An Easy Guide To Grow Your Audience on LinkedIn (yourself)

Over 11,800 professionals have subscribed to String's Theory. Learn how to market "you" better. Today, I share 5 tactics on how to grow an audience.

I reached a LinkedIn milestone... 40,000 professionals follow me.

If I have to describe LinkedIn as an animal. It would be a dinosaur.

Out of all the social platforms, I think of it as a stuffy and an out-dated platform.

Alas, here I am 2 years and 7 months later. I recognise it as a powerful platform, a tool to build a career on. A black book to connect with like-minded volks.

After growing to 40,000 followers and building a business around content marketing on LinkedIn.... I like to share some tactics so you can apply it yourself.

The opportunity is there for you to to grow and build an audience here.

Here are my 3 key learnings on leveraging LinkedIn:

1. ?? Treat LinkedIn like a YouTube channel
2. ?? Build a strong personal brand like fried chicken
3. ?? Volks is key to growth

1. Be a super LinkedIn channel

Yeah, I know. LinkedIn is not YouTube.

Truthfully, LinkedIn is driven by a timeline experience. At least with YouTube, I can archive my knowledge better and topics can be rediscovered, allowing new people to watch my old videos.

Still, what attributes can we learn from a YouTube channel that can be applied here:

A good YouTube channel has a recipe of.....

• Having a charismatic personality
• Being known for a niche topic

With that in mind, when I first came on here, I doubled down what I wanted to be known for: a curious geek from the future that loves fried chicken.

We are driven and inspired by people whom we want to trust, learn and be inspired by. Especially for potential work and collaboration.

Don't dilute your brand and be a portfolio of job labels. Be known for a vision that reinforces your character, values and topics.

A good channel is typically known for one thing! Be known for one thing!

Which is why I'm always sharing tactics and tips on marketing and relevant topics.

"Personal branding" and anything that backs that topic is what I want to be known for.

So, be a super-channel to be a trusted voice in.

2. Be A Strong Personal brand Like Me & Fried Chicken

Speaking of personality, this is where personal branding comes in.

First, let's redefine what 'personal branding' means:

Personal branding is a conscious practice to "package" yourself, your career, and your life experience as a brand.

Here is the basic definition: it is you walking your truth every day.

A strong personal brand acts like a magnet, attracting volks who care about who and what you do.

I mentioned "conscious" because it's a choice to define how others perceive us. We control our narrative by reinforcing our key messages.

I planted and cultivate the visual anchor of fried chicken because I want you to associate 'fried chicken' with me. Now, whenever you eat or see fried chicken, think of me.

I know it is working because my KPI (key performance indicator) is the number of fried chicken stories I receive per day.

One of my favourite items is a mug that says "fried chicken lover" - my friend gave it to me.

Build your own version of fried chicken or personal branding using the 7Vs framework for branding and influence.

Trust in your worth and amplify it.

3. Know Thy Audience. Know Thy 'Volks'.

I call the audience "volks", it rhymes with folks. It's also a German word for "people".

A good channel knows who their target audience is.

They know how to attract attention because they know their volks' interests and problems.

A good question to often ask yourself is "Whom am I creating for?"

Anticipate who will be reading, listening, watching your content.

The more you know about your volks, the more powerful your marketing efforts will become.

You have to know as much as possible about your volks, including their:

• Personality traits.
• Interests.
• Values.
• Opinions.
• Hates

Knowing all of this will help you:

• Craft the perfect message to cause your volks to take action.
• Develop a relevant list of topics and keywords to target.
• Create content to build a channel.
• Find key influencers in your market.

Know your volks, so you can build that super-channel.

My Key Takeaway: Leverage LinkedIn

Even after creating a thousand of content, from videos to creating articles.

I often have to deal with my inner demons.

At the start, they came out more frequently. I was able to squish the inner demons by embracing my imperfection and awkwardness.

I just want you to know that the fear inside of us is normal.

We don't go out our way to fail, but the 3 key tactics above, it's doable.

You can be a trusted voice, a super-channel.

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P.S. Here's another secret I like to share with you.

I'm still not perfect, while I am vastly improved... I often will see typos, and cringe. I rewatch my videos, and cringe.

But, I'm okay with it being everywhere online.

I accept that I am awesomely human.

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The Trusted Circle: Let us help you grow on LinkedIn, so you can be the trusted voice

It's why I've established this membership programme, it's to help you grow.

Along the way, build your channels and build a personal brand online.

When I first started out 10 years ago, I had to do this alone.

I learnt from the art of doing (and making heaps of mistakes).

You can shorten the amount of growth by being more strategic with your time.

Now, I've seen many success and growth because the members are implementing their content authentically and growing their own brand online.

The Trusted Circle is creative space providing tools, resources and latest tactics.

You can dip your toes and kickstart with it on a monthly option. Set your pace and learn as you go.

Or investment as an annual member, where you gain access to higher accountability and my brains. Be a trusted member today.