Sorry LinkedIn, I had you all wrong. ?
I thought I could use and abuse you… that I could just turn up when I wanted something… or invest the minimum amount of attention in you.
But I was wrong.
What changed my mind?
A simple and powerful idea.
My friend suggested I change my approach to content creation on LinkedIn:
- that I should try writing longer posts
- that I should try writing long-form comments on other people’s posts
I was sceptical.
I’d seen minimum returns from other social platforms when I’d put the work in.
And I wondered why it would work now.
But I’m a receptive person… so I thought “what the heck”… why not give it a go.
And that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been putting in the time and writing.
Has this made me an overnight millionaire? No.
Is it helping me deliver more value to people? Yes.
Here’s the thing…
I have a long-term strategy that involves my podcast. It’s driven by the following goals…
- Giving Tech companies and experts the best platform to share their ideas
- Connecting Tech CEOs with the best ideas
(I know, I’m probably not going to be the next Elon Musk )
And this fresh ‘value-focused’ approach is helping me achieve those goals. I’m attracting more guests and listeners.
Better still…
My new approach caught the attention of LinkedIn…
I got featured in LinkedIn news, which is quite a big deal.
Now, I haven’t been able to do this by myself.
I’ve needed to be part of a community.
Indeed, having the support of others is key… trying to grow by yourself on LinkedIn is a struggle. The algorithm ? wants to know that other people are enjoying your content before they will ‘boost it’.
And just getting people to ‘like’ your content isn’t enough.
They need to write ‘valuable’ comments on your post. This tells LinkedIn that your content is valuable and worth putting in front of others.
Sadly, many people on LinkedIn don’t operate with a community mindset.
They make the mistakes that I used to make:
- They post their content and don’t support others with comment on their posts
- don’t write ‘valuable’ comments
- add link posts (LinkedIn doesn’t like you taking people off the platform)
- get frustrated nothing is happening… so give up
Here’s what you can do to ‘win’ on LinkedIn
- Accept that it’s hard work. This isn’t an overnight thing.
- Write long-form valuable content. It’s easier than you think.
- Support others… think community
- Try to write one post a day
- Find influencers in your niche whose posts you can comment on – perhaps try smaller ones at first. This will bring you more attention.
- Experiment with your style of content – see if you can find role models who are nailing it.
- Try to support others on LinkedIn. Hopefully they will support you back
- Add links in the comments of your posts, not in the post itself.
Now, this post is not one of my normal topics…
But I’ve decided to mix things up and share more topics that I hope will be valuable for Tech CEOs and Leaders like you.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know what you think
