I’m excited to chat with Julia Zatta, a LinkedIn marketing expert who works with founders, entrepreneurs, and senior leaders to build strong personal brands. Julia has written more than 4,000 LinkedIn posts for clients across tech, wellness, finance, and marketing, and she hosts the podcast LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs. The conversation focuses on how authors can use LinkedIn to market their business books, starting with the foundation Julia insists every client must lay first: an optimized profile.

For authors marketing a book, the very first step is making sure your profile reflects your current offer. Julia stresses that your LinkedIn profile should function like a landing page with a clear value proposition, not a chronological career history. Your headline is the most important piece of copy on the page because it is the first thing people see when you send a connection request, and it determines whether they accept.

Once the profile is set, Julia recommends planning your LinkedIn strategy at least three months before your book launch. One underused tactic is creating LinkedIn events for book launches, which lets you invite up to 250 connections per month directly. Julia also highlights LinkedIn newsletters as an underrated tool: unlike regular posts, newsletters allow external links (like a book purchase link) without being penalized by the algorithm.

For authors starting from scratch with a small network, Julia sees this as an opportunity to build intentionally. Use Sales Navigator, which comes free for the first month with a LinkedIn Premium trial, to send up to 300 targeted connection requests by filtering for industry, location, company size, and recent activity. Julia shares a case study of an author client where they combined LinkedIn events, strategic tagging of publishers and editors, newsletter links, and regular posting to sustain momentum before and after launch.

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The opinions expressed on the show by the host or guests are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unicorn Publishing Company. Unicorn Publishing Company, the host, guests, and affiliates are not responsible or liable for any decisions made by listeners or actions taken hereto based on the information discussed in this podcast. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge and agree to release Unicorn Publishing Company, the host, affiliates, and guests from any liability.

Hey friends and future authors! This is Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis, Ghostwriter and Book Editor at Write4U Self Publishing. I am so excited for today's episode because I have a LinkedIn expert with me today; she is Julia Zatta. Julia is an amazing LinkedIn expert who specifically helps people with their content strategy.

She helps founders, entrepreneurs, and senior leaders build strong personal brands. Over the past few years, she's written more than 4,000 LinkedIn posts for her clients across the industries of tech, wellness, finance, and marketing. She's also the host of the podcast, "LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs." Definitely go and check that out; she provides practical advice on personal branding, content strategy, and building visibility on the world's largest B2B platform.

Julia, welcome to Self Publishing for Professionals.

Thank you so much for having me, Lynn. I'm excited to be here.

I'm really excited to jump into this because, as we know, LinkedIn is a huge B2B business platform. If you are a business leader, being on LinkedIn just makes sense, right? Because it's where your audience is. So first of all, I want to find out: how did you get into LinkedIn marketing? How did you land there?

Life is so strange, but about three and a half years ago, right after the pandemic, I had a different business and I decided to shut it down and pivot. I decided I was going to support business owners with their social media marketing because it's something that I really enjoy. I realized that for business owners, LinkedIn is a strong platform to be on because that's where a lot of them hang out, especially if they're B2B. And so,

That's where I got interested in LinkedIn. I learned a lot about it and once I did, I started offering services on profile optimization and content strategy. That's where I've been for the last three and a half years.

Nice. So, what is one of the biggest misconceptions people have about social media and posting on LinkedIn that you've found by talking to clients and other people who use the platform?

The biggest misconception—there are several, it just depends on how people are using the platform. Some people feel like it's still just a resume site; a place that's very static where you just upload your resume and that's it. Or maybe you'll post an article once every couple of years. But that's definitely changed. The pandemic totally changed how people are using LinkedIn, and it's becoming more similar to other social media than it used to be.

Being visible on LinkedIn means posting consistently in a social media-style format, even though the rules of the platform are different from other platforms.

Yeah. And as we know, the rules change on a daily basis on every social platform. I mean, it feels like it does, anyway. When you're hiring professional services, it's like, yeah, you could do it yourself, but people don't have the time. It is much better to hire somebody and get that exposure out on LinkedIn than to not do it, right? Or to do it yourself and not do it well, and then you don't have a good...

Yes. Yeah, it does.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

professional brand on LinkedIn. So let's talk about books, because people listening to this podcast are into books and writing their business books. LinkedIn is a fabulous place to advertise your business book. For advertising and book marketing on LinkedIn, Julia, where would you start with a client? What do you typically recommend, or what do you...

What do you advise clients on doing when you are book marketing with them on LinkedIn?

I think everybody, independently of what they're marketing, has to start in the same place, which is with their profile. Make sure your profile is optimized to reflect what your offer is now. LinkedIn is different from other social media platforms in that you don't just open a new account every time you start a new business; you pivot on your same account.

A lot of people will start posting about their new offer but forget to optimize their profile. This sends a very confusing and disjointed message. I would start by getting clear on my profile, specifically for one topic, and then take it from there. That's the very first place. One thing people get wrong about their LinkedIn profiles is setting them up like a resume.

They talk about their whole life experience and themselves a lot, but really your LinkedIn profile needs to be like a landing page. It has to have a value proposition. The first part of your "About" section needs to be a really strong hook to get people into it. It needs to be like a landing page on your website or the first email in your welcome sequence.

you know, for example, it really needs to have value for the person viewing it.

Absolutely. I actually redid my LinkedIn last year and did all of that. When you go to my LinkedIn page, you know what I do and what problem I solve for people. That is so important. People don't realize how vital that first impression is when you're networking. Not having a strong profile means...

you're losing the prospect or the lead before you even get past your profile. So that's super important. What do you do when a client comes to you and says, "Hey, I've got this book and I want to market it on LinkedIn"? After the profile, what's the next step?

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it depends where they are in the process with their book. For example, I recently helped a client whose book was published through a publisher. We started probably a month before the book was actually for sale. It was really close to the launch day.

Mm-hmm.

It was like the pre-sale period. Yeah.

And so I would start—and I think that's kind of late in the game—if you're planning your whole book, I would start way before that. If you have the dates for when the pre-sale starts and ends and when the actual book is coming out, have all those dates mapped out. Your LinkedIn strategy needs to support that. I'm sure you...

you know this and you've talked about it to your community, but that's the starting point. Really think at least three months out from when your book is coming out. Along that launch plan, what are the main events? Are you giving something away for free to people who pre-order?

Are you having an online event to present your book? What are the events you have planned? Then you integrate those into your LinkedIn strategy. That really depends on the individual's plan; there are lots of different options you can play with on LinkedIn.

Awesome, this sounds good. When you are working with a client directly on LinkedIn, if somebody doesn't want to do a video or is unsure of what to do, how do you plan the posts? When someone...

don't want to do something, do you encourage them? Do you find another workaround, like doing something else instead of video?

Yes, there are always different options for a person's comfort level regarding formats. You can do text-only, video, carousel posts, articles, newsletters, or events. It really depends on how you want to play with it. An underused function of LinkedIn is creating live events or even just having an event...

planned and scheduled on LinkedIn. If you have a book launch or a pre-launch party at a set date and time, I would create a LinkedIn event around it. The further out you can create it, the better, because you can invite up to 250 people from your connections each month. If you plan this a few months out, you can invite up to 750 people over...

three months. You can follow up with those people via email and get them more engaged by creating an event versus just posting.

So, Julia, what about if someone is listening and thinks, "Well, that sounds great, but I only have 50 followers on LinkedIn," or they haven't updated their profile in years? What would you tell those people who aren't active but want to market a book there?

Well, start now by optimizing your profile and building your network. If you only have 50 people, that's actually a good thing. If you're now focusing on your book or a new area of your life, or if you've pivoted and are using your book to promote your authority, you need the profile, but then start growing your network with the people you want...

to be connected with. This includes not just the target audience for your readership, but also people who can help you promote the book. Are there other authors with overlapping target audiences? Are there podcasters who might be interested in having you on their show? You really need to think broadly to build your network intentionally. Think about where these people are located and what companies they...

are a part of. If you're starting on LinkedIn from scratch, I highly recommend using Sales Navigator. When you join LinkedIn, you get one free month of LinkedIn Premium. Sales Navigator is the most expensive tier. When you get it for free, it means you can send almost unlimited connection requests during that month and actually filter your searches...

in a lot more detail compared to using the organic search bar. You can really go to town adding up to 300 connections in a month if you spend some time on it. That's a good way to get started.

Okay, great. Friends, we're going to take a quick break from our interview. I just want to mention that if you haven't joined my Skool community yet, definitely jump in! It's called Publishing for Leaders. It's a really great place to get author support and advice. We do a monthly "Authors Brew" coffee chat where you come with your questions, and we also have a free monthly coaching...

session. In addition, people share their wins, and everyone is positive and supportive. I keep the platform professional. So, if you're looking for support for your business book, lifestyle book, or memoir, come into the community. It's free to join, and you'll love it. We've gotten lots of positive feedback and are growing super quick!

So, Julia, let's talk a little bit about Sales Navigator. I have used that successfully in the past. What are some ways people can use it? You mentioned increasing your network and sending invites to people you already...

know in real life. Actually, let me back up. One thing I find frustrating on LinkedIn is when you want to ask someone to connect, but you can only send, I think, five connection messages. You can connect with others, but you can't send them a message. I like to send a message so people know why I'm reaching out.

Yeah. Message. Yeah.

How do I get past only doing five connections a month? If I want to send ten messages instead of five when connecting, what would I need to do?

Well, I can send.

On the free version of LinkedIn, there's no workaround; you send a message after they accept your request. That's why it's good to have an optimized profile. Your headline is the most important piece of copy on your page. It needs to be specific about who you help and how so that when you send a request, that's the first thing they see. If it sounds interesting, they are more likely...

to accept, but everyone is different in why they accept or reject requests, so you can't take it personally. On the free version, you only get five messages you can send before the person accepts, so it is limited.

So, which paid version of LinkedIn do I need if I want to do more than five messages a month?

I think the next one for entrepreneurs is "Business." They have Recruiter, Business, and Sales Navigator. I don't know exactly how many connection messages Business allows, but it's not a whole bunch more—maybe 15 or 20 before a request is accepted.

Gotcha.

Okay, so you get more, but it's not 100. If you don't want the paid package, you have to be really choosy about who you send messages to.

It's not unlimited, but it is unlimited on Sales Navigator.

Some people like to send messages in advance, but it's almost not worth it unless it's somebody you really want to connect with. You just have to bite the bullet, send the request without the message, and message them later.

That makes sense. Let's go back to Sales Navigator. We mentioned how you can use it to increase your following, but how do you use it for your clients when you're trying to connect them or do their book marketing on LinkedIn?

With Sales Navigator, you have to understand the parameters. You define your target audience based on location, company size, and industry. A very important thing to toggle is whether they've been active on LinkedIn in the last month, because you don't want to connect with dead accounts. Think of all the parameters...

you can tick off for your target audience. You want to narrow down that search as much as possible because on Sales Navigator, you might get 2,500 results otherwise. You want to get it down to a manageable few hundred in each category and then slowly start sending those requests.

Think in terms of industry, location, company size, non-profit or for-profit, and whether it's a solo entrepreneur or a large company. Another trick I like: if you have a competitor or a connection who shares your same audience, you have to be connected with them. Once you are, you can through Sales Navigator "poach" their audience.

You use a filter for "people who are connected with Lynn" who live in New York, who are solo entrepreneurs, and who have a small company size.

I like that.

And who is in this industry. I could take those people and narrow it down to those I know you have good connections with. Then I can send connection requests to them. So you can leverage other people's audiences, which I like. Sneaky! Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I love that. I love strategically engineering platforms like that to make the most of them. That's great advice. So, what advice would...

Yeah, and those people are more likely to accept a request anyway because they are already a first-degree connection of yours and thus my second-degree connection. If I send a message saying, "Hi, I'm friends with Lynn, and I'm doing this and that; I'd like to connect with you because..." then that's already a strong start.

For sure. Connecting with people you have some type of connection with is better than connecting with strangers. I like that process of jumping from person to person; it's like six degrees of separation. What advice would you have for someone listening who is coming out with a book and knows LinkedIn is a good platform but isn't sure what to do next? They know they need to optimize their profile but don't know how.

Well, I'm coming out with a book. don't know, like, and they know LinkedIn is a good platform for them to advertise on, but they're just not sure of, like, where to go next or what to do. Like, if someone just wants to be like, okay, like they know they need to optimize their profile, but they don't know how to optimize it or they don't know whatever, what would you recommend, Julia, for somebody like that?

Well, if you get LinkedIn Premium—say, Sales Navigator—you automatically get access to a bunch of free courses LinkedIn creates. There are a ton of them on personal branding and profile optimization. You can just find the one you like best and follow the steps they recommend.

Awesome. Can you share a story of someone you've worked with on book marketing on LinkedIn? What did you do, and how did it work out for them?

Yes. I helped an author who has written several books with her latest one. We started a little late, but she had a few events scheduled: an online pre-launch event and an in-person event. We continue to market the book now that it's out. We created LinkedIn events for those...

so we could choose who we invited. For the in-person event, for example, you want to invite people who are local to that area. When you send invites to an event, you can filter by location. So you only invite local people to the venue.

For the online event, you can invite more people. We used those events to spread the word because the LinkedIn algorithm isn't time-based anymore; it's interest-based. You could post something today, but someone might not see it for three weeks. If you have a time-sensitive event, create a LinkedIn event so you can manually invite...

as many people as you can. That's one thing we did. We are also posting for her regularly. Every time there is news related to her book, that goes into a post. We tag the publisher, the person within the publishing company she worked with, and the editor. We tag everyone relevant...

without spam-tagging—only people relevant to that particular post. When you tag them, it gives the post more reach. She was recently published in an online journal for psychotherapists where she told a story and talked about her book. So we...

Mm-hmm.

made that into a post that relates back to her book. We also do LinkedIn newsletters, which is an underrated tool. It's the same as an article, but people can subscribe. In the monthly newsletter, we always include an external link to the book. One thing about newsletters is that...

you can add external links without being penalized by the algorithm, whereas when you add an external link to a regular post, your reach gets squished. So, we're doing those things.

to your post.

So you always have to put your link in the comments below, right? Another thing I found out is that they don't want you to post more than once in a 24-hour period, because apparently they down-rank your posts if you do. I've had people say they post twice a day, and I tell them no, you don't want to do that. This has been...

LinkedIn is the kind of platform you post on once or twice a week; that's how people use it. You can post every day if you like—I tried that—but the majority of people I work with post once or twice a week and it's fine. It depends on your network. If you're starting from scratch, it's more work. But if you've been in the same industry for years...

you already have a strong network, so one little post will have more traction because you already have credibility. People pay more attention to you. That's another factor.

That makes sense for sure. Well, Julia, this has been so informative. I know my listeners got a lot out of this. I know I learned a bunch about LinkedIn despite having training on it. I know you have a special offer for listeners, so let's share that and tell people how they can reach out to you when they want to hire you.

Absolutely. I have a digital product called the "LinkedIn Visibility Sprint" for people who want to get started with posting. A lot of people feel self-conscious on the platform. Inside this product, you get seven post prompts and can submit your posts to me before you publish them so I can give you feedback to help you feel confident.

It's $37, and I've created a 20% discount code for you, which I believe is "LYNN." I'll have to double-check, but I'll give you the link for the show notes.

I'll definitely put that in. That is an amazing deal; for 37 bucks, that's awesome. I would totally sign up for that! So, Julia, where can people find you? Do you have a website or a social media channel you want to share? I know you have your podcast, "LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs," which people should subscribe to.

Yeah.

That's so kind.

Yes, "LinkedIn for Entrepreneurs." You can also go to my LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn doesn't have very pretty handles, so you'll have to use the whole URL with my name, Julia-Zatta. Search for me on Google and I'll pop up because I'm active on pretty much every social media platform. I only have a blog and a Linktree to keep it simple.

LinkedIn is a good place to find me, or just Google me and you'll find me. Yeah.

Nice, awesome. I will definitely put that information in the show notes. Julia, thank you so much for coming on today. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge about LinkedIn to help people with their book marketing. This has been amazing.

Wonderful, I've enjoyed it so much. I hope your listeners find it helpful.

Thank you! Future authors, if you're feeling stuck and tired of hitting roadblocks in self-publishing, come over to my Skool group. I am so excited to offer this author support. If you want to join a supportive group, join me in "Publishing for Leaders" and you can add "author" to your bio before the end of the year! It's a free community with advice and tips.

We have our coffee chat and coaching sessions. You can search for skool.com (S-K-O-O-L) and find "Publishing for Leaders" or click the link in the show notes. Until next week, this is Lynn Elikqitie reminding you to keep writing, keep dreaming, and keep creating. Your book is waiting to be born.