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Building my business on 33M+ impressions from LinkedIn.

Hey all - over the last 24 months, I've used 33M impressions on LinkedIn to power my advising, consulting, executive coaching, and product businesses.

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I thought one of my content creation processes might be helpful for other people that want to use LinkedIn to grow their business as I do.

If so, read on (and feel free to steal).

Before we dive into the breakdown, I'll start by sharing the full post:

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Step One: The "Meat" of the content

The first thing I do is create "the meat" of the content. This is where you're teaching, showing, or suggesting.

It's the information you're attempting to convey.

In this example, I am trying to teach the reader how to get someone's attention online.

With that in mind, I started creating this content by writing out four suggestions:

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People might find these suggestions helpful. But they'll never see them if they don't stop to read the content. It's time to break patterns.

Step Two: The "Trailer"

The next part of the content I create is the "trailer."

The trailer has 2 jobs:

  • Break the scroll pattern with the first line.
  • Make each line intriguing enough to get the reader to the next one.

Here's the trailer for this particular piece of content:

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Part of writing a good first line is knowing your audience. What do they care about?

I know my audience cares about getting people's attention. The first line is short, consumable, and gets their attention when scrolling.

The second line recommends they "help them in public". If they are curious about how to do that, their eyes move to the third line of the trailer, the hook line: "Here are 4 simple ideas:"

The hook line is the last line before the "…see more" button on the LinkedIn feed.

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It's where readers commit to reading more or continuing their scroll. It needs to be intriguing. I create intrigue by promising 4 simple ideas to help them get someone's attention.

If they click "see more", the trailer has done its job and they are onto the "meat", which I've already shared with you.

Step 3: The Summary and The Mantra

It's time to wrap the content.

My goal in the ending is to give the reader the entire piece of content packaged up nicely in a few sentences. Think of it as the summary of the content.

After the short summary, I try to create a catchy line that they can take away with them. Something that makes the content memorable. A line they will repeat in the comments section.

I do this because I know attention spans are shrinking.

I want the reader to participate in the comments without having to reread the full content piece. So, instead, I summarize it nicely for them.

I want them to see those last few lines, think of a response, and get participating.

I summarized this content by writing:

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Those 3 lines capture the post in a simple summary and provide a catchy mantra for readers to remember: "Help is a digital currency."

This particular post was seen 72,477 times, for 867 interactions and 166 comments. This is in line with a typical post for me each day.

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So, remember:

- Step 1: Start with the meat (the information). What are you teaching or suggesting?
- Step 2: Create your trailer. Does each line get the reader to the next? Is the hook compelling?
- Step 3: Make it easy to engage. Leave them with a short summary.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. If you found this helpful, I'd be honored to have you sign up for my email list. I write about once per week and try and share processes and systems that work for my solopreneur journey.

Thanks again.

Cheers,
Justin

  1. 3

    hey @OfficialJustin really nice summary, super useful.

    I'm curious, what tool are you using to show the aggregated trends, views, comments, etc?

    1. 2

      It's a software called Shield Analytics. They do a really great job making LinkedIn analytics easier to understand.

    2. 1

      hey we're building an alternative if you're interested lunaa.co.uk

  2. 2

    This is cool to see - I'm trying to take the same approach of growing consulting through LinkedIn and expanding it to other product businesses.

    I'll have to take a look at Shield Analytics too.

    1. 1

      It's a nice software to see what works/what doesn't. LinkedIn can be pretty powerful if you use it correctly.

  3. 2

    Is that true that people on Linkedin prefer to read posts of real people rather than brand's pages?

    1. 3

      Yes, business pages on LinkedIn are nowhere near as powerful for engagement as personal pages.

      1. 1

        Also, I wonder, how much time do you spend on Linkedin each day? :)

        1. 1

          Generally 1 hour in the AM, and 30 minutes in the PM. Then, I'll spend a few hours a week writing.

          1. 1

            Great job! Thanks for sharing.

  4. 2

    Awesome! Thanks for sharing your secret sauce.

    1. 1

      Appreciate you taking the time to read it. Cheers!

  5. 1

    Thanks for the post @OfficialJustin, I just started working on a content strategy for LinkedIn myself.

    How do these posts where you're teaching the audience compare to storytelling about yourself?

    1. 1

      I have 5-6 different structures that I use. Some are teaching (step-by-step), some are simply motivating, while others might be observations. I try not to "storytell" about myself anymore. Feels too self-serving.

      1. 1

        Interesting, that's a great idea to play around with different structures. I appreciate the response!

  6. 1

    Do you agree? ™️

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