In this episode, Roy sits down with Sam Swirsky, known online as "The Mayor of LinkedIn" and founder of Hilltop Media Partners. Sam shares the inside story of landing his role at Alex Hormozi's Acquisition.com — including the twist that he originally posted the job for his own connections before applying and beating them all to it — and reflects on what it was genuinely like working alongside Alex day to day. They dig deep into practical LinkedIn strategy: why engagement matters more than the algorithm boost, why "instruction-based" posts outperform opinion posts, the two ways content should "hurt" to actually land, and a clever tip for making custom GIFs from your own video clips. The conversation shifts into podcast guesting — Sam's own pivot into helping founders use guest appearances as source material for content — and from there into a genuinely revealing back-and-forth on why podcast download numbers lie, why the "right" show for you might have 50 downloads and be perfect anyway, and why every platform you're hosted on quietly under-reports its own numbers. Roy shares a real example of a guest-turned-business-partner going from 23,000 downloads in five years to 600,000 in three months once real strategy was applied. They close with concrete guidance on how a guest should actually position an offer on someone else's show without it feeling like a sales pitch.
Timestamps
0:02 – Introducing Sam Swirsky and his background with Acquisition.com
1:49 – How Sam landed the job at Acquisition.com — recommending it to others before applying himself
4:03 – Is Alex Hormozi's "full steam ahead" persona real or just for content?
4:32 – Sam's path into LinkedIn: no college degree, COVID layoffs, and catching the platform's rise in 2020
6:07 – How LinkedIn has changed over 15 years, and the platform's constant upsells
7:54 – Why LinkedIn's own feature changes (invite limits, load-more buttons) reflect its evolving priorities
8:34 – Why some posts get massive engagement and others get crickets
8:35 – The difference between opinion-based and instruction-based posts, and why content should "hurt" in two specific ways
12:16 – Sharing podcast clips on LinkedIn: video limits, RSS tracking, and why it's still worth doing
13:34 – Repurposing podcast transcripts as LinkedIn text posts, and the "make your own GIF" trick
16:07 – The ethics of resharing other people's viral content versus creating original value
16:36 – A real example: 3 million views a month with zero resulting business
21:09 – Two categories of social growth: entertainment brands versus business brands
21:09 – Why "more views" is often the wrong goal — funnels, profile clarity, and clear calls to action
23:14 – Why your LinkedIn profile shouldn't read like a job application if you run your own business
23:14 – What actually makes an "offer" versus a vague description of what you do
26:03 – Transitioning into Sam's podcast guesting business
26:23 – Why AI-written LinkedIn content falls flat, and how podcast guesting became Sam's source-material solution
29:54 – The "spray and pray" pitching problem, and why claimed audience numbers are often fake
33:44 – Why the relationship with the podcast host matters more than the guest's own potential leads
36:16 – Roy's real example: a guest who became a client, referral partner, and business collaborator — growing from 23K to 600K downloads in three months
40:48 – Why a niche show with 50 downloads can be worth more than a "top 1%" show
44:39 – Why podcast download and listener numbers are never fully accurate across any platform
46:57 – Regional Apple Podcasts ratings, and how misreading them nearly cost Sam a client opportunity
48:14 – Getting banned from YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook for exposing fraud and corruption — and turning it into content anyway
49:52 – Why chasing distribution across every platform at once usually backfires
50:39 – Old, inflated follower counts from platforms people no longer engage with, and how some hosts misuse those numbers to justify guest fees
53:15 – How a guest should position an offer on a show without it feeling like an advertisement
55:12 – Where to find Sam and what's next for him on YouTube
Connect with Sam:
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-swirsky/
🔗 About Your Host (Roy Coughlan)
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