Live Blissed Out
Live Blissed Out
164 - The AI LinkedIn Advantage: How to Stand Out When Everyone's Using the Same Tools
Join the BUZZ - Text us your thoughts!
Al Kushner is a true expert in the world of professional networking. He is an award-winning author and a LinkedIn success strategist dedicated to helping individuals and companies unlock the full potential of this powerful platform.
With over two decades of training experience, he has a gift for demystifying complex technology, breaking down concepts into simple, actionable steps. His latest book, The AI LinkedIn Advantage: Unleash the Power of AI and Dominate the Competition, shows his passion for empowering professionals with cutting-edge strategies.
He believes that mastering LinkedIn can be easy and even fun, whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out. He's here to help you showcase your expertise, amplify your presence, and turn LinkedIn into your competitive advantage.
To learn more, visit www.linkedvantage.com
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Did You Know 0:00
Did you know that 87% of LinkedIn users still use generic AI generated content that actually hurts their credibility? Hello, action taker.
Intro 0:10
Welcome to Live Blissed out, a podcast where I have inspirational and informational conversations with business owners and subject matter experts to help you get the scoop on a variety of topics. Tired of hesitating or making decisions without having the big picture. Want to be in the know, then this is the place to go. I'm your host, Marisa Huston, helping you achieve bliss through awareness and action. So let's get to it. Al Kushner is a true expert in the world of professional networking. He is an award winning author and a LinkedIn Success strategist dedicated to helping individuals and companies unlock the full potential of this powerful platform. With over two decades of training experience, he has a gift for demystifying complex technology, breaking down concepts into simple, actionable steps. His latest book, The AI LinkedIn advantage unleash the power of AI and dominate the competition. Shows his passion for empowering professionals with cutting edge strategies. He believes that mastering LinkedIn can be easy and even fun, whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out. He's here to help you showcase your expertise, amplify your presence and turn LinkedIn into your competitive advantage. To learn more, visit linkedvantage.com.
Disclaimer 1:26
The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice.
Marisa Huston 1:39
Al, welcome to the podcast. I'm really excited. You're here.
Al Kushner 1:43
Glad to be here. I appreciate the opportunity.
Marisa Huston 1:45
I feel like AI is something that is, I guess we can call it a buzzword that everybody's talking about now, and for many reasons, one is it's very exciting, but at the same time, it's a mystery to a lot of people. I feel like we all define AI differently, like the way we envision what it is currently is different. Some people see far into the future. Some people just look at it as, oh, it's a better way to Google and everything in between. And so I think that this conversation is much needed, and with your expertise, I'm hoping we can enlighten our listeners. Let's get started with what is the definition of AI in your eyes. And how do we help people use it in the most effective way? I guess?
Al Kushner 2:24
Well, AI is standing for artificial intelligence, and using it best is to get started. I mean, just to play around. I think the most popular AI technology is chat GPT, which I think a lot of people are, know most of it, and I find that it's a good starting point, you know, to explore and how it can benefit you. For example, if you wanted to create content, when it comes to content, and particularly on LinkedIn, it's king. And I created a book called The AI and LinkedIn advantage by using platforms like, let's say, chat GPT to create content, so you become a thought leader on the platform, which is what you're going to do to get recognized and beat the competition, as you say when you're on using LinkedIn.
Marisa Huston 3:08
It's funny you mentioned chat GPT, because I feel like chat GPT is like one of the first to market, as they say. And it kind of reminds me of zoom when we started zooming during the covid days. Zoom took the market. There were other platforms already available that were established, and yet nobody heard about them, and everybody started using Zoom, and that became the go to thing. And so I feel like chat GPT is that way. But I also feel like many people don't even recognize that there are so many options. You know, there's a perplexity. There's the Microsoft version, there's Gemini, which is the Google version. And people tend to just gravitate to what they are used to using. So chat, GPT is one of the ones that is very popular. Is there a reason why somebody would use one over the other?
Al Kushner 3:54
Well, every type of platform has advantages. For example, you mentioned complexity, and that has a very good platform in terms of doing the research. It can get excerpts from a certain information that's a little more intensive than chat GPT, and I use it, for example, on my smartphone, I have the app for perplexity, and it's really great, because for me, compared to a Google search, this gives me the answers I'm looking for without all the ads and the garbage that's associated with, let's say, doing a Google search, you know, you'll find things are popping up that are irrelevant to what you're talking about, and perplexity gets right to the point without the ads, which is great. And then if you need to get a particular information, and you find information, you can click on it, it'll send it directly to your email, which is great, so you have it available as a reference point later on. And I use it a lot in my research was it really gives me the most latest, up to date information that's available, that's currently trending. And again, that's just one type of platform, and Google has its own AI technology, so everything is different. But. Learning and what you're focusing on?
Marisa Huston 5:01
Yeah, of course, there's different purposes for using AI, and I think the two most popular that I see is research and also writing. So a lot of us feel uncomfortable expressing ourselves in a professional manner, and it's just helpful to be able to go in there and say, Look, this is what I want to say. Can you help me say it in such a way that I get my point across in a better way. And I think those two things are super helpful for people, but I also find that there's some backlash that I hear, especially on LinkedIn, where people scrutinize and say, This is so AI, meaning they took it from AI and they just posted here, and it looks it and it feels it, and why can't people just speak normally anymore? And so there's some people that are very critical, but at the same time, you know, it's a lot of people just wouldn't have posted because they didn't understand how to express themselves. And it's freeing them. It's allowing them to share the information that they've been wanting to share and give them confidence, and it also teaches us how to communicate better. What do you feel are like the most essential elements of AI and how we should be using them in our daily lives and professionally as well? Well, when
Al Kushner 6:09
it comes to AI and LinkedIn, I find that content is king. For example, I have several newsletters that I send out every week, and I help use AI to help give me ideas to create content that is trending. What are hot points? So I have a newsletter, let's say for accountants, one for attorneys, one for financial planners, and every newsletter is customized for that industry. I tell AI to create topics that are pain points for these particular professions, and it gives me great ideas that I even thought about, but what's really important and critical, and then I send out the newsletter, and these are well received by the people who forget it. And what's interesting is that LinkedIn newsletter has such a high authority that most of the time it gets past those spam box or spam filters and right into the inbox of the individual, not just online, but offline. So that kind of reach is just tremendous, thanks to the technology that's available.
Marisa Huston 7:03
Yeah, and I think that people also forget that AI is really a tool, meaning it doesn't necessarily replace your knowledge. So if you are an expert in a particular area, you can use it and still guide it, because it likely doesn't think the way you do. And you know there are certain areas or elements of the conversation that you want to have that it wouldn't necessarily assume. And so then you use it and say, Okay, well, I know this XYZ. And I'm wondering, could you help me enhance this? I think that AI really is like a buddy, like just a resource to have to help you drive your message across in a more effective way. So how then do we use it? Like, if you were to give some advice to our listeners, to say, look, AI is going to change, and it's going to continue to change it for many, many years to come, and what we know of it today is going to be different. Like, how do we get started? What are some of the things we should be thinking about now?
Al Kushner 7:59
Well, especially when it comes to LinkedIn, looking at your profile is crucial for any type of engagement, so I use AI technology to help analyze profiles and to make suggestions as far as what really works. So example, when you're looking at a profile and you got an image, and the first thing you do is you get a judge an image. So you want to get the most professional headshot available that would be preferably recent. And then you can use the AI to create the banner behind your image itself, which is like the billboard, to demonstrate your capability. Let's say you're an accountant and you want to showcase your certain expertise. Maybe you're good with tax returns, maybe you're good with audits, and you can do that with like Canva, for example. May have AI technology that you can tell it that you're looking for a billboard based on these certain attributes, and it'll create one for you, which is great, and that's going to help improve your ability to be, you know, sound on LinkedIn, because LinkedIn is also a search engine. People don't think about it, but you want to search for certain service provider, or you want to search for potential employees, they're going to use LinkedIn. They're going to go by keywords. You know, AI can help you develop certain keywords that can help you get found by these potential employers so or potential providers who want to use your services. These things are available that could really make a difference of you getting noticed or getting passed on to someone else. So that's why AI does have a lot of abilities to create keywords or content for a newsletter, or, let's say you're part of the groups on LinkedIn. You want to create content that's going to be well for the people who are on it. I use it, for example, to create scripts for videos, because videos are very popular on LinkedIn, and with the help of AI, it helps me create ideas for scripts that are well received or what's trending, and that's something that will help higher engagement and will help you get noticed among the noise that's out there.
Marisa Huston 9:47
As I was listening to you explain that, I think that a lot of people get intimidated a bit by AI because of the prompts. They're not really sure how to get AI to give them what they need, because they don't really know what. To say exactly, a lot of times you're entering things that make sense to you, and then AI spits something out, and it wasn't what you thought. And particularly if it's like an image you're looking for, it's almost like you have to spend so much time telling it, no, that's not what I meant. Can you recreate this? Can you do this? And so are there any tips and tricks that you might be able to share with us that help the prompt process so that it's easier to tell AI exactly what we're looking for.
Al Kushner 10:25
Depending on the platform you're using you can just tell it to create 10 different prompts based on a certain thing you're looking for. So if you want to create a conversation with someone and you want it to be transcribed, you can have the AI do that. A lot of it is trial and error. Prompt. Engineering is a growing field, and of course, there's a very big demand for it, and the reason why is that it's pretty much intense in terms of giving instructions, and sometimes the more specific you get, the more that the AI can help to get you the answer you're looking for. So it is a process, but I think once you develop a skill set with that, it'll be much easier to give it information and get what you're looking for.
Marisa Huston 11:06
I think examples are very powerful. Could you share some examples of how professionals have transformed their LinkedIn presence and garnered more engagement using AI?
Al Kushner 11:18
Well, I worked with a client who was looking to connect with financial planners and estate planners for their particular services, and they were focusing on developing strategy for compliance. So what we did was created a profile that would resonate well with these individuals and make it so that it makes it compelling enough for them to want to connect with that person. So we looked at the about page and developed a strategy to make it compelling bullet points. We also developed newsletter articles that would resonate well with this particular industry. And we found that even the video was created as well, which repost the groups have achieved tremendous interest that were never done before, because a lot of times the text gets lost. But an actual video works tremendous. And we actually use an AI avatar in order to create the video which is very lifelike, very real, and give it the voice which was really human, like, I mean, you really couldn't tell the difference, plus underneath it. It created the subtitles and such, which is important when you do videos, and also keep the videos anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds. That's a sweet spot. And we found that to be very much, getting a lot of hits, a lot of interest on it, and even viral. My client was amazed that that was available the technology. He didn't actually have to do it. He had like a spokesperson speak on behalf of his company that was aI generated, and it's tremendous that the real life and lifelike it was that he got sent a lot of interest and clients as a result of the combination videos and the newsletters. So that's a clear example of how it can help make a business become noticed and become a thought leader in their industry.
Marisa Huston 13:02
Yeah, and I think it's only going to get more advanced, obviously, as the years pass, and quicker than we would ever expect. That being said, I think a lot of people are commenting, or at least the comments that I'm hearing about, AI is that they're concerned that authenticity will be compromised. How do we balance being efficient and authentic so we don't come across as salesy or different from what we should and utilize AI more as a tool, rather than making it seem like we're trying to manipulate people or present something that we aren't.
Al Kushner 13:37
The key thing is, when you presenting, let's say, in this example, his videos were all educational. Nothing about sales at all. Period. It's about give, give, give, and then at the end, you just do your pitch. And we find people are very receptive to that, because they're getting so much value from it that they feel inclined to accept the offer. And most people doing the opposite, they're just pitching and slapping people. And you think that that's the key to getting sales. It's not. And they use AI technology to do that, and it falls flat. It's almost embarrassing. People reach out to me, and as soon as I connect with them, they pitch, slap me, and I'm like, what you're immediately delete them. And just funny, because it's just they use the AI technology to think that's the way they're going to connect with people. If you were like in a meeting, for example, on a trade show you per person, try to sell them the first time you meet with them. I mean, but they do it online. They think it's okay, and that's really where they're trying to use the AI technology. They think it's going to give an advantage that way, and it's not. But if you teach AI to educate people about certain topics that could be pain points that they need help with, and that's how you're gonna win them over. That's the difference.
Marisa Huston 14:46
Yeah, I'm so glad that you mentioned that, because I have the same problem, only I don't even connect with them first. They already pitch me when they reach out. It's like the very first thing they do is they get on my private message area and. Say, I have this product, and you know, you need to call me because I want to sell it to you and this and that or the other. And I'm reading this going, really, I mean, I don't even know you. You don't know me, and the very first thing you want to do is sell me your product. Is that your idea of connecting? I mean, it just surprises me to this day that people do that, and I'm just like, you, I block them, and it's over. It's like, that first impression is already a bad one, because if that's what they do in the beginning, without even getting to know you, I can't even imagine how they would treat you otherwise. So yeah, I think that it's how you use the tool and how you treat people. And again, it's going back to the rule treat others the way they want to be treated and be respectful. If you don't feel comfortable with something being done to you, why would you do it to them? It doesn't make any sense,
Al Kushner 15:44
Exactly. So whenever you want to do any kind of outreach, and this is assuming, once your profile is optimized, and you want to connect with someone who maybe is an influencer, well the first thing you want to do is not correct, connect with them directly. You want to go and find out when they're posting and then when they post. You want to try to be the first few minutes to be on top of the post, so you want to reply to them and don't say things like, thanks for sharing stuff no. You want to do is take their information, and a lot of times you can use it, put it into an AI, you know, chat and compliment the person on or give something that they didn't address in their particular post, and then maybe ask a question or two. And a lot of times the influencer will reply back, you know, and thank them for asking it. And sometimes they will make that particular post even viral as a result of their actions. So, and that's how you're going to get noticed. And then at that point, if they like what you said, they sometimes feel indebted to you, and may decide to accept your connection. And that's the point when you go ahead and connect with someone, and most likely, you'll get accepted. That's really the best approach. And then, of course, once you connect with them, simply just say, Thanks for connecting. And if you have something to offer of value, like I do most of the time, I have a an optimization profile checklist for LinkedIn. I share it with them and let them know that's available for free, no charge. And they appreciate that. And lot of times it's important to give more than you receive.
Marisa Huston 17:01
Absolutely agree, and it's funny how some people just haven't gotten a memo. I don't understand why, but that's, I think, why we're having this conversation. Because if people are listening to us today, they'll probably pick up a few nuggets and say, Yeah, you know, I never really thought of that. I think that a lot of times people are just not aware. They just don't see themselves doing it. They think it's normal to do those things because they're taught to sell that way. We're in LinkedIn. We're here to do business. So people understand, but they don't really get the fact that it's really all about relationships first.
Al Kushner 17:34
Yeah, and that's why I teach people how to approach and how to develop relationships, and when they take things that I show them they are shocked and surprised how much business they get afterwards, as a result of optimizing the profile, as a result of doing outreach strategically. And that's something that really makes a difference. In my book, I talk about that, and that's something that people value the most, is honest information and resources they can rely on that are trustworthy, that I've used over the years that worked so well, that really made a difference. And I find that, you know, you just really got to give value to whoever you're connecting with, and that's really the key to success on LinkedIn.
Marisa Huston 18:09
Agreed. I think one of the challenges, though, that we deal with today Al is over exposure to information, meaning there is no shortage of information, like, if I want to learn about something. There's a million resources out there. So many people are talking about it. In fact, if something is trending, everyone's talking about it. And so how do you stand out from the noise? How do you get people to pay attention when they're just so overwhelmed by everything that they're hearing on a daily basis?
Al Kushner 18:39
Very easy. You write a book. You become an instant authority right then and there, because that's really what makes a difference. You want to become a thought leader. You write a book and don't tell me you don't have time to do it, because I took my time to do it. And this wasn't my first book, okay? This is like, literally my 10th book. So the fact is, is that you want to showcase your talent, you want to make a difference. This is how you have to set yourself in the proper competition, because I got a lot of competition, right? A lot of people are so called, LinkedIn strategists, LinkedIn experts, okay, none of the most of these people don't even have a book begin with, okay? And when I reach out to event planners, they are interested in talking to me because I have a book, I'm an authority, okay? And as a result, it gives me the ability to create an awareness through whether it's the event planners or when I post on LinkedIn, that people reach out to me because they know and trust me, and that really makes a difference. So if you want to make a difference, that's the ultimate way of doing it. Next thing, of course, is having a podcast. You know that would be next best thing, but ideally, having both would be tremendous in terms of your ability to stand above the ground is you might say,
Marisa Huston 19:44
I think what I love so much about books and podcasts is that you can really go deep. I think that we all look for shortcuts. People feel like, okay, I'm just going to do really quick posts every day, and they don't really see any results. But at the same time, they feel like they have to keep doing it. Then people see hundreds of those every day, and they start to tune out because they're like, I can't take this anymore. It's too much information. But the nice thing about a podcast or a book is the person who's either listening or reading the content, they usually are very interested in the topic, and they want to set aside some time to learn as much as they can about it, so you have more of a captive audience, and you're able to really dig deep into the topic at hand.
Al Kushner 20:26
Absolutely, those are things to establish yourself as a thought leader. And once you do that, you'll find that you'll get a lot more business and a lot more trust for the people, whoever you're connecting with.
Marisa Huston 20:37
So, what's the future of AI Al, what can we expect to see in the next few years?
Al Kushner 20:42
Well, I see it's definitely here to stay. It's not going to go away. I think the typical search engine you see right now, like Google and Microsoft or whatever is currently trending Firefox, I don't think they'll be around much longer, because AI can get you to the same information without all the garbage associated with which include the ads and the things that are relevant to what you're looking for, like with complexity. For example, they have now their own search engine, which is tremendous, and if you get access to it, I recommend checking it out, because it really gives you information without all the ads or anything associated with it. It's really amazing and really in depth, you might say that's important. You want to have information that's accurate, that's current, that's trending and relevant to what you're looking for. It makes a difference. I'd recommend checking that out. I see the future, and looks definitely bright for AI.
Marisa Huston 21:35
I feel like a lot of the information that we've been given for so long is based on a person's ability to get on the front page, whether they're paying for ads or they're doing it organically. Their effort is really what resulted in them getting the attention that they were looking for. Whereas with AI, I feel like it gathers all the information, looks at a lot of different resources, and puts it all together, and gives you a really big picture perspective of the things you need to think about without it being tied to one particular source. And I really like that, because I feel like everybody has a voice. AI represents a lot of information that's out there, rather than focusing on just one company that has the ability to pay for ads and get all the attention.
Al Kushner 22:21
Yeah, and I think people are getting tired of it. You know, they're getting burnt down when they're doing searches and they're not really finding what they're looking for. If they are, it's just frustrating because they got to go through so many ads just to get to the right answer. And even then, an answer may not be ideal, where AI can do everything for you. AI could do things like make reservations for you, for airplanes. Just think about it. It can use its own AI generated voice and reach out and connect with retailers looking for the latest LuBu doll for your child. Think about it. The technology is here already, and that can save you a lot of time and a lot of heartache, especially if you want to have that latest LuBu doll. Let AI help you find a store that has that in stock, and guess what? Purchase it for you on your behalf. Now, what could be better than that? That's where I see the future of AI really making things much easier for people, as you could see with nowadays, with cars being driven a lot of times they're using AI technology nowadays, self driving cars or not going anywhere, they're going to be around. And I think AI is going to make a big difference. I think in the medical field, it's already making a difference, particularly when it comes to processing claims. AI is being used to deny claims, but you can also use AI to appeal claims as well, and that can make a little difference, particularly with someone maybe in a fixed income and don't know what to do, and all of a sudden they get a large hospital bill and they want to fight it, but they don't know how to do it, or they can turn to AI technology help appeal that particular decision, and sometimes that can make a difference in getting the results are looking for. So just think about what the potential is.
Marisa Huston 23:56
Yeah, it's amazing. It's hard to even think about where it's going to go and what it's going to be capable of doing, because we're in the infancy of this whole process. So how do people get started? What's the first step if they really want to start diving into using AI on a daily basis to help them with their businesses and life in general? What do you recommend they do?
Al Kushner 24:15
Well, certainly, in my book, will get them in the right direction, particularly for LinkedIn, if they want to get noticed and they want to become a thought leader. My book is a great resource to help them to improve their profile, and also to help how to work with engagement with other businesses, to connect with people the right way, without seeming spammy or salesy. I think that's important. I have a website, linkvantage.com, that people could check out. I have a free ebook also, and how to optimize your profile and go to the website and no email required, because I don't spam people with emails. I let people decide for themselves. If they find the value, reach out to me, and I'm happy to help them. And also on LinkedIn too. Check out my profile on LinkedIn. Follow me over there. I always have a lot of tips and tricks and how to use LinkedIn effect. Actively how to use AI technology to make you noticed on the platform. So happy to help in those ways.
Marisa Huston 25:06
That's wonderful. And I'm definitely going to put all of this in the show notes for our listeners, so that they can easily access all of the links and get the information that they need. Al, I can't thank you enough for being here. I learned so much, and I feel like this is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. You know, it's just the beginning of something that is going to be revolutionary in our lives. And I think people need to really start to understand and and feel comfortable with using AI, because it's here to stay
Al Kushner 25:34
Certainly is. And I say the sooner that you get started, don't procrastinate, because a lot of people do otherwise, you'll get left behind. So start now. You know, just go ahead and begin the process of getting knowledge, because that's really going to make a difference of you becoming, you know, thought leader in your industry is to get started now and don't wait, because your competition certainly is not going to wait, and they're going to be right ahead of you. And when I came to my book, I looked at what's out in the marketplace, AI and LinkedIn together, and guess what? Nothing existed. I jumped at the chance because I know somebody else is going to write a book after me, but guess what, I'm going to be the first one there, and that's going to make a difference. And when you want to become a leader in the industry, sometimes you got to take risk. And for me, it was all about looking at the opportunity and jumping on it when it's available and when it comes to AI, do it now. Don't procrastinate. Get started.
Marisa Huston 26:25
I agree, and I will leave it at this. I believe that the best way to get started is with one chapter. Get your book, read a chapter, and then read another one. Because I think a lot of times people get turned off to do something because anytime you ask them to do something new, it's like overwhelming. Our lives are so busy already, but if you just look at it in terms of you're learning a little bit every day, until you understand the big picture, then it doesn't feel so overwhelming, and you take a step forward. And that's really key. Just go out there, get started. And I'm just glad that you have resources, a book all the information out there for people to access so that they can start to really understand how to use it effectively for business and for their personal needs. And I appreciate it again. Al. Thank you for being here.
Al Kushner 27:13
You're welcome. And the book is also available in audio version, because we know we love listening to audio. So check it out on Spotify or audible, or wherever you find your fine audio books available.
Marisa Huston 27:23
And what is the name of the book? Al.
Al Kushner 27:25
It's called The AI LinkedIn Advantage.
Marisa Huston 27:27
Okay, The AI LinkedIn Advantage. Okay, everybody check that out and get started. Thank you again. Al, for being here.
Al Kushner 27:33
Thank you, Marisa. Have a good one.
Marisa Huston 27:35
You too.
Outro 27:36
That's a wrap for this episode of live Blissed out. Thanks to Al Kushner for joining us and thanks for listening. If you have a question or comment for a future episode, all you have to do is go to www.speakpike.com/LBOVM or click the link in the show notes to leave a brief audio message. If you find value in our show, please visit www.liveblissedout.com to reach out, subscribe and share on social media. This show is made possible through listeners like you. Thank you. So long for now and remember to keep moving forward!