I’ll not have Justin Welsh’s movie star standing on LinkedIn with half one million followers, however my journey is price 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, abandoning my nine-to-five company engineering job in 2018. My LinkedIn turned my enterprise’ lifeline, connecting me with shoppers and world manufacturers, whereas giving me the liberty and adaptability to earn extra.
Whereas I loved my stint as an engineer at a giant 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 possibility to community with trade leaders and work with extra distinguished manufacturers.
I had dabbled in content material advertising, however that second 5 years in the past was after I began taking freelancing extra critically. 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 shoppers.
It’s been a protracted journey with plenty 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 flawed “technique” to develop your LinkedIn following. What issues most is how sustainable is a technique for you, not for 100 different individuals. Elements equivalent to how a lot time you possibly can dedicate to LinkedIn, your expertise with content material creation instruments at your disposal, your writing abilities, and current connections play an enormous position in your success.
LinkedIn progress techniques that labored for me
There are numerous techniques that individuals swear by — submit six instances each week, publish a carousel, textual content, video, every little thing , remark beneath no less than 50 posts as quickly as influencers hit publish, and so forth.
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 possible should you’re an introvert or nonetheless undecided on whether or not or not LinkedIn is “proper” for you and price 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 software, and look forward to my posts to go viral.
After posting persistently for per week or two, I bought respectable engagement. However the dopamine rapidly light as a result of I had constructed this large 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 develop your LinkedIn account sustainably whereas driving nearer to your targets.
Listed here are 5 issues I’ve completed and extremely suggest that will help you develop your LinkedIn following:
1. Discover your distinctive viewpoint
To face out, you must have a particular viewpoint (POV). Once you parrot another person (or lean too closely on AI-generated content material), it’ll quickly turn into a painstaking endeavor to create content material usually.
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 show you how to construct belief and credibility together with your followers.
This implies leaning in your wins, failures, errors, decision-making processes, persona, 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 tough half is discovering and sticking to your POV. It’ll take a few first ugly drafts (FUD), however over time, it’ll turn into 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 could share however aren’t strongly opinionated about: discover one thing you genuinely care about and are keen about.
- Do you will have a contrarian tackle a norm? Assume lengthy and arduous about it — for instance, many firms put intense assets and time into hiring the proper individuals however don’t spend sufficient time constructing a information vault for simpler product information switch and higher onboarding.
- Dig deeper into your private life experiences. As an example, 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, equivalent to baking, gardening, touring, or studying. Then, use that as a catalyst to your content material. Use phrases and metaphors out of your pursuits to clarify the core subject of your LinkedIn submit. Amanda Natividad is a superb instance of this — she is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef and typically shares cooking metaphors, recipes, and photos of wonderful home-cooked meals on her socials and publication.
It would take you a few weeks to determine your voice, however when you do, it’ll show you how to create genuine content material that resonates together with your viewers. Keep in mind, there’s no magic formulation, simply small steps and far retrospection.
2. Create video content material to drive engagement
I’ve discovered that video content material will get greater 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 could possibly be an excellent match for a video submit: it could possibly be so simple as sharing your expertise, notifying your followers that you just’re open for work, or a cool automation you latterly constructed to scale back your handbook duties.
After 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 finest practices I observe for high-engagement movies:
- Purpose for movies between one and three minutes for higher retention
- Create a template for a constant design
- Be sure your audio is crystal clear for higher viewers expertise
- Have a compelling hook at first to seize your viewers’ consideration
- Add subtitles out of your video editor moderately than counting on LinkedIn’s captioning
- Don’t submit a standalone video. As a substitute, write a text-based submit alongside together 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 publication, observe me on LinkedIn, and so forth.)
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 useful behind the digital camera that will help you keep in mind your imaginative and prescient. With time and apply, you’ll be making movies way more comfortably and effectively.
3. Collaborate with others for even greater engagement
It’s not simple to start out from scratch and construct an viewers, not to mention get them to purchase a service from you or belief you to your information. So, should you can collaborate with individuals who have already got a longtime viewers, contemplate partnering with them to co-create content material.
This fashion, you possibly can solid a wider web, 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 associate with others on LinkedIn:
- Create a carousel
- Report a brief video collectively
- Tag them in your posts
- Go away a considerate touch upon their posts
- Host a LinkedIn Dwell occasion collectively
- Ask if they’d be up for mentioning you (you’ll be stunned how pleasant and supportive some LinkedIn members are)
Partnering with different creators on LinkedIn is not going to solely drive further eyes and engagement but in addition show you how to 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 unique and genuine content material — however that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t repurpose your individual content material.
Repurposing is without doubt one of the most underrated social media techniques. Creators with big followings typically repeat their content material, and it nonetheless drives strong engagement.
Plus, a little bit of repetition will show you how to construct your model. Folks will begin to affiliate you together with your core messaging. For instance, every time I consider creators, I immediately affiliate them with Jay Clouse. Or, after I consider creating resonance-first content material and storytelling, I take into consideration Jay Acunzo. In the identical method, you’d need your viewers to recollect you for particular matters.
Repetition on social media typically will get a foul 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 completely different aspects of the identical concept. 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 several codecs. e.g., A text-based submit became 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 one hundred pc of your followers, there’s an incredible likelihood lots of them haven’t even seen your unique submit. 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 fashion
A constant model means greater affinity and recognition. It additionally establishes belief and communicates your persona, strengthening your distinctiveness. There are two essential items of the model puzzle: your tone of voice and design fashion.
On the subject of the latter, I’ve discovered having a template in Canva makes this simple. I designed my podcast template with a set of colours that represented the vibe and message of the present. Each time 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, publication’s touchdown web page, and graphics share the identical coloration palette.
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Getting your tone of voice proper can be a vital a part of model consistency. Your voice defines your model’s persona, whereas your tone impacts how individuals understand and work together together with your content material. It could possibly be pleasant, informal, authoritative, supportive, or formal.
Relying on what you’re snug with and what aligns together with your core values, select a voice and tone to your LinkedIn content material and follow it.
Begin creating content material in the present day!
LinkedIn has utterly modified the trajectory of my profession. If somebody like me, who has a technical background and no tutorial 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 a substitute of making a cumbersome tech stack, think about using these three instruments for simpler and quicker content material creation:
If you wish to be taught extra about construct a content material technique, contemplate subscribing to my publication, The Content material Playbook.