#660 The LinkedIn Advantage: Build Authority & Unlock Business Growth with Al Kushner

What if your next big opportunity was already waiting for you—on LinkedIn?

In this powerful episode of Talking with the Experts, host Rose Davidson sits down with LinkedIn strategist Al Kushner to explore how professionals and business owners can use LinkedIn to build authority, create visibility, and unlock real growth. Al reveals how to transform your profile into a client-attracting magnet, turn casual connections into meaningful relationships, and share content that positions you as a trusted expert in your field.

You’ll learn why consistency, clarity, and authenticity are the keys to LinkedIn success—and how small strategic changes can lead to major business results. Whether you’re new to the platform or ready to elevate your strategy, this episode will help you turn LinkedIn from a networking site into a visibility powerhouse.

Tune in and start making LinkedIn work smarter for your goals.

🔗 CONNECT WITH AL

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-kushner/

Website: https://www.LinkedVantage.com

📌 PROMOTION: https://www.amazon.com/I-Linkedin-Advantage-Al-Kushner/dp/1632273500/

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Transcript

Intro | 00:00
Business insights on talking with the experts. Hosted by Rose Davidson. 

 Rose | 00:10
Welcome to Talking With The Experts. I'm Rose Davidson, podcast host and indie... I am helping entrepreneurs amplify their voices. And today we're diving into Al Kushner's topic on the LinkedIn advantage of building authority and unlocking growth. And Al is... A LinkedIn expert who helps professionals and businesses transform their connections, engagement and growth. With extensive experience working with entrepreneurs, business leaders and marketers, Al is known for simplifying LinkedIn strategies into actionable steps that drive meaningful results. He excels in creating standout profiles, building genuine connections and crafting impactful content that enhances visibility and authority. His innovative approach has empowered countless professionals to use LinkedIn as a powerful tool to scale their businesses and achieve their goals. He's passionate about fostering growth and he shares practical insights that inspire confidence and delivers measurable success. Al, it's such a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for joining me here on Talking With The Experts. 

 Al | 01:18
Thank you, Rose. Thanks for the opportunity. 

 Rose | 01:21
Yeah, tell me a little bit about why you've chosen LinkedIn as your go-to platform. 

 Al | 01:27
Well, I've been on the platform for over two decades. So I think, you know, you've been on there for quite a while. It's kind of hard to go someplace else. 
 So, but in addition to that, I mean, it's just a, the ideal platform for business to business. I mean, this is really a great way to connect with people and it's certainly come a long way since the inception. 
 So I'm really impressed in that right now is over a billion users, I believe. So it's quite grown. 

 Rose | 01:56
Yeah, I started using it some years ago and I'm an off and on user, although I was locked out of Facebook for six weeks off and on. So I went to LinkedIn and I found that it, helps With my profile, I look better than Facebook. Facebook's such a noisy place. 

 Al | 02:15
Yeah, it is. And undisciplined, to say the least. And what I like about LinkedIn is that they've taken a lot of measures to, you know, find people who are on there to be authentic. And they have verifications now that are required in order even to, you know, do business on the platform and that's really helpful. To get rid of the people who are the spammers and the fakes, you might say. 

 Rose | 02:41
I get a lot of those, especially being a podcaster, you get a lot of the people, you know, can I help you grow your channel? Can I, you know, you're doing this wrong and doing that wrong. And it's really quite annoying when they, you know, they followed me and they expect me to follow them back. But I'm not looking for people who are, you know, spammy in the inbox. 

 Al | 03:01
Yeah, we call them pitch slapping. 

 Rose | 03:04
Thank you. That is a great terminology like that. 
 So most of us who may be not so familiar with LinkedIn, why should we choose that as our business platform? 

 Al | 03:22
I think if you are trying to connect with people who are business owners, there's no other better platform that I found that gives you that reach and that ability to connect with people who are your target audience. I mean, that's simply put. 
 You know, you can find captains of industry for yourself. If you're looking for guests on your program, I mean, LinkedIn is a great goldmine to find potential guests to be on your podcast. 
 So there's really no other platform that gives you that range of connections. I mean, think about it. You're in Australia. I'm in America. Who knew connections? But thanks to LinkedIn, you know, guess what? You have worldwide reach and that's really impressive. 

 Rose | 04:03
Yeah, it is. And, you know, I've, found that I mean I've got a business page on Facebook and it gets no interaction whatsoever but I'm finding if I just post once or twice a day on LinkedIn I'm getting at least you know reactions and comments and so forth and but you've got to be engaging too with what you what you're posting you can't just post you know your favorite dog every day or something you've got to have some context to it I think. 

 Al | 04:30
Absolutely. And the post should never be self-serving. 
 You know, always give more than you receive. And that's how you'll be able to grow on LinkedIn. 

 Rose | 04:43
Highlights our uniqueness and you know attracts those right opportunities. 

 Al | 04:48
Well, the first thing, I mean, you have to look at is certain factors. One, start with your profile picture. Make sure it's current, updated. Headshot is a professional one is ideal. You want to look at your background image to kind of convey what you're trying to be on the platform. If you're looking for jobs, maybe you can put that in your banner in the back. Or if you're looking for potential guests on your program, that could be featured as well. Look at your title that you have and a lot of times people use LinkedIn as a search engine so they'll look for certain keywords and you want to make sure that your title has certain keywords that will attract your particular target audience. 
 So that right off the bat is a good starting point. 

 Rose | 05:33
And what else can we do? I mean, you know, as far as, Our description and all of that is a concern. I've changed mine so many times recently just because I've changed my title because it didn't really reflect what I was doing. 
 So I've changed my description as well. So how do we align the two? 
 So we're getting all those keywords that people are searching for. 

 Al | 05:57
Well, important to make sure it's all current to your profile because, you know, people change jobs or other professions and you want to make sure that it's current and relevant to what you're looking for. You want to include, if you create content, include that as part of your profile. Ideally, you want to create articles that showcases you as a thought leader. I send out newsletters once a week, so that really is helpful. If you're part of any groups on LinkedIn, it's a great opportunity to network and connect. I'm with over two dozen different groups on LinkedIn and I post three times a week on those groups. And that really helps to strengthen yourself as a thought leader. 

 Rose | 06:39
Yeah, I'm a member of a lot of groups too and I always forget to post in those and I'm thinking maybe I'll change my strategy a little bit and do the, yeah, I've got a newsletter that I send out monthly just because with the podcast I haven't got time to do it on a weekly basis, but I think monthly is all right as well. 

 Al | 06:58
It just depends. But again, with AI technology, you'd be quite surprised how that can help to streamline that process. Thinking of ideas for articles is the only reason why you can't do it once a week. And that's actually going to give you a lot more traction on LinkedIn. Because compared to monthly, you know, that really makes a difference. In addition to your profile, you should have things like recommendations, which many people lack. And that is certainly important because it's a third-party endorsement. 
 You know, and it says who you are. So I think that should be, be more proactive with that. We'll make a big deal in helping you grow your, LinkedIn profile. 

 Rose | 07:37
Yeah, how do we go about asking for those recommendations? Because a lot of people are a little bit shy in doing that. I know I am. 

 Al | 07:45
It's very simple. For example, at the end of this program, you're going to get a recommendation from me whether you like it or not. Okay? What I'm going to do is I'm going to make it easy for you. What I'll do is I'll provide a suggested recommendation which you can revise. And if you like it, I'll go ahead and post it. And I'll even make one for myself to make it easier for you. 
 So you see, you make it easy for the individual to give you a recommendation by giving them some, you know, Words that may help them, you know, a couple of kind words. People don't have time to do recommendations, but if they're proactive, you know, make it easier for them, give them information that they'll agree with, and that's helpful. And that's really how it becomes much easier. And if you do it on a regular basis, You'll find that you'll grow your testimonials by leaps and bounds and that's going to be helpful because not only is it great on LinkedIn showing you are a third party endorsed, but you can use it on your website too. Take that information and share that quote on your website and with a direct link back to LinkedIn so they know it's a real person. Just think about it, all the testimonies you see on websites, they can be fake, you don't know if they're real. But if you have it, a direct quote and a link right to LinkedIn, well, that could make a difference in you getting trustworthiness. 

 Rose | 08:56
Great idea. On my podcast website, I've got Apple... Testimonials on there. 
 So I've got a, an AI that just puts all the Apple testimonials there, but that's a great idea about doing it with a LinkedIn link. I'm not going to change that and add that to my site. Thank you for that recommendation. That's really great. You're welcome. Now, how can we discover more techniques to use to build those meaningful connections? 
 I mean, it's all right to connect to people and to ask them to follow you or do whatever, but how can we make those connections into lasting relationships and business success? 

 Al | 09:40
Well, I do offer a free checklist, a profile optimization checklist that you can access through my website, linkedadvantage.com/audit. And that will give you about 47 different tips that I use how to optimize your profile. And what's great about it is that I don't need your email address. All you need to do is just go ahead and you can click on the link and you get the PDF file. 
 You know, it's very user-friendly. And if you want more tips, you follow me on LinkedIn. I have a newsletter that goes out each week, talks about all the latest changes in the algorithms on LinkedIn and some tips that I use to help people to grow their business on LinkedIn. 
 So happy to share. 

 Rose | 10:18
And I love it too, because a lot of my podcast guests, I ask for a connection request or I send them a connection request, because I think if they're going to come on the podcast and share their expertise, I want to follow them and find out more about what they do and, you know, get in their newsletters and find out their posts and things so that I can engage and boost my credibility on the platform. 

 Al | 10:43
Yeah, it's definitely helpful. 

 Rose | 10:46
So how can we gain practical content strategies that engage our audience and boost our visibility? How can we improve it? 

 Al | 10:55
Well, what you want to do is create value to whoever you're connecting with. For example, you're doing it with your newsletter, and that's a great starting point, and it helps establish you as a thought leader. You, for example, have a podcast. I know you have several hundred episodes. 
 Well, imagine just taking those episodes and creating an audiogram from those episodes and then posting it into a group. Guess what? Now you'll get a lot more traction, a lot more people to listen to your podcast who never even were known about it before using that particular technique. And what's good about it is that the LinkedIn algorithm likes that. They like it a lot. 
 So if you do that, you'll find to be, get a much greater reach and more connections and, build, yourself as a thought leader. 

 Rose | 11:42
Great idea, Titi. You're full of great ideas this morning, Al. Thank you so much. I'm going to go and change my thing now after we have this interview. 

 Al | 11:51
Okay, awesome. Glad to help. 

 Rose | 11:55
So I guess, you know, you've been doing this for quite a while, I take it. So... 
 You know, what can we do as business owners or business leaders to make us stand out from the noise? 

 Al | 12:09
Very simple. Number one is optimize your profile. 
 So don't do any outreach until you get that all ideal and that includes, you know, not just recommendations but any work you've done with nonprofits, any volunteer work, anything you can share. Obviously, articles are going to be helpful. If you have videos, they love videos on LinkedIn, the algorithm likes it a lot and I think you can create videos. Ideally, 30 seconds to 90 seconds is kind of a sweet spot for videos and you can post it on your profile. You can create a do you have a a business page on LinkedIn as well or just I Okay, so then you can use that as a way to outreach and connect with people. 

 Rose | 12:44
Do I have three. 

 Al | 12:52
I believe you can get up to 250 each month is invites. So that's definitely take advantage of that because that'll help to grow your awareness with other individuals who may not know what you have. I think joining groups, you have some groups right now but maybe being proactive with more groups that could be helpful. Because that helps you when you want to connect with someone. They may not know you, but they may be part of the group you're in, and that may help you to make that connection more valuable to them. 
 So that's just right off the top right there is a good starting point. 

 Rose | 13:28
Yeah, they're really great tips. Thank you for sharing. 
 You know, it's a lot of times we've seen posts on LinkedIn that aren't bringing value to their audience. How can we get away from doing that with ourselves? To me bringing value to somebody is, Part of what I do. I don't want to make I mean, I do have brag posts and things on there like this morning. I put one up there. But to me. It's a Bringing value to others and sharing the stuff that I've created to them so that they can be helped along the way. 
 So how can we as business owners bring more value in the posts that we create and post? 

 Al | 14:15
Well, I would say is to whoever you're connecting with, follow these individuals and you'll be notified when they post and maybe comment on their post would be definitely beneficial because most of the time when people post, they don't get much traction at all. So if you are actually responding to the post, they may appreciate that and that helps you to grow as part of the relationships you want to establish. And I think that's important. There are influencers on LinkedIn that you can follow and post as well. 
 So these are all opportunities where you can grow by making your time more effective by focusing on what counts the most. So for me, I've always responded to influencers. I know exactly when they post and I try to post within five or ten minutes, ideally, because they may have hundreds of followers who may respond to their post afterwards. And I'll pretty much be on the top, which is great because that'll give me exposure. Where normally I would not have gotten because I'm not an influencer yet, but I think it's great when you do respond to an influencer, what I try to use is AI technology to kind of analyze what they say and construct in a way that will help enhance their particular post and then even ask a question or two. And you know something? It gets a lot of response and a lot of times the influencer may respond to me and thank me for suggesting whatever They wanted to help their post. 
 So that's a win-win situation, I think. 

 Rose | 15:47
Absolutely. I posted on something that someone has said and it got 11,000 impressions. And I thought, wow, that's absolutely amazing. 

 Al | 15:57
Yeah, it's incredible. And if you can get on the top you know, within the top, I don't know, three or four posts, I mean, then you'll get a lot more exposure that way. And that's a way you can do that is by when you look at their profile, you can ring the bell on the profile and it indicates you when they post. 
 And then you'll be getting a notification, you know, as soon as there was, let's say, next day they post at 8 a.m., you know exactly when they're posting. And then you reply to that post, hopefully immediately. 
 And then you'll be on the top. And when all the followers get notified, they'll see your response to that individual post and you will get a lot of that traction and possibly followers as a result of that action. 
 So that's a good thing. 

 Rose | 16:38
Wonderful. I've never seen the bell, so I'm going to go and have a search of that. Yes. 
 So it's a bit like the bell in YouTube, I think. Hiking. 

 Al | 16:48
Yeah, it's on your profile picture. It's to the right of the profile picture that you are, let's say, connecting with. If you look at the picture, there's a bell, and they give you three different options available if you want to follow them all the time, which I usually do. If they're an influencer, then you'll get notified immediately every time they post. And for me, it's made a big difference in me getting a lot more traction than any type of technique that I've used in the past. 

 Rose | 17:14
Yeah, I love, I'm following Steve Bartlett at the moment and I so love his posts and I just love what he does. I think he's an amazing human.

 
 Al | 17:23
Yeah, he is. He's a great influencer. And a lot of people on LinkedIn, you know, if they have a sizable following, could be a good opportunity to connect. And that could be, you know, make a difference in you growing tremendously on the platform. 

 Rose | 17:37
Do you have any other hints and suggestions that we could do to improve our profiles and, you know, get more people to take notice of what we're doing? 

 Al | 17:48
I do, but I don't think we have enough time on this show to go over everything, though, do we? So we can kind of take a look at the top two or three things to go with and then, you know. You need more? Follow my newsletter, but let me know if any specific things you want to me to address and I'll happy to, Give you my. Number one or two suggestion. 

 Rose | 18:08
Yeah, I guess the banner is really important. And you touched on that earlier. What things should we really be including? Because, you know, sometimes they can be a little bit messy and some don't really give a lot of information. 
 So what are the sort of top three things we should be including? 

 Al | 18:25
On the banner, you can use a Canva, I believe, which allows you to use images That can convey, you know, your thoughts. And I find that images seem to be more effective than actual words because it's kind of real tiny to see for the most part. 
 So if you have done, have you done any speaking at events, public speaking? 

 Rose | 18:46
No, not for a long time. 

 Al | 18:48
Okay, all right. Well, you may want to showcase any type of media that you may have been on, for example. Maybe you've been on a guest on our talk show, for example. You can showcase that. 
 Something that will identify you as someone who is like a third-party endorsement, that could be a great thing. Maybe you won an award, you can showcase that. But I think that's important to use because it really enhances your profile and makes you a little more... Trustworthy, I would say, and that's important. 
 So my particular profile, since I use Sales Navigator, which is a premium version of LinkedIn, they give me up to five slides, and I use every slide that's on there, and it slides every few seconds, which is great. I'm not sure if you notice those things, but that really helps in terms of establishing yourself with credible sources. And I use for my media engagements that I've had before, And it really makes a difference. 
 So definitely take advantage of the banner. Don't leave it blank. Try to fill it with something that could be of value to whoever you want to connect with. 

 Rose | 19:51
Yeah, great idea. Yeah, a lot of it. But I find that the platforms outside of the normal LinkedIn, like Sales Navigator and Premium, are quite expensive for, you know, to me, I didn't find a lot of difference in... In reach for using them. Is there some way that we can navigate around that? 

 Al | 20:14
Well, it's an investment, let's say. And I guess depending on, you know, your what you're looking to accomplish. 
 You know, I work with a lot of accountants and financial planners and attorneys. And for them, you know, it's a no brainer because they want to connect with business owners. And that particular feature allows you to find business owners within a certain zip code area or within a certain country or occupation. And there's no better way to connect with someone. A lot of times you try to reach them by email and it's almost impossible to reach someone because it gets the spam filters. But on LinkedIn, it gets their attention because if they're active, and that's a good thing about it because LinkedIn Navigator shows you who's active on LinkedIn. 
 So if they're active, then you know there's an opportunity you can get a reply. And that's a good thing because then you can reach out to the individual and, you know, try to connect with that person. And that can make a difference of you maybe getting, you know, the results you're looking for. I find that to be. Ideal because I found emails to be very challenging to say the least, getting them on the phone almost impossible. But if they're active on LinkedIn, there's a possibility. And that one sale you make from that connection could pay for the whole LinkedIn for the whole year, the sales navigator. 
 So it just depends on what your goals are. But for me, it was it's invaluable service if you know how to use it, of course. 

 Rose | 21:42
Very true. Very true. If you want to find out more about Al, you can find him on his LinkedIn, obviously, at al-kushner. And you can find him on his website at linkedadvantage.com. And you have something that you'd like to share with us today on your website. 

 Al | 21:59
Well, yeah, if you go to linkvantage.com/audit, you can get my profile optimization checklist. And you have access to that and I don't need your email to get it. 
 So, which is great. So reach out and go to the website. And if you want, you can follow me on LinkedIn. Of course, my book is available and you can find it on Spotify and audible is an audio book version. 
 So I think that's a good way as a resource. So yeah. And happy to help. The listeners get better optimization on LinkedIn. 

 Rose | 22:32
Tell me about your book, Al. 

 Al | 22:35
It's called the AI LinkedIn Advantage. I'm not sure you can see it over there, but it released a couple of months ago and it really helps to utilize LinkedIn and AI technology to help improve your game. And what I like about it helps you create articles. It helps you to enhance your profile. It helps you to make your time on LinkedIn easier. Much more easier and more productive. 
 So if you're looking to have that, then this book is definitely something you should check out because it really provides a lot of tips that I've used over the 20 years that I've been on LinkedIn. So it'll help you understand more about how to dominate the competition, which is really what it's all Yes, it is. 

 Rose | 23:17
About. That's what we're looking for is dominating that competition. 

 Al | 23:23
So yeah, happy to help. 

 Rose | 23:25
Lovely. And where's the book available? 

 Al | 23:28
Well, in the US it's on Amazon. I believe you can look on any retailers. It is worldwide distributed and such. If you want the audiobook, it's available on Spotify, Audible, or other listening platforms. 
 So any fine retailer, you type in the AI LinkedIn Advantage by Al Kushner and Google search, and you should be able to pick it up easy through those platforms. 

 Rose | 23:51
Wonderful. Al, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for sharing with us today. I've enjoyed all the tips that you shared and I'm going to go and... Fix my profile up now. 

 Al | 24:01
Okay, and let's get recommendations for both of us so we can get on the right track and get you Right direction. And I appreciate the opportunity, Rose. Thank you. Bye-bye. Have a good one. Take care. Bye-bye. 

 Outro | 24:14
You've been listening to Talking with the Experts with Rose Davidson. The podcast that brings you real stories, bold insights, and strategies that work. Be sure to subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast channel so you never miss an episode and dive into our full library anytime at talkingwiththeexperts.com. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing and keep talking with the experts.