What I learned getting my first 10k followers on LinkedIn
It started with a friend. A friend and a dare.
One of my most trusted friends invited me to join a personal brand mastermind with him. Inside, my introvert self went, “What? Hell no!” But for some reason, what came out of my mouth was, “Okay. Sure.”
I knew that LinkedIn was a part of the curriculum and and while I didn’t know if I’d love it, I knew I loved writing. Plus, the pandemic had just hit and I missed seeing my entrepreneur friends. So I signed up and joined them on the personal branding adventure. I had no idea what magic I was about to find.
The stats from my first year on LinkedIn are crazy to me (millions of views, over half a million in revenue, thousands of followers), but c’mon… the stats aren’t where it’s at for me. The stories are what are most amazing. The stories of people I met on LinkedIn who are now clients, colleagues, and best of all — friends.
Just when I thought I had successfully stepped outside of my comfort zone, my friends started with the dares. Challenges like: Send a DM to someone kinda famous you’d love to connect with. Make a video and post it to LinkedIn. Tell your story (not your client’s story, your story). Book a professional photo shoot. Build a personal brand website. [Insert me breaking out in hives…]
It was terrifying, but I kept going. It was worth it. I found (and am still finding) my tribe, my community, my true fans.
“I give my authentic heart to them and they love me back. At the end of the day, this is what it’s all about.... people.”
So, let’s get started. Your fans are waiting.
Optimize your profile
When people on LinkedIn want to know who you are, they visit your profile. So the more you share, the more they get to know you and trust you.
Your profile photo should be a clear, high quality, approachable photo of you looking at the camera.
Your headline should come from your brand story. If you haven’t written your brand story yet, I have a free workbook that will help you crush it. This is important because only the first 45 characters of your headline are viewable in your posts. Here are a few great examples. Note they’re concise and memorable.
Challenging the way you use LinkedIn to reel in your true fans
Helping small businesses write words that SELL
Guiding entrepreneurs to launch, grow, and run new podcasts (with ease!)
Your banner should include your tagline and contact details or call to action.
Only the first 3 lines of your about section are shown by default so be sure to hook anyone that takes the time to read it. Write in first person; this is not a testimonial. It’s you - talking in your own voice - to your true fans. Write like you speak, show your personality, explain how you help people (again, using your brand story), use bullets to break up long paragraphs, list your contact information, and end with a call to action.
Your featured section can be an intro video, free resources, a client success story, or anything that helps your audience get to know and trust you.
People are more likely to see your content in their feed if they follow you. Connections automatically follow you by default, but you also might not want to connect with everyone. You can change the connect button to a follow button on your profile:
Go to your LinkedIn Settings & Privacy
Click Visibility
Click Followers
Change the “Make follow primary” button to yes
Connect with your true fans
Help your true fans find you by connecting with them. When I started out, I sent connection requests daily to:
Current and former colleagues
Fellow members of associations, communities, groups
Current and former clients
Current prospects and investors
Industry friends, partners, vendors
People I knew that fit my target market
People that viewed my profile and fit my target market
Should you send a message with your connection request? Depends (ugh, I hate that answer). If I had to pick, I’d say don’t send one. BUT your LinkedIn profile better be awesome. (Meaning you’ve done all of the above.) If you are connecting with someone you don’t know at all, then you should make your message about them, not you. Take the time to read their content, engage, and comment. Then send a connection request with a note, telling them how their content helped you and that you’d love to be connected.
Pro Tip: Pitching someone for your product or service in a connection request is an absolute no-no, no matter how you write it.
Determine what your posts should focus on
We only develop relationships when we let people see our authentic selves. Any place you want to find your true fans (including LinkedIn) needs to show your face, heart, and soul. This is why it’s important for you to define signature content pillars that let people see you as a whole person; you’re more likely to grow a trusted audience if people have multiple ways to connect with you beyond the primary thing that you sell or do. I’ve got a great workbook that will help you define your pillars; don’t skip this step!
Deliver value consistently
Once you’ve defined your signature content pillars, you can start creating valuable content, rotating through your pillars. The most important thing you can do on LinkedIn is deliver value. Your posts should be educational, insightful, or entertaining. They shouldn’t only be links to articles. They shouldn’t always be about you. Think of yourself as the guide, and your target client as the hero. Make your content about them.
The second most important thing you can do is post consistently, which builds momentum and trust. I posted 5 times a week with success posting in the morning (ET), but you can experiment to see what works best for you. Not sure when your audience is most active? Use a poll and ask them!
Some people like to put a call to action in every post. When I decided to get started on LinkedIn, I wanted to deliver value for an entire year without an ask. I’m not kidding. At least give yourself 3 - 6 months to just give. No asking, no pitching. Serving and helping. I believe this helped me develop a loyal following because they came to understand I was there to give, give, give.
Pro Tip: If you want to share a helpful piece of content, article, or other cool thing, put your CTA/links in the comments, not in the post itself. The algorithm doesn't like external links in posts.
Think about it: Most calls to action send people off the LinkedIn platform. Tsk. Tsk.
Mix up your post format
While consistency is important for getting in front of your true fans, variety is important for keeping them engaged. Take advantage of the rich media options to mix it up. You can add carousels, photos, or videos; create polls or events. LinkedIn reports that videos get 5x more engagement on LinkedIn.
One of my fave things I post is my weekly Beach Walk & Talk video and you know what I love about it? It’s raw, authentic, and fun. I literally feel like I’m taking a walk with a friend on the beach talking about authenticity, entrepreneurship, life. No fancy equipment, no editing. Don’t let perfect get in the way of good. Imperfections help build trust and connection because they’re human.
A friend that I met on LinkedIn sent me this lavalier microphone because the wind in Newport, RI can be legit distracting. I highly recommend it if you want to add walk & talks into your content roll!
Leverage hashtags
Hashtags are searchable on LinkedIn; members can click on them to find similar posts. So let’s say someone posts about leading with authenticity and they include #authenticleadership at the end of their post. A reader who is interested in that topic can click on that hashtag and find more posts on the topic. Identify 3-5 hashtags that are relevant to each of your content pillars and use them in your posts. It will help your true fans discover you.
Engage with your true fans
Social media is called “social” for a reason. Remember that your role on LinkedIn is not to post and ghost. It’s to create conversation, spark interest. A good rule of thumb is to engage / comment on 5 - 10 posts before you post your own content. It also helps to post at a time where you can dedicate 30 - 60 minutes replying back to people who leave a comment on your posts. You can use that time to engage with other people’s posts as well.
Pro Tip: When people who are not 1st connections comment on your post, check if they are related to your target market. If so, send them a connection request.
Celebrate successes
As with anything I do, I want to measure my performance. Celebrating successes - even small ones - helps keep me going so I find it essential to analyze what’s working. Since LinkedIn only offers built-in analytics for company Pages, not for personal accounts, I use Shield Analytics to keep an eye on my views and engagement. Find an app that works for you and don’t forget to celebrate small and big milestones.
Promote your LinkedIn
Help your true fans easily find and follow you by adding a link to (or mentioning) your LinkedIn profile in these places:
Email signature
Your website if you have one
Your company’s website
Author bio of blog or article
Newsletter footer
Other social media bios
Signing on or off as a podcast guest
Signing on or off of live or recorded videos (YouTube, live social media, interviews, etc.)
Speaking engagements
Webinar presentations
If you want to put a link in print collateral, try generating a QR code.
Allow for evolution
Feeling overwhelmed? Remember that you don’t have to do this all on day one. You can download my free checklist to keep track of your progress.
All you have to do day one is get started, then allow yourself to evolve. Of course it takes time and energy to grow your following and engage your true fans, but with work comes reward.
You got this.
