways makes it, at least it's achievable. It's not like here are the 15 ways. you also help people get results in as little as an hour a week, which sounds unbelievable by the way for someone who is drowning in content as every podcaster is because podcasting is a great way to generate the raw content, but that does not equal bite-size content.

Katie: 11:57

I got really clear with my message for the book was from podcasting, and you and I were talking about this earlier. I do a lot of podcast guesting. I have two shows, so I have Rocky Mountain Marketing, but I also have another show called Marketing Trends Now. And I found that there was an underlying message in all of my talks. And it was to be more strategic with your time.'cause time is extremely valuable, but social media is invaluable. How can you marry the two? And it's with this four post strategy, it will cut your time tremendously. It will simplify your workflow. People share their screenshots with me. One person said, I was posting, I was doing like those 30 days of reels challenges, and I was doing this and I was doing that and I never saw anything, but I started doing the four plus strategy and my engagement went up 1100%. And it's because you're creating the content, one, the way the platforms want you to create the content. But two in a way that you're getting the right people raising their hands and engaging with you and saying, Hey, wait a second, they're talking to me.

Allison: 13:07

Yeah. There are a lot of different types of posts and some people say, well, I don't want to have video, I want to do text only. Great, whatever. But it can't be just one time a week and it can't be only little tiny tidbits or all super long a wall of words. we can't see what you're trying to say, and it's just too much to look at. How do you help people then stay ahead of the algorithms, which are changing so much and it can feel impossible to keep up, especially without running ads

Katie: 13:43

yeah. It seems every time we start to like, understand platform, then they have to go ahead and roll out a whole new feature. And this is where it's really important to have a variety of types of content. Short form video is not my thing. As you guys listening now have probably realized I'm pretty long-winded. It takes me a while to get to the point. So, short form video is really hard for me to do. However, give me a carousel post, a blog, a long article, anything like that, and I can give that to you. I can give you podcasts, I can give you all the long form content. But that doesn't mean that I can ignore a short form video altogether. And so, this is where it's really important to make sure that you are on the platforms, one that you enjoy being on. Yeah. And two that you feel comfortable creating content for. So, for me, up until 2025, I took a three year break from Instagram. And that was where my largest following was. I think I had 7,000 followers and I just abandoned them. One day I was just like, I can't do this anymore. And I left. And all I was focusing my attention on was Facebook and LinkedIn Now, when I'm sitting in the carpool lane at 2:45 waiting for the bell to ring at 10'cause I got to get in line early, otherwise I'm going to be stuck at the back. I'm there. And when I've got time to kill Facebook is what I open up. So, I open up Facebook and I give them my time. I'm not creating content on it, I'm just giving them my time. And that is what they want. They really just want your time. And so, if I'm going to give these platforms my time, how can I make it beneficial for me? I'm in groups where my ideal client is, and I'm engaging with content that my ideal client watches engages with all of that. So, I'm not just wasting time, even though I'm on Facebook, I'm being productive because if I'm engaging with real estate agents in the Denver area. That's great because I do a lot of speaking at different brokerages around here. They pay me to come in and teach their agents. If I go in and I'm just engaging, commenting on their posts, liking them, and I show up regularly in their feed, they're going to be like, oh, there's Katie. And they're going to come over to my feed. And when I show up and have that great content that's solving their problem, it's like I'm speaking directly to them. They're going to follow me and then say, Hey, we need to bring in Katie Brinkley to come and teach our brokerage X, Y, Z.

Allison: 16:18

If you want to meet someone, like even a friend, you have to leave your house. Your future friend is not going to knock on your door and be like, I heard through the grapevine. I've been looking for you and you're in your basement, Allison. That's true. You do have to leave the house. I never would've met you or known about you had I not left the house and gotten to the ages of change conference.

Katie: 16:42

The way you phrased that was perfect. I hope that really resonated with a lot of people because you have to leave your house in order to have new opportunities. And that was one of the biggest eye openers for me when I started my business almost 10 years ago was I was like. People go to networking events to talk about work after work. That sounds terrible. But now as a business owner, I'm like, that is a major part of my job is to go to these events and meet people.

Allison: 17:10

And to be where other people have this similar interests. And some of those people might end up being clients, collaborators. They might refer people to you because very few people do what you do in the way that you do it. Yeah, We met a couple years ago now.

Katie: 17:28

But we're just now recording this podcast episode, so we're extending our relationship. But some of my closest friends only met in real life like once or twice. But I feel like I know them so well because of the way that we connect and engage on social media.

Allison: 17:43

Yeah. I agree entirely my accountability partner who I talk to multiple times a day, I've never met in person. And we've been thick as thieves for a year. And we met in an online course where we just clicked. You have to find your people and which means you have to sign up for the course, or you have to go to the event, or you have to, even on social, hop into a group and contribute. Not just post or leave, like post and mic drop. But comment on somebody else's post. Because that person will comment back. They will notice you, you'll be in conversation, which is what you tell people to do.

Katie: 18:30

And it's having those conversations, getting the right people into your sphere, that is going to make a world of difference. The conversations that you're having in the dms and in the comments, they will come over to your account and think of your feed of like your profile as your website. On here, all my content says, what I do, who I serve, and how I can help them. And that way, when you're making those new connections, you're having those conversations, you're leaving a really valuable comment on somebody's post. They're like, oh man, I want to make sure I see the next post from this person. I want to follow them, I want to engage with them. So, that's really one of the most invaluable ways for you to show up, less online, have to create less content is if you have good content that again, says what you do, who you serve, and how you can help them. And you're out there just having the conversations.

Allison: 19:29

I think a lot of authors, especially debut authors, miss that because they think well, I am posting more. But you can't grow by talking to only the people you know.

Katie: 19:43

I'm just going to go off the realtor example because I'm not looking to buy a house. I'm not looking to move. None of that. There's a lot of really great properties that people post and I'm like, oh man, I love the baker neighborhood. So much history in the architecture there. Or oh, what a beautiful kitchen. Love the farmhouse sink.

Allison: 20:01

.Right? Everybody loves house porn.

Katie: 20:04

People I think are afraid of using their personal profiles for business because they don't want to spam their loved ones. And you're not, if you just create good content, Hey, this post is for this person who's going through this problem. I'm just giving right now. And some of your audience, the friends and family, it might be resonating with them. Or they might be like I just was talking to my best friend about this the other day. I need to share this post with them. That is how people are going to start talking about you when you're not in the room. And I think that with social media especially, people are watching, they're not going to engage with everything. How can you grow your audience because going viral is not a business strategy. It's not. So, how can you create better content and find the people that need to see it? And it's by doing it this way.

Allison: 20:57

When people are thinking, I'm not running a business, but you are if you're trying to grow in your career or expand the influence or the ripple effect of good things that you're putting out into the world. If you are head of HR for a corporation, but you also want to now be on board, or get a board seat. You have to elevate and you can't always be talking about your company. Sometimes you just have to be sharing good things and it has to be your view. What can you offer those people who are thinking, I'm not an entrepreneur, but you're CEO of you. Yes. So, how can we get them to expand their efforts on social?

Katie: 21:44

Yeah. Everyone out there listen to this. You have something to say and it's different from other people because you are saying it. Your thoughts are only your own. And you need to share that with the world. Whether it's through a social media post, whether it's through a book, whether it's through a podcast, you have something to say. You need to say it. You have a lot of great things that you know, that other people don't. And you see it differently, so you have to share it. It can just be a celebration. It can be, Hey, I saw this, which shocked me. That's the whole post or whatever, so don't overthink it. Just hit send. Just hit return or enter or whatever. Create the post because you are going to be helping the person that needs to hear it.

Allison: 22:35

That's the thing, is that you're doing someone a solid. Someone you know yourself 10 years ago or five years ago, if you learn something new, it's something that someone else doesn't know. And you didn't know yesterday. But here's my warning. Don't wait until your sabbatical or until you retire or till the kids are out of the house or people don't need you as much. There time's wasting as soon as you retire, no one cares about your life lessons. We care about your career lessons while you're doing it.

Katie: 23:12

It's so true. it was hard for me to sit down with my thoughts and write. But as soon as it was done, I've never felt as big of a piece of accomplishment as I did when I held my book for the first time. I was like, holy cow, I actually did it.

Allison: 23:26

It distills as well. I find when I comment on someone else's post, when someone asks a question, I really need help here, and I'm like I have a couple minutes. Let me just brain dump. And sometimes I'm just cutting and pasting, here are the steps that I just use for a client. This is what you need to do. And I just put it in the comments. Then I realized that could probably be a post. But it usually starts with me commenting on someone else's need. And it was a big lesson to me that I didn't have to wait for someone else to ask for the need. I could just make a list of those things.

Katie: 24:02

Just think about the questions that you get asked the most. Start there with creating content, based off of those questions, I just started with my FAQ page on my website and I was like, okay, I'm just going to start creating content off of this.

Allison: 24:14

You share a lot on your LinkedIn newsletter as well, the social connection. And that's a way for people to just make sure that the algorithm isn't working against them'cause you can subscribe to a newsletter on LinkedIn. Yeah. Which means it's you asking and it actually sends it to you. You don't have to hope that you're shown that post. Yeah. Yeah, which I think people forget and that's not possible on instagram or Facebook

Katie: 24:41

LinkedIn newsletters, that's the secret sauce right there.

Allison: 24:44

It really is. And it's so valuable because you don't need to be subscribing to 300 newsletters, which I noticed that I had inadvertently subscribed to almost 400 newsletters over the course of several years. And I took an hour and I unsubscribed to a bunch, and now I am subscribed to the 35 that I was reading all the time. You can audit yourself. And engage where you want to engage. But definitely people should subscribe to your newsletter. And that link, I'll put in the show notes as well as your book, which is tremendous. I'm so glad that you wrote it and that it turned out to be something that you enjoyed. You're so practical and grounded and you remind us that social media doesn't have to take over our lives for it to work. And I think people appreciate knowing that and actually believing it.

Katie: 25:41

Yeah.

Allison: 25:42

If you want to learn more about Katie, check out her two podcasts. Get her LinkedIn newsletter, get her book. The show notes will have all the links so you can find everything you need as well as if you want to work with Katie, she's available, And if you're ready to get clear on your own author, branding, how you are going to Move in the world, feel free to grab my guide. That'll be in the show notes as well. So that you can build real authority without trying to be an influencer. Keep showing up for the people who need your message. You never know who's waiting to find you. Until next time, I'm Allison Lane and I appreciate everything you're putting out in the world.