I could not have Justin Welsh’s superstar standing on LinkedIn with half one million followers, however my journey is value sharing. With simply 30,000 engaged followers on LinkedIn, I managed to take my consulting enterprise from a $0 startup to a thriving $100,000 yearly.
I began as a content material advertising advisor, forsaking my nine-to-five company engineering job in 2018. My LinkedIn turned my enterprise’ lifeline, connecting me with purchasers and international manufacturers, whereas giving me the liberty and suppleness to earn extra.
Whereas I loved my stint as an engineer at an enormous company, I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. I wished to construct one thing of my very own with a versatile schedule and higher pay. I wished the prospect to community with trade leaders and work with extra outstanding manufacturers.
I had dabbled in content material advertising, however that second 5 years in the past was once I began taking freelancing extra significantly. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than LinkedIn turned my go-to platform for constructing consciousness about my providers, discovering thrilling tasks, and networking with potential purchasers.
It’s been a protracted journey with a lot of trial and error to get to the place I’m now. There are such a lot of issues I want I had realized sooner — which is why I took all of my core classes and created this information that will help you construct your LinkedIn following extra sustainably.
Word: There’s no proper or mistaken “technique” to develop your LinkedIn following. What issues most is how sustainable is a method for you, not for 100 different individuals. Components corresponding to how a lot time you possibly can dedicate to LinkedIn, your expertise with content material creation instruments at your disposal, your writing expertise, and present connections play an enormous position in your success.
LinkedIn development ways that labored for me
There are numerous ways that folks swear by — publish six instances each week, publish a carousel, textual content, video, every part suddenly, remark underneath no less than 50 posts as quickly as influencers hit publish, and so on.
The issue? It’s unsustainable.
You’re most likely going to create content material for a few days, get overwhelmed by these quantity-first methods, and abandon your LinkedIn content material creation journey. That is particularly probably when you’re an introvert or nonetheless undecided on whether or not or not LinkedIn is “proper” for you and value investing effort and time into.
I’ve been there — I’d create an enormous Notion database with content material concepts, join a social media administration device, and watch for my posts to go viral.
After posting persistently for per week or two, I obtained first rate engagement. However the dopamine rapidly light as a result of I had constructed this huge content material machine earlier than I used to be prepared for it.
However after years of experiments (each failed and profitable), I’ve lastly cracked the right way to develop your LinkedIn account sustainably whereas driving nearer to your targets.
Listed here are 5 issues I’ve completed and extremely advocate that will help you develop your LinkedIn following:
1. Discover your distinctive standpoint
To face out, you’ll want to have a particular standpoint (POV). Once you parrot another person (or lean too closely on AI-generated content material), it’ll quickly grow to be a painstaking endeavor to create content material commonly.
However once you mix private experiences into your content material, it’s a lot simpler and extra handy to maintain going. Plus, it’ll make sure you stay genuine, which, in flip, will enable you construct belief and credibility along with your followers.
This implies leaning in your wins, failures, errors, decision-making processes, character, and instincts. Give it some thought: there are literally thousands of professionals on the market who work in your area of interest. Is it doable everybody has the very same day-to-day duties? Or does everybody share the identical challenges and have the identical decision-making processes?
Your experiences and the way you understand them are distinctive. The difficult half is discovering and sticking to your POV. It’ll take a few first ugly drafts (FUD), however over time, it’ll grow to be second nature.
Right here’s an train you are able to do to seek out your POV:
- Take into consideration your core values and beliefs. One thing that different individuals might share however aren’t strongly opinionated about: discover one thing you genuinely care about and are captivated with.
- Do you could have a contrarian tackle a norm? Suppose lengthy and arduous about it — for instance, many firms put intense assets and time into hiring the precise individuals however don’t spend sufficient time constructing a data vault for simpler product data switch and higher onboarding.
- Dig deeper into your private life experiences. As an illustration, I’m a software program engineer turned marketer. So, I typically discuss engineering ideas like agile and sprints and sprinkle them throughout my content material to focus on my previous experiences and construct a way of familiarity with my viewers.
- Think about tapping into your private pursuits, corresponding to baking, gardening, touring, or studying. Then, use that as a catalyst on your content material. Use phrases and metaphors out of your pursuits to clarify the core matter of your LinkedIn publish. Amanda Natividad is a wonderful instance of this — she is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and typically shares cooking metaphors, recipes, and footage of fantastic home-cooked meals on her socials and e-newsletter.
It’d take you a few weeks to determine your voice, however when you do, it’ll enable you create genuine content material that resonates along with your viewers. Keep in mind, there’s no magic system, simply small steps and far retrospection.
2. Create video content material to drive engagement
I’ve discovered that video content material will get larger engagement from the LinkedIn viewers. And with AI-powered video enhancing instruments like VEED and Riverside, you don’t must be an enhancing wizard to create a video.
Just about any content material might be a great match for a video publish: it might be so simple as sharing your expertise, notifying your followers that you simply’re open for work, or a cool automation you lately constructed to cut back your guide duties.
Once I began sharing snippets of my podcast, The Content material Playbook, on LinkedIn, they instantly gained traction and drove viewers to my YouTube channel.
Listed here are a few greatest practices I comply with for high-engagement movies:
- Purpose for movies between one and three minutes for higher retention
- Create a template for a constant design
- Be certain that your audio is crystal clear for higher viewers expertise
- Have a compelling hook originally to seize your viewers’ consideration
- Add subtitles out of your video editor slightly than counting on LinkedIn’s captioning
- Don’t publish a standalone video. As an alternative, write a text-based publish alongside along with your video for extra context.
- Add a call-to-action (CTA) on the finish of your video to information viewers to the subsequent desired step (subscribe to my e-newsletter, comply with me on LinkedIn, and so on.)
Some assets that helped me get began:
Keep in mind, no one is watching you reside, so that you’re allowed to make errors or get caught! A good suggestion is to have a script helpful behind the digicam that will help you keep in mind your imaginative and prescient. With time and apply, you’ll be making movies rather more comfortably and effectively.
3. Collaborate with others for even larger engagement
It’s not straightforward to start out from scratch and construct an viewers, not to mention get them to purchase a service from you or belief you on your data. So, when you can collaborate with individuals who have already got a longtime viewers, think about partnering with them to co-create content material.
This fashion, you possibly can forged a wider internet, faucet into their viewers, and drive followers to your account — all whereas delivering worth to their viewers and constructing credibility.
Listed here are a few methods to companion with others on LinkedIn:
- Create a carousel
- Document a brief video collectively
- Tag them in your posts
- Depart a considerate touch upon their posts
- Host a LinkedIn Dwell occasion collectively
- Ask if they might be up for mentioning you (you’ll be shocked how pleasant and supportive some LinkedIn members are)
Partnering with different creators on LinkedIn won’t solely drive extra eyes and engagement but additionally enable you perceive how others work, what their viewers thinks, and the way they create content material to drive engagement.
4. Repurpose your content material to be memorable
It’s important to create authentic and genuine content material — however that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t repurpose your individual content material.
Repurposing is among the most underrated social media ways. Creators with large followings typically repeat their content material, and it nonetheless drives strong engagement.
Plus, a little bit of repetition will enable you construct your model. Individuals will begin to affiliate you along with your core messaging. For instance, each time I consider creators, I immediately affiliate them with Jay Clouse. Or, once I consider creating resonance-first content material and storytelling, I take into consideration Jay Acunzo. In the identical means, you’d need your viewers to recollect you for particular subjects.
Repetition on social media typically will get a nasty rap as a result of most individuals assume it means posting the identical content material time and again (it doesn’t).
I divide repurposed content material into 4 main classes:
- Sharing totally different aspects of the identical thought. e.g., Two posts round constructing a content material technique for small groups; one focuses on challenges, and the opposite in your private experiences and wins.
- Repeating the identical content material in numerous codecs. e.g., A text-based publish become carousels or a video into an infographic.
- Repeating tweaked variations of your core messaging. e.g., As an engineer turned marketer, I spotlight this fairly a few instances all through my LinkedIn posts.
- Sharing your older posts once more. Since LinkedIn doesn’t present your posts to 100% of your followers, there’s an ideal likelihood a lot of them haven’t even seen your authentic publish. Whereas this might sound a lazy strategy to content material creation, keep in mind the time it took to create the unique piece of content material within the first place!
5. Preserve a constant voice and design model
A constant model means larger affinity and recognition. It additionally establishes belief and communicates your character, strengthening your distinctiveness. There are two essential items of the model puzzle: your tone of voice and design model.
In relation to the latter, I’ve discovered having a template in Canva makes this straightforward. I designed my podcast template with a set of colours that represented the vibe and message of the present. At any time when I wish to create a podcast snippet for LinkedIn, I rapidly seize the intro template and sew collectively the precise clips.
Equally, my LinkedIn banner, e-newsletter’s touchdown web page, and graphics share the identical coloration palette.
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Getting your tone of voice proper can also be a necessary a part of model consistency. Your voice defines your model’s character, whereas your tone impacts how individuals understand and work together along with your content material. It might be pleasant, informal, authoritative, supportive, or formal.
Relying on what you’re snug with and what aligns along with your core values, select a voice and tone on your LinkedIn content material and keep on with it.
Begin creating content material at this time!
LinkedIn has utterly modified the trajectory of my profession. If somebody like me, who has a technical background and no educational advertising expertise, can construct a consulting enterprise, you possibly can obtain your targets, too.
Deal with cultivating relationships, constructing real connections, and exploring alternatives — all whereas delivering worth to your viewers. As an alternative of making a cumbersome tech stack, think about using these three instruments for simpler and sooner content material creation:
If you wish to be taught extra about the right way to construct a content material technique, think about subscribing to my e-newsletter, The Content material Playbook.
