Road to 4K Followers on LinkedIn

Last year, I decided to invest in my personal brand by starting my personal website and chose LinkedIn as my social medium.

Fast forward a year, I grew a 1.5k connections to 4k connections & followers.

?? My goal for the year is 5k, and I am on track to achieving it!

Most of the growth has taken place over the past ~3 months.

In this newsletter, I want to share the learnings along the way.

The "Secrets"

It's not a real secret!

TBH: it is a set of rules more difficult to follow than you might expect.

All you have to do is:

• Post regularly (almost every day)
• Use all your 100 connection requests in a day (wisely)
• Comment to other people's post with value

Easy right?

Now, try doing it for the next 365 days!

Many LinkedIn creators get burn out and take "posting vacations" every now and then. I did the same silently on August ... And, I haven't launched a newsletter in a month.

And, before you go on, a few additional "hacks":

• LONG carousels work wonders (I use Canva, find a template that works for you)
• CTAs under posts are essential
• Always post links in the comments (few exceptions)
• Super valuable giveaways / templates / hacks help, but might not attract the right people

Let's now get to the details.

Persistence --> Posting Regularly

To be a successful LinkedIn creator, you need to get into the habit of posting regularly, and it's more difficult than it looks.

You don't need to have GREAT ideas every day to post. But, they have to be at least decent ideas.

7 ideas for posts a week, 30 every month, 365 in a year, it's hard!

P.S.: Regurarly doesn't mean every single day, it might be 5 days a week for you, or 2 times some days when you have important news to share.

You need a posting schedule and figuring out the time of posting as well. I ended up 8-10 every morning as I can spend 15-20 minutes before I start work.

Here are the rules of thumb of persistence:

• Post every day if possible
• Keep doing it, try not to miss your schedule
• Find the right time to post
• Always give value when posting

Connecting with others

LinkedIn allows only 100 connection requests per day. Find a way to make those more valuable for you.

Find who is your colleague, equal, or aspirational path and connect with them.

I send around 20 connection requests EVERY morning.

That's 100 people, about 80% accept them, and I have an average of 130-140 followers per week. More than half come from the connection requests I send.

The logic goes:

• Those are free "reach out" credits, use them
• New connections will increase your network (you will be suggested to more people)
• More connections equals more people seeing your posts, as your audience grows, so will your posts' effectiveness

Then, a nice to check is your Social Selling Index , how you perform in several metrics across your network.

Engaging with others

It's not enough to connect.

Create your own "engagement pod", friends, colleagues, and others who will support your professional career and grow your business circle.

In terms of numbers, you will be boosting each other's LinkedIn by liking & commenting, but the real value is the knowledge by talking to many people in the industry.

The most powerful insights come from personal conversations with peers.

We move to a remote world, and forget the power of conversations ... do not!

Then, spend some time commenting on other people's posts.

That's how new people find you.

LinkedIn's algorithm also boosts people who engage with others.

However:

• It takes more time than most "influencers" say
• I spend 10 minutes a day and it's not enough
• Don't spam people with AI answers ... or low value comments like "agree" / "disagree". If you don't have something to offer in the conversation, just don't reply.

Be genuine, helpful, and always give value!

The Process

Now, a big chunk that actually helped me keep a candence of posts, and you see a draft calendar of notes.

Take notes every time you have a good idea.

Use this idea cloud or list as a "buffet" where you can pick an idea you want to write for the day.

Many ideas will need more effort, some will be easy to achieve.

P.S.: If you want to get a hold of my spreadsheet, comment below and I will create a template to share with you.

Brand guidelines - What I am missing

This is the missing link of my strategy, and I intend to eventually create it.

You need a plan of attack to succeed in any marketing activity.

This plan of attack includes your goals and guidelines to success.

Write down:

• Your goal and make them S.M.A.R.T. (I would focus on Achievable)
• Write down your positioning
• Write down your content pillars

Those will help you come back and read them every now and then, keep you consistent and follow the right path.

I planned to be flexible for the first few months, until I figured out my goal. What I was best at, where my content shined, where I could focus long-term ... it took me more than 9 months!

Lessons from a year

After more than 9 months of persistence but irregular posting, I figured out the most powerful things I could do and started seeing real results:

• Posting EVERY day
• Using ALL my connection requests in a week

My favourite message became the "You've reached the weekly invitation limit".

If you don't see it, you are not doing it right :)

But, split your invitiations and start slowly, with 10-20 per day.

P.S.: I don't even write a note anymore, still works.

It's Exhausting

• Creating content every day is hard.
• Creating valuable content is hard.
• Reaching out people is hard.

Which means, many creators will end up posting popular opinions, rehashing bad but viral advice, end up giving low value most of the time.

Your favourite influencers suffer from those of the above.

• Some use ghostwriters
• Some use social media managers
• Some pay for engagement
• Many use tools + AI

The Goal

LinkedIn is about the business value you have.

You are here to build a personal brand.

I am here to increase my value in the marketplace and build an audience for my future startup.

You might be here to:

• Get a job
• Hire the best people
• Build a personal brand
• Sell courses / templates / other products
• Sell services
• Find clients and partners

Don't be a low-value influencers, be a high-value person getting the right kind of value for yourself.

Empty likes & comments from bots mean nothing if it won't get you the right job or the right clients for your agency.

Give value first is the first rule of content.

You are in a content & networking medium, follow the rules of engagement and great content :)

Good luck!