How To Boost Your Reach On LinkedIn? (10k to 440k)

And we're back.

3 months later, got myself checking my last update's data.

Shit, almost half a million views.

?? Vanity Metric Alert ON ??

Don't get me wrong.

440k doesn't mean shit.

Except if you collect leads from the update.

Establishing Authority by Offering Value.

First things first.

I don't reach these numbers all the time.

This kinda post is what the kids call a viral post.

80 to 90% of my time on LinkedIn is spent offering value to my network.

Here is my schedule:

Lots of things changed since my first article on LinkedIn's reach:

• Explosion of video use.
• New automation tools and hacks.
• Changes in the groups' management and layout.
• Changes in the algorithm.
• New way to share your professional journey.
• Voice messaging.
• LinkedIn Kudos.
• Like almost every social media platforms: QR codes.
• Plenty of other stuff.

But there is one thing that hasn't moved an iota.

The most important thing: value. This is [...] give without expecting, you'll definitely get something back [...] the sooner you understand that the number one valuable thing on this football called planet is time, the sooner you'll be successful.

Never understood people trying to get organic leads on SoMe without offering value first.

You're just making your potential customers and yourself lose time by trying to sell too fast.

Sell how good you are before selling your stuff.

So here are my tips for you guys:

1. Define your niche
2. Connect with your niche
3. Offer them value by commenting in a pertinent manner
4. Offer them value by answering their messages and comments
5. Offer them value by publishing pertinent content (yours or curated with your views on the matter)
6. Pitch them your sh*t

This is how my value-creation posts look ??

I'm shamelessly taking advantage of four things:

1. What's currently working on LinkedIn (native videos)
2. Super catchy headlines (copy + eyes-bait emojis)
3. Hashtags
4. Summary of the shared content

The reason why I'm not curating is simple:

Growth Tribe's Youtube Channel is off the charts in terms of value creation.

Personal Branding is Important.

But it's a pain in the arse.

In a French piece, I've recently written the following:

"Je ne suis pas fan de parler de moi-même. Quand je me dois de le faire, j'essaie de ne pas m'emporter."

You're probably unfamiliar with my language. Let me help:

"I'm not a huge fan of talking about myself. When I have to do it, I'm trying not to get carried away."

Those who know me well know it's tough for me to be in the spotlight.

I fear mistakes too much.

But if you wanna be somewhat influential on LinkedIn, you have to unveil yourself a bit.

It might be a professional network but relationships move smoothly when you know some personal stuff about the person you're following or talking to.

This is how my personal branding posts look ??

Couple of Hacks I'm Allowed to Give.

Let me give you some actionable tips.

Top 3 questions I encounter all the time as someone who's supposedly knowledgeable on LinkedIn:

"When should I post?"

Test, and learn from your network.

That said, I'd start here:

(posting for the US market? 80% of the internet use is Central/Eastern Time)

My personal fav? Tuesday around 11am.

Why?

• The reach to my first degree connections is gonna fade away until the end of the day (people checking their feed at 6pm will still see my update)
• The reach to my second and third degree connections is gonna fade away until the end of the week (people might still see my update on Thursday or Friday)

How can I post an external link without killing my reach?

Simple.

The goal is to redirect to an external platform without letting LinkedIn think that you're doing that.

"Put the link in the comment section."

Great. So if I have 200 comments, the user just have to scroll down for 5 minutes to find my link.

You must be quite awesome at UX.

More seriously there is a hack to get around this:

1. Write your update
2. Put the link in the comment section
3. Copy the link of the comment itself
4. Put this link in your update

The hack does something quite nice:

1. Opens a new window
2. Automatically scrolls down to the comment
3. Highlights the comment

How can I connect with thought leaders?

The 101 on "How To Connect with Thought Leaders" is simple.

Add a note to the request which is:

1. Polite
2. Pertinent
3. Professional
4. Personalised
5. Praiseful

If I insist on praiseful, that's because I don't want you to write "I love your work. I'd like to connect with you".

Let me give you a template.

--

"Hi man,

Completely agreeing with the point you made in your X article, especially when you talk about the Y of Z. I think companies should take this direction more often.

Also, I've been reading your book and I'm almost done with it, it's an incredible read, thanks a lot for this.

I'm sending you this request because I'd love nothing more but to see more of your content.

Jean."

--

But there are other ways.

This is how I got Sean Ellis to comment on this post ??

First.

I posted in the morning.

I know that Sean lives in the US.

He would be asleep when notified of the update.

Why is this important?

Because when he would wake up, my post would already have engagement.

Second.

I deliberately forgot his co-author, Morgan Brown.

Why?

I wanted him to ask me to tag him as well.

Which he did ??

Okay, this is a bit sneaky.

But the guy coined the term "Growth Hacking".

So I hope he doesn't mind a bit of creative sneakiness.

Added bonus:

• Nir Eyal liked, added him afterwards ("Hooked", must-read on how to build habit-forming products)
• Alistair Croll commented, got in touch with him last time I was in Boston, hoping to meet him soon enough (read "Lean Analytics", must-read on the One Metric That Matters and how to be more data-driven)
• Morgan Brown liked after I edited the post

There you go gang.

Couple of things I think you should know about LinkedIn.

If you want more, join The HackedIn Family.

Hope this was helpful.