I spent 16 months building my LinkedIn Strategy so you don't have to (Fireside Fridays 🪵)

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3-min Read

It was October 2023.

My stomach must’ve had a thousand butterflies in it.

I gave my best smile and took an awkward selfie.

I wrote a simple caption:

And with fear and trembling, I hit PUBLISH.

My very first LinkedIn post was LIVE.

No one cared.

(Okay, just 3 people!)

Until they did - just one month later.

Just one month later I hit 100k impressions and 2k followers.

Fast forward to 1 year later.

I’d hit 1M impressions and 19k followers on LinkedIn.

I want you to have the same growth curve.

If not even FASTER.

I just want nothing but the best value for you.

That’s why today I’m giving you my no-BS LinkedIn strategy.

So you can just copy me.

Read on to find out more.

My LinkedIn Strategy

Here’s my LinkedIn Strategy that has given me 20000% growth for the past 1 year+:

1. Just Post Consistently (And Ignore Vanity Metrics)

LinkedIn can be such a comparison trap sometimes.

You look at likes, impressions, comments, and DMs.

While they are important, they are simply indicators.

They indicate which part of the marketing funnel your audience is in.

There are 3 parts of a funnel:

• TOFU: Top of funnel

• MOFU: Middle of Funnel

• BOFU: Bottom of Funnel

And the metrics on LinkedIn correspond to a part of a funnel.

What the metrics are and what they mean:

• Impressions → Stalking audience (TOFU)

• Likes → Engaged audience (TOFU)

• Comments → Engaged audience that trusts you (MOFU)

• DMs → Engaged leads (BOFU)

• Email subscribers (BOFU)

Now you know that metrics are simply indicators, treat them as they are.

The goal is to move them down the funnel.

For example:

If you see impressions going up, you are capturing lots of TOFU audience.

If you see subscribers going up, you are capturing the BOFU audience.

Here’s my strategy:

• Aim for posts that can bring in high impressions FIRST. This builds your confidence.

• Then aim to build trust and authority by encouraging comments

• Then create lead magnets to pull the BOFU audience off of LinkedIn and onto your email list as subscribers. I’ll share more about this in step 3.

2. Iterate Formats

A LinkedIn post can take on multiple formats.

There are a few types of content on LinkedIn from the most simple to the most complex:

1. Text

2. Images

3. Carousels

4. Short Form Videos

5. Long Form Videos

My strategy that worked?

No. 2 and No. 3.

My strategy:

1. I tried all formats: Focus on what feels the most natural for you.

2. I leaned into my skillset: I knew graphic design and writing from my blogging days. Video scripting, filming, and editing, not so much.

3. Iterate formats: I got the reps in and tried to learn to improve my designs, copywriting, and marketing skills every time I made a LinkedIn post.

Personally, I’m a very practical person.

So I like to share tutorials via carousels as it is immediately applicable to my audience.

I’m also hitting lots of the BOFU audience as they can get quite technical.

My reach is lower, but I’m still getting the growth I want.

Also, I thought to share this helpful post by MJ Jaindl on creating LinkedIn posts with AI.

3. Create Lead Magnets to Newsletter

Viral lead magnet posts are what made the difference to my LinkedIn growth.

They added 700 - 1000 new subscribers every time.

And it’s fairly simple to do.

My method:

• Use AI to research 1 small painful problem my target audience faces

• Use AI to create a template for it

• Package it into a lead magnet

• Host the lead magnet on Google Drive

• Post lead magnet mockup to LinkedIn

• Encourage readers to like, comment “codeword”, and follow me.

• Reply reader’s comment with the lead magnet landing page on Beehiiv

• Reader subscribes to email list

• Beehiiv automates sending the link to the lead magnet on Google Drive

Here’s my very first lead magnet that brought in 19k impressions:

Here’s a breakdown of how I created the lead magnet:

• I realized my audience wanted prompts for their specific industry.

• Use AI to create the prompts.

• I packaged it into a cheatsheet lead magnet

• I uploaded the cheatsheet lead magnet on Google Drive as part of my AI bundle

• I posted a lead magnet GIF on LinkedIn

• I encouraged readers to like, comment “Cheatsheet”, and follow me.

• I replied to each reader’s comment with the lead magnet landing page on Beehiiv

• Reader subscribes to email list

• Beehiiv automates sending the link to the cheatsheet lead magnet on Google Drive.

This gave me my very first 100+ newsletter subs from LinkedIn. 😀 

That’s it!

Next week, I’ll continue to share 3 more points in my LinkedIn Strategy.

Those are less crucial, but cannot be automated with AI.

Talk more next week!

Justin

PS - I’ve been busy working on adding bonuses to my upcoming mini-course: The 1-Day AI LinkedIn Growth Machine: Automate 30 LinkedIn Posts That Convert in Just 1 Day Using ChatGPT.

I just want to give you the maximum value.

The best bang for your buck.

Click the link below to join the waitlist.